Carlsen, Nakamura, Nepomniachtchi and So advance to semis
The second day of the Skilling Open quarterfinals was a day of comebacks. Magnus Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian, and Teirmour Radjabov started the day with a significant advantage after winning their first quarterfinal matches and needed just a draw to advance. However, only the World Champion was up to the task drawing his match with Anish Giri, whereas Hikaru Nakamura, Ian Nepomniachtchi, and Wesley So bounced back by beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Aronian, and Radjabov respectively and leveled the score. In tiebreaks, Nakamura was stretched thin as he lost the first game and was an exchange down in the second. To his credit, Hikaru did not give up, consolidated his position, and using the opponent’s inaccuracies tilted the balance in his favor. In Armageddon, the American chose to play with Black and reached so much needed draw. After So and Radjabov drew two blitz games it came down to Armageddon as well. Wesley opted for Black and easily sealed a draw in a won position after Teimour made a terrible mistake on move 22 that cost him a rook. Nepomiachtichi was simply unstoppable in the tiebreak blitz games – the Russian GM handily won both encounters and punched his ticket to the semifinals. The action resumes today with the first day of the semifinals. Skilling Open official website: https://championschesstour.com/
Five-way tie after Day 1
Day 1 of the Airthings Masters, the second leg of the Champions Chess tour, saw only 7 decisive outcomes in 24 games. Hikaru Nakamura, Levon Aronian, Daniil Dubov, Teimour Radjabov, and Wesley So, all scored +1 (2½ out of 4) and now are tied for first place. Alexander Grishuk, Magnus Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi, and Pentala Harikrishna are sitting on 2 points just a half-point behind the top five. Even the worst performers of Day 1 Anish Giri and David Anton are trailing the leaders only by 1½ and still have a chance to make it into top-8 and qualify for the next stage. The $200,000 event features a 3-day preliminary battle, with only 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/
Klara Shagenovna Kasparova (1937-2020)
Photo: Garry Kasparov’s Twitter, family archives It is with great sadness that we must share the sad news of the passing of Klara Shagenovna Kasparova (March 19, 1937 – December 25, 2020), mother of the 13th World Champion Garry Kasparov. Klara was, however, much more than a mother to Garry: she was a long-life mentor, who played a pivotal role in his career and development as one of the greatest champions in the world of sports. To begin with, Garry learned the game by observing Klara and her husband, the late Kim Weinstein, solving chess puzzles from the newspapers. When it became obvious that ‘Garik’ was a very gifted kid, part of his family wanted him to study music, but it was Klara who pointed him in the direction of becoming a chess player. And in 1981 she quit her job for good, to devote herself completely to the task of helping Kasparov to become World Champion. From then on, she combined the roles of a team leader, sports manager, press attaché, and doctor. Kasparov himself broke the news with a moving message on his Twitter account: “With great sorrow, I share the news of the passing of my mother, Klara Shagenovna Kasparova. My role model, my greatest champion, my wise counsel, and the strongest person I will ever know. I love you, Mama.” Klara’s love and determination were an inspiration to anyone who had the chance to see the formidable duo that she made with her son. The International Chess Federation would like to extend its deepest condolences to Garry and his family during this difficult time.
