According to Visit Norway.com, the capital of the Arctic, Tromsø, is a "lively, humorous and beautiful city packed with culture and history, and surrounded by mountains, fjords and islands." But for chess players, stunning Tromsø is fast becoming a chess mecca by being the official candidate city to host the 2014 Chess Olympiad and venue for the Arctic Chess Challenge.

The Arctic Chess Challenge is one of a new breed of exciting international opens on the circuit and a large number of titled players have already signed-up for the trek to Tromsø - and ICC is delighted to join forces with the organizers of the tournament to host an exclusive online qualifier for one of our members to to win a trip there!

Running the weekend of May 28th - 30th, ICC members can take part in the Arctic Chess Challenge qualifier with the winner receiving automatic invite, air fare, hotel & breakfast and 400 ($485) euro cash prize! There will also be an additional $700 on offer for prizes on the ICC during the online qualifier.

Finals Bracket

The winner of the blitz qualifier will receive a round trip ticket, hotel & breakfast, automatic invite to the Arctic Chess Challenge and 400 ($485) euro cash prize..

In case the winner cannot travel, the first prize will be awarded to the runner up. In case also the runner up cannot travel, the first prize will be offered to the player who lost to the later winner in the semifinals, and after that to the other semifinalist. In those cases, the winner will only receive the cash prize which the player who eventually travels to "Arctic Chess Challenge" originally won.

Second place will receive USD 250. Third and fourth place will receive USD 125 each. 4-8 USD 50 each.

In addition, there will be prizes raffled between all participants who finish a qualifier, for EVERY qualifier. Ten 1-month ICC extensions per qualifier, giving a total of 40 months just for playing. Note that in order to be eligible for the raffle, (a) the qualifier must be finished orderly (not forfeited), (b) the player did not qualify for the finals, and (c) the account used is a paid one.

On top of this, there will be prizes for the players who score the most points over ALL qualifiers but who do not win through to the finals:

• 1st: 18 months ICC extension
• 2nd: 12 months ICC extension
• 3rd: 6 months ICC extensions
• 4th-10th: 3 months ICC extensions
• 11th-20th: 1 months ICC extensions

Should GM/IMs win membership extensions, they can donate those extensions to other players of their choice. Non GM/IM receive 18 months if they reach the finals.


You can see the standings in this most-points competition by typing

tell pear ser b acc2010

Cash prizes other than first prize will be paid by check or bank wire transfer. Other payment methods require the approval of ICC.

Tournament Times

The time control throughout the tournament (both qualifiers and knockout stage) will be 3,0. Each qualifier has 9 rounds. Latejoining is possible, but 1/2 bye points will only be awarded for the first three rounds. The top three players from each of the four qualifiers will automatically advance to the knockout finals. In case of a tie, the usual tiebreaks of Tomato tournaments will apply. They are described in detail in "tell tomato help tie".

Another four seats will go to the players who score the most cumulative points over ALL qualifiers. In case of a tie in overall points, placings in the best qualifier of each respective player determines who enters the finals. In order to see overall point standings, type "tell pear ser b acc2010".

Finalists will be sorted by the ICC Blitz rating they had when they played their qualifier. The grid will display the following pairings (top to bottom) and qualifiers who go through to the next round will be paired accordingly: 1-16, 8-9, 5-12, 4-13, 3-14, 6-11, 7-10, 2-15

In the knockout finals, "mini-matches" of four games will be played and if a tie occurs after that, two more games will be played. If still tied after that, another two games at a reduced time control of 2 0 follow, and in case it is 4-4 then, another pair of games at a time control of 1 0 will be played. Pairs of 1 0 games follow until a decision is reached or it is 8-8, in which case the tournament director will toss a coin to determine colors in a single decisive 1 0 game. If that game is draw, another game follows with opposite colors which itself is decisive. If that again is a draw, a final deciding armageddon game with 5 minutes to White and 4 minutes to Black with Black having draw odds will be played. In the final of the last two, the match will have six games. After that in the case it is 3-3, tiebreaker pairs of games will be played as above.

A match in the finals ends before four (six) games are played, if one player has 2.5 points or more (3.5 or more in the final of the last two). Players can take part in all qualifiers if they want to. In case a player who is already qualified reaches the top two in the other qualifiers, his/her seat will be awarded to the next best player.

Please note that allowable lag will be more strictly limited to 1000ms during major prize tournaments in order to avoid perceptions of unfairness to other players competing in a true prize-tournament environment. This new lag limit of 1000ms will be in-force during the Arctic Chess Challenge 2010 ICC Qualifier.

For further information: http://www.chessclub.com/help/LagCompensation.

No preregistration is necessary for this tournament. Show up about 10 minutes before the scheduled start and type "tell pear join" or click on the entry button in your event list. Disconnecting before the start will remove you from the tournament. If you disconnect after the start, you will not be removed automatically, but you need to return as soon as possible, or the manager will forfeit you. You can follow the tournament in channel 227. Participants will automatically be placed in this channel.

You need to have a full ICC membership to take part in this tournament. Free trials cannot play. As the real names of the finalists will be made public, players who own free GM/WGM/IM/WIM accounts on ICC are required to use their public handles in this tournament, as opposed to anonymous accounts.

You need to use the most recent version of Blitzin (2.7) or Dasher (1.4) to play in this tournament.

Other Rules