Russia scoops at European Team Championship
The European Team Championship in Batumi ended with the Russian teams’ claiming gold in both open and women’s sections. One may think that in the women’s tournament Russia smoothly sailed to the victory – after all the team was leading throughout the tournament distance and finished a point ahead of the silver medalists, but in reality, it was not that easy. In the sixth round, Russia drew with Azerbaijan, whereas in the eighth round the team was teetering on the brink of defeat in the match with Armenia. Hadn’t Kateryna Lagno outfoxed her opponent in a theoretically drawing rook-and-bishop-vs-rook endgame the team would have lost two matchpoints and let Georgia catch up. Lagno became the main point-winner in the team – after sweeping three final games Kateryna ended up with 6.5 out of 8. The Challenger of the upcoming Women’s World Championship match Alexandre Goryachkina sealed off the first board (6 out 9); the champion of Russia Olga Girya earned several important victories (5.5 out of 7). Both Valentina Gunina and Alina Kashlinskaya were far from their best but scored +2. The Georgian team came second. After losing the key match to Russia in the fourth round the home-squad won all others save for a draw with Azerbaijan in round 7. On the first board, a participant of the Candidates Tournament Nana Dzagnidze netted 7 out 9; Meri Arabidze also turned in a fine performance (she suffered her only defeat in the match with Russia). The managers decided to put Nino Batsiashvili at the helm of the Georgia-2 team – one may wonder how it would have played out if she had been a member of the main team. Azerbaijan deservedly took bronze. Young Azerbaijan players drew the matches with both gold and silver medalists and lost just one at the start of the tournament. IM Gulnar Mammadova delivered the best performance (6.5 out of 8). It was much more close contest in the open section where, in accordance with unspoken rules of team competitions, the winner was determined in the very last minutes of the final round. After Ivan Saric managed to build a fortress in the game with Vassily Ivanchuk, Russia finished one point ahead of Ukraine and England. As we mentioned in our half-way review, the key match between the favorites was played in the sixth round, right after the day off. Russia pulled out a victory – Dmitry Andreikin outplayed Vassily Ivanchuk in the Najdorf Variation of Sicilian defense on the top board and brought his team a decisive point. However, right after that Russia faltered, drawing two matches with Germany and England. In the first one, the future champion barely escaped thanks to a sparkling although not error-free play by Daniil Dubov in the game with Rasmus Svane. The final combination of this highly entertaining encounter was immediately tweeted all around the chess world: 36.Bb3! (the only move) Bd7 37.Qc1+ Kxb3 38.Qc2 Ka3 39.Qa2# As a result, before the final round, Urkaine stood alongside Russia but had better tiebreaks. However, Ukraine failed to break down Croatia’s resistance, whereas Russia prevailed over a strong Polish team thanks to Kirill Alekseenko’s victory on the third board. Daniil Dubov, who asked to call him “Joker” after the tournament, put in the best performance in the team-champion (5.5 out 7). The team leader Dmitry Andreikin scored the same amount of points but in eight games. The fatigue accumulated after Grand Swiss Isle of Man had an impact on three other Russian players, but their high level coupled with a little luck helped the team to snatch gold. Ukraine tied with England for the second place but was awarded silver due to better tiebreaks. Legendary Vassily Ivanchuk did not spoil the party, scoring 5.5 out 9 on the first board. Vladimir Onischuk (formally a reserve player) notched 6 points in 8 games, although sometimes his positions made his teammates sweat. Unfortunately, a tight tournament schedule also took its toll on the Ukranian team – Alexander Moiseenko played way below his abilities. Third place by England is in line with pre-tournament expectations – the team had second rating after Russia. It is important to note, that England has played the second team championship in a row virtually without substitutes. Given that McShane, Howell, and Jones were among the participants in Grand Swiss Isle of Man, it was particularly difficult for them to pace up. Curiously enough, the leaders of Ukraine and England Vassily Ivanchuk and Michael Adams won their first European Team Championship medals in 1992 in Debrecen. Ironically, the first three lines in the final standings back then were taken by Russia, Ukraine, and England. Most likely Armenia (4th place) and the defending champion Azerbaijan (6th place) had set more ambitious goals before the tournament. The Armenian team suffered from insufficient roster depth, whereas, in the case of Azerbaijan, its leaders Shakhryar Mamediarov and Arkadij Naiditsch were out of shape. On the other hand, Croatia emerged as a real breakthrough of the event. The Croatian squad finished fifth even though two of its members did not win a single game. This is just another evidence of a very close contest in the tournament. FIDE.com congratulates all the winners and thanks ECU for organizing the championship.
