Revised Tie-break Regulations come to force on September 1, 2023
FIDE TEC is pleased to announce that the FIDE Council has ratified the updated tie-break regulations effective from September 1, 2023. These newly instituted rules are an enhanced version of those initially approved during the 44th FIDE Congress and later retracted in July 2023. Our heartfelt gratitude goes to Mr. Roberto Ricca and the entire SPP Department for their meticulous efforts in clarifying the stipulations regarding Play-Offs, Direct Encounters, and Unplayed Games. Kindly note, Pairing Software Vendors have a deadline until April 1, 2024, to integrate these revised tie-break guidelines into their systems. Enquiries: Hendrik du Toit – secretary.tec@fide.com Revised Tie-break Regulations effective from September 1, 2023
FIDE World Cup R6 tiebreaks: Salimova and Praggnanandhaa advance
Salimova eliminates Muzychuk after two rapid tiebreak matches. Praggnanandhaa clinches the last remaining place in the semifinals after a gruelling seven-game tiebreak duel with Erigaisi Bulgaria’s IM Nurgyul Salimova is having a spectacular run in the World Cup and will be playing in the finals after knocking out Anna Muzychuk, defeating her with 1.5:0.5 in the second tiebreak match. Both played sharp and decisive games in the tiebreaks, with only one ending in a draw. Salimova will compete against Aleksandra Goryachkina in the Women’s World Cup finals, while Anna Muzychuk will face Tan Zhongyi in the battle for third place. Both matches will start on Saturday, 19th August, alongside the semifinal matches in the Open. The tiebreak in the Open section today lasted notably longer than that in the Women’s: In a sharp duel which saw a heavy exchange of blows in each game, after two rounds of rapid and a round of blitz, everything came down to one, single, blitz game. Playing as White, Praggnanandhaa took the initiative early on, forced a winning rook endgame and ended up victorious, clinching the last free place in the final four. The Open Tournament Highlights Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa were the only two participants of the Open to head to the tiebreaks in round six. In the regular part of the round, somewhat unusually, the opponents traded victories with black pieces. Both games in the first rapid tiebreak today ended in a draw, with neither side achieving a substantial advantage. In the second tiebreak match, Praggnanandhaa took the lead after winning with Black again. This is even though Erigaisi had a better position from move 12. In a rook and queen endgame, Erigaisi was winning. The critical moment of the game came after Black’s 44th move: White had an overwhelming advantage but untimely went for an exchange of queens which resulted in him losing an advanced passer on the a-file. In an even rook endgame, with both sides having two passers on opposite flanks, Arjunn misplayed, eventually ending with a rook against a queen and capitulated soon after. However, in the second game, the reverse happened: Praggnanandhaa made a serious opening mistake on the White side of the Queen’s Gambit Declined, allowing Black to save his place in the race by scoring a victory. Then came the third tiebreak – this time, in the Blitz (with five minutes for each player, plus three seconds of bonification, starting from move one). Praggnanandhaa (playing as Black) took the initiative early on, securing a sizable advantage from the opening and maintaining it throughout. In a topsy-turvy game two that followed, Pragg was clearly better at some point in the transition towards the endgame, he overlooked a rook and ended up losing. Now, everything was hanging on just one game. Praggnanandhaa was White. In the Reti opening, White emerged slightly better. Erigaisi began to falter, making imprecisions, losing a pawn and gradually handing ever more space to White. Praggnanandhaa finally broke through, entering a completely winning rook endgame. He finished with two pawns and a rook against a rook. On move 72, Erigaisi had to accept the inevitable and resign. The Women’s Tournament Highlights Anna Muzychuk’s troubles started early on, in the first rapid tiebreak game. Playing as White, Muzychuk responded well to the Tartakower line of the Caro-Kann played by Nurgyul Salimova. With opposite castles, Black made a premature attempt to advance on White’s queenside and ended in a weaker position, giving up a pawn without much compensation. However, in the proceeding moves, Muzychuk chose the wrong plan and underestimated the threats posed by Black’s bishops. In an unpleasant but still holdable position for White, Muzychuk made her biggest error snatching Black’s rook and was immediately lost. In game two Muzychuk bounced back. In the Dutch Defence, leading black pieces, Muzychuk managed to get the upper hand in the transition to an endgame, winning a pawn. At one point, Black dropped the advantage but Salimova blundered again, entering a lost rook endgame. In the second tiebreak, Salimova again started well – defeating Muzychuk with the white pieces, finishing with a nice checkmate combination. In game two Muzychuk tried to push in an even position but ended up overlooking a piece. Salimova promptly traded all White’s active pieces and liquidated into a won endgame where she settled for a draw by repetition which propelled the Bulgarian into the finals. Friday, the 18th of August is a rest day. The games continue on Saturday, 19th of August. Here follows a closer look at some of the top games from Round 6 tiebreaks: In the first game of the second tiebreak match, Arjun Erigaisi had a notably better position as White. This is the position after just 11 moves. Black just made a mistake by placing the knight on d4 instead of on Nd7 or castling. Erigaisi continued to play natural moves and his advantage gradually increased. Following an exchange of pieces in the centre, the two reached the following position: White has the decisive advantage. He has an extra pawn while Black’s pawn on d6 is weak and, overall, White’s pieces are better positioned. 