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Dana Reizniece-Ozola joins FIDE in the role of Managing Director FIDE approves Online Chess Regulations Is yours the smartest company in the world? Yu Yangyi and Tan Zhongyi, Chinese Champions 2020 Michael Adams, seven-time British Champion “Team Hikaru” raises $355,720 for CARE “US Chess Women” shows the way Anniversaries READ NEWSLETTER
Teimour Radjabov wins the Airthings Masters
Teimour Radjabov clinched the Airthings Masters title, winning $60,000 and qualified for the tour final in September. In the match for third place, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave bested Daniil Dubov. After winning the first set of the final Teimour needed just a draw in the second one, but Levon Aronian did not go down easily. In the first see-saw game, Aronian went for a very sharp line which is refuted by the only and very hard-to-find move (21…d3). Teimour missed it and found himself in a lost position but then it was Levon’s turn to err. Teimour was winning but did not demonstrate necessary accuracy and the game was drawn. In the second game, Radjabov showed excellent technique and converted a slight advantage in an endgame with opposite-colored bishops into a full point. Being in a must-win situation Levon tried his best in game 3 but Teimour gradually traded most of the pieces, reached a draw, and won the match. “Today it was really tough. Trying to keep the focus and concentration to the very end and takes a lot of emotions as well to keep this way of calmness that I am trying to produce and not to show if I am happy or unhappy about my position. But it just took so much energy I am completely exhausted. I was trying to take Levon to the blitz part of the match, honestly, after checking his games of preliminaries and knockout stage. He was playing almost perfect chess very close to his highest level, which he always shows when he is in top form. Some can say I was playing some kind of dry chess, but my point was to win the tournament, not to please anyone, to be honest,” the winner said in a short interview right after the match. Daniil Dubov got a big advantage in the first and second games, but to his disappointment netted just a half-point. The Russian leveled the score after winning game 3 in good style but in the final encounter of the match, the Frenchman played his most consistent and cleanest chess in the match and tipped the scales in his favor. Chess24 has revealed that the $1.5 million Champions Chess Tour has a new title partner – the California-based firm Meltwater, a big player in the market for media intelligence and social analytics solutions. The tour will now be renamed the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. Official website: https://championschesstour.com/
Radjabov takes the lead in final
Teimour Radjabov took the lead in the final match with Levon Aronian after winning the fourth game of the first set. The first three games were complicated affairs but all three ended in draws. The last encounter of the first set saw Berlin Defense of Ruy Lopez in which Levon Aronian sacrificed a pawn and got sufficient compensation. On move 23 Levon optimistically pushed his f-pawn to f6 which turned to be a decisive mistake. White’s compensation immediately evaporated and Black comfortably converted his advantage into a full point. In the match for the third place, it was all Daniil Dubov in the first two games. However, he allowed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave back into the match in game three. In the final game the Frenchman, who was in a must-win situation, opted for a very risky line with Black and quickly found himself in a lost position. Luckily for Maxime, Daniil spent too much time in the opening and after missing several winning continuations eventually collapsed. The final day of the competition is played on January 3, starting at 2pm GMT. Official website: https://championschesstour.com/
Radjabov and Aronian face off in the final
