Severino and Mendoza win Asian Chess Championship for Players with Disabilities
FM Sander Severino and Cheyzer Crystal Mendoza, both of the Philippines, won the Asian Chess Championship for Players with Disabilities (Open and Women, respectively) held from 9-11 July on Tornelo platform. You can replay the games on https://live.followchess.com/#!asian-disabled-online-chp-2021. Sander Severino (pictured above) tied with compatriot Henry Lopez but took gold thanks to slightly better tiebreaks. Cheyzer Crystal Mendoza Mendoza finished clear first with 5 points in 5 rounds winning all her games. FIDE Disabled Commission Chairman GM Thomas Luther attended the event and complemented Asia for being the only Continent to hold championships for disabled players. Asian Chess Federation (ACF) General Secretary Hisham Al Taher pointed out that Asian Chess Federation signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Asian Paralympic Committee and the ACF is coordinating the 2022 Asian Para Games chess which will be held in Hangzhou, China. Official website: asianchess.com/
Day 04: Magnus Carlsen debuts with a technical win
No big surprises in game one of the second round of the World Cup Thursday, July 15th, 2021 – Today’s round of the World Cup and the Women’s World Cup featured the arrival of all of the top-rated players, seeded directly into the second round of the competition, including the current World Champion Magnus Carlsen. Minutes before his debut, Carlsen received the 2020 Fair Play Svetozar Gligoric award, in recognition of an individual who, during the previous year, displayed exemplary behaviour that promotes the spirit of fair play and sportsmanship in chess. In the semi-finals of the 2020 online “Chessable Masters”, Magnus won a key game by the unfortunate disconnection of his opponent, Ding Liren. Carlsen demonstrated that “winning fair” was far more important to him than winning at any cost, therefore minutes later in the second game he gave up his queen and resigned after just four moves to restore parity in the match. Introduced by Laurent Freyd (Principal Tournament Arbiter), FIDE Vice-President and Chairman of the Award Commission, Mr. Mahir Mammedov, congratulated Magnus on his achievement and spoke a few words of encouragement to all the players in the hall. One of the first players to finish was GM Baskaran Adhiban (2660) from India, who defeated his opponent, GM Neuris Delgado Ramirez (2622), from Paraguay, in a fine attacking game. In a 4.f3 Nimzo-Indian defence, White sacrificed two pawns for a very strong attack. Baskaran Adhiban – Neuris Delgado Ramirez The move 15.c5! was an excellent choice, leaving Black’s queen and queenside pieces unconnected with the defence and allowing Bc4+ at some moment. After 15…Kh8 16.Qe2 Nd7 17.Nxh7 dxc3 18.Qh5 Qxc5+ 19.Kh1 Kg8 20.Bxf5 Qd5 21.Kg5 Nf6? (Black is already losing but 21…Rxf5 was the best try) the Indian grandmaster played a lovely queen sacrifice with 22.Qh7!+ and Black resigned, as 22…Nxh7 23.Bxh7+ Kh8 24.Txf8 Qg8 25.Qxg8 is mate. However, most of the expectation today was obviously placed on Magnus Carlsen’s game against GM Sasa Martinovic (2548), who was also celebrating his birthday! In a complicated middlegame without queens Martinovic, playing with White, miscalculated a tactical sequence and dropped a pawn. Even so, it wasn’t easy at all to convert but Carlsen’s endgame ability came to play once more and after 34 moves White had to capitulate. In his postgame interview with FIDE’s Press Officer Michael Rahal, Carlsen briefly explained his thoughts on the game and what the Gligoric fair-play award meant to him. In the Women’s section, most of the favourites started off with a win, although many pairings between more or less equal-rated opponents ended in a draw. Therefore, the second game of the match tomorrow will be decisive and I would even suggest that there will be quite a few tiebreaks for this round, in both groups. One of the candidates to win the women’s world cup outright is India’s top female grandmaster Harika Dronavalli (2515). Seeded straight into the second round, she was paired today with WIM Medina Warda Aulia (2360) from Indonesia. After an offbeat Ruy Lopez variation with Black, Harika played the strong pawn advance 13.e5 opening up the position and went on to win a nice technical game. She gave her thoughts in her postgame interview with the Press Officer. On a sadder note, GM Levon Aronian had to forfeit his first game of the second round. The Armenian Grandmaster has had some symptoms of fever earlier this week and even though he felt well today, in