Riga Technical University Open is back for a special 10th edition
In these uncertain times, we are pleased to announce some good news – the 10th edition of the Riga Technical University Open has just been confirmed for August 7-15. That means one of the biggest chess Festivals in Europe is back after a one-year hiatus (caused, of course, by the coronavirus pandemic). GM Robert Hovhannisyan was the winner of the 2018 edition/Photo: Organisers As we know the “absence makes the heart grow fonder” and it seems the organisers really missed the chess buzz in Riga. This summer they will warmly welcome back all the chess-lovers with 9 different tournaments (something for everyone!) and the record 28 000 Euros prize fund! To make the 10th edition of RTU Open more special thanks to FIDE’s financial support we have improved several things. Stronger anti-cheating measures will be taken to make sure that every participant will be playing only against his/her opponent. Another important improvement is that women and senior players will have significantly increased special prizes. Despite coronavirus restrictions, it is expected to be as impressive as ever – according to the current guidelines international sporting events in Latvia can happen with an unlimited number of participants. The playing hall is a very spacious Kipsala Exhibition Centre/Photo: Organisers Last edition gathered more than 800 players from 44 different countries, 30 grandmasters and 50 international masters. Winner of the 9th edition was GM Igor Kovalenko, vice-champion of the 2016 European Championship, and the best lady was IM/WGM Irina Bulmaga, winner of the bronze medal in the 2014 Chess Olympiad. Many well-known players have participated in RTU Open over the years, just to name a few – GM Alexei Shirov, GM Richard Rapport, GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, GM Bartosz Socko, GM Hrant Melkumyan, GM Daniel Naroditsky, GM Daniel Fridman and ladies – GM Zhansaya Abdumalik, GM Monika Socko, IM Dinara Saduakassova and IM Tania Sachdev. Some of the stars that has participated in the RTU Open over the years (from the left): GM Alexei Shirov (picture from facebook Isle of Man International), GM Zhansaya Abdumalik, GM Daniel Naroditsky (photo by David Llada), IM/WGM Tania Sachdev (photo by European Chess TV), GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (photo by European Chess TV), GM Monika Socko (photo by Krzysztof Szelag) This year there are already over 200 participants signed up, with over 100 from 25 different countries in Open A alone. Interestingly, that includes 20 grandmasters and 62 titled players. It should be a great treat for spectators and also an amazing destination for players who want to fight for norms and get new titles. Riga Technical University Open is a perfect event for ambitious players, but also for chess-lovers with a… somewhat more relaxed approach or busier schedule. There are 3 Opens that only take 4 or even 3 days, so even the busiest of us can participate. Interview with the man responsible for making this event so special, the tournament Director – FM Egons Lavendelis./Photo: Toms Kantans Below you can find details regarding each open: Open A – GRANDMASTER OPEN, 9th-15th August ELO Tournament with GM, IM, WGM and WIM norms. 9 rounds, 90 minutes per game per player + 30 seconds per move starting from move 1. The tournament will be part of the ACP Tour Open B – AMATEUR OPEN, 9th-15th August Players with ELO until 2299. 9 rounds, 90 minutes per game per player + 30 seconds per move starting from the move 1. Open Y – YOUTH OPEN, 9th-15th August Players U14 with ELO until 2199. 9 rounds, 90 minutes per game per player + 30 seconds per move starting from the move 1. Open C – WEEKEND AMATEUR OPEN, 12th-15th August Players with ELO until 2199. 7 rounds, 60 minutes per game per player + 30 seconds per move starting from the move 1. Open D – WEEKEND AMATEUR OPEN, 12th-15th August Players with ELO until 1899. 7 rounds, 60 minutes per game per player + 30 seconds per move starting from the move 1. Open E – WEEKEND AMATEUR OPEN, 13th-15th August Players with ELO until 1599. 7 rounds, 30 minutes per game per player + 30 seconds per move starting from the move 1. Open F – OPENING BLITZ TOURNAMENT, 7th August Swiss system, 11 rounds, ELO rated Open G – OPEN RAPID TOURNAMENT, 8th August Swiss system, 9 rounds, ELO rated .Open H – CLOSING BLITZ TOURNAMENT, 15th August Swiss system, 11 rounds, ELO rated The cherry on top is the venue – the Festival will be held in Riga, often called Paris of the North. A beautiful, classy and modern city, and quite a unique European capital. It has an amazing Old Town (UNESCO World Heritage Site), yet is still very green and close to the seaside. Even from the playing hall, which is just across the river from the city center, the famous Jurmala beaches are only 20-min drive away. To find out all the necessary details about the event (and registration form! 🙂 ) you can visit the main website – www.rtuopen.lv and follow tournament’s social media: Facebook – www.facebook.com/rtuopen and Instagram – www.instagram.com/rtu.chess.open/ Feel free to contact the organizers via email chess@rtu.lv. *Considering a difficult situation in the world, there are some restrictions in Latvia. The most important ones are: people with a covid pass can travel freely; people without the covid pass from the green zone require only a PCR test before arrival; people without the covid pass and from the red zone can also participate in the event, but 3 tests – 1st before the arrival, 2nd a day after the arrival and 3rd no later than 5 days after the arrival (self-isolation should be observed until receipt of the 2nd result). Kids under the age of 10 can not participate in the event. All participants and guests have to be accredited. For more information about the restrictions please check the government page or contact the organisers.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave wins Croatia Grand Chess Tour
