FIDE World Youth U-16 Chess Olympiad 2022 starts in Nakhchivan
FIDE World Youth U-16 Chess Olympiad 2022 kicked off in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan. The 9-round Swiss tournament with classical time control brought together 34 teams from 22 countries with host Azerbaijan being the rating favorites. Each team shall comprise 4 players and a maximum of 2 reserves with at least one girl included in the team composition in each round. Each match between teams will be played over 4 boards. Prizes The best three teams receive Cups. Six (6) members of the best three teams will receive Gold, Silver and Bronze medals and memorable gifts. The best three players on the boards receive Gold, Silver and Bronze medals and memorable gifts. Tournament Schedule: Date Activity Time October 1 Arrival date October 2 Technical Meeting 10:00 October 2 Opening Ceremony 12:00 October 2 Round 1 15:30 October 3 Round 2 15:00 October 4 Round 3 15:00 October 5 Round 4 15:00 October 6 Round 5 15:00 October 7 Round 6 15:00 October 8 Round 7 15:00 October 9 Round 8 15:00 October 10 Round 9 10:00 October 10 Closing ceremony 18:00 October 11 Departure date Regulations for FIDE World Youth U-16 Chess Olympiad 2022 Official web-site: http://youtholympiad.fide.com Photo: Islam Igshid
Jose Carrillo Pujol elected new President of CCA
The CCA Assembly (FIDE America) took place on October 1, 2022, in the beautiful city of San Jose, Costa Rica. The General Assembly was attended by various authorities, such as Zone Presidents and Federation leaders. The main item on the agenda was the election of CCA Officials. After hearing the President’s and Treasurer’s reports, the 27 Federations present at the Assembly elected Mr Pepe Carillo as the head of the CCA for a four-year term. Here is the full composition of the ticket: President José Carrilo Pujol – (Panama) Deputy President Francisco J. Cruz Arce (Puerto Rico) Treasurer Erick Hernandez (El Salvador) Secretary Enrique Celi Frugoni (Uruguay) Member of the Board Carol S. Williams Pesqueira (Aruba) Member of the Board Sandy Rarzak (Trinidad and Tobago) Member of the Board Juan C. Mundaca Álvarez (Chile) The Assembly also paid tribute to President IA Jorge Vega for his nearly 20 years of dedicated work for chess in America. After that, the delegates approved the calendar for 2023.
FIDE October 2022 rating list is out
The top ten places in the open and women’s October 2022 rating lists were mainly affected by the Grand Chess Tour Sinquefield Cup and FIDE Women GrandPrix, respectively. Vishy Anand reappears in the top 10 Open for the first time since October 2019 – the biggest change in both top 10. Alexandra Kosteniuk is also back into the women’s top 10 following her good performance in Astana. As we predicted in the previous edition, it did not take Vincent Keymer long to hit 2700-mark – after picking 7 rating points in Enea Ekstraliga 2022, he joined the 2700 club. Biggest gains in Top 10 Open and Women: Socko, Monica GM POL 2454 (+34) Maltsevskaya, Aleksandra IM POL 2389 (+33) Wagner, Dinara WGM GER 2390 (+32) Zhu, Jiner WGM CHN 2484 (+20) Mkrtchian, Lilit IM ARM 2380 (+17) Lagno, Kateryna GM FID 2563 (+16) Fataliyeva, Ulviyya IM AZE 2422 (+14) Ning, Kaiyu WIM CHN 2387 (+13) Niemann, Hans Moke GM USA 2699 (+11) Praggnanandhaa R GM IND 2687 (+11) Monika Socko (pictured above) won this category following her brilliant performance at the European Women’s Championship, where she achieved probably the greatest success in her career and picked up 18.6 rating points (later on she netted another 15 points in Enea Ekstraliga 2022). Her compatriot Alexandra Maltsevskaya also did a great job in Prague earning 33 rating points. The same applies to Lilit Mkrchian and Ulviyya Fataliyeva, who increased their rating by 17 and 14 points, respectively. Somewhat surprisingly, the biggest rating beneficiary of the recently ended FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Astana is not the winner of the event, Kateryna Lagno (16+ rating points – an impressive gain by any standards) but Dinara Wagner (pictured above). The German WGM shared 6-8th places but netted impressive 32 rating points partly because of the so-called low-base effect. Zhu Jiner (pictured below) also turned in an excellent performance in the capital of Kazakhstan, picked up 20 rating points and consolidated her top position in the junior women rating list. Rameshbabu Praggnanadhaa keeps steadily climbing in the rankings. Following his solid showing in Dubai Open, he got 11 rating points and 66 points since March. The Indian youngster became the primary beneficiary of the new rating regulations for Rapid and Blitz tournaments. Thanks to the 100-point rule (if a player had their rapid/blitz rating more than 100 points below classical, it was changed to be exactly 100 points below classical) that came into force on October 1, 2022, he improved his rapid rating by 660 points overnight.