Vladimir Trkaljanov wins Gazprom Brilliancy Prize
Vladimir Trkaljanov (North Macedonia) has been declared the winner of the Gazprom Brilliancy Prize for the best game played at the Online Chess Olympiad for people with Disabilities. Six out of thirteen judges gave their votes for his victory over Irina Ostry in the match North Macedonia – Kyrgyzstan. In a sharp line of the Sicilian, Vladimir sacrificed a rook, chased down the opponent’s king from e8 to g3, and delivered an elegant checkmate. Here you can find the game, analyzed by those judges who picked it as the winner: Daniel King (ENG): https://youtu.be/09kl7LEOiGc Bassem Amin (ENG): https://youtu.be/sRo0Vp6fFd0 Elisabeth Paehtz (ENG): https://youtu.be/IeqT1iLr1QM David Martinez (ESP): https://youtu.be/_la4mb4VTFw Michael Rahal (ESP): https://youtu.be/ynnMIdh9N24 Georgios Souleidis (GER): https://youtu.be/91BlqTslk_c
USA dominates medal tally
The final knockout stage of the FIDE World Cadets & Youth Rapid Championships came to the end on December 22. The event held on Tornelo online platform, comprised five different age groups (U10, U12, U14, U16, and U18) with participants competing in two sections: girls and open. The USA dominated medal tally earning 8 medals (4 gold); India won 4 medals (2 gold); Russia also took 4 medals, but somewhat surprisingly no gold (1 silver and 3 bronze). During the online closing ceremony conducted by Kema Goryaeva, the participants of the FIDE World Cadets & Youth Rapid Championships were greeted by FIDE Vice President Akaki Iashvili and FIDE Director General and former World Junior Champion (1996) Emil Sutovsky. Akaki Iashvili: “Youth chess is a priority of FIDE. On behalf of FIDE and the Georgian Chess Federation, I would like to welcome all the participants and congratulate the winners. They demonstrated exceptional skills. I am confident that this tournament will stand out in our minds for years.” Many participants sent video messages in which they shared holiday vibes and wished a happy New Year to all. Final standings: Open U10 1. Movahed Sina (IRI)2. Vaclav Finek (CZE)3. Rajkhowa Mrinmoy (IND) Movahed Sina Photo: https://medu.ir/ Girls U10 1. Omya Vidyarthi (USA)2. Elnaz Kaliakhmet (KAZ)3. Diana Preobrazhenskaya (RUS) Omya Vidyarthi Photo: https://news.harker.org/ Open U12 1. Dimitar Mardov (USA)2. Ihor Samunenkov (UKR)3. Ngo Bach (USA) Dimitar Mardov Photo: US Chess Federation Twitter Girls U12 1. Alice Lee (USA)2. Tang Zoey (USA)3. Valeria Kleymenova (RUS) Alice Lee Photo: US Chess Federation Facebook Open U14 1. Gukesh D (IND)2. Volodar Murzin (RUS)3. Christopher Woojin Yoo (USA) Gukesh D Photo: John Saunders Girls U14 1. Eline Roebers (NED)2. Zsoka Gaal (HUN)3. Laysa Latifah (INA) Eline Roebers Photo: Harry Gielen Open U16 1. Frederik Svane (GER)2. Agha Bala Amirreza Pour (IRI)3. Jose Gabriel Cardoso Cardoso (COL) Frederik Svane Photo: Skanderborg Skakklub Girls U16 1. Rakshitta Ravi (IND)2. Song Yuxin (CHN)3. Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ) Rakshitta Ravi Photo: Frans Peeters Open U18 1. Nihal Sarin (IND)2. Shant Sargsyan (ARM)3. Francesco Sonis (ITA) Nihal Sarin Photo: Kirill Merkuryev Girls U18 1. Carissa Yip (USA)2. Thalia Cervantes Landeiro (USA)3. Elizaveta Solozhenkina (RUS) Carissa Yip Photo: Lennart Ootes
British Online Championships get underway
The Caplin British Online Championships kicked off on the Chess.com platform. The event stretches over two weeks from 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021. The Championships are being run by the English Chess Federation in collaboration with the Welsh, Scottish, Irish, Ulster, Jersey, Guernsey, and Isle of Man Chess Federations/Unions. The British Online includes separate Championships – Open, Women’s, Junior, Senior, and Rating Limited. The format is based on one week of qualifier events followed by a week of finals for each Championship. Each Championship consists of a qualifier and finals stage with a number of separate events at four different time controls (Standard, Rapid, Blitz, and Bullet) as shown in the table below. Players may take part in one or more championships for which they are eligible (e.g. Open, Women’s, Junior, etc), and one or more events within their selected championship(s) (e.g. Standard, Rapid, Blitz, etc), subject to the entry conditions and playing schedule. All standard play events will be based on a game a day with 7 rounds of qualifiers and 9 rounds of finals each in Swiss format. Standard play games will be based on direct challenge matches on Chess.com, started by an arbiter. Faster time controls (Rapidplay, Blitz, and Bullet) will be run as platform Swiss tournaments. The Open tournament brought together 37 players (7 GMs). In the Women’s tournament 20 participants, including GM Ketavan Arakhamia-Grant, are vying for the title. Official website: https://www.englishchess.org.uk/british-online-chess-championships/
