Daniel Anwuli, an “International Master (IM)”, is the only Nigerian among 128 players from across the globe that will feature in the 2019 Chess World Cup in Russia.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Anwuli is the only qualified player from Nigeria according the World Chess Federation (FIDE) website on Friday.
The Chess World Cup 2019, a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament, will hold in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia between Sept. 9 and Oct. 4, 2019.
The tournament’s finalists will qualify for the Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship 2020.
NAN also reports that the tournament is a seven-round knock-out event. The matches from round 1 to round 6 consists of two classical games with a time control of 90 minutes per 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move.
The finals and the match for the third place consist of four classical games.
If the score is tied after the classical games, rapid and, if necessary, blitz tie breaks are played the next day.
Two games are played with a time control of 25 minutes per game plus 10 seconds increment.
In the case of a tie, they are followed by two games with a time control of 10 minutes per game plus 10 seconds increment.
If the score is still tied, two blitz games of 5 minutes plus 3 seconds increment follow with a sudden death game is played to decide the winner.
The player who wins the drawing of lots may choose the colour. White has 5 minutes per game and Black has 4 minutes, with an increment of 2 seconds per move starting from move 61.
White needs a win to advance to the next round. The two top finishers who have not secured qualification for the Candidates Tournament get a spot in that tournament.
Each of the first six rounds takes three days: one day each for the two regular time limit games, then the third day for tie breaks if required.
The final round has four days of regular time limit games, then the fifth day for tiebreaks if required.
The total prize fund is 1,600,000 dollars (about N56 million) with the first prize being 110,000 dollars (about N3.9 million).
