Magnus Carlsen clinches FTX Crypto Cup
Magnus Carlsen is the FTX Crypto Cup champion for the second year in a row after holding off a fierce challenge from Indian teen Praggnanandhaa. Norway’s World Champion overcame the talented 17-year-old with a game to spare in their final round shootout for the title. In doing so, Carlsen notched up a third win of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour season and his first Major win. The result also stretches his lead at the top of the $1.6 million Tour leaderboard and wins him the tournament’s unique NFT trophy. Pragg and Carlsen were neck-and-neck throughout the whole tournament with the youngster putting in a real statement performance throughout. But in Round 7 of the all-play-all event Pragg faced the real acid test – world number 1 Carlsen. The youngster had chances in the first game and then had to defend like a lion in game 2. Finally, he ran out of steam in the third. Carlsen clinched the win that guaranteed him the title and in classic Magnus-style – with a piece of endgame brilliance and a huge sense of relief. Reacting before the final rapid game, Carlsen said: “This game was very nervy, I think, for both of us. Today I haven’t been able to find a rhythm at all, but hopefully I can relax a bit in the last game.” Carlsen did relax – but it barely mattered to him. In the fourth game the champion looked to be steering the game to a draw but blundered in the endgame. “I think Magnus just wanted to have more fun!” Pragg said, who still had work to do to finish second. In the final tiebreak, Pragg won the first and then ended it in a dramatic second game in which Carlsen blundered badly. Pragg ended the tournament on a high, securing the runner-up spot. Carlsen hailed his tournament win a “great result”. The $210,000 elite esports tournament, held at Florida’s Eden Roc Miami Beach, had gone into its final day with all eyes on Carlsen and Pragg’s eagerly-awaited showdown. But in the other matches, Alireza Firouzja was battling to overtake Pragg at the last hurdle and secured at least a third place finish with a 2.5-1.5 win over Levon Aronian. The struggles continued for 19-year-old New Yorker Hans Niemann, who has entertained everyone throughout with his interviews. Niemann finished pointless as he went down 2.5-1.5 to Vietnam’s Liem Quang Le. However, the newly-crowned “bad boy of chess” can take away from the tournament memorable wins over Carlsen, Pragg and Aronian, plus an army of new fans. Jan-Krzysztof Duda, the winner of the Oslo Esports Cup, finished his tournament off with a 2.5-0.5 win over Dutch No.1 Anish Giri. Duda had a tough start to the event but finished with impressive wins over Carlsen, Pragg and then Giri. The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour will return with its next “Regular” event on September 19. For further comments contact: Leon Watson, Head of PR, Play Magnus Groupleon@chessable.com+447786078770 About the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour The Champions Chess Tour is the leading online chess Tour worldwide determining the world’s best chess player over a full competitive season of online chess. The 2022 season begins in February 2022 and features monthly tournaments culminating in a Final in November 2022. The best chess players in the world are competing in rapid chess. All games take place online on www.chess24.com with players competing for a total prize pool of over USD 1.5 million. For more information visit www.chess24.com/tour.
FIDE WGP Series 2022-23: Players allocation
IMPORTANT UPDATE:IM Vaishali R will replace GM Humpy Koneru in the first WGP tournament in Nur-Sultan. Koneru withdrew from the event for medical reasons. The FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Series 2022-23 will feature a total of 16 players, and each one of them will participate in three out of four WGP tournaments with classical time control. The total prize fund for each leg will be €80,000, with another €80,000 being distributed among the top 8 finishers in the global Women’s Grand Prix Series standings, according to the cumulative points they score across the four events. The two top players in the WGP Series will also qualify for the FIDE Women Candidates Tournament 2023-24.
