Since 2008 the Paleochora International Chess Tournament takes place usually the last week of July. It is a 9 rounds Swiss tournament based in Paleochora town. Time control is 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, plus a 30 seconds increment starting from move 1. July 2021 served also as the Greek Open Championship of 2021 with the top 3 Greek players qualifying for the next Greek Individual National Championship. The tournament has a strong field of players competing, around 15GMs and 15 IMs took place in the 2017 tournament and has a very decent prize fund of approximately 7000 Euro.
After a visit by GM Krum Georgiev where he took part in a simultaneous exhibition against some of the youngsters of the town the tournament really took off and became very popular. The then Mayor saw this exhibition and saw significant potential for the town as a whole and decided to make it a major event. It has grown so much in popularity and players from all over the world now visit Paleochora every Juy to take part in the tournament. It is estimated that there approximately 500 visitors coming just for the Chess tournament every summer. The majority of these are young chess enthusiasts that come with their failies as well as some world renowned playesr are also invited to take part.
All the Hotels & restaurants in Paleochora come together in combination with the municipality and offer major discounts in regards to accommodation as well as food & beverage requirements during the tournament making it accessible to anyone as July is the middle of the High season. In 2021 there where 326 active participants that took place making it a remarkable turnout given the current pandemic climate.
The tournament is a great opportunity to discover Paleochora and its surroundings and it can be combined so well with a family holiday due to its proximity to all the beaches and all the things that Paleochora has to offer in general.
If you are interested to take part please follow the below links to get all the information and dates for upcoming events and tournaments.
https://chaniachess.gr/International%20Tournament/Paleogora%20tournament/index_en.html