31…Rb5 32.Rd2 Rb3 33.Rd3? The first serious innacuracy by Erigaisi. He should have kept his rook on the second line and activated his queen. Now, however, Praggnanandhaa made a serious mistake 33…Rb6?. He should have just gone for an exchange of rooks and but understandably he tried to keep as many pieces as possible on the board. In the moves that followed neither Arjun was more precise. In addition, Pragg dropped another pawn to create some chances but entered completely lost position: White has an overwhelming position (+13 Stockfish). Indeed after 45.Qc6! Qe1 46.a7 Qa5+ 47.Kb3 Black runs out of checks. Instead, Arjun completely dropped the advantage with 45.Qc4?? Now after the exchange of queens, the position is equal as White loses his a6-passer. A huge gift by Erigaisi which Praggnanandhaa enthusiastically accepted. 45…Qxc4 46.Rxc4 Ra8 47.b4 Rxa6+ 48.Kb3 h3 49.b5 Rh6 50.Rc8+ Kh7 51.Rc1 g5
21st European Union Youth Championship kicks off in Kouty nad Desnou, Czech Republic
On Wednesday, August 16th, the 21st European Union Youth Chess Championship U8, U10, U12 and U14 started in the Hotel Dlouhe Strane in Kouty nad Desnou in the Czech Republic. Following several previous successful editions, the European Union Youth Chess Championship 2023, under the patronage of the European Chess Union, is organized again by Sachovy klub Svetla nad Sazavou in cooperation with the Czech Chess Federation. Boys and girls in each category play the same competition (9-round Swiss tournament with classical time control), but they will be ranked separately. This prestigious event attracts many young chess players – this year there was registered 101 players from 15 national federations of ECU. The highest-rated player of the event is Czech player Matej Jasso (U14), with a rating of 2143. For players’ parents and all chess fans, the organizers prepared various chess and non-chess activities, plus online broadcast of all the games. All participants can use their leisure time for activities offered by the hotel, such as pool, wellness, bowling, billiard and table tennis. The list of local attractions includes a new aquapark recently opened in Velke Losiny, Sky Bridge 721 and The Sky Walk in Dolni Morava. On Thursday, August 24th, we will know eight new 2023 European Champions. The winners in each category will receive laptops, while those finishing second and third will be presented with digital chess clocks. All participants will receive memorial diplomas and medals, plus a T-shirt with the championship logo. After each round, the organizers will award special prizes for the best game in every category. Photos: Official website Official website: chess.cz/mistrovstvi-evropske-unie/
FIDE World Youth Olympiad 2023: Day 4 Recap
China is leading, followed by Armenia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. Despite the heavy double-round playing day yesterday, the young players were back at the boards today at 10:30 AM local time. Fortunately for them, they only had to play one game today. Perhaps the young world travelers can spend the rest of the day exploring the center of Eindhoven, where Mr. X will also make his appearance. At the beginning of the sixth round, the top teams started pulling away from the rest of the field. China is lonely at the top, while Turkey, Armenia, and Hungary are trying to close the gap. The first and last two played against each other. Xiangrui Kong plays a stunning game against Eray Kilic. Photo: Lennart Ootes After an hour of play, China seemed to be in control again. Xiangrui Kong dominates his opponent, Eray Kilic. In a sharp Ruy Lopez, the Chinese player with the white pieces manages to open lines while keeping the black king trapped in the center of the board. With 19.Qh3!, white prevents short castling, due to the pin on e6. After 19…Qf6, the position opens up: 20.e5 dxe5 21.fxe5. Even exchanging queens offers no relief: after 21…Qh4, 22.Bd7+ Kd8, and now white can simply exchange and infiltrate with the rook on the seventh rank. The position would then be: However, Eray didn’t fancy that. He decided to keep the queens on the board and see what his opponent had in mind. He didn’t have to wait long. When Eray refused with 21…Qg5. Here, Kong decisively continued with 22.Rad1. The black king is almost mated due to the open lines. With 22…Bc6, Eray tried to cover square d7, but it was met with precise 23.Ne4! The black player had seen enough and threw himself on the sword: 23…Bxe4 24.Bh5+ with the inevitable 25.Qd7# to follow. 