2022 Astana Women’s Grand Prix: Kateryna Lagno, winner
Aleksandra Goryachkina comes in second, Zhu Jiner and Dinara Wagner achieve IM norms After a long and tense final round, Kateryna Lagno, playing under the FIDE flag, emerged as the winner of the Astana leg of the 2022-2023 Women’s Grand Prix. Undefeated, Lagno scored 8/11, a full point ahead of pre-event favourite Aleksandra Goryachkina, who could only achieve a draw in the final round against Vaishali and finished with 7½ points. Zhu Jiner, representing China, came in third with 6½ points. Lagno takes home the €15,000 first prize in addition to 160 WGP points. The next WGP tournament will be held in Munich, Germany, from February 1-14, 2023. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich was the guest of honour at the final round of the Women’s Grand Prix, which started this afternoon in Astana’s International Business Hub. After congratulating the organizers, arbiters and media team, he approached the board on which Alexandra Kosteniuk and Kateryna Lagno were already seated and made the ceremonial first move. A few minutes later, he joined Press Officer IM Michael Rahal for a short interview, in which he discussed his meeting with the Kazakhstan Republic President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. He also explained FIDE’s plans for dealing with fair-play issues, in addition to commenting on the situation of the world’s top female players. Kosteniuk, Alexandra — Lagno, Kateryna (0.5-0.5) The first game to finish was a relatively short draw between Kosteniuk and Lagno. In a classical Four Knights opening, with transposition to a Scotch, Kosteniuk went for a theoretical draw by means of a double piece sacrifice, followed by perpetual check. According to my database, three other games followed the same path, with the same result. Kateryna Lagno kindly joined us for a quick interview in which she summed up her performance in the tournament. Paehtz, Elisabeth — Tan, Zhongyi (0.5-0.5) The second game to finish was also a draw. Playing White, Paehtz went for the solid 2.c3 Alapin variation against the Sicilian Defence. Queens were exchanged before move ten, and neither player seemed excessively ambitious this afternoon. In the final position, a draw was agreed upon by move repetition, although the computer suggests that Paehtz was slightly better due to a superior pawn structure. Zhu, Jiner — Assaubayeva, Bibisara (0.5-0.5) The young Chinese star has had a brilliant run in Astana and in general in the past year. Although she is WGM, Zhu Jiner has already made her three IM norms but has decided not to request the title: she is going straight for the GM title. She already has two GM norms and has crossed the 2500 barrier. However, a win today would not have been enough to reach the 2600 performance necessary for the final GM norm. In her game against Assaubayeva, Zhu Jiner went for a Sicilian c3 side-line, generally considered inoffensive. With precise defence, Assaubayeva neutralized her opponent’s opening edge and installed a strong knight on d4. Massive exchanges followed, resulting in a small but stable advantage for Assaubayeva. However, as Bibisara explained in her post-game interview, she didn’t want to lose in any situation. Unable to find a clear way to increase her advantage she settled for a draw. Wagner, Dinara — Shuvalova, Polina (1-0) In great form since the rest day, Polina Shuvalova went for one of the main lines in the Nimzo-Indian defence. Playing with