The final day of the Croatia Grand Chess Tour has certainly kept the audiences glued to their chairs today as the event continued to unfold and the tournament lead was highly contested. Although it seemed clear after the last four days that Ian Nepomniachtchi would claim the Croatia Rapid & Blitz title, on the final day things took a turn for him and it was the French super-GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave who ended with a fabulous finish and first place win. MVL was able to keep his cool today and played brilliantly, with a bit of luck saving him from a few difficult positions. Ultimately the French superstar secured the first place prize with an extra round to spare. He is now leading the Grand Chess Tour, just half a point ahead of Wesley So. Another amazing performance of today was by 5-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand, who scored 6.5 points and finished second. Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri maintained his 3rd position in the standings. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave What a fabulous finish by the French Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave who won the event with one round to spare. He was able to pace himself well in the first part of the day and scored 3/3 in the final rounds. It is no wonder that the commentators often call him “Tactical Wizard”. His tactical and defensive skills helped him remain unbeatable in the final round. With this win he is currently leading the overall GCT standings with 22 points, but he has already played 3 events. He remains with one event to be played and that is the Sinquefield Cup. Congratulations to the 2021 Croatia Grand Chess Tour winner, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave! Viswanathan Anand As Maurice Ashley put it, Viswanathan Anand “remains an inspirational figure in the world of chess”. After a 17-month break from over-the-board chess, Anand played inspirational chess throughout the competition. His fighting spirit and ambition to maintain a high level of play never ceases to amaze his fans. Today, he was the only other player not to suffer a loss. Anish Giri Anish Giri had a slow start in the final day of blitz, though he picked up the pace in the final rounds finishing on +1 (5points out of 9) for today’s portion of the event. He was able to maintain his 3rd place position in the standings in the Croatia leg of the Grand Chess Tour. He is currently in 6th position with 10.5 points in the overall GCT standings but has two more events to play in to try to climb up the ladder. Ian Nepomniachtchi Though the World Champion Challenger, Ian Nepomniachtchi led the event in the first four days, he had a tough day at the office scoring only 3 points in today’s matchups and suffering three losses. His strong result in the Rapid portion kept him in the position to share 4th place in the overall standings. This may have been the last rapid event this year fans saw him as Ian begins his preparation for the match with Magnus Carlsen. Jan-Krzysztof Duda Jan-Krzysztof Duda showed he can be a permanent member of the tour should he keep a consistent score in all forms of chess. He demonstrated a great technique in many of his games in this entire event. The Pole finished the day with two wins against one of which was against the former tournament leader Ian Nepomnichtchi with whom he shared 4th place. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov After yesterday’s tough day, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov came ready for blood. He had a spectacular start scoring 5.5 out of the first 6 games and seemed like nothing could stop him. Unfortunately for him, he had a tough loss in today’s round 7 against Ukrainian Grandmaster Anton Korobov and finished todays’ portion of the event with 6 points, leaving him in 6th place in the standings of this leg of the Grand Chess Tour. With two events to go, has accumulated 18 points so far and is currently in 3rd place in the overall standings of the GCT. Alexander Grischuk Alexander Grischuk started the day with two wins but lost some steam as the day continued. He ended up scoring 5 points and finishing in 7th place. He is currently in 5th place in the overall GCT standings. Alexander will have to score well in his remaining two events to climb up the ladder. Anton Korobov Though he only scored 4 points today it was Anton Korobov who took down the unstoppable Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in a beautiful attacking game. He is a very enthusiastic and inspired chess player and it is always fun to watch him play even when he may not be in his top form. Jorden Van Foreest Being a wild card competitor in this event Jorden Van Foreest has certainly shown why he belonged among the tournament field. As the winner of the latest edition of Tata Steel, Jorden has a lot to offer in the years to come. He may lack a little experience, but he is fearless and we will be surely seeing more of him in top-level tournaments. Garry Kasparov Everyone was rooting for former World Champion Garry Kasparov to find the strength to come back in this second day of blitz. He did start the day with a win and scored two other draws, but unfortunately, as he has stated himself at the end of the event, not having played enough over-the-board blitz, and only playing online has kept him from having good time management. Overall it was a somewhat tough showing for Garry Kasparov but we look forward to seeing a stronger side of the legendary World Champion later this year in Saint Louis for Chess 9LX. The 2021 Grand Chess Tour will continue next month for the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz, August 10 – August 16th, and the Sinquefield Cup August 16 – August 27, 2022. Learn more about these upcoming events and information at grandchesstour.org. Text: WGM Sabina Foisor Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes and Bryan Adams Official website: grandchesstour.org/