ChessTech 2020 goes big
Running parallel to the FIDE Congress was ChessTech2020, the online conference on chess and technology, which drew 526 registrations from more than 70 countries. Following a welcome to the two-day-meeting from Zurab Azmaiparashvili, President of ECU, the FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich gave a keynote address Chess: Driving Technological Innovations in the 21st Century and answered a wide range of questions afterwards. The event, the 8th in the sequence of the London Chess Conferences, was directed by John Foley from ChessPlus Limited, a London-based training, and education company, with a programme developed by Stefan Löffler of ChesstechNews. FIDE was a foundation sponsor through its continental funding of the ECU. Commercial sponsors of the event included Tornelo, Chessable, DGT, LearningChess, ChessKid, ChessLang, SzuperChess, GameAhead Consulting, and ChessStars. The Zoom-based conference comprised 44 sessions with 122 contributors. The conference was very well received with an average satisfaction star rating of 4.3/5. According to the post-conference survey, the three most frequent descriptions of the conference were “interesting”, “informative” and “inspiring”. There were many memorable sessions. One of the most important topics was anti-cheating on which there were three in-depth sessions examining different perspectives. Many attendees were impressed by Chris Callahan’s overview of the free platform Lichess. The book presentations from David Smerdon (The Complete Chess Swindler) and Noam Manella (Think Like a Machine) provided deep insights into cognitive psychology. Daniel King’s honest account of how he built up his YouTube channel PowerPlayChess attracted many admirers. Another session on streaming chess gave advice from setting up Twitch to running a successful channel. The clear presentation by Shohreh Bayat and Judit Sztaray on online arbitration was praised by the arbiter community. Many chess teachers valued the presentations from a range of education companies including LearningChess, ChessKid, Chesser, AcornChess, and ChessLang. Chessable made a major announcement about the provision of free software to schools. The session on sponsorship was excellent. The gender issues from the previous conference were revisited in a lively international forum. There were three sessions on Erasmus projects: Castle, CGS, and 8by8; and one session featuring the European Research Council funded Digital Ludeme Project. There were several panels such as “Is Chess an Esport?” and “How to Make Chess Greener?” Many people praised the session on new formats for chess journalism. There was a competition for the best chess startup in 2020. This was won by Chessvision.ai by Pawel Kacprzak from Poland. Lecture by Dr. Alexey Root In addition to the above sessions in English, there were also segments of the conference conducted in French, Spanish, and German which were reported to be highly satisfactory. The conference also comprised a social networking “Chess Café” where it was possible to meet with other attendees in an informal atmosphere. For those who did not attend the conference, these are available in three categories. Some are available to the general public and are being released one-by-one with social media notifications. A second category is for those people who registered for the conference and may not have been able to get into some popular sessions. The third category is reserved for those with professional tickets. Access to categories two and three is available for a modest fee. Earlier conference report on ChessTechNews
Gawain Jones takes the title
