Vachier-Lagrave stuns Carlsen to advance into final
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defied the odds as he defeated GM Magnus Carlsen to reach Saturday’s 2020 Speed Chess Championship final. MVL scored 13-11 and will face GM Hikaru Nakamura in the final. Few had reckoned with the possibility that this year’s Speed Chess Championship would not have another showdown between Carlsen and Nakamura. The two giants met in the final in both events that Carlsen participated, in 2016 and 2017. They also have been the most successful duo in the many online events during this year of the pandemic. However, on Friday, David knocked on the door of Goliath and said: I’m here! And when the Frenchman started with two losses, that turned out to be “just a flesh wound.” Just like last year at the London Chess Classic, Vachier-Lagrave ended up beating Carlsen. How did he do it? Well, apart from Carlsen being in an “awful shape,” as he put it himself, MVL had some sort of a coffeehouse strategy. “I knew I was nowhere a favorite, but my match plan was to play for tricks all along, and it worked,” said Vachier-Lagrave. The modern-day, virtual Café de la Régence saw a record French audience, as MVL pointed out himself when the match was over: “I know there were like 15,000 watching today from France. That was amazing, and I want to thank them.” Meanwhile, the English broadcast was a packed stadium with 28K watching on Twitch and another 20K on Youtube, at some point. As said, the start of the match was absolutely fine for Carlsen and only supported the general thought that he was going to win this match without too much trouble. When the Frenchman was then outplayed in a 6.d3 Ruy Lopez in game two, there were hardly any fans left that dared to put money on him. If only they knew. First, he was helped a bit by his opponent in game three where Carlsen lost on time in a difficult but not clearly lost position. After that, the world champion went against his old adage of not believing in fortresses as he gave up his queen for rook and bishop but couldn’t hold it. After a draw, Vachier-Lagrave won a good game to take the lead: 3.5-2.5. In hindsight, it’s still hard to believe that from that point, Carlsen would never even manage to tie the match. He was better and often winning in three five-minute games but all three ended in draws. Vachier-Lagrave won the five-minute segment with 4.5-3.5. After a draw in the first three-minute game, the players exchanged wins with the white pieces for the next seven games. As a result, Maxime was leading 9-7 before the bullet. As he won two games and drew two at the start of the bullet phase, Vachier-Lagrave was leading 12-8 when the match clock had 14 and a half minutes left. If Carlsen wanted a comeback, he had to start there — and he did. Afterward, Carlsen reflected on the moment when he managed to score 12-9: “I looked at the clock when it was about 10 minutes to go, and I was down three,” said Carlsen. “I figured I should be able to win two games in time to get a decisive game. Obviously, it wasn’t a given that I would win those games … It was exciting at least to get that chance.” The Norwegian star won the next two games as well to make 12-11. There was still one minute and 17 seconds left. He had to win one more game on demand to force a tiebreak. Just in time, the Frenchman got back his mojo. He got an overwhelming position in a Modern Defense, then struggled for a while but was back to a winning position when Carlsen lost on time. This end of the match was a bit anticlimactic but Vachier-Lagrave’s victory was definitely deserved. Carlsen: “From the start, I felt that I was in really, really awful shape today, but then I managed to channel some energy for the first couple of games to win them… and then I lost the third and the fourth. After that, it was clearly going to be an uphill struggle.” The 2020 Speed Chess Championship Main Event is a knockout tournament among 16 of the best grandmasters in the world who will play for a $100,000 prize fund, double the amount of last year. The tournament will run November 1-December 13, 2020 on Chess.com. Each individual match will feature 90 minutes of 5+1 blitz, 60 minutes of 3+1 blitz, and 30 minutes of 1+1 bullet chess. Text: Peter Doggers Photo: chess.com
Athletes Commission 2020 Elections Candidatures – Deadline extended
After gathering feedback from a number of players during the recent FIDE Congress, the panel in charge of the electoral process for the newly established ATHLETES Commission has decided to further extend the deadline for submitting candidatures. It is our aim that this additional extension opens the opportunity for more players to submit their application to be a part of this Commission. By presenting voters with a wider and more representative list of Candidates, we also hope to improve the engagement and participation of the player’s community in the electoral process. The procedure will be as follows: Players who meet the criteria and want to present their candidature are allowed to do so until December 21, 2020. They must fill the Candidature Nomination Form and send it to office@fide.com. The list of approved candidates will be published on the FIDE website and sent to eligible voters by email on December 22, 2020. The voting period starts from the moment the list of approved candidates is published on the FIDE website. Votes should be submitted by email to FIDE Secretariat: office@fide.com. The voting period closes by January 2, 2021, 23:59 CET.
Austria Chess Federation celebrates its centenary
Christian Hursky, President of the Austrian Chess Federation, poses with the commemorative magazine PHOTO: Fuerthner Christian On December 12, 1920, the Austrian Chess Federation (ÖSB ) was founded in Vienna. As part of the celebrations, ÖSB has presented a special commemorative magazine and a limited edition of an exclusive watch. Grandmaster Markus Ragger, the first Austrian player to reach the 2700 mark, was chosen by the readers of ‘Schach Aktiv’ to receive the “Player of the Century Award”. The ÖSB had planned numerous activities for this anniversary: a Grandmaster tournament with Markus Ragger, a special gala, and a world record attempt. But of course, the Covid-19 pandemic has also affected Austria and thwarted some of these plans, so the Austrian Chess Federation had to adjust and come up with alternatives. A lot of effort was put in editing a commemorative magazine for the occasion and making it truly memorable. Produced by Echo Medienhaus, and with authors like Dieter Chmelar, Achim Schneyder and Michael Hufnagl, “the magazine shows impressively the rich chess scene in the country. And it is encouraging that the game of chess in Austria has a splendid future ahead of it in the next hundred years”, explains Christian Hursky, President of the ÖSB. The magazine extensively describes the rich chess life in present-day Austria: from the scholar chess champions in Dornbirn, to the U16 World Champion Dominik Horvath in Burgenland. But of course, it also pays tribute to the giants from the past, and particularly, about the first world chess champion, who was born in Austria: Wilhelm Steinitz. The complete magazine can be found here: https://www.chess.at/pdf/schachmagazin2020.html The magazine also includes a congratulatory message from the FIDE President, Arkady Dvorkovich: “A centenary is a very important occasion, and there are not many other sports federations who can boast such seniority! 100 years ago, coffeehouses in Vienna provided the archetype of a cultivated atmosphere that came with a cup of coffee, intellectual conversations, and of course playing chess. Today chess is reconquering public space and public attention as well: led by Markus Ragger, Austria can be proud of a talented group of young chess players. And today chess is not only still and again played in coffee houses: it is played in public spaces throughout the country. Austria’s chess community is a very lively one and has renewed its tradition through ten decades”, said the FIDE President. A chess clock was also designed for this centenary, in a cooperation between the Austrian Chess Federation and the brand Jacques Lemans. This exclusive piece received the name of “Grandmaster”, and it is up for sale at the ÖSB website at a price of 139€. If you are a chess collector, you better hurry up, because only 300 units were produced! The ÖSB has been recognized as a professional sports association in Austria since 2005. Austria has achieved outstanding successes in recent years, especially in the youth categories, achieving 28 medals at recent European and World Championships. Most recently Dominik Horvath from Burgenland became the first Austrian junior world champion in history. At the beginning of the year, the Austrian Chess Federation gave itself a new, modern website and presented a new logo designed by Eva Urthaler. www.chess.at