order not to risk the safety of the other players it was decided that he would withdraw from the first game, and undergo additional health tests before deciding if he is fit to play in the second game. Also, the organizers confirmed that one of the players had tested positive for Covid-19 – the result of the test became known during his second-round game. In line with the tournament’s public health and safety protocol, the player was asked to immediately leave the playing area, and his game declared a loss. The player in question was wearing a face mask during the game, and he has been placed in quarantine. His opponent, who was also requested to leave the playing hall immediately, will now undergo additional medical screenings and will be tested again tomorrow as scheduled. The player who has been forced to forfeit his game today had been tested before his trip, and then again in Sochi on July 10th, July 11th, and July 14th. After three negatives, it was this last test the one that turned out to be positive. The health agency that runs the tests for the event should have alerted FIDE of any positive before 1PM, local time. However, for reasons that we are investigating now, FIDE was not informed about the result of this test until 15:21, when the game had already started. FIDE did the only thing that was possible in the circumstances: to immediately stop the game, isolate the players, and provide medical advice to them. * Please note that, due to privacy regulations, FIDE can not disclose to the public the name of any player who tests positive. Pairings of the second game of the second round, 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. Text: Michael Rahal, FIDE Press Officer press@fide.com Photo: Eric Rosen and Anastasiia Korolkova About the tournament: Scheduled to take place from July 12th (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). 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
International Children and Youth Chess Festival “Rudaga – Kaissa 2021 Online” kicks off on July 23
Masterclasses with top GMs and accreditations for the Chess Olympiad 2022 will be given to the top players of the event. The FIDE Endorsed International Children and Youth Chess Festival “Rudaga – Kaissa 2021 Online” will be held on July 23-24. The event is organized by the non-governmental organization “Rudaga Plus”, Latvian Chess Federation, and is supported by FIDE. The tournament will be played in 2 different age groups – under 12 and under 16. The tournament will consist of two stages: Qualifying Stage and Final Stage. The Qualifying stage includes two online 11-round Swiss System tournaments: Open & Girls under 12 (Qualifier A – U12)Open & Girls under 12 (Qualifier B – U12)Open & Girls under 16 (Qualifier A- U16)Open & Girls under 16 (Qualifier B- U16) From each Qualifier event, top 8 players per category (Top 8 Open and Top 8 Girls) will get to the final stage. The Finals will consist of 16-player Knock-out tournaments: Open Under 12Open Under 16Girls Under 12Girls Under 16 The time control for both stages will be 5 minutes + 3 seconds increment starting from the first move. The tournaments will be played on Chess.com. The young players from all over the world will be able to claim some of the special prizes of the tournament. In addition to electronic diplomas and certificates of participation, top-3 players in open and girls’ sections will be awarded a free online group lecture with Antoaneta Stefanova, Women’s World Champion (2004-2006) (for U12 category) and Ruslan Ponomariov, FIDE World Champion (FIDE World Chess Championship 2002) (for U16 category). More than that, the winners of the tournament in both sections in each category (U12, U16) will get accreditations for the World Chess Olympiad 2022 and an entrance ticket to the Opening Ceremony. The registration fee for participation in the tournament is 10 EUROS. Players shall send the completed registration form by July 21, 2021: The Regulations for the tournament can be found here. Organizer’s contacts: Tournament Director: Nadia Kravchuk tel: +380 50 906 44 61 (WhatsApp) E-mail: nadzeya.krauchuk@gmail.com
Magnus Carlsen awarded Svetozar Gligoric Trophy 2020
