The Charity Chess Cup 2022, the 2nd event on the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, starts this Saturday March 19th as a @UNICEF fundraiser for children and their families in and around Ukraine.
Charity Cup is the second tournament of the Meltwater Champions Tour 2022. Sixteen of the best chess players on the planet will compete – and all of them will be encouraged to donate part of their winnings. However, for the first time in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour there will be no Russian players due to the on-going situation in Ukraine. Three Russian Grandmasters had pre-qualified from the previous event, the Airthings Masters. Russia’s number 1 Ian Nepomniachtchi was among them.
Magnus Carlsen, the reigning World Champion, 2021 Tour Champion and winner of the first event of the 2022 Tour, will return along with a total of six national number 1s. The fascinating line-up also features Tour debutant and Hungary’s top star Richard Rapport, the winner of the recent FIDE Grand Prix and a player chess fans have been calling for. There will be two female players taking part – Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun returns along with debutant Lei Tingjie.
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Play Magnus Group believes that sports, and chess in particular, can play a significant role in offering unity by bringing people to the table, physically, virtually, and metaphorically.
Still, based on the situation in Ukraine, after careful consideration the Tour has decided not to include any Russian players for the tournament starting on March 19.
As a global organization serving millions of chess fans around the world, we are humbled to be in a position to organize our upcoming tournament, the Charity Cup, as a fundraiser for UNICEF to support their vital humanitarian activities in and around Ukraine.
Andreas Thome, CEO Play Magnus Group
UNICEF provides life-saving support for children and their families in and around Ukraine, and the Tour wholeheartedly supports their humanitarian work.
While the Charity Cup will be held to benefit UNICEF, it will be as competitive as ever with $120,000 to $150,000 at stake.
Two other players making their first appearance on the Tour are the Czech number 1 David Navara and Poland’s number 2 Radoslaw Wjojtaszek.
Busy schedule for David Navara: top seeded at EICC 2022 (participants) and Prague Chess Festival 2022
The Englishman Gawain Jones and the exciting Dutchman Jorden van Foreest also return.
India is represented strongly by Vidit Gujrathi, Pentala Harikrishna and the teen sensation Praggnanandhaa.
Eric Hansen and Hans Neimann, two players who put in strong performances in the Airthings Masters, return along with China’s number 1 Ding Liren and Vietnam’s Liem Quang Le. Spanish Champion David Anton completes the line-up.
As normal, the seven-day Regular stage will be a round-robin event with $750 available to win for every game played and an extra $25,000 to add to the pot for the winner.
Coverage will be provided by chess24 and available on Play Magnus Group channels and in several languages. In Norway, the event will be broadcast live on TV 2. Chessdom will also cover Charity Cup with live games, updates, and daily news.
Tune in at 17:00 UTC / 18:00 CET on March 19 for the start of the Charity Cup.