Spanish Championship 2022: Iturrizaga Bonelli and Garcia Martin claim titles
GM Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli and IM Marta García Martín are the new champions of Spain. The 2022 Spanish Championship, a 9-round Swiss tournament with classical time control, took place from 11-18 August in the halls of the hotel “RL Aníbal” in Linares. Both men and women competed in one event but were ranked separately, with the highest-scoring female player claiming the title of Spanish Women’s Champion. The tournament turned into a close race of several top-rated players, with Eduardo Iturrizaga, Daniil Yuffa and Pedro Antonio Gines Esteo coming into the final round as joint leaders on 6½/8. Yuffa and Gines Esteo faced each other and split a point while the defending champion, Iturrizaga Bonelli, defeated Perez Candelario in style and claimed his second straight national title. There was a three-way tie for second place, with tiebreaks favouring Daniil Yuffa (silver) and the rating favourite Jaime Santos Latasa (bronze). Although IM Pedro Antonio Gines Esteo did not make it to the podium finishing fourth, he won the U18 prize and picked 17 rating points. IM Marta García Martín scored 6 points and became Spanish Women’s Champion for the first time in her career. The defending champion IM Sabrina Vega Gutiérrez netted an equal amount of points but had to settle for silver due to inferior tiebreaks. WIM Yudania Hernández Estévez closed the top three female winners scoring 4½ points. Final standings: 1 GM Iturrizaga Bonelli, Eduardo 2618 7½ 2 GM Yuffa, Daniil 2594 7 3 GM Santos Latasa, Jaime 2672 7 4 IM Gines Esteo, Pedro Antonio 2472 7 5 IM Garriga Cazorla, Pere 2511 6½ 6 IM Merario Alarcon, Andres 2423 6½ 7 GM Narciso Dublan, Marc 2455 6½ 8 IM Moreno Ruiz, Javier 2428 6½ 9 GM Cuenca Jimenez, Jose Fernando 2555 6½ 10 FM Lin, Yingrui 2314 6½ Official website: feda.org/feda2k16/ Photo: FEDA Facebook page
Lagno defeats Vaishali to advance into the final
GM Kateryna Lagno overcame IM Vaishali R in the semifinals of the FIDE Chess.com 2022 Women’s Speed Chess Championship 2022 to advance into the final. Lagno proved to be a better player in the 5+1 and 3+1 segments of the duel, convincingly winning both (6-3 and 5-3, respectively). Vaishali did a better job in the final 1+1 portion but could not wipe out a 5-point deficit – Kateryna sealed the match with about 10 minutes to go. One of the key factors behind her victory was much better time management which helped Lagno to find all the right answers in critical situations. Lagno earned $6,384.62 in prize money for her victory, while Vaishali took home $1,615.38 for her efforts. In a short postgame interview, Kateryna shared her takeaway from this match: “The first impression I have right now is I need to solve more tactics, more and more. Yes, I won the match, but it wasn’t easy. I was ahead all the match, but I had some problems. I missed some tricks. It was a tough match.” The FIDE Chess.com 2022 Women’s Speed Chess Championship is an online event where titled women players will play a series of blitz and bullet matches for a share of the $70,000 prize fund. To follow the FIDE Chess.com Women’s Speed Chess Championship, watch a live broadcast of the event with expert commentary on Chess.com/TV and Chess.com Twitch Channel. More info and a full schedule of the FIDE Chess.com Women’s Speed Chess Championship can be found here.
