Chess tournament series for GM, IM norms and ELO-rating points.


Dear chess friends!


In this post I want to share with you where to play for IM or GM norm and how to get these norms. You know that during the time of COVID-19 it is not easy to participate in offline tournaments, but this one is among them!



This month a tournament in Budapest is being held by IO Laszlo Nagy who has conducted such tournaments since 1992.

And even such strong players like Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana participated there when they were youngsters.

A year ago IO Laszlo Nagy invented a new type of tournament, the NADASSY system Scheveningen.

There for the players we can guarantee 10 games with min 2000 ELO averaged staff, a good possibility to raise ELO for the players 1700…1900 averaged.


Here is my interview with IO Laszlo Nagy:

I also participated in it before the pandemic and recommend it for those who have such a possibility now! I scored 6 points of 9 what is a really good result and got the 2nd place. I didn’t get an IM norm (7 of 9), but increased my rating by 26 points! If not a stupid loss in the first game, I believe I could score 7 of 9 and get a norm. But it’s ok, the norm wasn’t my goal, I played for rating mainly.


In my last game I outplayed the top player of this tournament - IM Nguyen Van Thanh. You know some chess players don’t play the last round, they just agree to a draw, but not IM Nguyen.



Before the game I offered a draw to him, hoping that it can give me 1 more day off before my next tournament. But he rejected, he said he wanted to play.

Ok, no problem, I like to play chess too 😉 We played for almost 4 hours and then he got an inferior position and offered a draw to me. I rejected, I spent 4 hours trying to outplay him and at that moment I really wanted to win the game.

It was close to a draw, but I had one chance that I could try and I did it. I sacrificed my pawn to get his knight distracted to be able to continue the attack on the enemy king. He decided not to take the pawn, but lost his pawn and finally we came to the queen endgame with 1 extra (but distant passed) pawn for me. Than I gained another pawn and he resigned!

It’s white to move, but he has no ways to save.

I’m black. What am I threatening with?

Check out the schedule for chess tournaments in this area: 

  • 3 - 13 Oct First Saturday GM-IM. (www.firstsaturday.hu) (Whatsapp: +36-30-230-1914 
  • 16 - 24 Oct Rigochess GM-IM OPEN Budapest ([email protected])
  • 26 - 29 Oct XVII Baranya Open, Harkany, org: [email protected]
  • 26 - 30 Oct, XXVI Talentum Kupa Open, Siófok, 130 km West from Budapest, Org: Valis János, 
  • e-mail: [email protected]   Mobile: +36-20-934-3066,    www.husi-sc.hu
  • 7 - 17 Nov First Saturday Budapest, 
  • 20 - 28 Nov Rigochess GM-IM, Budapest, 
  • 5 - 15 Dec First Saturday GM-IM-Nadassy, 
  • 18 - 26 Dec Rigochess GM-IM Budapest 




Between the games you also have a chance to see the beautiful capital of Hungary. Walk by the Parliament building and see the Danube river. It’s also really beautiful at night! 

My personal advice - visit Fisherman's Bastion on the top of the city. The architecture as well as the view are just breathtaking.

These attractions are outside and always open which is convenient in the pandemic times. But there are not so many cases in Hungary, so you may be lucky to visit some nice restaurants and bars. 


In conclusion, if you want to participate in OTB tournaments during pandemic, but do not know where and how to do that - go to Budapest!

Contact Nagy László

Email: [email protected]

Kind regards,

FM Viktor Neustroev