1-0. At the fourth board, Miaoyi Lu also proved to be superior once again. In search of a plan in the following position, opponent Elifnaz Akat decided to seek refuge on the queenside with 14.Na4? However, that knight was immediately called back. After 14…b5!, a gap indeed appears on c5, but the white knight is not allowed to jump in. 15.Nc5? would be punished by 15…Nxd4!, eliminating the defense with a pawn capture. Elifnaz retreated sadly with 15.Nc3, but Lu was on a roll: 15…Qb4 at least wins a pawn. It’s clear that Chinese chess has a bright future with these top talents. In a resilient middlegame without queens, Tong(Qd) Xiao outplayed his opponent Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus. An amusing moment occurred toward the end: It was tempting here to exchange rooks with 36…Rxd3 37.Ne5+ Kd6 38.Nxd3. Black is already two pawns ahead, and their king is better. A piece of cake. But commentator Anna-Maja Kazarian came up with the clever 36…Nc3! here, threatening mate on b1. White must then proactively exchange rooks on d6 and then passively place the other rook on the bottom rank to prevent mate. The black king can then simply enter. Thus, there’s still something for the Chinese top player to learn: when your opponent is in time trouble, it’s better to play annoying moves rather than quick ones. But it didn’t affect the result: black easily won the endgame. 0-1. So, for the final result in this match, it didn’t matter what happened on the first board. Ediz Gurel couldn’t break through against Hoawen Xue, and thus China won again with a crushing score: 3.5-0.5. Matyas loves rook endgames. Photo: Lennart Ootes In the match Armenia-Hungary, things were intense. Matyas Palczert once again had the chance to showcase his technique in a rook endgame, this time against Erik Gasparyan. Yesterday he went all the way in the endgame against Ukraine’s Anastasiia Hnatyshyn and won. Today, he managed it with some twists. After Matyas missed a few winning chances, the following position arose: Here, white can draw with the unlikely 59.g8Q! after 59…Rxg8 60.Kxg8 h3 61.Kf7, and white is just in time to stop both pawns. White has to keep giving checks for a while: 61…Ka2 62.Ra8+ Kb3 63.Rb8+ Kc3 64.Rc8+ Kd3 65.Rd8+ Ke3 (on 65…Ke2 to keep the rook off the bottom rank, 66.Rb8 follows). Now, white stands on the bottom rank: 66.Rd1 h2. The white rook can now keep going between b1 and h1. The point is that at the moment the black king comes to the second rank to support one of the pawns, white can capture the other pawn. For instance: 67.Rb1 Kd3 68.Rh1 Kc3 69. Ke6 Kb3 70.Kd5 Ka2?! 71.Rxh2, and the pin leads to a draw. Instead of all this, Erik played 59.Rc6?? and lost after 59…h3 60.Rg6 h2 with the point 61.Rh6 Kc1!! 62.Rxh2 and 62…b1Q+ is check! Matyas promoted, but the win was still not trivial. Shortly after, the oppoennts reached the following position: Perhaps Matyas didn’t want to go into the queen vs. rook endgame, so he decided on 64…Qg8?! That could have cost him the win, although the defense was again not trivial: with 65.Rg6! the black queen is trapped. If the king tries to move away from the pawn, white can give checks until they get back behind the b-pawn. For example: 65…Kd3 66.Rb6 Qa2 and now 67.Rxb2!! and the black queen can’t simultaneously support its own pawn and watch the white pawn on g4. However, things went differently once again. In the position above, Erik played 65.Rf3??, after which the black king could find shelter: 65…Ka2 66.Rf2 Ka1 67.Rf8 Qe6+ 68.Kh5 and here Matyas gave a few checks, but the point is that black can simply promote. After 68…b1Q 69.Ra8+ follows the nice finish with 69…Qba2! 0-1. At the first board, Robert Piliposyan continued his winning streak. Yesterday, he dismantled Dutch player Yichen Han’s position. Today, he stopped Zsoka Gaal, who had been on a winning streak. At the third board, Hungarian Kristof Pal Kolimar had done everything right in yet another tricky endgame, this time with a bishop and two pawns against a rook. But when victory was within reach, it went wrong. Here, the white king simply needs to move along with the d-pawn. But what’s not simple is
FIDE World Cup R6 Game 2: Goryachkina advances to Women’s finals
Aleksandra Goryachkina reaches the finals in the Women’s tournament after eliminating Tan Zhongyi. Carlsen, Caruana and Abasov all qualify for the Open semi-finals Leinier Dominguez Perez was eliminated from the race, after losing to Fabiano Caruana. R Praggnanandhaa staged a comeback against Erigaisi, as the two will be the only pair in the Open going to the tiebreaks. Both games in the Women’s tournament ended in a draw. After winning in the first game, Aleksandra Goryachkina eliminated the former World Champion Tan Zhongyi, while Anna Muzychuk and Nurgyul Salimova drew again and will have to play the tiebreaks. The Open Tournament Highlights Nijat Abasov was the first to qualify for the semi-finals of the World Cup, having defeated Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, checkmating him on move 44. The two split a point after a long and tense game yesterday. Today, the representative from Azerbaijan won with white pieces in the London System, taking the initiative as early as move 15 and then increasing the pressure until reaching a winning position by move 30. Magnus Carlsen drew his second game with Gukesh D. In the Alapin line of the Sicilian, Carlsen (playing as White) got slightly more initiative after the opening. However, the Norwegian opted for a secure path – transitioning to an even