Wesley So to defend his FIDE World Fischer Random title
Magnus Carlsen and Iceland’s #1 Hjorvar Steinn Gretarsson are other confirmed participants FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship is back with its second edition. The over-the-board final will take place in Reykjavik, Iceland, from 25-30 October 2022. In 2019, FIDE officially recognized the World Fischer Random Chess Championship. In the final of the inaugural edition, held in Norway, American Grandmaster Wesley So defeated classical chess champion Magnus Carlsen. The two-year pandemic hiatus put the organization of many major chess events on halt, and we’re excited to announce the second edition of the Championship is taking place this year. “I am so excited to be competing in Fischer Random again! And in Iceland! It couldn’t be more special than to compete in that particular place, defending my title against the best players in the world. To play in Reykjavik, fifty years after the match between Fischer and Spassky, gives it a historical perspective that cannot be matched,” commented Wesley So. Photo: Lennart Ootes | Chess.com The overall prize fund of the final in the Icelandic capital amounts to a whopping 400,000 USD. Eight players will have a shot at the 150,000 USD first prize and the FIDE Fischer Random World Champion title. Three of the four invitees are already confirmed. They are the defending champion American grandmaster Wesley So, the world’s top-ranked grandmaster Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, and the strongest Icelandic grandmaster Hjorvar Steinn Gretarsson. The fourth player will receive the wild card from the FIDE President. The four directly seeded players will be joined by the four winners of the online qualifiers on Chess.com and Lichess.org, two from each site. The qualifiers start as soon as August 19 on Lichess.org (click for details) and August 22 on Chess.com (click for details). The finals will consist of a two-group stage followed by the knockout semifinals and final. The time control will be 25 minutes per player for the first 30 moves, after which each player will receive additional 5 minutes on the clock and an increment of 5 seconds per move. The Championship in Reykjavik will be broadcast live by NRK, the largest media organization in Norway and FIDE’s long-term partner, and RUV, Iceland’s major national broadcast company. As in 2019, the final will be organized by Dund AS, a Norwegian shareholding company. Lichess qualifiers are organized with the support of Offerspill Sjakklubb, Charlotte Chess Center, and the North American Corporate Chess League. “The second edition of the FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship in Reykjavik is timed to the 50th anniversary of Fischer and Spassky’s ‘Match of the Century’. It remains one of the most famous chess competitions in history. We’re thankful to the Icelandic Chess Federation, Dund AS and all our partners for making this tribute happen. Fischer Random Chess is an extremely popular chess variant, equally enjoyed by the top professionals and chess fans. We underlined its importance by officially recognizing it in 2019 and are determined to continue on the path of supporting it,” emphasized FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich. “We’re excited to continue fruitful cooperation with FIDE and hold the second edition of the FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship. We’re sure it will be packed with thrilling chess action and keep fans on the edge of their seats from the first to the last move of each game, which is the nature of Fischer Random chess,” said organizer, FIDE Vice President Joran Aulin-Jansson. What is Fischer Random Chess? Fischer Random is a chess variant invented by legendary Bobby Fischer, 1972-75 World Chess Champion. The game’s rules are the same as standard chess, but the starting position of pieces is randomly shuffled. It reduces the impact of opening theory and makes players contemplate game development from the first moves. Regulations for the 2022 FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship (pdf) About Dund AS: Dund AS, a Norwegian shareholding company, organized the first official 2019 World Fischer Random Chess Championship. Previously, Dund AS organized the 2018 unofficial Fischer Random world title match between classical chess champion Magnus Carlsen and recognized Fischer Random ace, Hikaru Nakamura. About FIDE: The International Chess Federation (FIDE) is the governing body of international chess competition. Founded in 1924, it was one of the first institutions of its kind, and it is now one of the largest, with a total of 199 affiliated national chess federations. For more information: On behalf of FIDE: press@fide.com On behalf of the organizers, Joran Aulin-Jansson: jj@sci-group.net
Carlsen and Praggnanandhaa neck-and-neck in FTX Crypto Cup
