Riga Technical University Open (also RTU Open) is international "open"

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

festival, annually held in Riga, Latvia in August. It is the largest classical chess tournament in the Baltic states.

Abstract

The Riga Technical University Open is held since 2011, with the exception of the year 2020 due to global pandemic, subsequently the 10th jubilee edition followed in summer 2021. This International Chess Festival is organized by Riga Technical University in cooperation with Latvian Chess Federation and Riga Chess Federation. Founder and Tournament Director is IO Egons Lavendelis from Latvia, as a player he is also FM. Chief Arbiter of the RTU Festival is IA Alberts Cimiņš, Chief Arbiter of the Tournament A is IA Andra Cimiņa. Current venue is the ''

Ķīpsala Ķīpsala is an island on the left bank of the Daugava river, connected to Riga city center and Pārdaugava by the Shroud Bridge. Ķīpsala is divided from the rest of Riga by the Daugava in the east, '' Roņu dīķis'' in the north, '' Zund ...

'' exhibition hall in Riga, the capital of Latvia. The RTU Open has attracted thousands of chess players from over 50 countries in these years, becoming one of the biggest chess Festivals in northern Europe and in the whole continent. Additional events as GM lectures, excursions, simuls, as well as Bughouse (tandem) and Dice Chess are offered, too.

History

The first three international chess festivals (2011–2013) was held in the main building of the

Riga Technical University Riga Technical University (RTU) ( lv, Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte) is the oldest technical university in the Baltic countries established on October 14, 1862. It is located in Riga, Latvia and was previously known as 'Riga Polytechnical Ins ...

. The first and second festival included two classical chess tournaments (A for masters and B for amateurs) and a last day

blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...

tournament. The third festival included three classical chess tournaments (A for masters and B-C for amateurs). The fourth international chess festival in 2014 moved the International Exhibition Centre ''

'' where was applied to a larger number of participants. The fourth international chess festival included five classical chess tournaments (A for masters and B–E for amateurs) and a first day blitz tournament. The fifth and sixth festival was held in ''Ķīpsala'' and included four classical chess tournaments (A for masters and B–D for amateurs) and a last day blitz tournament. Overall more than 1200 participants took part in the festivals from the years 2014 to 2016.History of the festival
/ref> The seventh festival in 2017 was held in ''Ķīpsala'' and included five classical chess tournaments (A for masters and B–E for amateurs) and a last day blitz tournament. The eighth festival in 2018 was held in ''Ķīpsala'' and included five classical chess tournaments (A for masters and B–E for amateurs) and two blitz tournaments. The ninth festival in 2019 was held in ''Ķīpsala'' and included six classical chess tournaments (A for masters, Y for young chess players and B–E for amateurs), rapid chess tournament and two blitz tournaments. In 2020, the tournament did not take place due to a

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The tenth festival in 2021 was held in ''Ķīpsala'' and included four classical chess tournaments (A for masters, B&Y for young chess players and amateurs, and C&D–E for amateurs), rapid chess tournament (G) and two blitz tournaments (F and H). The eleventh festival in 2022 was held in ''Ķīpsala'' and included five classical chess tournaments (A for masters, B, C, D for amateurs and Y for young chess players), rapid chess tournament (F) and two blitz tournaments (E and G). The twelfth festival in 2023 was held in ''Ķīpsala'' and included five classical chess tournaments (A for masters, B, C, D for amateurs and Y for young chess players), rapid chess tournament (F), two blitz tournaments (E and G) and three qualifying tournaments for beginners (Q1, Q2 and Q3).

List of A tournament winners

References

External links

* Riga Technical University Open home page * Riga Technical University Open 2011 * Riga Technical University Open 2012 * Riga Technical University Open 2013 * Riga Technical University Open 2014 * Riga Technical University Open 2015 * Riga Technical University Open 2016 * Riga Technical University Open 2017 * Riga Technical University Open 2018 * Riga Technical University Open 2019 * Riga Technical University Open 2021 * Riga Technical University Open 2022 * Riga Technical University Open 2023 {{Chess tournaments Sports competitions in Riga Chess competitions Chess in Latvia Riga Technical University Summer events in Latvia