All three Indian teams on 100% in Chennai
Italy takes down World Champions’ Norway in the third round of the chess Olympiad Organizing an event with more than 2500 players, coaches, captains, referees, and members of the organization is not easy at all. It requires an experienced management team, with the ability to foresee all kinds of adverse circumstances and have an accurate response for each case. This afternoon it became clear that the organizational teams of the International Chess Federation and the All Indian Chess Federation have been successful in this endeavour. One of the players in the secondary venue had an important medical emergency during the game. Arbiter Geert Bailleul, a trained nurse, immediately attended the player, with the help of sector managers Omar Salama and Nebojsa Baralic shortly afterwards. Less than ten minutes later, an ambulance was on location, ready to transport the player to the hospital. Rather than letting the clock run out of time and win the game on time, his opponent offered a draw which was accepted by the team captain. Gens una sumus! Having the World Champion in your team doesn’t guarantee the win. In their match-up against Italy, captain Loek van Wely’s strategy was clear: neutralize Carlsen on board one – Vocaturo played a solid exchange Caro-Kann and achieved a well-deserved draw – and take their chances on the other three boards. His strategy paid off. With two wins on the lower boards – Lodici and Sonis took down Hammer and Christiansen respectively – Italy pulled off the main surprise of the round, defeating seed three by 2.5-1.5. A huge result for the Mediterranean’s, who were extremely happy in the postgame interview. Meanwhile, all three Indian teams won their matches. India A defeated Greece by a clear 3-1 score, with Pentala Harikrishna and Arjun Erigaisi as local heroes of the day, while India B, filled to the brim with top youngsters, destroyed Switzerland by 4-0. Team C took down Iceland also by a 3-1 score. India B now leads the tournament as they are the only team to have won all twelve of their games. Playing third board for India B this afternoon, RameshBabu Praggnanandhaa, wriggled out of a totally lost position against seasoned swiss GM Yannick Pelletier. The teenager kept posing problems in a tough position, making it difficult for his opponent to find a clear winning line. Eventually, Pelletier, short on time, lost on move 67. Demonstrating once again his learning mentality, “Prag” declared: “I have played badly, and this point doesn’t give me any joy. I struggled throughout this game in a bad position and I feel sorry for my opponent”. In a more pragmatic fashion, his team B captain R B Ramesh said “In any professional sport one has to be ready any type of position and situations. It’s actually better that this situation has happened sooner than later in the event”. Both Prag and Ramesh briefly gave their thoughts to FIDE Press Officer Michael Rahal at the end of the round. Team USA continued their winning streak in round three against Georgia, notching up a final 3-1 score, thanks to Levon Aronian’s masterful exploit of his space advantage against a tough opponent. His teammate San Shankland also slowly but surely pushed his opponent off the board, scoring his second win of the series, while both Fabiano Caruana and Lenier Dominguez kept their opponent’s at bay with the black pieces. It’s already twelve years since Caruana last came to India: “It’s good to be in India. I don’t have the chance to come very often to this country; my last time was 12 years ago. It’s very good to be here! It’s a beautiful country.” See the rest of his postgame interview here. Twenty teams still have a 100% score and will face each other in tomorrow’s fourth round match-ups. All encounters will surely be fast and furious but special attention should be paid to France – India A on match one and USA – Uzbekistan on match two. Uzbekistan is a very young but very strong team, still undefeated on all five boards. India C – Spain on match three will be a huge test for both teams, while India B will have a chance to put Italy to a stop after their stunning victory today over Carlsen’s Norway. Games will begin at 3 pm sharp and can be followed live on the tournament website. For a complete list of results, please visit the official website at https://chessolympiad.fide.com/open-results/ Text: IM Michael Rahal, FIDE Press Officer, Chennai Photos: Lennart Ootes, Mark Livshitz and Stev Bonhage
Favourites have a field day in Round 2 of Women’s Chess Olympiad
