The Bargain Chess of Budapest

I love the chess in Budapest. Especially the prices. The key is to how to find the events.

Beautiful Budapest

The most important resource is the Hungarian Chess Federation Tournament Listing Chess.hu.
From there you have to decipher to Hungarian language advertisements (or email the contact for an English version and hope for some luck).

My favorite event of 2012 was the Budapest Open sarkanydse Budapest Open/GM/IM which was played along the strongest GM tournament of the year in Budapest and an IM norm tournament.

By luck, I also met organizers of the Budapest Team Championship and was invited to play on the Rakosligeti team(RAC). This is my third season with the RAC team.

Here is a summary of the events I played in for 2012 so far. Usually I play in everything humanly possible except First Saturday(FS). I took part in 9 FS RRs in 2009 but have since not participated. FS prices are out of line with the market, of which I was not aware of at the time. Also FS does not offer prizes, as is usual in all other tournaments here.

One Game Per Day RR Events
I played 5 RR events this year. These were gruelling events not usually available in Canada. The CAN$18-25 range should make Canadian players take notice. However, they are not easy to play in and demand an intense level of energy. First Saturday also has a monthly series of RR events. See their program Firstsaturday 2012_2013.

	Rounds	Prizes	Entry Fee(FIDE 2000+)
			HUF	EUR	USD	CAN	2012
Round Robin
Amator Cup	9	Yes	5,000	17.8	23.1	22.9	November
Torokves A RR	9	Yes	5,500	19.4	25	25	April
Frech Karolyi	9	Yes	4,000	14	17.67	18	June
Torokves A RR	9	Yes	5,500	19.4	25	25	April, Sept

One Game Per Day Open Events
There is also the Spring Festival Open which I did not play in. I loved the Budapest Open best.

	Rounds	Prizes	Entry Fee(FIDE 2000+)
			HUF	EUR	USD	CAN	2012
Open 1 Game/day
Perenyi Memorial	9	Yes	5,500	18.9	24.3	24.4	Jan
Budapest Open	9	Yes	7,000	24.6	30.9	30.5	August

1+ Games Per Day Weekend Open Events
These are 90 mins/game sudden death FIDE rated events restricted to players under 2200. These are very gruelly events filled with up and coming juniors eager to prove themselves.

	Rounds	Prizes	Entry Fee(FIDE 2000+)
			HUF	EUR	USD	CAN	2012
Open 1+ Game/day
Josef Varosi Open	7	Yes	3,000	10.3	13.3	13.4
Siralyi Open	7	Yes	5,500	18.9	24.3	24.4
Kobanya Open	6	Yes	3,000	10.3	13.3	13.4	June,Sept,Dec
Lila Futo Open	6	Yes	3,000	10.3	13.3	13.4	June,Aug
Rakosmete Open	7	Yes	1,600	5.5	7	7.1	March,July