Fischer Random Championship

Come join us for an exciting Fischer Random Chess Tournament! This year’s event consists of 6 single rounds of chess with a built in “study time” to prepare for each position. This is unlike any other event in Canada and we hope to showcase the interesting games that can arise from this incredible chess variant. Conveniently, this year’s Fischer Random Championship occurs on March, 3rd, 2023, 6 days before the birthday of Bobby Fischer himself on March 9th, 1943. Come, showcase your skills, we look forward to seeing you here!

Fischer Random Chess or Chess 960 is a variant of chess, which employs the same board and pieces as standard chess, but the starting position of the pieces on the players’ home ranks is randomized. Certain restrictions apply on the randomization, preserving the dynamic nature of the game by retaining bishops of opposite colors for each player and the right to castle for both sides. The result is 960 unique possible starting positions.

In this tournament, the same starting position will be used for all games of the same round of the tournament, but for every new round of the tournament, there will be a new starting position. Positions will be displayed on demonstration boards and checked by TDs / arbiters before the round.

FORMAT AND EVENT DETAILS

WHEN: Friday, March 3rd, 7pm – 10pm.
WHERE: Hart House (7 Hart House Cir, Toronto) – East Common Room
WHAT: 6-round, single-section, single-round blitz event (Swiss) using a 5 minute + 2 second increment time control.
RATED: Unrated
ENTRY FEE: FREE for members, and $15 for non-members. Free for FMs at least 1 week before (email entry). In-person and online registration available.
PRIZE FUND: Guaranteed $300 – $100 for first, $75 second, $50 third, $25 top-woman, $25 top-unrated, $25 top-U1600.
SPECIAL PRIZES: All participants will be entered into a door prize for a HHCC t-shirt and toque.
MAXIMUM CAPACITY: 68 players
ORGANIZER: Hart House Chess Club
NOTE: chess sets and boards provided

Positions will be released via random assignment from one of the 959 different positions (we will not use the original position) at the start of each round. Players will be given 3 minutes of “study time” before the round.