Registration procedures for the 2013 SportAccord-Pandanet Cup Online Go Tournament have just been announced. This tournament is supported by SportAccord and Pandanet and organized by the International Go Federation and Pandanet. It also concurrently serves as the 18th Pandanet Cup Internet World Amateur Go Tournament.

Participants must be amateurs and may choose to enter one of four classes ("bands"): Open, 2d-3k, 4k-7k, 8k-17k. Except in the Open class, players are required to have a registered and IGS-confirmed rank. In addition, players may choose one of three geographic regions to play their games. Registration starts now and ends on August 18. The preliminary rounds will be played Aug. 22 through September 12. Players may advance based on their results within their class and region.

Generous prizes are provided by the sponsors, including a round trip to the Third Beijing SportAccord World Mind Games for the open champion. Further prizes are provided for regional and class winners. In addition, anyone who finishes six or more games in the preliminary rounds is eligible for lottery prizes provided by SportAccord; in 2012 these prizes included an iPad, Swatches, Cameras, etc. and comparable prizes will be offered in 2013. See http://pandanet-igs.com/communities/pandanet/159 for details and registration forms.

I see Victor Chow of South Africa is the Open Champion for 2013, and presumably wins the trip to the World Mind games in December. He beat Cornel of Romania in the final: http://pandanet-igs.com/communities/pandanet/159

Turns out the trip is just that - a paid trip to observe the tournament. Not an actual entry. What a peculiar prize, given that the winner of the Open section was presumably going to be a strong player. Victor has thus declined the prize.