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Virginia Beach hosts the Millennium Chest Festival 2005
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Challenging the mind while still having fun in the sun!
Grandmasters from around the world are among those scheduled to compete at the 5th Annual Millennium Chess Festival at the Virginia Beach oceanfront. This chess tournament has truly become international in scope with additional players from around the world to be announced closer to the event.
17 year-old U.S. Chess Champion Hikaru Nakamura and world women’s top-ranked Grandmaster Susan Polgar have agreed to play a unique exhibition game during the festival. In the Grandmaster Dinner/Exhibition Match, two grandmasters play each other from separate rooms. They explain their strategies and field questions from spectators in each room as they play.
GM Susan Polgar was a child prodigy in her native Hungary, and became the first woman to earn the men’s chess Grandmaster title. Susan became the Women’s World Champion in the 1990’s before retiring to have a family. Now a U.S. citizen, she returned to chess in 2004 to lead the U.S. in the prestigious world chess team Olympiad. GM Hikaru Nakamura won the U.S. Chess Championship last month at age 16. He is now ranked in the world’s top 100 players. Known for his aggressive and imaginative play, many experts regard him as the first home-grown American since Fischer to have a chance to one day make a run for the world championship.
This unique event has become a wildly popular component of the Millennium Chess Festival. The match and dinner will be held Saturday night, February 26, beginning at 7:30pm. Tickets are $15 per person; $10 for under 12.
Almost 300 players compete in the tournament each year. This year, players will compete for over $18,000 in cash prizes. The entry fee for players registering before January 20 is $70. After that date, the entry fee is $90. The Fischer-Random Blitz Chess Tournament, an exciting speed-chess tournament to be held at 10:00pm on Saturday night, features $800 in cash prizes. The entry fee is $20.
The Millennium Chess Festival is held at the Ramada Plaza Resort Oceanfront, located at 5700 Atlantic Avenue at the Virginia Beach oceanfront.
Except for the Grandmaster Dinner/Exhibition Match, the Millennium Chess Festival is FREE for spectators. To register as a player, visit the official Web site at www.geocities.com/millenniumchessfestival
Schedule of events:
Friday, February 25, 2005
7:00pm, Round 1
Saturday, February 26, 2005
9:30am, Round 2
1:30pm, Susan Polgar lecture
2:30pm, Round 3
7:30pm, Grandmaster Exhibition Match and dinner
10:00pm, Fischer-Random Blitz Chess Tournament
Sunday, February 27, 2005
9:30am, Round 4
2:25pm, Raffle Prize Show
2:30pm, Round 5
7:00pm, Awards Ceremony
Be sure to check back with virginiabeach.com for more information on next year's festival!
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