Ena Cvitan wins Croatian Women’s Championship 2021
Ena Cvitan came out as a winner of the Croatian Women’s Championship 2021. It is the first national title in her chess career. The 9-round Swiss tournament took place from August 21-29, 2021 in Hotel “Slavonija” in Vinkovci. The 20-year old Cvitan entered the event as the rating favourite and did not disappoint, scoring 7½/9 and became the only undefeated participant. Amarija Radiković was coming into the final round a half-point ahead of the future champion but fell to Kristina Šarić and had to settle for silver. Ana Berke tied for third place but took bronze thanks to better tiebreaks over Mirjana Medić and Patricija Vujnović. Final standings: 1 WIM Cvitan, Ena 2269 7½ 2 WFM Radiković, Anamarija 2110 7 3 WIM Berke, Ana 2179 5½ 4 WGM Medić, Mirjana 2140 5½ 5 WFM Vujnović, Patricija 2165 5½ 6 WIM Šarić, Kristina 2203 5 7 NM Roklicer, Babić Heike 2028 5 8 NM Dejanović, Tereza 1938 4½ 9 MK Mihaljević, Eva 1593 4½ 10 NM Bevanda, Ema 1646 4 Photo: Official website
Peaceful end to Division 3 FIDE Online Chess Olympiad
Sunday, August 29th, 2021 – The Division 3 stage of the 2021 FIDE Online Olympiad finished today. After nine rounds in each of the 10-team Round Robin pools, fifteen countries have qualified for the next stage of the tournament. Pending the fair play report, these fifteen qualifiers will join 35 new seeded teams in Division 2 – including powerhouses such Cuba, Italy, Israel, Shenzhen, Slovenia and Sweden, all rated +2300 – which will run next weekend, September 2nd-4th. The five winners of the division 3 pools are: Malaysia, Ireland, Scotland, Bolivia and Venezuela. This cool graphic illustrates all the countries that advance stage. Lebanon and Angola are the only two countries that will play in Division Two after starting in Division Four. Division 3 – Pool A Although suffering an unexpected loss against the IPCA team in round eight, Malaysia sealed the win in Pool A thanks to an exciting 3.5-2.5 victory against South Korea in the last round of the day. Combined with the excellent later round results by Chinese Taipei and Sri Lanka, South Korea lost its second-place status and dropped down to fifth. Therefore, Malaysia (16/18), Chinese Taipei (14/18) and Sri Lanka (13/18) will advance to Division Two. The International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA) team also scored 13/18 but were edged out on tiebreak. The top scorers in this group were WCM Chua Jia-Tien (8/8) and WFM Azhar Puteri Rifqah Fahada (8/9) both from Malaysia. A common mating pattern appeared on board two of the match between Nepal and Fiji. White to play in the next diagram. FM Manish Hamal used the Arabian mate pattern with 47.Nf6! followed by 48.Rh7 mate. Black can only delay checkmate a couple of moves by sacrificing his pieces with check. Division 3 – Pool B Pool B was dominated from start to finish by Ireland, who scored 17/18 match points, conceding only one draw against Jordan. They advance as Pool B winners to the next stage. With 14/18 points, Lebanon and Iraq shared second and third place and will also progress to Division Two. Having scored quite a few more board victories, the Lebanese team finished second on tiebreak. Jordan had a chance to finish third and secure the qualification, but they needed to win their last three matches. However, Kenya stopped them with a minimum 3½-2½ win and shattered their hopes of playing next week. The top scorers in this pool were WIM Mouradian Knarik from Lebanon (8/9) and especially Cape Verde’s board one, IM Mariano Ortega Amarelle (originally from Italy), who won all his games (9/9) and actually scored more points than the rest of his team together! Division 3 – Pool C As expected, Scotland (16/18) and Angola (15/18) qualified with ease as first and second in this group and will advance to Division Two. In their last-round showdown, Angola defeated Scotland by 4-2, but it must be said that the Scots had already won the group and fielded a slightly weaker team. Wales (12/18), Zambia (11/18) and Botswana (11/18) went neck and neck in the last three rounds. The Welsh team’s very close win over Angola by 3½-2½ in round eight allowed them to go the extra mile and secure the third qualifying spot by an inch. Several players scored six points in this pool (the highest individual score) but GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant from Scotland and Paulo Jemima from Angola were the only players to win all of their games (6/6). Division 3 – Pool D Although Bolivia lost to Paraguay by 4-2 in the first round of the day, they were still able to finish first with 16/18, edging out Uruguay on tiebreak. A more than reasonable classification taking into account that Bolivia did defeat Uruguay in their match. Paraguay (14/16) took the third and final qualifying spot in this group, defeating Trinidad & Tobago (also 14/16) by five board points in the tiebreak. However, if any of the Division 2 teams can’t make it, Trinidad would likely take the spot as best 4th place finisher of the five pools. The best player in this pool was WIM Gabriela Vargas from Paraguay, with an outstanding 8/8 score! In the next diagram, White is asphyxiating his opponent. Nonetheless, he spotted a nice tactic to finish off the game quickly. Dominican Republic’s board two played 48.Nxc7! Nxc7 49.Bb6! and Black resigned. He will lose a lot of material (50.Ba6+ is the reply to any knight retreat). Division 3 – Pool E The best team in the third division is Venezuela. With an outstanding 18/18 100% match point score, they have dominated Pool E and will be a force to reckon with in the next stage. A total of 46½ out of 54 board points gives an idea of the team’s strength on all boards. El Salvador (15/18) and Jamaica (14/18) will join Venezuela in the next stage. Jamaica was defeated by El Salvador in round eight by 3½-2½ and was, therefore, overtook in the standings. However, both teams scored important seventh and ninth round wins, leaving Puerto Rico’s last-minute qualifying effort useless. The top scorers in this Pool were CM Rachel Miller from Jamaica with 8/9, followed by her teammate FM Joshua Christie with 7½/9. Division 3: final standings Pairings of the rounds, live games, PGN files and other useful information can be found on the FIDE Online Olympiad website. Please note that all results and standings remain provisional until the fair play panel submit its daily report. The games can be followed online on www.chess.com (Events), presented by Wouter Bik, with expert analysis by WFM Alessia Santeramo, GM Roeland Pruijssers, WGM Jen Shahade, WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili and other invited guests. Commentary can also be followed on FIDE’s own Youtube channel. Text: IM Michael Rahal, FIDE Press Officer Email: press@fide.com About the tournament: Scheduled to take place from August 20th to September 15th, the 2021 FIDE Online Olympiad is a national teams event in which all federations affiliated to FIDE have the right to participate. Team’s consist of six players with a minimum of three female players and two junior players. Played online on Chess.com, the event features two main stages: the “Divisions stage”, and the Play-offs stage. All games are played with a 15 minutes + 5 seconds increment per move time control. The full schedule can be consulted here. Organisers: International Chess Federation (FIDE)
Venezuela dominates in Division 3
Saturday, August 28th, 2021 – Day two of Division 3 was played today, with the contest of rounds 4-6 in each of the five pools. Malaysia, Ireland, Scotland, Bolivia and Venezuela all seem to have their groups controlled and, barring any unforeseen circumstances, should advance to Division 2 after tomorrow’s final three rounds. However, the rest of the qualifying spots – the first three teams of each group will advance to the next stage of the Olympiad – are still very much in the air, and there are quite a few direct pairings that will decide the lucky teams. Division 3 – Pool A Having played six of the nine rounds, Malaysia is the clear favourite to win Pool A and advance to Division 2. They have won all of their matches (12/12) and most of their players are in great shape, especially the female contenders. WFM Azhar Puteri Rifqah Fahada has won all six of her games and WCM Chua Jia-Tien is on 5/5. Even the two top boards, FM Lim Zhuo Ren and FM Subramaniam Sumant are playing around 50% and holding their own against tougher opposition. The dangers of leaving your king too long in the centre can be observed clearly in the following diagram from the match between Nepal and Chinese Taipei. Black is pinned on the e-file, and therefore her pieces lack mobility. White cashed in with 