Magnus Carlsen and Indian star Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa are neck-and-neck on a perfect 9/9 after both won their FTX Crypto Cup matches today. Norway’s World Champion overpowered Levon Aronian in a classic encounter that saw some thrilling fighting chess before the 31-year-old sealed a 2.5-1.5 win. Praggnanandhaa, bidding for his first Meltwater Champions Chess Tour title, wasn’t at his best against an aggressive opponent in Hans Niemann but still ground out 3 points with a final game win. Niemann had shown he meant business as he got off to a winning start against the 17-year-old joint-leader. But Pragg struck back with a game Grandmaster Peter Leko called a “fantastic positional masterpiece”. Niemann, as he did yesterday against Carlsen, surrendered a hard-fought lead immediately. A draw in the third left the match hanging on the final game which could have gone either way before Niemann made a fatal blunder. Carlsen, meanwhile, played another offbeat opening in the first game, this time with the black pieces, and then slowly took over to win in 69 moves. Two tense draws followed before, in a sharp final game, Carlsen clinched all 3 points with a draw. The champion got the result he needed after throwing caution to the wind by sacrificing his queen. Carlsen could have played safely but said he decided to “take the bull by the horns”. He added: “Truth be told, I feel like I escaped more than I just crushed him today. But it was a lot of fun. It was a very, very interesting, very very tense match and the result is great.” Vietnam’s Liem Quang Le picked up his first points of the tournament with a quick 2.5-0.5 win over the dangerous Pole Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Liem stormed into a 2-0 lead before finding himself in deep trouble in the final game, but still managed to salvage the draw he needed to take the match. Defeat capped a bad day for Duda, whose challenge in the tournament was dented. Liem, meanwhile, was able to hit the beach early. The last match to finish was Anish Giri vs Alireza Firouzja, which went to tiebreaks after four straight draws. Giri bailed out for a draw in the first blitz game and then the second swung both ways before also ending in a draw. It meant an armageddon game. But it ended in heartbreak for Giri, who fell apart under time pressure and lost the match. He did pick up one point though to get off the mark while Firouzja took two. Round 4 of the round-robin event starts at 12:00 ET (18:00 CEST). Each match will be played over four rapid games, with blitz tiebreaks in case of a 2:2 draw. All the action will be broadcast on chess24 with a choice of commentary from our Oslo team of David Howell, Jovanka Houska and Kaja Snare, or from Peter Leko and Tania Sachdev. For further comments contact: Leon Watson, Head of PR, Play Magnus Groupleon@chessable.com+447786078770 About the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour The Champions Chess Tour is the leading online chess Tour worldwide determining the world’s best chess player over a full competitive season of online chess. The 2022 season begins in February 2022 and features monthly tournaments culminating in a Final in November 2022. The best chess players in the world are competing in rapid chess. All games take place online on www.chess24.com with players competing for a total prize pool of over USD 1.5 million. For more information visit www.chess24.com/tour.
Carlsen and Praggnanandhaa share FTX Crypto Cup lead
Magnus Carlsen and Indian star Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa made it two wins out of two today as the FTX Crypto Cup favourites powered into an early lead. The World Champion recovered from a shock loss against American teenager Hans Niemann to march into Round 3 of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour round-robin. Pragg, meanwhile, narrowly beat Anish Giri to avenge a costly defeat the Dutch number 1 inflicted on him earlier this year in the Oslo Esports Cup. Carlsen’s day started badly as he was simply blown away by Niemann, the lowest rated player in the tournament. Niemann, coming off a 3-0 loss yesterday, was super-smooth with the black pieces. The killer move was 35… Be4, which caused havoc in Carlsen’s defence and ended Niemann’s tilt. In his post-game comment, Niemann summarised his win enigmatically by simply saying: “Chess speaks for itself.” But Carlsen doesn’t just roll over. Game 2 saw the world number 1 hit back in ruthless style to level the score at 1-1. Then in the third game, Carlsen sprung another opening surprise with the dubious 1. a3, played for the first time on the Tour, before moving into a more orthodox queen’s pawn opening. The Norwegian has previously played 1. e3 and 1. f3 – all highly unorthodox moves. Carlsen quickly went a pawn up and secured a beneficial queen trade before turning the screw against his 19-year-old opponent to take the win and go 2-1 up. Niemann now