Saudi Arabia welcomes world's elite chess players for first time

The King Salman Blitz and Rapid Championship marks the first time a major chess event takes place in Saudi Arabia at the APEX Convention Center with participation of 236 players from 70 countries.

The championship marks the first time a major chess event takes place in the country, which has been experiencing unprecedented social change since Mohammed bin Salman was named Crown Prince.

Clerics in Saudi Arabia previously claimed that chess is ‘makrooh’, or frowned upon in Islam, despite the Islamic Empire widely regarded as responsible for chess popularity as the most well-known tabletop game.
The world’s top players, including the Norwegian world champion Magnus Carlsen, have arrived in the Saudi capital to take part. Chess is not very popular in the Kingdom but the Saudi Chess Federation aims to attract the Saudi youth to the game. It also hopes Saudi chess players will gain experience through meeting the international stars.
A sum of USD 2 million has been allocated for the prizes of the King Salman World Chess Championships, the highest in the history of the Chess Federation. The total Prize Fund for the event is USD 2,000,000, with individual prize funds of USD 750,000 for the Open and USD 250,000 for the women in both events. This is almost 350 percent more than the previous event. There will be 30 prizes for each event, with the first prize being USD 250,000 in the Open Section and USD 80,000 in the Women's Section, all new records.

There is also a women’s chess tournament taking place alongside the open championship. The World Chess Federation has announced on its website that the dress code for the event will be dark blue or black formal suits, with white shirts, either open-necked or with a tie, for men and dark blue or black formal trouser suits with high-necked white blouses for women. The website added that there will be no need to wear a hijab or Abaya during the games.
Women are reportedly being allowed to wear dark blue or black formal trousers and high-necked blouses, avoiding Saudi rules of dress that require female residents and most visitors to wear loose-fitting, long robes known as “abayas.”

Saudi champion Abdurrahman Al-Masrahi, along with Ahmed Al-Ghamdi and Emad Al-Habeeb, jointd renowned champions including Magnus Carlsen, the highest-rated chess player in the world and World Champion in classical chess, Levon Aronian of Armenia, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, former World Champion Viswanathan Anand of India, the incumbent World Rapid and Blitz Champions – Sergey Karjakin (Russia) and Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) – and more than 180 top grandmasters who have confirmed their participation.