Caruana gets in front after Day 1
American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana emerged as the clear leader after Day 1 of the 2021 Champions Showdown, scoring two wins and one draw in the exciting Chess 9LX rapid format. Tied for second place with 2.0/3 are Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and Sam Shankland, each of whom lost a game in addition to scoring two wins. Fabiano Caruana moved into the sole lead after Day 1 Legendary World Champion Garry Kasparov started off the event with two draws, missing a big chance to win in Round 2 against Wesley So, before losing his third-round game against Mamedyarov to finish the day on 1.0/3. Round 1 Starting position – Round 1 The unique starting position for each round was announced 15 minutes before the start of the games, giving the players a bit of time to break into groups and analyze the position as much as they could. So, Nakamura, and Shankland are all analyzing the first round’s starting position Round 1 featured three decisive outcomes, including an early frontrunner for the best game of the event, as So defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in brilliant fashion, first sacrificing an exchange, and then a full piece in order to launch a decisive attack: So’s 10.Nf6+!! was an absolute stunner, as after 10…gxf6 11.Qh6+- Black had no good defence to the threats of Bc2 and Bc3. | 1-0, 35 moves Shankland defeated Svidler after an exchange sacrifice didn’t lead to enough compensation for the 8-time Russian champion, while Mamedyarov ground out a long bishop endgame to win against Nakamura. Two other games were drawn. Round 2 Starting Position – Round 2 Round 2 saw even more decisive action, with four games ending in victory. Taking an early lead with 2/2 was Shankland, who shocked Nakamura with a nice trick that ended the game after 15 moves: Here Shankland spotted the excellent 15…Qxe5!, with the point 16.dxe5 16…Ne2+ 17.Kc2 Bg6+ and mate next move. Having lost a full rook, White resigned. Other notable results included Caruana scoring his first win by defeating Dominguez, while Kasparov missed a golden opportunity to defeat So, having obtained a strategically winning position. Despite missing some chances earlier, Kasparov could have still won the game here with 37.e6! followed by Qe5, with a winning queen endgame for White. | ½-½, 40 moves The former World Champion had his chances but failed to convert Round 3 Starting Position – Round 3 Round three produced decisive outcomes in all five games. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave took down the leader Shankland, gaining a quick lead in development and transforming it into a devastating attack, as White’s pieces never got out. This gave Caruana a chance to grab the lead, as he took advantage of a misplayed rook endgame to score the full point against Svidler. Levon Aronian also won, his first victory in the event, ending with an incredible final position against Nakamura: After 35.Qc5, Black was completely paralyzed and soon to get mated | 1-0, 35 moves Day 2 of the 2021 Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX will take place Thursday, September 9, with all of the action covered live by commentators GM Alejandro Ramirez and GM Maurice Ashley starting at 1:30 PM CDT. Fans can watch the action live at uschesschamps.com and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels. Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Photo: Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Crystal Fuller Dates & Location: September 8 – September 10, 2021Saint Louis Chess Club Livestream:USChessChamps.Com Web: uschesschamps.com | Twitter: @STLChessClubInstagram: @STLChessClub | Facebook: @STLChessClubYouTube: @STLChessClub | Twitch.tv: @STLChessClub#ChampionsShowdown #Chess9LX #STLChessClub Press Contact:Rebecca Buffingtonrbuffington@saintlouischessclub.org Photo Credits:Photos and appropriate credits available on Flickr Saint Louis Chess Club | Building Champions 4657 Maryland Avenue, Saint Louis, MO 63108 | (314) 361.CHESS (2437)
“Chess for children with ASD” seminar announced
The International Chess Federation, together with its Chess in Education Commission, Commission for the Disabled and FIDE Social Commission, is pleased to announce the 2nd FIDE Educational Seminar “Chess for children with an autism spectrum disorder. Learn & teach”. Following the success of the 1st seminar held earlier this year, the event will take place on October 2-3, 2021 at 15:00 – 18:00 CEST. It aims to give core knowledge to potential chess teachers/coaches on opportunities for using chess in educating kids with autistic spectrum disorder, to present a special programme developed by speakers over the year 2021 and to provide the necessary training of teachers as well as support for project development. Presentation of the seminar (pdf) Teaching chess to children with autism spectrum disorder has a positive impaсt on their communication abilities, speech, thinking, self-esteem and confidence. Speakers of the seminar will talk about the ways of teaching chess to children with autism spectrum disorder and explain their methodology covering the following topics: • What is autism spectrum disorder? • How to teach chess to children with autism? • How to prepare the classroom? What else to pay attention to? Apart from the project leaders Anastasia Sorokina, FIDE Vice-President and Dana Reizniece-Ozola, FIDE Managing Director, the list of speakers includes: Natalia Popova – WIM, FIDE Trainer, Trainer of the FIDE Chess Academy in Belarus, leader of the 2 years long project teaching chess to children with autistic spectrum disorder (Belarus); Ala Mishchanka – Special needs educational assistant, more than 15 years of experience (Canada); Dr. Anna Charchyan – researcher in Chess Research Institute at ASPU of a name Kh.Abovyan, PhD in Pedagogy, Lecturer faculty of Special and Inclusive Education at the Department of Speech Therapy and Occupational Therap (Armenia); Dr. Lilit Karapetyan – Senior researcher in Chess Research Institute at ASPU of a name Kh.Abovyan, PhD in Psychology, Lecturer at the Department of Special Pedagogy and Psychology (Armenia). Dr. Sandra Maria Guisso, Researcher with more than 15 years of experience (Brazil) and Luis Blasco de la Cruz, International Arbiter, CEO Madrid Chess Academy, Member of EDU FIDE Commission (Spain). How to register:For registration, please, please fill the form: https://cutt.ly/aWPwoHj before September 30, 2021. On October 01 all the registered participants will receive the access link to the online seminar. All participants who successfully pass a test will get a certificate of attendance. For further inquiries please contact: Anastasia Sorokina, FIDE Vice President a.sorokina@fide.com.
