The International Chess Festival “City of Messina – Gate of Sicily” will take place from 2-8 January 2023 in Messina, Italy. The festival features three tournaments: Open A (for players rated 1800+), Open B (for players rated 1200-1800), and Open C (for players rated U1500) with a total prize fund of 5.000euros.
The Open A and Open B tournaments will be played in 9 rounds, swiss system, with time control: 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 15 minutes until the end of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move. The Open C will be played in 7 rounds, swiss system, with time control: 90 minutes for the whole game plus 30 seconds increment for each move.
More than 60 players already registered for the event and the top-rated players are: GM Titas Stremavicius, GM Valery Kazakouski and GM Sabino Brunello. See the starting list of players below:
| No. | Name | FED | Rtg | |
| 1 | GM | Stremavicius Titas | LTU | 2543 |
| 2 | GM | Kazakouski Valery | LTU | 2539 |
| 3 | GM | Brunello Sabino | ITA | 2519 |
| 4 | GM | Ernst Sipke | NED | 2512 |
| 5 | GM | Sochacki Christophe | FRA | 2463 |
| 6 | FM | Akhvlediani Irakli | GEO | 2437 |
| 7 | IM | Perez Maximiliano | ARG | 2423 |
| 8 | IM | Lortkipanidze Nodar | GEO | 2393 |
| 9 | FM | Czerw Dawid | POL | 2373 |
| 10 | FM | Favaloro Andrea | ITA | 2372 |
| 11 | IM | Collutiis Duilio | ITA | 2367 |
| 12 | IM | Soham Das | IND | 2351 |
| 13 | IM | Sidhant Mohapatra | IND | 2337 |
| 14 | FM | Bhagat Kush | IND | 2324 |
| 15 | FM | Bifulco Michel | ITA | 2275 |
| 16 | FM | Stillger Bernhard | GER | 2273 |
| 17 | FM | Santagati Alessandro | ITA | 2253 |
| 18 | FM | Silich Yahor | BLR | 2216 |
| 19 | IM | Vuelban Virgilio | PHI | 2207 |
| 20 | CM | Cina’ Vittorio | ITA | 2199 |
| 21 | IM | Casadio Niccolo’ | ITA | 2144 |
| 22 | CM | Carbone Edoardo | ITA | 2142 |
| 23 | Wichtrup Jan-Louis | GER | 2139 | |
| 24 | WIM | Vidic Teja | SLO | 2138 |
| 25 | CM | Urbani Gabriel | ITA | 2138 |
| 26 | Bazilius Augustinas | LTU | 2118 | |
| 27 | CM | Ganci Elio | ITA | 2115 |
| 28 | CM | Pochyhaylo Andriy | ITA | 2093 |
| 29 | CM | Iannello Andrea | ITA | 2084 |
| 30 | CM | Zoldan Matteo | ITA | 2081 |
| 31 | CM | Favitta Amedeo | ITA | 2056 |
| 32 | CM | Carbone Stefano | ITA | 2053 |
| 33 | Bosboom Ardin | NED | 2052 | |
| 34 | WFM | Abarca Gonzalez Damaris | CHI | 2047 |
| 35 | CM | Duraccio Walter Mattia | ITA | 2032 |
| 36 | CM | Maresco Diego | ITA | 2020 |
| 37 | CM | Musso Alessio | ITA | 2008 |
| 38 | AIM | Karas Eugenia | ENG | 2004 |
| 39 | Heldenbergh Nils | BEL | 2003 | |
| 40 | CM | Milone Gaetano | ITA | 1991 |
| 41 | La Barbera Manfredi | ITA | 1985 | |
| 42 | 1N | Iannello Antonio | ITA | 1964 |
| 43 | CM | Bonanzinga Corrado | ITA | 1959 |
| 44 | Halvarsson Peter | SWE | 1954 | |
| 45 | 1N | Gelardi Davide | ITA | 1944 |
| 46 | 1N | Verga Francesco | ITA | 1924 |
| 47 | CM | Lo Presti Giulio | ITA | 1923 |
| 48 | AIM | Tricomi Massimo | ITA | 1923 |
| 49 | 1N | Barbagallo Andrea | ITA | 1910 |
| 50 | 1N | Stancanelli Valerio | ITA | 1903 |
| 51 | CM | Gangemi Salvatore | ITA | 1900 |
| 52 | Pheasant Andrew J | USA | 1900 | |
| 53 | Farah Alberto | MLT | 1882 | |
| 54 | 1N | Di Stasio Giuseppe Danilo | ITA | 1879 |
| 55 | 1N | Fargetta Vittorio | ITA | 1854 |
| 56 | 1N | Cannella Simone | ITA | 1851 |
| 57 | Sivathanujan S | SRI | 1850 | |
| 58 | 2N | Zito Enrica | ITA | 1845 |
| 59 | 1N | Costabile Vincenzo | ITA | 1827 |
| 60 | 2N | Maida Federico | ITA | 1794 |
| 61 | 2N | Ganci Alberto | ITA | 1776 |
