Millionaire Chess was a company which organised the Millionaire Chess Open

chess tournament A chess tournament is a series of chess games played competitively to determine a winning individual or team. Since the first international chess tournament in London, 1851, chess tournaments have become the standard form of chess competition amo ...

. The tournament was associated with grandmaster

Maurice Ashley Maurice Ashley (born March 6, 1966) is a Jamaican-American chess player, author, and commentator. In 1999, he earned the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM), making him the first black person to do so. Ashley is well known as a commentator for hig ...

. The 2014 iteration of the tournament featured a $1,000,000 prize fund, the largest for an

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tournament at the time. Low participation, with 400 out of a desired 1000 partipants, and an inability to cover the costs of the competition, led to the third iteration in 2016 being the last running of the tournament.

Events

Millionaire Chess Open #1

The first Millionaire Chess Open took place from October 9–13, 2014 and was held at

Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino Planet Hollywood Las Vegas (formerly the Aladdin) is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Eldorado Resorts, Caesars Entertainment. The property was previously the site of an earlier resort known ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

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. The tournament consisted of six sections, Open, Under 2200, Under 2000, Under 1800, Under 1600, and Under 1400. Unrated and provisionally rated players (players with less than 26 lifetime games in any recognized rating system) were only allowed in the Open and U2200 sections. The tournament used players highest rating ever achieved starting from December 1, 2013, the date in which Millionaire #1 was announced, in order to prevent sandbagging. The winner of the Open section and recipient of the highest prize of $100,000 was Grandmaster

Wesley So Wesley Barbossa So (born October 9, 1993) is a Filipino and American chess grandmaster and 3-time U.S. Chess Champion (in 2017, 2020, and 2021). He is also a three-time Philippine Chess Champion. On the March 2017 FIDE rating list, he was ran ...

, who defeated Grandmaster

Ray Robson Ray Robson (born October 25, 1994) is an American chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2010. Robson fulfilled the requirements for the title in 2009 at the age of 14 years, 11 months and 16 days, making him the young ...

during the final round of Millionaire Monday. The third-place winner was Yu Yangyi who defeated compatriot

Zhou Jianchao Zhou Jianchao (; born June 11, 1988) is a Chinese chess player. In 2006, he became China's 21st Grandmaster at the age of 17. Zhou competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2007, 2009 and 2015. Career Zhou Jianchao learned to play chess at the ag ...

in the third place playoff. The prize fund also consisted of $40,000 for the 1st-place finishers in the U2200, U2000, U1800, and U1600 sections and $24,000 for the U1400 section.

Millionaire Chess Open #2

The second edition of the tournament took place from 8–12 October 2015 at the same location. The second edition changed the structure slightly. The U1400 and U1600 sections were merged into one and an unrated/provisional section was added. Players had to have played 50 games under a recognized rating system to play in any section other than the Open and unrated/provisional sections. Player's highest rating from December 1, 2013, and the time they registered was used to prevent sandbagging. The winner of the Open section and recipient of the highest prize of $100,000 was grandmaster

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraLê Quang Liêm Lê Quang Liêm (born 13 March 1991) is a Vietnamese chess grandmaster, the top-ranked of his country. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2006. Liêm is the current Asian champion and was the World Blitz Chess Champion in 2013. ...

in the final round of Millionaire Monday. The third-place winner was Yu Yangyi once more after defeating

Aleksandr Lenderman Aleksandr "Alex" Lenderman (born September 23, 1989) is an American chess grandmaster. He won the 2005 World Under-16 Championship in Belfort with a score of 9/10 (+8 −0 =2), becoming the first American to win a gold medal at the World Youth ...

in the third place playoff.

Millionaire Chess Open #3

On February 1, 2016, it was announced that the third edition of the tournament would take place from October 6–11 at Harrah's Resort in Atlantic City. The winner of the Open section and recipient of the highest prize of $30,000 was grandmaster

Dariusz Świercz Dariusz Świercz (born 31 May 1994) is a Polish-American chess player playing for the United States. He is the 30th- youngest player in history and the youngest Polish player of all time to qualify for the title Grandmaster; he was 14 years and ...

who defeated grandmaster

Gawain Jones Gawain Christopher Bernard Jones (born 11 December 1987) is an English chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2007. He won the British Chess Championship in 2012 and 2017. He competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2013, 20 ...

in the final round of Millionaire Monday. This also rendered as the last event of Millionaire Chess Open.

References

{{Chess tournaments Recurring sporting events established in 2014 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2016 Invitational chess tournaments 2014 establishments in the United States 2016 disestablishments in the United States