Event Overview

• 12 competitors invited directly by Chess.com
• Event consists of 2 Round Robin Groups, followed by a 4 player Single Elimination Knockout Bracket
• USD $10,000 prize fund
• Each event is a 2-day tournament with two stages:

• Day 1: Group Play
• Day 2: Knockout with Semifinal and Final

• No draw offers are permitted
• Games will be played on Chess.com

Event Schedule

• Group Play - Group A: July 6 at 9 am ET / 15:00 CEST / 6:30 pm IST/ 9 pm CST
• Group Play - Group B: July 6 at 1 pm ET / 19:00 CEST / 10:30 pm IST / 1 am CST(+1)
• Knockout (Semifinals): July 7 at 11 am ET / 17:00 CEST / 8:30 pm IST / 11 pm CST

• The Semifinals may be played up to 2 hours early, if necessary, to accommodate player time zones

• Knockout (Final): July 7 at 12 pm ET / 18:00 CEST / 9:30 pm IST / 12 am CST(+1)
• Please join the Zoom 30 minutes prior to the start of your scheduled match time

Group Pairings

Key Links

• Competitive Events Policy
• Fair Play Policy
• Official Tournament Rules
• Zoom: ID: 818 0442 0237, Passcode: 545991

Group Schedules

*Player in bold plays with the white pieces*

Group Play

• 2 Round Robin groups

• 6 players per group

• Double Round Robin

• 3+1 time control

• The top 2 players of each group advance to the semifinals
• Tiebreakers

• Tiebreakers only come into play for ties involving 1st and 2nd place

• Ties involving 3rd-6th place won’t be broken and prize money will be shared equally among all tied players

• For ties involving 1st or 2nd place, players will be given a Tiebreak rank according to the following criteria, in order of priority:

• Direct encounter
• Sonneborn-Berger score
• Number of wins

• If there is a 2-way tie between 1st/2nd, the tiebreak rank determines the final standings (no additional games played). For all other ties involving 2nd/3rd place, additional tiebreaker games will be played.
• 2-way tie between 2nd/3rd: Tiebreak of two 3+1 games

• Higher tiebreak rank has choice of color for first game
• If a player reaches 1.5 points in the tiebreak, that player is the winner
• If still tied, a single bidding armageddon game will be played with a base time of 5 minutes and no increment. Bid winner has choice of color and start with time bid.

• 3-way tie:

• Single Round Robin, as follows:

• Highest tiebreak rank plays vs 2nd highest tiebreak rank and has choice of color.
• 2nd highest tiebreak rank swaps color and plays vs 3rd highest tiebreak rank.
• 3rd highest tiebreak rank swaps color and plays vs 1st highest tiebreak rank.

• If there’s still a 3-way tie, repeat this procedure.
• If there is still a 2-way tie for 2nd/3rd, a single bidding armageddon game will be played with a base time of 5 minutes and no increment. Bid winner has choice of color and starts with time bid.

• 4 or more-way tie: Single elimination bracket seeded by tiebreak rank. Each match is one 3+1 game (higher tiebreak rank has choice of color), repeated with swapped colors if drawn

Knockout Stage

• 4 player Single-Elimination Knockout
• Winner of Group A plays 2nd place of Group B
• Winner of Group B plays 2nd place of Group A
• Matches are best of 4 games with a 3+1 time control
• Higher seed (based on group stage) begins with white pieces. If same seeds meet in final, higher Chess.com blitz rating starts with white pieces
• If one player reaches 2.5 points, the match is over
• If tied 2-2, tiebreak of two 3+1 games

• The player that started the match with Black begins with the White pieces
• If a player reaches 1.5 points in the tiebreak, that player is the winner
• If still tied, a single bidding armageddon game will be played with a base time of 5 minutes and no increment. Bid winner has choice of color and starts with time bid.

Prize Fund

• USD $10,000 total prizes

Fair Play Regulations

• All players, for all games, are required to join a video conference call for monitoring by tournament officials. Match will not start until both players are on the call and proctors have finished examining players.

• Zoom: ID: 818 0442 0237, Passcode: 545991

• Players required to share their computer screen and have two cameras:

• One camera must clearly show the player’s full face and immediate surroundings beyond the player.
• The other camera should be placed behind the player diagonally, at approximately a 30-degree angle, with the player’s desk and monitor(s) clearly visible.
• One camera must have audio turned on.
• Camera may not have virtual/blurred backgrounds.
• Please rename cameras to ‘YourName-Camera-1’ and ‘YourName-Camera-2’

• Players may further be requested to submit to a Computer Inspection, an Environment Inspection, and/or a Physical Inspection at any time.
• If you would like to file a dispute, please message our Fair Play proctor directly via Zoom. Ensure you provide all relevant details during your communication.
• Headphones are not allowed for this event.
• Streaming is allowed with the following restrictions:

• If directly from a player’s perspective:

• Must have both cameras in Zoom.
• 20 second stream delay.
• Chat must be in emote-only mode.

• If not directly from the player's perspective:

• Games must be delayed by 20 seconds If games are pulled from /events, this requirement is already fulfilled.

• Exceptions to any of the streaming requirements may be made upon request AND require approval from Chess.com.

• For full details, please read our Event Streaming Guidelines