Swiss Wednesday Women’s Series: February recap
The Swiss Queens Wednesday Series, launched in partnership with the International Chess Federation (FIDE), is an initiative aimed at boosting women’s participation in chess. Hosted on the FIDE Online Arena, and open to all women with FIDE or Arena titles, the series celebrates FIDE’s 100th anniversary by emphasizing gender diversity in chess and creating a community where female chess players can connect and grow together both personally and professionally. With tournaments every Wednesday and a weekly prize fund of USD $1000 per tournament, the series has attracted some of the strongest players from around the world (with over 30 countries each week!). Let’s take a look at the first five winners: Week 1: Martha L. Fierro Baquero International Master Martha L. Fierro Baquero from Ecuador made her mark by winning the inaugural edition with an impressive score of 9/11. With the 3+1 blitz time control, by the time players get to the endgame, they very often have seconds left on their clocks. In her game against Teodora Injac, Martha (playing as Black) found a brilliant way to overwhelm the white Bishop. Can you find the continuation? You can view the whole game here. Week 2: Valentina Gunina In the second week, the newly crowned Women’s World Blitz Champion, Grandmaster Valentina Gunina, dominated the field with 9.5/11. As expected from her games, there was a lot of attacking action on the board. Take this one against the young Narva Mai as an example: Black only has one good move here, but in the game, she played 23…Bd7?. How did Valentina continue? The game went on for another 36 moves, with constant pressure from Black. However, White emerged victorious in the end. You can view the full game here. Week 3: IM Anastasia Bodnaruk We witnessed Anastasia emerge as a formidable force when she won the 2023 Women’s World Rapid Championships in a field of Grandmasters. Now once again, Anastasia cemented her place at the top in Women’s Chess by winning the third edition of the Swiss Queens Wednesday. She bounced back from a loss in the first round to end up with 9.5/11 – including a final showdown win against Valentina Gunina in the last round. In what was truly a spectacle of a game, Anastasia dominated her opponent, all while keeping great time management. View the game here. How did White finish off the game? Week 4: Gunay Mammadzada The fourth edition was the strongest yet, with two blitz giants – Valentina Gunina and Alexandra Kosteniuk participating. However, it was IM Gunay Mammadzada who emerged as the final victor with Kosteniuk and Gunina in second and third place, respectively. Mammadzada had a few great results, including a 9th-round win against Gunina, but it is her last game against the Georgian player Meri Arabidze that could be an interesting endgame study. In this position, Gunay played 50…Rd2 and the game ended in a draw. What was a better alternative that Black missed? Gunay could have sealed the deal with 50…Rd1+ 51. Kg2 (51. Kf2 b3 52. Rxd3 b2 53. Rb3 Rh2!) 51…Rc1! 52. Rxd3 Rc3! 53. Rd3 b3 54. Kf2 Rc2 55. Ke3 b2 Week 5: IM Polina Shuvalova The final February edition once again saw an incredibly tough field, and this time, Polina Shuvalova, who had been participating every week so far, took the spotlight as the final winner. In the 10th round, Shuvalova beat former Women’s World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk. In another crazy game, Shuvalova gave up her advantage in time trouble and entered a drawish endgame only to win on time in the end! However, let’s rewind a bit to the point where Polina gained the advantage that she kept for almost the whole game. Black just played 16…Nxc5 (16…fxe5 was much stronger), which allowed Shuvalova to get the upper hand. White to play: After 17.exf6 gxf6 18. Bxc5 Bxc5 19.Rxe6 Polina won a pawn for which Alexandra had no real compensation. Be sure not to miss any of the upcoming Swiss Queen’s Wednesday Action! You can join the next edition on March 13th here
FIDE Resolution on suspending membership of Egyptian Chess Federation
The International Chess Federation publishes a decision following the recent approval of the Resolution on the Egyptian Chess Federation. The FIDE World Cadet Championship took place in Egypt on 14-27 October, 2023. Due to the tragic events of October 7, 2023, a large number of federations and individual players were unable to arrive/refused to participate in the championship due to concerns about their safety (at least 172 persons from 12 different federations). Despite numerous assurances from the Egyptian Chess Federation, the fees made by those federations/players have not been returned to them in due order. Besides, the Egyptian Chess Federation failed to provide the necessary documents and information about non-returned funds and didn’t start paying off the debt. In view of this, the FIDE Council decided to suspend the membership of the Egyptian Chess Federation with immediate effect, revoking the right to organize any FIDE rated tournaments as well as the right to delegate any representatives to FIDE events. Starting from 08.03.2024 all Egyptian players may only play in all FIDE-rated tournaments with FIDE flag only. However, on March 06 2024 FIDE has received a letter of guarantee from the National Olympic Committee of Egypt stating that the debts will be paid off in the nearest future. It has also initiated the procedure of changing the management of the Chess Federation of Egypt. Taking into account the above-mentioned, FIDE took a decision to allow players from Egypt to participate in the African Games, hosted by the Republic of Ghana on March 8-23 2024, under their national flag. FIDE is ready to remove restrictions imposed on players from Egypt to play under their national flag as soon as the fulfillment of commitments starts and hopes it will be done in the nearest future. The full text of the Resolution can be found here.