White, Wagner got a passed d-pawn and a strong knight on f5 in exchange for her opponent’s huge black knight on d3. According to the computer, chances were more or less equal, so Wagner struck with 24.f4 and went for a direct attack on Shuvalova’s king. Kramnik has said several times that if you think more than 18 minutes, you are bound to make a mistake. In a very tricky position, Shuvalova took 33 minutes to play 24…Kf8? and was suddenly dead lost. Instead, 24…exf4 was the only move for Black, which would have led to a slightly inferior position. A few moves down the road, Polina was forced to give up her queen for a rook and a knight and had to resign shortly after. Abdumalik, Zhansaya — Kashlinskaya, Alina (1-0) After two consecutive draws in just a few moves against the two best performers, Zhansaya Abdumalik, Kazakhstan’s star female player, wanted to finish the tournament in style and, if possible, with a win. Her opponent, Alina Kashlinskaya, who has only scored 0.5 points in the last four games, was also going for a win: with both of them tied for 5th-8th, a victory could easily mean a huge jump in the final standings. Both players blitzed out their first 15 moves in a topical poisoned pawn variation of the French Defence, but Abdumalik went into deep thought after 15…Rc8, although this move is by far the most theoretical. Upon a more than 20-minute reflection, she played the novelty 16.g3 (16.0-0 is much more popular and better). After consolidating, Abdumalik launched an attack with 26.h4, and the position became very sharp. A critical moment came on move 32. She could have won the game with 32.Rxf7, but instead, she chose 32.Qc2, probably afraid of 32.Rxf7 Be7, against which the computer crashes through with the rook sacrifice on g7 followed by f5. Nonetheless, Abdumalik’s position was still very good, and eventually, she broke through with a timely f5 thrust. She popped into the press centre for a final short interview, in which she revealed her opening preparation for the game. Vaishali, Rameshbabu — Goryachkina, Aleksandra (0.5-0.5) Goryachkina’s only chance to win the tournament was to defeat Vaishali with Black. An on-demand win with Black is always difficult: take to many chances to unbalance, and you might end up losing. Her choice of the opening was certainly surprising: a Sicilian seemed more fitting for an unbalanced game than the hyper-solid Berlin defence in the Ruy Lopez. For the first ten moves, they followed several GM games, most importantly a 2019 clash between Sergei Karjakin and Wesley So. In a symmetrical pawn structure, the game was heading for a draw when Goryachkina
FIDE’s statement on sexist remarks
During yesterday’s Women’s Grand Prix live broadcast, one of the announcers expressed some very embarrassing comments. Although we have great respect for Grandmaster Ilya Smirin as a chess player, the views he expressed on air are completely unacceptable, offensive, and do not represent any of the values that FIDE stands for. Therefore, we unreservedly apologise to all those who were offended. Additionally, GM Smirin will not continue as a FIDE commentator with immediate effect. FIDE not only strives to increase women’s representation in professional sports and official positions but also to change the perception of chess as purely a men’s world. Our community has to be a place where women feel safe and respected. Therefore, any action that carries disrespect, sexism or physical, verbal or emotional assault is unacceptable.
