Gib Chess Festival voted ‘best in the world’ as it enters its 16th year

The 16th edition of the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival will see a record prize fund of £200,000 with around 260 players from more than 60 countries participating in all five tournaments over the next 10 days.

The start of the festival, with the first move in the Gibraltar Masters tomorrow at 3pm at the Caleta Hotel, comes with the added news that last year's Festival has just been voted the World's Best Chess Event of 2017 by the Association of Chess Professionals.

“You can't do much better than that,” said Festival Director Stuart Conquest who has been welcoming the players this weekend, both professional and amateur players, from Europe, Asia, Australasia, Africa, and the Americas.

They will be competing for the Masters' top prize at a Festival high of £25,000. The first women's prize is £15,000.

Both the amateur and challenger tournaments, are expecting a record numbers of players.

This year too many of the world's top junior chess players will also be playing, including Indian super-prodigies Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin.

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