Kenya tops medal standings in Africa Schools Championship
Team Kenya bagged 12 medals in the just concluded 2021 edition of the African Schools Individual Chess Championship. The Kenyan youngsters managed to clinch three gold medals, four silver medals, and five bronze medals in the championship that took place at the PrideInn Azure Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, from December 12-20, 2021. South Africa came second in the medal standing, winning ten medals with five gold, followed by Ghana and Uganda with four medals each. Malawi and Botswana secured claimed medals each. The championship attracted 166 players from Kenya, Botswana, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe, with Kenya and South Africa fielding the largest number of players – 67 and 41, respectively. Kenya’s Elizabeth Cassidy dominated the Under 11 Girls category by annihilating all her opponents to score a whopping nine points in nine rounds. Cassidy cruised through the rounds easily, crushing the opposition from South Africa, Malawi, Uganda and her compatriots to clinch the gold medal. “It feels really nice to win. I have been training really hard, and my training has finally paid off,” said an ecstatic Cassidy. “My goal now is to make it to the national team in the near future, but it is not going to be easy because I have the likes of Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Joyce Nyaruai, Woman Fide Master (WFM) Mongeli Sasha and WCM Wanjiru Lucy to beat,” she added. Cassidy is the only Kenyan player with maximum points in the tournament. Kenya’s Wambui Bernice secured the third spot by scoring 6½ points, 2½ points behind the champion Cassidy. South Africa’s Naidoo Kajol took second place with 7 points. In the Under 11 Open section, Kenya’s Muiruri Don scored 7 points, winning silver, just half a point behind top-seed champion Mungal Ethan of South Africa, who netted 7½ points. Ingado Mercy gave Kenya gold after chalking up 7½ points by taking out Uganda’s Namirimu Britney in the final round of the U17 Girls category. After losing to Botswana’s WCM Refilwe Tsutsu in round seven, Mercy kept up her fighting spirit to beat Zimbabwe’s Mawire Rumbidzai and Uganda’s Namirimu Britney in the following two rounds. These victories propelled her to the top of the podium. Jamie Obora from Kenya managed to win bronze in the Under 13 Open category despite being humbled by his compatriot Olando Paul in the last round. In the Under 13 Girl’s category, WCM Shah Devashri secured the runner-up position with 7 points, a point behind tournament winner and top seed, Malawian Dutt Lakshita. Devashri had a shaky start after losing two games in rounds three and five but came back from behind to win five straight games, which was not enough to overtake top seed Dutt. In the strongest category, the Under 17 Open, Kenya’s top seed Robert Mcligeyo took third place after scoring 6 points while his fellow Kenyan Muchiri Rocky only managed 5½ points (5th place). Kenya’s Candidate Master (CM) Lwanga Aguda bagged silver medal with 7½ points in the Under 15 Open category after drawing with Goliath Brimarion of South Africa in the last round. Aguda, the top seed in the category, lost narrowly to gold medalist Pido Edwin of Uganda in an earlier highly contested round four clash. Uganda also took bronze. Harry Kags of Kenya beat Zimbabwe’s Aidan Magudhu in the final round to claim bronze in the Under 9 Open category. He trails behind Uganda’s Mibiru Jayden, who is in second place with 8 points, and Ghana’s Acheampong Dave in first place with 9 points. In the under seven open, Manyeki Nathaniel narrowly missed the podium after attaining 6 points to secure the fourth position. Ghana and South Africa clinched the top three spots. Elsie Kamoni of Kenya won the gold medal in the Under 7 Girls category with 4 points while her compatriot Kaburo Winnie took silver with 4 points. Text: Steve Okeyo Photo: Chess Kenya (photos and videos of all rounds)
Tatneft becomes an official sponsor of the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships 2021
The International Chess Federation is pleased to announce a new partnership with Tatneft, one of the largest Russian vertically integrated oil companies. By this agreement, Tatneft becomes an official sponsor of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2021, which will take place from 25-31 December in Warsaw, Poland. The tournament will be held at PGE Narodowy Stadium, the home stadium of the Polish national football team, used mainly for concerts and football matches. Over 250 players have already registered for the event. The list of participants is headed by five-time Classical World Champion and the reigning Rapid and Blitz World Champion Magnus Carlsen (Norway), followed by the number 2 in the FIDE rankings Alireza Firouzja, who has recently become the youngest ever 2800-rated player. The three latest challengers to the world championship title, Ian Nepomniachtchi (2021), Fabiano Caruana (2018), and Sergey Karjakin (2016), will also be present. Other favourites are Hikaru Nakamura (USA), who won bronze (in rapid) and silver (in blitz) in