Upset Watch: Round 5
The fifth round of the FIDE Online Olympiad for People with Disabilities played host to more than a half-dozen upsets. At the team level, Poland 1 has been stopped dead in their tracks; indeed, in the wake of the disastrous crushing at the hands of Philippines 1, the second seed Poland – 2, has eclipsed their comrades as the Polish top team. Also failing to regain their momentum, on the other end of the spectrum, was India 4. The team captain K. Marimuthu, also stalled, ending his upset streak. Yet, as Russia begins to separate itself from the herd down the stretch, there are still hungry competitors on their tail. Arguably, the most important upset of the fifth round belongs to the anchor player of Poland 2, Emilia Tryjanska (1425), who flagged WIM Anto Jennitha (2001) of India 1. If the Polish upset was dwarfed in importance, it was also second in quality to the beautiful draw between the captain of Ukraine 3, IM Igor Yarmonov (2391), and Van Quan Nguyen (1783) (pictured below), the leader of team Vietnam. Nguyen managed to trap Yarmonov in a perpetual check net, bringing home a crucial half-point against a far stronger team and preventing a 3-1 routing. In a similar set of circumstances, Ana Vuljanic (1581) of Team Croatia held on to a critical draw against expert Andras Paal (2060), contributing a decisive half-point into an overall win over Hungary. Because Paal opted not to gamble and settled for a draw by repetition in an inferior position, Vuljanic might have been robbed of an even bigger upset. Romania 1 would have whitewashed India 3 if it had not been for a major upset on the fourth board, in which Vivek Watpade (1344) trapped the queen of Ciprian-Iulian Strete (1782) after the Romanian greedily snatched a poisoned pawn on move 21. Although Romania’s top squad was deprived of a full sweep in round five, Russia 2 would not be denied the same. In a critical upset, Polina Taranenko (1445) handily defeated Huseyin Sahin (1788) of Turkey 1. Huseyin Sahin – Polina Taranenko With a beautiful finishing move of 39…Nh1+!, Taranenko guaranteed checkmate on move 40. This spectacular game, which guaranteed Russia’s 4-0 victory over Turkey, may be a candidate for a tournament brilliancy prize. Perhaps, the greatest upset of the tournament was not, by any means, the most lopsided. In Round 5 Cuba’s status as the rising chess hegemon of South America was challenged by Ecuador. On board 1, IM Pedro Morales (2332) could not manage to earn the victory against Christopher Leonel Garzon Zapatanga (1697) (pictured below), despite a valiant positional exchange sacrifice in a deadlocked position. Cuba’s bad luck only got worse, as, on board 3, master-strength Raul Leonardo Lavigne Lopez (2229) suffered the tournament’s nastiest upset against Andres Nevarez Castro (1250), blowing an easily won position through poor time management. Round five’s final upset might be the most aesthetically pleasing one. Although rated over 500 points lower than his opponent, Kyrgyzstan’s Toktobek Bolotov (1448) stayed neck-and-neck with expert Gavril Draghici Flutur (2072), of team Spain, throughout a 73 move game. Forcing the game into the deep waters of a queen ending, Bolotov managed to simplify into an equal position with king and three pawns vs king and three pawns and held his higher-rated opponent to a draw. Essentially, Bolotov’s personal achievement is responsible for converting a close match into a decisive victory for team Kyrgyzstan over Spaniard by a score of 3-1. As we enter the final two rounds of play, the question which looms large over the tournament is whether or not anyone can prevent Russia from, once again, running away with a clear domination of a world championship. Win or lose, join Bear the Chess Husky, right here tomorrow, as we continue to keep a vigilant eye on The Upset Watch! Standings after Round 5: 1. Russia 1 – 102. Poland 2 – 93. Germany – 84. Philippines 1 – 85. Israel – 86. Ukraine 1 – 87. Ukraine 3 – 88. Croatia – 89. Poland 1 – 710. Russia 2 – 711. Ecuador – 712. Romania 1 – 713. Chile – 714. India 1 – 715. Vietnam – 6 Text: Arena International Master Sean J. Manross & Bear the Chess Husky Official website: dis.fide.com
Day 3: Carlsen wins prelims