31.Rg8+ Kd7 32.Ne5! checkmate! South Korea still occupies second place in the standings, although not with 100% anymore. Currently, on 9/12 points, they have dropped three points against Chinese Taipei by a very close 3½-2½ and a 3-3 draw against third-place contender Sri Lanka, also on 9/12. However, there are still three rounds left, and although Malaysia seems to be a lock, the other two qualifying spots are still up for grabs. The seventh-round clash between Sri Lanka and Chinese Tapei will probably de decisive for one of the spots, and the last round bout between Malaysia and South Korea might even decide the winner of the group! Division 3 – Pool B Ireland had an unbelievable day today, winning their three matches and overtaking Lebanon and Iraq on the scoreboard. Their direct encounters with these teams ended in clear 4½-1½ wins for the Irish. It would be a big surprise for them not to qualify tomorrow – however, other essential schedule challenges might be around the corner for them (more to come on that topic!). Iraq still preserves second place, as they only lost to Ireland, but Lebanon had an awful day, losing to Ireland and only finishing even with Syria and Jordan. They have dropped to third place but are under serious pressure from Jordan, with the same points and better pairings for the last rounds. The seventh-round match between Iraq and Lebanon will be a huge test for the Lebanese team: a loss could easily cost them the qualification. The top scorer in this pool at the moment is Cape Verde’s board one, IM Mariano Ortega Amarelle (originally from Italy). He has won all of his games, contributing six of his team’s nine board points! Division 3 – Pool C Both Scotland (12/12) and Angola (11/12) played excellently today, and nothing short of a miracle can impede their advancing to Division 2. Fate has it that they will face-off in the last round, possibly deciding the winner of the group. In the first round of the day, Scotland landed a crushing 5½-½ win over Botswana and then scored another 5½-½ victory, this time over Wales, leaving no doubt on their superiority in the group. Angola also defeated the ICCD by 5½-½ and then Palestine by 5-1, but they were stopped in their tracks by Zambia, who managed to tie 3-3. The third spot is up for grabs: Botswana (7/12), Wales (6/12) and Zambia (5/12) could all make the scoop, although it’s actually Zambia who by far has the better pairings for tomorrow. With regard to individual performances, ICCD’s second board WCM Annegret von Erichsen is having a great event, scoring 4,5/5 at the moment. Unfortunately, the rest of the team is not doing so well. Division 3 – Pool D With their three wins today, Bolivia has made a huge step towards qualification for Division 2. The key match was the victory over Trinidad & Tobago by 5½-½ in the sixth round, demoting them to fourth place. Meanwhile, both Paraguay – who still have to play against Bolivia – and Uruguay had a perfect chess day, winning two of their three matches. They both share 2nd-3rd place and are well-positioned to accompany Bolivia to the second division. In fact, the seventh round match between Bolivia and Paraguay will immediately clarify the probable winner of the group. This is definitely one of the most unbalanced pools, with many 5-1 to 6-0 scores. However, the best board of the pool, for now, is Etienne Angelo from eighth-placed Haiti: with 5½ out of 6, he is the firm anchor for the rest of his team. Division 3 – Pool E Panama was the big loser today. They just weren’t able to recover from the 5-1 defeat to Venezuela in the first round of the afternoon, and two very close defeats against direct rivals El Salvador and Puerto Rico – both by 3½-2½ – left them in a tie for 4th place with 6/12 and basically no chance to qualify tomorrow. The big winner of the day was Venezuela (12/12), who increased their lead by two points, essentially winning the group. Their victory over second-placed Jamaica (10/12), by 5½-½ starkly, illustrates which team is the best. With a total of 32½ out of 36 points, they have only lost one game, an incredible statistic. WFM Patino Garcia Corals is their top scorer with 6/6, and three of their other players are on 5/5. The following position is from the Venezuela-Panama match. Black has just played 10…c5 (10…0-0 would have been safer), and Corals Patino notched up one of her six points with the nice tactic 11.Bxg6! The point is that after 11…fxg6 12.Qxg6+ Kf8 13.Ng5! threatens mate on f7 and after the forced 13…Qe8 14.Ne6+! Kg8 15.Qxg7 is checkmate. Jamaica should qualify tomorrow, but they do have direct pairings with El Salvador (in third place with 9/12) and Panama, so it’s not a lock yet. Division 3:
