WASKO Hetman GKS wins Polish Extraleague 2019
The strongest ever edition of Polish Team Championship – Extraleague finished in Katowice. The local team “WASKO Hetman GKS”, with Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, David Navara, Bartosz Socko, and other stars of Polish and European chess mounted to the very top. They drew only in one match against the eventual bronze-medalists “Wieża Pęgów” and won all other encounters, including the key one against the runner-up “VOTUM SA Polonia Wrocław”. Red carpet and gala opening had preceded the team championship. The Cesar Hall of Hotel Arsenal Palace Chorzow, the venue of the first half of the championship, hosted all participants, city officials, local artists, and other notable guests. The second part of the competition took place at the Silesian Voivodship Office with the Mayor (President) of Katowice city Marcin Krupa attending both the opening gala and one of the rounds. Extraleague became the second chess competition to receive the support of Coca-Cola under the cooperation agreement between FIDE and the global brand. The first one was Mikhail Tal Blitz and Rapid Chess Memorial held in Riga at the end of July. The broadcast in English was provided on FIDE Youtube Channel by European Chess TV, with IM Piotr An Nguyen and WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili as commentators. Official website: https://ekstraliga2019.pzszach.pl
Nenad Sulava dies at 56
With deep sadness, we have learned that Croatian GM Nenad Sulava passed away on September 5 following a terminal illness at the age of 56. Nenad was born on December 25 1962 in Osijek, Yugoslavia and in 1981 became the Junior Champion of his home country a year after winning the Croatian championship. As a member of the Croatian national team Sulava participated in two Chess Olympiads (2000 and 2002) and the European Team Championship (2003). Nenad Sulava loved chess passionately; it was his life. He spoke six languages and had very broad interests: museums, concerts, good cuisine, and cooking, especially for his friends. In late 1990s the winner of numerous international tournaments (Madrid 1987, Montecatini 1995 and 2007, Pacs 2000 Tournoi fermé GM, Hyères 2001, Cannes 2001, Monaco 2003, Lugano 2007, Menton 2008, Genève 2008, Bol 2010), Nenad settled in Nice where happily lived with his wife WIM Martine Dubois for more than 21 years until his untimely death. Later he joined Monaco Chess Federation and took part in his last Chess Olympiad (Batumi 2018) under a new banner. In 2017 as a playing captain of the Nice Alekhine team, he won the French Cup. During the European Women’s Rapid & Blitz Championship 2019 in Monte Carlo a special 9-round blitz tournament in honor of GM Nenad Sulava will be held (November 29, 9:30 PM local time). The event is open for all participation is free of charge. Our sincere condolences to the family, relatives and friends.
Women’s Grand Prix Skolkovo starts on September 10
The first leg of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Series 2019-2020 will take place in Skolkovo, Russia, on September 10-23. Twelve participants will compete in a round-robin event. The drawing of lots was conducted in FIDE office in Lausanne. FIDE’s Chief Operating Officer, Willy Iclicki, picked the numbers, and the Chief Arbiter for the event, Andrzej Fillipowicz, conducted the round-by-round pairings accordingly. The participants got the following starting numbers: 1. Pia Cramling (Sweden), 2. Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria), 3. Elisabeth Paehtz (Germany), 4. Valentina Gunina (Russia), 5. Kateryna Lagno (Russia), 6. Humpy Koneru (India), 7. Dronavalli Harika (India), 8. Marie Sebag (France), 9. Alina Kashlinskaya (Russia), 10. Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia), 11. Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia), 12. Ju Wenjun (China). Round 1 pairings: Cramling – Ju Wenjun, Stefanova – Goryachkina, Paehtz – Kosteniuk, Gunina – Kashlinskaya, Lagno – Sebag, Koneru – Harika. About Women’s FIDE Grand Prix: 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 (16) players compete in four WGP tournaments. Each of the sixteen players participate in three (3) out of four WGP tournaments. Each WGP tournament is played with twelve (12) players round-robin. 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 (2) players who score the most number of cumulative points in WGP Series qualify to the FIDE Women Candidates Tournament to be held in the first half of 2021.