endgame where he was a pawn down. A draw was enough for Carlsen to move to the semi-finals. R Praggnanandhaa made an impressive comeback against compatriot Arjun Erigaisi with the black pieces following yesterday’s loss. In the second Alapin game of the day, the two entered an even endgame, although Black had an extra pawn. However, a couple of inaccuracies by Erigaisi were enough for Pragg to activate his king and pose some serious problems for White. Eventually, Black broke up in the centre and penetrated with his king to the kingside, with decisive effect. Both sides ended up promoting a queen, but Black had three extra pawns, and White had none. Erigaisi tried to engineer a way to a perpetual check, but it was impossible. The game ended after Black promoted his second queen. The two will now have to play in the tiebreaks. The final game to finish was between Fabiano Caruana and Leinier Dominguez Perez. After a heroic escape from a lost position as Black in yesterday’s game, today, playing as White, Caruana was clearly better than his opponent. In the Tarrasch, the two entered a typical position with an isolated pawn in which White had a slight edge and a chance to pressure his opponent without taking serious risks. Black maintained balance for a while but eventually cracked closer to the time control. Fabiano won a pawn and slowly but surely converted it. This marks the end of the road for Dominguez Perez, who had a great tournament ousting several strong GMs, including the European champion, Alexey Sarana. The Women’s Tournament Highlights Former Women’s World Champion Tan Zhongyi is out after drawing with black pieces against Aleksandra Goryachkina. In the exchange line of the King’s Indian, Black managed to get some initiative but nothing substantial. Throughout the game, Goryachkina aimed to tame the position and keep it even, succeeding eventually. The former world champion now awaits to see who will be her opponent for third place, while Goryachkina becomes the first qualifier for the Women’s Grand Prix finals. Nurgyul Salimova and Anna Muzychuk also drew. In the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, Salimova (playing as Black) created some chances in an early endgame but quickly dropped them, and the two agreed to split a point after 41 moves. With two draws in both games, the two head for a tiebreak on Thursday. The full results of today’s games can be found here: worldcup2023.fide.com/pairings. Round six tiebreaks take place on Thursday, 17th of August, at 3 PM local time in Baku, Azerbaijan. Here follows a closer look at some of the games played today: Nijat Abasov is having a great tournament in his native Baku. The local star has so far eliminated the likes of Anish Giri and Peter Svidler, and has now added Vidit to the list of heavyweights he knocked out of the World Cup. In today’s game, in the London system, Abasov started increasing the pressure from early on. Add to that some mistakes by Vidit, and the Azeri GM quickly got into a strong position. This was the last moment in the game when the engine showed both sides to be equal. In the next several moves, White’s position gradually improved. 11…Ne5?! A dubious novelty by Vidit. 11…h6 or castle are considered as a better plan. 12.Nxe5 Qxe5 13.0-0 Bd7 14.e4 dxe4 15.Nxe4 Nd5?! 16.Rfe1 Bc6 17.Rad1 0-0-0? A very risky move as White is much better prepared for active operations. After 17…Nf4 18.Bb5! 0-0 19.Bxc6 White is clearly better but it was the best option for Black. In subsequented play the opponents made some inaccuracies but Nijat was more precise. 26.b5! With this move White started a direct attack on the black king. 26…Be8 27.a4 Kc8 28.Nb3 f6 29.a5 Qd1 30.Qb4 b6? The last error by Vidit led him to a completely lost position. 30…e5 or 30…Qd8 even offered more chances to hold, but now… 31.axb6 axb6 32.c5 bxc5 33.Qxc5+ Kb8 Now the black king is at the mercy of White. 34.Qb6 Kc8 35.Qxe6 Bd7 36.Qc4+ Kd8 37.b6Qd6 38.Qg8+ Ke7 39.b7 Be8 And now Abasov found a wonderful finishing sequence: 40.Bb5! Qd1+ 41.Kh2 Qd6+ 42.g3 Bf7 43.b8=Q Bxg8 44.Qxe8# 1-0 Pragnanandhaa defeated Arjun Erigaisi with black pieces. In the Alapin, Arjun tried to force an even endgame and chose a plan which ended up costing him a point. The position is even. However, White has to demonstrate accuracy. The best way to proceed was 28.Kf1 28.a4? After this natural but wrong move Black regrouped and started posing serious problem for White. 28…Be5 29.Kf1 Bd6 30.Ke2 e5 31.Kd3 Ke6 32.Rb7 Kd5 33.f3 c5 34.a5 Rf8? A mistake by Prag. He should have played 34…g5 and started his push on the kingside. 35.a6 Ra8 36.Kc3 g5! Black admitted his mistake and
Samunenkov and Gurel receive wild cards for FIDE Grand Swiss 2023