Bibisara Assaubayeva clinches Asian Women’s Online Championship
IM Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan emerged as a winner of the Asian Women’s Continental Online Chess Championship held from August 23-25, 2021 on the Tornelo platform. She became the Asian continental nominee for the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss this October in Riga, Latvia. Assaubayeva (pictured below), 17, finished clear in first and concluded the event undefeated, scoring 7.5 points. WIM Ning Kaiyu of China took silver with 7 points. The bronze medal went to WIM Turmunkh Munkhzul of Mongolia thanks to the best tiebreak among five players tied for third place with 6½ points each. Photo: Lennart Ootes The event brought together 74 players (including 9 WGMs, 8 IMs and 22 WIMs) from 15 countries, namely Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, New Zealand, Oman, Philippines, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. The event was a 9-round Swiss tournament with the time control of 25 minutes plus an increment of 10 seconds per move. Players were monitored closely with front and side/panoramic cameras throughout the event. Games were broadcast live on chessbomb.com, chess.com, live.followchess.com and live.chessbase.com Final standings: 1 IM ASSAUBAYEVA, Bibisara KAZ 2321 7½ 2 WIM NING, Kaiyu CHN 1884 7 3 WIM MUNKHZUL, Turmunkh MGL 2044 6½ 4 WIM CHITLANGE, Sakshi IND 1726 6½ 5 WIM SONG, Yuxin CHN 2092 6½ 6 IM SUKANDAR, Irine INA 2381 6½ 7 WGM LI, Xueyi CHN 2171 6½ 8 WIM PRIYANKA, Nutakki IND 1922 6 9 WGM SRIJA, Seshadri IND 2087 6 10 WIM FRONDA, Jan Jodilyn PHI 2045 6 Text: http://asianchess.com/
Online Olympiad: Division 3 starts smoothly
Friday, August 27th, 2021 – After a short four-day hiatus, during which the fair-play team submitted their reports and the pairings team confirmed the new groups, the 2021 Online Olympiad resumed today with the first three rounds of Division 3. This stage of the event runs from Friday 27th to Sunday, August 29th and pairs the 16 qualifying teams from Division 4 with 34 new seeded teams, forming 5 pools of 10 teams each (50 teams total). Each team consist of six players with a minimum of three female players and two junior players. Unfortunately, the team from Tajikistan had to withdraw, and Cape Verde was invited in their place, as the best 4th-placed team from Division 4 available. For those of you wondering which criteria are used to form the groups, time zones and approximate equal average rating are the two principal ones. Division 3 – Pool A Pre-event favourite, Malaysia (rated 1973), including several +2000 FM’s started off very strong in this pool, with important wins against Fiji (5.5-0.5), Chinese Tapei (4.5-1.5) and a very close victory over Sri Lanka by only 3.5-2.5, for a total 6/6 score. Most of their main boards were available, and the two sisters WIM Azhar Puteri Munajjah Az-Zahraa and WFM Azhar Puteri Rifqah Fahada won 3/3 for a 100% score. South Korea also had a great start with 6/6 defeating IPCA (5-1), Thailand (4-2) and Nepal (4.5-1.5). Provisionally, they share the lead with Malaysia, while Japan and Sri Lanka are just behind with 4/6 sharing 3rd-4th place in the group. Anecdotally, only one game was decided by default in this group. Division 3 – Pool B As expected, one of the most interesting groups. It’s still very early to predict which three teams have the best chance to advance, as the leaders basically played against the bottom half of the table. Division 4 qualifier, Lebanon, had a great start, crushing Cape Verde, Ethiopia and Mozambique with 5-1 or 6-0 results, but Iraq is also on 6/6 after defeating Kenya, Tunisia and Cape Verde, albeit by lower scores. Ireland and Jordan share a 3rd-4th place on 5/6, having dropped a match point after a 3-3 result between themselves. These teams, especially Iraq, are relying heavily on their reserve boards in the first rounds. It will be interesting to see how they will evolve tomorrow. Division 3 – Pool C A three-way tie between Scotland