The chess train chugs out - are you on it?

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011


Hello everyone,


This is going to be one charming chess event. A full train of chess players - 64 actually! A tournament, a journey and lots of tourism peppered with some awesome chess. Chessvibes has got a fantastic report with loads of beautiful photos.

The train goes from Prague to Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava, Krakow and back to Prague - it is arguably the most unique ever, and currently under way. The organiser is from the Czech Republic - Pavel Matocha. 

The trip goes to five beautiful Central-European cities; the chess is rapid (25 minutes on the clock for each person, no increment). The train start from Prague on Friday, October 14th at 10 am and on the way to Vienna the first 3 rounds of the tournament were played. In the afternoon and evening the players, accompanying persons, organizers and sponsors could enjoy the Austrian capital, and stayed there in a hotel. On Saturday morning the train continued to Budapest, and on Sunday morning everyone, including the author of this report, travelled further to Bratislava! Tomorrow the train is heading to Krakow and from there it goes back to Prague on Tuesday.

The rapid tournament will last fifteen rounds, with four rounds during the last two trips. Exactly 64 players participate, including the legendary Czech grandmaster Vlastimil Hort (who beat yours truly in the fourth round). The top seed, however, is Robert Cvek, who is a member of the Czech Olympiad team. Also five IMs play - the full list can be found here.

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www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

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