Information 2024

Introduction The Dutch chess club Paul Keres will organize the 49th Utrecht Open Chess Championships (OKU) in 2024. The tournament will be held from Friday May 10 until Sunday May 12 and will be played at the Berenschot office in the south of Utrecht.

Setup

Players will be divided into three groups according to FIDE- or national ELO-rating. Group A is only for players with a rating of 1900 or higher, Group B is only for players with a rating between 1700 and 1950, while Group C is only for players with a rating below 1750. The organization may deviate from these rules in exceptional cases. All groups will play a six rounds Swiss tournament following the FIDE-regulations.
The rate of play will be all moves in 110 minutes + 10 seconds added time per move.

It is possible to take up to two byes in rounds 1 to 4. These two byes in rounds 1-4 will be counted as a draw, and they need to be requested before the start of the tournament. Any other byes or absences will result in an automatic loss of the game. Bye-requests should be communicated to the organization before the tournament starts.

Rating

All results will be communicated to the Dutch chess federation, but not to the FIDE.

Entry and contact information

The entry fee of the tournament will be:

Group A	€ 30 (FM € 15; GM/IM free)
Group B	€ 25
Group C	€ 25

Registration Form

You can also contact tournament director Jan Jaap Janse by mail or by phone: +31-624395397.
On entry, please give your name, full address, date of birth, club and Elo-rating (KNSB and/or FIDE). Also indicate whether you wish to receive a bye in one of the first four rounds, and which group you like to play in.

Schedule

Fr, May 10	9:00-10:00	Registration
	10:15	Pairing
	10:25	Opening
	10:30-14:30	Round 1
	15:15-19:15	Round 2
Sa, May 11	10:30-14:30	Round 3
	15:15-19:15	Round 4
Su, May 12	09:15-13:15	Round 5
	14:00-18:00	Round 6
	18:30-19:15	Prize ceremony

Prize money

Prize	Group A	Group B	Group C
1st	€ 1200	€ 300	€ 200
2nd	€ 700	€ 200	€ 150
3rd	€ 500	€ 150	€ 100
4th	€ 300	€ 125	€ 80
5th	€ 200	€ 100	€ 60
6th	€ 100	€ 75	€ 40

If a tie occurs, prizes are split.

There will also be four rating prizes; 40 euro each for the best players with a rating below 2200 and 2000 in group A, below 1800 in group B and below 1600 in group C.

Location

The OKU will be held at:
LIFE gebouw (Berenschot)
Van Deventerlaan 31-51
Utrecht (Papendorp)

You can get a simple lunch in the playing venue. Paying electronically is possible. On Friday, you can have lunch close to the playing venue. During the whole weekend, there are a lot of possibilities to eat at the other side of the bridge (20 minutes walk).

Route

You can reach the playing venue from Utrecht-city by the Prins Clausbrug (bridge). Are you coming from highway A2: take exit 8a (from western/southern direction) or 8 (from northern direction). Coming from highway A12, take exit 16. Keep in mind to follow Ring Utrecht-West or Ring Utrecht-Zuid when approaching the city.

Public transport

From Utrecht Central Station, there are multiple options to reach the Papendorp area within 10 minutes. It takes a 10 minute walk from the bus stop to the playing venue. Check 9292. The venue is accessible by public transport even on Sunday morning.

Hall of fame
1974: Peter Monte 1975: Anton v.d. Weij 1976: Anton Rosmüller 1977: IM Bruno Carlier 1978: IM Frans Borm 1979: IM Bruno Carlier 1980: IM Herman Grooten 1981: IM Bert Enklaar 1982: FM Han Janssen 1983: Jan Voormans 1984: IM Frans Cuijpers 1985: IM Jeroen Vanheste 1986: IM Liafbern Riemersma 1987: FM Han Janssen 1988: IM Frans Cuijpers 1989: IM Johan van Mil 1990: IM Bernd Schneider 1991: IM Rini Kuyf 1992: IGM Roberto Cifuentes 1993: FM Juri Vetemaa 1994: IGM Igor Glek 1995: Martin Roobol 1996: IGM Alex Wojtkiewicz 1997: IM Erik v.d. Doel 1998: IM Evgeny Ragozin		1999: IGM Igor Glek 2000: IGM Alexander Dgebuadze 2001: Erwin l’Ami 2002: IGM Normunds Miezis 2003: IGM Vladimir Epishin 2004: IGM Vladimir Epishin 2005: IGM Erwin l’Ami 2006: IGM Vyacheslav Ikonnikov 2007: IGM Slavko Cicak 2008: IGM Friso Nijboer 2009: IGM Friso Nijboer 2010: IGM Vyacheslav Ikonnikov 2011: IGM Dimitri Reinderman 2012: IGM Namig Guliyev 2013: IGM Ruud Janssen 2014: IGM Zhaoqin Peng 2015: IGM Csaba Horvath 2016: IGM Jorden van Foreest 2017: IGM Csaba Horvath 2018: IGM Csaba Horvath 2019: IM Hugo ten Hertog 2020: – 2021: – 2022: FM Luuk Baselmans 2023: GM Erik van den Doel