Teimour Radjabov and Levon Aronian built up the first semifinals day momentum and advanced to the final of the Airthings Masters after defeating Daniil Dubov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. It took Radjabov just two games in the second semifinal set to clinch his spot in the final. In the first game, he bested Dubov in a sharp line of the Queen’s Gambit with early g2-g4. In game 2 Daniil spurned the move repetition in a roughly equal position but missed the opponent’s idea of trapping his queen. In order to save his strongest piece, the Russian had to make huge positional concessions that Teimour quickly exploited. Levon Aronian and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave did not need all four games to determine the winner of the match either. After two draws Levon obtained a very promising position with White in game 3. It seems like Maxim made a critical mistake on move 18 which cost him a pawn. Levon’s converting was not ideal but eventually, he prevailed and became the second finalist. Official website: https://championschesstour.com/
QF2: Dubov eliminates Carlsen; Aronian, MVL, Radjabov advance
The top four finishers in the preliminary stage were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the knockout. Arguably, the second day of the quarterfinals has been the most exciting so far. Daniil Dubov won games 1 and 3 to knockout Magnus Carlsen out of the competition (2.5-0.5). The World Champion had some opportunities in all three games but it was not his day as he made too many mistakes so uncharacteristic of him. Levon Aronian did not give Hikaru Nakamura a single chance and after the Armenian won games one and two there was no need to continue the battle. Two matches came down to the wire and were decided in Armageddon games. Wesley So fought hard in his match with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and after winning the second quarterfinal set by a minimal margin sent the match to a tiebreak. After opponents exchanged blows on tiebreak Maxime picked Black, reached a draw in Armageddon, and advanced to the semifinals. Teimour Radjabov could have settled the matters in his battle with Ian Nepomiachtchi without tiebreak – coming to game 4 with the one-point lead he obtained a great attacking position with Black. However, Teimour got astray and eventually crumbled. After losing the first tiebreak game by spoiling a very promising position Radjabov was hanging by a thread but did not give up. With his back against the wall, he pulled out a victory in the second game with Black and after drawing the Armageddon game made it to the semifinals. The semifinal matches will be played on Thгrsday, starting at 2 PM GMT. Official website: https://championschesstour.com/
Yu Yangyi and Tan Zhongyi win Chinese Championship
The 2020 Chinese Championship in open and women sections took place in Xinghua Jiangsu from 19-30 December 2020. Both tournaments were 12-player round-robins with the time control of 90 minutes for the entire game, plus a 30-second increment starting from move one. The open section was a three-man race among Yu Yangyi, Lu Shanglei, and Wei Yi taking turns on the top throughout the tournament distance. All three GMs scored 8/11 each and tied for the first Yu Yangyi clinching the champion title thanks to the best result in the direct encounters (he beat Wei Yi in the 9th round clash whereas Lu Shanglei drew both games). Photo: Kirill Merkuryev The Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun turned in a solid performance and came in clear fourth, two points behind the top trio. Final standings open: 1. Yu, Yangyi (2709) – 8/112. Lu, Shanglei (2615) – 83. Wei, Yi (2732) – 84. Ju, Wenjun (2560) – 65. Zhao, Jun (2638) – 5½6. Bai, Jinshi (2618) – 5½7. Xu, Xiangyu (2573) – 5½8. Xu, Yinglun (2554) – 5½9. Lin, Yi (2408) – 510. Huang, Renjie (2422) – 4½11. Wen, Yang (2594) – 412. Zhang, Rui (1658) – ½ Photo: John Saunders In the women’s tournament, the highest-rated participant Tan Zhongyi lived up to her reputation and took the title despite losing her first-round game. Guo Qi and Zhai Mo gave the champion a good run for her money and finished just a half-point behind. Final standings women: 1. Tan, Zhongyi (2510) – 8/112. Guo, Qi (2418) – 7½3. Zhai, Mo (2366) – 7½4. Ni, Shiqun (2389) – 75. Song, Yuxin (2290) – 76. Yan, Tianqi (2207) – 67. Yuan, Ye (2081) – 5½8. Xiao, Yiyi (2301) – 59. Ning, Kaiyu (2327) 4½10. Li, Xueyi (2328) – 311. Hu, Yu A. (2094) – 2½12. Gu, Xiaobing (2263) – 2½ Official website: cca.imsa.cn