Wesley So is the first Fischer Random World Champion
America’s third-ranked player wins the first official world championship for this variant over classical world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway. 2-11-2019, OSLO, NORWAY: Wesley So took down Magnus Carlsen by 13,5 to 2,5. The final, played in Oslo, was a historical event in which for the first time the International Chess Federation recognized a new variety of chess. At the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter art museum located close to Oslo, Norway, GM Wesley So became the first World Champion in Fischer Random Chess. So defeated GM Magnus Carlsen by the dominant score of 13.5 to 2.5 in the event that started on October 27 and ended on November 2. Wesley’s victory, with four wins and only two draws, was so crushing that he clinched the title with six rounds to spare. In fact, the American cruised through the whole final stage of the event without suffering a single loss, showing his supremacy in this recently developed chess variant. The match’s fate was decided after Wesley won the second through fourth games. Magnus Carlsen, who hasn’t lost a game of classical chess since July 2018 and accumulates a streak of 101 games unbeaten, bit the dust three times in a row before his home crowd, who gathered in big numbers at the Henie Onstad Art Center in Bærum, Norway. The Norwegian has been the classical world champion since 2013 and the world-number-one since 2011 and has also been considered the unofficial Fischer Random champion, having won a match in 2018 against GM Hikaru Nakamura. “I just want to congratulate Wesley So, he played a lot better than me,” said the champion after his defeat. Wesley So, who reached the number two spot in the FIDE world ranking back in 2017, achieves his first official world title in individual competition—filling a hole in an already brilliant career, with numerous victories in top-level events. The event was organized by Dund AS, with Chess.com as a technological partner. “With FIDE’s support for Fischer Radom Chess, we are happy to invite you to join the quest to become the first, ever, FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Champion,” said Arne Horvei, Founding Partner in Dund AS. “Anyone can participate online, and we are excited to see if there are any diamonds in the ruff out there that could excel in this format of chess”. “From the moment we were presented with the vision for this incredible event many months ago, we immediately recognized the potential milestone that an official World Fischer Random Chess Championship would represent for the chess world. Chess.com is proud to have organized the first truly open online qualification process which saw over 10,000 games played and became the foundation for crowning a worthy champion like Wesley So. We believe this is a first step on the path towards a prosperous and exciting future for chess through online and over-the-board harmonization.” Chess, rebooted There have been many proposals over the long history of chess to revolutionize the game by introducing new pieces or changing the initial arrangement of these. However, none of these attempts succeeded until the former World Champion Bobby Fischer came up with his own idea. The American genius suggested that the pieces should be shuffled, but only following certain restrictions: the bishops must be placed on opposite-color squares, and the king must be placed on a square between the rooks. The result is a modality in which we have 960 unique possible starting positions, but the rules of chess remain the same. Thus, the tactics, and for the most part, the principles and basic strategies of the game, are still valid. The fact that both players keep the right to castle also contributed to the starting positions having some kind of “harmony” and balance, characteristical of standard chess. Fischer Random tackles a problem in modern chess: since the starting position was always the same, the possibilities in the “opening” phase of the game has been methodically analyzed. Even the beginners have their favorite opening lines – the systems that they employ to start the game, develop their pieces, and place them in the most favorable positions. At the top level, and since the irruption of the computers in the game towards the end of the nineties, chess openings have been exhaustively analyzed. Top players spend most of their time analyzing the lines used by their opponent and improving their own arsenal – the best way to respond to their opponent’s usual defenses. This implies memorizing an