Jorge Cori and Mitzy Caballero win Peruvian Championships
After two-years hiatus caused by the pandemic situation, the Peruvian Chess Federation held the 2022 National Chess Championships, an OTB 50-player 9-round Swiss tournament (open section) and a 9-player round-robin (women’s section). The events were held from May 17-22 in Club Tennis Las Terrazas Miraflores, Lima. GM Jorge Cori crushed the competition in the open tournament, conceding his opponents only four draws and took gold with an excellent result of 7/9. His sister, the top rated Peruvian woman, WGM Deysi Cori took part in the open section and scored impressive 6/9 (7th place in the final standings). IM Brian Escalante turned in a good performance and tied with the champion for the top position but lost the direct encounter and had to settle for silver. Escalante completed his first GM norm. GM Cristian Cruz came out third. Final standings Open: 1 GM Cori Jorge 2647 7 2 IM Escalante Brian Sebastian 2482 7 3 GM Cruz Cristhian 2582 6½ 4 GM Vera Siguenas Deivy 2498 6½ 5 Reyes Zavaleta Fabian 1902 6 6 IM Terry, Renato 2504 6 7 WGM Cori T. Deysi 2367 6 8 IM Fernandez Fernando 2435 6 9 Paredes Lagos Anthony 2117 5½ 10 IM Quirhuayo Chumbe German 2296 5½ WIM Mitzy Caballero emerged as the winner in the women’s section, netting 7/9. WFM Paula Paredes finished 1½ points behind the champion and took silver. WIM Ingrid Aliaga claimed bronze. Final standings Women: 1 WIM Caballero Quijano Mitzy 7 2 WFM Paredes Bustamante Paula 5½ 3 WIM Aliaga Fernandez Ingrid 5 4 Bravo Mallco Kate 4½ 5 WFM Garcia Andrada Heidy 4 6 Zarate Oyague Flor 3½ 7 WCM Aguilar Oblitas Yadhira 3 8 WFM Felix Vega Aurora 2 9 Tacas Cardenas Andrea 1½ Complete results of the Absolute National Chess Championship 2022 Complete results of the National Women’s Chess Championship 2022 Official website: ajedrezperu.pe/ Photo: official website
Prisons of Armenia stage qualifiers for Intercontinental Chess Championship
The second Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners will be held from 13-14 October 2022, on the International Day of Education in Prison. Free and open to players representing any correctional facility without specification by age and gender of prisoners, the tournament is a part of the Chess for Freedom program and a continuation of the international championship first held in 2019 and the Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners 2021. Ten countries have already registered their teams for the competition. They are Armenia, Australia, England, Germany, Italy, Norway, Philippines, Serbia, Turks and Caicos Islands and the USA. In some countries, national chess tournaments for prisoners are held to define the strongest players that will represent their countries on the international level. In the run-up to the Championship, the Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia and the Chess Academy of Armenia hosted a series of qualifying events at several of the nation’s prisons to determine the finalists who will form the teams representing Armenia at the online competition. To improve their skills and get ready for the second Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners, the national team members will be trained by the Chess Academy of Armenia professionals. During the tournaments run from February till April, a scientific survey initiated by Smbat Lputian, deputy head of the Armenian Chess Federation, and carried out by the Armenian Chess Institute was conducted. Its results are important for the internal management to evaluate the impact of the program on the convicts. According to the research, chess culture is perceived among the convicts not only as a game but also as an opportunity to enter a new social space, a way of re-evaluating self-knowledge and one’s behaviour, acquiring new skills and new relationships, regardless of age, gender, race and nationality. The second edition of the Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners is expected to bring together over 200 players from 50+ countries. Each country can have up to three teams for the event: main team team representing a female correctional facility with all four female team players team representing juvenoid correctional facility (under age of 20) Each correctional facility shall submit an application via an online Registration Form The registration deadline is September 21, 2022. There is no entry fee. Tournament regulations (pdf) Official website of the event: chessforfreedom.fide.com
FIDE World Championship Match 2023 Qualification Rules
