The Mr Dodgy Invitational – it’s really happening!

“8 top players, 3 days, one joke that went too far,” the Mr Dodgy Invitational starts tomorrow, Friday 12th June. In proof that cyberbullying really works, world top 10 player Anish Giri is the top seed for what promises to be a hugely entertaining knockout event, with Jan and RadioJan already slated to provide live commentary. The stakes almost literally couldn’t be higher, as Grandelius, Fressinet, Svidler, Nielsen, Korobov, Howell, Navara and Giri compete to win “a signed picture of a man on a horse”.

It takes a special kind of man to see the Magnus Carlsen Invitational and wonder, “why can’t I have an invitational too?”, and Mr Dodgy is certainly special. In his top-secret Swedish hideout he dared to dream, and just as the Mediterranean poets’ dreams were tinged by what they saw in front of them – coming up with tales of fabulous sea voyages – Mr Dodgy was inspired to create a tournament based around… horses:

There were of course setbacks along the way…

…but if we learned anything from this experience it’s that if you make enough trailers…

…dreams can become reality!

And here it is, the line-up for the incredibly prestigious Mr Dodgy Invitational!

Each match will consist of up to 12 5+0 blitz games, with the first player to 6.5 winning. If a match reaches 6:6 it’s straight to an Armageddon game, where White has 5 minutes to Black’s 4 but a draw will count as a win for Black.

Want to know more about the players? You’ve probably come to the wrong place, but it’s a great opportunity to play the game of, guess the players from their 'interests':

Player 1: “Harpstone, baseball, animals”

Player 2: “Being tall, Shogi and Kung Fu Panda”

Player 3: “Time trouble, Despacito, Never getting flagged”

Player 4: “Chess, Nicest guy in chess (undisputed)”

Player 5: “Baguettes, Peter Heine Nielsen, More baguettes”

Player 6: “Big hair, Thug life #2?”

Player 7: “Eat, Sleep, Chess”

Player 8: “Trolling, The French (apparently)”

All that remains is to tune into the live commentary here on chess24 from 16:00 CEST on Friday 12th June! You might want to get there early, but not too early...

And the bingo, let’s not forget the bingo:

And while you’re here, why not tune in to some Banter Blitz with our very own Mr Dodgy one-man commentary team Jan Gustafsson (starting 18:30 CEST):

See also:

• The Mr Dodgy Invitational