the last edition of the Rapid and Blitz Championships (2019) and the three-time world blitz champion Alexander Grischuk. All eyes will be on the local star, Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Krakow, Poland), whose popularity has reached new heights after winning the 2021 World Cup this summer in Sochi. This weekend Duda became the European Blitz Champion with a remarkable score of 18/22, demonstrating that he is in good shape and not affected by the extra pressure playing on home turf. In the women’s tournamentы, the highest-rated players are the defending Women’s Blitz World Champion Kateryna Lagno, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Valentina Gunina (all representing CFR), Anna Muzychuk, Mariya Muzychuk (both Ukraine), Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia), the reigning Women’s Rapid World Champion Humpy Koneru (pictured below) and Harika Dronavalli (both from India), and Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria). Photo: Maria Emelianova “We are extremely happy that we have been able to host this event despite all the difficulties. The World Rapid and Blitz Championships have become a nice tradition for the last days of the year, like the hockey NHL Winter Classic, the Boxing Day football match in the UK, or the NBA Christmas Day games. Many people in the world enjoy a holiday during this period, and they look forward to watching their favourite sport,” said FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich. “We are very grateful to Tatneft for their contribution towards this event. While the pandemic is still not over, chess life shall continue, and Tatneft’s support has been decisive to make these championships happen,” he added. “Tatneft pays great attention to supporting sports in its various forms. It is a great honour for us to be partners of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships. I am convinced that it will make this sport even more popular, will give spectators and fans the pleasure of watching exciting games performed by world-class masters,” said Tatneft CEO Nail Maganov. The total prize fund of the event is USD 1,000,000, with USD 700,000 USD going to the open tournaments and USD 300,000 to the women’s events. Chess fans can keep up with the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships by watching the live broadcast on FIDE’s official YouTube channel. The preliminary lists of participants can be found here: Rapid Open: https://worldrapidandblitz.fide.com/rapid-open/Rapid Women: https://worldrapidandblitz.fide.com/rapid-women/ Blitz Open: https://worldrapidandblitz.fide.com/blitz-open/Blitz Women: https://worldrapidandblitz.fide.com/blitz-women/ About Tatneft TATNEFT is one of the largest Russian vertically integrated oil companies, which develops oil and gas production, oil refining, petrochemicals, a tire complex, a network of filling stations, power engineering, development and production of equipment for the oil and gas industry and a block of service structures. The corporate social responsibility of TATNEFT is aimed at creating efficient and safe workplaces, minimizing environmental impact and maintaining a favourable environment, social support for employees and their families. Official website: https://www.tatneft.ru/?lang=en
Six rounds played at the FIDE Online Cadets & Youth Rapid Super Final
The FIDE Online Cadets and Youth Rapid Super Final is halfway through on Tornelo playing platform. Six rounds were played in all ten separate sections (Open and Girls under 10, 12, 14, 16, 18), and only four more are left before we know the winners’ names. In some categories, six rounds produced clear leaders, while in others, it is challenging to be on the mark with a prediction—so close is the race. Despite a somewhat rocky start losing his second game, Turkish star Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus won four games in a row to become a clear leader in the Open U10 tournament. His main rival is Indian Vaz Ethan, who trails by half a point. The two will meet on the last day of the event, and this encounter will likely determine the overall winner. Ihor Samunenkov continues his quest for gold in Open U12. The victory over the youngest-ever grandmaster Abhimanyu Mishra in the first round inspired the Ukrainian cadet to a solid run. With 4,5 points, he is one point above his closest pursuer. In Round 3, Samunenkov’s opponent faced an opening catastrophe. Can you find how White reacted to a blunder 6…a6? Replay the game for the solution by clicking here. Nothing is clear in Open U14. An early leader Aldiyar Ansat from Kazakhstan, who started from two wins, slowed down on Day 3 and let Ediz Gurel from Turkey catch him on 4,5 points. A similar situation emerged in Open U16. An early leader and the discovery of the event, Indian Aaryan Varshney, who was not among the initial favourites, keeps the lead with 4,5 points. However, Russian IM Volodar Murzin caught him up on Day 2. On Day 3, the two played against each other but are still on par after two draws. Nikolaos Spyropoulos is unstoppable in the Open U18. He is the only player in all sections