enormous amount of information. As a result, standard chess games between elite players often follow a line that has been played before, and a “novelty”, or a move that has never been used before, doesn’t show up on the board until as late as the 20th or 25th move. Many games are not decided by a move found over the board, but early on, during the preparation for the game. The random setup that Fischer Random implies makes gaining an advantage through the memorization of openings impracticable. Instead, players must rely on their skill, talent, and creativity, facing a completely fresh position over the board. All the opening theory that they have learned so far becomes useless – it is like rebooting chess, and giving it a fresh start. “It is probably for this reason that Fischer Random chess has won the favor of the chess community, including the top players and the World Champion himself”, stated the FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich earlier this year. “We couldn’t be oblivious to that: it was time to embrace and incorporate this modality of chess.” Who is Wesley So? Wesley Barbasa So was born on October 9, 1993, in Bacoor (Philippines). He learned chess at the age of 7 or 8 on the streets of Cavite, a suburb in the outskirts of Manila: “Chess is very popular in the Philippines because in third-world countries, chess is the poor man’s game. Rich people play tennis, polo, and golf, while poor people play chess because you don’t need anything – no uniform, no field or courts”, explained Wesley in an interview with David Cox of Chess.com. Wesley was nine years old
FIDE presents chess at ODECABE General Assembly in Panama
On October 31st ODECABE General Assembly of National Olympics Committees (Central America and Caribe Countries Games) took place in the Wyndham Albrook Hotel in Panama City Panama. FIDE Executive Director Victor Bologan made a presentation and elaborated on the benefits of including chess into the 2022 Central America and Caribe Games (CACG) which will be held in Panamá City, Panamá. The presentation had great success with very positive comments from some NOC Presidents in particular from Venezuela and Costa Rica about chess as a serious sport. Now ODECABE will present the chess proposal to the Technical Committee which is to make the decision on the inclusion of chess into CACG. The Panama Chess Federation together with the NCF Presidents of Venezuela and Mexico Fidel Gonzalez and Mario Ramirez made a considerable contribution to the organization of presentation. A special chess exhibition outside the Assembly Hall was staged so the delegates could familiarize themselves with the game.
Women’s Grand Prix Monaco: Pairings announced
The pairings for every round of the upcoming Women’s Grand Prix Monaco are announced. The second leg of Women’s Grand Prix will take place in the Mediterranean principality from 2 to 15 of December. Twelve players will compete in a round-robin event. The participants got the following starting numbers: 1. Harika Dronavalli (India), 2. Elisabeth Paehtz (Germany), 3. Pia Cramling (Sweden), 4. Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia), 5. Valentina Gunina (Russia), 6. Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine), 7. Anna Muzychuk, 8. Humpy Koneru (India), 9. Kateryna Lagno (Russia), 10. Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia), 11. Zhao Xue (China), 12. Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia) In the first round, the leader in the overall standings Humpy Konery takes on Valentina Gunina, whereas her closest competitor Alexandra Goryachkina will face Kateryna Lagno. The World Champion Ju Wenjun, who is tied for second place with Goryachkina, opted to skip this event. Full pairings Women’s FIDE Grand Prix Series 2019-2020 consist of four Women’ Grand Prix tournaments (hereinafter referred to as WGP tournaments) held over two years (2019-20): 1st – Skolkovo, September 10th – 23rd, 2019;2nd – Monaco, December 2nd – 15th, 2019;3rd – Lausanne, between March 1st and 20th, 2020;4th – Sardinia, between May 20th and June 10th, 2020. Sixteen players compete in four WGP tournaments. Each of the sixteen players participates in three out of four WGP tournaments. Each WGP tournament is played in a round-robin format with twelve participants. In each WGP tournament, every player scores WGP points according to her position in the final standings; the winner of WGP Series is a player who scores the greatest number of cumulative points earned in all three WGP tournaments she participated. The two players who score the most number of cumulative points in the WGP Series qualify for the FIDE Women Candidates Tournament to be held in the first half of 2021. Overall standings after the first leg in Skolkovo: 1. Humpy Koneru (160 points)2. Ju Wenjun (120 points) 3. Aleksandra Goryachkina (120 points) 4. Kateryna Lagno (90 points) 5. Elisabeth Paehtz (75 points) 6. Valentina Gunina (75 points) 7. Harika Dronavalli (60 points) 8. Alexandra Kosteniuk (45 points) 9. Alina Kashlinskaya (45 points) 10. Antoaneta Stefanova (25 points) 11. Marie Sebag (25 points) 12. Pia Cramling (10 points)
