Today: FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship Quarterfinals
On Thursday, the opening ceremony of the 2019 FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship took place live on Twitch.tv/Chess. In what resulted in four intriguing matchups, the following pairings were drawn at random to determine pairings for Day 1 of the quarterfinals, which will begin Friday, October 4 at 7 a.m. PDT (4 p.m. CEST) and will be broadcast live at Twitch.tv/Chess and Chess.com/TV.
The pairings for Day 1 are as follows with the player on the left playing with the white pieces in game 1 of the Slow Rapid segment:
Matchup 1: Peter Svidler vs. Fabiano Caruana
Matchup 2: Wesley So vs. Hikaru Nakamura
Matchup 3: Vladimir Fedoseev vs. Vidit Gujrathi
Matchup 4: Alireza Firouzja vs. Ian Nepomniachtchi
The players will play from October 4-6 with each day's play beginning at 7 a.m. pdt. A full schedule and format for the quarterfinal can be found below:
Special guests will be joining the broadcast throughout including FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich and Yasser Seirawan along with other stars.
More information on this exciting world championship can be found below.
- How to Register
- Online Qualifying Phase
- Live Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals
- Schedule
- Venue
- Participants
- Prizes
- Additional Information
How to Register1. Go to www.FRChess.com 2. In the register section, click the Non-Titled Qualifier or Titled Qualifier button 3. Register with your Chess.com Username and pay the registration fee ($5 for 2 events or $20 for all events, per stage) 4. Upon redirection, you will automatically have requested access to the private Fischer Random Qualification Club that corresponds with your registration information. 5. You will receive an email with more information including a link to the private club where qualifiers will be taking place. 6. Chess.com will approve your access and you will be able to register for qualifiers up to one hour before they begin. 7. You may choose your qualifiers on any of the 4 qualifiers happening each Sunday from April 28 to June 16 for Non-Titled players and June 30 to August 4 for Titled Players. 6. Play your best and attempt to qualify for the next round! |
Online Qualifying
Location: Chess.com
Qualifying Stage 1: Non-Titled Open Qualifying Phase
- Interested players must first create an account at Chess.com
- Players will purchase entry to Open Qualifiers on www.FRChess.com
- The price of these entries are $5 for 2 qualifiers or $20 for all qualifiers
- Players will be redirected to automatically join the private "Fischer Random Non-Titled Open Qualifier Club" on Chess.com immediately after registering
- Players will register for tournaments they are eligible to play in (please note that players who register for more than the total number of events they have paid for will be ejected from the club)
- Players will compete in a 10+2, 9-round Swiss tournament based on the set qualifying schedule, with the top 5 finishers from each winning 2 entries to qualifiers in the Titled Play-In Qualifier Phase.
- More entries may be purchased at www.FRChess.com
- The total number of qualifiers from this phase will be 160 players from 32 qualifiers.
Qualifying Stage 2: Titled Play-In Qualifier Phase
- The 160 qualifiers from the Non-Titled Open Qualifier stage will join titled players at this stage
- Players will purchase entry to Play-In Qualifiers on www.FRChess.com
- The price of these entries are $5 for 2 qualifiers or $20 for all qualifiers
- Players will be redirected to join the "Fischer Random Titled Play-In Qualifier Club" on Chess.com immediately after registering
- Players will register for tournaments they are eligible to play in (please note that players who register for more than the total number of events they have paid for will be ejected from the club)
- Players will compete in a 10+2, 9-round Swiss tournament based on the set qualifying schedule, with the top 7 finishers from each winning eligibility to purchase entries into the Knockout Qualifier Phase.
- The total number of qualifiers from this phase will be 84 players.
Qualifying Stage 3: Knockout Qualifier Phase
- The 84 qualified players will join 12 invited players at this stage
- Each player will be given a scheduled date and time based on Chess.com's seeding process and must play on that scheduled date
- The players will play in a bracket-style, single elimination tournament with a 15+2, 2-game mini-match in the Round of 16, Quarterfinal, Semifinal and Final stage of each bracket
- Only the winner will advance from the Knockout Bracket Phase to the Quarterfinals Stage 1. These 6 players will play an online Quarterfinal online.
Live Quarterfinals, Semifinals & Finals
Location: Baerum, Norway
1. Quarterfinals Stage 1
- The 6 qualifiers from the Knockout Qualifier stage will join last year's Fischer Random challenger Hikaru Nakamura and WCC challenger Fabiano Caruana in this stage
- The 8 players will be paired via drawing of lots at the live venue and will play a series of slow rapid, rapid and blitz games in match format
- Slow rapid wins count for 3 points, rapid wins count for 2 points and blitz wins count for 1 point
- The winners of each match advance to the Quarterfinals Stage 2 and the losers drop to the losers' bracket.
- The 4 players in the losers' bracket play matches based on the seeding process with the same time control as Quarterfinals Stage 1. The two winners of these matches rejoin the winners from Quarterfinal Stage 1.
- These 6 players will comprise the players competing in the Quarterfinals Stage 2.
2. Quarterfinals Stage 2
- The 6 Quarterfinals Stage 2 participants will play matches with the same time controls and point values as outlined in the Quarterfinals Stage 1.
- The 3 winners of the Quarterfinals Stage 2 matches will advance to the Semifinals to join defending champion Magnus Carlsen
3. Semifinals
- The 4 semifinalists will play matches against each other with 4 slow rapid, 4 fast rapid and 4 blitz games comprising each match
- The winner of each match advances to the finals and the loser of each will play in the third place match
4. Finals and Third Place Match
- The 2 finalists and 2 third-place match participants will play 4 slow rapid, 4 fast rapid and 4 blitz games comprising each match.
- In the event of a draw at the end of the cumulative games, a 5|4 armageddon tiebreaker will ensure to determine a winner
Schedule
Venue
The 2019 Fischer Random Championship organizers will be hosting the event at the Henie Onstad Art Center in Baerum, Norway:
Participants
The following players have accepted their invites into the 2019 Fischer Random Championship:
- Magnus Carlsen
- Hikaru Nakamura
- Fabiano Caruana
- Peter Svidler
- Wesley So
- Alireza Firouzja
- Ian Nepomniachtchi
Prizes
| Place | Prize |
| Champion | $125,000 |
| Runner-up | $75,000 |
| 3rd Place | $50,000 |
| 4th Place | $40,000 |
| Quarterfinalist | $10,000 |
| Quarterfinalist | $10,000 |
| Quarterfinalist | $10,000 |
| Quarterfinalist | $10,000 |
| Quarterfinalist | $10,000 |
On top of the $325,000 in prizes for the over-the-board portion, the qualifier portion of the 2019 Fischer Random Championship will feature a $16,000 prize fund.
Additional Information
Organizers
- Dund AS and Chess.com
Presenting Partner
- Ice Group Norway
Partners
- Chess.com, Isklar, Polar, FormFunk, NRK, Baerum Kommune
Broadcast Partners
- Twitch, NRK
Qualifying Platform and Live Game Observation
- Chess.com, Chessbomb.com