Ekaterina Atalik of Turkey stole the limelight, cruising past the defences of former Women’s World Champion Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine, but the Ukrainian eves had the last laugh as the second-seeded team romped home with a 3-1 victory in the second round of the Women’s Chess Olympiad. Muzychuk was not the only one among the top-ranked women players in the world to suffer; the top-rated Humpy Koneru, leading the top seed India’ A’, was also forced to split a point with much lower-rated Marisa Zuriel of Argentina. Here too, Humpy’s draw did not impact the team in any way as the rest of the squad won their games putting 3.5-0.5 victory on the scoreboard. If this was not enough, the former gold medalist Georgian women’s team had to work really hard as they could only pull off a victory by a minimal margin of 2.5-1.5 over much lower ranked Lithuania. Meri Arabidze of Georgia was shocked by the little-known Gabija Simkunaite, while the other Georgian Lela Javakhishvili had to settle for a draw against Kamil Baginskaite. While there were a lot of interesting battles, the day belonged to the higher-ranked teams again, and there were no major upsets as far as the team’s overall results are concerned. After the end of the second round of this mega event, as many as 40 teams have a perfect four points from two matches. For a complete list of results, please visit the official website at https://chessolympiad.fide.com/women-results. Text: Vishal Photo: Photo: Lennart Ootes, Mark Livshitz and Stev Bonhage
44th Chess Olympiad: Magnus Carlsen wins on his debut
Five-time World Champion and Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand addresses hundreds of Indian kids in the side-event The second round of the Olympiad featured the debut of World Champion Magnus Carlsen, playing on board one for Norway. One minute before the start of the round all players were seated and ready, including Carlsen, with the exception of the other three Norway teammates, delayed outside due to the overgrowing level of chess enthusiasts filling the playing hall every day. Nonetheless, the convincing 4-0 win against the strong Uruguayan team, led by former German player GM George Meier, left no doubt that they have come to give their best. The day began with a very special side act: five-times World Champion and Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand addressed hundreds of children who had come from different parts of India to witness their first Olympiad. “Vishy the King” answered numerous questions and signed hundreds of chess boards for the aspiring grandmasters. One of the questions came from two 8-year-old twin sisters from Delhi. They asked how pieces could be “distracted”, meaning moved, which was lost in translation. Anand’s witty answer was received with a huge round of applause: “My pieces never get distracted. It’s the opponent you should aim to distract, not your pieces!” Although the United States of America are the top seeds, they are located on board two due to the fact that India (second seed) is playing at home. This afternoon they dropped 1,5 game points against seed 47, Paraguay. As fate would have it, former Cuban player GM Lenier Dominguez secured the match win in a clean vcitory in Kalashnikov Sicilian against GM José Fernando Cubas: a key win to keep their aspirations intact. Birthday boy GM Fabiano Caruana, who turned 30 today, was unable to celebrate with a win. His seasoned opponent GM Axel Bachman tried out a very solid side-line on the Ruy Lopez and managed a compfortable draw with Black. Two other draws by GM’s Wesley So and Sam Shankland (GM Levon Aronian rested today after yesterday’s shaky performance) left the final score USA 2.5 – Paraguay 1.5, a Pyrrhic victory for the South American team. Second seed and fan favourite India A, playing on home turf, scored a very convincing 3.5-1.5 win against a tough Moldova team, substantially weakened by the absences of Iordachescu and Bologan (spotted by yours truly outside the playing venue but essentially retired from competitive chess). Second board Erigaisi Arjun, although an outstanding player, couldn’t find his form and was only able to draw with White against IM Andrei Macovei, who was arguably slightly better during most of the game. In other top matches, Spain scored a very convincing 3.5-0.5 win against Belgium, headed by junior GM Daniel Dardha. A key victory in this match was scored by GM Vallejo Pons beheading the Sicilian Dragon – his opponent IM Stefan Docx had defeated Spain’s number one in their previous encounter in Gibraltar some years ago. Poland, Azerbaijan, the Netherlands and Ukraine also progressed to 4/4 but only the Ukrainians, fielding bon oard one GM Anton Korobov for the first time, went go all the way with a stunning 4-0 against Albania. Slightly lower down, but still in favourite area, Germany, England, Armenia, Iran and France have all won their first two matches, but I would dare to say that all eyes are on team India B. 2600+ GM’s Gukesh, Sarin, Praggnanandhaa, Adhiban and Sadhwani (all under 18 except Adhiban) have already won their eight games and are making their claim for the surprise team of the event. Under the watchful eye of “sensei” coach Ramesh, the “kids” are in great form – Estonia fell under their sword this afternoon. Of course, in the second round there are bound to be some surprises on the lower boards. Bulgaria (seeded 63) scored a huge win against 17th seed Croatia 3.5-0.5 but the main upset of the round was seed 73 Zambia (rated 2216-2396) defeating seed 27 Denmark, who fielded three 2500-2600 seasoned grandmasters. And of course, a chess Olympiad (184 teams!) wouldn’t be complete without hundreds of enthusiasts from countries all over the world, most of them non-titled players. 25-year-old Kenyan champion Martin Njoroge (rated 1973) is clearly a standard bearer for these teams. In an interview with FIDE Press Officer Michael Rahal, Njoroge summed up his team’s philosophy: “We are here to win! We are “simbas”, which means lions. We are here to roar and win… The Olympiad is the dream of every chess player, so I am super excited to be playing in this tournament!” Tomorrow’s third-round pairings include some interesting match-ups such as Spain-Brazil, Italy-Norway and Ukraine-Cuba. Games resume at 3pm sharp and can be followed live on the tournament website. For a complete list of results, please visit the official website at https://chessolympiad.fide.com/open-results/ Text: IM Michael Rahal, FIDE Press Officer, Chennai Photo: Lennart Ootes, Mark Livshitz and Stev Bonhage
