AlphaChess U2000 Royale: Tournament Report
(Article by Rock Yu) AlphaChess ran "Royale" on August 29th and 30th, 2026. It was an accelerated Swiss tournament exclusively for those under-2000, boasting a £1200 prize fund. We’ve run many other FIDE-rated events at our venue in the past – “triathlons”, Freestyle Chess, evening events, and many classicals taking a weekender format – but we’d never tried an event like this before. In light of a clash with Lance Leslie-Smith’s Mindsports [2000+] Super Swiss, finishing on Saturday August 29th, we thought it’d be wise to adapt our regular three-section classical format. So, enter Royale : one under-2000 section, 48 players, and a prize fund worth over £1200. We were fortunate enough to sell out all the slots about a week before the event – anticipation seemed to be high! As the weekend drew closer, there were obviously withdrawals—promptly replaced by some of those on the waiting list—and the event remained at capacity. Our accelerated pairings taking immediate effect in Rou...