FIDE World Cup opens in Sochi
The event began today with the traditional pre-competition press conference and drawing of lots followed by the opening ceremony. The official FIDE World Cup 2021 pre-competition press conference took place this afternoon in the Galaxy Entertainment Centre, attended by FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, Minister of Physical Education and Sport of Krasnodar Krai Alexey Chernov, the Deputy Head of the City of Sochi, Vladimir Morozov, the Executive Director of the Russian Chess Federation, Mark Glukhovsky in addition to the 2015 World Cup winner and the 2016 World Championship Challenger Sergey Karjakin. In total, 206 players, including the World Champion Magnus Carlsen (Norway), will play in the Open Section, while 103 players will take part in the Women’s section. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich opened the press conference with the following statements: “The World Cup is one of the most significant events on the chess calendar and is very attractive for the spectators, thanks to its knock-out formula. To minimize the organizational risks, we decided to unify the Open Section with the Women’s Section – all games will be played at the same time and place. Please notice that the first Women’s World Cup was originally supposed to take place in 2020 in Minsk, but we had to reschedule it because our partners from Belarus retracted their offer. On behalf of FIDE, I would like to thank the Government of Russia, the Ministry of Sport of Russia, the Krasnodar Krai, and our reliable sponsors – Gazprom, Norilsk Nickel, Phosagro, Rosatom and others for their support and invaluable help in organizing chess competitions. I think we made a correct decision not to cancel these tournaments despite all the obstacles of the global pandemic and a rather limited amount of preparation time. The players have been missing real chess, classical chess, over-the-board chess. As we can see, almost all the players who qualified for the World Cup, arrived in Sochi, and our brilliant team is successfully handling all the organizational issues.” The Minister of Physical Culture and Sport of the Krasnodar Krai, Alexey Chernov, focused on the high-level chess events that have been organized in the region: “We are grateful to the International Chess Federation for this opportunity to demonstrate the beauty of our land. We have experience, venues, and people capable of carrying out the highest-level competitions. Major events such as the World Cup are very important for us as they promote our region and assist local chess development. Passion for sports is growing in the Krasnodar Krai, and chess is not an exception. Several major chess events, including the 2014 World Chess Championship match between Carlsen and Anand and the 2015 Women’s World Chess Championship, took place here, in Krasnaya Polyana. Almost 10,000 children of the Krasnodar Krai are studying chess these days. The competition in local chess events is fierce. Our players regularly give their opponents trouble in all-Russian events.” The Deputy Head of the City of Sochi Vladimir Morozov gave an account of chess activity in the city: “In Sochi, chess is very popular both among children and adults. 675 students are studying chess free of charge at sports school #11, which is been active since 2002. 12 highly qualified coaches, some of them are masters of sport, give lessons in all districts of our vast city. The school graduates are successfully representing Sochi in various competitions, and some of them have joined the ranks of the Krasnodar Krai and the Russian Junior teams. The Chess at Schools project is being implemented in 66 regular schools of Sochi, involving nearly 9,000 students. We are also running the Sochi Longevity project, with free-for-all outdoor chess areas open in the Riviera and the Bestuzhevo parks on Saturdays. The AquaLoo resort and the Grand Hotel Zhemchuzhina are popular venues for major regional, all-Russian, and international chess events. Chess is loved passionately in Sochi, and we are always happy to welcome chess enthusiasts and professionals from all over the world!” The Executive Director of the Chess Federation of Russia Mark Glukhovsky highlighted the strict measures that have been taken for the safety of the players: “This is an unusual tournament as it takes place during the pandemic, which limits public access to the event. Our main priority is the safety of the players, and this is why we have separated a clean zone from the other areas. The players have to follow a very strict medical protocol and they must be separated from the public. Unfortunately, spectators will be unable to take photos with their favourite players or talk to them. However, we will do everything possible to make our spectators comfortable at the event. A special area designated for the spectators has been prepared on the second floor of the Galaxy Entertainment Centre: everyone can go there and listen to expert chess commentary in Russian or English. I would like to add that the Chess Federation of Russia started a big project called the Black Sea Grand Prix this year. Four chess festivals were organized within the frames of this project, and the fifth festival will take place in Krasnaya Polyana. It’s going to be open to local players, and the World Cup participants who may unfortunately be eliminated from the main event are welcome to play there as well. The Educational Centre Sirius is located near Krasnaya Polyana, in the Imereti Valley, and it features a chess department supported by CFR. We have prepared some events specially for the chess students of the Sirius: some of them will perhaps be able to visit the Galaxy, and some grandmasters will give their masterclasses in the Sirius.” Finally, top Russian Grandmaster, World Champion candidate, and 2015 World Cup winner Sergey Karjakin gave his advice on how to win, and the importance of luck in the outcome: “Knockout chess has no secret; you just have to play chess and believe in your chances. The World Cup that I won was not going smoothly for me at all: on several occasions, I was forced to win on demand, and I faced many difficult positions. Of course, it’s impossible to win such a tournament without being lucky
