The reliable and time-proven model of the Festival with closed GM tournaments Masters and Challengers, a closed Futures tournament, an Open tournament, and rating tournaments continues during this year’s 5th anniversary of the Festival. This year we shall introduce side tournaments of various models and pace, which will be held every Festival morning. 
 
One-day tournaments represent an integral part of the Prague Festival ever since the first year. This year though, players shall not rest even in the morning. Enthusiasts can test their skills in standard games such as speed chess, blitz chess, or Fischer random chess, as well as in basque chess, thematic tournaments, or popular bughouse chess, and even fans of chess composition won’t miss out. “We aim to fill literally every minute of the Festival with chess and offer the participants and visitors more opportunities to play at least several tournaments during the Festival, in times their schedule allows,“ says Petr Boleslav, the Festival Director, about the new model. Thanks to this, devotees can actively play chess every morning and enjoy the game of the leading GMs starting at 15:00 on every June afternoon of the Festival. 

Every game, every point, and every position will be crucial. Collected points for each place in the tournaments will be continuously uploaded to the Grand Prix PICF chart, which will reveal the winner on the last day of the Festival. “Every little result counts, even the successful solvers of two-movers will gain points. The new two-movers will be set every morning on the wall-mounted chessboard at the front desk,“ explains Deputy Director Petr Laušman. Thanks to the number of tournaments played throughout the entire Festival, even the Grand Prix competition may get unexpected and interesting twists. It’s quite possible that the side tournaments will lure in the top GMs from the closed tournaments who can get extra points there and improve their position in the GP. “I believe this is going to turn into a prestigious title. The participants will have the opportunity to win the Grand Prix PICF for the first time ever, and anyone can make a difference,“ says Petr Boleslav. 
 
You can find the schedule of the tournaments in the Schedule part of the website or below, the rating system is described in the Festival regulations.