No surprises at 44th Women’s Chess Olympiad, as top teams have an easy ride
Led by Koneru Humpy on the top board, the top-seeded Indian Women’s team asserted their supremacy on the lower-ranked Tajikistan in the first round of the 44th Chess Olympiad that got underway after a glittering opening ceremony on Thursday. In what turned out to be a short hassle due to huge media present to cover the event, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, Mr. Anurag Thakur – The Union Cabinet Minister for the Information and Broadcasting as well as Sports in India, Mr S Meyyanathan, Sports Minister Tamil Nadu, Dr Sanjay Kapoor, President AICF made the symbolic first moves on a few boards. Meanwhile, there were no upsets on the opening day as almost all the seasoned teams scored identical 4-0 victories. Notable among them were second seed Ukraine, Georgia, Poland, France, Azerbaijan and USA. Teams like Germany, Armenia and Kazakhstan also whitewashed their opponents, winning all the games on all four boards. If the Indian eves were stretched a little by the Tajik women, second seed Ukraine was quite brutal in stamping their authority over South Africa. Anna Muzychuk was up to the challenge against Jesse February, a popular steamer and the current African champion, and Anna Ushenine coasted to a crushing victory over Chloe Badenhorst. On the remaining two boards, it was also smooth sailing for the Ukrainian ladies that reminded them of their strong presence here in the absence of Russia and China. The Women’s Chess Olympiad is an 11-round team Swiss competition with the winner awarded based on the match points (two points for a match win and one for a draw). Each team includes four main players plus one reserved player. The winner of the last Olympiad, China, skipped the event without giving many reasons, but most likely, it was the impact of Covid that stalled the chess activities and tournaments for almost 18-20 months across the globe. Russian women are the other notable absentees due to the sanctions by FIDE after the war with Ukraine. With China and Russia out of the fray, the focus is on the Indian team that is the top seed for the first time in the event ever. Apart from Humpy, a lot has been spoken about 8-month pregnant Harika, who decided to play. A real challenge could also come from the Georgia team lead by Nino Batsiashvili (pictured above), a four-time champion with some seasoned campaigners in the line-up. “This is the biggest platform in the world for chess players, and it gives me immense pleasure to launch the first move of the event. I have been Chairman of the last FIFA world cup in Russia, but Chess remains my first love. It is indeed a pleasure to see that the organization has made some great efforts to ensure maximum comfort in stay, a fantastic venue and some brilliant facilities,” said FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich in a private conversation with the team. For a complete list of results, please visit the official website at https://chessolympiad.fide.com/women-results. Text: Vishal Photo: Photo: Lennart Ootes, Mark Livshitz and Stev Bonhage
44th Chess Olympiad: Favorites start strongly
In the absence of arch-rivals Russia and China, only the Indian team, playing on home turf, seem capable of depriving the USA of the gold medal Five-times World Champion and Indian chess superstar Vishy Anand opened the first round of the 44th Chess Olympiad at 3 pm sharp this afternoon in the main hall of the Four Points by Sheraton Mahabalipuram Resort & Convention Center. Anand played the first move for GM Anna Muzychuk on board one of the Ukraine-South Africa match in the women’s section, while on the other boards, Sports Minister Mr Anurag Thakur led the dance on board one of India’s A-team. After a few last-minute withdrawals, a total of 188 teams began the round in the open section of the event – at four players per team, 752 players, including thirteen women – broke all the previously existing participation records. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, All India Chess Federation President Dr Sanjay Kapoor and Tournament Director Bharat Singh Chauhan were also present on the occasion, heading a massive entourage of security, press and chess enthusiasts. As usual in the first round of the Chess Olympiad, most of the favourites had an excellent start – the top three teams, the United States, India and Norway, scored solid victories. Top seed USA defeated Angola by a clear 3.5-0.5 to start their campaign on a positive note. As has long been the norm for most of the top teams in the first round, where there is often a big disparity in the strengths of teams, the number one USA player, GM Fabiana Caruana, decided to save energy and gave up his seat to GM Sam Shankland, the team’s reserve player. GM Levon Aronian, therefore, moved up to the first board, but the three-time Olympian for Armenia quickly drifted into trouble with some over-enterprising opening play. However, luck was on his side when his opponent, Angola’s board one IM David Silva, accepted a draw in an arguably won position. The rest of the top teams defeated their opponents effortlessly, with India A crushing Zimbabwe by 4-0, the same result as Spain – Wales, Azerbaijan – Algeria and Poland – Syria, arguably three other favourites for the medals. Although Ukraine isn’t fielding their best players this year – Vassily Ivanchuk is a classic that will be dearly missed – they still started off strongly whitewashing Thailand. A glimpse over the results panel shows a startling statistic: no underdog was able to score a tie in any match: that is quite unbelievable in Swiss System events, in which most favourites usually win, but there are always a few surprises. Tomorrow’s second round will feature some exciting clashes: USA vs Paraguay and Moldova vs India will put the two top teams to the test, while there is a very good chance that World Champion Magnus Carlsen – who was spotted playing soccer this afternoon near the venue – will make his debut against Uruguay’s lucky first board. For a complete list of results, please visit the official website at https://chessolympiad.fide.com/open-results/ Text: IM Michael Rahal, FIDE Press Officer, Chennai Photo: Lennart Ootes, Mark Livshitz and Stev Bonhage
Hou Yifan eliminates Kosteniuk to reach semifinals
GM Hou Yifan defeated GM Alexandra Kosteniuk in the quarterfinals of the FIDE Chess.com 2022 Women’s Speed Chess Championship to reach semifinals. This clash of two worthy opponents produced many exciting tactical battles. The last year champion, Hou, took an early lead and despite Kosteniuk’s stubborn resistance won the first 5+1 segment by a score of 6-3. Alexandra did not lose her heart and after scoring two victories in a row made up ground, but Hou responded with three straight wins to seal the second 3+1 stage of the match (5.5-3.5). Kosteniuk reduced the gap at the start of the 1+1 games but Hou struck back and clinched the match despite eventually losing the third segment. Hou earned $3,115.38 in prize money for her victory while Kosteniuk picked up $884.62 for her efforts. In the post-match interview, Hou told about her warm-up for the match: “The only preparation I’ve done was just trying to play some practice games with friends or students. But to be honest, in those games, I was actually performing very poorly, giving away pieces or making blunders. I remember one of my friends said that ‘you’ll do better in a real match.’ Maybe that helps, you know.” 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.
Queen’s Pavilion and Social Pavilion are Open
FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich and Managing Director Dana Reizniece Ozola opened the Queen’s and Social Pavilions on the first day of the 44th Chess Olympiad. Sonja Johnson, Chairperson of the Planning and Development Commission, welcomed Dana to the stage, and Dana addressed the audience. “188 Men’s teams, 162 Women’s teams are participating; it seems like the whole world is participating! Such diversity, such enthusiasm! We make the world round by putting together these little elements, and this is something that very much connects with our social initiatives,” said Dana, further adding, “Chess is not only about professional sports: it’s about using our great game for the benefit of society, embracing its diversity.” Deputy President Bachar Kouatly, Managing Director Dana Reizniece-Ozola, and President Arkady Dvorkovich opened the Social and Queens’ Pavillions. Photo: Lennart Ootes Dana also explained how these two Queen’s and Social pavilions would be telling the stories of the projects that FIDE has launched. There will be special days dedicated to Women in Chess, Chess in Prisons, Chess for Refugees, Chess for ageing people and more! These pavilions will celebrate the beauty, minds and achievements of the women chess players. Strong women, getting stronger! She also thanked the men in the audience for being there and supporting the Year of the Women in Chess. Sonja Jhonson welcomed the attendants. Photo: Lennart Ootes President Arkady Dvorkovich thanked the All India Chess Federation, the host association of the 44th Chess Olympiad, for pulling off the biggest festival of chess in such a short time. He also extended his gratitude to every chess federation that has been involved in FIDE’s social initiatives. Arkady said “I would like to thank the people who devoted their hearts and time and their lives (partially at least!) to chess!” He added, “Human capital is not just a word; it’s a real thing! You have to put your hearts to make these projects a success story.” A Bharatanatyam dance closed the event. Photo: Lennart Ootes How can a splash of colour and joy not be added to such a beautiful and important project by FIDE? The event ended with a Bharatanatyam dance piece by two professional dancers.