Alekseenko rockets up in the November rating list
(Photo: Kirill Merkuryev) FIDE November 1 rating listAll Top-100 listsAll rating lists – download October of 2019 was dominated by the FIDE World Cup and Grand Swiss Isle of Man, the tournaments causing major shifts in the November rating list. It is no coincidence that those who performed well in these massive events made the biggest progress in the rankings. Top-10 November rating list 1. Carlsen, Magnus (2870; -6)2. Caruana, Fabiano (2822; +10) 3. Ding, Liren (2801; -10)4. Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime (2777; +3)5. Giri, Anish (2776; -4)6. Nepomniachtchi, Ian (2773; -3)7. Aronian, Levon (2772; +14)8. Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar (2772; +5)9. Radjabov, Teimour (2767; +9)10. Grischuk, Alexander (2764; +5) The most noticeable change, when it comes to top-10, is the resurgence of Teimour Radjabov. After his triumph at the FIDE World Cup, the GM from Azerbaijan reappeared in the elite group for the first time since April 2013. Despite making it to the final, Ding Liren lost 10 rating points but preserved his third position on the list. Fabiano Caruana, who tied for the first in the Isle of Man, picked up 10 rating points and broke away from the Chinese GM, whereas Levon Aronian returned to the top-10 following his strong showing in the same tournament. Alexander Grischuk most likely hoped for more, but his results in two key October events allowed him to get back to the top-10. (Photo: Kirill Merkuryev) Biggest gains 1. Alekseenko, Kirill (2715; +41) 2. Wang, Hao (2752; +26)3. Najer, Evgeniy (2661; +26)4. Abasov, Nijat (2655; +23)5. Maghsoodloo, Parham (2684; +20)6. Vitiugov, Nikita (2751; +19)7. Predke, Alexandr (2676; +19)8. Firouzja, Alireza (2720; +18)9-11. Duda, Jan-Krzysztof (2748; +14)9-11. Aronian, Levon (2772; +14)9-11. Kryvoruchko, Yuriy (2683; +14) Kirill Alekseenko made a real splash at the World Cup, reaching the round of 16, but a couple a weeks later did even better in the Grand Swiss Isle of Man where he came third. As a result, the young GM from St-Petersburg soared up in the rating list and became the biggest gainer of October (41 points). The winner of the Grand Swiss Wang Hao understandably netted quite a lot of rating points and tied for the second in this nomination. Another Russian GM Evgeniy Najer also earned 26 rating points thanks to his solid performance in the above-mentioned tournaments (plus a couple of victories in the Czech League) and climbed 62 positions up. The same but to a slightly lesser extent applies to a young Azerbaijani GM Nijat Abasov who is making his debut in the top-100. Other top players from our list (except for Alexander Predke, who mainly accumulated his points in Spanish Team Championship in Linares) also distinguished themselves in one or both important October events. Welcome to top-100 78. Najer, Evgeniy (2661)79. Melkumyan, Hrant (2661)84. Swiercz, Dariusz (2659)87. Lupulescu, Constantin (2657)92. Abasov, Nijat (2655)96. Adhiban, B. (2654)98. Kuzubov, Yuriy (2652) We have seven newcomers in the top-100 and again, the majority of them improved their rating in two flagship October tournaments. Since there were not many women’s tournaments in October, the top-10 remains virtually intact. Nevertheless, two women, namely Harika Dronavalli and Dinara Saduakassova made a difference. Playing in the open section of the Grand Swiss Isle of Man they scored 5.5 each and became best performing women in the tournament. Needless to say, both substantially increased their rating by 23 and 24 points respectively. (Photo: John Saunders) In the juniors’ list Alireza Firouzja, Jeffery Xiong and Parham Maghsoodloo got closer to Wei Yi who is still reigning on the top, whereas Nodirbek Abdusattorov made it to the top-10 for the first time in his career. In the girls’ list, Zhansaya Abdumalik overtook Zhu Jiner and became a new #1, whereas Polina Shuvalova, the winner of both U-18 and U-20 championships took a giant leap and broke into the top-3.