With the Candidates Tournament, the ultimate qualifier for the World Championship Match, just around the corner, FIDE approved rules of replacements for the FIDE World Championship Match 2023. 1. According to article 4.4.1 of the Regulations for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2022 the winner shall become the Challenger and play a match versus the current Champion for the World Championship title. 2. If one of the participants of the World Championship Match 2023 refuses to play, he shall be replaced by the player who finished second in the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2022. 3. If the further replacement is required, the player who finished third in the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2022 shall be invited. 4. If any further replacement is required, the player who has the best rating in the FIDE January 2023 Standard rating list shall be invited. This player shall have at least 50 games counted in twelve FRL from February 2022 to January 2023. 40 out of these 50 games shall be played in international tournaments with participation of players from at least 4 different federations in each tournament. In case of equal ratings, the following criteria, in order of priority, shall decide: The number of rated games in the FIDE Standard rating lists from February 2022 to January 2023: the player who has played more games qualifies. Drawing of lots FIDE World Championship Match 2023 Qualification Rules (pdf)
FIDE Chess.com WSCC 2022 gets underway
The FIDE Chess.com Women’s Speed Chess Championship kicked off on May 24. The tournament, organized by the International Chess Federation and Chess.com, consists of two qualifiers running until May 27 and the main event stretching from June 13 to July 21. The event’s prize fund is $70 000, the highest ever for a women’s online competition. $65,000 will be allocated to the main event. The first of the two qualifiers, open to all FIDE titled women players, started on Tuesday, May 24. The events are 14-round 3+1 Swiss tournaments followed by knockout playoffs with the top-8 finishers from the Swiss. Playoff matches will consist of two 5+1 games, four 3+1 games, and eight 1+1 games. The two winners of the qualifiers will join the 14 invited players in the main event. The list of invited players to take part in the Championship includes GM Hou Yifan, IM Bibisara Assaubayeva, GM Humpy Koneru, GM Kateryna Lagno, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, GM Harika Dronavalli, GM Valentina Gunina, GM Zhongyi Tan, IM Carissa Yip, GM Nana Dzagnidze, IM Elisabeth Paehtz, IM Vaishali R, WGM Deysi Cori and IM Polina Shuvalova. Matches of the main event consist of three segments: 90 minutes of 5+1 games60 minutes of 3+1 games30 minutes of 1+1 games The player to score the most points wins the match. 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.
Batsuren and Enkhtuul win Mongolian Championship
Dambasuren Batsuren and Altan-Ulzii Enkhtuul are the new champions of Mongolia. The Mongolian Championship 2022 in open and women sections took place from May 12-23, 2022, in Chinggis, Khentii. Both tournaments, 12-player round-robins with classical time control, were held simultaneously in the same venue. The second-rated participant, 18-year old Dambasuren Batsuren (pictured below), turned in a commanding performance and claimed his maiden title at the fourth attempt. The champion scored an impressive 8½/11 and became the only unbeaten player in the event. Ganzorig Amartuvshin and Bayarsaikhan Gundavaa finished a full point behind the champion and tied for second place, with the former taking silver thanks to a greater number of victories. Kudos to one of the lowest-rated participants, Ganzorig, who significantly improved his rating picking up 60 points. Final standings open: 1 GM Batsuren, Dambasuren 8½ 2 FM Amartuvshin, Ganzorig 7½ 3 GM Gundavaa, Bayarsaikhan 7½ 4 GM Bilguun, Sumiya 7 5 IM Gan-Erdene, Sugar 6½ 6 IM Agibileg, Uurtsaikh 6 7 GM Batchuluun, Tsegmed 5 8 IM Battulga, Namkhai 4½ 9 FM Enkhnar, Enkhbaatar 4 10 FM Amilal, Munkhdalai 3½ 11 FM Boldoo, Erdenepurev 3 12 GM Munkhgal, Gombosuren 3 Altan-Ulzii Enkhtuul (pictured below) dominated the women’s event, despite losing her second-round game against Turmunkh Munkhzul. After this hiccup, Altan-Ulzii notched up seven straight victories and clinched the title with a round to spare. Bayarjargal Bayarmaa stayed in the race for the most part but lost two games (including one against the champion) and came off second best. Turmunkh Munkhzul inflicted the only defeat on the champion and tied for third with Bat-Erdene Mungunzul but won bronze by dint of a better Sonneborn-Berger. Final standings women: 1 WGM Enkhtuul, Altan-Ulzii 9 2 WIM Bayarmaa, Bayarjargal 8 3 WIM Munkhzul, Turmunkh 7 4 WCM Mungunzul, Bat-Erdene 7 5 WFM Munkhzul, Davaakhuu 6½ 6 CM Nomindalai, Tumurbaatar 6½ 7 IM Munguntuul, Batkhuyag 6 8 WFM Altantuya, Boldbaatar 5½ 9 FM Khulan, Enkhsaikhan 4½ 10 WCM Amin-Erdene, Bayanmunkh 3 11 Tsetsenbileg, Munkhbayar 1½ 12 WFM Anu, Bayar 1½ Photo: Mongolian Chess Federation Facebook page
