Belize City Chess Club Tournament

Date               Sunday 24 August 2025

Venue            Admiral’s Bar and Restaurant, Belize City (by Airstrip)

Time               Sign-in 8:30.  First round to start at exactly 9:00 AM). 

                        Late players will forfeit games but will be permitted to join in a later round. 

Max No. of Players 24

Registration All players must pre-register using form supplied by the club.

Entrance Fee           $10 – to be paid at the event.

Prize Fund   50% of entrance fees collected divided approx.

Time Control  Blitz 3 minutes plus 2 second increment per player (3/2)

Rated             Yes: Results will be sent to the BCF.

Format           Morning Session: Round robin group stage, minimum 10 games per player

Afternoon Session: Knockout rounds featuring top 8 players from the group stage.

For more information, please WhatsApp 615 7406 or post a message in the Belize Chess Group.

Tournament Rules

Time Control           

All games will be 3 minutes per player with a 2 second increment

Game Rules            

Standard rules of chess apply, including touch-move.

The 50 move draw rule does not apply because games are not being annotated,

If a player runs out of time but their opponent does not have sufficient material for a checkmate, then the game is a draw.

Illegal Moves         

If a player’s opponent makes an illegal move they may immediately claim a win by alerting to arbiter. Leaving the king in check is an illegal move.  The win must be claimed before the player makes a move.  If it is not, play continues.  A player may alternatively request that the opponent corrects the illegal move before play continues.

Start Times              

The first game will start at exactly 9AM.  Start times for subsequent games will be announced by the arbiter.  There will be a 5 minute break between games in the group stages and 2 minutes in the knockout rounds.

If a player is absent at the scheduled start time, their clock will be started and they will forfeit the game if the time allowed expires.  This includes the first game of the day.

Format:                    

The tournament will feature a single round robin group stage followed by a knock-out stage featuring the top 4 players from each group.

The knock-out stage will feature ¼ finals, semi-finals and final featuring 2 blitz games, so each player has both the white and black pieces.  If the score after 2 rounds is equal, then a single Armageddon game will be played. In the Armageddon, white will have 5 minutes and black 4 (no increments).

The group stage will be in the morning and the knock-out stages will be in the afternoon.