to have won all six games, and most of them were very sharp! His opponents tried to break down his psyche by fierce attacks with cascades of sacrifices, but the Greek FIDE Master did not lose his cool and collected all points so far. In the Girls U10 tournament, there is no fear or mercy to the favourites! The results of the world’s top-rated girls in this category fell short of the expectations. However, everything might change because the leaders are not far off the field. Diana Preobrazhenskaya from Russia and Le Thai Hoang Anh from Vietnam scored 4 out of 6 and are closely followed by other contestants on 3,5, and 3 points. Girls U12 rating favourite Alice Lee (2178) from the USA, pictured above, made only one draw in Round 4, winning five games. But she must not relax as Anna Shukhman (Russia) is following just half a point behind. The two meet in Rounds 7-8 on Day 4, and if Anna embraces the moment, she can shake up the standings. The event continues to be a challenging journey for the rating-favourite in Girls U14, Hungarian star WIM Zsoka Gaal (2362). After a somewhat bumpy start, she won two games on Day 3 and is trailing the leader by only half a point. On top with 4,5 points is Fiorella Contreras Huaman from Peru (1931), clearly a discovery of this event. Try to play like Zsoka Gaal, Black to move. Replay the game for the solution by clicking here. Another surprising leader is Nguyen Hong Nhung from Vietnam (1697) in Girls U16. She has lost only one game; however, her main test is yet to come. On Days 4 and 5, she will face two young hopes of Kazakhstani chess WIM Meruert Kamalidenova (2351) and current co-leader WFM Xeniya Balabayeva (2220). WIM Govhar Beydullayeva (2290) from Azerbaijan recovered from a loss in the first round and reinstated herself at the top of Girls U18 standings, scoring 4,5 out of 5 in the next games. She is also a huge favourite against her next two opponents, so likely we won’t see any surprises in this category. Govhar Beydullayeva, photo: @WorldChess2019 Twitter You can watch and replay our live streams from the event with the commentary by GM Farrukh Amonatov on FIDE’s YouTube channel. Tune in for Days 4 and 5 at 16:00 CET on December 21 and 22. You can find the results, regulations, and other information on the official website. * * * The FIDE Online Cadets & Youth Rapid Super Final is held with the support of Gazprom.
Hikaru Nakamura is granted wild card to FIDE Grand Prix
Hikaru Nakamura has been selected as the Presidential nominee to be one of the 24 participants in the FIDE Grand Prix, organized by World Chess. The series will take place in February — April of 2022 and will consist of three tournaments: two in Berlin and one in Belgrade. Not having played any official rated game since December 2019, Hikaru failed to qualify for the current world championship cycle. “Travel restrictions affecting US player, and his activity as one of the most popular streamers in the world, prevented him from taking part in key events. Nevertheless, he remains very active in online tournaments, where he consistently shows he is in top shape and among the best in the world”, explains the FIDE President, Arkady Dvorkovich. “Very strong and experienced, and popular among the fans, I believe he deserves a chance to fight. The chess community will be delighted to see him sitting at the chess board again”. Prior to the Grand Prix, Hikaru will also take part in the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship in Warsaw, breaking a two-year-long impasse without playing over the board competitions. Having recently turned 34 years old, Hikaru is currently ranked #21 in the world, with a rating of 2736. That would make him the 10th top seed in the Grand Prix series 2022, behind Ding Liren, Levon Aronian, Anish Giri, Wesley So, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Alexander Grischuk, Richard Rapport, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Lenier Dominguez. The field of 24 participants with be completed once the organizer World Chess announces its nominee – which is expected to happen in the next hours. Each participant will play in two out of three of the tournaments (Berlin, Belgrade and Berlin). Each event will consist of a group stage with 16 players, followed by a knock-out semifinal among the top-four players. Players receive Grand Prix points according to their finishing position in each tournament. The two players with the most Grand Prix points across the Series play to qualify for the Candidates Tournament 2022. About the FIDE Grand Prix FIDE Grand Prix organized by World Chess is a 3-event series that features 24 players, each of whom will compete in two out of three tournaments. Two winners of the Grand Prix Series will qualify for the Candidates Tournament. The series will take place in Berlin, Germany and Belgrade, Serbia. The prize fund for each event is EUR 150,000, which is a EUR 20,000 increase from 2019. The FIDE Grand Prix Series 2022 is supported by Algorand as the Official Blockchain Partner, Kaspersky as the Official Cybersecurity Partner, and FIDE Online Arena as the official gaming platform.