Call for submissions: FIDE Veterans Support Program 2024
The International Chess Federation is pleased to announce the continuation of its support to chess veterans in 2024. The grants will be awarded to distinguished players, coaches and organizers aged 65+. Anyone over this age who has contributed to the development of chess and who is in an unstable financial situation is eligible to submit an application. As in previous years, we invite federations, clubs, and players themselves to send their applications, including a CV of the nominee, to the FIDE Secretariat: office@fide.com. The deadline for submissions is March 22, 2024.
Getting more women’s teams to the Chess Olympiad
Out of 188 countries and territories that took part in the previous (2022) Chess Olympiad, 30 did not have a team in the women’s section. FIDE has set a goal to increase the number of women’s teams for the upcoming Olympiad scheduled in Hungary this September. That is how the “Empowering Queens of the Chessboard” project was born Launched in August 2023 by the Commission for Women’s Chess, the initiative aims to help recruit, train and finance women’s chess teams for the countries that did not have them in the previous Olympiad. More broadly, the goal is to take a step further in promoting chess among women and girls, which has been one of the key objectives of FIDE in the previous five years. The initiative is spread across three stages. The first, running from August to December 2023, consisted of a thorough analysis of conditions surrounding women’s chess in countries which have never sent female teams to the Olympiad. A survey found that lack of female players, training capacities and financing were the main reasons for these countries not sending women’s teams to the Olympiad. In November 2023, a seminar was organized to seek ways to overcome these challenges, including new strategies for attracting talent and securing funding. One of the key findings was that the motivation to play chess differs between men and women. While male players were more motivated by competitiveness, women tended to emphasize the social aspect. Consequently, in some countries, chess tournaments were followed by social events, providing women with more time to connect and socialize. Examples from countries that are more successful in engaging female players have shown that engaging schools is one of the key factors leading to an increased number of women chess players. The second stage of the project started in January this year. It will run until June, with a focus on building women’s teams in ten microstates/territories: Nauru, Guernsey, Cayman Island, Grenada, Mauritania, Saint Lucia, Liechtenstein, St. Kitts and Nevis, US Virgin Islands, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Trainers of women’s national teams in those countries were already appointed. On weekends, they are having meetings with their teams to prepare for the Chess Olympiad 2024. Remarkably, 80% of the trainers are females too. The third stage of the project will focus on providing logistical and organizational support to teams and getting them ready for their first-ever Chess Olympiad. “Most of these countries which we have engaged have not only never had a female team at the Olympiad but also never had a female team at all, nor did they have any women in any level of chess – whether it is players, arbiters or organizers. The seminar we had, and the research conducted helped us gain a better understanding of the challenges for women’s chess and which concrete steps to take to increase female participation,” said Tris-Ann Richards, who is the president of the Saint Lucia Chess Federation and one of the instigators of the project. Thus far, five countries have recruited their inaugural Olympic women’s teams and are in the initial phase of their training program. The players from the Caribbean who are part of the draft Olympiad teams also participated in the Queens Gambit Challenge – Caribbean Edition, a comprehensive training program covering the fundamentals of chess, advanced strategies, and mental and psychological training. Each country has a professional coach assigned and will commence a three-month training program starting March 15 this year. The “Empowering Queens of the Chessboard” project is headed by Anastasia Sorokina, Chair of the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess and Tris-Ann Richards (St. Lucia), Councillor in FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess, along with team members Yilmas Kartal, Paris Klerides, Akua Kosife Esse, Monalisha Khamboo and Herborg Hansen. You can read more about the project here: Empowering queens of the chessboard: National Female Team Development Seminar – FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess.
