$25,000 Open Chess Tournament in Ho Chi Minh City from Jan 3

Chess News and Chess Trivia Blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Hi Everyone,

Hectic activity has already begun worldwide on the chess calendar for 2011. In our tournament updates here is some news about an open chess festival in Vietnam.

The $25,000 HDBank Open in Vietnam will be organized from January 3 to 10 in the beautiful Ho Chi Minh City.

Under the name Saigon, it was the capital of the French colony of Cochinchina and later of the independent state of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1975. In 1976, Saigon merged with the surrounding Gia Định Province and was officially renamed Hồ Chí Minh City (although the name Sài Gòn—formally known as District 1—is still commonly used.)

The time control would be the usual Swiss System competition of 9 rounds with 90 minutes for the whole game and an addition of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1. The interesting part is that draw offers below 30 moves shall not be allowed.

The prize fund is a nice US$25,000 with the winner getting $6,000, second place receiving $4,000 and third place receiving $3,000. The list of prizes goes on to the 20th place apart from special prizes for women and those excelling in the under-12 and under-16 age-group categories.

Grandmasters who have ratings above 2550 and Women Grandmasters who have ratings above 2350 will be provided accommodation on a twin sharing basis for the duration of the tournament.

Players and accompanying persons will be picked up at the Tan Son Nhat airport, Ho Chi Minh City and taken to the hotel by the Organizing Committee.

Last date of entries is December 10, 2010. You can find more details at the Fide website here.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com