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ACP World Rapid Cup Blog
Jan. 5th, 2007
03:30 pm - Day 1 Photos
Lack of space did not offend the presidents
Sitting back to the ACP logo
Carol singers
A few familiar faces in the hall
Attentive listeners
Live music was played for the whole evening
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov enjoyed chatting with Victor Korchnoi
01:31 pm - Blogger - Misha Savinov
Yesterday was quite a busy day with Kirsan's press conference as well as the colorful opening ceremony (with nice dinner afterwards). Kirsan came out with the idea to count all tournaments for ratings, which means literally all - blitz, rapid, low rated (the limit goes down to 1000 points). He also said that the rematch between Kramnik and Topalov is not yet discussed, as the Bulgarians did not send the required bank guarantee, $1.5M. He does not believe (in-quotes, I guess) in the ABC interview.
I'll upload a couple of photos as soon as I'll be able to - the match between Leko and Sokolov starts in half an hour.
Jan. 4th, 2007
03:39 pm - Blogger - Misha Savinov
Hello there! I am already in Odessa, arrived yesterday evening. The weather here is nice and sunny, though a bit chilly, maybe +2 C. The opening ceremony takes place today at 6 pm (remember Odessa time zone is +2 GMT), the pictures and the story should appear at the official website. Most of the participants have arrived, talked to Naiditsch and Gelfand, saw Ivanchuk and Bareev. I was told that Kirsan is also in Odessa - he is expected to attend the opening ceremony.
Cheers,
M.
The venue - 4-star Londonskaya hotel with a tournament banner
Dec. 6th, 2006
05:34 am - The event
The current blog is created for the First ACP World Rapid Cup, which takes place on January 4-8 in Odessa, Ukraine. 16 players who were on top of the ACP Tour rankings of the last two seasons join a knock-out event fighting for the $40,000 first prize. The PIVDENNY bank sponsors the event.
The regulations are quite simple. 8 players will be seeded. Each stage consists of two rapid games, our definition of rapid being 20 minutes plus 5 seconds per move. In case of a tie, two blitz games (3 minutes plus 2 seconds) are arranged. As usual, 2-2 ties come to the ultimate game with White having 5 minutes against Black's 4 and draw odds. All games are played under Corsican rule - draw offers are forbidden.
The prize money is distributed as follows:
$4,000 to each player eliminated in the 1st round;
$6,000 to each player eliminated in the quarter-final;
$10,000 to each player eliminated in the semi-final;
$20,000 to the runner-up;
$40,000 to the winner.
The schedule:
January 4
6 p.m.: Opening Ceremony at the Londonskaya Hotel
January 5
Round 1, matches 1-4
January 6
Round 1, matches 5-8
January 7
Quarterfinals
January 8
Semifinals
Final
9 p.m.: Closing ceremony at the Londonskaya Hotel
Misha Savinov