André Meylan and Marija Zvereva win 2024 Monaco Championship
André Meylan and WIM Marija Zvereva are the champions of Monaco 2024, both winning their maiden titles. The 2024 Monacan championship, a seven-round Swiss tournament with classical time control, brought together a record 28 players (19 men and 9 women), with men and women ranked separately. It all came down to the final seventh round in which the fourth seed, André Meylan (5/6), scored a crucial victory over Patrick Van Hoolandt and clinched the title as his main rival and co-leader, top seed GM Amir Bagheri fell to IM Damir Levacic. As a result, Damir took silver, while Amir had to settle for bronze. Meanwhile, in a clash of the leaders in the women’s section (both sitting on 4/6), Marija Zvereva prevailed over WCM Svetlana Berezovska to win gold with 5/7. WGM Tatiana Dornbusch leapfrogged Berezovska and claimed silver, scoring 4.5/7. Svetlana Berezovska completed the women’s podium. Final standings: 1 Meylan, Andre 2133 6 2 IM Levacic, Damir 2110 5½ 3 GM Bagheri, Amir 2378 5 4 WIM Zvereva, Marija 2045 5 5 GM Efimov, Igor 2329 4½ 6 FM Verdier, Patrice 2028 4½ 7 Ribbegren, Karl Johan 2104 4½ 8 WGM Dornbusch, Tatiana 2218 4½ 9 FM Van Hoolandt, Patrick 2008 4 10 WCM Berezovska, Svetlana 1739 4 Based on the results of the 2023 and 2024 Monacan championships, the following players qualified for the 2024 Olympiad in Budapest: Women section: WGM Tatiana Dornbusch, WIM Marija Zvereva, WCM Fiorina Berezovsky, WCM Svetlana Berezovska, WIM Martine Dubois. Open section: GM Amir Bagheri, André Meylan, GM Igor Efimov, IM Damir Levacic, FM Patrick Van Hoolandt. Photos: Monaco Chess Federation
Romanian Championship 2024: Parligras and Lehaci clinch titles
Only 0.5 Buchholz points separated GMs Mircea-Emilian Parligras and Constantin Lupulescu, who scored 7.5/9 and tied for first place in the open section of the 2024 Romanian Championship. Thanks to a slightly better tiebreaker, Mircea-Emilian won his fourth national title in classical chess. The Romanian Championship 2024 in Open, Women and Amateur sections took place in Complex Steaua de Mare in the coastal town of Eforie Nord from February 24 to March 02. All three competitions were 9-round Swiss events with classical time control. The open event was a close race, with several top-rated participants sharing first place most of the way. Only after Round 7 Mircea-Emilian Parligras emerged as the sole leader and came to the final round a half-point ahead of Constantin Lupulescu. Parligras made a quick draw with Filip Magold and secured the title, although Lupulescu beat Vladislav Nevednichy and caught up with the leader. As many as four players tied for third place, with David Gavrilescu taking bronze by way of a superior Buchholz. Interestingly, the three rating favorites (rated 2500+) occupied the entire podium. Final standings: 1 GM Parligras, Mircea-Emilian 2537 7½ 2 GM Lupulescu, Constantin 2589 7½ 3 GM Gavrilescu, David 2524 6½ 4 FM Magold, Filip 2400 6½ 5 FM Cnejev, Vladimir-Alexandru 2311 6½ 6 IM Ghimpu, Samuel-Timotei 2467 6½ 7 GM Nevednichy, Vladislav 2445 6 8 FM Ilinca, Felix-Antonio 2377 6 9 FM Tudor, Henry Edward 2239 6 10 FM Antal, Hunor-Zoltan 2272 5½ The women’s event saw the triumph of WIM Miruna-Daria Lehaci, who bagged her second straight national title. Miruna-Daria grabbed the lead after defeating one of her main rivals, Alessia-Mihaela Ciolacu, and preserved her top position in the standing to the very end. Although she made three draws at the finish, it was enough