Isle of Man International Chess Tournament

This is a welcome return for the ultra-strong world championship qualifying competition whose inaugural event was held on the island in 2019. This time it is being held in the familiar surroundings of the Villa Marina on the sea front at the island’s capital Douglas, the venue which hosted five editions of the Chess.com Isle of Man Masters tournaments between 2014 and 2018 as well as the 2005 British Chess Championship.

The opening ceremony is scheduled for Tuesday 24 October, with round one starting at 14.30 GMT+1 on Wednesday 25 October. Both open and women’s tournaments consist of eleven rounds, with one rest day after the first six rounds on Tuesday 31 October and the final round 11 being played on Sunday 5 November, followed on the same day by the closing ceremony. Alan Ormsby (Isle of Man) is the tournament director, IA Alex Holowczak (England) the chief arbiter of the Grand Swiss and IA Ana Srebrnič (Slovenia) the chief arbiter of the Women’s Grand Swiss.

Once again, the event enjoys the generous patronage of the Scheinberg family, with a prize fund to the tune of US$600,000, part of a seven-figure sponsorship package. The first three prizes in the open tournament are $80,000, $60,000 and $40,000 and, in the women’s tournament, $25,000, $17,500 and $15,000 respectively, with further prizes for those finishing below the top three places.