The World Champion Magnus Carlsen is the recipient of the 2020 Fair Play Svetozar Gligoric award. The Norwegian will receive his trophy today, minutes before his debut game at the FIDE World Cup 2021 in Sochi. The spirit of the “Fair Play Svetozar Gligoric Trophy” is to give recognition to an individual who, during the previous year, had displayed exemplary behaviour that promotes the spirit of fair play and sportsmanship in chess. One year ago, when all chess activities and competitions were transferred to the online arena, Magnus Carlsen reached the semi-finals in the $150,000 online “Chessable Masters” against Ding Liren. Ding, playing from China, had struggled with connection problems through the whole event, and in the final moments of his first game against Carlsen, suffered an unfortunate disconnection at a vital moment. Unable to reconnect on time, the Chinese Grandmaster lost the game. Minutes later, in the second game between, the World Champion gave up his Queen and resigned after just four moves to restore parity in the match. Despite the high stakes, and despite being a ruthless competitor, Magnus Carlsen demonstrated that “winning fair” was far more important to him than winning at any cost. “I have immense respect for Ding as a chess player and as a human being. I thought against him this was the only correct way and clearly, I wanted to win on the board. I might have kicked myself if I’d lost one of the last two games but I think it was the right thing to do”, said the World Champion. The Gligoric Trophy was established by FIDE in 2019, and its winner is selected annually by the Award Commission chaired by Mr. Mahir Mammedov and its two members, the Grandmasters Mrs. Judit Polgar (FIDE Honorary Vice-President), and Mr. Eugenio Torre. It honors the figure of Svetozar Gligoric, one of the top players in the world in the 1950s and 1960s, and also one of the World’s most prominent, owing to his particularly engaging personality. At the chessboard, Gligoric was an uncompromising fighter and at the same time a symbol of gentlemanhood and correctness. His impeccable reputation has been a deserved result of his success in chess games and fair-play manners. Gligoric’s trademark was high respect to his chess opponents: his main principle was – It’s chess pieces, not a man I play against! It is no coincidence that the book of Gligoric’s selected games is called “I play against pieces!” Svetozar Gligoric Award is a recognition of sportsmen who exercise the fundamental values of Fair Play both during and beyond the game. It’s a way of thinking rather than a mere behavior and includes the concepts of: FairnessTo enjoy the victory is not enough. Triumph must include fairness and honesty RespectWritten rules are mandatory. Unwritten rules of respect to all are obligatory FriendshipRivalry in sport does not exclude friendship Team SpiritA genuine consideration for others EqualityCompeting on equal terms is essential ToleranceThe ability or willingness to accept what you may not agree with CareTrue champions care about each other
D03: Great entertainment at the Galaxy Centre for the tie-breaks
World Champion Magnus Carlsen debuts tomorrow in Round 2 Wednesday, July 13th, 2021 – Rapid and blitz game tiebreaks are the real test for today’s modern chess player. Calculation skills become slightly less important and are at a certain level substituted by much more intuition, as the time on the clock starts running low. Good nerves, decent physical condition, stamina, and a well-thought-out opening repertoire are some of the key skills that have to be honed at home before the competition to be a good tie-breaker. The Galaxy Leisure Complex enjoyed a huge amount of entertainment this afternoon. Twenty-eight matches were not decided in the two classical games, and had to be fought out in a series of two rapid games – 25 minutes base time + 10 seconds increment -, followed by two more rapid games (10/10 this time), and finally two blitz 5/3 games. A nerve-racking “Armageddon” decisive game is left for the end: 5 minutes vs 4 on the clock and Black advances with the draw. They say that better players excel even more with less time, thanks to their superior intuition and pattern knowledge plus match experience, and today’s tie-break round was no exception. Most of the favourites only needed the two rapid games to defeat their lower-rated opponents and move on to Round 2, where fresh top-50 opponents will be waiting for them. One of the matches that deserved special attention in the Open World Cup was the face-off between top Armenian GM Haik Martirosyan (2632) and Zambia’s IM Chitumbo Mwali (2281). Albeit the nearly 350 rating points difference, Mwali won his classical game, forcing the tie-break. But as the Zambian International Master confessed to FIDE’s Press Officer in the post-game interview “today was not his day”. Another really interesting match-up in the Open section was the all-Egyptian encounter between GM Abdelrahman Hesham (2397) and his Olympic team colleague