to secure the title with 7/9. Alessia-Mihaela Ciolacu, Elena-Luminita Cosma, Mihaela Sandu, and Corina-Isabela Peptan scored 6.5 and finished a half-point behind the champion with Ciolacu and Cosma winning silver and bronze respectively, thanks to superior tiebreaks. Final standings: 1 WIM Lehaci, Miruna-Daria 2227 7 2 WIM Ciolacu, Alessia-Mihaela 2175 6½ 3 WGM Cosma, Elena-Luminita 2238 6½ 4 WGM Sandu, Mihaela 2270 6½ 5 IM Peptan, Corina-Isabela 2314 6½ 6 WFM Obada, Ema 1969 6 7 WCM Trifoi, Mihaela-Ioana 2003 6 8 WCM Stanciu, Andreea-Briana 1960 5½ 9 WCM Batagan, Ilinca-Petra 1859 5½ 10 WCM Schiopu, Oana-Magdalena 1750 5 Photos: Federația Română de Șah Facebook
FIDE Candidates 2024: Pairings announced
The countdown of the FIDE Candidates 2024, the first-ever such competition in America, began on February 28 in Toronto, Canada with the drawing of lots for the Candidates and the Women’s Candidates. It was held in the famous Torontian chess pub Madison Avenue by the Chief Arbiter Aris Marghetis (Canada), assisted by the key members of the local Organizing Committee for the FIDE Candidates, WGM Anna Burtasova, Salim Belcadi, and GM Evgeny Bareev in the presence of over a hundred of chess fans. For the first time in history, both open and women’s events will take place simultaneously in the same venue. The participants of both competitions, 8-player double round-robins, received the following starting numbers: FIDE Candidates 2024: FIDE Women’s Candidates 2024: Order of drawing In accordance with the General Rules and Technical Recommendations for Tournaments / 06. Restricted Drawing of Lots, the players of the federation with the most number of representatives were drawn first. Where two or more federations had the same number of representatives, precedence was determined by the alphabetical order of the FIDE country code. Among players of the same federation, precedence was determined by the alphabetical order of their names. Candidates 2024: first draw 3 Indian players, then draw 2 USA players, then draw 3 remaining players. Women’s Candidates 2024: first, draw 2 China players, then draw 2 FIDE players, then draw 2 Indian players, then draw 2 remaining players. Note that standard Berger Tables for both double round robins have been modified so that none of the players ever has the same colour three times in a row. It is achieved by switching rounds 6 and 7, which has been a longstanding practice. FIDE Candidates and Women’s Candidates 2024 full pairings You can watch the entire drawing of lots on FIDE YouTube channel. Photos: John Upper
PICF 2024 Masters: Abdusattorov leads halfway through
The Prague International Chess Festival 2024, featuring Masters, Challengers, and Futures tournaments, crossed its halfway point after five days of play. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) and Parham Maghsoodloo (Iran) got off to a great start in the Masters event, scoring 3/4, but in Round 5, their paths diverged. The Uzbek GM convincingly outplayed Mateusz Bartel and is going to the rest day as the sole leader as the Iranian miraculously saved a lost rook endgame facing Richard Rapport. If Nodirbek continues in the same vein in the second half of the event, he will debut in the top-10 Open in the April rating list. Abdusattorov scored his most spectacular win so far in Round 3 against David Navara. In this see-saw game, Nodirbek had an advantage first, then misplayed it completely and found himself in a desperate situation. Luckily for him, David made a natural move 28…Rxf7, grabbing