Nakamura Wins 1st ICC Open
The world #8 (and now #6 on the live ratings), GM Hikaru Nakamura of the USA made a triumphant return to his first love of online blitz at the weekend by winning the first prize of $600 in the 1st ICC Open.
Nakamura won the first of the four online qualifiers to be the top-seed and hot favorite in the eight-player knockout final that also included (in ICC blitz rating order) GM Simonian Hrair (Armenia), GM Eduardo Iturrizaga (Venezuela), GM Robert Hovhannisyan (Armenia), GM Dmitry Andrekin (Russia), GM Dmitry Bocharov (Russia), FM Conrad Holt (USA), and IM Levon Altounian (USA).
Nakamura - who played from Madrid, Spain, as he was en route to Romania for the upcoming Bazna tournament - easily progressed to the final by beating Hovhannisyan and Altounian. And he looked set for a comfortable win in the final against Hrair, but the young Armenian fought back to tie the pulsating match at 3-3. But Nakamura had more than just a little luck on his side as he went on to win the best-of-two-game tiebreaker to take the title by 4.5-3.5
A record-breaking 2,216 ICC members took part in the 1st ICC Open (Q1, 661; Q2, 441; Q3, 643; Q4, 471) that also included class prizes for those rated U2200, U2000, U1800 and U1600, the prize-winners of which will be announced shortly.
Results
Class Prizes Winners
1st = $400, 2nd = $200, 3rd = 1-year free ICC membership
Qualifier-1 | Manager: Kiebitz | Friday
| N |
ICC Username |
Real name |
Rating |
Score |
#g |
S.O.S. |
Opp.Rating |
| 1 |
CapilanoBridge |
GM Hikaru Nakamura |
3410 |
10.0 |
11 |
82.5 |
2600 |
| 2 |
Nichega |
GM Dmitry Bocharov |
2991 |
9.0 |
11 |
81.0 |
2486 |
|
, June 3 | 15:00 EDT | 661 players
Qualifier-2 | Manager: Lisebeth | Friday, June 3 | 20:00 EDT | 441 players
| N |
ICC Username |
Real name |
Rating |
Score |
#g |
S.O.S. |
Opp.Rating |
| 1 |
Iturrizaga |
GM Eduardo Iturrizaga |
3268 |
10.0 |
11 |
85.0 |
2707 |
| 2 |
EREBUNI |
GM Simonian Hrair |
3293 |
9.5 |
11 |
81.5 |
2599 |
|
Qualifier-3 | Manager: Kiebitz | Friday, June 4 | 15:00 EDT | 643 players
| N |
ICC Username |
Real name |
Rating |
Score |
#g |
S.O.S. |
Opp.Rating |
| 1 |
ARMCOMPOSER |
GM Robert Hovhannisyan |
3257 |
10.5 |
11 |
85.5 |
2694 |
| 2 |
Albert |
IM Levon Altounian |
2787 |
10.0 |
11 |
77.5 |
2479 |
|
Qualifier-4 | Manager: KingsRook12 | Friday, June 4 | 20:00 EDT | 471 players
| N |
ICC Username |
Real name |
Rating |
Score |
#g |
S.O.S. |
Opp.Rating |
| 1 |
Darnoc
|
FM Conrad Holt |
2873 |
10.0 |
11 |
83.0 |
2377 |
| 2 |
Vladimirovich |
GM Dmitry Andreikin |
3213 |
10.0 |
11 |
82.5 |
2569 |
|
The time control will be 3 0 throughout the whole tournament.
Schedule
There will be four qualifiers. You can play in as many qualifiers as you like. All qualifiers will have 11 rounds, swiss pairings. The games are rated in the Blitz category. Latejoining is possible until round 8, but half point byes are only available for the first five rounds.
- Qualifier 1: Friday, June 3, at 3pm
- Qualifier 2: Friday, June 3, at 8pm
- Qualifier 3: Saturday, June 4, at 3pm
- Qualifier 4: Saturday, June 4, at 8pm
- Finals : Sunday, June 5, at 3pm
All times are server time (EDT, New York Time, UTC/GMT -5 hours). Type "date" on ICC and compare to your local time.
Tournament system
The top two players from each of the four qualifiers will 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" (when connected to our server).
Players can take part in all qualifiers if they want to. In case a player who is already qualified reaches
the top two in another qualifier, his/her seat will be awarded to the next best player.
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: 1-8, 4-5, 2-7, 3-6.
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, another two games follow, and in case it goes to 4-4 then the
tournament director will determine colors in a single, decisive game to follow by tossing a coin. Should that
game be drawn, another game with opposite colors will be played. If drawn again, the procedure will be repeated.
In the final of the last two, the match will have six games. Again, if the match is tied 3-3, another two games
will be played, and if still tied, yet another two games. Should the final be at 5-5 after ten games, a single
decisive game will be played, with colors determined by coin toss. See above for the case that single game is
drawn.