Day 4 Recap
The start of the blitz portion of the GCT Croatia brought another exciting and emotional day of chess for both the players and the spectators. The tie for the top place was changing until the last moment. No player remained without losses, though it was Maxime Vachier-Lagrave that took away the lead in the blitz, scoring 6.5 points, though it wasn’t enough to catch up with the World Champion Challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi, who is still half a point ahead in the overall standings. It was a tough day for former World Champion Garry Kasparov, who suffered a few tough losses. With less than a few points to differentiate between the top three players, fans will have to watch tomorrow’s final round to find out who will be crowned champion of this year’s Croatia Rapid and Blitz. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave After a slow start with 1.5/3, Maxime seems to have found his form being able to manage his time quite well and stay tactically alert. He has a stellar performance in his game against the tournament leader Ian Nepomniachtchi, though luck has been on his side on a number of occasions, including saving lost positions against Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Garry Kasparov. Ian Nepomniachtchi After a tough start in the first day of blitz scoring 1.5/4 points, Ian pulled himself together and came back with 4.5 points out of his remaining 5 games. He maintains his top position in the overall standings, but will have to stay extra-sharp tomorrow as half a point lead is not nearly sufficient to call it. In his interview at the end of the day, he made a supporting comment for former World Champion and legend Garry Kasparov that he roots for him more than he does for himself. Anish Giri Anish had a brilliant start taking down 5-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand as well as French super-GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. He seems to have found a better form in the blitz portion, though he suffered a tough loss in Round 8 blundering against Anton Korobov in a dynamic endgame where he underestimated the power of two advanced passed pawns. The Dutchman remains in contention for the top prize as he is only 1.5 points behind the leader. Alexander Grischuk Alexander Grischuk seems to have found his form winning two nice games against Anton Korobov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. It is a known fact he typically finds himself in situations of time trouble, yet he has been able to play brilliantly throughout the entire day. But Grischuk also suffered a tough loss against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave which did not allow him to become the only player not to have suffered a loss in this first day of blitz. Jan-Krzysztof Duda Jan-Krzysztof Duda was doing phenomenal for most of the day, scoring 4.5 points in the first 7 rounds. Unfortunately for him, he must have succumbed to the pressure and lost his last two games keeping his result at 50%. He currently shares 4th remains in contention for the top places, though it may be hard to imagine his winning the event. On the other hand, anything remains to be seen tomorrow. Viswanathan Anand Anand suffered a tough loss in the first game of blitz against Anish Giri, but overall it turned out to be a good day for the former World Champion. He scored 5.5 points which keeps him in a tie for 4th place with Jan-Krzysztof Duda. A game that reminded old times was certainly the one against his former rival and World Champion Garry Kasparov, which he won. Anton Korobov Anton Korobov had a solid performance today, scoring 50%. He played an excellent game today against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and was able to turn the game against Anish Giri from a lost position into a win. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov It was a tough day at the office for Shakhriyar Mamedyarov as he suffered four losses and only scored 4 points today. He will have to find his form tomorrow to mount in the overall standings and continue his hunt for better overall standings in the GCT. Jorden Van Foreest Despite being the youngest competitor of this event, Jorden Van Foreest is fearless. He scored two nice wins today taking down former World Champion Garry Kasparov as well as Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who would have been a point away from sharing the 3rd place in the overall standings. Garry Kasparov Former World Champion Garry Kasparov came out of retirement and jumped into the action taking Ivan Saric’s spot in the blitz portion of this event. Saric’s performance in the rapid portion was fantastic and Kasparov may have felt the pressure to maintain their team position in the overall standings. Unfortunately for him, he had a hard time getting some difficult positions out of the opening. He had a dominant position against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave but failed to find a way to convert his advantage and eventually lost on time. He is known to be a resilient fighter and we hope to see him strike back tomorrow on the final day. Text: WGM Sabina Foisor Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Official website: grandchesstour.org/