Jan-Krzysztof Duda wins Superbet Rapid & Blitz
The final day of Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland was filled with a significant amount of excitement in the history of The Grand Chess Tour. Going to the final round of the blitz games, four players had a chance to win or tie for first place for this event. In the end, it was the Polish wildcard GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda who secured the Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland first place prize. Duda’s performance was consistent throughout the event and his result only got better as the event came to a close. He posted 12 points out of the 18 available points and went on to score 5.5/9 on day one and 6.5 (tying for the best score of the day) on the second day, edging both GM Aronian and former World Champion Vishy Anand by half a point, while GM Fabiano Caruana came forth only a point shy of the eventual winner. With this result, Duda should be quite confident as he begins preparation for the upcoming World Championship Candidates tournament, which begins next month. GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda won the first prize of $40,000. The Polish super-GM is now looking ahead at the 2022 Candidates Tournament happening next month in Madrid. Now let us have a look at how things proceeded on the Day 5 by looking at some of the key individual performances and moments from the final day. Jan-Krzysztof Duda GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda started the day off in second place. The Polish hero began his work by beating GM Vishy Anand, the tournament leader, in an uneventful Petroff where the Pole’s tactical alertness earned him a material advantage and a consequent victory. After Anand faltered further down the road, Duda was in the mix of the leaders with Anand and later GM Aronian until the very last round, and despite his lucky last round win against GM Kirill Shevchenko, the Polish #1 was in control most of the time. Keeping his cool and playing good moves throughout the event leave us with a keen interest in his performance at the Candidates where a grueling schedule only favors those who can keep running all the way till the end. ‘That was hard but I did it!’ Poland Rapid and Blitz winner, Jan-Krzysztof Duda | Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Levon Aronian GM Aronian was the dominant player in the blitz portion of Poland Rapid and Blitz. The American started the blitz section four points behind the leader in fifth place. His 7 out 9 performance on day one would have simply been the talk of the day if it weren’t for Caruana’s incredible 8 out of 9. However, Aronian showed that he is a blitz powerhouse by posting another magnificent result going 6.5 out of 9 on the last day. He also proved that he meant what he said in his interview before the event that ‘given his success in the Romania Superbet classic, he intends to make the most out of this event. The last two rounds might have been a bit of a heartbreak for Aronian as he spoiled a piece-up position after Korobov blundered a piece out of the opening, and he also failed to convert his advantage on the clock and on the board against Caruana in the last round. Nevertheless, Aronian’s performance is good enough to move him to the first spot of the Grand Chess Tour standing at the end of the second leg. Highly motivated, the current leader of the tour, and is only .4 Elo shy of GM Hikaru Nakamura on the world blitz rating ranking. GM Levon Aronian | Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Viswanathan Anand Scoring +1 (9.5/18) is definitely not great for the five-time world champion after the kind of standard he had set in the rapid portion. On the last day of the event, Anand began poorly and opened with two losses, against Duda and Korbov, losing his 1.5 points lead in the process. He did some damage control after a draw and win but he again lost a crucial game to Aronian. With 1.5 out of 5 some could have easily gone ahead and written off the ‘Tiger of Madras’. However, Anand once again showed why he has remained a power to reckon with in the chess world even in his 50’s. The Indian legend went on to score a technical win against Rapport, almost beat Caruana (the game ended in a draw), drew Wesley So with ease from the Black side, and won against one of the members of his World Championship matches’ training member, GM Radek Wojtadszek. The even score wasn’t enough to catch up with Duda but a tie for second wasn’t that bad after quite a long break for the celebrated veteran. It is noteworthy to mention that Anand had already played a world championship against legendary World Champion GM Garry Kasparov, and had won the FIDE