and neighbouring African countries Angola and Botswana is the result of Day 4 in Pool C of Division 3. All three teams won their first three rounds with 4+ results and have already put some distance between themselves and the rest of the pack. Scotland fielded eleven of their twelve players, including two GM and one IM, while Angola and Botswana mostly relied on their main boards. The 4th round clash between Angola and Scotland will definitely start to put things into perspective. The following diagram illustrates a simple but very typical tactic that you always have to be aware of: IM Andrew Greet, playing White, clicked out 12.Ng6! with a double attack on the queen and the rook. Note that the key to the tactic is that the bishop on f4 is protected by the knight on g6. Division 3 – Pool D On paper, this is probably the strongest group but that always depends on which players are selected for each match. After three rounds, Paraguay, Bolivia and Division 4 qualifier Trinidad & Tobago have all started very strong with three wins and share the lead with 6/6. Paraguay scored a whopping 17 out of 18 match points whitewashing Malawi and Aruba and crushing Suriname by 5-1. Bolivia and Trinidad also won their three matches, although by slightly more modest scores. The most relevant result was Uruguay’s setback against Bolivia by 2-4: a huge surprise, as Uruguay has the best team on paper. Even so, with three spots to advance, everything is possible and Uruguay can certainly bounce back in the following rounds. The following diagram is from the exciting Dominican Republic vs Uruguay match. On board two FM Luis Lorenzo was facing a difficult situation with the pin on the e-file. He was probably expecting 22…Nxe4 23.Nxe4 Nc5 and he bails out with 24.Qf2! where he is worse but holding. However, veteran GM Alejandro Hoffman spotted that the intermediate move 22… Bd4+! would prevent the Qf2 defence. After 23.Kh1 Nxe4 24.Nxe4 Nc5 Black won a piece. Division 3 – Pool E Three teams lead Pool E after the first three rounds: Venezuela, Jamaica and Panama, all of them on 6/6. El Salvador occupies fourth place with 4/6 but has already lost to Venezuela by a huge 5.5-0.5. Venezuela threw 10 of their 12 players into the battle and they only dropped two out of eighteen board points: an outstanding start for them. The top scorer was board four WFM Corals Patino Garcia, who won her three games, and several other team members are on 2/2. Jamaica got by with seven players, but all of them scored very well, while Panama also distributed the games between all of the team members. Venezuela-Panama will be an exciting match to follow tomorrow, as they face-off in the fourth round of the group. Whoever wins will be in a great position to take down this pool. Standings after Round 3: Pairings of the rounds, live games, PGN files and other useful information can be found on the FIDE Online Olympiad website. Please note that all results and standings remain provisional until the fair play panel submit its daily report. The games can be followed online on www.chess.com (Events), presented by Wouter Bik, with expert analysis by WFM Alessia Santeramo, GM Roeland Pruijssers, WGM Jen Shahade and WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili. Commentary can also be followed on FIDE’s own Youtube channel. Text: IM Michael Rahal, FIDE Press Officer Email: press@fide.com About the tournament: Scheduled to take place from August 20th to September 15th, the 2021 FIDE Online Olympiad is a national teams event in which all federations affiliated to FIDE have the right to participate. Team’s consist of six players with a minimum of three female players and two junior players. Played online on Chess.com, the event features two main stages: the “Divisions stage”, and the Play-offs stage. All games are played with a 15
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave wins Sinquefield Cup 2021