FIDE World Cup Opens on September 9
The FIDE World Cup 2019 takes place in Khanty-Mansiysk on September 9 – October 4. The competition is a part of the World Championship cycle. 128 players from 47 countries participate in the 7-round elimination tournament. Both finalists of World Cup qualify to the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2020. The opening ceremony of the World Cup will be held in the Arts Center for Gifted Children of the North on September 9, at 7 pm local time. The draw of colors for Round 1 will take place during the ceremony. The Ugra Chess Academy (Loparev street, 6) will be the playing venue. Schedule: Rounds 1-3 – September 10-18Rounds 4-6 – September 20-28Final and Match for 3rd place – September 30 – October 4 Rest days: September 19 and 29. All rounds start at 3 pm local time. All matches except for the final and the match for 3rd place consist of two games with FIDE time control: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1. The final and the match for 3rd place consist of four games. If the score is level after the two regular games, tie-breaks games are played with the control of 25 minutes for each player + 10 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1. If the score remains tied, the two blitz games with 10 minutes + 10 seconds per move ensue. If the score remains tied, the next two games are played with the control of 5 minutes + 3 seconds per move. Finally, if the score remains level, then one sudden-death game is played. The player who wins the drawing of lots may choose the color. The player with the white pieces receives 5 minutes, the player with the black pieces receives 4 minutes; after move 60, both players receive an increment of 2 seconds per move, starting from move 61. In case of a draw, the player with the black pieces is declared the winner. The total prize fund of the tournament is 1,600,000 USD. Chief Arbiter – IA Ashot Vardapetian (Armenia). Russia is represented by 28 players, followed by India – 10, China – 7, and USA – 6. In the absence of Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, grandmaster Ding Liren (2811, China) is the highest-rated participant of the World Cup. Other famous players participating in the event include Anish Giri (2780, Netherlands), Ian Nepomniachtchi (2776, Russia), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2774, France), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2767, Azerbaijan), Wesley So (2767, USA), Yu Yangyi (2763, China), Leinier Dominguez Perez (2763, USA), Sergey Karjakin (2760, Russia), and other chess stars. The 14-year-old Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) is the youngest player in the field. The Indian prodigy Nihal Sarin is only a couple of months older. The most experienced player among the participants, Essam El-Gindy (Egypt) is 53. The list of former winners of the World Cup includes Vishwanathan Anand (India), Levon Aronian (Armenia), Gata Kamsky (USA), Boris Gelfand (Israel), Peter Svidler, Vladimir Kramnik, and Sergey Karjakin (all – Russia). This is the fifth time Khanty-Mansiysk is hosting the World Cup. The competition is organized by the Government of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra, International Chess Federation (FIDE), Ugra Chess Federation, and Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation. Official website: https://khantymansiysk2019.fide.com/en/ General partner – Gazpromneft-Khantos LCC.Official airline – Utair.Official partners of the competition: OJSC Rostelecom, Ugra Chess Academy, Russian Chess Federation, AB InBev Efes and PJSC Rosneft.FIDE official partner – JSCo “RZD”.General media partner – News Agency TASS.Media partners – Match TV, World of Chess social network, OTRC “Ugra”, Ugra-news.ru News of Ugra regional newspaper, AIF-Ugra newspaper.
