Rhodes to host World Amateur Championships 2021
FIDE is pleased to announce that the World Amateur Championships 2021 will take place from the 16th to October 26 on Rhodes Island in the 5-star Rodos Palace Conference Center. In total, 6 championship titles in 3 categories will be awarded (categories for FIDE ratings under 2300, under 2000 and under 1700): Open & Women u-1700, Open & Women u-2000, Open & Women u-2300. The prize fund of the event, supported by FIDE, amounts to €10,000. The three winners of the Open sections receive the titles of: 2021 World Amateur Champion u-23002021 World Amateur Champion u-20002021 World Amateur Champion u-1700 The three winners of the Women sections receive the titles of: 2021 World Women’s Amateur Champion u-2300 2021 World Women’s Amateur Champion u-20002021 World Women’s Amateur Champion u-1700 Tournament regulations (pdf)Event in the FIDE Calendar Covid-19 and Health Protocol: The official information regarding travel regulations to Greece, including instructions for the PLF form to be filled 24h before the flight and the vaccine policy of Greece, is published at: https://travel.gov.gr The organizers and the participants should follow the official FIDE Health Measures. The organizers will accept all valid Covid-19 vaccines and/or negative PCR tests from participants. The organizers and the participants should follow strictly all the vaccination and testing regulations applied by the Greek Health Authorities. The deadline for registrations is September 16, 2021. For complete information on the event’s regulations, including registration procedure, participation costs, detailed prize fund and travel instructions, check out the official website. To contact the Organising Committee, send you messages to: rodos2021@chess.travel
FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss 2021: lists of qualified players
FIDE has published the lists of players qualified for the Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss and the reserve lists respectively. 2021 Grand Swiss Open – the list of qualified and reserved players (pdf) 2021 Grand Swiss Women – the list of qualified and reserved players (pdf) Contracts for participation will be published later this week. The FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss Tournament and Women’s Grand Swiss 2021 are the parts of the qualification for the World Championship cycle 2021-23. Both events will be 11-round Swiss-system, tournaments, with 114 and 50 players respectively, scheduled to be running from 25 October to 8 November 2021 in Riga (Latvia).
So wins Chessable Masters final to clinch third Tour title
Wesley So triumphed in the Chessable Masters final to seal an unprecedented hat-trick of Meltwater Champions Chess Tour titles. The reigning US Champ dominated the first day of the final against Liem Quang Le then held off a spirited challenge in the second. The scores finished 2-2 as So secured the draw he needed to take the tournament’s $30,000 top prize. It puts So just 34 points behind World Champion Magnus Carlsen in the overall Tour standings with just one tournament to go before the finals event. So said he hoped his win would mean Carlsen – who did not play in this event – would “have to show up”. The Norwegian has already indicated that a showdown will happen. So’s win was crushing – but it wasn’t plain-sailing straight away. Liem came out swinging in the final’s second match after being disappointed by his performance yesterday. The Vietnamese star, who shocked the field by just making the final, raced into a lead by winning the opener with a devastating rook attack. It was just the start Liem needed. But So, the World Fischer Random king, drew the second and then hit back in the third. A draw in the final game of the day sealed it. In truth, the American star, who has emerged as Carlsen’s biggest threat on the Tour so far, was streets ahead. The unconventional Liem battled hard and was dangerous to the last, but So’s experience in Tour rapid events eventually told. The 27-year-old, from Minnetonka in Minnesota, was just too strong. He has now reached four finals in total and is the only player on the Tour to have reached the knockout stage in every event. In the third-place play-off match, the Russian Vladislav Artemiev emerged victorious with a clean 2.5-0.5 win over the Goldmoney Asian Rapid winner Levon Aronian. The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour returns on August 28 with Carlsen expected to play in leg 9.
FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss to be held in Riga
The events will be staged in the format and dates originally scheduled: from 25 October to 8 November, 2021 The city of Riga will host the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss, two events that are part of the qualification cycle for the World Championship. The difficult decision to relocate the tournament from Douglas, its original planned location, was forced due to the strict COVID-19 restrictions still in place in the Isle of Man and the UK. With the support of the Scheinberg family, sponsor of the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss, the International Chess Federation has been working to find an alternative host city for the events, with the priority to stage them in the format and dates originally scheduled, and keeping the excellent organizational standards that the event enjoyed on its previous editions. Taking into consideration the current and prospected COVID-19 regulations in Latvia, and the readiness to host the events providing high-level organization, Riga has been designated as the host city. Latvia doesn’t require mandatory self-isolation and offers the flexibility of regulations and capability to host major sport events. This weekend, the Riga Technical University Open 2021 kicked off with more than 400 players from 35 countries, proving that the city is ready for the challenge of running a large event. FIDE is thankful to the Latvian Chess Federation, organizers, and authorities, for taking the responsibility that would allow the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss to be staged in Riga, without altering the planned dates and format. “We are not only ready to handle all the COVID-19 formalities but also put our maximum effort to carry out a high-level tournament that will leave good memories to all the players,” emphasizes Egons Lavendelis, the leader of the experienced organizing team. “In such a dynamic world the only risk is not to take any risks”, added Dana Reizniece-Ozola, FIDE’s Managing Director. “We have a great honour and also responsibility to host both Grand Swiss tournaments that will gather 164 distinguished players in Riga. We shall make sure that no compromises will be made on quality, so that players can fully concentrate on chess, audiences delighted by their fighting spirits and sponsors pleased.” The FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss Tournament and Women’s Grand Swiss 2021 form part of the qualification cycle for the World Championship cycle 2021-23. Both events will be an 11-round Swiss-system, tournament, with 114 and 50 players respectively, scheduled to be running from 25 October to 8 November 2021. A list of players qualified for the event is to be published later this week.
Wesley So blows away Liem Quang Le in first leg of final
Wesley So is on course for a third Meltwater Champions Chess Tour win after taking a convincing first-day lead in the Chessable Masters final. The reigning US Champ and World Fischer Random king thrashed Vietnam’s Liem Quang Le with a game to spare to go 1-0 up in matches. So now needs just a draw tomorrow to clinch the Chessable Masters and get within touching distance of World Champion Magnus Carlsen on the overall Tour leaderboard. The ruthless So started the day by taking full advantage of a big blunder from his opponent in Game 1. After a draw in Game 2, Liem then collapsed spectacularly to gift So the win that killed the first match of the final. So swooped in to launch a devastating attack. Liem said his performance was a “big disappointment” and that he had struggled to focus. So said: “Even though I won today I can’t relax or put a back pedal on it because Liem is very capable of coming back tomorrow.” Meanwhile, the battle for third place continues between Armenia’s Levon Aronian and the Russian Vladislav Artemiev as the Russian GM managed to tie the match after winning Game 4. Today’s final decider kicks off again at 17:00 CEST. All matches in the Chessable Masters are hosted in chess24.com’s playzone and available to watch on the platform’s Twitch and YouTube channels for free. The Chessable Masters is the penultimate leg of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour before the Finals event in San Francisco, where the ultimate winner will be crowned the world’s best online chess player. For further information, please contact: Leon Watson, PR for Play Magnus Groupleon@chessable.com+44 7786 078 770
FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss – Important Announcement
August 7, 2021 – It is with regret that we announce that Isle of Man will not be hosting the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss after all. Under Isle of Man and UK COVID-19 restrictions, there are currently too many players that would need to self-isolate before the tournaments, with no realistic prospect of this significantly changing before the scheduled start date of 25 October. FIDE, with the support of the Grand Swiss sponsor, the Scheinberg family, is working hard to find an alternative host country with an experienced organising team that is positioned to welcome all 164 participants without restrictions. Furthermore, FIDE is fully committed to staging the event in the format and dates originally scheduled. The new venue for the event will be confirmed within a week. This has been a difficult decision to make but we believe it is in the best interests of the players of both tournaments. Thank you for your understanding. Emil SutovskyDirector General, FIDE Alan OrmsbyDirector, IOM International Chess Limited
Liem clinches final place against So