Magnus Carlsen survived a blunder against Hikaru Nakamura in the first round of the day to win the Skilling Open prelims, but the main drama was elsewhere. 17-year-old Alireza Firouzja seemed to have wrapped up a quarterfinal spot with a stunning three wins in a row, but losses in the last two rounds meant heartbreak. After leading for two days, Anish Giri only scraped into the quarterfinals in 8th place and now faces Carlsen, while world no. 2 Ding Liren, who went into the day in 2nd place, is also out. There was joy and despair on the final day of the Skilling Open Prelims, as the 16 players battled to claim eight places in the quarterfinals. No-one summed up the joy better than Levon Aronian, who bounced back from a bad day to win three games and ultimately finish in 5th place. He celebrated with his dog Ponchik! Elsewhere there was a huge relief for Anish Giri, who went into his final round game, Black against Ding Liren, with his tournament survival hanging by a thread. It would have been a shocker to get knocked out after leading for the first two days, but the Dutch star got the draw he ultimately needed. French no. 1 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave also made it in by the finest of margins. The most dramatic story, however, was that of 17-year-old Alireza Firouzja. For the first three rounds, he was on fire, taking down Ding Liren, Anish Giri, and Sergey Karjakin to take the joint lead with Magnus Carlsen with just two rounds to go. He was garnering high praise. It seemed just a formality that he’d reach the knockout stage, but in the penultimate round, he ran into a killer tactic from Hikaru Nakamura. Then in the final round, when a draw with White against Liem Quang Le would have been enough for him to qualify, he again fell to defeat. After Liem’s win, it turned out both players were the unlucky ones to lose out in a 5-way tie with Teimour Radjabov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Anish Giri since in that mini-league Teimour scored 3/5, Maxime and Anish 2/5, and Alireza and Le only 1.5/5. The final standings look as follows, with the quarterfinalists on the left: The no. 1 finisher plays the no. 8, the no. 2 the no. 7, and so on, which produced the following mouth-watering ties. There’s no rest day, with the matches beginning Wednesday at 18:00 CET. Each clash is held over two days, with a 4-game rapid match each day. If the score is 1:1 after those two matches a playoff will be held with two blitz games and then Armageddon. Text and photo: chess24.com Official site: https://championschesstour.com/
Upset Watch: Round 4
The fourth round of the FIDE Online Olympiad for People with Disabilities saw an upset of an impressive campaign of Poland 1 and a fourth victory, in a row by the player who is, arguably, the most underrated competitor of the event, K. Marimuthu of India 4. Until yesterday’s battles, Poland 1 was merciless dominating Bangladesh, Chile, and Ukraine 2 in the first three rounds, respectively. However, an emergent chess superpower, India, proved that their top team could not be so easily brushed aside. Poland’s leader, GM Marcin Tazbir (2513), sat out the round while FM Marcin Molenda (2349) and FM Lukasz Nowak (2265) managed to score full points on Boards 1 and 2. However, the bottom two Polish boards fell to defeat, ending the team’s momentum and begging the question if it may have been a tactical error to bench the grandmaster. Russia 1 and Germany did not miss a chance to edge ahead by steamrolling Croatia (4-0) and Ukraine (3½-½) respectively. FM Stanislav Babarykin (pictured below) and IM Andrei Obodchuk, first and second boards of the Russian squad, both scored 4 out of 4 so far. Russia 1 and Germany won all four matches and will face off in Round 5. At their other end of the tournament’s spectrum, there were two upsets worthy of note. India 4’s gallant crusade against the pack has stalled – but their top board continues to exceed expectations. K. Marimuthu (1588) defeated Spanish expert, Albert Olivera Gutierrez (2097), adding another notch to the list of victories against players rated 400+ higher. Similarly stunning was the 14-move bludgeoning which Saltik Suleyman (1639) put on Pedro Basualto Penalieres (2025), in the match between Turkey 1 and Chile. Tomorrow, the Turk will have an opportunity to build upon today’s victorious Nimzo-Larsen in a match against Junior World Vice-Champion of the Disabled, Griffin McConnell of the USA. Griffin McConnell (pictured below), the “Colorado Kid,” has proven himself to be the de-facto leader of Team USA and an upset-machine at this year’s Online Olympiad. In the first round, the Junior World Vice-Champion handily