World Cadet Championship 2019: 7 Medals for China
2019 FIDE World Cadet Chess Championship finished in Weifang International Leisure Sports Town, Shandong Province. China hosted this championship for the first time in its history. More than 580 boys and girls from 55 federations competed in under 8, 10 and 12 years old age categories (girls and open to all). After 12 days and 11 rounds of competition, all 18 medals were awarded to the best youngsters in each group. China won 7 medals, including a clean sweep in the Girls Under 8. The USA got 4 medals, with 2 gold. Russian kids took home 3 medals, but all of them are gold. Kazakhstan, Vietnam, and Mongolia also can boast of winning championship medals. The closing ceremony of the World Chess Youth Championship, held at the International Art Exhibition Center of Qilu Winery, was attended by Mr. Ye Jiangchuan (Vice Director of Board and Card Games Center of General Administration of Sports of China), Mikhail Kobalia (Director of Youth World Chess Federation), Laurent Freyd (Chief Arbiter of this Championship), Li Ping (Vice Mayor of Weifang Municipal Government), Ms. Tian Hongwei, (Director of Board and Card Games Center of General Administration of Sports of China) and many other leaders and guests, as well as more than 200 participants, award-winning chess players and their parents. Mr. Ye Jiangchuan spoke highly of the preparation and organization of the contest: “Tight organization, smooth competition, thoughtful service, ensure safety.“ In his speech, he mentioned in particular that, a cultural fair was held during the competition, exhibiting Weifang’s local characteristics, carrying forward China’s traditional culture, promoting friendship and exchanges among countries around the world. Mikhail Kobalia, Director of Youth World Chess Federation also complimented the host country, organizers and arbiters: “I am very glad that for the first time in the history World Cadet Championship was held in one of the most mysterious and amazing countries in the world – China. And as a member of the Appeal Committee, I have to note that for the entire tournament not a single protest was filed, which indicates the high professionalism of the arbiters.” Final standings: Under 8 – Open:?Lebedev Artem S. RU – 9/11?Tulendinov Dinmukhammed KZ – 9/11?Dau Khuong Duy VN – 8,5/11 Under 8 – Girls:?Yuan Zhilin CN – 9/11?Wang Qinxuanyi CN – 8,5/11?Gao Muziyan CN – 8/11 Under 10 – Open:?Vetokhin Savva – RU – 9/11?Meng Yihan CN – 8,5/11?Wei Jianzhou CN – 8,5/11 Under 10 – Girls:?Lee Alice US – 10/11?Chen Yining CN – 10/11?Li Rachael US – 8/11 Under 12 – Open:?Zhou Liran US – 9,5/11?Chen Yuan CN – 9/11?Ochirbat Lkhagvajamts MN – 8/11 Under 12 – Girls:?Mikheeva Galina RU – 9,5/11?Nurmanova Alua KZ – 9,5/11?Yan Ruiyang US – 9/11
Ding closes on Caruana in September Rating List
Each month FIDE publishes a rating list of chess players based on the formula taking into account their tournament and match results over the last thirty days. Right after the release we take a closer look at a new rating list to detect the most interesting developments. All the key changes in the September rating list are featured in a special video on FIDE Facebook page. Check it out here. Top 10 September FIDE Rating Rank Player Rating Change 1 Carlsen, Magnus 2876 -6 2 Caruana, Fabiano 2812 -6 3 Ding, Liren 2811 6 4 Giri, Anish 2780 1 5 Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2776 2 6 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2774 -4 7 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2767 3 8 So, Wesley 2767 -9 9 Anand, Viswanathan 2765 9 10-11 Dominguez Perez, Leinier 2763 0 10-11 Yu, Yangyi 2763 11 Magnus Carlsen (2876) lost six points in the 2019 Sinquefield Cup, while Ding Liren (2811) picked up exactly as many and virtually closed the gap with Fabiano Caruana (2812). Levon Aronian left the top ten giving way to Viswanathan Anand (+9 points) who also did an excellent job in Sent Louis. Yu Yangyi caught up with Leinier Dominguez to tie for tenth in this elite group. Vishy Anand is back in the top-10 (Photos courtesy of Grand Chess Tour) Welcome to TOP 100 FIDE Rating Rank Player Rating 67 Kovalenko, Igor 2674 85 Kovalev, Vladislav 2661 89 Ganguly, Surya Shekhar 2658 92 Lagarde, Maxime 2657 93 Predke, Alexandr 2657 97 Guseinov, Gadir 2654 There are six new names inside Top-100 with Igor Kovalenko (67th) the highest-ranked of the newcomers after moving up from 102nd position thanks to his victory in the Riga Tech Open and a good showing in the Josef Kupper Memorial in Zurich (tied for second place). Alexander Predke’s decent result in a quite strong Russian Championship helped him to earn 7 rating points and secure his own slot in the top 100. As for the other newcomers we are going to cover their achievements just below. Biggest Gains Rank Player Rating Change 1 Lagarde, Maxim 2657 60 2 Kovalenko, Igor 2674 20 3 Ganguly, Surya Shekhar 2658 20 4 Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi 2718 13 5 Shirov, Alexei 2671 13 6 Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2718 12 7 Kamsky, Gata 2685 12 8 Kovalev, Vladislav 2661 12 9 Yu, Yangyi 2763 11 10 Karjakin, Sergey 2760 10 A newly-fledged French champion Maxim Lagarde became the biggest gainer of August picking up a whole 60 rating points. Before winning a national championship in Chartre, Maxim delivered a very impressive performance at the Andorra Open, scoring 8.5 out of 9. Surya Shekhar Ganguly was first in the Belt and Road Open 2019 collecting 20 points along the way. Yu Yangyi tied for the second in this event and netted 11 points. Evgeny Tomashevsky repeated his success of 2015 to win his second Russian Chess Championship, an achievement worth 13 rating points. Another GM from India Santosh Gujrathi Vidit won the traditional tournament in Biel adding 13 points to his balance. Along with Vishy Anand, Sergey Karjakin was the main rating beneficiary in the 2019 Sinquefield Cup, improving by 10 points. Maxime Lagarde picked up 60 points and broke into the top 100 All players can check out new ratings on the new FIDE ratings website.
