Call for submissions: FIDE Veterans Support Program 2023, second installment
The International Chess Federation is pleased to announce the continuation of its support to chess veterans in 2023. The second installment of grants will be awarded next month to distinguished players, coaches and organizers aged 65+. Anyone over this age who has contributed to the development of chess and who is in an unstable financial situation is eligible to submit an application. As in previous years, we invite federations, clubs, and players themselves to send their applications, including a CV of the nominee, to the FIDE Secretariat: office@fide.com. The deadline for submissions is June 15, 2023.
FIDE World Senior Championship 2023: Registration is open
FIDE and the Italian Chess Federation, along with UniChess, are happy to invite all FIDE member federations to participate in the World Senior Chess Championship 2023. The event will be held in Terrasini, Italy, from October 24 (arrival) to November 6 (departure), 2023. The Championship will be played in four categories: age 50+ and 65+, Open and Women. All players shall have reached the age of 50 and 65, respectively, by December 31, 2023. The top three players from each category of the previous World Senior Championships have the personal right to participate. In addition, the top three finishers from each category of the previous year’s Continental Senior Championships are also qualified for participation and cannot be substituted by other players. The deadline for registration is August 30, 2023. Registration form Regulations for the FIDE World Senior Championships 2023 (pdf) FIDE Senior Chess Championships official website will be launched by June 15 E-mail: worldsenior@fide.com Photo: Wikipeida, Bjs
FIDE June 2023 rating list published
The top ten places in the overall and women’s lists were mainly impacted by the GСT Superbet Chess Classics Romania and the final leg of FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2022-2023 in Cyprus. The recent contender for the World Champion title Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi dropped quite a few points in Bucharest (most likely the fatigue took its toll), while the winner Fabiano Caruana and Richard Rapport (who returned into the top 10 Open) became the primary rating beneficiaries of this event. Photo: Grand Chess Tour | Lennart Ootes Ironically, three women’s top-tenners incurred substantial rating losses in Nicosia, but Kateryna Lagno and Aleksandra Goryachkina definitely found comfort in qualifying for the 2024 Women’s Candidates Tournament. Biggest gains in top 100 Open and Women Zatonskih, Anna IM USA 2364 (+74) Fressinet, Laurent GM FRA 2652 (+20) Vaishali, Rameshbabu IM IND 2431 (+15) Sargsyan, Shant GM ARM 2654 (+14) Injac, Teodora IM SRB 2415 (+14) Sindarov, Javokhir GM UZB 2659 (+13) Ivanchuk, Vasyl GM UKR 2667 (+12) Krush, Irina GM USA 2447 (+11) Divya Deshmukh WGM IND 2400 (+11) Grandelius, Nils GM SWE 2686 (+10) IM Eline Roebers deservedly won this nomination after stringing together three strong performances in Frauenbundesliga and the 15th BMP Limburg Open and collecting 52 rating points. Photo: Lennart Ootes The lowest-rated player in the field rarely wins the event, but that is exactly what happened with Dinara Wagner. The German WGM defied the odds and took down the final leg of FIDE WGP in Cyprus, picking up 30 rating points along the way. Polina Shuvalova also did well in this event and added 12 points to her tally. Photo: Mark Livshitz The sixth edition of Sharjah Masters had an impressive field featuring many strong GMs. Consequently, those who fared well in this 9-round Swiss tournament substantially increased their rating, while Grigoriy Oparin (+13 points coupled with 7 points he picked in the 2023 President Cup) and Ju Wenjun (+16) made it to this list. The Chinese GM mounted to third position in the women’s list and is now just one point behind Humpy Koneru. Photo: Sharjahmasters IM Nurgyul Salimova and WGM Divya Deshmukh turned in solid performances at the very strong Baku Open 2023 that translated into 18 and 17 rating points, respectively, while the winner of this event, Leon Luke Mendonca (who is still outside of the top 100 open), gained 20 points and moved up to 12th position in the junior list. In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that several young players overperformed in May, playing in strong open events and, as a result, rose in the junior top 100. This list includes Jonas Buhl Bjerre – 2624 (+22), Aydin Suleymanli – 2586 (+26), Aditya Mittal – 2586 (+26), Abhimanyu Mishra – 2574 (+24), Platon Galperin – 2551 (+23) and the newly crowned champion of Iran, untitled Amirreza Pour Agha Bala – 2523 (+22).