Wesley So will face Liem Quang Le in todays’s Chessable Masters final after a frantic end to the semi-finals. Vietnamese star Liem survived an incredible comeback from Levon Aronian to finally edge past the world number 5 in an Armageddon tiebreaker. It was a sensational end to a topsy-turvy match. Liem had appeared to be cruising to a first Meltwater Champions Chess Tour final having won the first match yesterday and taken himself to the brink of victory today. But in Game 3, the wobble started. Liem only needed a draw to seal it yet appeared to get an attack of nerves. It proved crucial as Aronian turned the position around to pull a point back. The Armenian still needed to win the final game to stay in it – but, incredibly, he did it again as Liem tilted. With momentum going into the blitz playoff, Aronian went on the attack again before the two faster games ended in tense draws to send the semi into an “Armageddon” decider. When it came to the crunch, however, Aronian just could not keep up with the speed and lost on time – the first time-loss on the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. Liem was overjoyed with the result saying, “these really are another level”. Liem will play So, the American, after he downed 23-year-old Russian Vladislav Artemiev 3-1. So said afterwards that Artemiev had put a lot of pressure on him. He said his opponent had proved himself “a very strong and very practical player”. Artemiev had rocked the Skilling Open winner by starting off with a win in Game 1 after the American made a big blunder. But So immediately stormed back in the second to level the score 1-1. Two draws followed as Artemiev was unable to respond. Todays’s final kicks off again at 17:00 CEST. All matches in the Chessable Masters are hosted in chess24.com’s playzone and available to watch on the platform’s Twitch and YouTube channels for free. The Chessable Masters is the penultimate leg of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour before the Finals event in San Francisco, where the ultimate winner will be crowned the world’s best online chess player. For further information, please contact: Leon Watson, PR for Play Magnus Groupleon@chessable.com+44 7786 078 770
Duda dominates in Sochi World Cup
“It was totally unrealistic but I am really happy to have won” Friday, August 6th, 2021 – “Huge congratulations to Duda for winning the World Cup. Considering the line of opponents, he beat in the last four rounds, never losing a game — then obviously never being in a must-win or desperate situation — is a massive achievement. So, he is a richly deserved winner” was what World Champion Magnus Carlsen had to say about his opponent’s magnificent performance. Unbeaten in 18 games against world-class opponents, including the current World Champion and a former World Cup winner, with a rating gain of 18 points – he is now number thirteen in the world – Poland’s 23-year-old Jan-Krzysztof Duda has made history by winning the 2021 World Cup. “I was also touched by all the local chess fans who were wishing me good luck each day, thank you to all of them” were his final words just after receiving the winner’s trophy, at the prizegiving. Attending the ceremony were the Deputy Minister of Sport of the Russian Federation, Alexey Morozov, the Minister of Sport of Krasnodar Krai, Alexey Chernov, the Executive Director of the Russian Chess Federation, Mark Glukhovsky as well as FIDE Vice-Presidents Nigel Short and Lukasz Turlej who gave the trophy to the winner and officially closed the tournament. During the ceremony, the winners of the Gazprom Brilliancy Prize (a special trophy sponsored by a General Partner of the World Cup) were announced. In the open competition, the best game of the tournament is Fedoseev – Carslen, the first game of the match for third place. The award is given to the World Champion Magnus Carlsen. In the women’s tournament, the best game is Goryachkina – Stefanova, the second game of the fourth round. The prize is awarded to Alexandra Goryachkina. Jan-Krzysztof’s journey began by defeating Paraguay GM Guillermo Vazquez (2527) in the second round by a 1.5-0.5, followed by two more wins against USA GM Samuel Sevian (2647) and Iran GM Pouya Idani (2614), with the same score. A very tough match followed in the 1/8 finals against top Russian GM Alexander Grischuk (2778), which Duda took down in the tiebreaks by 2.5-1.5. In the quarters he defeated India’s number two player GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2726) by a clear 1.5-0.5 score, leading him up to the clash with the World Champion in the semi-finals. Duda prevailed again in the tiebreak, defeating Norway GM Magnus Carlsen (2847) by 2.5-1.5, leaving him in a great position to fight for the win in the final against Russian GM Sergey Karjakin (2757), whom he defeated by 1.5-0.5. Born in Poland in 1998, 23-year-old Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2738) was always considered a chess prodigy. World Under-10 Champion in 2008, European Under-14 Champion in 2012 and Grand Master at the age of 15 are just some of his many achievements as a kid. He topped these successes up by performing brilliantly in two top events in his own country, winning the European Rapid Chess Championship and achieving second place in the European Blitz Chess Championship, both at the end of 2014. The President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, awarded him the Silver Cross of Merit in 2016 for his sports achievements and contributions to popularizing chess. In 2018 he was already the best Polish player and the number one ranked junior in the world and that year he also won the Polish National Championship. Thanks to these results, at the beginning of 2019 he became the first-ever Polish chess player to exceed the 2800 rating barrier in Blitz. On October 10th 2020, he made the news once again. He defeated Magnus Carlsen at the Altibox Norway Chess tournament, putting an end to the World Champions’ unbeaten 125-game streak in