Full WGP Monaco Pairings
Women’s FIDE Grand Prix Series Monaco pairings are published. The tournament will take place in Monaco 2-15 of December. FULL PAIRINGS: Round 1 on 2019/12/03 at 15:00 GM Harika Dronavalli (2518) – GM Dzagnidze Nana (2502) IM Paehtz Elisabeth (2484) – GM Zhao Xue (2485) GM Cramling Pia (2443) – GM Kosteniuk Alexandra (2483) GM Goryachkina Aleksandra (2575) – GM Lagno Kateryna (2549) GM Gunina Valentina (2509) – GM Koneru Humpy (2577) GM Muzychuk Mariya (2552) – GM Muzychuk Anna (2543) Round 2 on 2019/12/04 at 15:00 GM Dzagnidze Nana (2502) – GM Muzychuk Anna (2543)GM Koneru Humpy (2577) – GM Muzychuk Mariya (2552)GM Lagno Kateryna (2549) – GM Gunina Valentina (2509)GM Kosteniuk Alexandra (2483) – GM Goryachkina Aleksandra (2575)GM Zhao Xue (2485) – GM Cramling Pia (2443)GM Harika Dronavalli (2518) – IM Paehtz Elisabeth (2484) Round 3 on 2019/12/05 at 15:00 IM Paehtz Elisabeth (2484) – GM Dzagnidze Nana (2502)GM Cramling Pia (2443) – GM Harika Dronavalli (2518)GM Goryachkina Aleksandra (2575) – GM Zhao Xue (2485)GM Gunina Valentina (2509) – GM Kosteniuk Alexandra (2483)GM Muzychuk Mariya (2552) – GM Lagno Kateryna (2549)GM Muzychuk Anna (2543) – GM Koneru Humpy (2577) Round 4 on 2019/12/06 at 15:00 GM Dzagnidze Nana (2502) – GM Koneru Humpy (2577)GM Lagno Kateryna (2549) – GM Muzychuk Anna (2543) GM Kosteniuk Alexandra (2483) – GM Muzychuk Mariya (2552)GM Zhao Xue (2485) – GM Gunina Valentina (2509) GM Harika Dronavalli (2518) – GM Goryachkina Aleksandra (2575)IM Paehtz Elisabeth (2484) – GM Cramling Pia (2443) Round 5 on 2019/12/07 at 15:00 GM Cramling Pia (2443) – GM Dzagnidze Nana (2502) GM Goryachkina Aleksandra (2575) – IM Paehtz Elisabeth (2484) GM Gunina Valentina (2509) – GM Harika Dronavalli (2518) GM Muzychuk Mariya (2552) – GM Zhao Xue (2485) GM Muzychuk Anna (2543) – GM Kosteniuk Alexandra (2483) GM Koneru Humpy (2577) – GM Lagno Kateryna (2549) Round 6 on 2019/12/08 at 15:00 GM Dzagnidze Nana (2502) – GM Lagno Kateryna (2549)GM Kosteniuk Alexandra (2483) – GM Koneru Humpy (2577)GM Zhao Xue (2485) – GM Muzychuk Anna (2543)GM Harika Dronavalli (2518) – GM Muzychuk Mariya (2552)IM Paehtz Elisabeth (2484) – GM Gunina Valentina (2509)GM Cramling Pia (2443) – GM Goryachkina Aleksandra (2575) Round 7 on 2019/12/10 at 15:00 GM Goryachkina Aleksandra (2575) – GM Dzagnidze Nana (2502) GM Gunina Valentina (2509) – GM Cramling Pia (2443)GM Muzychuk Mariya (2552) – IM Paehtz Elisabeth (2484) GM Muzychuk Anna (2543) – GM Harika Dronavalli (2518) GM Koneru Humpy (2577) – GM Zhao Xue (2485)GM Lagno Kateryna (2549) – GM Kosteniuk Alexandra (2483) Round 8 on 2019/12/11 at 15:00 GM Dzagnidze Nana (2502) – GM Kosteniuk Alexandra (2483) GM Zhao Xue (2485) – GM Lagno Kateryna (2549)GM Harika Dronavalli (2518) – GM Koneru Humpy (2577)IM Paehtz Elisabeth (2484) – GM Muzychuk Anna (2543)GM Cramling Pia (2443) – GM Muzychuk Mariya (2552)GM Goryachkina Aleksandra (2575) – GM Gunina Valentina (2509) Round 9 on 2019/12/12 at 15:00 GM Gunina Valentina (2509) – GM Dzagnidze Nana (2502)GM Muzychuk Mariya (2552) – GM Goryachkina Aleksandra (2575)GM Muzychuk Anna (2543) – GM Cramling Pia (2443)GM Koneru Humpy (2577) – IM Paehtz Elisabeth (2484)GM Lagno Kateryna (2549) – GM Harika Dronavalli (2518)GM Kosteniuk Alexandra (2483) – GM Zhao Xue (2485) Round 10 on 2019/12/13 at 15:00 GM Dzagnidze Nana (2502) – GM Zhao Xue (2485)GM Harika Dronavalli (2518) – GM Kosteniuk Alexandra (2483)IM Paehtz Elisabeth (2484) – GM Lagno Kateryna (2549)GM Cramling Pia (2443) – GM Koneru Humpy (2577)GM Goryachkina Aleksandra (2575) – GM Muzychuk Anna (2543)GM Gunina Valentina (2509) – GM Muzychuk Mariya (2552) Round 11 on 2019/12/14 at 11:00 GM Muzychuk Mariya (2552) – GM Dzagnidze Nana (2502)GM Muzychuk Anna (2543) – GM Gunina Valentina (2509)GM Koneru Humpy (2577) – GM Goryachkina Aleksandra (2575)GM Lagno Kateryna (2549) – GM Cramling Pia (2443)GM Kosteniuk Alexandra (2483) – IM Paehtz Elisabeth (2484)GM Zhao Xue (2485) – GM Harika Dronavalli (2518)