defeated Russia 2’s International Master Alexey Pakhomov (2315) in what was, arguably, the biggest win of his career, to date. McConnell followed these successes with victories against an Expert and Class A player, respectively, in rounds 3 and 4, falling only in round 2 to Arena Grandmaster Henry Lopez, of Philippines 1. Team USA may have had a spectacularly-awful second round, getting blown out against the Philippines…but, today’s upset win over heavy-favorite North Macedonia, with 3.5/4, puts the Americans back in a position of much-needed momentum. Photo: Dora L. Martinez Russia 3 is led by McConnell’s arch-rival, Junior World Champion of the Disabled, FIDE Master Ilya Lipilin (2189). Lipilin plays on the second board but it should not obscure the fact that the Russian lad is one of the strongest competitors in the event. In round 4, Lipilin took down seasoned FIDE Master, Carlos Larduet Despaigne (2293). This win is his most significant in the event so far as it helped Russia 3 to upset Cuba and cemented its position in the top-10 of current standings. Standings after Round 4: 1. Russia 1 – 82. Germany – 83. Poland 1 – 74. Poland 2 – 75. India 1 – 76. Israel – 67. Philippines 1 – 68. Russia 3 – 69. Vietnam – 610. Poland 3 – 611. Hungary – 612. Ukraine 3 – 613. Ukraine 1 – 614. Croatia – 615. India 3 – 5 Text: Arena International Master Sean J. Manross & Bear the Chess Husky Official website: dis.fide.com
Day 2: Giri holds lead
Anish Giri drew all 5 games on Day 2 of the Skilling Open, but that was enough to retain the sole lead after Sergey Karjakin took down Magnus Carlsen in the final round of the day. Of the 8 highest classically rated players only Levon Aronian would currently miss out on the knockout stage, with his replacement a certain Hikaru Nakamura. Hikaru fell to a tactical blow from Liem Quang Le in the first game of the day but beat Ian Nepomniachtchi in Round 10. Another frenetic day of five rounds of 15+10 rapid chess left the standings as follows before the final five rounds of the preliminary stage on Tuesday. The Top 8 players after the preliminary stage go forward to a knockout stage, where each match is held over two days. Text and photo: chess24.com Official site: https://championschesstour.com/
Ukraine wins Online Friendship Team Tournament
The Belarusian Chess Federation and FIDE Chess Academy in Belarus supported by FIDE joined efforts to organize the International Online Friendship Chess Team Tournament. The 7-round Swiss Team event with the time control of 10 minutes + 5 seconds was held on Tornelo online platform from 21st to 22nd of November 2020. 28 teams representing 26 federations took part in the tournament. Each squad consisted of 6 players (two players aged under 12, two players aged under 10, and two players aged under 8) plus a captain/representative. Ukraine, Latvia-Riga Chess School, and China entered the competition as the rating-favorites and two of them delivered on promises taking two top spots. The Ukrainian youngsters made just one draw winning six matches. By a twist of tournament fortune, the champion did not clash with the runner-up, team China that also won six matches but suffered one defeat. Team Greece took bronze. The finals standings are based on the match outcomes and an anti-cheating report by Tornelo. The winners were awarded free online lectures by Boris Gelfand, Ruslan Ponomariov and Antoaneta Stefanova. Final standings: 1. Ukraine – 13 out of 142. China – 123. Greece – 104. Armenia – 105. Belgium – 106. Belarus-Gomel – 97. Belarus-Minsk – 98. Lithuania – 99. Belarus-FIDE Chess Academy – 810. Slovakia – 8
InterContinental ChessKid FIDE Challenge announced
FIDE is proud to announce a partnership with ChessKid to launch what we expect to turn into the largest under-12 online event ever. The first Intercontinental ChessKid FIDE Challenge will take place on January 23, and it is open to children from anywhere in the world. To best accommodate as many time zones as possible and give everyone a chance to play, there will be two distinct tournaments, both taking place on the same day. Children can register for either the “Eastern Edition” (beginning at 9 AM UK) or the later “Western Edition” (beginning at 9 AM Pacific U.S.). They are eligible to play in either one or both, whichever is more convenient for them. Each of the two editions will be played in two sections: Ages 9-12 and 8 and Under. The ages are as of January 1, 2021. The time control will