Play For Russia 2020

At the initiative of the strongest Russian GMs, the Chess Federation of Russia, the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation, the Timchenko Foundation, the Ramax group of companies and Gazprombank (Switzerland) will co-support the first online charity tournament titled Play for Russia. The event is scheduled for May 12-14. The tournament will be played on Lichess.org.

The prize pool will be shared among regional hospitals and health workers fighting the COVID-19 epidemic. The participants will determine beforehand the amount and recipients of the donation, depending on the needs of a particular institution. The entire prize fund is distributed equally among the regions, regardless of the final standings.

Participants:
Vladimir Kramnik (Krasnodar Krai)
Ian Nepomniachtchi (Bryansk region)
Alexander Grischuk (Moscow)
Sergey Karjakin (Crimea)
Peter Svidler (St. Petersburg)
Evgeny Tomashevsky (Saratov region)
Ernesto Inarkiev (Caucasus)
Alexander Riazantsev (Ural and Siberia)

The tournament will be a double round-robin event featuring 5 minutes per game plus a 2-second increment per move. The GMs will first play the round-robin part to reveal the strongest four to qualify into a knockout play-off.

Tournament Schedule:
May 12 – first half (7 rounds)
May 13 – second half (7 rounds)
May 14 - semifinals and a final.

Games start at 05:00 Pacific / 08:00 Eastern / 14:00 CEST / 15:00 Moscow.