Chess season gets underway
Over 300 players are expected to compete at the upcoming Airfficiency Year Opener Tournament hosted by the Botswana Chess Federation. The FIDE rated tourney will attract the finest and most dynamic players across the country this weekend as the new season takes off in Gaborone.
Providence Oatlhotse and Refilwe Gabatshwarwe will want to win in every manner possible; they will bring their aggressive attacks and astonishing defense. Gaining control of the chess board will be what the two defending champions of the tournament wish for.The tournament will have the FIDE rated open section which will be open to all females and male players. The FIDE rated Ladies section will only be open for female players as players have registered for both categories at a fee of P100.
Moreover, entry fee for the Under 16 category will be set at P50. However, players holding the GM, WGM, IM, WIM, FM and WFM have a personal right to enter the tournament and are always exempted from paying entry fees.Prizes at the tournament include prize monies; the overall winner in the Open section will walk away with P3000, second position will grab P2000 while third position will be awarded a P1000 cheque. Position four, five and six will get P700, P500 and P300 respectively.
In the women section the winner will get P2000 with the second spot occupant getting P1000 while the third placed player gets P700. Fourth and fifth placed players will get P500 and P300 respectively.The first round of the tournament starts on Saturday 25th January the second round, third round and the fourth round will follow suit still on the same day, round five is expected to start the following day with round six and seven following through.