European Chess Union organises the European Online Chess Championship from 16th-31st of May 2020, through Chess.com platform.
The event will be played in 5 rating categories (according to April 2020 FIDE Rating Rapid list):
- A. 1000 – 1400
- B. 1401 – 1700
- C. 1701 – 2000
- D. 2001 – 2300
- E. 2300+
Any player belonging to one European National Chess Federation has the right to participate. Participants without a valid FIDE ID can be issued one through their National Chess Federation and will be registered to play in group A.
Registrations for each rating category can be made till two (2) days before the start of the respective qualification group at 17:00 CET. All participants (after the registration) will be allocated to the ECU Online Central Club: and the respective Club for their rating group tournament. Players shall log in to the tournament 1 hour before the start of the 1st round.
Entry fee is 5 EUR, and has to be paid (via credit or debit card) in the online registration form in Chess.com which will be opened by tomorrow.
Group only payments (at least 20 players) can also be made directly on the bank account of European Chess Union or through the PayPal account of European Chess Union. In such case a list with the names and Fide IDs of the participants and the receipt shall be sent by email to secretariat@europechess.org.
The system of play will be the Swiss System for all rating groups, with a following schedule:
>Day – 1
All groups: Qualification Stage, 7 rounds, minimum 250 qualifiers
to the final stage.
>Day – 2
Final Stage, 8 rounds, 250 players.
Rating Group 2300+
Grand Prix System (sum of points in two Swiss events of 8 games), 12 qualifiers.
Knockout Top 16 – two games 12 qualifiers + 4 invitees
Drawing of lots for the 1st game colour will be made by the Chief Arbiter.
The 4 semi-finalists will play for positions 1 – 4.
The tournament will be played with time control: 10 min + 2 sec bonus increment and the pairing system will be- FIDE Swiss / Chess.com Algorithm.
Full schedule of the event:
Top ranked players of each category will qualify for respective European Chess Championships 2020 & 2021 (Amateur, Women, Senior, Individual Open Chess Championship).
Prize list:
Detailed information about the event are available in the official invitation, which can be downloaded down bellow.