First Saturday

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First Saturday ( Hungarian : Első Szombat; in German: First Saturday ) is the name of the monthly chess tournaments that have been held in Budapest since 1992 . The primary goal is to offer the possibility emerging chess talents, their Elo rating to improve and track standards to achieve.

Tournaments

The tournaments have a guaranteed master level to enable compliance with the standards for FIDE titles. In general, there is one Grandmaster , one IM and two FIDE Masters tournaments every month with the exception of January, with around 60 players from over 10 associations. Rapid chess tournaments are also organized. The Sofia rule has been in effect since October 2016 ; a draw before move 30 is prohibited.

organization

The tournaments are initiated and directed from the start by László Nagy, "Mr. First Saturday", as he is called. He says about his motivation:

“I love chess. If people love chess, I love them; and they love me. People know that they can approach me with any sort of inquiry (...), even outside of the sphere of chess. I have witnessed chess organizers who come on the first day of the tournament to collect the entry fees and then disappear. But human beings need communication. When people cannot talk about their concerns, they become frustrated (...). "

“I love chess. If people love chess, I love them; and they love me. People know that they can come to me with any matter (...), even outside the world of chess. I've seen chess organizers show up on the first day of the tournament, collect the entry fees, and then disappear again. But human beings need communication. When people can't talk about their worries, they get frustrated (...). "

- László Nagy : en.chessbase.com

Nagy received the title International Chess Organizer (IO) at the FIDE Congress Calvia 2004 ( Spain ) and is a member of the Fide Organizers' Committee . "This gives us a great responsibility, as we want to fully comply with the FIDE organization rules so that the participants can enjoy the best organized tournaments." ( László Nagy : http://firstsaturday.hu/info.htm )

history

When Nagy was still serving in the Hungarian Army in 1989, he was asked to accompany a team of young chess players to a tournament in Vilnius , Lithuania (then the Soviet Union ). There he befriended Fedor Scriptchenko, a high member of the Moldovan Chess Federation. He had the idea to offer a tournament in Chisinau , Moldova on the 15th of every month and suggested a partnership to Nagy. But it wasn't until three years later that Nagy was ready to give up his military career to concentrate on organizing chess tournaments. He considered Chisinau to be unfavorable due to the political situation and decided in favor of Budapest as the venue out of a love of home. He set the first Saturday of the month as the regular start date, which also meant that the name First Saturday was quickly found; "The name sounded memorable enough for marketing purposes" ( László Nagy :)

family

Nagy's wife Ilona is primarily responsible for communication and visa matters for foreign players. The son Tamas manages the homepage of the event.

financing

Most of the income is generated by the players' entry fees, which meanwhile also premiums can be denied for players with titles whose participation is indispensable for the possibility of standard compliance.

The event receives a symbolic grant of 500 euros annually from the Budapest city council. There are some smaller sponsors, such as restaurants, that contribute by donating food. In the first year Nagy went out of business with a loss, in the second he closed without a profit but also without a loss and from the third year he was gradually able to support his family through the events.

referee

The international chess referee IM Miklos Orso acts as referee . FIDE referee Lyudmila Barishnikova from Azerbaijan developed the norm for international referee with her support in the December 2009 tournament .

Famous participants

Famous Hungarian chess players who have achieved grandmaster standards here include Péter Lékó , Ferenc Berkes , Péter Ács and Csaba Balogh . International players reached here standards, such as the future world champion Magnus Carlsen from Norway, Hikaru Nakamura from the USA, Vasily Jemelin and Alexander Wolschin from Russia , Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn and Đào Thiên Hải from Vietnam , Qadir Huseynov and Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan , Eran Liss , Emil Sutovsky and Evgeny Postny from Israel , Vadim Milov from Switzerland or Jiří Štoček from the Czech Republic .

Several participants temporarily made Budapest their home because of the First Saturday tournaments, including IM Jelena Dembo , IM Vasik Rajlich and IM William Paschall from the USA, IM WGM Iweta Rajlich from Poland, the German IM Dimo Werner , the Austrian IM Walter Wittmann and the British Mark Lyell. The Vietnamese grandmasters Cao Sang and Hoàng Thanh Trang are now even playing under the Hungarian flag.

In 2010, players from Nigeria participated for the first time, Olape Bunmi and Agu Uche.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Mr. "First Saturday" - Laszlo Nagy in Budapest (English), accessed on March 22, 2017
  2. ↑ a b First Saturday Homepage (English), accessed on March 24, 2017
  3. ↑ a b First Saturday Homepage - Info (English), accessed on March 25, 2017.
  4. ↑ a b First Saturday Homepage - Sponsors (English), accessed on March 25, 2017
  5. ↑ Fide Homepage - Nigerian players at First Saturday Budapest chess events , accessed on March 25, 2017