The world’s strongest Swiss-system chess event, FIDE Grand Swiss, is set to be played on the Isle of Man from October 23 to November 6, 2023. The tournament is the gathering of the world’s top guns with two FIDE Candidates spots on stake, an opportunity to take home part of the USD 600,000 combined prize fund, and a perfect testing ground for young talents. At the end of July, we announced that 100 players had already confirmed their participation in the Grand Swiss and 40 players in the Women’s Grand Swiss. However, wild cards are still being distributed, and we’re happy to announce that two of them will go to the exceptional young talents, International Masters Ihor Samunenkov from Ukraine and Ediz Gurel from Turkey. Samunenkov in 2021, photo by Chess.com 14-year-old IM Ihor Samunenkov made headlines in 2021 when at the age of 12, he became the Ukrainian Champion, not in his age group, but an overall one! Currently rated 2515, Ihor is the world’s number two among players under 14 after GM Abhimanyu Mishra, who is already on the list of Grand Swiss participants. Gurel at the U16 Chess Olympiad, photo by Lennart Ootes IM Ediz Gurel from Turkey is also well known in the chess world. With 2512, he is the strongest 15-year-old in the world. These days, he’s leading the Turkish team at the Youth Olympiad U16 which is underway in Netherlands. He came there right after scoring a major upset at the FIDE World Cup where he defeated GM Velimir Ivic in the first game of their match. It is worth noting that two more players have just qualified for the Grand Swiss from the World Cup currently running in Azerbaijan. Hungarian GM Ferenc Berkes in the World Cup and IM Medina Warda Aulia from Indonesia in the Women’s World Cup got the tickets to FIDE Grand Swiss reserved for players who reach the Round of 16 in Baku.
Interview with FIDE CEO GM Emil Sutovsky
Taken during the FIDE World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, on the 7th of August, 2023, by IM Michael Rahal, FIDE Press Officer of the event. You can watch the full interview on our YouTube channel. – I’m joined by International Grandmaster and FIDE Chief Executive Officer since 2022, Emil Sutovsky. Emil, good morning and thank you for coming to the interview. – Hi, Michael. – Emil, as a player, you went over 2700 in 2012, but now you’re basically just playing a few games each year. Your main role now is FIDE’s Chief Executive Officer. You were Director General from 2018 to 2022. Tell us about your new role in FIDE since last year, what does your job entail, and the difference with being a Director General? – Thank you. A good question. I keep doing more or less the same things, but it’s just more responsibility because now we have a wider scope of activities. I also have to take various decisions, which my present position reflects more because the description of Director General is a bit vaguer than CEO. Obviously, most of the decisions are related to the commercial side and professional side of the competitions because, as you are fully aware, FIDE does both the professional part and the social and educational part. So, I’m more focused on the commercial side, professional broadcasting, and I’m also in charge of all major events like World Championships, World Cups and so on. In the Olympiad, of course, the responsibility is huge, and it is growing. The number of our competitions is getting bigger and our team also has expanded to that effect. I hope that the results which we bring are well felt in the chess community. – We’re in Baku, in the trophy room of the Marriot Boulevard Hotel, in the wonderful surroundings of the World Cup 2023. The World Cup was originally planned for South Korea, but finally came to Baku. And I know that your personal and professional involvement was key, it was fundamental in bringing it here. Tell me, how did the bid come about? – We had negotiations with South Korea throughout 2022, and during the Olympiad in Chennai it was announced publicly that they’re going to submit a bid. For us, it would have been great if South Korea emerged as another major player on the chess map. As you know, we are trying to develop chess and stage it in as many countries and continents as possible. Of course, South Korea is an important strategical region where we’d be happy to host an event like the World Cup or similar. While we were expecting them to submit a bid, it started to take more and more time and when the deadline finally came, nothing official had been submitted. In parallel, we were taking to Baku. As you know, I was born in Baku. And actually, my first serious chess partner was none other than Garry Kasparov himself. We lived on the same street, literally 100 yards away. And I remember visiting him when I was 5 or 6 and so on. We played the game. Of course, he was already a top player and I was just a kid. It was an inspiration for me. I left Baku over 30 years ago, my family moved to Israel, but the ties remained and I think it was also noticeable throughout the years when I was a player and later a coach. I helped many of the young Azeri players since Radjabov. At one stage or another many of them were my students. So, I kept this good contact with the local federation. And we did organize some projects before. But when the idea to stage the World Cup emerged, I came to Baku in advance to have some negotiations and to meet the sports minister who supported the idea. And then we managed to organize a meeting with the President of the country, Mr. Aliyev, and, of course, the FIDE President, Arkady Dvorkovich, led the delegation. I was a part of it and the decision was taken. I think it’s very natural that it’s organised in Baku, with its vast chess tradition and strong players. Typically, there was a well-known squad from Baku in Open competitions, but in recent years, the ladies from Azerbaijan have also progressed enormously, finishing top five in the Olympiad. Therefore, it was a natural choice and I think it was a good decision. And the level of organization