Lei Tingjie wins her spot in the Women’s Candidates finals
The 4th and final classical game of the semi-finals between Anna Muzychuk and Lei Tingjie kicked off by Marie Noelle Gibelli, a member of the National Council of Monaco, making the ceremonial first move. Marco Biagioli, Mitropa President and External Manager of the Italian Chess Federation, also was in the playing hall watching the game. Lei’s first move hardly surprised anyone as she has always played 1.d4 for the whole event, and this last game was no exception. The exchange Grunfeld was tested again, but this time White played 7.Qa4+ to deviate from the previous game. At the post-mortem analysis, Lei said that she knew 11…Bg4 was an inaccuracy, and Black had to exchange Queens to hold in the endgame. Lei thought she was better after 19.Re4 since she had a space advantage and the bishop pair. Engines find the position still holdable for Black but very difficult to play. And indeed, Anna missed the idea of 19…Nc8 followed by 20…Qe5 and 21…Nd6 and after 19…Rfc8 20.Bg4 Rd8 21.c4 found herself in dire straits. Lei got a considerable advantage, won some material a few moves down the road and very convincingly converted it in the endgame afterwards. Final position. One of White’s passers inevitably promotes 1-0 Huge congratulations to Lei Tingjie, who showed a very high level of play, eliminating both Muzychuk sisters with two wins with the White pieces in the classical segments. There is still a lot of chess to be played as the Pool B of the FIDE Women’s Candidates is not far away. The event will take place in Uzbekistan from the 28th of November to the 11th of December. See you there to meet Lei’s opponent for the finals then! Official webstie: womenscandidates.fide.com Text: WGM Andreea Navrotescu Photo: Michał Walusza ORGANIZERS: PARTNERS:
Winners crowned at 2022 European Senior Team Championships
The 2022 European Senior Chess Championships (50+ & 65+ age categories) concluded yesterday in Dresden, Germany. A record number of 79 teams took part in the event, with more than 370 players representing their federations. Both The top rated England 50-1 won the 50+ section (a 9-round Swiss tournament) with a round to spare and scored very convincing 17 match points. Berlin 1 and Germany tied for the second place scoring 14 match points, each. According to tiebreaks criteria (Olympiad-Sonneborn-Berger), Berlin 1 claimed silver and Germany had to settle for bronze. The best ranked women’s team was Germany 1 that netted 8 match points and tied for the first place with Germany 2, but came out on top thanks to better tiebreaks. Schachköniginnen Heidenau finished third. Final standings 50+: 1 England 50-1 17 2 Berlin 1 14 3 Germany 14 4 Slovakia 13 5 Berlin 2 11 6 Bielefeld 11 7 Österreich 11 8 England 50-2 11 9 TU Magdeburg 11 10 Graal-Müritz/Teterow 10 German Lasker Schachstiftung GK team won the 65+ category with 15 match points, after defeating Sweden 1 in a direct final round match for medals. Finland 65 and Germany 3 tied for the second place scoring 13 match points, but the Sonneborn-Berger favored Finland 65 (silver) over Germany 3 (bronze). The best ranked Women’s team was Germany with 7 match points. Final standings 65+: 1 Lasker Schachstiftung GK 15 2 Finland 65 13 3 Germany 3 13 4 Sweden 1 13 5 Schweiz 13 6 SC Kreuzberg Berlin 12 7 Cercle d’Echecs de Strasbourg 12 8 England 65 – 1 11 9 Germany 2 11 10 Germany 1 11 The winners of the event received trophies and medals, and the title of European Senior Team Chess Champions 2022 for the respective category. The total prize fund of the event was 6,000 EUR. Text: europechess.org Photo: official website Official website: schachfestival.de/
FIDE Women’s Candidates: No risks taken
After a well-deserved break day, the third game of the semi-finals between Anna Muzychuk and Lei Tingjie was launched by two VIPs again. This time, Pascal Camia, Operational Director at Casino Hotel Hermitage, and Ivan Ljubicic, former tennis player, Olympic medallist and coach of Roger Federer, made the first ceremonial move. The latter guest also kindly agreed to make an appearance on the official broadcast and joined GM Alojzije Jankovic. Queens were exchanged relatively quickly after Anna essayed a trendy idea of 7.Nxc6, 8.Qd3 and 9.Qg3 in the Paulsen Sicilian. Then on move 12, Muzychuk played a4, which visually looked like she was giving up control over the b4 square. At the post-game interview, Anna said that she did not think 12…Bb4 was a big deal