FIDE Binance Business Schools Super Cup 2021 gets underway
The FIDE Binance Business Schools Super Cup, the first online team tournament for business schools, kicked off on July 9 on Lichess. The event together amateur chess players, the graduates from the world’s elite business schools. The event is supported by 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. 32 teams from Russia, USA, Canada, India, Mexico, Switzerland, England, Scotland, Philippines, Bangladesh, Zambia and Fiji will battle over three days to determine the winner that will get the Winner’s Cup and the title of the Business Schools Super Cup Champion 2021. A tense battle unfolded from the very start. In group А the team of Mulungushi University (Zambia) with 12.5 points took the lead, the Finance University under the Government of Russia (Russia) is a half-point behind whereas Shri Ram College of Commerce (India) is third in the current standings with 11.5 points. The group B leader is MIPT Business School (Russia) is sitting on 16.0 points. It is followed by MGIMO (Russia) (14 points) and Daffodil International University (Bangladesh) (8 points). University of Toronto (Canada) (14 points), Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO 1 (Russia) (12.5 points) and Adam Smith Business School (Scotland) (11.5 points) occupy top-3 positions in group C. In group D the current leader is Perm State National Research University (Russia) that netted 14 points after Day 1. The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) with 13.5 points is a close second, while Higher School of Economics (Russia) is third (12 points). Before the start of the games, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich shared his support for the tournament and talked about the plans to make a full-scale world championship among business schools in the future. The FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich: “It is important in such informal or semi-formal competitions to enjoy the game, meet new friends, new colleagues, and spark new ideas. And, of course, to plan a return to the official competitions. We expect that after this first experience of the tournament between business schools, we will be able to get closer to hosting the official world championship among business schools”. The FIDE Binance Business Schools Super Cup will last for 2 more days. On Saturday, July 10, each team will play three more games. After that, the strongest will advance to the playoffs. The FIDE Binance Business Schools Super Cup 2021 Champion will be announced this Sunday, July 11. The daily online broadcasts streamed from the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO are available on the official FIDE channels on Youtube, VK and Twitch: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/fidechannelTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/fide_chessVK: https://vk.com/fide About the sponsors: Binance is the world’s leading blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider with a financial product suite that includes the largest digital asset exchange by volume. Trusted by millions worldwide, the Binance platform is dedicated to increasing the freedom of money for users, and features an unmatched portfolio of crypto products and offerings, including: trading and finance, education, data and research, social good, investment and incubation, decentralization and infrastructure solutions, and more. TigerTrade is an innovative software package for securities and cryptocurrency traders. TigerTrade company has over five years of software development experience in the trading field, and in this short time, TigerTrade has managed to earn the full trust of its loyal customer. More than 15,000 active users worldwide with a daily volume of 100 mil USD have already chosen TigerTrade for analysis and trading. TigerTrade provides intuitive interactive visualization of market data, 30+ components for cluster analysis, flexible, customizable workspace with the support of a few monitors, and other tools and features. CryptoUniverse.io is one of the largest mining platforms in the world, offering power and equipment for cryptocurrency mining since 2017. Registered in Estonia under EU law, it owns one of the biggest data centers in CIS, located in the Republic of Karelia. Its overall capacity is 120 MW, with electricity coming from a private hydroelectric power plant, leaving no carbon footprint. The company is glad to participate in the Cup because chess and IT management have much in common in terms of considering various moves and outcomes. About the organizers: Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO is one of the leading business schools in Russia and the post-Soviet states established in 2006 by the business community. In 2020 it became No.1 in Eastern Europe in terms of quality of corporate programmes according to the Financial Times ranking. The School was awarded the EQUIS EFMD accreditation – one of the most prestigious international accreditations granted to 1% of the leading international business schools. The idea of the Cup belongs to its alumni: Oxana Kosteniuk, the president of the SKOLKOVO Chess Club, and its members: Sergey Raytsev, Tigran Mamikonian, Alexey Maiorov and Yuriy Mordvin. Lichess is a completely free, open-source chess platform — exclusively powered by volunteers and donations. Today, Lichess users play more than 3 million games every day. Lichess is one of the most popular chess websites in the world while remaining 100% free. Despite starting out as just a chessboard, Lichess now has a wide variety of features to meet the needs of the internet chess community: play, learn, events, community. Championat.com is the leading sports digital media in Russia and CIS. We are in the TOP-7 of Similar Web in category “sports media in the world”. More than 36 million unique visitors enjoyed Championat.com in May 2021.