Judit Polgar partners with ChessKid to set a new Guinness World Record
FIDE Vice President Judit Polgar has teamed up with ChessKid in an attempt to set the Guinness World Record for the “Largest Online Chess Tournament”. Even though there is no record officially set, Guinness has required that at least 20,000 kids participate for the record to count. Here’s the full announcement of the tournament’s structure, prizes, and some rules. In order to have the best chance to break the record, Guinness has allowed ChesKid to have many “qualifiers” from Sept. 1 to Oct. 12. Any kid competing in any single qualifier “counts” toward the total. A child can play in as many as he/she wants. Four daily qualifiers will be at 5 pm in these time zones: Eastern Australia, Central Europe, Eastern U.S., Pacific U.S. They will each be 5 games of 5-minutes each so the qualifiers will last about one hour. If a child finishes in the top 20 in any qualifier, then they qualify for the finals on Oct. 19, which will be commentated on by Mike Klein of Chess.com, and Judit Polgar herself. Kids that complete one qualifier event will also receive some benefits from ChessKid, like one free month of gold membership if they are basic members, 100 extra stars in their account, limited edition ChessKid wallpaper, and of course the signed certificate by Judit Polgar and Mike Klein. The final “last chance” qualifiers on Oct. 12 will also be in conjunction with Judit’s “Global Chess Festival.” Please check the official announcement for more information on how to join and be a part of this World Guinness Record: https://www.chesskid.com/article/view/help-chesskid-and-judit-polgar-set-a-world-record
Ding Liren wins Sinquefield Cup
Ding Liren scored a victory at Sinquefield Cup by beating Magnus Carlson in the tiebreak. Both players scored 6,5 out of 11 in the tournament, with Magnus Carlsen winning the last two games against So and Vachier-Lagrave to catch leading Ding. After first two rapid games were drawn the match moved on into a blitz stage. Surprizingly enough, Ding won both blitz encounters and became the first player to defeat Carlsen in playoff sinсe 2007. The world champion was gracious after the loss admitting that the opponent “won absolutely deservedly”. The Chinese GM earned $82,500 and 16.5 Grand Chess Tour points. He is now second in overall Grand Chess Tour standings (see table below). (Photos and image courtesy of Grand Chess Tour)
FIDE helps to set records in Helsinki
A big festival comprising three round-robin tournaments took place in Helsinki last week, with the financial support of FIDE and the sponsorship of ROSATOM: one for juniors (U20), one for junior girls, and one for seniors (S65). These all tournaments were 10-player round-robins, where the players invited came from all Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Faroe Islands), Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) and from St Petersburg, Russia, totalling 10 countries represented in the event. The playing venue was the 4-star hotel Crowne Plaza Hesperia, in the centre of Helsinki. For the first time in many years, a local chess event was covered in the main Finnish newspapers. This was in good part due to the visit of the 12th World Champion Anatoly Karpov, who still is a very mediatic figure wherever he goes. Anatoly gave a lecture and a chess simul in Helsinki, activities funded by FIDE that had a record attendance. The lecture was held at the Chess Arena last Friday and lasted for two and a half hours, in which Karpov analyzed his games against Spassky, Korchnoi and Kamsky, and answered in detail over 20 questions from the enthusiastic chess audience. In the simul, played on Saturday at the Library Oodi, Karpov faced 15 young Finnish players. It took Karpov almost 3 hours to win 14 of the games, conceding just 1 draw. The happy half-point grabber was Ilkka Koota, who had travelled from Turku some 160 km just for this game. These promotional activities were followed by a dinner with Karpov, FIDE’s Director-General Emil Sutovsky, and representatives of all the Nordic countries. The next day, they all held a two hours long meeting, and later on, Sutovsky also held five one-to-one separate meetings with each one of the officials representing the Nordic Federations. The particular situation of each country was analyzed, looking for ways in which FIDE could offer them support. The