since she could react with 13.Bd2. The next critical moment happened on the move 23 when Anna decided to go for an opposite-colour bishops endgame by taking on d6 (23.Rxd6). The engines do not quite agree with this decision and prefer to maintain the pressure on the board by playing 23.g4!? The point is to prove that the black structure and, particularly, the e4 pawn are weak. After Lei found the precise sequence 23…Rxf1+ followed by 25…Rxf2+ equalizing on the spot, there was nothing special to play for. Fourteen moves down the road, a draw was signed in a dead-equal opposite-colour bishops endgame. The last classical game of the match with Lei having White pieces will be played on November 5. Will there be a tiebreaker? Let’s wait and see! Official webstie: womenscandidates.fide.com Text: WGM Andreea Navrotescu Photo: Michał Walusza ORGANIZERS: PARTNERS:
2022 Asian Continental Championship: Praggnanadhaa and Nandhidhaa clinch titles
India dominated the 2022 Asian Chess Championship, which came to an end in New Delhi on November 3. Indian players swept the podium in both open and women’s sections, with Rameshbabu Praggnanadhaa and Pallathur Venkatachalam Nandhidhaa winning the titles. Both events were 9-round Swiss tournaments with classical time control. The open tournament was a very close affair that came down to the wire. Suffice it to say that with just two rounds to go, there was a four-way tie for the first place, with six players sharing second trailing the leaders by a half-point. In the penultimate round, the top-rated player in the starting list Praggnanadhaa (pictured above) scored a crucial victory over Kostav Chatterjee and pulled ahead of his main competitions Shamsiddin Vokhidov and Harsha Bharathakoti, who faced each other and split a point. In the final round, Praggnanadhaa drew with his compatriot Adhiban and finished clear first on 7/9 as neither of his rivals managed to win. As many as six participants tied for the second place, with Bharathakoti and Adhiban B taking silver and bronze, respectively, by dint of better tiebreaks. Interestingly, the top five finishers completed the event unbeaten. Final standings Open: 1 GM Praggnanandhaa R IND 2687 7 2 GM Harsha Bharathakoti IND 2582 6½ 3 GM Adhiban B. IND 2603 6½ 4 GM Narayanan.S.L IND 2663 6½ 5 GM Vokhidov Shamsiddin UZB 2568 6½ 6 GM Sethuraman S.P. IND 2645 6½ 7 GM Karthik Venkataraman IND 2486 6½ 8 IM Pranesh M IND 2442 6 9 IM Viani Antonio Dcunha IND 2342 6 10 IM Pranav Anand IND 2502 6 The women’s event was a totally different scenario. The thirteen-rated Nandhidhaa P V (pictured below) grabbed the lead after Round 6 and never looked back. The 26-year-old from Tamil Nadu netted an impressive 7.5/9 and clinched the title with a round to spare. Priyanka Nutakki lost to the champion in the leaders’ clash, but by pulling off a very important win over Padmini Rout in the final round, she tied for second place with Divya Deshmukh and Vo Thi Kim Phung. The silver medal goes to Priyanka Nutakki, thanks to better Buchholz; Divya Deshmukh took the bronze. Final standings Women: 1 WGM Nandhidhaa P V IND 2309 7½ 2 WGM Priyanka Nutakki IND 2326 6½ 3 WGM Divya Deshmukh IND 2338 6½ 4 WGM Vo Thi Kim Phung VIE 2335 6½ 5 FM Kurmangaliyeva Liya KAZ 2199 6 6 WGM Nguyen Thi Mai Hung VIE 2217 6 7 IM Padmini Rout IND 2390 6 8 WIM Aakanksha Hagawane IND 2162 5½ 9 IM Mohota Nisha IND 2181 5½ 10 WGM Vantika Agrawal IND 2362 5½ The event also served as qualification for the next year’s World Cup with the top four players in the Open and two players in the Women category securing their berth in the World cup. GM Rinat Jumabayev of Kazakhstan and Divya Deshmukh of India became the Asian Blitz champions in the open and women categories respectively. The blitz tournaments were held right after the final round of the main events. In a befitting closing ceremony, Deputy President of Asian Chess Federation Mr. Bharat Singh Chauhan and General Secretary Mr. Hisham Al-Taher gave away the trophies and cash prizes to the winners. Photo: Shahid Ahmed, Aditya Sur Roy and ChessBase India Official website: delhichess.com
FIDE Women’s Candidates: Slow but solid start of the semi-finals
