Do You Want To Play Magnus Carlsen on the Internet Chess Club (ICC - www.chessclub.com) and help raise money for a good cause? You may remember last year that World Champion Vishy Anand raised $10,000 on ICC for a charity that was close to his heart? Well, this year young rising Norwegian star Magnus Carlsen has magnanimously agreed to do a similar fundraising simul at ICC, with 100% of the monies raised going to help a young fellow grandmaster in need of urgent medical treatment.
Serbian GM Dusan Popovic tragically took ill earlier this year and diagnosed with chronic kidney failure and now is in urgent need of a transplant. You can read more about Dusan's plight here at http://www.chessdom.com/dusan-popovic.
Magnus Carlsen will be giving of his time to help a fellow player in his hour of need by hosting a simultaneous exhibition on ICC on Monday, August 11, with matches beginning at 2pm U.S. Eastern Daylight Time (7pm GMT)
You can PLAY! You can HELP!
Internet Chess Club is offering on eBay 18 seats to play in the simultaneous exhibition with Super-Grandmaster Carlsen. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play whom many believe will soon become the world #1 and world champion - and at the same time help towards a good cause. Twelve seats will be sold in a Dutch Auction (here), and six seats are offered in this listing at a fixed price. To view the auctions, go to: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZinternetchessclub
The six people who donate $500 each for these special fixed-price seats will receive a two-year subscription (or two-year renewal) to ICC; a downloadable copy of the latest version of Junior, the three-time world champion chess engine; and a one-year subscription to the world's leading chess magazine, New In Chess-for a total value of about $250!
Your winning bid will earn a seat to play Super Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen on ICC. The time control will be 90 minutes with a 5 second increment. Seats will only be available to players under the rating of 2200 and they will play with the black pieces.
Notes: All payments must be made by PayPal or credit card within 24 hours of the close of the auction in order to allow time to properly prepare for this event. You need not be an ICC member in order to participate; you will receive instructions via email upon payment.
ICC members can also pay a modest sum of 5 chekels (or donate more) to play in two large online qualifiers (Saturday, 9 August, 5pm ET and Sunday, 10 August, 4pm ET) with the two winners - and the player with the highest accumulated score from both qualifiers - winning through to play in the Magnus Carlsen simultaneous.
Please remember that ALL 100% of the proceeds raised will go directly to GM Dusan Popovic's medical fund for his kidney transplant - please give generously to his cause.
The Magnus Carlsen Simultaneous takes place Monday, August 11th with matches beginning at 2pm U.S. Eastern Daylight Time (7pm GMT).