Queens’ Chess Festival returns in July
The Queens’ Online Chess Festival, a series of continental women’s online blitz tournaments, is returning this summer. The third edition of the popular event, organized by the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess in cooperation with FIDE, will take place from July 02-16, 2023, on Tornelo online platform. The festival welcomes all women chess players from around the world of all ages and all rating groups, including unrated chess enthusiasts. Participation is free of charge. The festival gives everybody a chance to participate in two competitions: Queens’ Women Open Tournament. Open to all female participants with FIDE ID, with continental qualifying events running from July 01-09 and Semi-Final and Final scheduled on July 15-16; Unrated Princesses’ tournaments. For U16 (born on 1.1.2007 or later) female players with no FIDE rating. National rating is acceptable but will not influence the pairing of the event. Like in the previous editions, a lot is at stake in the Queens’ Online Chess Festival 2023. The winners of the World Queens’ Open 2023 and Princess’ Tournament (both U9 and U16 ) will be invited to the 45th World Chess Olympiad 2024 in Budapest, Hungary. The ticket, full-board accommodation for 3 days and invitations to the Opening Ceremony of the Chess Olympiad 2024 for the winner and one accompanying person will be covered. The official Award ceremony for the Queens’ Festival 2023 will take place during the Olympiad. Queens’ Women Open Tournament Registration form Registration deadlines: Africa – June 24, 2023 Europe – June 25, 2023 Asia – July 1, 2023 Americas – July 2, 2023 The qualification tournaments and semi-finals will be 7 or 9-round Swiss tournaments with 3+2 time control, depending on the number of participants, while the final will be a round-robin with 5+5 time control (7 rounds). Unrated Princesses’ Tournament Registration form Registration deadline: July 8, 2023 Unrated players U16 years old (born on 1.1.2007 or later) can play in both the Queens’ Women’s Open tournament and the Unrated Princesses’ tournament. Regulations for Queens’ Chess Festival (pdf)
Munkhdalai Amiral and Erdenebayar Khuslen win Mongolian Championship
The 2023 Mongolian Championship saw the triumph of young players as 16-year-old Munkhdalai Amiral and 14-year-old Erdenebayar Khuslen sensationally won their maiden national titles. Both competitions, the open and women’s tournaments, were 12-player round robins taking place simultaneously in Khovd, Mongolia, from May 20-30, 2023. The 10th-rated FM Munkhdalai Amiral (pictured below left) made a splash in the open tournament scoring an impressive 8.5/11 and convincingly winning gold. Aged 16 years and five months, Munkhdalai became the youngest-ever Mongolian champion in the open section. Amiral is the only player in the competition to suffer no defeats. Gombosuren Munkhgal (the only GM in the tournament) and IM Sugar Gan-Erdene finished a full point behind the champion, with the former taking silver as the winner of their direct encounter. Final standings open: 1 FM Amilal, Munkhdalai 2141 8½ 2 GM Munkhgal, Gombosuren 2463 7½ 3 IM Gan-Erdene, Sugar 2420 7½ 4 IM Amartuvshin, Ganzorig 2407 7 5 FM Chinguun, Sumiya 2298 6½ 6 FM Bulgankhan, Ganzorig 2017 6 7 GM Bilguun, Sumiya 2474 6 8 IM Munguntuul, Batkhuyag 2408 4½ 9 WGM Munkhzul, Turmunkh 2318 4 10 Ulziikhishig, Khishigbat 1601 3½ 11 FM Enkhnar, Enkhbaatar 2360 3 12 FM Erdene, Ganzorig 2278 2 Somewhat surprisingly, the women’s competition turned into a very close race between untitled Erdenebayar Khuslen (pictured below left), WCM Khishigbaatar Bayasgalan and WCM Batsaikhan Enkhsaran (rated 5th, 6th, and 7th, respectively). All three players netted 7.5/11 and shared first place, but the title goes to 14-year-old Erdenebayar, who scored victories in both direct encounters. Final standings women: 1 Khuslen, Erdenebayar 1835 7½ 2 WCM Bayasgalan, Khishigbaatar 1811 7½ 3 WCM Enkhsaran, Batsaikhan 1756 7½ 4 WCM Mungunzul, Bat-Erdene 2299 7 5 Enkhrii, Enkh-Amgalan 1448 6½ 6 WFM Altantuya, Boldbaatar 2191 6 7 WCM Enkhbolor, Nyamdavaa 1699 5½ 8 WIM Bayarmaa, Bayarjargal 2167 5 9 WCM Amin-Erdene, Bayanmunkh 1620 4 10 Oyumaa, Myagmardorj 0 3½ 11 Margadgua, Erdenebayar 1934 3½ 12 WCM Udval, Enkhsaikhan 1682 2½ Photos: Mongolian Chess Federation Facebook
English Championship: Michael Adams and Katarzyna Toma clinch titles