On the final day of the European Online Blitz Championship, both semi-finals went to Armageddon: Gawain Jones (ENG) won over David Navara (CZE) while Alexei Shirov (ESP) beat Matthias Bluebaum (GER). In the final Jones convincingly defeated Shirov 2½:½. After losing the second game with white pieces (the first encounter was drawn) Alexei opted for a risky line in the third game but fell under a crushing attack. In the match for third place, Navara missed his chances in a won rook endgame that emerged in the first game and eventually lost. In the next two games, the German player scored 1½ points and took bronze. The medalists got trophies, medals, and invitations for the upcoming European Rapid & Blitz 2021, which will be held in Katowice, Poland. All the top-16 qualifiers got prizes. The players ranked from the 5th-8th place received a prize of €500 players from the 9th-16th place – a prize of €300, while the players ranked 17th-20th received the invitations for 2021. Special prizes were established for the best 3 female players: AntoanetaStefanova (BUL), Anna Sargsyan (ARM), and MonikaSocko (POL) received €200 each. Three best senior players – AvigdorBykhovsky (RUS), Igor Efimov (MNC), Leon Mazi (SLO) – and three best junior players – Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU), Kanan Garayev (AZE), and Nikolozi Kacharava (GEO) – are invited to the 2021 European Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship. A large number of spectators followed the live commentary in English by WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili, GM Marcin Tazbir, and WFM Maria Leks at the Polish national channel on Twitch TVP_Sports and the commentary in Polish provided by Infoszach. The organization of the championship was supported by the city of Katowice, the Ministry of Sport of the Republic of Poland, and Mokate. About Katowice: Katowice is one of the fastest-growing Polish cities which passed a deep restructuring in a short time. For the first time, the European Rapid Chess Championship in Katowice took place in 2017 and was certainly one of the greatest events in the history of the European Chess Union. The great organization of the competition back in 2017 made it possible for Katowice to receive the right to host the participants of the European Rapid Chess Championships in 2020 and 2021. Official website: https://www.katowice2020.eu/ Email: office@katowice2020.eu Social media: Facebook / Twitch
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Belgian Chess Federation turns 100 Field announced for Wijk aan Zee and Gibraltar WGP ‘Nepo’and Goryachkina, 2020 Russian Champions Brief news from National Federations ChessTech Conference 2020 Anniversaries READ NEWSLETTER
Kazhgaleyev and Abdumalik win Kazakhstan Cup 2020
Murtas Kazhgaleyev and Zhansaya Abdumalik won the 2020 Kazakhstan Championship in the open and women sections. Both championships were round robins that brought together the best Kazakhstani players. Murtas turned in a very solid performance in the open competition scoring 7½ out of 11 points. The champion lost just one game but compensated for it with five victories and finished a half-point ahead of Aslan Aitbayev. It is the third national title in Kazhgaleyev’s career. Aitbayev had a very good tournament as well – after reeling off three straight victories at the finish he took silver. The highest-rated participant of the event Rinat Jumabayev ended up in the third position. Photo: David Llada Final standings open: 1. GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev (2569) – 7½2. IM Aslan Aitbayev (2457) – 73. GM Rinat Jumabayev (2654) – 6½4. GM Petr Kostenko (2429) – 5½5. FM Ramazan Zhalmakhanov (2393) – 5½6. GM Anuar Ismagambetov (2528) – 5½7. IM Agmanov Zhandos (2407) – 58. Azamat Utegaliyev (2496) – 59. GM Rustam Khusnutdinov (2491) – 510. IM Ayan Akhmetov (2438) – 511. IM Denis Makhnev (2486) – 512. GM Nurlan Ibrayev (2395) – 3½ In the women’s tournament, the excitement was there until the final moves. In the penultimate round, IM Guliskhan Nakhbayeva defeated Abdumalik and gained a half-point lead going into the last round. However, on the final day, the leader lost to WFM Amina Kairbekova, while Abdumalik showed her mettle (it is not for nothing that boxing is her hobby!), won over Laura Abdildayeva, and leapfrogged Nakhbayeva to claim the title. Nakhbayeva finished second, Kairbekova took bronze. Final standings women: 1. IM Zhansaya Abdumalik (2478) – 72. IM Guliskhan Nakhbayeva (2328) – 6½3. WFM Amina Kairbekova (2065) – 54. Liya Kurmangaliyeva (1974) – 55. WIM Assel Serikbay (2247) – 4½6. WGM Gulmira Dauletova (2319) – 4½7. WFM Xeniya Balabayeva (2146) – 4½8. WFM Meruert Kamalidenova (2231) – 3½9. WFM Alua Nurmanova (2026) – 2½10. Laura Abdildayeva (1845) – 2