needed to win the next game on demand. He battled hard, but could not hold back the tide. Carlsen won the final game – despite missing a chance to win a piece – to take the match 3-1. Carlsen said after: “I didn’t play so great, but I’m very happy with the fact I came back.” Alireza Firouzja, the French-registered superstar-in-the-making, brushed off his loss yesterday to get his first campaign this season under way with a superb 2.5-0.5 win over Liem Le. Firouzja clinched victory with a game to spare, picking up $7,500 and 3pts. Vietnam’s top player, meanwhile, has now lost two matches in a row. The final two matches to finish were less clear. Pragg and Giri played out three draws before Pragg struck in the final game. The youngster sits alongside Carlsen at the top of the leaderboard on 6/6pts. Tomorrow Pragg plays Niemann while Giri, still yet to get off the mark, faces Firouzja. The last match to finish, Jan-Krzysztof Duda vs Levon Aronian, became the first of the tournament to go to tiebreaks after a tight encounter between two of the Tour big beasts ended 2-2. Aronian missed an opportunity to take the lead in the first blitz tiebreak, which ended in a draw. But the Armenian-born US star made no mistake in the second to take the match win. He now sits one point behind Carlsen and Pragg on 5 points. Round 3 of the round-robin event starts at 12:00 ET (18:00 CEST). Each match will be played over four rapid games, with blitz tiebreaks in case of a 2:2 draw. All the action will be broadcast on chess24 with a choice of commentary from our Oslo team of David Howell, Jovanka Houska and Kaja Snare, or from Peter Leko and Tania Sachdev. For further comments contact: Leon Watson, Head of PR, Play Magnus Groupleon@chessable.com+447786078770 About the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour The Champions Chess Tour is the leading online chess Tour worldwide determining the world’s best chess player over a full competitive season of online chess. The 2022 season begins in February 2022 and features monthly tournaments culminating in a Final in November 2022. The best chess players in the world are competing in rapid chess. All games take place online on www.chess24.com with players competing for a total prize pool of over USD 1.5 million. For more information visit www.chess24.com/tour.
FIDE Book Awards 2022: Call for nominations
Dear Publishers and Authors, The FIDE Trainers’ Commission invites your nominations for the Yuri Averbakh & Isaac Boleslavsky Book Awards 2022. There will be a total of three awards, Gold, Silver and Bronze, and both the publisher and author will be acknowledged. Eligible are chess books (print) published in 2021. Publishers may submit up to three books, while authors may submit one book directly for consideration by the judges. Submissions must be emailed to trainers@fide.com, with a deadline of 31 August 2022. Once confirmed, we will advise where three copies of the books should be sent for the judges to review. Three prominent chess personalities have already agreed to be the judges, and each one of them will vote independently to create a shortlist no later than the end of October 2022. Then, they will deliberate and agree together on the three final awardees, with the winner being announced no later than two weeks after the publication of the shortlist. Thank you, Peter LongCoordinator for FIDE Book Awards 2022
Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners: Registration continues
From 13-14 October 2022, FIDE, jointly with Cook County (Chicago) Sheriff’s office, will host the second Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners. Dedicated to the International Day of Education in Prison, the event is organized as a part of the Chess for Freedom programme. Free and open to players representing any correctional facility without specification by age and gender of prisoners, the tournament aims at introducing chess as a tool for education and social inclusion in prisons of different countries. 24 teams from 17 countries – Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, England, Germany, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, North Macedonia, Norway, Philippines, Serbia, Turks and Caicos Islands and the USA – have already registered for the competition. In some countries, national and regional chess tournaments for prisoners are being held to define the strongest players that will represent their countries on the international level. Others have chess training for inmates to improve their online and offline chess skills. Alongside the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India organized a national online inter-jail chess tournament among 21 jails of the country, where a four-member team of Choudwar Circle Jail beat Gujarat’s Baroda jail in the final. Later, the champion team participated in the friendly international online jail chess tournament organized by FIDE on chess.com platform on August 2, where Choudwar Circle Jail defeated Chicago Prison, USA, by a score of 3-1. “We have further extended training and practice of the champion team of Choudwar Jail to make them ready for participating in the Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for prisoners,” said chess trainer Satya Ranjan Patnaik. 