the fifth shenzhen international chess tournament, a free, large-scale public event especially for foreigners in shenzhen, will be held at a square in front of shenzhen book city cbd on saturday.
all chess players of any nationality and of any skill-level are welcome to join in on the fun organized by the shenzhen chess academy and hanbridge mandarin language school.
they will be divided into adult and children divisions based on age. the tournament will operate in six rounds according to the swiss system (non-knockout and six games for all players).
each round will last 60 minutes with 30 minutes being allotted to each contestant. players exceeding 30 minutes lose automatically.
"the tournament is like a party and becomes better year after year," liu shilan, head of the shenzhen chess academy, said during a recent interview.
liu was a seven-time champion of the china national women's championships.
this year's tournament is believed to be more attractive because grandmasters ye jiangchuan and liu have been invited to play with contestants.
daniel lam of hong kong, last year's overall champion, said he was attracted by the friendly atmosphere of the tournament with many good players from various countries around the world. the event is good at promoting the values of cultural exchange through chess.
cyril anicete from the philippines, a creative manager dealing in christmas and halloween products, also played last year, taking fifth place.
"i liked the tournament because it was well-organized, and a lot of sponsors provided special prizes and memorabilia," he said. "i think the best part was the group picture and the catalogue with the pictures of all the participants. i will continue to join the event and i absolutely recommend it to fellow chess players."
simon bezian from canada, who has signed up for the contest this year, said he hoped he could make some friends with the same interests.