Winners crowned at FIDE World Cadet Championship
The FIDE World Cadet Chess Championship 2022 in the U8, U10 and U12 categories is in the books. In the final round, the participants, especially those contesting for medals, showed real fighting spirit. Not all the favourites made it to the podium, giving way to uprising lower-rated players. For example, in the Under 8 Open section, Indian Safin Safarullakhan (number 26 on the starting list) climbed as high as the third position in the final standings and took bronze. In the U8 Girls section, Lila Rzadkowska from Poland (19th on the starting list) also claimed bronze. On the other hand, in all other categories, the medals went to the top-10 rated participants. Final results in each category: U8 Open Llari Marc (FRA) Shogdzhiev Roman (FID) Safin Safarullakhan (IND) U10 Open Lacan Rus David (FRA) Smirnov Mark (KAZ) Liu Patrick (USA) U12 Open Uskov Artem (FID) Movahed Sina (IRI) Besou Hussain (GER) U8 Girls Charvi A (IND) Sivanandan Bodhana (ENG) Rzadkowska Lila (POL) U10 Girls Venskaya Nika (FID) Bassari Senem Gul (TUR) Siskou Evangelia (GRE) U12 Girls Shubhi Gupta (IND) Yousefian Maedeh (IRI) Goriachkina Oksana (FID) FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, who attended the final round, President of Georgian Chess Federation George Giorgadze and Akaki Iashvili, welcomed participants, coaches, guests and special guests at the closing ceremony as well as awarded winners. In his speech, Mr Iashvili mentioned that next year Batumi, Georgia, would host the World Cadet Rapid and Blitz Championships U8, 10 and 12, cementing the city’s status in the chess circuit. The winners were awarded diplomas, medals, cups, laptops and Apple devices. Photos : Mark Livshitz
Portuguese Championship: André Sousa and Mariana Silva clinch titles
IM André Sousa and WCM Mariana Silva emerged as the winners of the 2022 Portuguese Championship, held at the Municipal Stadium of Leiria. André Sousa (pictured below) claimed his fourth consecutive national title (and the fifth in six years), but it was not a smooth sail for him as the runner-up, young international master José Francisco Veiga stayed in the race until the very end. At the start of the ninth and final round of a 10-player round-robin, Sousa was on 5.5 points and a half point ahead of José Veiga. Both played black, with José Guilherme Santos and Pedro Rego, respectively. Sousa missed a chance to win twice and had to work hard to secure a draw, but luckily for him, Veiga and Rego also split a point. Pedro Rego scored 4.5 points and tied for third place with António Fernandes, but took the last place on the podium thanks to better with a better Sonneborn-Berger. This champion title capped a successful September for André Sousa, in which he achieved the first grandmaster norm at the Maia Chess Open, and won the Portugal Open/Cidade de Lisboa. Final standings: 1st André Sousa – 6 points 2nd José Francisco Veiga– 5.5 3rd Pedro Rego – 4.5 4th António Fernandes – 4.5 5th Paulo Dias – 4 6th José Guilherme Santos – 4 7th Bruno Martins – 3.5 8th Sérgio Rocha – 3 9th André Fidalgo – 1. The National Women’s Championship, a 5-round Swiss tournament, was an even closer affair. At the start of the fifth and final round, it was open as five players had a fair shot for the title. Sara Soares and Raquel Dique shared the lead, with 3 points, with Mariana Silva, Sara Monteiro, and Victoria Cymbron trailing by a half-point. Mariana Silva scored a very important victory over Sara Soares, while Raquel Duque fell to Camila Avelino. Meanwhile, Sara Monteiro and Victoria Cymbron also won over Maria Beatriz Areal and Maria Elisa Oliveira, respectively and caught up with Silva. As a result, three players scored 3.5 points and tied for first place, but the Buchholz tiebreaker favoured Mariana Silva (pictured above), who claimed the title, second in her career. Final standings: 1st Mariana Silva – 3.5 points 2nd Sara Monteiro – 3.5 3rd Victoria Cymbron – 3.5 4th Sara Soares – 3 5th Camila Avelino – 3 6th Rachel Duque – 3 7th Maria Beatriz Areal – 1.5 8th Maria Elisa Oliveira – 0 Photo: Official website Official website: fpx.pt
Fabiano Caruana wins 2022 Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX
Fabiano Caruana was crowned the winner of the 2022 Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX after defeating Alireza Firouzja in Armageddon during their rapid playoff match. The victory capped off an incredible day for Caruana, who won his final three games in regulation to finish with 6.5/9 and catch Firouzja to force a playoff tiebreaker. For Firouzja, it was a mildly disappointing conclusion but, nevertheless, a stellar result to end his campaign in Saint Louis, where he won the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz, Sinquefield Cup, and overall Grand Chess Tour. Sharing third place were Ian Nepomniachtchi and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who both ended on 6.0/8, while 13th World Champion Garry Kasparov could not turn his luck around–despite several promising positions throughout the event, he eventually finished with 0.5/9. Kasparov: “I think there were very high expectations after my performance last year here, but last year I did some chess. This year when I arrived here, I just realized that I didn’t play chess, over the board, for a year. And obviously the latest events in Europe, and all the war in Ukraine consumed my energy and attention. Some games here made me feel really good but, of course, I wanted to do better.” ROUND 7 Round 7 – Starting Position Going into the round, all eyes were on Firouzja and Mamedyarov, who entered the day as co-leaders. Firouzja built up a decisive advantage against Svidler by grabbing material early on and getting away with it, but could not sort through the complications after a desperate rook sacrifice by Svidler, and in massive time trouble settled for a draw by repetition. In Mamedyarov’s case, after squandering a huge advantage to end up in a drawn knight vs. bishop endgame against Dominguez, he managed to pose just enough problems to induce a game-losing blunder and take the sole lead. 81…Be6? was the losing mistake, as after 82.c7! Black could no longer prevent Ne7, followed by promoting the c-pawn. Mamedyarov led after seven rounds but just ran out of steam at the end. | Photo Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes ROUND 9 Round 8 – Starting Position The penultimate round saw the standings flip as Mamedyarov’s four-game winning streak was snapped by Svidler, who took advantage of a blunder to win an exchange, while Firouzja beat Aronian with Black to overtake the sole lead. This meant that going into the last round, Firouzja would have a half-point lead ahead of Mamedyarov, Nepomniachtchi, and Caruana, who had just won his second game of the day, defeating Nakamura. After 27…f3, Firouzja’s kingside pawns were simply too strong. | 0-1, 43 moves Firouzja won literally everything in Saint Louis, taking home well over $300,000 in prize money. | Photo Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes ROUND 9 Round 9 – Starting Position The final round saw lots of drama as three players (Mamedyarov, Nepomniachtchi, Caruana) were all chasing Firouzja, who had White against Nakamura. At first, Firouzja was in a bit of trouble out of the opening but managed to stabilize and eventually push a bit in the endgame, which was ultimately drawn. Neither Mamedyarov nor Nepomniactchi were able to win their games, but Caruana continued his excellent form with a win over So, catching up to Firouzja and forcing a rapid playoff. After 35.Be5, Caruana’s powerful dark-squared bishop and passed pawn on g7 secured a decisive advantage. | 1-0, 46 moves An insane comeback day for Caruana, who entered the day thinking he had no chances. | Photo Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes PLAYOFF The playoff featured Caruana and Firouzja battling it out in a 2 game, 10+2 match, playing the same randomized starting position with both colours. The first game saw Firouzja much worse as White out of the opening, but a later knight sacrifice blew the game wide open. A wild time scramble then ensued, with Caruana emerging as the winner after Firouzja blundered into a direct mate: 37…Ba3+ forced resignation, as 38.Kb3 would walk into either …Qb5# or …a4# In the second game, Firouzja stroke back, forcing an Armageddon, after Caruana accidentally got his queen stuck behind enemy lines: After 13…c4, White’s queen was simply stuck on the queenside, with no way to get back. | 0-1, 31 moves Winning the Armageddon toss was Caruana, who chose to play White in the final game, receiving 5 minutes against 4 minutes along with draw odds for Firouzja. At first, it seemed like Firouzja would hold without any issues after forcing an equal endgame, but a mistake