21 jails across India, including Choudwar Circle Jail, are providing chess training to inmates as a part of Parivartan – Prison to Pride initiative launched by Indian Oil Corporation Limited. The four-member team was formed from prisoners who excelled in playing offline and online chess. “We are proud of our team for defeating the much experienced Chicago Jail team and expecting the best performance in the upcoming Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for prisoners,” said Choudwar Circle Jail Superintendent Pradipta Kumar Behera. The Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for prisoners is open for teams of four players representing any correctional facility. Each country can have up to three teams for the event: the main team representing a female correctional facility with all four female team players and a team representing a juvenile correctional facility (under the age of 20). The registration deadline is September 21, 2022. Participation is free of charge. Tournament regulations (pdf) Registration form
Carlsen turns up the heat as FTX Crypto Cup gets under way in Miami
Magnus Carlsen put on a masterclass to secure a first-round win against Anish Giri as the FTX Crypto Cup got off to a thrilling start in Miami. With $7,500 at stake for each match win at the Eden Roc Miami Beach Hotel, the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Major started with plenty of fire and fighting chess. Most notably, Norway’s World Champion went up the gears as he ended the round with two dominant wins to blow Giri away 3-1. It was an ominous sign for the rest of the field. Giri, the Dutch No.1, did have a strong position in game 2 but was left ruing his decision to bail out for a draw without taking advantage and really going for a win. Carlsen said after: “It was a lot of fun, we played really, really fighting games. Finally, I managed to break him in the third.” Carlsen now marches into Round 2 against the American Hans Niemann who had drama-packed day which ended with him losing 0-3. Niemann suffered a disasterous start against Poland’s Oslo Esports Cup winner Jan-Krzysztof Duda – and not of his own making. The New Yorker’s laptop ran out of power and had to be restarted, allowing his opponent five minutes to find the best moves. In an expletive-ridden post-match interview, Niemann made his feelings clear and blamed the technical issue for his loss. Niemann didn’t recover and went on to lose 0-3. Meanwhile, India’s 17-year-old hotshot Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa got off to the best start possible in the battle of the prodigies, sealing a first-game win by taking advantage of a tiny mistake from Alireza Firouzja. Pragg followed up Firouzja’s 21… c5 with 22. cxd5 and then 23. Rac1 to set up tactics in his favour. Grandmaster David Howell, commentating on the action for chess24, called it “a sign of true quality” before Pragg duly converted. Firouzja, however, is not known as the world best junior for nothing. Immediately, he hit back in the second to level the score before building up a strong advantage in the third. Pragg looked lost but, incredibly, managed to turn game 3 around and score an improbable second win to go 2-1 up. In the final game of the tie, Pragg closed out the draw he needed to take the 3pts and continue his incredible form in Meltwater Champions Chess Tour events. In the last match to finish, Levon Aronian took an early lead against Vietnam’s Liem Quang Le and then held on for three draws to take the match win, $7,500 and 3pts. Aronian said afterwards he would hit the beach. Round 2 starts at 12:00 ET (18:00 CEST). Each match will be played over four rapid games, with blitz tiebreaks in case of a 2:2 draw. All the action will be broadcast on chess24 with a choice of commentary from our Oslo team of David Howell, Jovanka Houska and Kaja Snare, or from Peter Leko and Tania Sachdev. For further comments contact: Leon Watson, Head of PR, Play Magnus Groupleon@chessable.com+447786078770 About the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour The Champions Chess Tour is the leading online chess Tour worldwide determining the world’s best chess player over a full competitive season of online chess. The 2022 season begins in February 2022 and features monthly tournaments culminating in a Final in November 2022. The best chess players in the world are competing in rapid chess. All games take place online on www.chess24.com with players competing for a total prize pool of over USD 1.5 million. For more information visit www.chess24.com/tour.