the bishop (instead of 28…Bh7!) but missed a stunner. Nodirbek Abdusattorov – David Navara 29. Rd6!! All the rest is simply bad for White, but with this brilliant move, Abdusattorov sealed the deal after 29…Rc8 30. Nxf7+ Qxf7 31. Rxd4 b3 32. b6 Rc2 33. Qf3 b2 34. b7 Qf8 35. Rdd1 Rc5 36. Qb3 1-0 Richard Rapport is the third remaining player scoring over 50% (3/5), while Praggnanandhaa R, David Navara and Gukesh D are sitting on 2.5/5. Standings after Round 5 Masters Anton Korobov of Ukraine and young prodigy Ediz Gurel from Turkey (pictured below) are sharing the lead in the Challengers event with an excellent score of 4/5. Jaime Santos Latasa of Spain is in third place, trailing the leaders by a half-point. Standings after Round 5 Challengers Aansh Nandan Nerurka of India leads the Futures tournament, a full point ahead of Pawel Brzezina from Poland. Tomas Andre and Evangelia Siskou are tied for third place. Standings after Round 5 Futures Photos: Petr Vrabec Official website: praguechessfestival.com/
Africa U8 Chess Champion wins prestigious national award in Kenya
Nathaniel Manyeki emerged as the 2nd runner-up in the Most Promising Personality of the Year 2023 category at the Sports Personality of The Year Award, Kenya (SOYA Awards). The reigning Under 8 Africa Youth Champion, Nathaniel, showcased his exceptional talent by achieving a perfect score at the Africa Youth Chess Championship held last year in Egypt. Amidst cheers and applause, Chess Kenya Federation officials, along with Nathaniel Manyeki’s family and friends, gathered at the KICC Nairobi for the award ceremony, celebrating his remarkable accomplishments. The SOYA Awards, marking its 20th anniversary this year, brought together a multitude of sportsmen and women from various disciplines across Kenya. This celebration of excellence united partners from esteemed organizations, including CMA, Safaricom, KAS, and the Paul Tergat Foundation. Nathaniel, who is the current Under 8 Boys’ Kenya National Chess Champion, the title he has held for three consecutive years, started playing chess in 2021 and has secured a podium finish in many regional tournaments under different age categories, frequently taking on bigger challenges in the open events against much higher rated players such as the Kenya and Uganda Open. Milestones Achieved: ● Current Africa Youth Chess Champion under 8 Open, having emerged victorious with 9/9 points at the 2023 championship in Cairo, Egypt. He was awarded the title of Candidate Master (CM). ● Represented Kenya in the African Youth Chess Championship ( Lusaka, Zambia, 2022) ● Represented the country in the Africa Schools Individual Chess Championships (Nairobi, Kenya) 2021 and ranked 4th U7 Open ● Current U8 National Chess Champion, the title he has held for three consecutive years (2021, 2022, 2023) ● Current U9 Open National Chess Champion (2023) ● National Chess Champion U7 Open ( 2021, 2022 ) ● Regional Champion and podium finisher in various competitions: (2022) – Kajiado 1st in U10 Open, Nairobi region 1st in U8 Open, Machakos Region 1st in U10 Open, St. Bakhita Open 1st in U8, Sanlam invitational 1st U12 Open, Village Market 2nd in U10 Open, (2021) Nairobi Region 2nd in U7 Open, Village Market Open 2nd U8 Open, Kitengela Open 1st U8 Open, Oshwal Academy 1st in U8 Open. He is also a part of the Business Meets Chess and Kids program, connecting business people with young chess players in an effort to help them improve their game and acquire the tools needed to play chess competitively.