allowed Caruana to snag an extra pawn thanks to a knight fork. With two knights each, Firouzja still had serious drawing chances if he managed to exchange off all the pawns, but one last pawn was all Caruana needed to convert the advantage, as he finished the game with a nice zugzwang: After 62.Nf6!, Black was in zugzwang and had to resign. “Even though it was a total mess of a playoff, and it was super difficult, and honestly I was very lucky in the Armageddon, and also in the first game, still I feel very happy,” said Caruana in the post-game interview. The final handshake. | Photo Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Dates & Location: September 14 – September 16, 2022Saint Louis Chess Club Livestream:USChessChamps.ComYouTube: @STLChessClub | Twitch.tv: @STLChessClub Web: uschesschamps.com | Twitter: @STLChessClubInstagram: @STLChessClub | Facebook: @STLChessClub#ChampionsShowdown #Chess9LX #STLChessClub Press Contact:Rebecca Buffingtonrbuffington@saintlouischessclub.org Photo Credits:Photos and appropriate credits available on Flickr Saint Louis Chess Club | Building Champions4657 Maryland Avenue, Saint Louis, MO 63108 | (314) 361.CHESS (2437)
Winners crowned at World Youth U14, U16, and U18 Championships
The curtain fell on the World Youth Chess Championship 2022 in Mamaia, Romania. After 11 days of chess battles among 620 participants, we got new world champions, young heroes for whom this step may be a turning point in future professional chess careers. WIM Mariam Mkrtchyan (ARM, Girls-U18), who achieved an unprecedented score of 11/11, was deservedly in the spotlight. Mariam convincingly won gold in her category with two rounds to spare. At the closing ceremony, in addition to speeches by officials and sponsor representatives, the organizers also prepared an interesting cultural and artistic program. After that, trophies, medals, certificates and gift packages were awarded to the three top finishers in all categories by representatives of FIDE, organizers, sponsors and arbiters. National chess federations also competed for the titles in the team standings. The first place trophy went to India with two golds, Kazakhstan came second with one gold, one silver, and one bronze, Armenia with one gold medal is third, thanks to the best performance by Mariam Mkrtchyan in the Girls-U18 category. Here are all the winners: OPEN-U14 (138 participants) 1. Ilamparthi A R (IND) 9.5 points 2. FM Seemann Jakub (POL) 9 points 3. IM Ansat Aldiyar (KAZ) 8.5 points Girls-U14 (96 participants) 1. WCM Nurgaliyeva Zarina (KAZ) 9 points 2. Peglau Charis (GER) 8.5 points 3. WFM Shvedova Alexandra (FID) 8.5 points OPEN-U16 (111 participants) 1. IM Pranav Anand (IND) 9 points 2. Lutsko Artem (UKR) 8.5 points 3. FM Droin Augustin (FRA) 8.5 points Girls-U16 (87 participants) 1. WFM Munkhzul Davaakhuu (MGL) 8.5 points 2. WCM Nguyen Hong Nhung (VIE) 8.5 points 3. FM Van Foreest Machteld (NED) 8.5 points OPEN-U18 (109 participants) 1. IM Rodrigue-Lemieux Shawn (CAN) 9 points 2. FM Nogerbek Kazybek (KAZ) 8 points 3. FM Fromm Marius (GER) 8 points Girls-U18 (79 participants) 1. WIM Mkrtchyan Mariam (ARM) 11 points 2. WFM Allahverdiyeva Ayan (AZE) 8.5 points 3. WFM Wikar Martyna (POL) 8 points Photo: Mark Livshitz Official website: worldyouth2022.com/
Alireza Firouzja wins 2022 Sinquefield Cup
World No. 4 Alireza Firouzja clinched victory in the 2022 Sinquefield Cup after defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi 1.5-0.5 in a rapid playoff for the title, earning an extra $10,000 in addition to his $87,500 first place prize. With his result in the Sinquefield Cup, Firouzja also emerged as the overall winner of the 2022 Grand Chess Tour, taking home a $100,000 bonus prize. Finishing second in the GCT was Wesley So, who earned a bonus of $50,000, while Maxime Vachier-Lagrave placed third in the overall standings. Firouzja’s sensational performance follows his impressive win in the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz held late in August. “In general, the Grand Chess Tour is the toughest tour in the history of chess I think, so to win it is an amazing feeling and I cannot be more happy,” said Firouzja after securing tour victory with a draw against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in today’s final round. 