world championship before either GMs Kirill Shevchenko or David Gavrilescu were born! How does he do it?! GM Viswanathan Anand | Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Being one of the wildcards, similar to GM Duda, Anand took a lofty number of GP points from the rest of the contenders, along with a check of $27,500. Seeing Anand in action, although happening less often these days, is a feast to remember! Fabiano Caruana Finishing 4th is never an achievement for a World Championship contestant but GM Fabiano Caruana has a couple of things to be happy about. For a long time, Caruana has been considered as someone who does not fare equally well in Rapid and Blitz chess compared to his performance in classical tournaments. At least, the American GM proved that such claims are already long forgotten. After winning two matches in tiebreaks during the American cup, he tied for the first with Aronian in the subsequent blitz event and after a great performance in the blitz portion of this event, he is now #3 in the world in blitz rating,
FFE becomes a member of National Olympic and Sports Committee
Brigitte Henriques, President of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee, and Éloi Relange, President of the FFE On Monday, May 23, 2022, the French National Olympic Committee General Assembly took place in the presence of all the member federations, the president, Madame Brigitte Henriques, and the Minister of Sports and Olympic and Paralympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra. On this occasion, the president of the FFE, Éloi Relange, officially presented the request for affiliation of his federation to this organization, representing the French sports movement on the national territory and internationally. It rewards a long work of presentation of our discipline to all the actors of the sporting world before this general assembly and announces large-scale changes for its federation, its regional leagues and departmental committees and its clubs. “This additional recognition will allow access to all the sports systems (administrative and financial) which were not open to us until now, structural and logistical aid for our leagues and our committees, numerous training courses for our volunteers, etc.” Éloi Relange said. The French Chess Federation welcomes the trust placed in it by the French Olympic movement and thanks all the clubs and the volunteers who support them for this new collective success for our discipline.
Czech Championship: David Navara clinches 11th title
GM David Navara came out as a winner of the Czech Championship 2022. It is the eleventh national title in his distinguished career. The Czech Championship, a 9-round Swiss tournament with classical time control, took place from May 14-22, 2022, in Ústí nad Labem. The event brought together 48 best Czech players, including the rating favourite David Navara (pictured below) and the defending champion Vojtech Plat. Photo: Milan Nemec The tournament turned into a very close race, with several players battling for the title to the very end. Suffice it to say that after Round 7, the eventual champion was only second, a half-point behind IM Vojtech Zwadron, who led the field with an excellent score of 6/7. However, in Round 8, the leader suffered a defeat at the hands of Vlasitimil Babula (pictured below), while Navara beat Plat and shot ahead, coming into the final round a half-point ahead of Babula and Zwadron. Photo: Lenka Kusova In Round 9, Navara drew his game with Jiri Stocek and clinched the title, netting 7/9 as his main rivals did not manage to win – Babula drew with Tomas Kraus, while Jan Krejci took down Zwadron and tied for the second place. Vlastimil Babula claimed silver thanks to better Buchholz; Jan Krejci had to settle for bronze. FM Richard Stalmach (pictured below) won a special prize for the best junior player, scoring 5½/9 and finishing 12th. Photo: Milan Nemec Final standings: 1 GM Navara, David 2682 7 2 GM Babula, Vlastimil 2576 6½ 3 GM Krejčí, Jan 2520 6½ 4 IM Zwardoň, Vojtěch 2482 6 5 GM Štoček, Jiří 2533 6 6 GM Plát, Vojtěch 2547 6 7 IM Kraus, Tomáš 2472 6 8 GM Rašík, Vítězslav 2433 6 9 GM Hráček, Zbyněk 2570 5½ 10 IM Černoušek, Lukáš 2440 5½ Photo: Lenka Kusova and Milan Nemec Official website: sachyusti.cz/
Superbet Rapid & Blitz: Day 4 Recap
