Grand Prix Jerusalem: Wei Yi and Ian Nepomniachtchi meet in the final
Wei Yi outplayed David Navara on the tie-break and advanced to the final of the FIDE Grand Prix, organized by World Chess. Wei Yi and Ian Nepomniachtchi will meet in the final in Jerusalem, which will determine who will get a spot in the Candidates tournament. Ironically, the finalists have different motivations in this match – Ian Nepomniachtchi fights for the slot the Candidates, while Wei Yi has no chance to get higher than fourth place in the overall Grand Prix Series standings. However, the Chinese grandmaster can win a prestigious Jerusalem Grand Prix title, if he defeats his opponent in the final. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who was eliminated in the semifinal by Ian Nepomniachtchi, cannot affect the tournament situation anymore but keeps his hopes to get to the Candidates if Ian loses the final match. The match between Wei Yi and David Navara was decided in two rapid games on tiebreak. David Navara, who had white pieces in the first game today, got a position with an extra pawn in Anti-Grunfeld for which his opponent had some compensation in form of active pieces. The Czech GM didn’t find the right way to keep his material advantage and according to him, opted for a strange line starting with 25.Ba5 and ended up a pawn down. Nevertheless, David defended well and managed to save the first rapid game. Similarly to the previous encounters the opponents played to bare kings. The second game became a crucial one for the outcome of the match. According to David, he mixed up something in a very silly way. He knew this idea e4 and saw it in various lines but not in the one which actually happened today. Wei Yi got a huge advantage out of the opening and gave his opponent no chance to escape. “My opponent just played better than me today and won deservedly”, said David Navara. “I don’t regret too much losing this match because I’m already tired and lack energy for the final anyway but of course I tried to play well. I’m a bit embarrassed about the way I lost the last game. I can play better sometimes but not today” added the Czech grandmaster. Official website and LIVE broadcast: https://worldchess.com Text: Anastasiya Karlovich Photos: Niki Riga World Chess contact: media@worldchess.com Photos are available for the press from the following link to Dropbox. Leading partners supporting the FIDE World Chess Grand Prix Series 2019 include: Algorand as the Exclusive Blockchain PartnerPhosAgro as the Official Strategic PartnerKaspersky as the Official Cybersecurity PartnerUsetech as the partner of the Jerusalem Grand PrixPrytek as the Technology Transfer Partner
Shtembuliak and Zhukova win Ukrainian Championship
The Ukrainian men’s and women’s championships 2019 are in the books. The round-robin tournaments with 10 participants in each were held simultaneously in Lutsk in Ukraine Hotel, December 9-19. Although some of the best players were missing, the line-ups, especially in the men’s event, were still very strong. Both tournaments were closely contested and produced many exciting games. The men’s competition saw a major sensation – the newly-minted World Junior Champion Evgeny Shtembuliak turned in a great performance and achieved an excellent score 7 out of 9. The champion demonstrated enviable self-confidence throughout the event. In most of the games, he went for complicated positions in which he simply outplayed and outcalculated his opponents. Ironically, Evgeny scored his most spectacular victory in the first round. This game set a tone for Shtembuliak from the very start. Shtembuliak – Volokitin 32. h4! Qxh4 33. Nxf6! gxf6 34. Rxf6+ Kg8 35. Rg6+ 1-0 The champion’s only real competitor Yuri Kryvoruchko was hot on his heels all the distance and came to the last round just a half-point behind the leader. In the last round, both won (Shtembuliak with Black), Evgeny preserved his margin over Yuri and took the title. The women’s competition turned into an exciting race between Natalia Zhukova and Iulija Osmak who finished two points ahead of their closest pursuers Olena Martynova and Mariia Berdnyk. After Natalia made a quick draw in the last round with White Iulija, who was a half-point behind, managed to defeat Kateryna Dolzhnykova with black pieces and caught up with her main competitor. Nevertheless, Natalia Zhukova became the champion thanks to better tiebreaks. Official site Final standings of Ukrainian Championships 2019: 1. Evgeny Shtembuliak – 72. Yuriy Kryvoruchko – 6½ 3. Andrei Volokitin – 5½ 4. Alexander Moiseenko – 4½5. Spartak Vysochin – 4 6. Pavel Eljanov – 4 7. Yuriy Kuzubov – 4 8. Alexander Kovchan – 3½ 9. Vitaliy Bernadskiy – 3½10. Petr Golubka – 2½ 1. Natalia Zhukova – 72. Iulija Osmak – 7 3. Olena Martynkova – 5 4. Mariia Berdnyk – 5 5. Yelyzaveta Hrebenshchykova – 5 6. Maritsa Tsirulnik – 4 7. Evgeniya Doluhanova – 3½8. Anastasiya Rakhmangulova – 3 9. Kateryna Dolzhykova – 310. Olga Kalinina – 2½
Call for expression of interest for arbiters at the 44th Chess Olympiad 2020
The 44th Chess Olympiad will take place from the 5th to the 18th of August 2020 in Moscow, Russia. The FIDE Arbiter Commission is opening a call of interest to licensed arbiters (FIDE Arbiter or International Arbiter) who wish to be part of the arbiter team during the Olympiad. If you are interested, please send your application by email before the 10th of January 2020 to office@fide.com, secretary.arbiters@fide.com and chairman.arbiters@fide.com with the following elements : – your chess arbiter resume – the list of languages that you can speak and your level of proficiency – which role you would prefer in the team
Chess for seniors: Players’ satisfaction taken seriously!