The second semi-final encounter between Anna Muzychuk and Lei Tingjie was launched by two special guests today: Cedric Biscay, author of the Manga “Blitz”, and Stephane Lamotte, Secretary General of the Organizing Committee for the Albert 1st Centenary Commemorations. Since there were two special guests, the move 1.d4 was played twice! Anna Muzychuk opted for Gruenfeld Defence, in which the opponents followed a well-known theoretical path. White had more space and decided to take the initiative with the move 15.h4, a typical move in the Grunfeld structures, to open the h-file. Anna reacted correctly by introducing a sensible novelty 16…h6 to have an option of advancing her g-pawn when the White h-pawn gets to h5. 19.e5 played by White was certainly the critical moment of the game. Lei Tingjie made a committal decision restricting Black’s dark-squared bishop but abandoning the pawn control over the d5-square. In her post-game interview, Anna commented that it was a typical idea, and if White managed to get all the space in the center and on the kingside, she would be better. Fortunately for Black, she never was in too much danger. After the timely exchange of rooks with 21…Rb5, Anna solved all the problems and the game logically ended in a threefold repetition on the move 28. Tomorrow, November 3, will be a rest day. The players will undoubtedly make the most out of it to recharge batteries and entertain us in the third game of the match, which will take place on November 4. Official webstie: womenscandidates.fide.com Text: WGM Andreea Navrotescu Photo: Michał Walusza ORGANIZERS: PARTNERS:
FIDE Women’s Candidates semifinals: Mutual annihilation
The first game of the Women’s Candidates semifinals between Anna Muzychuk and Lei Tingjie was launched by Mrs Marlene Harnois, Taekwondo Olympic medallist and representative of the Champions for Peace Club at Peace and Sport. We also saw GM Alojzije Jankovic at the broadcast for the first time, replacing GM Igor Nataf for the rest of the tournament. It was quite a peaceful game, as Black equalized comfortably in the opening. Indeed, Anna seemed surprised by her opponent’s opening choice as it was Lei’s first time playing 1…c5 (the Sicilian Defence) in this event. Understandably, to avoid possible surprises, Anna chose a sideline against 2…e6, which led to a balanced position. Both players handled the opening very well and afer massive exchanges it gradually transposed into a rook and knight ending, in which Black seemed to have some pressure over White’s king, but it was never sufficient to claim an advantage. Lei said in the post-mortem interview that she thought the position was holdable for White despite her king being cut off on the first rank. A draw was logically agreed on move 46. This first game of the semifinals looks like a probing action for both players. We shall expect a big fight with three classical games to go, starting with the second game on November 2, in which Lei will have the White pieces. Official webstie: womenscandidates.fide.com Text: WGM Andreea Navrotescu Photo: Michał Walusza ORGANIZERS: PARTNERS:
“The Secret Ingredient” wins the Averbakh-Boleslavsky Award 2021
The Yuri Averbakh/Isaac Boleslavsky Award for the best book published in 2021 goes to “The Secret Ingredient”, co-authored by Jan Markos and David Navara and published by Quality Chess. The runners-up were “Miguel Najdorf – ‘El Viejo’ – Life, Games & Stories”, by Zenón Franco and Zeev Zohar, and “Forgotten Genius – The Life and Games of Grandmaster Albin Planinc”, both published by Thinkers Publishing. The jury was composed of three renowned Grandmasters: Antoaneta Stefanova, Thomas Luther, and Boris Gelfand. Luther shared the following comments on each book: “The search for ‘The Secret Ingredient’ to success, both in life and chess, is what this great book tries to answer. Following the advice given in this book will make each player stronger and each coach more focused on the tasks and challenges we face in life. ‘Forgotten Genius’ is a very touching book about the life and chess of Albin Planinc. Facing many difficulties in life myself, I could feel the struggle Albin Planinc endured. It is wonderful to highlight this book about overcoming challenges and learn from it about the constant and never-ending fear of losing the most important fight in life. ‘El Viejo’, a biography about the life of Miguel Najdorf, is a must-read for everybody who loves chess. While Najdorfs successful chess career and his games are very impressive by themselves, the book is a great reminder of the horrible crimes humankind faced in World War II. Reading about how Miguel Najdorf lost all his family members left me speechless and full of sadness. The book is a necessary historical document about the horrors of evil and war.” There are also three