World Youth U-16 Chess Olympiad started in Çorum, Turkey
An ancient Turkish city Çorum is hosting 2019 FIDE World Youth U-16 Chess Olympiad from October 20 to November 6. Forty eight teams from all around the world will play 9 rounds (Swiss system) with the time control 90 min for the whole game with a 30-sec increment from the first move. Each squad consists of five players, including one girl. November 2 is scheduled as a free day. The event is held in the playing hall of the five-star Anitta hotel, which offers accommodation to all participants. Azerbaijan tops the list of rating favorites, followed by Russia and Ukraine. Top-5 rated teams: 1. AZERBAIJAN (2412)2. RUSSIA (2408)3. UKRAINE (2394)4. TURKEY (2386)5. GREECE (2370)
Euro Team Championship reaches midpoint
The European Team Championship in Batumi crossed a half-way mark. With four more rounds to go the participants are enjoying the day off. Although many teams did not manage to bring their best players, there are nine GMs with a rating over 2700 in the Open section, with Anish Giri (Netherlands), Shakhriyar Memedyarov (Azerbaijan) and Levon Aronian (Armenia) at the top of the list. Despite the absence of its leaders, the Russian team in which the star of Grand Swiss Kirill Alekseenko took over Vladislav Artemiev at the very last moment entered the competition as the rating-favorite. Since four team members arrived in Batumi right from the Isle of Man, a slow start – a draw 2:2 with Denmark (Matlakov and Alekseenko suffered defeats) hardly came as a surprise. However, after a hiccup in the first round, the Russian squad picked up momentum and won the next four matches, including a key clash with Armenia without losing a single game. Dmitry Andreikin is giving an excellent performance (4 out of 5); Daniil Dubov is making up for his poor result in Grand Swiss (3.5 out of 4 on the fourth board); Nikita Vitiugov is demonstrating very solid chess (3 out of 4). After 5 rounds Russia is tied for the first place with Ukraine with its unchallenged leader Vassily Ivanchuk at the helm. Ivanchuk won in the first two rounds and then drew his games with Mamedyarov, Aronian, and Adams. Thanks to his efforts and a very strong performance by Yuriy Kuzubov (who had nearly beaten Magnus Carlsen on the Isle of Man) Ukraine conceded just one matchpoint. The key match of the entire tournament is coming on Wednesday – Russia, and Ukraine will face each other. Germany and the tournament sensation – the Slovenian team with Jure Borisek shining on the second board – are sharing the third position. Anish Giri found himself in the spotlight – the Dutch GM has enough rating points to qualify for the Candidates tournament, but can’t afford to lose many. Thanks to his brilliant victories in the second and third rounds Anish has preserved his rating, unlike one of his potential competitors Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who has not scored a single victory yet and is 5 points down in the live-rating. On the other hand, the GM from Azerbaijan has a chance to secure the slot in the Candidates Tournament through the Grand Prix Series. Before the start of the women’s tournament, there were no doubts about the favorites: Russia and Georgia enlisted their best. The leaders faced off as early as in the fourth round – Valentina Gunina beat Meri Arabidze and supplied a winning point to the Russian team (all other games were drawn). Russia won all five matches and has two matchpoints lead over its competitors. Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Serbia scored four victories in five matches. The Serbian team caused surprise by taking down a traditionally strong Ukrainian squad, which is third in the rating list despite the absence of the Muzychuk sisters. In the sixth round, Azerbaijan will try to stop Russia, whereas the team Georgia is taking on the Serbian squad. In conjunction with the European Team Championship, the Annual European Chess Union General Assembly took place on October 26, with 40 European Federations participating. The key items on the agenda were the innovative ECU projects developing in 2019, updating the tournament regulations, standardization of the European Championships conditions and the venues of 2021 official events. The tournament will resume on Wednesday, October 30 Official site