Nepomniachtchi in front after rapid
Day three, and the last day of the rapid portion of the GCT Croatia Grand Chess Tour brought another dramatic day of chess. It may have seemed like a quiet day as there were only three decisive games. However, there were many hard-fought games with plenty of action making it a thrilling day of missed opportunities and excitement for the spectators. Round 7 The first game to finish in round seven was between Ivan Saric against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. They played a theoretical line of the Open Spanish where Black was able to equalize. Although activated his rook on the 7th rank, there was no way to continue putting pressure and the players agreed on a draw after a threefold repetition. Although the Meran variation in the Semi-Slav is known to be a solid defense for Black, the game between Alexander Grischuk against Anton Korobov showed otherwise as Grischuk went for an e4-e5 push to take away Black’s king defender and tried focusing on a king-side attack. Despite a two-piece sacrifice 16. Nxe6 followed by 17. Bxg7, White didn’t have enough pieces in the attack, and the game ended in a perpetual. The game between Anish Giri and Ian Nepomniachtchi was a highlight for the fans given the leader’s loss in yesterday’s last round. For many players, it is often difficult to come back after a tough loss, but Ian kept his calm. They opted for a Closed Catalan where most pieces got traded off into a rook and knight versus a rook and bishop endgame. Black had a passed d-pawn, but neither player had a way to make progress and the opponents agreed on a draw. The talented Dutch Grandmaster Jorden Van Forest surprised the top French player Maxime Vachier-Lagrave with 10.h3N in the Najdorf Variation of the Sicillian (10. Be2 is a standard continuation in that position) and within the next few moves the position was certainly more favorable for White. When MVL tried the typical 22…d5 to equalize, he failed to realize that 23. Nc5! followed by the capture of his bishop in b7 and f4-e5 would have given White a huge advantage. Jorden missed that opportunity and a few moves later went for greedy 26.exd5?? To win a pawn, he gave up the advantage after the beautiful 26…Nd3, which allowed Black to trade pieces into an equal endgame. The game didn’t end there though as the tables turned when White played 33. Re4? (instead of 33. d6) allowing Black to gain activity on the back rank. Black’s activity was so strong that the two-pawn deficit wasn’t even important. It seemed that MVL was in control and ready to convert, but Jorden fought until the end. He found a way to give up an exchange and ultimately created an unassailable fortress. Another game that kept the viewers on the edge of their seats was the one between Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Viswanathan Anand. After getting an equal position from the Berlin Defense, Anand started pushing for the advantage. He attacked White’s center with f5 and upon being allowed to capture in e4 he found a way to trade into a better endgame with 30…Bxb4! giving up two pieces for a rook and two pawns. Although those pawns seemed menacing, White found a way to keep them from advancing. After trading a pair of rooks, Anand activated his remaining rook active and attack White’s pawn weaknesses on the other side of the board. Unfortunately for Anand, there were several occasions where only moves were winning. His last miss was 65…h3??. He pushed the pawn too soon allowing White to trade his g-pawn for it and save the endgame. Instead, he had to give a few checks to push White’s king either back which would have allowed for his own king to advance, or forward which would have kept it away from the h-pawn. With little time on the clock, only the computer could have probably found the best continuation, so the game only ended in a draw. Round 8 The first game to finish in round eight was the one between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Jorden Van Foreest. The opening choice of the Exchange Variation of the Slav suggested a quiet game, but Ian had some tricks up his sleeve and focused on the weakening of Black’s king-side with 10. f4 and a typical bishop sacrifice 17.Bxg6. Unfortunately for him, he did not have enough resources to continue the attack and had to concede a three-fold repetition. The game between Anton Korobov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was a hard-fought duel in the Najdorf Sicilian, where Black gave up his a-pawn for piece activity. Despite the extra pawn, a bishop versus a knight and more space, White failed to find a way to push his majority on the queen-side without trading into a rook endgame. Once arrived in the rook endgame, Black kept his rook active and he was never in trouble to hold the game to a draw. Anish Giri and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov played a theoretical line in the Gruenfeld Defense where many of the moves seemed forced to keep the balance. They traded into an opposite-color bishop endgame in which they agreed on a draw. Viswanathan Anand had some positional advantage after the opening in his game against Ivan Saric. After 13…0-0 it seemed that White could have put some pressure on Black’s king with 14. Bh6 followed by Rae1 and some potential rook-lift as an attempt to keep the initiative and delay Black a little longer from the development of his bishop in c8. After 14. Qd4, Black was able to complete his development, trade his central weaknesses. The game was well played until the endgame where the players agreed on a draw in a rook and three pawn endgame on each side. The most complicated game of the round was the encounter between Alexander Grischuk and Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The Najdorf Defense was the opening choice of these two players and after the end of the theory, White had the opportunity to win the b7-pawn, but chose not to do so. Instead, Grischuk went for 22. b3?