and top-Egypt player Ahmed Adly (2625). Although on paper, Adly should have been cruising to the second round, these play-offs between team colleagues sometimes don’t go the logical way, and in this case, the Egyptian representative will be Hesham, who sealed the match win in the second game of the rapids. The protagonists of the other two huge surprises of the day were a couple of young IM guns: Ravi Haria and Volodar Murzin. The Englishman IM Ravi Haria (2440) put Russian’s experienced GM Vadim Zvjaginsev (2608) to the test in the rapid games. After winning the first one quite clearly, he had to defend a very tricky 4 pawn vs 3 pawn rook ending to seal the draw, not after suffering many moves with very little time on the clock. A huge achievement by the underdog in this match who declared in the post-game interview that he would now “have to reserve a few more days at the hotel”. Well done Ravi! Last but not least, Russian 15-year-old IM Volodar Murzin (2502) played one of the most memorable matches of round one, defeating none other than experienced Moldova GM Viorel Iordachescu (2589) by 3.5-2.5. After making one draw after another (solid play by both contenders), “the kid” prevailed in the second 10/10 rapid game. He will face another young player in Round 2, top Russian GM Vladislav Artemiev (2704), who is now 23 years old. In the Women’s Cup, similar scenarios occurred, with most of the clear favourites advancing to the second round in good fashion, where again they will be joined by the 25 top seeds including several world-class female players. One of the most memorable matches, and a very close win for the favourite, was the tie-break between WGM Shahenda Wafa (2106) (pictured above) from Egypt against French WGM and top-player Almira Skripchenko (2411). The match went back and forth for both players and actually, Wafa had some great opportunities to advance to the second round but finally it will be Skripchenko who will face her Olympic colleague Marie Sebag tomorrow. Watch out for the world’s top-five players tomorrow afternoon in the 1/64 round at 3pm sharp: World Number 1 Magnus Carlsen vs Sasa Martinovic World Number 2 Fabiano Caruana vs Susanto Megaranto World Number 5 Levon Aronian vs Bobby Cheng Pairings of the second round, 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. Reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen will be making his debut here tomorrow and will receive the Gligoric award for fair play before the start of the round. Text: Michael Rahal, FIDE Press Officer press@fide.com Photo: Eric Rosen and Anastasiia Korolkova About the tournament: Scheduled to take place from July 12th (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). 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”
Fast and furious action on Day 2 in FIDE World Cup
28 chess matches will be decided tomorrow in the tie-breaks Tuesday, July 13th, 2021 – This afternoon at 3 pm sharp, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich inaugurated the second day of the World Chess Cup, performing the initial move of the game between GM Marie Sebag (France) and Penelope Drastik (Australia). A few minutes earlier, Dvorkovich had presented Mr. Sami Khader with the “Vasily Smyslov” award for the best academy in the world, the FIDE Asia Chess Academy, located in Amman (Jordan). In addition to Sami, several other players and coaches have also received awards for their achievements and results during 2020-2021. They are Berik Akkozov (from Kazakhstan), Melikset Khachiyan (USA), Ye Jiangchuan, Ni Hua and Xie Jun (all from China), Yakov Geller and Sergey Zagrebelny (both from Russia) and Rustam Kasimdzhanov (from Uzbekistan). President Dvorkovich was kind enough to speak to the Press Officer of the event for the FIDE Youtube Chess Channel, in which he spoke highly of the World Cup’s organization. You can watch the interview here. But let’s dive in on the chess action this afternoon which has been fast and furious, as some of the favourites who lost the first of the two games of their match have had to step it up to make a come-back on the scoreboard and force the rapid games tie-break. Perhaps the most significant result was GM Vadim Zvjaginsev’s (2608) on-demand win against IM Ravi Haria (2440), who had beaten him in the first game. The key moment of the game was move thirty-three: Vadim Zvjaginsev – Ravi Haria Instead of 33… Bf4? which allowed 34.Nf5! (with the strong idea Ne7-g6), the Englishman could have sealed the deal and move on to the next round with the simple 33… Rg8, threatening both 34… Rxe6 and 34…b3. A tough moment for