Serbia prepares for second Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners
Convicts from Belgrade prison Padinska Skela played simultaneous exhibition with GM Aleksandar Indjic. Last year, the International Chess Federation, jointly with Cook County (Chicago) Sheriff’s office, launched the project “Chess for Freedom”, which is dedicated to convicted and detained persons worldwide. As a part of it, the Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners was organized. Its first edition was supported by 17 national federations, including the Chess Federation of Serbia. The Administration for the Enforcement of Penal Sanctions of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia established strong cooperation with several Penal Correctional Facilities in Serbia. Last year, a team of Serbian convicts from the Penal Correctional Facility in Belgrade (Padinska Skela) participated in the very first Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners. This year, Serbia will field four teams in the competition: men’s teams from Penal Correctional Facility in Padinska Skela and Zabela Pozarevac, a women’s team representing Penal Correctional Facility for women in Pozarevac and a youth team of Juvenile Reformatory in Krusevac. As part of the preparatory activities, tournaments were held in several penitentiary institutions, and the first board of the Serbian national team, grandmaster Aleksandar Indjic, played a simultaneous exhibition on the premises of the Penal Correctional Facility in Padinska Skela on September 7 2022. The warden of the Penal Correctional Facility, Vladimir Bukvic, wished the simultaneous game participants to give the most vigorous possible resistance to Grandmaster Indjic and use this opportunity to improve their chess skills. On behalf of the Chess Federation of Serbia, Nebojsa Baralic, Chief Advisor to the President of the Serbian Chess Federation and Director of the FIDE Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners, expressed his gratitude for the hospitality. He told the attendees about all the activities that have been carried out since the beginning of the project. He also introduced them to the plans of FIDE and Serbia Chess Federation in this field, as well as the organization of the upcoming Intercontinental Championship. The country’s four largest Penal Correctional Facility – Sremska Mitrovica, Pozarevac (Zabela), Nis and Belgrade have been having chess sections for many years, and all prisons regularly organize tournaments with more than 100 convicts participating. Chess tournaments and numerous sports activities have been regularly organized in the Penal Correctional Facility in Padinska Skela (Belgrade) since last year. The Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for prisoners is open for teams representing any correctional facility. Currently, 45 teams from 23 countries have already registered for the tournament. The registration deadline is September 21, 2022. Participation is free of charge. Tournament regulations (pdf) Registration form
2022 Sinquefield Cup – So pulls away
It was an exciting day featuring three decisive outcomes as Wesley So defeated Hans Niemann to take a full point lead in the tournament with just three rounds left to play. Meanwhile, Levon Aronian utilized good preparation to earn a win over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Alireza Firouzja swindled Shakhriyar Mamedyarov after he blundered a pawn in the middlegame. Today’s results have big implications for the 2022 Grand Chess Tour, with Firouzja sitting only a point behind MVL in the overall GCT standings. FIROUZJA – MAMEDYAROV | 1-0, 28 moves A rich line of the English Defense left Firouzja’s king in the center, though with a very solid structure and potential for piece play. An unexpected blunder allowed Mamedyarov to snag a pawn with a cute tactic, but at the cost of the dark-squared bishop. Despite the position being good for Black, it suddenly became difficult for Mamedyarov to play, as Firouzja developed powerful compensation on the dark squares. And just a few moves later Black’s position collapsed, and as Mamedyarov was about to lose a piece, he resigned. After 19…Bxf2+! 