is something we are pleased about. – We’re about to finish the third round, which is halfway through the tournament. Is it running as planned from what you’ve seen? Would you have changed anything? – In general, I’m happy. I think the event itself is unique for chess, a combination of the top players participating but also an opportunity for representatives from many countries. There are over 90 countries here taking part, and the champions are participating. For the first time ever, an Indonesian player qualified for the top 16: that’s already something very meaningful and hopefully can boost interest for chess in the country. FIDE has brought a huge team here to help the local organizers. Previously, that was not the practice, but already for a few years now we have been doing it in order to secure the highest possible level of organization. It’s a long four weeks event, and it requires a lot of preparation. Obviously, we can always find ways to improve. I think that one major area we will try to invest more and improve is making the games more spectacular on screen: maybe using other more sophisticated approaches to broadcast the events, because we have been improving the quality of the broadcasts, but the format remained the same throughout. Chess has been broadcasted over the last 20 years, and I still think that we can do a lot about
Important changes in FIDE Regulations for the Appointment of Arbiters in World Events
Dear chess friends, We would like to inform you about the most important changes in FIDE Regulations for Appointment of Arbiters in World Events (Handbook B06.4), effective from July 20th 2023. These regulations existed since 2022, and they established the first panels of arbiters. The reasons for changing the regulations are: a) increase the number of arbiters in each panel to enable more people to get appointments as Chief and Deputy Chief Arbiter of world events. b) adding the possibility to deal with unforeseen circumstances c) Fair Play Officers have been removed from the regulations d) correct some typos and unclear rules – distinguish between nomination and appointment e) open the process of establishing panels to other relevant bodies as FIDE Council, MB, EVE and GSC through a consultation team Some more detailed information: These regulations no more deal with Fair play officers as they have their own FIDE commission and it is different role being an arbiter and being a FPO. In accordance with FIDE policy, at least 25 % of arbiters in higher Panels (green, blue or red) must be female, each Panel must be geographically diverse, and have representation from each Continent. Higher Panels were enlarged (green from 20 to 25 members, blue from 35 to 45 members, red from 50 to 60 members) Until now, arbiter could be appointed as a Chief Arbiter to a maximum of two (2) FIDE official events per year, same applied for Deputy Chief Arbiter. Now the total nomination is limited – Arbiters can be appointed as a Chief Arbiter or Deputy Chief Arbiter to a maximum of two (2) FIDE official events per year. FIDE President keeps the rights to grant exception to arbiter from the lower panel. At the Olympiad, the Organiser may propose up to 25% of the arbiters, who do not need to be on a panel. They may come from the host Federation, or a Federation that shares a land border with the host Federation. The procedural rules to establish the Panels was updated. Councillors on the Arbiters Commission will discuss the Panel membership with other bodies – Continental arbiters commissions and also with a consultation team. The consultation team includes one representative from each of FIDE Council, the FIDE Management Board, the Global Strategy Commission, and the FIDE Events Commission. IA Ivan SYROVYChairmanFIDE Arbiters’ Commission IA Nebojsa BARALICSecretaryFIDE Arbiters’ Commission
FIDE World Youth Olympiad 2023: Day 3 Recap
On the third day of the Youth Olympiad, two rounds were played. It was a day filled with sharp openings and tough endgames, and above all, it became China’s day. At the beginning of the third day, China and the Netherlands 1 were leading the standings. In the fourth round, these teams faced each other. The winner of this match would take the lead. There isn’t a player who falls behind the others in team China: they all score above average. In fact, at the start of the day, all Chinese players are still undefeated. Although the Dutch team has also collected all match points, the individual results are somewhat more variable. Photo: Lennart Ootes The powerful Chinese player Miaoyi Lu continues to win. On the live stream, Stefan Kuipers tells his co-commentator Anna-Maja Kazarian about one of his favorites in this tournament: China’s board four player, Miaoyi Lu. Both in the opening and in the endgame, she is intimidatingly fast and accurate. In her game in the third round against the Dutch Dana Verheij, she pauses in a sharp Richter-Rauzer variation of the Sicilian: This seems justified. Interesting possibilities like 10.e5! are already on the horizon. When the d-file opens, the power of the battery of rook and queen becomes evident. At the same time, the knight and queen are tied to the defense of the bishop on d7. Miaoyi Lu chooses the equally strong 10.f4 and after 10…Be7, she plays 11.e5. This move has now become even stronger. After 11…dxe5 12.fxe5 Nd5 13.Bxe7 Qxe7 14.Ne4, it