special mentions: “A Knight Without a Castle: A Story of Resilience and Hope”, by Robert Katende, gets the one to the most inspiring story. “Chess & Brain. Art and Science”, by Adolivio Capece, Razvan Sandru, Stefano Salis, and Zachary Mainen, gets the special mention to the best book for chess as art & science. And the special mention to the best instructional/educational books goes to “Los Colores del Ajedrez” (“The colours of chess”) by Jose Antonio Coleto. About the winner, “The Secret Ingredient” The Secret Ingredient is a grandmaster guide to maximizing your chess results, focusing on key elements of practical play which have received little to no attention in previous chess literature. How exactly can we best make use of computers? What’s the ideal, step-by-step way to prepare against a specific opponent? How can we optimize our time management at the board? And what’s the one key skill that separates the best players from those who have yet to reach their full potential? GM Jan Markos sheds (pictured below) light on these topics and many more, helped by the world-class insights of his good friend GM David Navara (pictured above). About the authors: Jan Markos is a Slovakian trainer and Grandmaster. His previous book, “Under the Surface”, was the English Chess Federation’s 2018 Book of the Year. David Navara is a ten-time Czech Champion and world-class Grandmaster. He is noted for combining fighting spirit with outstanding sportsmanship. “The Secret Ingredient”, by Quality Chess 2021
FIDE November 2022 rating list published
The top places in the overall and women’s lists were mainly affected by the European Club Cup 2022 and the U.S. Championship, with just minor changes occurring in the top 10. The winner of the U.S. Championship, Fabiano Caruana, picked up just 3 rating points, but it was enough to climb two positions up in the top-10 Open. The silver winner Ray Robson (pictured below) gained 12 rating points and cleared the 2700 barrier for the first time in his career. Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club, Bryan Adams The primary rating beneficiary of this tournament is, however, Awonder Liang. Still outside the top 100 Open, the youngster picked 22 points and moved to 14th position in the top 100 Juniors. Biggest gains in top 100 Open and Women Beydullayeva, Govhar WGM AZE 2387 (+31) Wagner, Dinara WGM GER 2420 (+30) Milliet, Sophie IM FRA 2388 (+25) Amin, Bassem GM EGY 2685 (+18) Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi GM IND 2724 (+14) Osmak, Yuliia IM UKR 2442 (+14) Anton Guijarro, David GM ESP 2668 (+13) Maltsevskaya, Aleksandra IM POL 2402 (+13) Robson, Ray GM USA 2702 (+12) Narayanan.S.L GM IND 2673 (+10) Photo: Przemek Nikiel Govhar Beydullayeva (pictured above) deservedly won this nomination following her excellent performance at World Junior Championship (Girls U20), where she took the title. This result catapulted her from 98th straight to 62nd position in the top 100 women. Diana Wagner earned impressive 30 points in October after putting up a strong showing in the Frauen Bundesliga and the Women’s European Club Cup. Yuliia Osmak and Aleksandra Maltsevskaya also did well in both competitions and picked up 14 and 13 points, respectively. Both Wagner and Maltsevskaya crossed the 2400 mark. Photo: Fiona Steil-Antoni The #1 African player Bassem Amin (pictured above) shone in the most important team competition in October, the European Club Cup, where he netted 18 points and got closer to the 2700 mark. The same applies to Vidit Gujrathi and David Anton, who earned 13 and 12 points, respectively, in this event. Sophie Millet also picked some points at European Club Cup but, more importantly, put up a strong performance at the 5th International Festival in Perpignan to gain 20 rating points and make a huge jump in the top 100 women.
Ding Liren gets official invitation to take part in FIDE World Championship match 2023
Grandmaster Ding Liren received this weekend the official invitation to take part in the FIDE World Championship match 2023, after the current World Champion Magnus Carlsen formally confirmed, in writing, that he gives up his right to take part in the match and defend his title. FIDE is currently negotiating with two potential hosting cities for the World Championship 2022. Once one of these proposals is approved, and the location, prize fund, and exact dates are fixed, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren will receive the contract for the match.