Haria who will have to get this game out of his mind quickly to compete at 100% tomorrow for a chance to advance. But undoubtedly the biggest surprise of the day in the open group was the victory of IM Chitumbo Mwali from Zambia, rated only 2281, who defeated Armenian GM Haik Martirosyan (2632), tying the match and forcing tomorrow’s tie-break. In a very complicated position, with both kings in troubled waters, the Armenian player went onto the attack with 33… Ne4? trying to create some threats against Mwali’s monarch. The Zambian remained calm and sensibly played 34.Re2!, parrying the threats of his opponent (the key is 34… Qe5 35.Qd4! winning), netting a piece and the game. Chitumbo Mwali – Haik Martirosyan 34.Re2! A huge achievement for the African player and a reminder that there is no easy game in the World Cup! In the Open Cup, a total of 59 players have advanced directly to the second round, while another 38 players (19 boards) will battle it out tomorrow in the tie-breaks. Among those who have defeated their first-round opponents by a clear 2-0 score I would highlight the young Norwegian GM Aryan Tari (rated 2639) (pictured below), GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2634) of Uzbekistan and GM Samuel Sevian (2647) of the United States of America. Among those also showing good form is tough Indian player GM B. Adhiban (rated 2660), especially in the second game, alongside the strong Ukrainian GM Yuriy Kuzubov (2653) and the veteran Russian player GM Alexander Motylev (2639), who should also be mentioned. However, most of the favourites who won their first game have played it safe today to secure the win in the match and move on to the next stage of the tournament, where they are already going to play in very high-level match-ups. The young Indian wonder boy GM Praggnanandhaa R has taken this approach, although he did have some winning chances in the second game. You can watch an interview with the Indian prodigy here. In the Women’s World Cup, the two favourites who had a bad day yesterday, GM Anna Ushenina and WGM Pauline Guichard, have made a huge comeback today, forcing the tiebreaks and maybe gaining a certain psychological advantage. However, the Ukrainian WGM Nataliya Buksa (2413) will have to wait until tomorrow to try to advance to the second round, after losing her game to WIM Sabrina Latreche (2076) this afternoon. The player representing Algeria severely punished Black’s tactical error 22… Nc5? with the decisive central advance 23.e5! winning piece. A big surprise at a crucial moment of the tournament! Sabrina Latreche – Nataliya Buksa 23.e5! and White won a piece A total of 9 matches (18 players) will be decided at the tie-breaks tomorrow but another 38 players have already advanced directly to the second round, some of them endorsing their opponents a clear 2-0 score. Some faces to look out for among them are WGM Carissa Yip (USA 2430), Laura Unuk (Slovenia 2407) and Olga Badelka (Belarus 2418). However, the main surprise result in my opinion was WIM Turmunkh Munkhzul (Mongolia 2278) who defeated her strong opponent WGM Marina Brunello (2379) from Italy by 2-0 in one of the big upsets of the first round in the women’s event. The full pairings tree and day-by-day results can be found on the World Cup website along with the tie-break rules for tomorrow. Finally, it should be noted that reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen has won the Gligoric award for fair play, which will be given to him on Thursday before the start of his game in the second round. About the tournament: Scheduled to take place from July 12th (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). 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” Text: Michael Rahal, FIDE Press Officer press@fide.com Photo: Eric Rosen and Anastasiia Korolkova
FIDE announces Online Olympiad 2021
The International Chess Federation is excited to announce the FIDE Online Olympiad 2021, to be held between August 13 and September 15. The event will follow a format similar to one used last year, with member Federations being represented by their best players and top juniors. The national teams will compete in rapid chess matches played on six boards (see tournament regulations for details). Chess.com will be again the hosting platform for this event that, on its inaugural edition, became one of the highlights of 2020. With more than 1,500 participants representing 163 national teams, it was a truly global competition, very much in the spirit of the traditional chess Olympiads. It helped our big chess family to unite around a wonderful event at a time of crisis, when it was most needed. 