Wesley So wins Fischer Random Championship
UPDATE Final Wesley So – Magnus Carlsen: 13½ – 2½ After a hard-fought draw in the first slow rapid game with black, the American GM scored three victories in a row and created an almost insurmountable lead. On the final day, Wesley drew the first fast rapid game, won the second one and became Fischer Random World Champion. Match for third place Ian Nepomniachtchi – Fabiano Caruana: 12½ – 5½ After the opponents traded blows on the first day, Nepomniachtchi prevailed the third game and made a draw in the fourth encounter. On the final day, Ian kept pushing – he scored two victories in three games and secured the third place. The first official FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship is in the final stretch. The event, officialized by FIDE for the first time in history, is a joint effort of Dund (the organizer of the unofficial Fischer Random match between Classical chess champion Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura in 2009) and Chess.com. The semifinals and the finals of the event are held from October 27 till November 2 in Norway, at the Henie Onstad Art Center located just outside Oslo. After the massive qualifying open tournaments that run from April to August, the Championship reached the elimination phase during which 84 qualifiers + 12 invited players squared off in six knockout brackets (16 players each), in 2 games mini-matches with a time control of 15+2. Six winners of those brackets, namely Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alireza Firouzja, Vidit Gijrathi, Peter Svidler, Vladimir Fedoseev and Wesley So joined Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana in the 3-day quarterfinal stage with a guaranteed prize fund of $10,000. The draw produced the following quarterfinal pairs: Hikaru Nakamura – Wesley So Ian Nepomniachtchi – Alireza Firouzja Vidit Gujrathi – Vladimir Fedoseev Fabiano Caruana – Peter Svidler On October 4 four quarterfinal matches were played, with the winners going directly into Day 3. Each duel consisted of two “slow rapid” games (45 min for first 40 moves, 15 min for the rest of the game) with victories worth 3 points, two “fast rapid” encounters (15+2 time control) with wins equal to 2 points, and a couple of blitz games (just one point for a victory). Gujrathi and Fedoseev exchanged blows in slow rapid, but in the rapid games the Russian’s high-voltage, very entertaining style earned him two victories and an early qualifying for Day 3. Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So also did not need all six games to determine the winner. After Hikaru’s winning a slightly better endgame with the opposite-colored bishops and rooks in the first encounter, Wesley blundered the rook in the second one, making his task virtually impossible to accomplish. Peter Svidler took a slow start in his match with Fabio Caruana, but after winning the second rapid game he came very close to forcing armageddon. The Russian GM obtained a very promising position with black in the second blitz game but terrible blunder derailed his comeback. The match Nepomniachtchi – Firouzja was the only one that day that saw armageddon. Interestingly enough, the rating favorite Yan Nepomniachtichi was on the verge of elimination in blitz games, but after losing the first encounter he convincingly leveled the score in the second one. The Iranian prodigy won the coinflip and chose white in armageddon. In the middlegame, Ian forced Alireza to