European Rapid and Blitz Championships: Duda and Motylev win titles
The European Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships 2021 finished on Sunday, December 19 in Katowice, Poland, after three days of play. After 11 double rounds in the Swiss blitz tournament, Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland) came out on top with 18 points. It was not an easy walk for the rating favourite as his compatriot Maciej Klekowski was hard on his heels throughout and scored 17½ points to take silver. Eight players tied for the third place netting 16½ points each. The tiebreaks favoured the European Champion Anton Demchenko, who claimed bronze. The total prize fund of the event was €11,000, with €2,000 allocated to the champion. In addition to the regular prizes for the best ranked 20 players, the best juniors, seniors, women, and best players of different rating categories were also awarded. Final standings blitz: 1 GM Duda, Jan-Krzysztof 2792 POL 18 2 GM Klekowski, Maciej 2444 POL 17½ 3 GM Demchenko, Anton 2531 RUS 16½ 4 IM Schneider, Ilja 2524 GER 16½ 5 GM Tazbir, Marcin 2518 POL 16½ 6 IM Teclaf, Pawel 2431 POL 16½ 7 GM Bernadskiy, Vitaliy 2500 UKR 16½ 8 IM Keinanen, Toivo 2358 FIN 16½ 9 GM Dragnev, Valentin 2396 AUT 16½ 10 GM Balog, Imre 2678 HUN 16½ The complete results can be found here. Three GMs, Alexander Motylev (Russia), Alexander Donchenko (Germany) and Paulius Pultinevicius (Lithuania) tied for the first place in the European Rapid Championship scoring 9½ points out of 11 each. The Buchholz criteria gave Motylev gold, with Donchenko and Pultinevicius claiming silver and bronze, respectively. Final standings rapid: 1 GM Motylev, Alexander 2703 RUS 9½ 2 GM Donchenko, Alexander 2535 GER 9½ 3 GM Pultinevicius, Paulius 2536 LTU 9½ 4 GM Krasenkow, Michal 2430 POL 9 5 IM Brodowski, Piotr 2414 POL 9 6 IM Janik, Igor 2462 POL 9 7 GM Bjerre, Jonas Buhl 2330 DEN 9 8 IM Keinanen, Toivo 2341 FIN 8½ 9 GM Balog, Imre 2629 HUN 8½ 10 GM Bernadskiy, Vitaliy 2616 UKR 8½ The complete results can be found here. The total prize fund of the event amounted €19,000, with $4,000 going to the 2021 European Rapid Chess Champion. Along with the regular prizes, the best juniors, seniors, women players and best ranked players of different rating categories were awarded. There was a three-way tie in the women’s category as well and again, Buchholz decided the winners: Alicja Sliwicka (Poland) first prize Klaudia Kulon (Poland) – second and Annika Froewis (Austria) – third. The closing ceremeony held on Sunday and was attended by ECU Vice President Adrian Mikhalchishin and FIDE Vice Presidents Lukasz Turlej and Anastasia Sorokina. Official website: katowice2021.eu/ Photo: Official website and Facebook page of the event
Tamir Nabaty wins Israeli Open Championship
The Israel Open Championship took place from December 8-16, 2021, in the old northern city of Tzfat (Safed) by the Israel chess federation, under the auspices of the local municipality and Mifal Hapais (the national lottery). 102 players, including 9 GMs and 9 IMs, competed in a 9-round Swiss tournament for the top honours as well as for the 8,000 NIS prize fund. Four members of the national team topped the starting rankings and entered the competition as the natural favourites: GMs Tamir Nabaty, Ilya Smirin (both former Israeli champions), Victor Mikhalevski (the current champion) and Evgeny Postny (former winner of the open championship). Ilya Smirin and Victor Mikhalevski had a good time at the opening ceremony Quite a few of the country’s best junior players were among the participants, too, led by IMs Or Bronstein, Yair Parkhov and Ido Gorshtein. Mayor Shuki (Joshua) Oçhana made the first ceremonial move on board one to signal the start of the first round. GM Tamir Nabaty, the highest-rated participant, emerged as the winner despite an early