The Prague International Chess Festival, abbreviated as PICF, is an annual chess tournament that takes place in Prague, Czech Republic, since 2019.
It consists of several separate groups, including Masters, Challengers, Futures, held with the round-robin system, and an open tournament, held with the Swiss system, accompanied by a series of side tournaments.[1] The winner of Challengers group receives an invitation to the Masters group the following year, while the winner of the open tournament receives an invitation to the Challengers group. The festival is organized by the Nový Bor Chess Club and the playing venue is the Don Giovanni Hotel Prague.[2]
Participants and winners[edit]
The average rating of the Masters group is usually around 2700 and the average rating of the Challengers group is about 2550. The tournament has featured a number of participants of the Candidates Tournament, including Alireza Firouzja, Richárd Rapport, Vidit Gujrathi, Gukesh D, R Praggnanandhaa, Wang Hao, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Nijat Abasov, the World Chess Championship 2012 challenger Boris Gelfand and Women's World Chess Champion Ju Wenjun.
In each group there is a couple of Czech players nominated by the Chess Federation of the Czech Republic.[3]
Winners of the Masters group:
# Year Winner(s) 1 2019 
Nikita Vitiugov (Russia)
2 2020 
Alireza Firouzja (FIDE)
3 2021 
Sam Shankland (USA)
4 2022 
Pentala Harikrishna (India)
5 2023 Ray Robson (USA)
6 2024 
Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan)[4]
Winners of the Challengers group:
# Year Winner(s) 1 2019 
David Antón Guijarro (Spain)
2 2020 
Jorden van Foreest (Netherlands)
2021 cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic 3 2022 
Vincent Keymer (Germany)
4 2023 
Mateusz Bartel (Poland)
5 2024 
Ediz Gurel (Turkey)
References[edit]
- ^ "Prague Chess Festival to take place in February 2024". ChessBase. 19 September 2023. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
- ^ Doggers, Peter. "2nd Prague Chess Festival: The Czech Wijk aan Zee?". Chess.com. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
- ^ "Kapitán české reprezentace Pavel Šimáček odhalil nominaci na PICF 2022". Šachový svaz České republiky z. s. 21 March 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
- ^ "The 19-year-old Uzbek defeated Parham Maghsoodloo in a direct clash for the glory and became the sixth winner in the main tournament of the Prague International Chess Festival". 6 March 2024.