FIDE Chessable Academy’s third season gets underway
The FIDE Chessable Academy’s 2024 season kicked off on January 13, drawing 450 students from over 100 federations and 22 FIDE Endorsed Academies into its arena Aimed at talented young players who are nominated by their national Federations and FIDE Endorsed Academies, the FIDE Chessable Academy brings together top players and coaches teaching a specially designed training program for future chess masters. The roster of lecturers featured esteemed coaches and chess legends, such as Hou Yifan, Stefanova Antoaneta, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Alexander Khalifman, Boris Gelfand, Artur Jussupow, Mikhail Gurevich, Ramesh R B, Vladimir Potkin, Aleksey Dreev, Vladimir Malakhov, Victor Bologan, Igor Lysyj, Evgeniy Najer, Miguel Illescas, Yevgeniy Vladimirov, Surya Ganguly, Sergei Tiviakov, Anton Filippov, Melikset Khachiyan, Thomas Luther, Yannick Gozzoli, Farrukh Amonatov, Alexey Kuzmin, Igor Khenkin, Hicham Hamdouchi, Georgui Castaneda, Dejan Bojkov, Ilaha Kadimova, Robert Hungaski, Reynaldo Vera, Alonso Zapata, and Vishal Sareen. The program aims to unravel important skills and techniques. It includes a meticulous study of important chess openings explained by leading experts in these specific areas, exploring typical and innovative ideas, abundant secrets, as well as practical challenges and revealing various topics. The topics include the evaluation of the position and the plan, prophylactic thinking, principles of attack, principles of defense, how to play against the pieces, un-evident moves and full board vision, danger of passed pawns, practical rook endings, correct and incorrect attack, “bad” pieces, advantage realization principles, feeling of danger, the principle of two weaknesses in addition to other important topics. Organized into 12 groups, the program, slated to run until the end of April, unfolds with weekend sessions conducted in English, Russian, Spanish, and French. One of the focuses of the project is gender equality, as an equal number of female and male students actively participate, creating a diverse and inclusive chess community. So far, since its establishment in 2021, the academy has welcomed over 1000 students from more than 100 countries in its online sessions. “Having access to coaching and high-quality training material is essential for chess development. As the world’s leading chess courses platform, we are thrilled to be part of this important project, which levels the field for players of all ages and backgrounds. We sincerely hope to contribute to the development of future champions as well as future chess professionals,” Geert van der Velde, Head of Chessable.com, said. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich emphasizes the academy’s role in personal development, stating that “the Chessable Academy is not just about mastering the game; it’s about creating well-rounded individuals. This feeds well into FIDE’s overall approach and strategy in popularizing chess – it is not just about the sport, it is about building your character and helping individuals grow as people”. Two in-person camps held in Dubai (2021) and Sitges, Spain (2022) served as global meeting points, fostering camaraderie among chess enthusiasts. The In-person Training Camp Breaking new ground, the academy introduces personal development training as a core component. The FIDE Chessable In-Person Training Camp, led by GM Judit Polgar and GM Artur Jussupow in Menorca from March 27 to April 2, promises to be a transformative experience. The “FIDE Personal Growth Academy” within the camp features experts like Dana Reizniece-Ozola, Geert van der Velde, Maria Yuste, and Natalia Ryzhenko, covering topics from healthy nutrition to personal brand development. How the participants of the course will be selected: The FIDE Trainers’ Commission and Chessable will carefully evaluate and choose the 12 students based on the following outlined criteria: Participants of any language and rating who fulfilled the attendance criteria (minimum 75% attendance) and were not selected for the camp will receive Chessable courses.