defeat at the hands of youngster Yeshaaiahu Tzidkiya in Round 3. After this slip-up, the rating-favourite kicked into top gear and finished on 7½ points, a half-point ahead of GM Evgeny Postny, Israel’s best female player IM Marsel Efroimsky (both undefeated) and 19-year-old IM Yair Parkhov. The champion won his most instructive game in Round 6, outsmarting Ido Gorshtein in a rook ending. Tamir Nabaty – Ido Gorshtein Ido made a natural but wrong choice 39…Ke8? defending his f7-pawn (in case of correct 39…Kc8! White is just slightly better). However, after 40. Rd6! Black can’t prevent the rook exchange and goes down in a pawn endgame despite an extra pawn: 40…Ra8 41. c7 Rc8 42. Rd8+ Rxd8 43. cxd8=B f5+ 44. Kh5 Kxd8 45. Kxh6 g4 46. Kg5 Ke7 47. e4 fxe4 48. Kxg4 e5 49. h4 Ke6 50. h5 Kf6 51. Kh3 1-0 GMs Ori Kobo, Victor Mikhalevski and Israel Caspi, IMs Ido Gorshtein and Or Bronstein and FM Yotam Shohat scored 6½ points each. FM Yeshaaiahu Tzidkiya became the best junior, finishing on 6 points. GM Avigdor Bykhovsky (pictured below) was declared best senior, while the best female prize was awarded to WCM Ronit Levitan – both netted 5½ points. A total of 28 players received money prizes in all categories. The event was smoothly run by director Olga Volkov (pictured below) and the team of experienced arbiters led by IA Alon Shulman. Shaul Weinstein, deputy chief arbiter, was in charge of the official website and the live broadcasting of the games. School championships and simultaneous exhibitions took place in the city during the tournament. Hopefully, another peripheral city has been captivated by our game to start a new chess community. Final standings: 1 GM Nabaty, Tamir 2639 7½ 2 GM Postny, Evgeny 2557 7 3 IM Efroimski, Marsel 2429 7 4 IM Parkhov, Yair 2434 7 5 GM Kobo, Ori 2513 6½ 6 GM Mikhalevski, Victor 2562 6½ 7 IM Gorshtein, Ido 2417 6½ 8 GM Caspi Israel 2499 6½ 9 IM Bronstein, Or 2484 6½ 10 FM Shohat, Yotam 2325 6½ The full results may be seen here. Text: Yochanan Afek Official website: chess.org.il/ Photo: Ritvo photography
Hungarian Championship: Peter Acs and Zsuzsanna Terbe clinch titles
Peter Acs and Zsuzsanna Terbe won the Hungarian Championship 2021, Géza Hetényi Memorial in the open in women’s sections. Both tournaments, round-robins with classical time control, took place in Budapest from December 7-17. The fourth-rated Peter Asc grabbed the lead in Round 2 but suffered a defeat in Round 4 at the hands of the rating favourite Ferenc Berkes and slid down to a 50% mark. To his credit, Peter braced up and scored an impressive 4½ in 5 games to finish clear first, a full point ahead of the runner-up Gergely Kantor. By clinching the first national title in his long career (Peter won silver with Hungary back in 2002), the native of Eger proved once again that there is life in chess after forty. Gergely Kántor lost two games but managed to overcompensate with four victories scoring a solid +2. In an interview before the event, the talented young GM pursuing his university studies humbly said that he would be satisfied with the bronze medal. As we can see, Gergely beat the target. Bence Copra became the only unbeaten player in this all-GM tournament, but eight draws and one win did not allow him to mount higher than third place. Final standings open: 1 GM Acs, Peter 2569 6,5 2 GM Kantor, Gergely 2575 5,5 3 GM Korpa, Bence 2520 5,0 4 GM Antal, Gergely 2561 4,5 5 GM Banusz, Tamas 2591 5,0 6 GM Prohaszka, Peter 2568 5,0 7 GM Berkes, Ferenc 2680 4,5 8 GM Aczel, Gergely 2553 4,0 9 GM Kozak, Adam 2526 3,5 10 GM Medvegy, Zoltan 2527 1,5 Zsuzsanna Terbe sprang a major surprise in the women’s event, winning her maiden national title. The lowest-rated player in the tournament, Zsuzsanna scored an amazing 5½/7 and picked 65(!) rating points. A multiple-champion Anita Gara chalked up a very solid +3 (5/7) but had to settle for silver this time. Zsoka Gaal and Bianka Havanecz tied for third place, with the former taking bronze thanks to better tiebreaks. Final standings women: 1 WFM Terbe, Zsuzsanna 2159 5½ 2 IM Gara, Anita 2359 5 3 WIM Gaal, Zsoka 2362 3½ 4 WIM Havanecz, Bianka 2229 3½ 5 WIM Terbe, Julianna 2294 3 6 WIM Mihok-Juhasz, Barbara 2275 3 7 WGM Lakos, Nikoletta 2211 1½ 8 IM Lazarne Vajda, Szidonia 2333 1 Official website: chess.hu/ Photo: Magyar Sakkszövetség