classical chess. His main strength as a player has always been his intuition: as a young talent, he studied Kasparov’s “My Great Predecessors” book series. However, he still thinks he can improve in calculation. Outside chess, he enjoys listening to classical music such as Beethoven and Mozart and he is also a Queen fan. He even won a reality show in Poland called “The Brain” in 2017. He is currently a student at the University School of Physical Education in Krakow and keeps himself in good shape with excellent nutrition and daily swimming routines. With this win, he has qualified for the 2022 Candidates tournament where he will get the opportunity to fight for the chance to play against the World Champion for the title. More information, the full tournament tree, live games and PGN files can be found on the World Cup website alongside a great amount of other interesting information such as daily videos, a complete photo collection and other useful data. Photo: David Llada and Eteri Kublashvili About the tournament: Scheduled to take place from July12th (Round 1) to August 6th (finals), the 2021 FIDE World Cup will gather together in Sochi (Russia) 309 of the world’s best chess players, with 206 of them playing in the Open World Cup (and 103 participants in the first-ever Women’s World Cup. The top two finishers in the tournament, aside from World Champion Magnus Carlsen who is also participating, will qualify for the 2022 Candidates Tournament, in addition to winning the 110.000 USD first prize (80.000 USD for the runner-up). The full tournament tree, live games and PGN files can be found on the World Cup website alongside a great amount of other interesting information such as daily videos, a complete photo collection and other useful data. Organisers: International Chess Federation (FIDE), Chess Federation of Russia, Russian Ministry of Sports, and Government of Krasnodar Krai. Partners: Gazprom – general partner Nornickel – general partner PhosAgro – general partner Chessable – event’s partner Aeroflot – CFR’s partner Educational centre “Sirius”
Liem Quang Le stuns Aronian to put himself on brink of final
A blistering display from Vietnam’s speed chess superstar Liem Quang Le put Levon Aronian on the brink of being knocked out of the Chessable Masters. Liem, the reigning Asian Champion and a former World Blitz winner, was at his tricky, fiery best to shoot down the in-form Armenian 3-1. Aronian had been installed as a pre-tournament favourite after winning last month’s Goldmoney Asian Rapid. Yet in Liem, he has come across a razor-sharp opponent who has found his killer instinct. Liem finished the 38-year-old off in stunning style with a queen sacrifice checkmate in a wild final game. Aronian now has a mountain to climb tomorrow and needs to win the four-game match just to take it to tiebreaks. Aronian said afterwards: “Definitely my opponent played better than me today. Something went wrong.” In the other semi, US star Wesley So also has one foot in the final after crushing Vladislav Artemiev. The young Russian was on top in the first game but accepted a draw by repetition when he looked to have the edge. The decision came back to haunt him as the 23-year-old then found himself under pressure in Game 2. Artemiev had to pull off an impressive save to survive. In Game 3, So then broke through to take the lead and held on for a draw in the final game to win the match 2½-1½. Artemiev was gracious in defeat admitting he played “without chances” today. “I’m unhappy now, but I feel like it was logical result because Wesley played very strong,” he said. Today’s semi-final matches kick off again at 17:00 CEST. All matches in the Chessable Masters are hosted in chess24.com’s playzone and available to watch on the platform’s Twitch and YouTube channels for free. The Chessable Masters is the penultimate leg of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour before the Finals event in San Francisco, where the ultimate winner will be crowned the world’s best online chess player. For further information, please contact: Leon Watson, PR for Play Magnus Groupleon@chessable.com+44 7786 078 770
155 Teams Registered for Online Olympiad 2021
We are pleased to publish the final entry list for the Online Chess Olympiad 2021. We will have 155 teams, divided into four divisions, with squads of Russia, the USA, China, India, Ukraine at the top of the list. Federations may change their submitted roster until 1200 UTC, 7 days before they are scheduled to play in the Online Olympiad for the first time, after which their squad composition will be fixed. This means the deadlines are as follows: Division 4 – Friday, 13th August 1200 UTC; Division 3 – Friday, 20th August 1200 UTC; Division 2 – Thursday, 26th August 1200 UTC; Top Division – Wednesday, 1st September 1200 UTC Visit the official website of the FIDE Online Olympiad (http://onlineolympiad.fide.com) to find the latest updates, documents, and information about the event. Chess.com will be again the hosting platform for this event that, on its inaugural edition, became one of the highlights of 2020. Once again, the event will consist of two stages: the “Divisions stage”, and the Play-offs stage with the top eight teams qualified from Stage 1 battling in knockout format. The games will be broadcast live with multilingual expert commentary on the on the FIDE’s official Youtube channel and by Chess.com. The second edition of the Online Olympiad will receive the support and sponsorship of the Shenzhen authorities, which include the Shenzhen Longgang District Culture and Sports Bureau, the Shenzhen MSU-BIT University, Shenzhen Chess Academy, Shenzhen Pengcheng Chess Club. Simaland, the Russian wholesale online store and proud sponsor of the Candidates tournament 2020-21, will also be a partner for the Online Olympiad 2021.