FIDE World Cups 2021: Players nomination
In accordance with Article 2.1.VIII of the updated recently FIDE World Cup Regulations, one hundred Federations are selected according to the average rating of their ten highest-rated players in the December 2020 FRL (not more than 40 per Continent). These Federations should nominate any player of their choice who is registered to their Federation by June 5th, 2021 (in addition to players already qualified through other paths). Note: nine Americas’ “Federation” spots are transferred to Continental events (see Article 2.1.V of the Regulations) in accordance with the Continental President’s request of February 22nd, 2020. Therefore, the list below consists of 91 Federations. N FEDERATION Avg of Top 10, FRL dec 2020 1 Russia 2735 2 United States of America 2713 3 China 2702 4 India 2670 5 Ukraine 2666 6 Armenia 2659 7 Azerbaijan 2656 8 Hungary 2645 9 France 2643 10 Poland 2632 11 Germany 2630 12 Netherlands 2628 13 England 2623 14 Spain 2623 15 Israel 2610 16 Czech Republic 2605 17 Norway 2581 18 Croatia 2576 19 Georgia 2575 20 Argentina 2571 21 Serbia 2567 22 Romania 2564 23 Greece 2559 24 Turkey 2555 25 Bulgaria 2549 26 Peru 2548 27 Belarus 2547 28 Iran 2547 29 Sweden 2547 30 Uzbekistan 2547 31 Denmark 2545 32 Cuba 2544 33 Brazil 2542 34 Latvia 2535 35 Canada 2534 36 Italy 2534 37 Switzerland 2526 38 Bosnia & Herzegovina 2518 39 Kazakhstan 2518 40 Slovenia 2512 41 Austria 2511 42 Australia 2505 43 Vietnam 2505 44 Belgium 2499 45 Iceland 2499 46 Slovakia 2498 47 Colombia 2488 48 Lithuania 2484 49 Egypt 2479 50 North Macedonia 2472 51 Philippines 2470 52 Mongolia 2461 53 Chile 2459 54 Moldova 2445 55 Montenegro 2443 56 Finland 2442 57 Estonia 2439 58 Indonesia 2431 59 Mexico 2421 60 Venezuela 2418 61 Portugal 2410 62 Paraguay 2407 63 Turkmenistan 2377 64 Algeria 2361 65 Uruguay 2356 66 Morocco 2349 67 Bangladesh 2346 68 Malaysia 2336 69 New Zealand 2329 70 Singapore 2329 71 Costa Rica 2328 72 Myanmar 2315 73 Zambia 2314 74 United Arab Emirates 2311 75 South Africa 2301 76 Kyrgyzstan 2287 77 Tunisia 2283 78 Japan 2275 79 Iraq 2273 80 Tajikistan 2266 81 Nigeria 2265 82 South Korea 2258 83 Angola 2242 84 Uganda 2217 85 Yemen 2216 86 Jordan 2214 87 Syria 2199 88 Lebanon 2197 89 Libya 2181 90 Sri Lanka 2156 91 Zimbabwe 2151 In accordance with Article 2.1.V of the updated recently FIDE Women’s World Cup Regulations, thirty-nine Federations are selected according to the average rating of their five highest-rated women players in the December 2020 FRL (not more than 15 per Continent). These Federations should nominate any player of their choice who is registered to their Federation by June 5th, 2021 (in addition to players already qualified through other paths). N FEDERATION Avg of Top 5, FRL dec 2020 1 China 2544 2 Russia 2516 3 Georgia 2473 4 Ukraine 2469 5 India 2455 6 United States of America 2406 7 Kazakhstan 2401 8 Poland 2395 9 France 2388 10 Spain 2371 11 Hungary 2364 12 Azerbaijan 2362 13 Bulgaria 2361 14 Germany 2356 15 Armenia 2345 16 Netherlands 2342 17 Romania 2336 18 Iran 2333 19 Mongolia 2328 20 Cuba 2322 21 Serbia 2318 22 Turkey 2315 23 Vietnam 2303 24 Indonesia 2284 25 Canada 2256 26 Argentina 2244 27 Uzbekistan 2206 28 Australia 2187 29 Colombia 2162 30 Brazil 2130 31 Philippines 2129 32 Mexico 2121 33 Peru 2096 34 Egypt 2084 35 Venezuela 2028 36 Chile 2016 37 Turkmenistan 2016 38 Saudi Arabia 2014 39 Malaysia 2012 As previously announced, FIDE World Cup and FIDE Women’s World Cup were expanded to 206 and 103 players, with prize funds in both competitions substantially increased.