Nepomniachtchi keeps the lead
Day two of the GCT Croatia Rapid & Blitz brought another exciting day of chess. The seven wildcard participants in this event are certainly keeping the tournament interesting and full of surprises. Though the day may have started off slow, as the time was running out for the players, many fumbles and surprises started to appear. Round 4 The first game to finish in round 4 of the GCT Croatia was the one between the World Championship Challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi and his Russian compatriot Alexander Grischuk. In an equal position from an English Opening, Grischuk may have overpushed on move 18…d4 allowing Ian to activate his Bg2 and further transpose into an endgame which was slightly superior for White despite Black’s space advantage. Most likely due to the limited amount of time left, Grischuk misplaced and lost a pawn after which Nepo slowly converted extra material in the endgame. As the commentators put it: “It was a dominant performance by Nepo!” In the game between Jorden Van Forrest-Ivan and Ivan Saric, it was White that kept the pressure throughout finding an interesting piece sacrifice: 26. Bxg6!? trying to weaken Black’s king. The piece was shortly recouped by the young Dutch player. The attack wasn’t strong enough, but he was able to retain an extra pawn in a rook endgame, which Saric held to a draw without much trouble. It was a tough day at the office for the Ukrainian Grandmaster Anton Korobov and quite the comeback for the Duch player Anish Giri. In a Vienna Game, where it seemed that it was White who had a clearly better position, Korobov misplayed 18.Bd4?? failing to recover his pawn down from c6. 18.Bxc6! Had to be played instead. It was all that Giri needed to put pressure on White’s king, keep up the extra pawn and convert the rook and bishop endgame later on. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Viswanathan Anand played a line in the Ragozin, where Black emerged with an extra pawn. Though White had some pressure on Black’s king due to the doubled f-pawns, Anand defended well and soon it seemed that he was heading to a much better position. He ended up in a knight and bishop endgame with an extra pawn, but it wasn’t enough to win against the strong Azeri GM. The game between Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Jan-Krzysztof Duda was the one that kept the audience breathless as it involved some interesting decisions and blunders from both sides. They played the Two-Knights Attack from the Caro-Kann which led to a balanced position. It was on move 28, where MVL chose to sacrifice a knight to open up Black’s king. It was a correct sacrifice, though it didn’t seem to bring him enough to build a mating attack. When Duda blundered with 33…Ne3??, the Frenchman found a way to win the queen for a rook and a bishop. The surprise happened when MVL chose to voluntarily (as he stated in the post-event interview) give back the queen with 40. Qf4?? and go into a rook endgame with an extra pawn and further a king and pawn endgame that should have normally ended in a draw. With little time on the clock and mistakes on both sides, Duda was the one that blundered last and lost the game. Round 5 Round 5 was the round of missed opportunities for many players. Four of the five games ended in a draw. The man of the round was certainly 5-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand who took down the Ukrainian Grandmaster Anton Korobov. The game was not without ups and downs, however. In the Steinitz Variation of the French Defense, Anand went directly for 11.h4 delaying to bring his king to b1, as it is often played in this type of positions. As the game was unfolding, it seemed that Korobov was able to stop White’s king side attack and build more powerful one of his own on the queenside. Apparently, Korobov outplayed Anand, but made a mistake with 26…Rcd8? and succumbed to 27. Nf5! that allowed White to steer into a slightly better queen and bishop endgame. They later traded the queens into an opposite color bishop endgame that could have been a draw, but after being able to win all of Black’s pawns on the queenside, Anand was able to convert the game masterfully. Both games of Ian Nepomniachtchi-Jan-Krzystof Duda and Alexander Grischuk- Shakhriyar Mamedyarov were played correctly leading to equal rook endgames that ended in all draws. One of the tournament wildcards and local Grandmaster Ivan Saric had an interesting game against the French favorite Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Though it started as a Sicillian, the game transposed to a French pawn structure, where MVL went for the typical break 15…f6 which allowed some advantage for White. Saric played confidently and even made a beautiful and typical positional exchange sacrifice 20. Rxe4! Accuracy would have been important for White to be able to continue keeping the pressure, but MVL defended ferociously and the game ended in a draw. Another interesting game of the round was between the two Duch compatriots, Anish Giri and Jorden Van Foreest. It was towards the endgame that Jorden started making inaccuracies given his weaker pawn structure. Anish was able to get an upper hand in a rook endgame with better-placed rook and king. He missed a chance to win the rook endgame on move 41, where instead of capturing the a-pawn, he should have played 41.b6 creating a hiding spot for his king. As played, his king didn’t have a place to hide and it allowed Black to deliver checks. Despite the extra pawn, the rook endgame ended in a somewhat peaceful draw. Round 6 Round 6 certainly brought more excitement in the eyes of the fans, as the current leader was taken down by the local star Ivan Saric. After about 20 moves theory in the Sveshnikov variation, it was Ivan Saric who seemed more confident than Ian Nepomniachtchi. Ivan had barely used any of his time, while Ian had already spent about 10 minutes, which is quite important in rapid
Nornickel becomes FIDE’s youth and children global chess development partner