2022 Sinquefield Cup – Final Standings FINAL ROUND VACHIER-LAGRAVE – FIROUZJA | ½-½, 33 moves Firouzja’s last round game was fairly uneventful, as Vachier-Lagrave essentially forced a draw out of the opening in a 5.Re1 Berlin. Firouzja knew his theory well and the players traded down into a dead-drawn single rook ending. Thanks to this draw, Firouzja was able to clinch first in the overall GCT standings, with the Sinquefield Cup still very much undecided based on the results of the games of Nepomniachtchi and So. No more fist bumps! The handshake is back in vogue at top level. | Photo Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes NEPOMNIACHTCHI – NIEMANN | ½-½, 54 moves After Firouzja’s quick draw, Nepomniachtchi had an opportunity to win the tournament outright with a victory over Niemann, who had been struggling over the last few rounds. A somewhat rare line in the English left Nepo with a much better structure in the endgame, and seemingly decent practical chances with a knight against bishop. But despite out-maneuvering Niemann and building up a decisive advantage, Nepomniachtchi somewhat inexplicably rejected an obvious capture of a pawn, opting to continue shifting his pieces around. This gave Hans a chance to consolidate his position and a few moves later Nepo blundered into a threefold repetition. After 38…Ke7, rather than taking the h6-pawn with a winning position, Nepomniachtchi played the surprising retreat 39.Rb8?, giving Black time to consolidate and hold. Niemann had a difficult position but managed to survive, finishing with a very respectable 3.5/8 in his first super-tournament. | Photo Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes SO – DOMINGUEZ | ½-½, 39 moves With a win in the last game, So could catch up to the leaders and force a three-way playoff, but Dominguez’s play in a Queen’s Gambit Accepted was too solid, and So was unable to generate any serious winning chances out of the opening. Nevertheless with the draw, So was able to secure second place in the overall GCT. Despite losing an important game to Firouzja yesterday, So still managed to earn 2nd in the overall GCT. | Photo Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Crystal Fuller MAMEDYAROV – ARONIAN | ½-½, 39 moves An exciting 4.Qc2 Nimzo led to the players’ castling on opposite sides of the board, with a very sharp position. But after accurate play by both Mamedyarov and Aronian, the middlegame fizzled out quickly, with mass exchanges leading to a drawn double rook endgame. After the game, Aronian expressed disappointment with his overall performance in recent events, hoping to return to better form soon. | Photo Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes PLAYOFF GAME 1: NEPOMNIACHTCHI – FIROUZJA | ½-½, 70 moves The first game of the playoff featured Nepomniachtchi’s pet Catalan, as the queens got exchanged early and it seemed like Firouzja had equalized comfortably. But a hasty decision (26…c5) by Firouzja gave Nepo the chance to establish a passed pawn, seizing a nice strategic plus. At this point, Firouzja started to defend well and Nepo lost his advantage when he allowed a trade of knights, leading to a rather drawish rook endgame. After 26…c5 27.d5!, White exerted some pressure, thanks to Black’s weakened b6-pawn, but this wasn’t enough to win the game. GAME 2: FIROUZJA – NEPOMNIACHTCHI | 1-0, 34 moves In the second game, Firouzja grabbed the initiative early on, after an inaccurate move (7…Na6) by Nepomniachtchi on the Black side of an English. Things escalated quickly when Firouzja offered a pawn sacrifice in order to get his kingside majority moving, but rather than accepting the pawn Nepo blundered a piece with 16…Qe7, missing a simple tactic in response. Firouzja pounced on the opportunity and converted with ease, clinching the playoff. After 17.e5! winning a piece in view of 17…Qxe5 18.Bf4+- The triple-crown winner of the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz, Sinquefield Cup, and overall Grand Chess Tour. Next up for Firouzja is the Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX, which starts September 14. | Photo Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz Sponsors Further Information:Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTourInstagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour Venue: Saint Louis Chess ClubSeptember 02-12, 2022 Press Contact:press@grandchesstour.org Livestream:GrandChessTour.org Photos:Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum StudiosCredits available on Flickr.