Chess for seniors: Players’ satisfaction taken seriously! Just like for the World Championship for Senior Teams in Rhodes last April, the FIDE Director for senior chess, IM Jan Rooze, has carried out a satisfaction survey for players during the latest Senior World Championship in Bucharest, which took place in November. Actually, as many as 251 participants (69% of all players) gave their opinion by filling out a questionnaire in 3 languages, which again shows that players really care about the quality of FIDE events. The majority of players in Bucharest marked their satisfaction with the tournament and particularly emphasized the very good playing conditions in a large and comfortable playing hall. However, a significant number of players were less happy and marked their dissatisfaction, particularly with the hotel and its location. This feedback is very valuable, and it helps us make further improvements in future events. Also, we will continue the practice of measuring player satisfaction by way of a survey for senior events, beginning with the World Team Championships which will take place in Prague. For a full report, see https://events.fide.com/
King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championships: Preliminary list of participants
Dear participants, The opening ceremony of the King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championships will take place on December 25 at the Central Chess Club named after M. Botvinnik (Gogolevsky Boulevard, 14/1). The presence at the opening ceremony is obligatory only for the invited participants (players rated at least 2750 in the open event and 2500 in the women’s event in any of the FIDE rating lists from January 1st to December 1st, 2019). Guests and registered press are admitted according to the lists. The guests’ arrival time is 8 PM. The ceremony begins at 8:30 PM (Moscow time). The event will include a short press briefing with participants and officials. The drawing of colors will take place at the ceremony; the pairings will be published on the official website of the WRBC-2019 and in social media. The accreditation cards will be handed out in the playing hall on December 26 from 1 PM till 2:30 PM. The technical meeting will be held on December 26 at 2:30 PM right before the first round. The preliminary lists of participants are published on the official site of the King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championships. The World Champion Magnus Carlsen is coming to the Rapid Championship as the rating favorite. He is to fight not only for the titles but also for the first position in the rapid rating list – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave overtook him in the live rating after his good run at the Grand Chess Tour Finals in London. Despite the fatigue of playing non-stop, the Frenchman will also participate (he skipped the last-year championship in St-Petersburg). Experts and fans will be closely following Anton Korobov (Ukraine), who is fourth in the rapid rating list. Back in November the Ukrainian won the rapid stage of Grand Chess Tour Bucharest and proved that this high position was no coincidence. The list of favorites also includes Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Grischuk, Levon Aronian, and Vladislav Artemiev. Only three players from the top-10, namely Ding Liren, Fabiano Caruana and Teimour Radjabov have not registered yet. The reigning Rapid World Champion Daniil Dubov is sitting on 12th position in the preliminary list of participants ranked by the rating. Pretty much the same players are among favorites in the Blitz World Championship. The defending Champion Magnus Carlsen is not the rating favorite as the first line in the rating-list belongs to Hikaru Nakamura. There are three Russian GMs in the rating top-10: Sergey Karjakin, Ian Nepomniachtchi, and Peter Svidler. Incidentally, their blitz rating is much higher than rapid rating. The exact opposite is true for MVL – after several setbacks in blitz tournaments, he sank to the 12th position in the respective rating list. The only player to give Carlsen run for his money last year in St-Petersburg, Jan-Krzysztof Duda holds the seventh place in the rating list. Many are looking forward to watching Vladimir Kramnik in action. The former World Champion who had retired from professional chess a year ago registered only in the blitz competition (16th position in the rating list). The women’s events will bring together all the best except the World Champion Ju Wenjun and the Challenger Alexandra Goryachkina whose match for the chess crown starts on January 04. In rapid chess, Anna Musychuk, the rapid and blitz European Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, Kateryna Lagno, Mariya Muzychuk, Lei Tingjie and Tan Zhongyi top the list of rating favorites. In blitz, the defending Champion Kateryna Lagno has the highest rating, followed by Lei Tingjie, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Anna Muzychuk, and Humpy Koneru. Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, who made her mark last year in St-Petersburg, will also play in Moscow. Since the registration for all events is open until 23:59, December 22, some new players might be added to the list of participants. Photo: David Llada