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).
Prizes in Open
- 1st $ 600
- 2nd $ 300
- 3rd/4th $ 100 each
There will be no match to decide third place, both losing semifinalists receiving $100.
Class Prizes
There will be no final for the classes (U2200, U2000, U1800, U1600). Instead, the winners of the cash prizes
will be determined by comparing their respective best qualifier. For each class, the prizes are:
- 1st $400
- 2nd $200
- 3rd 1-year free ICC membership
The following tiebreaker will be used to determine the winners:
- Score (in the best qualifier played)
- Average score of opponents played (in that best qualifier)
- Own blitz rating at start of the best qualifier, lower wins.
(1), (2) and (3) will be used as reported by the tournament bot after the qualifier finishes.
In the unlikely case that there is still a tie after those tiebreaks, prizes will be split.
How to take part
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.
During the tournament, the standings and pairings will be available at websites which will be
communicated after the start by the tournament manager. Those sites show updated info when the refresh
button is pressed.
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 a recent version of Blitzin, Dasher or ICC for Mac to play in this tournament.
Tournament system
In order to prevent abuse of any type, ICC will implement strict rules regarding class prize eligibility.
Please understand that in any case, the decision by ICC management regarding this is FINAL and cannot be appealed.
By entering the tournament, you acknowledge that you have read and understood these rules:
1. You can win only one class prize.
One player only wins the highest prize he achieves in any class he is eligible to. In case there are two prizes
in the same amount a player could win, he wins the one in the highest rating class. To illustrate this, consider
the following order:
Player Rating Best Score
Player A 1950 8.0
Player B 2100 7.5
Player C 2150 7.0
Player D 1850 6.5
Here, Player A would be eligible to win the first prize in U2200 and U2000. He receives the first prize in U2200,
and is disregarded in the U2000 standings. Player B thus finishes second in U2200, Player C finishes third in U2200,
and Player D wins U2000. In contrast, in this situation:
Player Rating Best Score
Player B 2100 8.0
Player A 1950 7.5
Player C 2150 7.0
Player D 1850 6.5
Player B here wins U2200, and Player A, although second in U2200, is disregarded in that class, as he wins U2000.
Player C finishes second in U2200 and Player D finishes second in U2000.
2. Your blitz rating must be below the class limit at both the start of the qualifier and the reference date.
In order to minimize abuse, ICC requires that in order to be eligible for a class, the rating of a player must
have been below the class limit not only when the tournament is played but also immediately before this tournament
was announced, at the reference date. The reference date is May 15, 2011. Please note that this implies that your account must
have existed on the reference date in order to be eligible for any class prizes.
3. You must have played at least 100 rated games in the Blitz category before the start of your qualifier.
4. Your best (Blitz) rating must not be more than 200 points over the class limit.
Best ratings achieved more than 3 years ago are disregarded for this rule. Instead, a best rating from within the last
3 years, as determined by the rating graph, will be used to establish eligibility. On the other hand, all best ratings
you have achieved on previous accounts used by you in the past 3 years do count. Example: You are rated 1650,
your best rating is 1950, but on another account you have achieved 2050 two years ago. You will not be eligible
for the U1800 class (but might still be eligible for the U2000 class).
5. You are ineligible for ANY class prizes, if you have abused the rating system within the last 12 months.
On top of (2) through (5), note that ICC management reserves the right to declare any player ineligible for a
certain class. Their reasoning need not be given, and there is no appeals process. We appreciate the cooperation
of all participants in keeping this contest friendly, honorable, and running smoothly.
Cash prizes will be paid by check. Other payment methods may be possible, but require the approval of ICC.
Other Rules
Use of computer chess engines and databases while playing is strictly prohibited. Assistance from other players
is also prohibited.
Only regular ICC accounts are allowed in the tournament (no free trials). During the tournament, a recent
version of Blitzin, Dasher or ICC for Mac must be used. A player must not enter the tournament on more than one handle,
or risk being forfeited on both handles. 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 playing with anonymous accounts.
ICC reserves the right to use image and name of winner(s) from their online events for publicity purposes.
The ICC tournament directors may at their discretion make a ruling on a particular game, eject a player from
a tournament, or refuse to allow a player to join a tournament for any reason including but not limited to:
failure to show up on time or to start a game on time, concern that the player's internet connection is not
reliable enough for the game to finish in a timely manner, suspicion of chess computer use, suspicion that a
player is receiving assistance, suspicion that a player has used multiple accounts during the tournament, or
the fact that this player has been caught violating ICC rules in the past.
Participants are expected to use the same computer during the whole tournament.
In case a player is disqualified from the tournament, the ICC tournament directors can, at their discretion,
rule that the game of that player in the running round is lost for him, and won for his opponent. However,
results by that player in prior rounds will not be reverted.
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