Carlsen first, Grischuk and Giri eliminated
The final day of the preliminary stage of Airthings Masters produced much more drama than the first two. It suffices to say that before the final round Magnus Carlsen secured his spot in the knockout stage, David Anton was out of the running but all the rest had a chance to qualify. After the dust settled, it’s Carlsen-Dubov, MVL-So, Nakamura-Aronian, and Radjabov-Nepomniachtchi in the Airthings Masters quarterfinals whereas heavyweights Alexander Grischuk and Anish Giri knocked out by the finest of margins. Grischuk missed a win (20.g4!) then lost a drawish rook ending to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave who wrestled a spot in the quarterfinals from him. Most likely Anish Giri lived to regret going all-in against Hikaru Nakamura with Black. In the end, a draw would have been enough for him to clinch a quarterfinal spot but it did not happen. The final standings saw Carlsen, So and Nakamura tied for first place, with Magnus taking the top spot on the tiebreak of having won the mini-league between the three players by beating Hikaru in Round 10. The drama, however, was at the bottom, when it surprisingly turned out that -1, or 5/11, was the cut-off score for qualifying. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who seemed to be out of contention, was suddenly able to take 7th place after beating Grischuk with the black pieces, condemning the Russian to finish 10th after all the other games between players on 5/11 had been drawn. Daniil Dubov, who began the day in 1st place, only scraped through on the tiebreak of scoring more wins (2) than Harikrishna (0). The bottom four were eliminated, though after David Anton beat Levon Aronian in the final round the gap between 1st and last place was mere two points. Play will resume at 15:00 CET on Tuesday, with Day 1 quarterfinals consisting of mini-matches of four 15+10 games. On Wednesday another four games will be played, and only if the match score is then level at 1:1 will we get two 5+3 blitz games followed, if necessary, by Armageddon, where White has 5 minutes to Black’s 4 but a draw will see the player with the black pieces reach the semi-finals. Text: Colin McGourty (chess24) Official website: https://championschesstour.com/
FIDE expands the World Cups, increases number of players and prize fund
206 players will compete in a revamped FIDE World Cup for a record prize fund of $ 1,890,000. The Women’s World Cup is also expanded to 103 players, with a 50% increase in the prize fund: from $450,000 to $676,000. The FIDE World Cup is one of our flagship competitions, and in recent editions, it has clearly become one of the most followed events in the chess calendar. In view of this, the International Chess Federation has decided to expand it, increasing both the number of players and the prize fund. These significant improvements will affect both the World Cup and the Women’s World Cup, which will be organized in Russia in the second half of 2021. To begin with, the number of players in the World Cup will increase from 128 to 206. The reigning World Champion, Women’s World Champion, and Junior World Champion are directly invited, as well as the four semi-finalists from the 2019 edition. They will be joined by 80 players qualified through Continental Championships, with every continent being guaranteed a minimum quota, and 100 players nominated by the top hundred federations by average rating. The exact list of countries/federations which will be entitled to nominate a player will be published within the next few days. The field will be completed with the 12 highest-rated players who did not qualify by any of the previous criteria, as well as the highest-placed player of the ACP Tour 2021 as of June 2021. With such varied paths to qualification, which also involve a much larger number of countries (minimum 100), the number of wild cards is sharply reduced: these direct invitations will be limited to 3 nominees by the FIDE President, and 2 by the local organizer. To keep the length of the tournament within reasonable limits, 156 players will begin from Round 1, but the 50 top players will be seeded directly into Round 2. Besides, the length of the final is reduced from four games to just two. As for the Women’s World Cup, the number of players is increased from 64 to 103, while the prize fund is raised from $450,000 in the previous edition, to $676,000 in 2021. The qualification paths for the event are very similar and as varied as the ones for the FIDE World Cup. 51 players will qualify from the Continental Championships, and 39 National Federations will also have the right to nominate a player, while the wild cards are reduced in this case to one nominee by the FIDE President, and one by the local organizer. Apart from the substantial prizes, the FIDE Women’s World Cup will give three players the opportunity to qualify directly for the Women’s Candidates Tournament, to be held in the first half of 2022. “It seems to us that this format, coupled with the previously announced FIDE Grand Swiss in which almost all 2650+ players (and 2400+ for women) will be able to participate, creates a nearly perfect balance”, explains Emil Sutovsky, FIDE’s Director-General and Chairman of the Global Strategy Commission, which is responsible for all the events that are part of the World Championship cycle. The city of Sochi is the main candidate to host both World Cups, with the 10th of July as a tentative starting date, but this information is provisional and should be confirmed by the Chess Federation of Russia in the coming weeks. Sochi has already successfully hosted a very similar event, the 2015 Women’s World Championship which was played in a very similar format: a knockout with 64 players. Regulations for World Cup 2021 (pdf) Regulations for Women’s World Cup 2021 (pdf)
Six leaders after quiet Day 2
Day 2 of Airthings Masters produced even fewer decisive outcomes comparing to the first day – just 3 in 24 games. The participants opted to tread carefully hoping to qualify for the knockout stage with minimum casualities. Magnus Carlsen wore down Daniil Dubov in a drawish endgame in Round 5 and joined a large group of leaders with 4½ out of 8 points. In the same round, Anish Giri prevailed over Pentala Harikrishna in tactical complications. To Daniil’s credit, he bounced back immediately by defeating Anish in the next round and returned to the +1 mark. The $200,000 event features a 3-day preliminary battle, with the top 8 players going through to the knockout stages that continue into the New Year. The participants play each other once at 15-minute rapid chess, with a 10-second increment after each move. The first prize is not only $60,000, double that on offer for the Skilling Open, but direct entry to the Grand Final next September. Official website: championschesstour.com/