Gulf Times
Qatar Chess Federation (QCF) in co-operation with the Cultural Village Foundation – Katara will hold the second edition of the $12,800 Katara International Chess Tournament 2021 (Online Bullet Tournament) from June 20 to 23.
World champion Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, who won the 2020 tournament defeating American Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky, has confirmed his participation once again along with many other stars.
Speaking of the widely gaining event, Prof Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti, General Manager of the Cultural Village Foundation – Katara, said: “Through this tournament Katara as a cultural institution, confirms its keenness to support sports activities and local and international championships which reflect our country’s interest in sport. The organisation of this tournament online emerged following the State’s precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19). We are confident that this edition too will see a world-class tournament worthy of its success as in the last year.”
Mohamed al-Madhahka, President of Qatar Chess Federation, stressed that the Katara International Chess Tournament is of great importance to all participants, and it also emphasises the great co-operation between QCF and Katara Cultural Village Foundation. Appreciating its efforts to sponsor the activities of QCF, al-Mudahka pointed out that the federation looks forward to this type of partnership with national institutions to contribute to the spread of the culture of chess in Qatar.
Husain Aziz, the Tournament Director, said that the competitions organised in co-operation with Katara Cultural Village Foundation enjoy important participation from the world’s top ranked players, as evidenced by the participation of GM Magnus Carlsen (the current World Chess Champion, World Rapid Chess Champion, and World Blitz Chess Champion) for the second time in a row, in addition to the confirmation of many International Grandmasters. Aziz indicated that all participants must abide by all rules, policies and rules of fair play, and the final list of qualified players for the finals shall be announced after the issuance of the final report of the Anti-cheating and Fair Play Committee.
The Katara International 2021 Online Bullet Tournament will start at 1600hrs Doha Time on June 20 and will continue until June 23 in accordance with the remote playing system via the lichess.org website with the “Bullet” chess system where players are free to join and participate in any time zone they prefer.
The points are calculated in the classic way so that the winner gets a point, while a draw gets half a point while the loser gets nothing. The tournament will be played in two preliminary and final stages.
The match will be won as soon as a player scores 6.5 points. In the event of a tie 6-6, the players must play until the first win.
The tournament management has also decided to hold qualifying stages On June 20, independent qualifying sessions will be held each lasting 90 minutes with the best 7 players from each session qualifying for the final rounds with two players joining based on qualification cards from FIDE to the organising country.
In the event that a player reaches the top seven in two or more qualifying sessions, the session in which he reached the highest final ranking will be retained and his other results will be disregarded. Tournament rules require a player to have played at least 30 ranked roles on lichess.org