other highlight of the festival was probably the senior tournament, named “Heikki Westerinen 75 year jubilee tournament”, to honour Finland’s first-ever grandmaster. The legend himself was one of the participants and, eventually, he became the winner. The other GM participant was 70-year old GM Yrjo Rantanen, and the next two strongest by rating were the familiar faces in Finland, IMs from St Petersburg Karasev and Mishuchkov. The Estonians WGM Tatiana Fomina and last-minute reserve Kalle Peebo completed the field. GM Westerinen started carefully with four draws, but after that, the old machine pulled up the steam and Westerinen won the next four rounds just to secure shared first with a short last round draw. GM Rantanen had a more aggressive start but also settled for a draw in the last round to share the top prize. After these two short last round draws the interest was focused on the encounter between IM Kestutis Kaunas and IM Nikolai Mishuchkov. In the case of Kaunas winning, he would rise to share the top laurels, in case of losing IM Mishuchkov would gain the 3rd place. The latter actually happened, and the player from St Petersburg got the bronze medal. The junior tournament was dominated by the top seed FM Toivo Keinänen from Finland, who had secured his final IM norm just the previous Sunday in Riga Technical University RTU tournament. He was simply unstoppable despite some bad positions and scored 8½/9, finishing 2½ points clear from FM Marat Askerov from St Petersburg. The third position was for FM Ilja Semjonovs from Latvia. The top-seed in the girls’ tournament was WIM Mai Narva from Estonia. Mai started the event with an upset, losing a rook ending in the first round to Estonia’s WFM Margareth Olde. But she reacted to this defeat by winning her remaining eight games, taking the first prize with 8/9 and one point ahead of Margareth Olde (EST) and Ekaterina Diakonova (RUS). Official website: www.shakkiliitto.fi/helsinki-chess-festival Photos courtesy of Panu Olavi Laine.
FIDE President holds meetings with the Moroccan authorities
FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich traveled to Morocco, where he joined the rest of the FIDE delegation: Executive Director Victor Bologan, International Director Mohd Al-Mudahka, Advisor to the FIDE President Berik Balgabaev, and FIDE events manager Kema Goryaeva. The first meeting in their tight agenda was a reception, on Tuesday 27th, with the top representatives of the National Olympic Committee in Rabat: Mr Kamal Lahlou (Vice President of NOC, member of Association of African Olympic Committees), Anin Kouame (Director of NOC Morocco) and Mr Majd Chekroun (Director of international relations of NOC). FIDE President thanked the NOC for the inclusion of chess in the program of the African Games 2019. He expressed his satisfaction with the organization level of the Games in general and the chess championships in particular. “It is very important”, he emphasized, “that every NOC is aware of the development of chess federations, to further support them in any endeavours and deeds”. Arkady Dvorkovich also stressed that FIDE will continue supporting official chess tournaments in Africa and in Morocco in particular. The delegation also had an opportunity to visit the local NOC Museum. Later the same day, the FIDE delegation held a meeting with the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Rachid Talbi Alami. Arkady Dvorkovich expressed his gratitude on behalf of FIDE for the support given by the Ministry to organize these Chess Championships in the framework of the African games. The second main point to be discussed were the plans for chess development in Morocco. FIDE President reassured the International Chess Federation will maintain its financial support to Moroccan chess and its different competitions. Coaching and chess publications will be provided as part of this support. The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Rachid Talbi Alami, thanked the FIDE president for this assistance. Both parties agreed that Morocco will host an international chess event every year. Later that day the FIDE delegation attended the football match between Nigeria and Mali. At 18.00, the Awards Ceremony of the African Games Chess Championship (Rapid) took place. FIDE President awarded the medals to the winners, together with FIDE International Director Mohamed Al Mudahka.