New US World Champion – Nakamura follows in Bobby Fischer’s footsteps
US Chess Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura gained his first world title, winning the FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship today in Reykjavik, Iceland. He defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi, the previous and current challenger for the classical chess world title, winning in a nail-biting “Armageddon” playoff game after their match ended 2-2. The event was hosted by Iceland to commemorate the legendary chess match in Reykjavik where Bobby Fischer wrested the world champion title from Boris Spassky. The 1972 match was viewed as a Cold War battle between the turbulent American loner Fischer, and the traditionally dominant chess power of the Soviet Union. Ready for battle A very Fischer Random kind of daily routine has settled over the players, reflecting both the game and the format of the event. Magnus Carlsen’s towering second, Danish Grandmaster Peter Heine Nielsen, is always the first to arrive for the security check and unveiling of the start position. Carlsen will almost always appear last, breathless and bushy-haired. The organizers check their watches as the field and assistants gradually turn up, wondering if there is any gamesmanship in trying to be as close to late as possible. Unlike a traditional chess event, where opening preparation is laborious and top-secret, here, the players regularly kill down time by discussing previous games and wondering about the subtleties of play from as early as the first move. The philosophical discussions between professed Fischer Random lover Vladimir Fedoseev and Heine Nielsen would likely never take place in a classical chess setting and never before a serious game. Here, the fresh appeal of unexplored random territory has swept aside such obstacles. First battlefield Start position for mini-match one The final day’s matches will be best-of-four and decide each pair of final standings. Hikaru Nakamura chooses a pawn from Chief Arbiter Omar Salama’s outstretched fists and will play with the black pieces in games 1 and 4. His choice also determines the color sequence in all matches, with all higher-rated players – according to FIDE’s September 2022 Rapid Chess rating list – following his pattern. The pairings will therefore start: World Championship Title Final: Ian Nepomniachtchi – Hikaru Nakamura 3-4 play-off: Nodirbek Abdusattorov – Magnus Carlsen 5-6 playoff: Vladimir Fedoseev – Wesley So 7-8 play-off: Hjorvar Steinn Gretarsson – Matthias Blübaum Carlsen tells Norwegian TV that the start position looks ‘fairly normal’, except for the odd corners. Icelandic Grandmaster Helgi Olafsson, here as Hjorvar Steinn Gretarsson’s assistant, has a more concrete reaction: “The b-pawn will be popular!” referring to the initial move that liberates the most pieces. After this, the players scramble to their preparation area, to try and work out some basic ideas for both sides of the position. Artistic echo The first move of the final session is made by noted Norwegian photographer Dag Alveng, who has a historical link to the event. The unofficial title match between Nakamura and Carlsen to revive Fischer Random was held in Norway in 2018, with an Alveng exhibition of photos as the backdrop for the event, held at the Henie Onstad Art Center. When play began, the games reflected both verbal predictions – the b-pawn was indeed popular, and the games were more sedate and ‘classical’ than the random violence that has often appeared earlier in the event. The title match was the first to come to the boil, with both of the candidates fond of aggression and risk. Title duel Nakamura’s long experience with Fischer Random appears to give him greater flexibility: he seems to have a fine sense of acceptable risk, even in the often bizarre settings the opening position can provide. Nepomniachtchi played uncharacteristically slowly and was soon embroiled in dangerous complications, which Nakamura handled much better. After the game, Nakamura said: “Obviously, it’s nice to win in the first game, but more than that, it was good to just play a simple position, most of the (start) positions we’ve been getting have been pretty difficult… Overall it felt very smooth.” Nepomniachtchi visibly chose to chase the second game, breaking with a mirrored scheme of development to launch an attack that counted on confusion to make up for objective correctness. Nakamura navigated the complications well, and chose to repeat the position and split the point even though he could have tried for more by risking more adventures in the firing line. Preserving his lead took top priority. Bronze drama The course of the first Abdusattorov – Carlsen game was nothing short of baffling. The Norwegian classical world champion was producing a patented technical grind, steadily increasing a positional advantage and having a big edge on the clock, with Abdusattorov’s time running down to zero. Then, in quick succession, Carlsen missed a probably winning blow, walked his king into tactical danger, and finally shed all of his remaining pieces to complete a remarkable fourth, wobbly loss in a row. After resigning, Carlsen tried to reset the pieces on the board, looked confused – since the start position here isn’t so easy to remember – then just shook his head with a sad grin on his face and left the playing room. Abdusattorov told Norwegian TV that Carlsen is clearly not in good shape here, but … there were three games still to play. The return fixture ended in revenge for the Norwegian, but only after a nervy back-and-forth struggle where both players were given chances to get the upper hand. So – Fedoseev This heavyweight battle had the air of very safe and solid games from position one, with balanced material, calm manoeuvring and gradual simplification – result: two evenly fought and solid draws. Blübaum – Gretarsson Blübaum took the lead after his Icelandic opponent blundered badly in what had been a fairly balanced game. The return game was a very solid affair, which ended in a draw, despite prolonged efforts. The final battlefield? Starting position two By now, there was no surprise when heads began to shake as the pieces landed on the demo screen. “Every time you have a knight in the