Millionaire Chess Comes to Vegas
8 years ago
09 Oct
For poker-players, Las Vegas has always been a Mecca - some looking to make their fortune, others there simply to savour the history. Whether it be the WSOP, the Bellagio, or a host of other famous names, ‘Sin City’ is a guaranteed sure-fire place to win a million - or see those who already have.
Now, it seems, chess is trying to muscle in on the Vegas act, with this week seeing theMillionaire Chessevent taking over the Planet Hollywood Casino in an attempt to bring the world of 64-squares into the televised limelight which pokerhas enjoyed for many a year now.
‘Millionaire Chess Open is the highest-stakes open chess tournament in history’ screams the banner headline, but what –and who - is the driving force behind this move from the quiet of a typical chess tournament hall to a raucous gambler’s paradise?
“We’re trying to take chess to the next level.”
That's what Maurice Ashley explained, the first-ever African/American Grandmaster and the brains behind what is the 2nd running of the tournament. He said:
“We’re using every trick in the book to show that it’s ready for television.”
Ashley also said of the ambitious tournament which kicks-off tomorrow and runs until Monday 12th, known as ‘Millionaire Monday’.
‘Every trick in the book’ includes live-streaming of games with commentary, dramatic music and graphics, and a computer program known as ‘Deep View’ being used to select and explain the most interesting games.
With over 50 Grandmasters among the hundreds registered to play, including the current world number 2 Hikaru Nakamura of the US, ‘Millionaire Chess’ is not unlike the WSOP – the main difference being (aside from the obvious)players do not get knocked out along the way.
The money may not yet rival the biggest poker tournaments, but a guaranteed $1million prize-poolis not to be mocked, and this year will see a new ‘quirk’ to the format.
The winners of each ‘rating section’ will compete against each other in a grand finale game-show where the victor will get to choose one envelope from the 64 placed on the squares of a giant chessboard.
One of these envelopes will contain a $1m prize and as Ashley enthuses:
“If they pick it they’ll become a millionaire at that moment.”
This is the kind of dramatic new approach to chess which Ashley and his co-founder of Millionaire Chess – entrepreneur Amy Lee from Canada– see as vital to reaching a mass audience of television viewers.
“Our model is based on TV and sponsorship. At the moment TV executives are not convinced it’ll make good television,” explained Ashley, adding, “The real win will be when it hits TV. Hopefully we can weather the storm until then.”
Whether Ashley and Lee can convince the TV moguls of the value of chess remains to be seen. Frank Guadalupe, the events director of the USCF who will take on the role of the tournament’s Chief Arbiter, remarked:
“It’s slow, four or five hours to play one game, so it may not have the same appeal as poker who will act as the tournament’s chief arbiter.”
However, when properly marketed as Millionaire Chess is, he feels:
“This event will make people realise that chess is more than two old guys playing in a coffee shop.”
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