Elisabeth Pähtz in a direct duel with Dinara Wagner for the German number 1 spot
In 2024, the Sparkassen A-Open will take a central spot at Germany's most prestigious chess festival. With Dmitrij Kollars and Frederik Svane, two German national players will compete against international grandmasters shortly before the Chess Olympiad and play for the €20,000 prize fund for the open tournaments.
Dinara Wagner recently overtook Elisabeth Pähtz for the first time in the German women's rankings and currently has one point more to her name. The main match of the Dortmund International Chess Days will therefore show who is currently the best German female chess player. Elisabeth Pähtz and Dinara Wagner, winner of the Sportland-NRW-Cup last year, will duel over 6 tournament games. The Dortmund Chess Days will take place from 10 August to 18 August 2024 at the Alte Schmiede cultural centre in the heart of the Ruhr region.
The organiser IPS e.V. is particularly pleased with the outstanding interest shown by all club players in the open tournaments. The A-Open has been fully booked for some time and is fully occupied with 200 participants at a minimum rating of 1900. There are already 164 players registered for the B-Open. The maximum limit of 200 participants will therefore also be reached here. Anyone interested in registering for the B-Open should therefore register via the website as soon as possible.
In the A-Open, the Ukrainian GM Anton Korobov from SC Viernheim leads the seeding list ahead of the two top German players Kollars and Svane. There are also several grandmasters from different generations at the board in Dortmund. On the one hand the youngest GM of all time Abhimanyu Mishra (current rating of 2604), on the other hand experienced top players such as Rafael Vaganian, born in 1951, who has held the grandmaster title since 1971.
In addition, the Sparkassen Chess Trophy promotes women's chess beyond the main match, so that IM Klaudia Kulon, the winner of the International German Women's Championship 2024, has been invited and other strong female chess players are represented in the A-Open.
The Sparkassen Chess Trophy 2024 starts on Saturday 10 August with the A-Open and B-Open. The first game will be played on Sunday in the match between Pähtz and Wagner. The B-Open has a rest day on Tuesday, 13 August and ends on Saturday, 17 August. The A-Open and the match end on Sunday, 18 August. Admission is free at all times, catering will be provided on site and spectators are very welcome.