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) and MMC Norilsk Nickel agreed on cooperation for 2021-2023. The company will be FIDE’s general partner in the global development of children’s and youth chess. “We gladly welcome one of the world’s largest mining and smelter companies among FIDE partners – a reliable partner that has been doing a lot for the development of sports in Russia and all over the world. For us, a long-term partnership with Nornickel is an opportunity to jointly conduct major projects and competitions to support and develop children’s and youth chess worldwide. This is an investment in young talented people, which will surely pay significant dividends for the world of chess. I am confident that our cooperation will enable both parties to achieve great results: FIDE – in the development of chess, and Nornickel – in the effective brand promotion on the global stage using sports marketing tools,” said FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich. As part of the cooperation, Nornickel will be a partner of the annual FIDE Junior World Championships, FIDE Under-20 Junior Chess Championships (both open and women), as well as some other major competitions, including the FIDE World Cup 2021, the FIDE Women’s World Cup 2021 and the Chess Olympiad 2022. “Success in both chess and business heavily depends on the right strategy. Any project can be compared to a chess game in which making the right move is critical. Chess develops strategic thinking, memory, concentration, decision-making skills, imagination and creativity. All these skills are necessary for any sphere, including business. That is why Nornickel will support FIDE’s global development of children’s and youth chess projects. Special focus will be on children’s chess development programs in the company’s regions of the highest priority,” stressed Larisa Zelkova, Senior Vice President of Nornickel. The partnership also involves an effective program for the development of chess among children in the regions of the highest priority for the company’s business. Based on a comprehensive approach to online training with the involvement of international grandmasters, the program will reach a significant number of talented kids to unlock their potential. About Nornickel: Nornickel is a partner of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), International University Sports Federation (FISU), Russian Olympic Committee, Russian Futsal Association, Russian Ice Hockey Federation, Night Hockey League, and Russian Curling Federation. Nornickel also owns a professional basketball team CSKA and a futsal team Norilsk Nickel.
Asian Chess Championship for Players with Disabilities starts on Tornelo
The Asian Chess Championship for Players with Disabilities kicks off on July 9 on the Tornelo platform, with 30 players from 9 countries participating in the open and women’s sections. The Asian Online Chess Championship for Players with Disabilities is an open individual tournament for chess players who belong to any of the three disability categories (visually impaired, hearing impaired and physically disabled). The Asian Chess Federation invites National Federations in Asia to nominate two players each for the open section and two players each for the women’s section for the Asian Online Championship for Players with Disabilities. Players should be members of their national federation with a valid FIDE ID number. The event is a 5-round Swiss tournament with time control of 10 minutes plus 5 seconds increment per move starting from move 1 (10’ + 5” incr.). There is no default time. No penalty is imposed on a player if they are late for any of their games; their clock keeps running until the time forfeit. FIDE Rapid ratings as of July 1 2021 will be used for pairing purposes. Should a participant have no FIDE Rapid rating, their standard rating will be used, and if they have no standard rating, such a player will be considered unrated for seeding purposes. The tournament will take place from July 9-11. An online Technical Meeting will be held at 3 pm Dubai time on July 8 2021. Any request for a special arrangement, particularly a request to have an assistant, shall be communicated to the disabledasia@gmail.com address no later than two (2) days after the registration deadline. The organizers shall attempt to grant the request in good faith. Their decision shall be final and non-appealable. IA Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh will serve as a tournament director. IA Kausar Bauyrzhan is Chief Arbiter, whereas IA Jamie Kenmure, Chairman of the Asian Chess Federation Commission for Disabled Persons, is Appeals Committee Chairman. Official website: asianchess.com/
Ponkratov and Guseva win Higher League of Russian Championship
The Higher League of the 74th Russian Championship and the 71st Russian Women’s Championship ended in Cheboksary last Monday. Five best players of each Swiss tournament qualified for the 2021 Russian Championships Superfinals. Both competitions with classical time control were held from June 26 to July 5. Having scored 7 points out of 9, Pavel Ponkratov (pictured above) became the winner of the open event. Maksim Chigaev and Aleksandra Goryachkina finished a half-point behind and tied for second place. Aleksandr Rakhmanov and Alexander Motylev also secured their spots in the Superfinal netting 6 points each. Women’s vice-champion Aleksandra Goryachkina made a real splash in the event. Competing with an array of strong GMs she turned in an excellent performance and became the first woman to qualify for the Russian Championship Superfinal (open section). Aleksandra picked up 15 rating points and surpassed a 2600 mark in live rating. Marina Guseva came out on top in the women’s tournament scoring 8.5 points out of 9 – two points ahead of Anastasia Bodnaruk, Daria Voit, and Evgenija Ovod who shared second place. Alina Bivol (Moscow) is in fifth place with 6 points. Official website: https://ruchess.ru/en/ Photo: Anastasia Domchenkova