Memorial tournament in Kazakhstan | ChessBase

Tournaments and Conditions of Play

Dates: May 23 (arrival day) – June 3 (departure day), 2024
Venue: ACE Tennis Club, Mangilik El Street 2, Aktobe, Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is the world’s ninth-largest country by land area, with a population of 20 million. Aktobe has a population of over 550,000. Click map to enlarge.

The ACE Tennis Club in Aktobe, where the Tournament will take place

The chess festival consists of a Masters and an Open Tournament. The tournaments are conducted according to the Swiss system in 9 rounds, following FIDE rules, and are rated by FIDE. Time controls are: 90 minutes per game, with an addition of 30 seconds per move. Offering a draw before the 30th move is prohibited. Anti-cheating control will be conducted in accordance with FIDE Anti-Cheating regulations, with standard protection level. A 15-minute broadcast delay will be applied.

All players are required to adhere to a dress code (business casual, smart casual; shorts and flip-flops are not allowed). Smoking in the playing hall is prohibited. A player who has finished their game is considered a spectator and must leave the tournament hall.

Participants and Tournament Fee

The maximum number of participants is 250 people. Priority is given to those who applied
earlier. Players meeting the following requirements are eligible to participate:

• Masters Tournament (limit 100 participants): Elo 2400 and above (men) and 2200 as of May 1, 2024 have no entry fee. Players without a title, Elo 2400 and above: 50,000 KZT.
• Open Tournament (limit 150 participants): Elo 2000-2299 pay 25,000 KZT; Elo 1800-1999 30,000 KZT.

Note that the conversion rate is around 450 Kazakhstani Tenge for one US dollar. So 25,000 KZT translates to approximately $56. Applications for participation in the tournaments are accepted on the KCF https://kazchess.kz/pay until May 1, 2024.

Prizes

The main prizes for the Masters Tournament amount to 40,200,000 KZT. First prize is 9,000,000 KZT, or US $20,000, 2nd place $15,600, 3rd place $11,100 … all the way down to 18th place: $900. There are additional prizes of 4,800,000 KZT for best result among women ($2,400, 1,700 and 1,300) and best result among Kazakhstani players (1 million KZT, 700,000 KZT).

The guaranteed prize fund for the Open Tournament is 4,550,000 KZT, with first place receiving the equivalent of $2,200, second place $1,600, third place $1,100 … down to $200 for seventh place. There are additional prizes totalling 1,500,000 KZT for the the best results among women, best results among veterans born in 1964 and older, best result among boys under 14 years old, best result among girls under 14 years old, best result among boys under 10 years old, best result among girls under 10 years old.

The tournament’s prize fund is calculated in KZT, the amount in US $ is given according to the exchange rate of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan as of the date the regulation was signed (March 20, 2024).

Bibisara Assaubayeva is a Kazakhstani player to watch out for. The two-time world blitz chess champion (2021, 2022) emerged victorious in the ninth online Swiss Queens Wednesday tournament, held as part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of FIDE. Bibisara scored 10.5 points out of 11 possible, surpassing her nearest competitors by a full two points.

Application for hospitality

This must be sent to assem.k@kazchess.kz. The organizer will accept a limited number of applications for hospitality. Flight tickets are purchased by the organizing committee, if the athlete has purchased tickets independently, the organizing committee reserves the right to refuse reimbursement. Hospitality is provided to no more than two athletes from one country. Submitting an application does not guarantee automatic receipt of hospitality.

Contact Information

Vladimir Dvorkovich

Vladimir Yakovlevich Dvorkovich was a Russian International Arbiter, Executive Secretary of the Soviet Federation (1982-1984), Chairman of the board of Arbiters of the Russian Chess Federation, Statistician and journalist. A member of the Garry Kasparov’s team during world championship matches vs. Anatoly Karpov, he developed also a new system of rating calculation, which was used by PCA.

Vladimir Dvorkovich was the father of Arkady Dvorkovich, the Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation and the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Russian chess federation.

Aktobe was chosen as the venue of the Memorial not by chance. It was here that young Vladimir Yakovlevich was posted after graduating from college, and the place her managed to contribute to the development of local talents.