After a quick draw against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won the 2021 Sinquefield Cup, securing first place after his closest rivals were unable to catch him in the ninth and final round. MVL is the first two-time clear winner of the event, also having taken first place in the 2017 edition. For his efforts, Vachier-Lagrave earns $90,000 in prize money, as well as a bonus of $50,000 for finishing second in the overall Grand Chess Tour. With the win, Vachier-Lagrave also secured second place in the overall Grand Chess Tour, with Mamedyarov finishing third after all was said and done. The 2021 Grand Chess Tour winner, Wesley So, had already clinched first place after yesterday’s round. Mamedyarov – Vachier-Lagrave | ½-½, 25 moves The game was over within ten minutes of the start of the round as the players repeated a well-known “book draw” in the Grunfeld, securing MVL at least a tie for first place. However, the intrigue didn’t end there as Caruana, So, and Dominguez still had a chance to catch MVL with a win. The final position of Mamedyarov – Vachier-Lagrave, which earlier this year became an infamous way for players to force a draw in elite events, as the moves Kh8 Rd7+ Kg8 Rg7+ are completely forced, with neither side being able to avoid a draw by repetition. So – Dominguez | ½-½, 35 moves Wesley opted for the quiet but venomous Exchange Variation (7.dxc5) of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, leading to a queenless middlegame where White typically plays for a small plus. Dominguez did not appear to have any serious issues in the game, comfortably holding his own as he allowed White to win a pawn in exchange for some piece activity. So’s extra pawn was fairly weak and never able to get going, and once Dominguez inevitably won the pawn back the position was completely drawn. Shankland – Swiercz | ½-½, 43 moves Good preparation by Swiercz as Black in the Catalan allowed him to solve all of his problems out of the opening, with Shankland holding a bit of pressure with the two bishops but Black having excellent control over the dark squares. After some logical play by both sides, the players eventually found themselves in an equal endgame, and after further exchanges, the game ended with three-fold repetition. Svidler – Xiong | ½-½, 44 moves Faced with an aggressively early g7-g5 push in the Italian Game, Svidler reacted well by fighting back in the center and castling queenside. But after achieving a dominating position, Svidler started to go wrong, missing the strongest opportunities and eventually settling for an endgame with an extra pawn but with plenty of compensation for Black. Xiong took his chance to get back into the game and managed to hold, creating enough counterplay to maintain the balance. Rapport – Caruana | ½-½, 62 moves The final game of the day carried the most intrigue as Caruana needed a win in order to catch up to Vachier-Lagrave and tie for first place. Playing as Black, Fabiano opted for the Sicilian, and was a bit worse out of the opening but managed to turn things around by creating strong kingside counterplay. Rapport defended well and only ended up slightly worse in a heavy-piece endgame, as Caruana continued to press and play on for the full point. Unfortunately for Fabiano, there simply wasn’t enough in the position, as Rapport successfully held the rook endgame, and MVL was declared the clear champion. Coming up next in Saint Louis will be the 2021 Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX, taking place September 7-10 and will feature ten of the world’s best players, including legendary World Champion, Garry Kasparov competing in Fischer Random chess. Check out more info/details on the event here. Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Photo: Lennart Ootes, Bryan Adams, Austin Fuller and Crystal Fuller Further Information:Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTourInstagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour#GrandChessTour#STLRapidBlitz Venue: Saint Louis Chess Club, USAAugust 10- August 16, 2021 Press Contact:press@grandchesstour.org Photos: Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum Studios Credits available on Flickr. Livestream:Grandchesstour.orgKasparovchess.com
Chess for Prisons – registration continues