The first day of the Blitz portion of the Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland saw a drastic shift in the dynamic of the event. While former World Champion Vishy Anand maintained his lead and even extended it to 1.5 points, It was Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian who stole the show today. The former scored a whopping 8 out of possible 9 points while Aronian netted 7 in the same number of games. The two Americans dominated the rest of the field to move to a tie for third, two points behind Anand, and half a point behind the consistent Polish GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda. After a slow start, the Polish hero bagged three consecutive wins toward the end of the day and is now in second place. It surely was not a good day at the office for both Richard Rapport and Wesley So, but it would be a grave mistake to write these two players out of the tournament just yet. The spectators couldn’t hope for anything better than tons of excitement that kept their eyes glued to the gigantic screens! | Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Fabiano Caruana The American was undoubtedly the sensation of the day. After a disappointing performance in the rapid games, Caruana showed a magnificent form in the blitz. Not only did he go on scoring eight points but his games were an indication of strength rather than ‘a good day at the office’. After his great performance at The American Cup’s blitz event, GM Caruana is now the #3 player in the world ranking for Blitz rating, only .2 Elo shy from GM Levon Aronian with whom he is tied for 3rd. A feat he is dreaming of enhancing by another massive performance on tomorrow’s final day. Whether he will have the same form or not is to be seen but it is clear that Caruana is in hot pursuit to place at the top of the leader board tomorrow. Fabiano Caruana at the beginning of Day 1 of Blitz games | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Levon Aronian Aronian’s performance in the Rapid part wasn’t that great either, although he finished a point ahead of Caruana. Nevertheless, after a good performance on the first part of the Grand Chess Tour in Romania, Aronian knew better than anyone that he needed a massive score to improve his position on the leader boards. His 7 out of 9 wins today were fantastic and he is now the #2 blitz player in the world. Tied for third and two points behind the leader is certainly a tough hill to climb, but it wouldn’t be that difficult should Aronian continue to play the way he played today. ‘I am just simply that good!’ Levon Aronian in a cheerful mode before the round along with Richard Rapport | Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Jan-Krzysztof Duda Jan-Krzysztof Duda’s story of the day is probably the biggest comeback in this event so far. After finishing in the third place in the Rapid portion, The Polish representative in the upcoming Candidates started the day with two disappointing back-to-back losses. However, the young local hero couldn’t simply let go of it this easily: After holding Caruana in one of his two only draws with Black pieces, Duda bagged 5 points out of the remaining 6 and ended the day on sole second in aggregate. Should he improve on his performance, Duda is a serious contender for the top spot going to the final day. One thing that can make things slightly better for Duda is the fact that he has White pieces against Anand, Caruana, and Aronian. Another good day at the office. Moving to sole second, GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Viswanathan Anand If you are the leader and you extend your lead after a tough day by half a point, you have still made progress. That is what Vishy Anand did and I am sure he takes it any other day. In fact, Anand did pretty well against his main rival. He even could consider himself a tad unlucky as he failed to win a winning rook ending against Richard Rapport, and undeservedly lost to Caruana in a game where Anand started making mistakes with a few seconds on his clock, something he could avoid much earlier in the game. However, what Anand needs is to come up with a plan for his games against the last four of his ‘trailing’ opponents. He only scored 2 out of possible 4 points against the bottom of the field while everyone else who is his direct competition did much better against the last four players in the standing. With three of his white pieces games being against Korobov, Shevchenko, and Wojtaszek, Anand’s strategy could be ‘staying solid against his main rivals while trying to make the most against the tailenders. No matter how the last day pans out for the “Tiger of Madras” it is great to see him in such good form during this entire event. Going to the last day as the favorite Anand is not going to settle for anything but his best to win the event! ‘I am here to stay.’ GM Vishy Anand maintains his lead and even extends it by half a point | Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Wesley So and Richard Rapport The two top-10 GMs did not have a good day at the office. After a disappointing event in Romania, the candidate participant, GM Richard Rapport had a phenomenal rapid portion scoring 13 out of eighteen points, beating GM Vishy Anand in the process. However, things were completely off for Rapport today. After losing his first game against Caruana, Rapport never made it back to the event and ended the event with a disappointing 3.5 out of 9 possible points. It surely dragged him down in the standings but he remains among the mix of the leaders’ thanks to his great performance
Giri tops leaderboard as Chessable Masters heads into KO stage
The all-star field in the Chessable Masters was cut in half today as a nervy climax to the $150,000 event’s prelim stage saw eight go through to the knockout. Anish Giri finished top of the leaderboard on 29 points and $7,250 earned, pipping World Champion and long-time Meltwater Champions Chess Tour rival Magnus Carlsen. Giri and Carlsen sailed into the quarters along with world no.2 Ding Liren and the Indian teen sensation Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, who both secured the points they needed early. It was left to the rest of the line-up to scramble for places. And the drama was plenty. In a crucial Round 14 game, Norway’s no.2 Aryan Tari faced Wei Yi. Wei, who led the leaderboard on first two days, hadn’t won a game since Round 8 while Tari was on a run of four straight wins and going for a fifth. But it was Tari who was on the defensive for most of it before he suddenly had a chance to win in the endgame. The 22-year-old went for the safe option of a draw, however. It could have proved costly – but it didn’t. Wei sealed his place on 24 points, but Tari still had more to do. Also through at this point was the Azerbaijan no.1 Shakrhiyar Mamedyarov who drew his first two games to progress safely. Going into the final round six players were safe, and four were still in with a shout of filling two spots. It was a straight shootout. Wins for Tari and Anton meant they would be safe, while Harikrishna and the Swede Nils Grandelius needed results to go their way. On paper it was Tari who had the toughest opponent in Giri, who was yet to lose a game in the tournament. After taking only a draw in the previous round the Norwegian badly needed a win. Luckily for Tari another contender for a quarter-final place, Pentala Harikrishna, quickly found himself in big trouble against the former US champ Sam Shankland and lost. Soon after Giri and Tari agreed their draw – a result which aided both of them and meant Tari was nearly through and Giri finished top of the leaderboard. Seconds later, Pragg ended Vidit Gujrathi’s hopes by beating his fellow Indian and rubbering-stamp Tari’s place. Tari said: “I feel really good, it means a lot for me to qualify.” Meanwhile, Jorden van Foreest blew his chance of beating David Anton to claim a quarter-final berth when the Dutchman fell for a nasty trick while right on the brink of victory. It was heart-breaking for van Foreest. Anton had looked like being eliminated, but the draw instead dumped van Foreest out. The Knockout starts at 18:00 CEST tomorrow. Carlsen will be the favourite when he faces Anton. Giri takes on Tari and the battle of two prodigies will see Pragg vs Wei and the last quarter final is Ding vs Mamedyarov. For further comments contact: Leon Watson leon@championschesstour.com About the Chessable Masters The eight-day Chessable Masters started on May 19 and coverage will focus on the study of chess openings. A prize pot of up to $150,000 is up for grabs and two qualifying spots for the next Tour Major. For the first stage of the event, all 16 players will compete in a round-robin with the top 8 progressing to a knockout. The final will be staged on May 25 and 26. The Chessable Masters is leg 4 of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. The overall Tour winner in November will be crowned the world’s best online chess player. Action will be broadcast live with commentary from chess24’s studio in Oslo via chess24.com’s YouTube and Twitch channels, also available at chess24.com/tour. Play begins at 18:00 CEST / 16:00 UTC. 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 chess24.com with players competing for a total prize pool of over USD 1.5 million. For more information visit championschesstour.com. About Play Magnus Group Play Magnus Group is a global leader in the chess industry focused on providing premier digital experiences for millions of chess players and students. The company offers e-learning and entertainment services via its market leading brands: chess24, Chessable, iChess, New In Chess, Everyman Chess, Silver Knights, Aimchess, the Play Magnus App Suite, and the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. The Group’s mission is to grow chess to make the world a smarter place by encouraging more people to play, watch, study, and earn a living from chess. Play Magnus Group is listed on Euronext Growth Oslo under the ticker PMG. www.pmg.me