FIDE, AICF, & Tech Mahindra Unveil Fan Nxt.Now App at the 44th Chess Olympiad
App to drive hyper-personalised data-driven fan experiences by leveraging cutting-edge technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR)/ Virtual Reality (VR), among others The International Chess Federation(FIDE) and the All-India Chess Federation have strengthened their partnership with Tech Mahindra, a leading provider of digital transformation, consulting, and business re-engineering services and solutions, to launch FIDE’s first ever app for iOS and Android built on digital platform, Fan Nxt.Now, on the sidelines of the 44th Chess Olympiad, organized by FIDE. The Fan Nxt.Now App was unveiled in the presence of the top chess personalities and representatives of Tech Mahindra. PHOTO: Stev Bonhague Celebrating the importance and popularity of Chess in India, the launch event, held at the Olympiad venue in Mamallapuram, was graced by several eminent personalities, including Chess Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, Dr Sanjay Kapoor, President, AICF, Bharat Singh Chauhan, Secretary General, All India Chess Federation, and Jagdish Mitra, Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Growth, Tech Mahindra. DOWNLOAD link for Android DOWNLOAD link for IOS You have a batch of high-resolution photos from the event at this link: https://we.tl/t-KG6exQW5WV. Photo credit: FIDE / Stev Bonhague Jagdish Mitra, Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Growth, Tech Mahindra. PHOTO: Stev Bonhague
Narendra Modi: “There are no losers: only winners and future winners”
The wise reflection of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi garnered the biggest applause of the night from the more than 20,000 players, coaches and local chess enthusiasts at the Nehru Indoor Stadium, venue for the opening ceremony of the 44th Chess Olympiad, here in Chennai. After a marathon afternoon, full of music and colour, Modi declared the event open. The games will begin tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. at the Four Points by Sheraton Mahabalipuram Resort & Convention Center. A total of 184 teams in the open category – 158 in women – will make the Chennai Olympiad the largest in history, breaking all previous records. The ceremony commenced at 4:00 p.m. with a display of musical and dance activity, in which the event’s choreographer deployed the history of India’s Tamil Nadu state throughout the ages. Between acts, we enjoyed the classical flag parade, in which each delegations’ best players took the floor – a basic activity in any Olympic movement. Another highlight of the afternoon was the live performance by piano prodigy Lydian Nadhaswaram, who delighted us with classical and modern tunes, including a brilliant two-handed and blindfold exhibition. In 2019, Nadhaswaram won a million dollars on The World’s Best show on CBS: he’s a true musical phenomenon, a fitting opponent for the world’s best chess players. Together with Modi – “there has never been a better time for sports in India than present time. This event shows that we are stronger together” – the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M.K.Stalin, also had a very significant presence at the ceremony, reminding all attendees that the event had been completed in less than four months after Moscow’s withdrawal. FIDE’s own Arkady Dvorkovich also took the stage, welcoming all the participants to this exciting event. But perhaps the most memorable moment of the night was five-times world champion Vishy Anand handing over the Olympic relay torch to Prime Minister Modi, who in turn passed it on to Pragnaandhaa and Gukesh, “the future of Indian chess”. The players of the Indian B-team lit up the Olympic flame, and received the deafening applause of the stadium. Without a doubt, in my modest opinion, the best opening ceremony I have ever attended in my life, in relation to the time available to organize it – and I was at the opening of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics! Text: IM Michael Rahal, FIDE Press Officer, Chennai Photo: Lennart Ootes
Valentina Gunina trounces Tan Zhongyi to advance into semis
GM Valentina Gunina swept away GM Tan Zhongyi in a quarterfinal match and reached the semifinals of the FIDE Chess.com 2022 Women’s Speed Chess Championship. After a poor 0-2 start, Gunina found her A-game and won the first 5+1 segment by a resounding score of 7-3. The 3+1 games were all about Gunina, who stretched her lead to 11 points and virtually secured the match victory. Tan stoke back in the 1+1 portion and found some comfort in winning the final segment of the match by a minimal margin. Gunina earned $3,344.83 for her victory, while Tan collected $655.17. Gunina’s next opponent in the semifinals will be decided in a clash between Hou Yifan and Alexandra Kosteniuk. Asked about her preparation for the match, Valentina said: “My coach prepared some variations that my opponent was going to play. Yesterday we had a discussion about that. Today, I just repeated some of these lines, and it saved me energy.” The next quarterfinal match between GM Kateryna Lagno and GM Humpy Koneru, who have previously held Women’s World Rapid titles, will take place on July 19, at 7.30 a.m. Pacific / 16:30 Central. 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.