Registration continues for the Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners FIDE will host the first Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners, organized as a part of the Chess for Freedom program and a continuation of the international championship first held in 2019. The event is scheduled for October 13-14, 2021. The project, aimed at introducing chess as a tool for education and social inclusion in prisons of different countries, is carried out under the 12th World Champion Anatoly Karpov‘s patronage. Free and open to players representing any correctional facility without specification by age and gender of prisoners, the tournament will be played online and live-streamed on Chess TV and FIDE’s Youtube channel. Registration is open through Tuesday, September 21 here. Teams comprised of four players with an unlimited number of substitutes each will first compete in a round-robin team chess tournament on Wednesday, October 13. And the top teams will be battling it out in the finals on Thursday, October 14. Some countries have already registered their teams for the competition. They are Argentina, Armenia, England, India, Iran, Italy, Palestine, Spain and the USA. Others are having their national chess tournaments for prisoners to select the strongest players that will represent their countries on the international level. These days 10 correctional facilities in Georgia are having chess tournaments for the inmates. 132 prisoners from Rustavi, Kutaisi, Gldani, Ksani, Geguti and Avchala are playing over-the-board preliminary tournaments inside their prisons. Among them are inmates of women’s and juvenoid correctional facilities. Later on, they will face off online against opponents in other prisons and will define the top-4 players who will participate in the intercontinental tournament in October. Regulations for Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners (pdf) Chess for Freedom Presentation (pdf)
Iturrizaga and Vega win 2021 Spanish Championship
Congratulations to GM Eduardo Iturrizaga and IM Sabrina Vega for becoming the 2021 Spanish Champion and Women’s Champion, respectively. The Spanish Championship took place from August 16-24 in Linares. The event attracted 171 participants, including 60 titled players. Both open and women sections competed in one big 9-round Swiss tournament but were ranked separately. The fifth-rated participant GM Eduardo Iturrizaga (who had switched federation earlier this year) turned in an excellent performance and, after winning a critical final round game over Paolo Ladrón de Guerrero with black finished clear first with 7½ out of 9, a half-point ahead of a huge group that scored 7 points. Jaime Santos and Francisco Vallejo took silver and bronze respectively thanks to better tiebreaks. Final standings: 1 GM Iturrizaga Bonelli, Eduardo 7½ 2 GM Santos Latasa, Jaime 7 3 GM Vallejo Pons, Francisco 7 4 GM Cuenca Jimenez, Jose Fernando 7 5 GM Anton Guijarro, David 7 6 GM Salgado Lopez, Ivan 7 7 GM Santos Ruiz, Miguel 7 8 GM Shirov, Alexei 7 9 GM Perez Candelario, Manuel 7 10 IM Garza Marco, Sergio 6½ Interestingly enough, the women’s champion Sabrina Vega faced top competition and played against only one female player on the road to the title (third in her career). Vega finished on 6/9 and won the women’s championship with a round to spare. Marta García and Viviana Galván got silver and bronze respectively. Photo: Ismael Nieto Official website: https://feda.org/feda2k16/
European Chess Championship 2021 starts in Reykjavik
European Individual Chess Championship 2021 kicks off on August 26 in Reykjavik, Iceland. 190 players from 36 different European federations are fighting for the title of European Champion and qualification spots for the FIDE World Cup 2023. The best-ranked player aged U20 will be granted a qualification spot for the 2021 FIDE Grand Swiss. The total prize fund of the event amounts to €100,000, with €20,000 reserved for the champion. 32 players rated 2600+ lead the field, and the top seeds are: Gawain Jones (ENG, 2684), Gabriel Sargissian (ARM, 2682), David Navara (CZE, 2675), Matthias Bluebaum (GER, 2674), Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (GER, 2671), Nils Grendelius (SWE, 2666), Constantin Lupulescu (ROU, 2659), Alexander Donchenko (GER, 2657), Nijat Abasov (AZE, 2656), Rauf Mamedov (AZE, 2654). The event is played over 11 rounds, Swiss system, with time control: 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. All the players have to follow the health protocol and personal safety measures that are described in detail on the official website of the event. The official venue of the championship is Hotel Natura, a historic place with a rich history of chess events held there. Bobby Fischer stayed at this hotel during his 1972 World Championship match against Boris Spassky. A replica of the famous table used in 1972 can be found at the hotel. Several other high-profile events have been held at this venue, including the 1977 Spassky vs. Hort Candidates match and the 1991 GMA World Cup, as well as the GMA World Cup in 1991. Tournament regulations (pdf) Text: europechess.org Official website: www.reykjavikopen.com