be 10+2 (10 minutes starting time plus 2 seconds added per move) and each of the two editions will be 7 rounds. The expected length for each tournament is three hours. The event will take place entirely on the ChessKid live server with fantastic prizes, including group lessons with former world champions Vishy Anand and Alexandra Kosteniuk, and current World Rapid Champion Humpy Koneru. The Intercontinental ChessKid FIDE Challenge will be focused mostly on participation and fun, and as such, the top prizes will be awarded in a unique way to take the pressure off of kids. For every half-point earned, a player receives one “raffle ticket” into a drawing. For every win, a ChessKid receives two “raffle tickets” into the drawing. In addition, any player finishing the tournament receives a bonus raffle ticket. You can find all the details at the ChessKid website: www.chesskid.com
Vahap Sanal wins 2020 Turkish Championship
Vahap Sanal is the 2020 Turkish chess Champion, after dominating the field in a 10-player round-robin tournament that took place from November 13-21. The event was held in Kemer, a seaside resort in the province of Antalya that has hosted multiple international chess events in recent years. Vahal was the defending champion, having won the title already in 2019. The 22-year-old GM from Izmir entered the competition as the rating favorite, and he dominated the field very convincingly, scoring five wins (including a victory over the runner-up) and four draws. IM Melih Yurtseven finished sole second, after a very strong finish, while Cem Kaan Gokerkan got third place. Final standings: 1. GM VAHAP ŞANAL (2557) – 72. IM MELİH YURTSEVEN (2391) – 6½3. IM GOKERKAN CEM KAAN (2461) – 64. GM KIVANÇ HAZNEDAROĞLU (2437) – 5½5. GM BURAK FIRAT (2474) – 4½6. FM EMİRHAN TARLABAŞI (2275) – 47. FM SEVGİ VOLKAN (2359) – 38. IM DENİZ ÖZEN (2412) – 39. IM EKATERINA ATALYK (2450) – 310. FM ATABERK EREN (23212) – ½ Official website: http://tr2020.tsf.org.tr
Day 1: Anish Giri shoots ahead
Anish Giri is a sole leader of the Skilling Open after scoring 4/5 on Day 1, and it could have been more, since he took a draw in a close to winning position against Hikaru Nakamura. Magnus Carlsen feared the worst after blundering his queen against Ian Nepomniachtchi and then letting a win slip against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The World Chess Champion needn’t have worried, however, as he bounced back to win the next three games. The surprise of the day was bottom seed David Anton, who beat Svidler, Nepomniachtichi and Radjabov to tie with Magnus for 2nd place. After a poor start, Magnus thought it might be a bad day at the office, but he stormed back to beat Teimour Radjabov, David Anton and Alireza Firouzja, saying of the 17-year-old prodigy, “It’s always good to beat him while I still can!” The win against David Anton was also important since the Spanish Champion still tied Magnus for 2nd place after beating Peter Svidler, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Teimour Radjabov. Meanwhile, almost everything went right for Anish Giri, who pointed out afterward he could have scored even more points. He explained that he took the draw against Hikaru Nakamura because he thought he’d squandered almost all his advantage, when in fact he was still doing very well. Text and photo: chess24.com Official site: https://championschesstour.com/
Athletes Commission 2020 Elections Candidatures: Deadline extended to December 03, 2020
Following some requests received by the Secretariat and bearing in mind that it will be the first elections for the newly established FIDE Athletes Commission and that the Covid-19 pandemic is creating additional difficulties in the contacts among athletes and Federations, the deadline for submitting candidatures is extended to 3th of December 2020. Candidatures must be sent by email to office@fide.com filling in the Candidature Nomination Form available on the FIDE website. The list of approved candidates will be published on the FIDE website on the 5th of December 2020. The confirmed elections period stretches from 11th to 18th of December 2020.
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John D. Rockefeller V donates $3 Million to US Chess FIDE Online Olympiad for People with Disabilities kicks off “Algorithms” Announcing the InterContinental ChessKid FIDE Challenge Brief news from National Federations ChessTech Conference 2020 announced Anniversaries READ NEWSLETTER