Top Division: China and Russia lead
Wednesday, September 8th, 2021 – The Online Olympiad Top Division began today. For three days, forty of the best teams in the world will battle it out on the Chess.com servers, to decide who will succeed last year’s co-winners India and Russia as the 2021 Online Olympiad winner. The teams are split into four pools which will play an all-play-all format for three days. The two top teams will advance to the KO quarter-finals. Most of the players connect from their own homes spread around their countries. However, some of the best teams such as India, China and Russia have enjoyed a specific training stage and play from a club or federation premises, with strong Internet connectivity and added team spirit. Top Division – Pool A China is definitely the big favourite in this group. Averaging 2592, the team captained by Ni Hua is headed by GM Ding Liren and GM Wei Yi as main top boards, with the current Women’s World Champion GM Ju Wenjun on board three. Reserve boards include GM Yu Yangyi and GM Bu Xiangzhi. An unbelievably strong squad on all boards. Team China in Hangzhou. Photo: Liang Ziming With such a line-up, it seems highly unlikely that they will fall short of the two qualifying spots, but anything can happen here as we have seen each weak. Nonetheless, they have started the event very strongly and lead the group with undisputed wins over Indonesia, Mongolia and Australia. Tied with China for first place are Kazakhstan, also on 6/6. Three wins over Romania, Indonesia and Georgia has propelled the team headed by GM Rinat Jumabaev into an excellent position going into day two. Their rating average is 2446, lower than some of the other teams but very well spread over the boards. GM Zhansaya Abdumalik and IM Dinara Saduakassova play on main female boards three and four, and their junior female is Bibisara Assaubayeva: all three are very strong players. In third place, with 5/6 stands Iran, who dropped one match point against Romania. First board GM Parham Maghsoodloo didn’t have his day, losing both of his games, but second board GM Pouya Idani made up for him by winning all three. A fun stat is the “low” 2381 rapid rating of junior board five, GM M. Amin Tabatabaei, a very strong +2600 GM! He also won his three games! The other main contender in this group is Armenia, currently fifth in the standings. They didn’t get off to a good start, but their team has a huge potential and could easily make a comeback in future rounds. Tomorrow’s round four will be very exciting, as China and Kazakstan face-off in the first match of the day. Top Division – Pool B Hungary (6/6), one of the group favourites, took the early lead in group B thanks to wins over Shenzhen China, Slovenia and Azerbaijan,. They have a very solid team, combining strength and youth, headed by seasoned GM’s Viktor Erdos and Tamas Banusz, with top GM Benjamin Gledura as the first reserve. Nevertheless, the main favourite of the group is team India (5/6), who have also started off very strong although they did drop one match point against third-placed France. India is one of the teams that are playing all together from the luxury Taj Coromandel hotel in Chennai. The team is sponsored by Microsense, which among other things, guarantees great Internet connectivity. Team India in Chennai. Photo: Amruta Mokal Chessbase India Their top board is former World Champion and chess legend GM Anand Viswanathan, but GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi on board two is by no means any weaker! The female players, GM Koneru Humpy and GM Harika Dronavalli, are boards three and four, while GM Nihal Sarin defends the main junior board. All the reserve boards are also world-class players: India has come to win! In his game against Egypt’s board one Ahmed Adly, Anand is a rook up, but his king is under serious pressure. Did he calculate correctly? Of course! Black played 42…Rxg2+ 43.Ke3 Qh7! (threatening Qd3 mate) 44.Rad1 Qc2! (threatening with checkmate on f2) 45.Qf7+ Kd8 46.Kf4! and White escaped with his king and won the game. Tied for third and fourth are France and Moldova, one of the teams qualified from the previous stage. For now, France has only played with six of their twelve players, including GM’s Etienne Bacrot and Marie Sebag, and it remains to be seen if they will field the rest of the players tomorrow. Their junior player is IM Marc Andria Maurizzi: his 2186 rapid rating shouldn’t mislead: He is a GM-elect, with a standard 2488 rating! 14-years-old GM-elect Marc Andria Maurizzi This is a tough group with many players yet to get into action: teams such as Azerbaijan, Slovenia and quite a few others can easily win a couple of rounds and get back into the mix. Top Division – Pool C Group C has a clear favourite right off the bat: Russia (6/6). Co-winner (with India) of last year’s edition of the Online Olympiad, the Russian team is also playing in full from the Central Chess Club in Moscow. In the first three rounds, they have already defeated Czech Republic, Ukraine, and Germany (by a 6-0! score) and undisputedly lead the group. The Russian team in action from the Moscow Central Club Their main team includes world-class GM’s Alexander Grischuk, Danil Dubov as top two boards, Aleksandra Goryachkina and Alexandra Kosteniuk on boards three and four and Andrey Esipenko (3/3 this afternoon) and Polina Shuvalova as junior boards. Already a team that inspires fear and awe! However, their “reserve” boards are Artemiev, Fedoseev, Lagno, Gunina…. And on it goes. A very tough squad captained by GM Alexander Motylev. The following diagram is from the game between German FM Frederik Svane and Russian GM Andrey Episenko. White is in dire straits but tried his last chance 40.Nd7 with a double attack on the rook and the c-pawn. Low on time, Episenko was still outstanding in his calculations. Andrey played 40…cxd4! 41.Nxf8 d3 42.Kf3 and now 42…g4+! After 43.Ke3 g3! the king and the knight can’t stop the two passers. Nonetheless,