Day 7: Vachier-Lagrave grabs the lead
A clear leader emerged today as Maxime Vachier-Lagrave broke through the gridlock with a crucial win over Jeffery Xiong, giving him a half-point lead over Wesley So and Leinier Dominguez, who could only draw their games. Meanwhile, Fabiano Caruana scored an important victory as Black over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, propelling him into a tie for second place. With two rounds left to play, everything is still on the line both in terms of the tournament and the overall GCT standings. Rapport – Dominguez | ½-½, 45 moves A sharp counter-gambit (5…e5) in the Queen’s Gambit Accepted gave Dominguez the initiative from the opening, as he gained a lead in development while chasing down Rapport’s queen. Though Rapport defended well, finding all the right moves needed to go into a drawish endgame. More simplifications occurred before the players agreed to a draw in a dead-equal bishops of opposite color endgame. Vachier-Lagrave – Xiong | 1-0, 29 moves It only took one mistake (18…hxg4) for Xiong to land in massive trouble in the Berlin Endgame, as he erroneously opened up the h-file for White’s connected rooks. MVL wasted no time in seizing the initiative as he advanced his pawn all the way to f6 before taking over the h-file and soon crashing through with his pieces. Facing huge material losses with his king stuck on e8, Xiong resigned. MVL’s 20.Rh1! led to catastrophe for Black, as the resulting invasion along the h-file simply couldn’t be prevented. Svidler – Swiercz | 1-0, 35 moves Despite solid preparation as Black in the Ruy Lopez, Swiercz quickly got himself in trouble after an ill-advised pawn grab (18…Qxc3) left his position under severe tactical strain. Svidler rapidly activated his pieces and managed to stir up threats that would soon win him a full piece. With no compensation for the lost material, Swiercz was forced to throw in the towel. 21.Ba4! was the killing shot in Svidler – Swiercz, leading to huge material losses after the follow-up of Ra3. So – Shankland | ½-½, 34 moves It wasn’t the best day for So, who outplayed Shankland in a topical line of the English but quickly let his advantage dissipate as he failed to find the optimal way to capitalize on his edge. Shankland took the opportunity to equalize with a nice pawn break (23…f6), successfully neutralizing White’s space advantage. From there, So forced a repetition of moves, and the game was drawn. Mamedyarov – Caruana | 0-1, 38 moves The final game of the day to finish was exciting throughout, with both players opting for a sharp struggle in the 4.f3 Nimzo. It was Caruana who held the initiative early on, as he had the safer king and more active pieces, but Mamedyarov held the better long-term chances, thanks to his two bishops and somewhat healthier structure. After defending quite well, however, Mamedyarov ended up blundering in mutual time-trouble, losing the exchange without any significant compensation for it. Caruana grabbed the extra material and was able to consolidate, forcing resignation before the end of the first time control. 26.Qe2 was the start of White’s problems, as after Caruana’s reply 26…Nf6! Mamedyarov immediately erred with 27.Qd1, losing the exchange after 27…Bxd3 28.gxf6 Bxf1 -+ Round 8 of the 2021 Sinquefield Cup takes place on Wednesday, August 25, starting at 2:50 PM CDT, with all the action covered live by commentators GM Yasser Seirawan, GM Alejandro Ramirez, and GM Maurice Ashley. Watch live on grandchesstour.org as well as twitch.tv/kasparovchess. Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Photo: Lennart Ootes and Bryan Adams Further Information:Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTourInstagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour#GrandChessTour#STLRapidBlitz Venue: Saint Louis Chess Club, USAAugust 10- August 16, 2021 Press Contact:press@grandchesstour.org Photos: Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum Studios Credits available on Flickr. Livestream:Grandchesstour.orgKasparovchess.com