FIDE Online Cadets & Youth Rapid Super Final: Favourites Fall
The FIDE Online Cadets and Youth Rapid Super Final started on Tornelo today, December 18. Each of 10 separate sections (Open and Girls under 10, 12, 14, 16, 18) is a 6-player double round-robin. Every day of the championship, the participants play two games against the same opponent, changing colours. The rating difference is often not an explicit criterion to judge the strength of young and rapidly progressing players. The event won’t be an easy walk for the rating favourites, and some of them experience a bumpy road from the very first day. World’s top-rated (2276!) 10-year-old Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus from Turkey (pictured above) exchanged blows with his Round 1 opponent, Dau Khuong Duy from Vietnam. Both games were anything but dull: Dau sacrificed a piece in the first one, but the attack did not go his way. However, in the second game, his energetic style paid off and he stroke back, finishing the day on 1-1. In this section, the leaders after Day 1 are CM Ilan Schnaider Ilan from Argentina and AIM Ethan Vaz from India, who won both games. This summer, everyone learnt the name of Abhimanyu Mishra when this 12-year-old from New Jersey, USA, hit the headlines as the youngest person to become a grandmaster, beating Karjakin’s record by over two months. All eyes are on his development ever since, but he is off to a rocky start here. FM Ihor Samunenkov from Ukraine, the world’s #4 in this age group by rating, showed good endgame technique and defeated Mishra in the first game. The second game finished in a draw, placing Samunenkov on the second spot behind the early leader Ivan Zemlyanskii from Russia, who won both games. Ihor Samunenkov, photo: Федерація шахів Києва Both rating favourites in Girls U10, Kolagatla Alana Meenakshi from India and Megan Althea Paragua from the USA, the world’s top-rated players in this category, lost points on Day 1. In fact, Meenakshi’s opponent, Le Thai Hoang Anh from Vietnam, scored 1.5 points and occupied the first spot in the tournament table. Not an easy day for the initial favourites in most of the categories! From the clear favourites in the Girls section, only Alice Lee from the USA (Girls U12) won both games. Girls U14 rating leader Hungarian WIM Zsoka Gaal gave half a point to her opponent, and the top seeds U16, WIM Meruert Kamalidenova, and U18, WIM Govhar Beydullayeva, faced a sadder fate, dropping 1.5 and 1 point, respectively. The most solid players take part in the Open U16 tournament. Three out of six games ended in draws — compare that to two draws in all other Open section games combined. Only Aaryan Varshney from India won both games and took an early lead. There are also no clear favourites in Open U14 and U18, and the leaders after Day 1 emerge from the group of possible victors: IM Aldiyar Ansat from Kazakhstan (U14), FM Liyanage Ranindu Dilshan from Sri Lanka (U16) and FM Nikolaos Spyropoulos from Greece (U16) started with two wins. Here are all the leaders after Day 1. You can replay the live stream of the first day, with the commentary by GM Farrukh Amonatov, here. Tune in for Day 2 at 16:00 CET on December 19. You can find the results, regulations, and other information on the official website. * * * The FIDE Online Cadets & Youth Rapid Super Final is held with the support of Gazprom.