20.Kxf2 Qf5+!, Black won a pawn as 21.Nf4?? would lose the queen to 21…e3+. Instead, Firouzja played 21.Ke1, managing to stir up counterplay after 21…Qxd5 22.Rf1 Nf8 23.Qc3 Ne6 24.Rf4! A big win for Firouzja, who is currently second in the 2022 GCT standings. | Photo Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes NIEMANN – SO | 0-1, 59 moves A calm Petroff left Niemann with a small edge out of the opening until he erred with the move 20.h4, where after 20…Nh5! Black threatened to trap White’s bishop, overtaking the initiative. Niemann wasn’t able to solve his problems and So ended up with a clear strategic advantage, eventually forcing a winning bishop vs. knight endgame which he converted with technical precision. After 33…Bf4! forcing a very favorable endgame – 34.Qxe4 dxe4-+ With a full point lead, Wesley So looks primed to win his second Sinquefield Cup. | Photo Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes ARONIAN – VACHIER-LAGRAVE | 1-0, 49 moves Strong preparation by Aronian, utilizing an idea (16.Rhf1) found during the recent Olympiad, allowed him to put Vachier-Lagrave under heavy pressure in a topical Najdorf. Although MVL was able to survive the opening, he burned a lot of time to do so and ended up in a slightly worse endgame. Upon hitting severe time-trouble MVL soon went wrong, reaching move 40 down a pawn and with a hopeless position, as Aronian won just a few moves later. The novelty 16.Rhf1 was originally prepared for Caruana in the 2022 Olympiad against Iran’s GM Parham Maghsoodloo, according to Aronian. Today’s win brought Levon back to 50%, as he dealt a huge blow to the current GCT leader. | Photo Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes NEPOMNIACHTCHI – CARUANA | ½-½, 53 moves Following a blitz game from earlier this year between Nepomniachtchi and GM Richard Rapport, Caruana chose the surprising Four Knights Sicilian, once again armed with deep preparation. It took Ian a while to deviate from his own play, as he ended up with an extra pawn in an endgame with opposite colored bishops. Although White pushed for some time, he wasn’t able to generate any serious winning chances, and Caruana held the draw. After Caruana’s 14…Ne4!, a sharp move which initiates massive complications. Another day, another great preparation from Fabiano Caruana. | Photo Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes The 2022 Sinquefield Cup continues Friday, September 9, starting at 12:50 PM CT. Catch all the action live with grandmaster commentators Peter Svidler, Yasser Seirawan, and Alejandro Ramirez on grandchesstour.org and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels. Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz Sponsors Further Information:Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTourInstagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour Venue: Saint Louis Chess Club September 02-12, 2022 Press Contact:press@grandchesstour.org Livestream:GrandChessTour.org Photos:Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum StudiosCredits available on Flickr.
FIDE Trainers Commission : Five FIDE Trainers Seminars announced
The FIDE Trainers Commission (TRG) is pleased to announce five FIDE Trainers Seminars in September and October 2022 and which be held in four different languages. First, is 23-25 September, organised online in English by the Arab Chess Federation together with the Asia Chess Academy trainers.fide.com/2022/09/06/fide-trainer-online-seminar-from-23-25-september-2022/. Then on 7-9 October, Jussupow Schachschule will also organise an online seminar, in German. trainers.fide.com/2022/09/05/fide-trainer-seminar-in-german-language-from-7-9-october-2022/ From 14-16 October there will be two seminars held concurrently, for Spanish Americas organised directly by TRG trainers.fide.com/2022/08/31/fide-trainer-online-seminar-for-spanish-americas-14-16-october-2022/, and the other organised by Uppsala Chess+ Academy (with assistance from Jussupow Schachschule) for Scandinavia (and Europe) trainers.fide.com/2022/09/07/fide-trainer-seminar-for-scandinavia-and-europe-from-14-16-october-2022/. In Asia, from 15-17 October, Sekolah Catur Utut Adianto will organise a hybrid regional seminar in Indonesian-Malay in Bali, for Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Timur Leste and Indonesia trainers.fide.com/2022/09/06/hybrid-fide-trainer-seminar-in-indonesian-malay-language-in-bali-from-15-17-october-2022/.