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. 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. Usually, at live Olympiads, the teams that can’t boast of the world’s best players in their lineups are not in the spotlight, as the general chess audience focuses on favorites. The unique format of the FIDE Online Olympiad gives us a chance to take a closer look at the teams bereft of chess stars but united by a sincere love for the game and a strong desire to develop and make progress. The qualifying format of tournaments in divisions also allows us to make some predictions and try to figure out the teams that will advance to the next stage. The qualifying events will kick off on August 13. Top Division, featuring the strongest 25 seeded and 15 qualified teams, will begin on September 08. The decisive play-off stage is scheduled for September 13-15. Like a year ago each team will consist of six players, including at least 2 women, at least 1 player U-20 (born in 2001 or later), and at least 1 girl U-20 (born in 2001 or later). The time control will be 15 minutes + 5 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1. Each federation intending to take part in the FIDE Online Olympiad shall confirm its participation by July 31, 2021. Tournament regulations (pdf) List of Teams by Starting Divisions (pdf) Schedule: DATES EVENT NUMBER OF TEAMS SYSTEM STAGE 1. DIVISIONS 13 – 15 August BASE DIVISION TBA TBA 20 – 22 August DIVISION 4 50 (35 seeded + 15 qualified from BASE DIVISION) 5 pools, 10 teams each. RR, 9 r. 3 best teams of each pool advance to DIVISION 3 27 – 29 August DIVISION 3 50 (35 seeded + 15 qualified from DIVISION 4) 5 pools, 10 teams each. RR, 9 r. 3 best teams of each pool advance to DIVISION 2 2 – 4 September DIVISION 2 50 (35 seeded + 15 qualified from DIVISION 3) 5 pools, 10 teams each. RR, 9 r. 3 best teams of each pool advance to TOP DIVISION 8 – 10 September TOP DIVISION 40 (25 seeded + 15 qualified from DIVISION 2) 4 pools, 10 teams each. RR, 9 r. 2 best teams of each pool advance to STAGE 2 STAGE 2. PLAY-OFF 13 September QUARTER-FINALS 8 (qualified from TOP DIVISION) KO duel of two matches + TB 14 September SEMI-FINALS 4 (qualified from QUARTER-FINALS) KO duel of two matches + TB 15 September FINAL 2 (qualified from SEMI-FINALS) KO duel of two matches + TB FIDE.com and the official website of the FIDE Online Olympiad (http://onlineolympiad.fide.com) will provide daily coverage of the event. The games will be broadcast live with multilingual expert commentary on the on the FIDE’s official Youtube channel and by Chess.com.
2021 Koltanowski Conference on Chess in Education to be held at the end of July
The 2021 Koltanowski Conference on Chess in Education will be held July 29-30, 2021, at the Cherry Hill, N.J., Crowne Plaza, where the U.S. Chess Open Championship will be held. The Conference will explore many practical topics. Presenters are eminent in their fields. Presentations will discuss: Chess and neuroscience Possible preventive effects of chess on Alzheimer’s Chess philanthropy Creating a chess curriculum Linking chess to STEM and Artificial Intelligence Chess as an equalizer for those with disabilities And other topical ideas in chess and education Question-and-answer sessions will follow each presentation Photo: ihg.com The 3rd International Koltanowski Conference on Chess in Education July 29-30, 2021 Cherry Hill, New Jersey Sponsored by the US Chess Trust www.USChessTrust.org The 2021 Koltanowski Conference on Chess in Education is held in honor of Dr. Tim Redman, founder of the championship Chess Program at The University of Texas at Dallas. Dr. Redman organized the first (2001) and second (2011) Koltanowski Conferences on Chess in Education. The 2021 conference will be held in-person with a limited audience. It will be live-streamed online and available for later viewing. 2021 Koltanowski Conference on Chess in Education is sponsored by the U.S. Chess Trust. “The Chess in Education conference is more significant than ever. In the last twenty years, there have been serious advances in chess across many fields — education, social development, cognitive research and many more. With panelists and speakers active in their specialties, the conference emphasizes praxis. The Board of the US Chess Trust values your participation in this conference,” said Beatriz Marinello in her letter to participants on behalf of the organizing committee and the US Chess Trust. Date Held: July 29-30, 2021 Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cherry Hill, New Jersey For more information, contact: Al Lawrence, mailto:al@uschesstrust.org or Beatriz Marinello, beatriz@uschesstrust.org For more details go to: http://www.uschesstrust.org COVID-19 policies apply: Face masks and social distancing will be in effect for the limited audience. If you wish to attend in-person, please fill out this form:
Shri Ram College of Commerce clinches the title
On Sunday, July 11, the three-day international chess tournament FIDE Binance Business Schools Super Cup 2021 has come to its end. For the first time in history, 32 teams of graduates from the largest business schools representing Russia, USA, Canada, India, Mexico, Switzerland, England, Scotland, Philippines, Bangladesh, Zambia and Fiji fought for the champion’s title. After two days of the group stage, the eight strongest teams advanced to the playoffs. The list of the quarterfinalists included Shri Ram College of Commerce (India), the Finance University under the Government of Russia (Russia), MIPT Business School (Russia), MGIMO (Russia), University of Toronto (Canada), Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO 1 (Russia), Perm State National Research University (Russia), The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA). In the final, Shri Ram College of Commerce (India) defeated MIPT Business School (Russia) 2:0 and became the FIDE Binance Business Schools Super Cup 2021 Champion. FM Jeet Jain from Shri Ram College of Commerce (India) shared his emotions after the victory: “It was an interesting tournament with very difficult games played. Our team knew each other long before the tournament as we are all from one college – some are juniors, some are seniors. We travel all around the world to play chess tournaments together, so we know each other pretty well.” Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO 1 (Russia), that was also a co-organizer of the event, finished third. The live broadcast of the final day of the tournament was attended by the FIDE Director General Emil Sutovsky. He shared his support for the project and expressed his hope to see it grow: “The fact that in a short period it was possible to gather several dozens of participating teams, proves that the tournament arouse interest among the audience. This is already a success for a newborn event. This project can and should grow, I think it will work out the next time. It is important for FIDE to hold tournaments not only for chess players of the highest level, and not only for standard categories such as children, youths, veterans, but also tournaments like this. The project seems to me to be in demand, and I will be very happy if it gets a continuation.” The 14th world champion Vladimir Kramnik gave some advice to future champions: “First, you must not forget that this is still a game, that it is not only self-expression, fame or money. Secondly, to keep a cool head in critical stressful situations when there is little time. It is extremely difficult, but it must be learned little by little. Whoever does it better is at the top. Chess players of the very top level are distinguished precisely by their ability to play well under tension, under maximum stress. And thirdly, do not forget to enjoy the game itself, and not just the result of it. It seems to me that if there is no pleasure in the process, then it is very difficult to reach success.” The champions will be awarded the first NFT Trophy by FIDE. All the prize winners will get their medals and the right to participate in an online simultaneous chess game against one of the top Grandmasters in the world. In addition to the prizes from organizers, all the participants of the tournament will get official NFT tokens of the Cup from Binance. Viewers of the broadcast will also be able to get NFT drop, if they use a promo code CHESS until the end of July. The daily online broadcasts of the FIDE Binance Business Schools Super Cup 2021 were made in English and Russian languages from the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO and were available on the official FIDE channels on Youtube, VK and Twitch. Various experts attended the broadcasts to comment on the games and talk to the participants. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, the 14th world champion Vladimir Kramnik, and other famous grandmasters from different countries were among the guests. The general sponsors of the event are Binance — the world’s leading blockchain ecosystem, Tiger.Trade — an innovative software package for securities and cryptocurrency traders, CryptoUniverse — one of the largest mining platforms in the world.