becomes clear that the dark squares are vulnerable in Black’s camp. Black seems to get away with 14…0-0 15.c4 Nb6 16.Qf2 Rab8; everything is covered. But that’s not the case. Miaoyi Lu demonstrates the weaknesses of the black position with 17.Nf6+!! Naturally, black must not capture, and after the sad 17…Kh8 18.Qh4 h6, the knight remains invulnerable, allowing white to calmly build up an attack. The game didn’t last much longer. After 19.Bd3 Na4, white wins the black queen: 20.Qe4 g6 21.Qh4! White retreats to threaten checkmate on h6 and bring a deadly discovered check into the position. After 21…Kg7, 22.Nh5+ decides the game. 1-0. Once again, an excellent performance by the Chinese player. At the second board, we see Tong(Qd) Xiao win convincingly against Arthur de Winter. For a long time, the players followed a recent top-level game between Pentala Harikrishna and Nikita Vitiugov, which was won by the latter. Even then, the player playing with the black pieces remained unfazed after a check and moved his king confidently with 10…Kf8. However, the king turned out to be less safe than expected. The following position emerged several moves down the road: Although black had the opportunity to fork the queen and bishop with 27…f4, white was not concerned about it. After 28.Bxf4 gxf4 29.Nxf4, the black king is under attack and the black pieces become dead wood. The rook on h8, the bishop on f8, and the knight on h6 are all written off, while the white rooks are ready to invade the seventh rank. White soon won. 1-0 When the third board between Prajit Sai Kumar and Xiangrui Kong was won by the Chinese player, Yichen Han on board 1 had to defend the Dutch honor against Haowen Xue. However, he only managed to achieve a draw with the white pieces. China confidently won by a score of 3½-½ and grabbed the lead. Inevitably, there are many teams in pursuit. The eagerness of the teams to win is evident from the number of Najdorf positions in the playing hall. Additionally, the fast time control of 45+10 leads to true chess spectacles. In the second board of the match Kazakhstan 1–Azerbaijan, Ahmad Khagan seemed to have more success with the white pieces against Daniyal Sapenov. The game followed the same variation as the game of the day yesterday (Milikow—Makridis, brilliantly won by the latter), but instead of the calm 9.Be2, White played 9.Nd5 Bxd5 10.exd5, resulting in a completely different pawn structure. The position in the next diagram seems intimidating for Black, but in reality, the black king can navigate through it. Meanwhile, the white pawn on d5 is merely blocking the white pieces. White tried to remedy this by sacrificing his pawn with 25.d6+, but it made little difference. Not much later, a draw by repetition was agreed. The match between Kazakhstan 1 and Azerbaijan was decided on the lower two boards. On the fourth board, a mutual pawn breakthrough led to almost comical scenes. Alua Nurmanova from Kazakhstan (Black) had already won a piece, but with advanced pawns, caution is always required. Her opponent from Azerbaijan Narmin Abdinova tried to complicate things with 36.Ne7+ Rxe7 37.b7, but by then, Black had enough material to sacrifice the rook with 37…Rxb7 and then advance her c-passer. Black won, resulting in a convincing 3-1 victory for Kazakhstan 1 over Azerbaijan. Unfortunately for WIM Zsoka Gaal of Hungary, who is one of the few girls consistently sitting at the first board in the tournament, her team couldn’t capitalize on her convincing victory with the black pieces over Ukrainian FM Maksym Dubnevych. Ukraine decided the match in their favor (3-1) despite Hungary’s higher ratings on all boards. The final position on board 3, between Vladyslav Fishchuk and Kristof Pal Kolimar, tells the story. The other two games were decided in the rook endgame. Matyas Palczert continued pressing for a win against Anastasiia Hnatyshyn in a seemingly equal position. However, he risked going down. Matyas played 45.Kb1?! here to escape from the check. He had his reasons for this move: Anastasiia had less than a minute on her clock, and moreover, the b-pawn could potentially become a dangerous passer. However, the subsequent moves were not always accurate, with both players missing chances to win. Additionally, Matyas’s clock was ticking down as well. In this position, Anastasiia could have taken advantage of Matyas’s earlier optimism with 52…e3! The point is that Black threatens …Rg1+ followed by …e2, promoting the pawn. White would need to move the king closer to the pawn with 53.Kd1, but that would give Black the
FIDE World Cup R6 Game 1: Goryachkina wins, Caruana makes a lucky escape