FIDE Online Cadets & Youth Rapid Super Final Kicks Off
The Cadets and Youth Rapid cycle enters its ultimate stage with the Super Final event starting on Tornelo on Saturday, December 18. In 2020, reacting to pandemic restrictions and the impossibility of holding the over-the-board events, FIDE and Georgian Chess Federation organized the inaugural edition of this tournaments’ cycle for young players. This year, we are witnessing its second edition and will hopefully celebrate many more in the coming years as a pleasant addition to over-the-board events. More than 3,000 participants from 160 federations took part in this year’s competition. The qualifying stage of the event included three tournaments, World Cup and two Grand Prix, all in five different age groups (under 10, 12, 14, 16, 18) and in two sections, open and girls. The best in each category—three players from the World Cup, two from the Grand Prix Series and one by rating—qualified for the 6-player round-robin Super Final. Despite the young age, some players are well-known to the chess audience. The youngest-ever grandmaster, Mishra Abhimanyu from the USA, is the favourite in the Open U12 category. The #1 seed in Open U10 is Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus from Turkey, the top-rated 10-year-old in the world. With 2276, he is more than 150 points ahead of #2 on the global list. Two top-seeded girls U10, Kolagatla Alana Meenakshi from India and Megan Althea Paragua from the USA, are the world’s top-rated players in this category. The same status applies to Alice Lee from the USA, Girls U12, and Hungarian WIM Zsoka Gaal, Girls U14. The all-play-all event will have two games per day, from December 18 to 22 (or 23, if tie-break is necessary), and during the closing ceremony on December 24, after the Fair Play checks, we will learn the names of the new world champions. Apart from gaining titles and bragging rights, the winners will split the prize fund of 30,000 euros. In his opening address, FIDE Vice President Akaki Iashvili wished the participants to showcase their skill on the chessboards and not forget about the FIDE Fair Play regulations. The whole event will be broadcast live on our YouTube channel, with the commentary by GM Farrukh Amonatov. Tune in every day at 16:00 CET. You can find the results, regulations, and other information on the official website. * * * The FIDE Online Cadets & Youth Rapid Super Final is held with the support of Gazprom.
Volokitin and Dolzhykova win Ukrainian Championship
Andrei Volokitin and Kateryna Dolzhykova are crowned champions of Ukraine. The 90th open and 81st women’s Ukrainian championships, 10-player round-robin tournaments, took place from December 8-17, 2021, in the Scientific Library of Yaroslav the Wise National Law University, Kharkiv. Following his strong performance in the European Team Championship, Volokitin completed the tournament undefeated and scored 6/9 to win his third national title. The resident of Lviv repeated his success of 2004 and 2015. The champion started with four draws, but in Round 5, he scored a crucial victory over his main competitor the top-rated Yuriy Kryvoruchko (pictured below) that gave him a great boost. Heading into the final round a half-point ahead of Alexander Moiseenko and Yuriy Kryvoruchko, Andrei did not leave it to chance and secured gold by defeating Yuri Kuzubov with black pieces. Krivoruchko also did his best in the final round beating Spartak Vysochin with black to claim silver. Moiseenko drew his last game and gave Kirill Shevchenko a chance to catch up. The talented youngster did not miss this opportunity as he ground down Volodimir Onischuk in a heavy piece endgame and clinched bronze thanks to better Sonneborn-Berger over Moiseenko. Final standings open: 1 GM Volokitin, Andrei 2677 6 2 GM Kryvoruchko, Yuriy 2685 5½ 3 GM Shevchenko, Kirill 2655 5 4 GM Moiseenko, Alexander 2597 5 5 GM Onyshchuk, Volodymyr 2620 4 6 GM Vysochin, Spartak 2505 4 7 GM Kuzubov, Yuriy 2652 4 8 GM Kravtsiv, Martyn 2604 4 9 GM Omelja, Artem 2509 4 10 IM Bakhmatsky, Vladislav 2432 3½ The eighth-rated Katerina Dolzhykova caused a minor sensation in the women’s event, earning her second national title. She previously won this event back in 2011. The champion demonstrated truly fighting chess, making only two draws in nine games. It really paid off as Kateryna scored 6 points out of 9 and came out on top despite two defeats. Olga Babiy and Olena Martynkova finished a half-point behind the champion, with the former taking silver as the winner of their direct encounter. Final standings women: 1 WIM Dolzhykova, Kateryna 2161 6 2 WGM Babiy, Olga 2259 5½ 3 WIM Martynkova, Olena 2180 5½ 4 FM Berdnyk, Mariia 2307 5 5 IM Gaponenko, Inna 2347 5 6 WGM Doluhanova, Evgeniya 2264 5 7 Tsirulnik, Maritsa 2054 4½ 8 WIM Rakhmangulova, Anastasiya 2174 4½ 9 WIM Petrova, Irina 2141 2 10 Lomakina, Anzhelika 2009 2 Official website: ukrchess.org.ua/ Photo: official website