ChessCube SA Open 2009
FIDE rated event over the internet!
Report by Chessdom.com

The ChessCube SA Open 2009 will take place 3-11 July, 2009. In a world
first for chess, some of the matches will be played online. This is a
format many internet chess players have been waiting for - an online
event being played simultaneously over 2 continents, yet officially
recognized and rated by FIDE!

From Melbourne, Australia, behind the computer screens will be GM
Gawain Jones (GBR, ELO 2550), IM Puchen Wang (NZL, ELO 2453), IM Mirko
Rujevic (AUS, ELO 2282), and IM Leonid Sandler (AUS, ELO 2332) on
standby. On the other end of the computer terminal at Cape Town, South
Africa, will sit their opponents (randomly paired each round).

"Having these players compete in the tournament from another location
using the Internet is a world first. Each Australian player will use a
computer to connect to ChessCube and play their game, and will be
supervised by the arbiter on that side. Similarly the players paired
against them in Cape Town will play their games online using a
computer, and will be supervised by an arbiter on this side,"
commented Mr. Mark Levitt, founder of ChessCube.

The remote players are in contention for all prize money and titles -
similar to local players. The best part of all, FIDE have agreed to
officially rate the games played over the Internet.

ChessCube powering the community and the SA Open

ChessCube as a playing platform has been bringing innovative ideas
into online chess playing for the last couple of months, turning into
one of the busiest and most populated web chess servers with player
peaks reaching over 3000 players online simultaneously, and a growing
base that has eclipsed half a million users. The platform has turned
into something that the chess world has been missing at previous
online chess communities - it is a place where one can socialize and
have fun at the same time.

Now ChessCube are taking a step further and create a tournament, part
of which will take place online, and will be officially recognized by
FIDE.

More about the SA Open

The SA Open will be an 11 round Swiss tournament using the FIDE
approved Dutch pairings. The time control will be 90 minutes for the
whole game plus an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move
one. The tiebreaks used to form the final rankings are (a) Median
Bucholz, (b) Sonneborn-Berger, (c) Performance rating, (d) Cumulative
score. The official site of the event is www.saopen2009.com

The official list of participants in Cape Town will be released soon.

Stay tuned for more information and see you online at ChessCube!
Chess news from Susan Polgar

They should have pay per view chess ...