World Youth U14, U16, and U18 Championships kick off in Mamaia, Romania
Youth chess championships are returning to over-the-board play after the pandemic hiatus. Rapid and Blitz Championships in Rhodes at the end of April became the first mass event for young players, followed by World School Individual Championships in Panama. On September 5, the Romanian beach resort of Mamaia took over the baton. Altogether, 620 players from 72 federations participate in six tournaments: Open and Girls under 14, 16, and 18. Naturally, the host Romania is represented by the highest number of players, 84. Among other large delegations are Poland (24 players), Kazakhstan (21), Spain (20), and Ukraine (19). The Opening Ceremony took place in the playing hall at 14:30 on Tuesday, September 6th. Among the dignitaries present were the ambassadors of Armenia, India and Serbia, the consul of Egypt, the President of Constanta County, Vice-Mayor of Constanta Municipality and President of Romanian Chess Federation. In addition to all the dignitaries, Tournament Director on behalf of Organizing Committee, Chief Arbiter on behalf of arbiter team and FIDE Technical Delegate on behalf of FIDE, addressed to all present participants. FIDE Anthem was played prior to the speech of FIDE Technical Delegate. Ambassadors symbolically played first moves at randomly chosen boards among players from their federations. The likes of young stars Gukesh, Abdusattorov, Keymer, Sarin, and Praggnanandhaa, storming 2700 and top-30 lists, are missing from the event. Nevertheless, the lineups promise a great fight, high-quality games, and many outstanding young talents to follow. To name a few, FM Arthur de Winter (Netherlands), who tops the starting list in the Open U14 section, is the #6 rated 14-year-old in the world. Rating-favourite in the Open U16, Indian IM Pranav Anand, is very close to breaking 2500 and will try to make his famous namesake proud by living up to expectations. WFM Alexandra Shvedova, rating-favourite in Girls U14, was European Champion U10 in 2018. Four years later, she’s storming the world championship title. Eline Roebers (Netherlands) is topping the Girls U16 starting list. She’s the world’s second-rated girl under 16 years of age. This winter, Roebers made headlines by becoming the first-ever female winner of the Untergrombach Open by defeating GM Vyacheslav Ikonnikov in the final round. Famous chess YouTuber Agadmator showed this game on his channel. In 2020, the Dutch phenomenon won the World Championship U14, held online due to the pandemic. The event will stretch for 11 rounds and finish on September 16. The first three rounds have shown that the top-seeded players would not have an easy task securing the titles. Among 31 participants with perfect scores, only WFM Alexandra Shvedova (FID, Girls U-14) and Eline Roebers (NED, Girls U-16) are the only two top-seeded players. Youth championships are massive forums; alongside participants, they attract many accompanying persons. Mamaia hosts a few additional events to benefit trainers and parents during this event: the FIDE Arbiter seminar from 7-11 September, the FIDE trainer seminar from 7-12 September, and events with Chesskid.com and Chess.com. Photo: Mark Livshitz Official website of the World Youth Championships: worldyouth2022.com/
Serbia prepares for second Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners
Convicts from Belgrade prison Padinska Skela played a simultaneous exhibition with GM Aleksandar Indjic. Last year, the International Chess Federation, jointly with Cook County (Chicago) Sheriff’s office, launched the project “Chess for Freedom”, which is dedicated to convicted and detained persons worldwide. As a part of it, the Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners was organised. Its first edition was supported by 17 national federations, including the Chess Federation of Serbia. The Administration for the Enforcement of Penal Sanctions of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia established strong cooperation with several Penal Correctional Facilities in Serbia. Last year, a team of Serbian convicts from the Penal Correctional Facility in Belgrade (Padinska Skela) participated in the very first Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners. This year, Serbia will field four teams in the competition: men’s teams from Penal Correctional Facility in Padinska Skela and Zabela Pozarevac, a women’s team representing Penal Correctional Facility for women in Pozarevac and a youth team from Juvenile Reformatory in Krusevac. As part of the preparatory activities, tournaments were held in several penitentiary institutions, and the first board of the Serbian national team, grandmaster Aleksandar Indjic, played a simultaneous exhibition on the premises of the Penal Correctional Facility in Padinska Skela on September 7 2022. The warden of the Penal Correctional Facility, Vladimir Bukvic, wished the simultaneous game participants to give the most vigorous possible resistance to Grandmaster Indjic and use this opportunity to improve their chess skills. On behalf of the Chess Federation of Serbia, Nebojsa Baralic, Chief Advisor to the President of the Serbian Chess Federation and Director of the FIDE Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners, expressed his gratitude for the hospitality. He told the attendees about all the activities that have been carried out since the beginning of the project. He also introduced them to the plans of FIDE and Serbia Chess Federation in this field, as well as the organisation of the upcoming Intercontinental Championship. The country’s four largest Penal Correctional Facility – Sremska Mitrovica, Pozarevac (Zabela), Nis and Belgrade have been having chess sections for many years, and all prisons regularly organise tournaments with more than 100 convicts participating. Chess tournaments and numerous sports activities have been regularly organised in the Penal Correctional Facility in Padinska Skela (Belgrade) since last year. The Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for prisoners is open for teams representing any correctional facility. Currently, 45 teams from 23 countries have already registered for the tournament. The registration deadline is September 21, 2022. Participation is free of charge. Tournament regulations (pdf) Registration form