sacrifice a pawn to avoid repetition and converted extra material in the ensuing sharp skirmish. The next day those who had suffered defeats were given a second and the last chance to continue their quest for the final stage in Norway. Wesley So and Alireza Firouzja grabbed this opportunity and after defeating Peter Svidler and Vidit Gujrathi respectively, made it to Day 3. Finally, on October 6, six players competed for three slots in the semifinals: Hikaru Nakamura – Fabiano Caruana Wesley So – Vladimir Fedoseev Ian Nepomniachtchi – Alireza Firouzja Surprisingly, all three matches were one-sided and did not require blitz games to determine the winners. In the American derby Nakamura – Caruana the native of Italy dominated both slow and fast rapid games skillfully applying the centralization strategy he had revealed in one of his earlier interviews. When it came to blitz encounters Fabio already had an overwhelming lead. By a twist of fate Nepomniachtchi and Firouzja squared off for the second time in the span of three days. This time around the Russian GM quickly took the lead after winning the first slow rapid game and drawing the second one. Alireza kept up the tension by scoring a nice victory in the first fast rapid encounter and narrowing the gap, but Ian crushed his hopes with a spirited attack right in the next game. The outcome of So – Fedoseev clash was to a great extent determined by a terrible blunder the Russian GM made after reaching a drawing position in the second slow rapid game. Vladimir did not pack it in and put up some fight in the fast rapid games, but the opponent was just better. Thus, Magnus Carlsen, who enters the competition at the semifinals stage, Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Ian Nepomniachtchi will meet over the board in Norway on October 27 and play it down to the winner. The first official Fischer Random champion will be crowned on November 2. Photo: Maria Emelianova and Lennart Ootes Official site Live broadcast (from Sunday, Oct 27)
World Junior Championship: Shtembuliak and Shuvalova win titles
FIDE World Junior Championship U20 is concluded in New Delhi, India. The event brought together the strongest teenagers from all around the world. The open section of the tournament mobilized 94 players, including 15 grandmasters. The girls’ section attracted 95 participants. After 10 rounds in the open section a student of Texas Tech University, Evgeny Shtembuliak (Ukraine, 2577) was a half-point ahead of Aram Hakobyan (Armenia, 2561), Miguel Santos Ruiz (Spain, 2560) and Shant Sargsyan (Armenia, 2580). In the final 11 round, the leader beat Volodar Murzin and took the title with an excellent score 9 out of 11, whereas Sargsyan prevailed in the key game with Santos Ruiz and became second. In the girls’ section two-time World U18 Girls Youth Championship winner Polina Shuvalova (Russia, 2412) reeled off four victories in a row in the second part of the event and by the final round created a full point margin from her main competitor Mobina Alinasab (Iran, 2239). By making a draw with black in the final round Polina secured gold. The Iranian won her final game and finished a half-point behind the champion. Final standings: Open: 1. Evgeny Shtembuliak (UKR) – 9.02. Shant Sargsyan (ARM) – 8.53. Aram Hakobyan (ARM) – 8.04. Miguel Santos Ruiz (ESP) – 7.55. Murali Karthikeyan (IND) – 7.56. Wang Shixu B (CHN) – 7.57. Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. (IND) – 7.58. Mihnea Costachi (ROU) – 7.59. Praggnanandhaa R (IND) – 7.010. Volodar Murzin (RUS) – 7.0 Girls: 1. Polina Shuvalova (RUS) – 9.52. Mobina Alinasab (IRI) 9.03. Elizaveta Solozhenkina (RUS) – 8.04. Mariia Berdnyk (UKR) – 8.05. Aakanksha Hagawane (IND) – 8.06. Song Yuxin (CHN) – 7.57. Li Yunshan (CHN) – 7.58. Stavroula Tsolakidou (GRE) – 7.09. Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ) – 7.010. Dinara Dordzhieva (RUS) – 7.0 Photo: Niklesh Jain ChessBase India