Judit Polgar's Global Chess Festival: All The Information

The Judit Polgar Global Chess Festival 2023 (JPGCF) is a series of chess events and activities hosted by the legendary GM Judit Polgar. The festival runs across two days, October 14 and 15, with the first day happening live in Hungary and the second day happening online. The festival also features two online tournaments, one open to the public and one invitational.

Broadcast

You can watch the event's live broadcast on Chess.com/TV and on our Twitch and YouTube channels. 

Players

The festival is open for anyone to attend. Participating clubs held tournaments to decide who'd play in the #ChessConnectsUs tournament. They could sign up two players for the open and two for the scholastic section, one female and one male in each. The following google sheet lists the qualified players.

The chess Triathlon is the only invitational tournament, with confirmed participation of the following players:

• WFM Alessia Santeramo and GM David Howell (Team Crazylandia)
• WIM Zsoka Gaal and GM Ferenc Berkes (Team Mighty Fox)
• GM Miguel Illescas and IM Olga Alexandrova (Team DragonChess)
• WGM Dana Reizniece-Ozola and IM Gellert Karacsonyi (Team MagLat)

Schedule

The in-person activities of the JPGCF start on October 14 at 4 a.m. ET/10:00 CEST, while the online #ChessConnectsUs tournament happens on October 14 at 11 a.m.ET/17:00 CEST. The rest of the online portion of the festival starts on October 15 at 4 a.m. ET/10:00 CEST. Check out the full schedule below:

You can check the full schedule of the festival on its official website.

Format

The festival features a series of in-person activities (click here for more details), an online Educational Chess Sumit, and two online tournaments. Below, you can learn more about the two online tournaments:

Chess Triathlon

The Triathlon is an invitational event featuring three segments, each a round-robin. Players are divided into teams of two and earn points according to their results and are later ranked based on their total points.

Puzzle Battle

• Teams compete in Puzzle Battles.
• There are 12 Puzzle Battles in total, two per team matchup.
• Players from each team play concurrently in each matchup, with Player A battling against Player A and Player B against Player B.
• Teams earn 1 point for a Battle win and 0 for a loss.
• Battles are scored individually.

Tandem Chess

• Team members alternate moves on the same computer.
• There are five games, all in the 5+3 time control.
• Draws are not allowed before move 30.
• Teams earn 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss.

Bullet

• Teams play six rounds of 1+1 bullet games.
• There are 12 games in total, two per team matchup.
• Player A plays against Player A, and Player B plays against Player B.
• The second game in each matchup starts after the first game finishes.
• Teams earn 1 point for a win, 0.5 for a draw, and 0 for a loss.

#ChessConnectsUs Tournament

Clubs ran tournaments to determine who would play in the #ChessConnectsUs Finals. Clubs could sign up one man and one woman to the Open Finals and one boy and one girl to the Scholastic Finals. The Finals consist of an 11-round Swiss tournament in the 3+2 time control. Standard Swiss tiebreakers apply.

Prizes

The chess Triathlon counts with a $10,000 prize fund, distributed as follows:

• 1st: $4,000
• 2nd: $3,000
• 3rd: $2,000
• 4th: $1,000

Community members playing in the #ChessConnectsUs tournament can also enjoy the following prizes:

• 1st: one-year Chess.com diamond membership, plus a Chessable voucher valued at 150 euros to be redeemed for any course.
• 2nd: six-month Chess.com diamond membership, plus a Chessable voucher valued at 100 euros to be redeemed for any course.
• 3rd: three-month Chess.com diamond membership, plus a Chessable voucher valued at 50 euros to be redeemed for any course. 
• Best female player: six-month Chess.com diamond membership, plus a Chessable voucher valued at 100 euros to be redeemed for any course.
• Best U2200, U2000, U1700, U1300, and U1000: one-month Chess.com diamond membership, plus a Chessable voucher valued at 25 euros to be redeemed for any course.

Location

This year, the in-person portion of the JPGCF will happen in Polgar's hometown of Budapest, Hungary. People from all over the world will gather at the breathtaking Hungarian National Gallery to take part in the festival. The online tournaments will be played on Chess.com's servers.

Prior Events

This year's JPGCF is the festival's ninth edition. You can see the highlights of last year's festival in the video below: