The First Global Interactive Community Chess Simul
Over the past two years, the pandemic has significantly transformed the lives of individuals and communities. We have entered a new digital era, however, the online sphere has opened up new horizons, which has also affected the chess world. The number of people starting and actively playing the game, devoted fans following tournaments, broadcasts, and prominent figures in the sport has grown at an astonishing pace and scale. New communities, events, and platforms have been born in parallel. Judit Polgár, the best female chess player of all time, and the Hungarian Pavilion of Dubai Expo 2020 joint action “Judit Polgár vs The World”, the world’s first interactive community chess simul, strengthen and put this togetherness into a new context. On 20 March, Judit Polgár and the Hungarian Pavilion at Dubai Expo 2020 will host a global and integrated social event where millions of people will virtually sit down and play – live – against a single player. During the 11-board online simul, Judit Polgár faces ten influencers with a total of 6 million followers, and virtually the world on the “world board”. In the influencers’ section, among others, Judit will play with a children’s community on one board, and in line with our “2022 – Year of Women in Chess” initiative, members of a women’s community on another. Arkady Dvorkovich, the President of FIDE acknowledges: “This event can be regarded as a milestone in the global promotion of chess, offering a unique experience to a record number of participants thanks to its innovative and brand new format. I am curious of the final result, but even more so eager to enjoy the sportive tension and excitement that will be in the air while the world will be challenging the legendary chess queen Judit.” “I am extremely excited for this challenge and inclusive social event as Chess Connects Us in the virtual universe”, admits Judit. Influencers vs Judit The influencers will make their moves after consulting with their followers.The participants:● Agadmator – Antonio Radic (Croatia)● Botez Sisters (USA–Canada)● Samay Raina (India)● Rey Enigma (Spain)● Pepe Cuenca + Chess24/ES (Spain)● Jennifer Shahade + US Chess Girls Club (USA)● Silver Knights – children’s community (USA)● Anna Cramling (Sweden)● Anna Rudolf (Hungary)● BENIIPOWA (Hungary) The World vs Judit Can the world chess community beat Judit Polgár?On the world board, all participants in the game can vote on the next move on a dedicated platform. The system will make the move suggested by most players. The matches will be played in the Hungarian Pavilion’s Dome in the event’s built-in studio on custom digital chessboards. Judit will comment on the moves and strategies from there, involving influencers and their followers in the conversation. Professional commentators and surprise guests will support the show from the studio in Budapest. The First Global Interactive Community Chess Simul will be available live on the ChessConnectsUs Twitch Channel.
Pools for third leg of FIDE Grand Prix 2022 announced
Berlin, March 9, 2022 — The pools for the last leg of the FIDE Grand Prix Seies, organized by World Chess have been determined. The tournament in Berlin will be held from 21 March to 4 April at the World Chess Club Berlin. The event features 16 elite chess players competing for a prize fund of €150,000 and the last two places in the Candidates Tournament scheduled to take place in Madrid in June. The draw ceremony, held over Zoom, was chaired by the Chief Arbiter Klaus Deventer who divided the players into groups via randomized selection procedure. The players were allocated to four different pools: Pool A: Levon Aronian (USA), 2785Hikaru Nakamura, (USA), 2750Dmitry Andreikin (FIDE), 2719Grigoriy Oparin (FIDE), 2674 Pool B: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), 2776Leinier Dominguez (USA), 2756Daniil Dubov (FIDE), 2711Vincent Keymer (Germany), 2655 Pool C: Wesley So (USA), 2778Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), 2761Sam Shankland (USA), 2704Alexandr Predke (FIDE), 2682 Pool D: Anish Giri (Netherlands), 2771Nikita Vitiugov (FIDE), 2726Yu Yangyi (China), 2713Amin Tabatabaei (Iran), 2623 The third leg of the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2022 will take place in Berlin at Mittelstrasse 51-52 from March 21 to April 4. The rounds start at 3PM CET. The FIDE Grand Prix Series is brought to you by World Chess. The games will be broadcast live at worldchess.com: https://chessarena.com/broadcasts/13606 For further questions, please contact: media@worldchess.com Media Accreditation Form: https://forms.gle/nnfJ9b2LRDYebGg3A About World Chess: World Chess is a London-based chess gaming and entertainment group and FIDE’ official broadcaster and commercial partner. World Chess organized the FIDE Championship Matches in Russia, the USA, and the UK, and revolutionized the sport by signing the biggest media partnerships in history. World Chess develops Armageddon, the chess league for prime-time television. World Chess also runs FIDE Online Arena, the exclusive official chess gaming platform. More at worldchess.com.
FIDE and Chess24 hold fundraising marathon for Ukraine on Women’s Day
A series of events aiming to support Ukrainian chess players and their families affected by the war were held yesterday, on International Women’s Day, by the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess together with Chess24. The charity marathon included the Chess for Ukraine arena tournament named after the World Champions Anna & Mariya Muzychuk and Anna Ushenina, the team competition and a fundraiser to help female chess players in Ukraine. The main hosts of the Women’s Day special broadcast were IM Jovanka Houska and the Chair of the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess IM Eva Repkova. They were joined by special female guests who spoke about the role of chess in their lives, and their feeling about being a woman in a male-dominated chess community. FIDE Managing Director WGN Dana Reizniece-Ozola, who was one of the guests of the broadcast, pointed out that the sense of belonging to a chess community gives a person a very important sense of the security. “This whole project is dedicated to a very serious and very important cause, which is helping our chess players in Ukraine. This is a very good momentum, when you see how important actually it is if you belong to such a community like chess family. Because if gives you a better chance that somebody will really care of you and try to help when you are in a difficult position. That is demanding from yourself as well. Because that demands also that while you are in a better position you ought to help the others. This is such a heartwarming feeling that there might be somebody out there who would think of me when I have some difficulties or some crisis.” Another guest, the Chair of Commission for Women’s Chess in Americas WGM Martha Fierro talked about the development of chess and especially women’s chess in Ecuador: “In Ecuador chess is becoming more popular. When I started to play in 1991, there were not so many women players. But now we have more support from the government and media and more and more ladies and girls join in.” Women’s Day Team Competition was joined by teams from chess24, FIDE, Play Magnus & Chessable. The FIDE WOM team was represented by WGN Dana Reizniece-Ozola (FIDE Managing Director), the women’s world champion (2001–2004) GM Zhu Chen (FIDE Treasurer), WIM Salomeja Zaksaite (Chair of FIDE Fair Play Commission) and WGM Martha Fierro (Chair of Commission for Women’s Chess in Americas). A 7-team round-robin tournament was won by FIDE WOM team scoring 16/18 points. Team Chess24 finished a point behind the winner. Chess24 Spain with 13 points came out third. During the tournaments viewers were asked to make their donations in the fundraiser for Ukrainian chess players and their families. While preparing the broadcast the FIDE WOM Commission reached out to a number of women chess players in Ukraine, caught up in a conflict that would have been unimaginable just a month ago, and got their feedback. Here are some of letters received: “I am in Kharkiv, with no electricity, no mobile service, no 4g, no groceries at the stores, and those few places that do sell groceries charge crazy prices. Every three hours jets are dropping bombs on peaceful civilians.” “I am in Kherson. I had a few hours to make the decision to leave the city with small children, leaving my very sick husband at home by himself. We do not have safe sheltering. The only thing we can do is to pray and hope to not to go crazy from being so helpless.” “I spent six days and five nights in the basement without utilities, and am now looking for another place of refuge. I witnessed the hell on Earth.” You can read more and make a donation here. The fundraising campaign is not over yet. Please help us show our support for Ukrainian chess community! You can watch the full broadcast of the events on FIDE’s official Youtube channel.
FIDE Grand Prix Belgrade – Knockout: Day One Recap
Richard Rapport defeats Maxime-Vachier-Lagrave as White, while Giri and Andreikin draw The first round of the semi-finals of the second leg of the Grand Prix saw one decisive result and one draw. Richard Rapport defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Before this game, the two had played eight classical games, five of which were drawn and three were won by the Frenchman. Despite the head-to-head record favouring Vachier-Lagrave, every game is a story of its own, and this one did not have a happy ending for MVL. Rapport opened with 1.d4, and Vachier-Lagrave responded with his favourite, the Gruenfeld. The opponents tested a relatively rare variation in which the Hungarian introduced a logical novelty (the first line of Stockfish) 14.Bd2. White got an edge that only increased after Black opted not to contest for the open c-file on move 19. MVL tried to put pressure on the white king in the centre, however, Black was doomed after that. Indeed, Rapport had a very dangerous d-pawn and a stronger bishops pair. Black was better developed, but it just did not work for him in concrete variations. By move 23 White’s d-pawn seamlessly advanced to d7. Soon afterwards, the e-pawn joined the race and – supported by a strong pair of bishops – Black was hopeless in preventing defeat. On move 37 the Frenchman capitulated. The outcome of the first knockout round suggests that Maxime will have to play for a win in the second game, as he will be leading white pieces, and the Frenchman will certainly enter the match swinging. On the other board, the game between Anish Giri and Dmitry Andreikin ended in a draw, despite both sides (especially White) having a chance to win at certain points. The odds were even before the match as Giri and Andreikin played five classical games and drew all five of them. Their most recent clash was at the 2021 Tolstoy Memorial 2021, where they split a point. In the Sicilian with 3.b3, an offbeat line that has become trendy recently, the opening was similar to the one Nihal Sarin played against Andreikin in the 2021 World Cup. White (Giri) came out of the opening with a slightly better position, as he had more space, quickly castled long and put some pressure on the kingside. Andreikin rushed things with 17…c4? but this dubious move quickly backfired after a simple exchange followed by 19.b4. White dominated the board, but after 19…h6, attacking his g5-knight, Anish sacrificed it on f7 (which is not in his style), letting a greater part of his advantage slip away and allowing Black to find breathing space. Instead, a simple and natural knight retreat 20.Nh3 would have posed insurmountable problems for Black. White continued to pressure but then overstretched himself with 23.Rd5, giving an exchange for an attack that didn’t work. Following the exchange of queens on move 28, the tables have turned, and Black was now better; however, he had to be very precise as White had a very active bishops pair. Most likely, after avoiding the worst, Andreikin was happy with a draw, as a few more moves down the road the two split a point. In the post-game analysis, Giri and Andreikin said that it was a complicated game where they both missed some crucial lines and concluded that the outcome was fair. Pairings for day two of the knockout: Dmitry Andreikin vs Anish Giri Maxime Vachier-Lagrave vs Richard Rapport The round starts on Thursday, 10th March, at 3 PM local (CET) time. Leading partners supporting the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2022 include: Kaspersky as the Official Cybersecurity Partner; Algorand as the Official Blockchain Partner; Prytek as the Technology Transfer Partner; FIDE Online Arena as the official Partner. Text: Milan DinicPhoto: Mark Livshitz Official Photo FIDE Grand Prix Belgrade Press kit
2022 Women’s Speed Chess Championship announced
Happy International Women’s Day! On this special occasion, FIDE is thrilled to announce that the 2022 edition of the Women’s Speed Chess Championship has been confirmed and is set to start on May 24. The event was born from a partnership between FIDE and Chess.com and is the most important online tournament for titled women in the world. This year, fans will enjoy top women players vying for their piece of the $70,000 prize fund! Last year, fans had the chance to appreciate the lightning-fast chess of many of the leading women of our time. Six out of the top 10 active women in the world participated, including GMs Hou Yifan, Kateryna Lagno, Lei Tingjie, Nana Dzagnidze, and Anna Muzychuk. Other formidable players such as GM Humpy Koneru, current Women’s Blitz World Champion IM Bibisara Assaubayeva, and Women’s Rapid World Champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk also joined last year’s field. With such fierce competition, not even Hou, a four-time world champion and the highest-ranked woman in the world, had an easy time. The Chinese grandmaster clinched the title only after defeating GM Harika Dronavali in the nick of time, winning the last two bullet games of the match to uneven the score. Earlier this year, FIDE declared 2022 as the Year of Women in Chess. According to FIDE’s Managing Director, Dana Reizniece-Ozola, partnering with Chess.com once more to promote the Women’s Speed Chess Championship is part of the effort to celebrate women in chess. “Celebration does not mean being entertained or amused. Celebration is about appreciation,” said Reizniece-Ozola. “With FIDE announcing 2022 as the Year of Women in Chess, the power of great women in chess is celebrated. And this tournament organized by Chess.com is one such event. Chess moves women forward and women move the chess world forward.” With an increased prize fund and tweaks to improve the event’s format, this year’s Women’s Speed Chess Championship promises to be the best yet. Make sure you tune in to Chess.com/TV, Chess.com Twitch channel, or FIDE YouTube to catch the live broadcast with expert commentary!
FIDE Workshop for Changes in Regulations held online
The FIDE Workshop for Changes in Regulations organized in partnership with the Asian Chess Federation was held online from March 4-7, 2022 via Zoom. At the opening ceremony, the Asian Chess Federation General Secretary Hisham Al Taher welcomed participants and the Guest of Honour FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich. The FIDE President said that the FIDE General Assembly held last December had approved these changes to regulations and emphasized the importance of keeping up with the latest FIDE regulations for arbiters and organizers. Arkady Dvorkovich thanked Arbiters for their participation, welcomed feedback and invited comments for further discussion with FIDE. Mr. Dvorkovich drew attention to the recent FIDE Council decision caused by the current geopolitical situation and the tragic war in Ukraine – Russian players can take part in FIDE events only under the FIDE flag. He confirmed that FIDE had to move the Chess Olympiad and FIDE Congress from Russia. FIDE opened bids for hosting Chess Olympiad and has already received a bid from All India Chess Federation. There can be separate bids for Chess Olympiad, Olympiad for People with Disabilities and FIDE Congress. FIDE President invited all potential bidders to contact FIDE. A total of 180 participants from 53 countries registered for the Workshop, namely 30 Asian countries, 10 European countries, 7 African countries and 6 countries from the Americas. The Workshop was attended by 49 International Arbiters, 54 FIDE Arbiters, 63 National Arbiters and eight International Organizers. FIDE Qualification Commission Secretary Alex Holowczak of the U.K. made a report on changes to FIDE title and Rating Regulations which came into effect 1st January 2022 explaining the logic behind the changes. Rules Commission Chairman Abdulrahim Mahdi of the UAE presented the updates to the FIDE Laws of Chess and online regulations. Rules Commission Secretary Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh of Iran told about updates to Arbiter title regulations, classification and updates to Fair Play regulations. ACF Executive Director Casto Abundo of the Philippines rounded off the seminar with a lecture on How to Organize Chess Tournaments. The Workshop was a project of the Asian Chess Federation aimed to assist Arbiters and Organizers and speed up a post-pandemic return to over-the-board chess.
FIDE Grand Prix Belgrade: Round 6 Recap
Dmitry Andreikin, Anish Giri, Richard Rapport and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave move on to the next stage of the FIDE Grand Prix Belgrade The final – sixth round – of the group stage of the Grand Prix finished in Belgrade, with four clear winners progressing to the semi-finals. Despite players such as Richard Rapport and Anish Giri entering the round as comfortable leaders in their groups, it was a tense day as things could have still gone wrong even for them. On the other hand, players such as Etienne Bacrot, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Nikita Vitiugov had to play for a win in order to secure a place in the tiebreaks. These circumstances were promising an exciting final round of the group stage of the Belgrade leg of the Grand Prix. The first move in the round was made by Lukasz Turley, FIDE Vice President, in the game between Nikita Vitiugov and Anish Giri. Pool A: In Pool A it was Andreikin and Shankland who had the most chances to move to the next stage. If they drew their games, or if both won, the two would have to play each other in the tiebreak. However, if Andreikin lost and Shankland drew, it would be the Bacrot and the American who would have to decide in tiebreaks who moves forward to the semi-finals. Dmitry Andreikin opted for a rare line in the Queen’s Gambit Accepted against Etienne Bacrot but did not get even a slight edge. Bacrot was holding his own quite comfortably, and a draw seemed like the most logical outcome. Trying to reverse his fortune, Andreikin ventured upon a queen sacrifice for a rook and minor piece, but it did not offer much had Bacrot played the natural move 27…Qxd5. The game was full of twists and turns where both sides had a significant advantage and then blundered it away. The final portion of this encounter was a real blunder fest. Black had just a rook for the queen at some point but allowed the opponent to weave a mating net around his king. A miracle victory by Andreikin, who qualified for the semis. Sam Shankland essayed the Sicilian defence against Alexander Grischuk, who responded with the Rossolimo Attack. White opted for a very solid setup, restricting Black’s activity. Shankland played the right logical moves, but unfortunately for him, they led to massive exchanges and a draw was agreed on move 24. Pool B: Anish Giri was the favourite to win in Pool B. He was Black against Nikita Vitiugov. In their previous game, in the second round, Giri was victorious as White. In the round six game, Vitiugov had to win in order to get a chance to fight Giri again, but in the tiebreak. Starting with the English Opening, the game quickly transposed into a sideline of the Tarrasch Defence. It seemed that Vitiugov managed to surprise Giri as Black spent a lot of time on the opening: nearly 32 minutes on move eleven and 15 minutes on his 15th move. The time was well-spent as Anish got a comfortable position and after exchanges in the centre reached equality. With a solid pawn structure and no queens on the board, Giri was safe, and the two called it a draw. With this draw, Anish Giri was on 4/6 and in clear first place in Pool B. “It’s very important that I qualified and not so much how the games went… All the games were tough, and my play was decent. I’m happy with my score, and I’m looking forward to the next phase”, said Giri in his post-game interview. Pentala Harikrishna lost as White to Amin M. Tabatabaei. The two had no chances to qualify for the next stage, but they still played an exciting game. In the Open Line of the Ruy Lopez, White sacrificed an exchange, getting a pawn and a bishops pair as compensation, following the idea introduced in the game Caruana – Dominguez in 2021. Tabatabaei offered a repetition on move 23 but White opted to play on. However, immediately after this, following a strange move 28.b3, White opened the queenside to Black. Tabatabaei’s rooks jumped into action, and his extra exchange quickly came to fore. The Iranian finished the event with his first and only victory. Pool C: Richard Rapport drew with Alexei Shirov, and with this result, sealed his card for the next stage of the tournament. In the English Opening, the Hungarian opted for the line he had tested back in 2013 but with black pieces. Shirov was trying to create some chances on the queenside but did not manage to get anything substantial. Everything was in Rapport’s hands, who opted for a safe path to a draw that promoted him to the next stage. Vladimir Fedoseev and Vidit Santosh Gujrathi had a theoretical discussion in a popular line of the Petroff Defense. Castling on opposite sides promised a sharp game, and the opponents did not disappoint. Black pushed his pawns towards the centre, pressing White’s c4-square. Fedoseev had to switch to defence and allowed Vidit to seize the advantage, which he increased by cutting off White’s king on a1. Vidit Gujrathi was in control, but a strong computer-like move 30…Rd8! escaped his attention. White avoided the worst and after several unsuccessful tries by Vidit the game ended in a draw. Pool D: One of the most anticipated games of the round was between Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who was leading white pieces against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The only way Mamedyarov could qualify for the next stage was to score a victory against the Frenchman, who was the leader in the extremely strong Pool D. After 1.d4, MVL decided not to play his pet Gruenfeld and opted for a more solid opening. In the Carlsbad Variation of Queen’s Gambit, the two players castled to the opposite wings suggesting a sharp game. White tried to engineer some activity on the kingside but the Frenchman was quick in his counterplay. His dark-squared bishop was a particularly functional piece, cementing defence and eyeing the b2-pawn in White’s camp. By move 30 Mamedyarov exhausted his attacking options and
Dominican Championship: Gian Carlo Arvelo claim title
Gian Carlo Arvelo and Raydily Rosario Almánzar are new chess champions of the Dominican Republic. The Open and Women’s Championships, Swiss tournaments with classical time control, were held from February 18 to March 06 (with a long break from February 20-25 in the open competition). The 18th rated Gian Carlo Arvelo produced a major sensation by winning the open event with an excellent result 9/11. The champion completed the tournament unbeaten, finishing with three straight victories and picking up 91 rating points. Gian Carlo qualified for the national team and will represent his country at Chess Olympiad 2022. “This day is very special for me because I become the National Chess Champion of the Dominican Republic. To be the number 1 in whatever is not an easy task; it is a dream that many cannot achieve, and today I could,” said the happy champion. The rating favourites FM Carlos Paul Abreu and IM Jose Lisandro Muñoz netted 8½/11 each and tied for second place. Silver went to Carlos Paul thanks to slightly better Buchholz over Jose Lisandro, who had to settle for bronze. Final standings: 1 FM Arvelo, Gian Carlo 9 2 FM Abreu, Carlos Paul 8½ 3 IM Munoz, Jose Lisandro 8½ 4 FM Guzman, Christopher 8 5 FM Hernandez Sanchez, Elvis 7½ 6 Mendez Ramirez, Victor 7 7 CM Crispin Ferreras, Darvi Abraham 7 8 IM Dominguez, Jose Manuel 6½ 9 Mesa Cruz, Juan Carlos 6½ 10 Sanchez Castillo, Jose Rafael 6½ In the Women’s Championship, Raydily Rosario Almánzar (pictured below) tied for the first place with CM Jennifer María Almanzar. The two will lock horns in the match for the title in April. CM Doribel Muñoz Santana claimed bronze scoring 6/8, while the defending champion Patricia Evarista Castillo Pena did not make it to the podium and finished only 5th. Final standings: 1 Rosario Almanzar, Raydily 6½ 2 WCM Almanzar Vasquez, Jeniffer Maria 6½ 3 WCM Munoz Santana, Doribel 6 4 WFM Diaz Cesar, Wilsaida Pieranlly 5½ 5 WCM Castillo Pena, Patricia Evarista 5 6 Gonzalez Peguero, Mary Loly 5 7 Coronado Paulino, Karen Libell 5 8 WCM Villar Acevedo, Darlin Rocio 5 9 Sanchez Jaspez, Rosangel 4½ 10 Ramirez Luzon, Franchesca 4½ Photo: Federación Dominicana de Ajedrez Facebook page
Chess for Ukraine: FIDE announces series of fundraising events on Women’s Day
In light of the ongoing war in Ukraine, and under the roof of the Year of the Woman in Chess, the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess had established a fundraiser for Ukrainian chess players and their families affected now by war. They have also reached out to a number of women chess players in Ukraine, well-known in our chess community, to provide them with help and support. You can read their letters and messages and make your donation in the fundraiser. Also, the FIDE Women’s Commission, in partnership with Chess24, has prepared a series of events on the Women’s Day to support Ukrainian chess players and their families. The main hosts of the Women’s Day special broadcast will be IM Jovanka Houska and IM Eva Repkova. The Chess for Ukraine 3 min arena tournament will start at 17:00 CET. The first of a series, this tournament is named after the World Champions Anna & Marija Muzychuk and Anna Ushenina. FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess and Chess24 joined forces in this fundraising event to help female chess players in Ukraine. Everyone can join. To do it, click here. In addition the arena tournament, the team competition is planned at 20:00 CET. FIDE will have its own team represented by WGN Dana Reizniece-Ozola (FIDE Managing Director), GM Zhu Chen (FIDE Treasurer), WIM Salomeja Zaksaite (Chair of FIDE Fair Play Commission) and WGM Martha Fierro (Chair of Commission for Women’s Chess in Americas). The schedule of the events is the following: Time (CET) Event 16:45 The start of the Women’s Day special broadcast Main hosts: IM Jovanka Houska and IM Eva Repkova 17:00 Chess for Ukraine – “Women’s World Chess Champions Anna Ushenina and sisters Muzychuk” Two-hour arena tournament Time control: 3 min. 19:00 Talk with guests invited by FIDE/Play Magnus Group 20:00 Team competition Let us show our strong support for our Ukrainian chess players and their families by participating in these events and a fundraiser!
FIDE adopts simplified procedure for playing under FIDE flag
Dear players, In connection with the decision of the FIDE Council to provide a simplified procedure for performing under the FIDE flag for players representing Russia/Belarus, we herewith explain the details of the procedure: 1. For the transfer, a player should send a request to federations@fide.com with a copy of the identity document attached. In case of a minor player, a document certifying the identity of the player, as well as the identity of the legal representative, has to be attached. A copy of the request should be sent to the following e-mail addresses: dana.reizniece-ozola@fide.com and aleksandr.martynov@fide.com. 2. The right to play under the FIDE flag is granted until 31 May 2022. After this period, in the absence of other requests, the player will automatically be returned to the previous federation. 3. If a player wants to continue playing under the FIDE flag after 31 May 2022, he/she should submit a new request to FIDE after 1 May 2022. Such request will be considered in a due manner.