Carlsen and Erigaisi win in the open event. Goryachkina scores only victory in the women’s semis Magnus Carlsen and Arjun Erigaisi started with a victory in the quarter-finals. Fabiano Caruana was on the brink of losing to compatriot Dominguez Perez but managed to save a draw. Vidit and Abasov drew after a lengthy endgame. In the Women’s tournament, Aleksandra Goryachkina seized the initiative in the semifinals by defeating former World Champion Tan Zhongyi with the black pieces. Bulgaria’s Nurgyul Salimova managed to hold Anna Muzychuk to a draw as Black after playing precisely following a sharp opening line. The Open Tournament Highlights Magnus Carlsen was the first to finish his game, scoring a victory as Black against India’s Gukesh D. In the Queen Pawn Opening, the player from Chennai maintained an even position for a long time but then misplayed in the endgame. With each side having a rook and three pawns, Gukesh chose the wrong plan, allowing Carlsen to activate his king and pawns. With each check White gave, Carlsen was closer to the first rank. After 48 moves, Black’s placed his pawn on e2 and Gukesh resigned. In an Indian derby, Arjun Erigaisi beat Praggnanandhaa with black pieces. The two sides were even throughout the game, but in the endgame stage – following a piece sacrifice by Erigaisi – Praggnanadhaa blundered, allowing Black to execute an attack on the white king and create conditions to promote his pawn, which was already on d3. The 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa resisted but had to resign in the end. Fabiano Caruana found himself in trouble against compatriot Leinier Dominguez Perez. Following the Italian Game, the two sides were even until Black’s 34th move when – in a knight and rook endgame – Caruana made several imprecisions costing him two pawns. However, Caruana was looking for the best ways to survive in the lost postion hoping for a miracle, and it happened: Dominguez blundered and allowed Black to activate his rook and knight in attacking the white king. A very lucky break for Caruana and a huge miss by Dominguez. Vidit Santos Gujrathi and Nijat Abasov split a point in the Rossolimo Attack of the Sicilian, both sides played precisely. By move 25, the two have reached an endgame where each side had six pawns, a black-squared bishop and a rook. From that move onwards followed a complex and lengthy debate where each side tried to outmanoeuvre the other by moving the rook and the bishop around the board. White managed to get some chances but didn’t use them. The Women’s Tournament Highlights Aleksandra Goryachkina beat the former Women’s World Champion Tan Zhongyi with black pieces in the exchange line of the Queen’s Gambit Declined. After an imprecision by White, Goryachkina managed to get more initiative and press across the board. However, she dropped her advantage, and soon the position was even. Still transitioning to the endgame, Tan made another blunder which allowed Black to penetrate her second rank with a rook, ending up winning. Nurgyul Salimova held Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk to a draw with black pieces, in their first encounter in the semifinals. The two played a sharp line in the Caro-Kann where White had slightly more activity at one point, but Black could counter. White managed to create a passer on the a-file, but Salimova was just in time to hold. On move 32, the two decided to split a point. The full results of today’s games can be found here: worldcup2023.fide.com/pairings. The second game of round six starts on Wednesday, 14th of August, at 3 PM local time in Baku, Azerbaijan. Here follows a closer look at some of the games from today’s round: Gukesh lost to Carlsen after completely misplaying an even rook endgame. White (Gukesh) should have just proceeded with 35.c4, creating a passer on the queenside. Instead, he played 34.Ra2?? allowing Black the time to activate his king and push on. Carlsen didn’t see the best move (34…Kd6) and instead went for 34…Rg5, but Black was still better. Now Gukesh made another blunder – 35.Ra7+ and his position became beyond repair. It was the start of a series of pointless checks which helped the black king and pawns to move towards the first rank. Thirteen moves down the road, the opponents reached the following position: Since Black’s e-pawn will cost Black the rook, Gukesh reigned. 0-1 In another victory for Black, Arjun Erigaisi defeated compatriot Praggnanandhaa after Rameshbabu blundered in responding to a piece sacrifice. 35…Nxg3! 36.fxg3 d3 37.Bg2?? White needed to get his king out of the line of fire from the black queen with 37.Kh1 maintaining balance. 37….Qb6+ 38.Kh2 Qf2! Now, Back is threatening checkmate and has the time to push his d-pawn further. 39.Rg1 Re2 40.Qe7 d2 41.Qf6+ Qxf6 42.exf6 Kxf6 43.Rf1+ Ke5 and the black king marches down the board to support his passer. White is a piece up but completely paralysed. Pragnanandhaa tried to find options with giving the bishop back, but the pawn endgame was hopeless for White. 0-1, 53 moves. Leinier Dominguez Perez was on the brink of defeating Fabiano Caruana with white pieces after Black made costly mistakes in an even endgame. Caruana here made a serious mistake with seemingly logical 34…Rb6? (34…Ra6 was much better). Now after 35.Nxd4 Ng6 36.Rc6! Black has no option but to avoid trade with 36…Rb7 37.Rxe6 and White emerged two pawns up and clearly better. Dominguez made a few inaccuracies down the line and gave up one of his extra pawns but managed to hold his advantage until the move 54: Here Leinier stumbled with 54.Ne2? White is still in command after 54.Ra6! with the idea of d6+ followed by Rd6. As played, Black got an opportunity to coordinate his pieces and pester Whites’ king. 54…Rh2 55.Ra6 Rh3 56.Kd4 Rd3+! 57.Kc5 Nd7 and now Black holds. Dominguez tried for another 14 moves but eventually had to settle for a draw. 1/2-1/2, 71 moves A lucky save by Caruana. Aleksandra Goryachkina defeated Tan Zhongyi as Black. The former world champion from China made several mistakes in the game. The position is even. A natural move such as