Good news for the forever youthful chess players who will surpass the half decade mark by 31st December 2020.

It is with great pleasure to announce that the ASIAN Chess Federation (ACF) will be organizing another first ever ASIAN Seniors Online Chess Championship 2020 which is scheduled to be held from 13th to 21st July 2020. Open to all Chess Federations residing in ASIAN Zones 3.1 to 3.7, players who are above the age of 50 and 65 as of 31st December 2020 are invited to take part in this inaugural event regardless of rating and title. The only compulsory condition that the organizer requires is that each player must have a valid FIDE ID in order to play in the event.

Whist there is no limit to the number of players that can participate from a Federation, Malaysian players who are interested to take part are required to contact the MCF Secretary at mcfsecretariat@malaysiachess.org to inform and confirm their intention to participate. As per previous Online events organized by ACF, all games will be played via www.chess.com online platform and players are required to register their real name in their playing profile in order to be eligible to play. Players are also required to set up a smart device behind them while playing throughout the tournament in order to allow the Arbiter to view their surrounding. The organizer has also made additional procedural improvement which will now require players to switch on the webcam on their respective laptop in order to ensure that they are always seated during the game and that their vision is always focused on the game.

For this championship, the same time control of 10 minutes plus 2 seconds increment will also be used. Events will be divided into a Qualifying round of 7 rounds Swiss for each of the zone, and the top players will then move to the Final round of 9 rounds Swiss to determine the champions. As Malaysia is grouped in Zone 3.3 – the biggest group with 17 countries consisting mainly of ASEAN countries including Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei, the Qualifying round will be contested on 15th July 2020 between 10:00am to 4:00pm UAE Time (i.e. 2:00pm and 8:00pm Malaysian Time). The final rounds for the above 65 category has been set for 20th July 2020 and the final rounds for the above 50 category will be held a day later on 21st July 2020.

A total prize fund of USD 3,000 are up for grabs with a USD 500 first prize for the Over 50 category and USD 350 first prize for the Over 65 category. A special prize for the Over 50 and Over 65 Best Women category are also being offered at USD 300 and USD 100 respectively.

Full list of the prizes offered are as follows:

Over 50
First US$500, Second US$400, Third US$300, Fourth US$200, Fifth US$150, Sixth US$150
Over 65
First US$350, Second US$200, Third US$150, Fourth US$100, Fifth US$100
Best Women
Over 50 US$300, Over 65 US$100

Closing date for Malaysian to submit their names to MCF is 4th July 2020 and the closing date for the tournament is 6th July 2020. Those who would like to learn more about the event, please click HERE to read the tournaments regulations