Chess in Schools program launched in Liberia
The Liberia Chess Federation, (LCF), was accredited by FIDE only in 2016. Last year this young Federation participated in its debut Chess Olympiad (Batumi) 2018. Its board #2 player (Jacob Jallah) achieved the FIDE Master (FM) title while Liberia was ranked 2nd after Nigeria after round 11 amongst all participating West African countries. “Chess is actually very new to most Liberians. The country’s population is very youthful and we see chess as a pivotal instrument to the development of young Liberians’ mind, given the bad memories of the fourteen years of the most brutal civil war in our history. In July 2019, LCF proposed to Liberia’s Ministry of Education teaching chess in various high schools in Liberia under the program “Chess in Education for National Growth and Development. The Chess in School, (CiS), is the first of its kind by our Federation in Liberia and in full compliance with FIDE’s President Mr. Arkady Dvorkovich concept of “Taking Chess out of the Woods”. The CiS program was launched on 18th September 2019 at the all-girls St. Theresa Convent Catholic School and is expected to expand exponentially with the necessary support and required funding. The CiS pilot program targets ten secondary schools for the academic year 2019/2020 (9months) with special attention to female chess development,” the press release by Liberia Chess Federation says. Chess class: all eyes and ears LCF President William T. Thompson, II, presenting on the importance of chessLearning chess notation At the recently completed 2019 African Amateur Chess Championship in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Liberia’s young chess prodigy Joel O. Ebiekuta won the U1700 category with two other Liberians Alfred J. Kollie and K. Zinnah Kengo finishing as 2nd and 3rd respectively while Charles Haji Kiadii topped all players in the U2000 category. These results qualify Joel O. Ebiekuta and Charles Haji Kiadii to represent Africa in their respective categories at the 2020 World Amateur Chess Championship in Greece. Liberian player Joel O. Ebiekuta receiving the U1700 trophy at the African Amateur Championship
World Cup: Teimour Radjabov makes it to the final
The return games of the FIDE World Cup Semifinals were played in Khanty-Mansiysk on September 27. Teimour Radjabov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave had a discussion in the English Opening. After Black rejected to exchange the queens early in the game, White launched a powerful attack on the kingside. The French grandmaster was defending resourcefully and saved his king, but lost a pawn in process, while White still had a dominating position with a strong pressure on the kingside. Black kept avoiding exchanging the queens but by the 40th move, White’s attack became decisive. Vachier-Lagrave blundered a rook in a hopeless situation and resigned on the 45th move. Teimour Radjabov has become the first finalist of the FIDE World Cup and secured a slot in the Candidates Tournament that will be held in Yekaterinburg in 2020. “He got into my preparation; I was better immediately. I did not expect him to play this way. Probably the nerves or the tiredness tell here as he mixed up the move order. After Ng5 the position is very unpleasant for Black maybe even lost…. I thought that winning by force should be there, but I will have to see how. Actually I was upset when he got into this position with Qd5. I thought that he could take on g2 and get some practical chances to save the game. The way he played I was very happy about because he got in the type of position where I could play him around with pawn up, pressuring the pawn on g7 all the time, especially when I transferred my bishop to e5. I think he had to play e5 at some point.” explained Teimour in the interview after the game. Yu Yangyi and Ding Liren played the Nimzo-Indian Defense and up to a certain point followed the earlier game between Yu Yangyi and Nikita Vitiugov. Ding Liren improved Black’s play with 18…Rd5 and solved all the problems. It’s also the computer’s first choice, as Ding Liren mentioned in the post-game interview. The game simplified, and the players agreed to a draw in an equal queen ending on the 30th move, having spent less than an hour at the board. “We played many rapid and blitz games recently,” smiled Ding Liren, when asked about his chances on the tiebreak. “Sometimes I win and sometimes he wins, the results are balanced.” Both players noted that they prefer faster time-controls, so the tiebreak promises to be an interesting battle. The tie-break between Ding Liren and Yu Yangyi will be played on September 28, with the latter having White in the first game. Photo Video The competition is organized by the Government of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra, International Chess Federation (FIDE), Ugra Chess Federation, and Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation. Official website: https://khantymansiysk2019.fide.com/en/ General partner – Gazpromneft-Khantos LCC.Official airline – Utair.Official partners of the competition: OJSC Rostelecom, Ugra Chess Academy, Russian Chess Federation, AB InBev Efes, and PJSC Rosneft.FIDE official partner – JSCo “RZD”.General media partner – News Agency TASS.Media partners – Match TV, World of Chess social network, OTRC “Ugra”, Ugra-news.ru News of Ugra regional newspaper, AIF-Ugra newspaper.
Russia scoops in European Senior Team Chess Championship
European Senior Team Chess Championship 2019 held in Mali Losinj, Croatia is in the books. The event was played in two age categories: 65+ (for players born in 1954 or earlier) and 50+ (for players born in 1969 or earlier). Almost thirty teams coming from 15 European federations registered for the Championship (16 teams in 50+ section and 13 teams in 65+ section). The participating teams played 9 rounds (Swiss system), with time control 90 min for 40 moves + 30 min for the rest of the game + 30 sec increment for every move played starting from the first move. The total prize fund of the event amounts to 7,000 EUR. Russia celebrated a double success, winning gold in both 50+ and 65+ categories. The Croatia 1 team was a worthy competitor in the 50+ category, scoring the equal amount of points with the winner, but had to settle for silver due to inferior tie-breaks. Evgeny Sveshnikov (RUS) and Yuri Yakovich (RUS) showed the best performance in the 65+ and 50+ categories respectively. Final standings Category 50+: 1. Russia – 172. Croatia 1 – 173. European Chess Academy Maribor (SLO) – 134. Czech Republic – 125. Croatia 2 – 96. England 1 – 97. Austria – 98. Steiermark (AUT) – 99. Spain – 710. Ireland – 511. Germany-Women – 512. Agder (NOR) – 313. England 2 – 2 Category 65+: 1. Russia – 182. Sweden 1 – 143. Germany – 144. Finland 1 – 135. Switzerland – 116. England – 107. Rochade Bielefeld Revival (GER) – 108. Roskilde-Skive (DEN) – 99. Belgium – 810. Austria – 811. Sweden 2 – 812. SK2012 (DEN) – 713. Sweden 3 – 714. Ireland – 415. CC Mursko Sredisce (CRO) – 216. Northern Moves (FIN) – 1 Official website of the event: http://european2019chess-losinj.com/