Peter Svidler and Patrick Leonard will team up to play chess and poker against a rival team consisting of Alexander Grischuk and Isaac Haxton. Patrick and Isaac are as famous in the poker world as Peter and Sasha are in the chess world! We’re also launching a Freeroll Series that you can play, each Sunday of March and April, on partypoker.
The Training Sessions
On Wednesday, March 10 at 8 pm CET, Peter Svidler will give a streamed chess lesson to his partner Patrick Leonard and will receive a poker lesson in exchange.
8-time Russian Chess Champion Peter Svidler started to play poker in 2010 and used to play a lot, but has done so less in the last couple of years. He describes himself as a “bad regular”… which is exactly what a humble “good regular” would say!
Patrick used to be World n°1 on the PocketFives rating and is part of Team partypoker.
The day after, on Thursday, March 11 at 8 pm CET, it will be the turn of Alexander Grischuk and Isaac Haxton to train each other in order to get ready for the Battle.
You might remember from my article Great minds: 10 players who excel at both chess and poker that World n°6 Alexander Grischuk made 8 cashes in the last World Series of Poker, including a 6th place for $30k!
As good in poker as Sasha might be, he will probably have a thing or two to learn from his partner, the great Isaac Haxton.
Also part of Team partypoker, Isaac is n°16 on the All-Time Money List with $28 million in earnings! He is regarded as one of the best Heads-Up specialists in the world… and that’s exactly what they are going to play.
The Battle
The Battle will take place on Friday, March 12 at 8 pm CET.
Team Peter and Patrick will face Team Alexander and Isaac.
Here’s a quick summary of the format:
- Each set consists of one chess game and one Sit & Go Heads-Up played simultaneously.
- Chess will be played as Hand & Brain, with the poker pros the Hands.
- Players will alternate on every street in poker e.g. Peter raises preflop, Alexander calls, Patrick bets on the flop, Isaac folds.
- There will be 3 sets.
- Each team will have its own stream so you can follow either Peter and Patrick or Alexander and Isaac!
- The Battle, as well as the training sessions, will be streamed on our channels.
If you want to know the details:
- Chess will be played on chess24 at 12 minutes + 10 seconds per move.
- Poker will be played on partypoker.com, at Turbo speed.
- As a set can be drawn, if there is a 1.5-1.5 draw after 3 sets, there will be a tie-break with a hyper-turbo SNG HU.
- In case of a 2-0 win, the 3rd set will nevertheless be played.
The Freeroll Series
As exciting as watching the world’s best players can be, nothing compares with playing yourself!
That is why we are launching the Battle of the Minds Freeroll Series that starts this Sunday, March 7.
The whole competition is entirely free and while there are no cash prizes, you can still win some nice prizes.
1st stage: the Freerolls
One freeroll each Sunday of March and April at 8 pm CET/CEST.
All the freerolls are 6-max No-Limit Holdem Tournaments – only the speed changes, alternating between Turbo and Hyper.
In each Freeroll you can win:
- €50 in chess24 shop vouchers (1st place €25, 2nd place €15, 3rd place €10).
- Tickets for partypoker tournaments if you eliminate players with a bounty on their heads.
- Leaderboard points to qualify for the 2nd stage.
2nd stage: the Knockout
At the end of April, after 8 tournaments, the top 4 on the leaderboard will play a knockout Heads-Up tournament and compete for these prizes:
4th place
- a €25 partypoker ticket
- a €25 chess24 shop voucher
3rd place
- a €50 partypoker ticket
- a €50 chess24 shop voucher
2nd place
- a €100 partypoker ticket
- a €100 chess24 shop voucher
1st place
- a €100 partypoker ticket
- a €100 chess24 shop voucher
- 1 hour of private poker coaching with a pro
- 1 hour…
Read More: Battle of the Minds: 4 legends compete in chess and poker