FIDE World Cup Day 01: “Galactic” games in Sochi
GM Pablo Salinas plays arguably the best game of the year. Monday, July 12th, 2021 – The first day of the World Cup was held this afternoon at the Galaxy Entertainment And Leisure Complex. The principal arbiter, Laurent Freyd from France, opened the round at 3:00 pm sharp and all the clocks were started for White. Due to tournament-specific rules, on this occasion, the traditional handshake greeting was replaced by a simple facial friendship recognition. Of the 309 qualified players in the Open and Women’s groups, there were only 8 justified nonappearances, essentially due to travel-related problems. However, the open group will have 50 new players joining in on the second round while the women’s group will be expanded with 25 players, all of them qualified directly by ranking. As is customary in knockout-format tournaments, where chess players of unequal level face off in the early rounds, there have been quite a few striking surprises. Perhaps the most remarkable result in the open group was International Master (IM) Ravi Haria’s (2440) win over experienced Russian Grand Master (GM) Vadim Zvjaginsev (2608). After an early exchange of queens in a very solid variation of the French Defence, Haria gradually increased his advantage with good technique, finally taking down his opponent in a rook ending. However, most of the media attention was focused on the performance of the USA wunderkind Abhimanyu Mishra (2485), recently crowned the youngest GM in history, at the very early age of 12 years old. He fought tenaciously against the experienced Georgian GM Baadur Jobava (2603) but in the end, he had to concede, not before making it very clear to his opponent that tomorrow’s rematch will be very tough indeed. The other young Russian rising star, IM Volodar Murzin (2502) (pictured above), came very close to defeating his opponent, veteran Moldovan GM Viorel Iordachescu (2589), in an ending with a clear extra pawn. But he will have to wait until tomorrow to try to seal the deal, after his opponent’s precise defence in the game. But the best game of the day must go to Chilean GM Pablo Salinas (2514) (pictured below), for his magnificent win over Danish GM Mads Andersen (2579) a true work of art, worthy of any collection of best games. After a more than correct Semi-Slav defense, Salinas, with Black, began to create pressure on the c-file by pinning the queen on c2 with his rook in addition to the bishop on b4 hitting the pinned knight. Under pressure both on the board and on the clock, Andersen blundered with 19.a3? (the unbelievable 19.Qxe4, sacrificing the queen, is the engine’s recommendation), and Salinas executed the thematic sacrifice 19… Nxf2! destroying White’s castled king. With very little time left, the Dane found the remarkable defensive resource 22.Qf5! – which Salinas acknowledged took him by surprise – but the Chilean player kept his calm and continued the attack with 22… Nf6! with the brilliant idea 23… Ng4!, a real bombshell that unleashed a series of different lines with queen sacrifices, ending in all sorts of fantastic checkmates. After 24.Rd3 the killer move 24…d4! opened up the long diagonal, incorporating Black’s only inactive piece into the attack. The final combination with 25…Qg1!! followed by 26…Nxh2 mate is perhaps one of the most beautiful finishes of the year, maybe even the century? Mads Andersen – Pablo Salinas 25…Qg1!! 26.Nxg1Nxh2# The same pattern was repeated in the women’s group, where the pre-match rating favourites prevailed in most of the encounters. Still, two results stood out above the rest. The women International Master (WIM) Tilsia Varela La Madrid (2072) representing Venezuela, clearly defeated French IM Pauline Guichard (2413), although the main surprise of the day was the defeat of the 2012 World Champion, Ukrainian Grand Master (GM) Anna Ushenina against Egyptian WIM Ayah Moaataz (rated only 2015). Despite having a huge material advantage, Ushenina allowed a decisive lightning kingside attack – instead of 36…Ng7?, the combination 36… Rxe3! 37.dxe3 Qf1! + 38.Kxf1 Nxe3+ would have allowed the Ukrainian player to take home the point. However, even with the favourable score, tomorrow’s game (White plays Black and vice versa) will determine, together with the tiebreaks, who will advance to the second round of the World Cup. The full pairings tree and day-by-day results can be found on the World Cup website. About the tournament: Scheduled to take place from July 12th (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). 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” Text: Michael Rahal, FIDE Press Officer press@fide.com Photo: Eric Rosen and Anastasiia Korolkova