Congratulations and well played to the 2023 English and English Women’s Chess Champions – GM Mickey Adams and WGM Katarzyna Toma! The English Championships and English Women’s Championship took place between May 26 and May 29, 2023, at the Holiday Inn Kenilworth-Warwick. Both competitions were 7-round Swiss tournaments with classical time control. Michael Adams confirmed his status as the rating favourite and won the title in the open event, although, it was not a walk in the park for him. Coming into the final round on 5.5/6 a full point ahead of IM Jonah Willow, IM Marcus Havey, GM Peter Wells, IM Matthew Wadsworth and Peter Finn, he needed just a draw to seal the deal. However, his last-round opponent Jonah Willow was in a feisty mood and made the leader work hard. After the opponents traded several mistakes in a complicated middlegame Willow achieved a winning position but missed the decisive move, and this exciting battle ended in a draw by perpetual. Jonah played 34.Rc4 and let Michael off the hook – 34…Qxe5 35.Qxf7+ Kh6 36.Rh4 Kg5 37.Rg4 Kh6 with a draw, whereas after 34.Nxf7! Qf5+ (all other continuations are even worse) 35.Qxf5 gxf5 36. Nxd6 White’s central pawns are unstoppable. Meanwhile, Havey and Wadsworth scored victories and tied for second place, with the former claiming silver thanks to a slightly better Buchholz. Final standings 1 GM Adams, Michael 2757 6 2 IM Harvey, Marcus 2539 5½ 3 IM Wadsworth, Matthew 2469 5½ 4 GM Hebden, Mark 2504 5 5 IM Willow, Jonah 2490 5 6 GM Gormally, Daniel 2470 5 7 CM Khandelwal, Ankush 2362 5 8 Finn, Peter 2258 4½ 9 IM Pert, Richard G 2461 4½ 10 FM Derakhshani, Borna 2405 4½ Complete results The women’s event was also a close race that came down to the wire. Neither player completed the competition unbeaten. Again, the top seed WGM Katarzyna Toma did not disappoint as she came out on top with 5.5/7 after scoring a crucial final-round victory over the leader, WCM Zoe Varney, who was a half-point ahead. Zoe Varney, WFM Audrey Kueh and Kamila Hryshchenko shared second place, with Varney and Kueh taking silver and bronze, respectively, by dint of a superior Buchholz. Final standings 1 WGM Toma, Katarzyna 2386 5½ 2 WCM Varney, Zoe 2081 5 3 WFM Kueh, Audrey 2148 5 4 Hryshchenko, Kamila 2235 5 5 WCM Pert, Nina P 2153 4½ 6 Rida, Ruqayyah 2013 4½ 7 AIM Subramanian, Anusha 2012 4½ 8 WFM Longson, Sarah N 2129 4 9 Sivanandan, Bodhana 1993 4 10 Dicen, Elis Denele 2022 4 Complete results Photo: English Chess Federation Facebook
FIDE World Cup 2023: Preliminary lists of eligible players announced
FIDE has already issued the first batch of invitations for those players already qualified to take part in the World Cup and Women’s World Cup, to be held in the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, from July 29 to August 25. These players have until June 2th (June 5th, in some cases) to confirm their participation by returning a signed contract to office@fide.com. This batch of players amounts to approximately 50% of the total participants. A second batch of invitations in both Cups will be sent on June 1st, after the reference rating list according to the regulations (June 2023) is published. The third batch of players will be known on June 15th, at the conclusion of the Zonal and Continental events still pending to be played. The remaining spots are reserved for Federations based on the performance at the Chennai Chess Olympiad 2022: in total, 71 national federations in the Open section and 36 in Women’s are entitled to nominate a player, who must have been a member of their national team at the Olympiad 2022, that has not qualified by any other path. These Federations have between June 15-30 to submit their nominees. The World Cup is one of FIDE’s flagship competitions, and in recent editions, it has clearly become one of the most followed events in the chess calendar. This reflects FIDE’s efforts to expand the competition, increasing the variety of qualification paths and the number of represented countries (estimated at 80 for the 2023 edition), while drastically decreasing the number of wild cards. With 206 players in the open section, plus 103 in the Women’s competition, this event has seen its combined prize pool boosted to a whopping USD 2.5 million, the single largest one at any chess event in the world. The official contract to host the FIDE World Cup 2023 in Baku was signed on May 5th between the Minister of Sports and Youth of Azerbaijan, Farid Gayibov, FIDE President, Arkady Dvorkovich, and the President of the Chess Federation of Azerbaijan, Mahir Mammedov. The venue for the event will be the Baku Marriott Hotel Boulevard. Qualified players for the World Cup 2023 (pdf) Qualified players for the Women’s World Cup (pdf) Official website: worldcup2023.fide.com/ Photos: azernews.az/, mariott.com
Preliminary confirmation of participation in WSTC 2023 in Kazakhstan: Deadline extended
To all FIDE National Federations All FIDE member federations should email the FIDE Events Commission for preliminary confirmation of participation in the World Schools Team Championship (WSTC) 2023, that will take place in Kazakhstan from August 3-8, 2023. Only federations that held or are going to hold Stage 1 (National Championship) are eligible to apply for “invited team” status (with expenses for accommodations and travel covered by the organisers for one team). National Federations should indicate the exact dates before Saturday, June 03, 18:00 CEST; and after the competitions finish, provide the data (documents and photos) that confirm the organisation of the Championship as per Article 2.4 of the WSTC Regulations. If the National Championship has already been held, National Federations should submit all the necessary information according to Article 2.4 of the Regulations to the FIDE Events Commission. The Events Commission should be emailed at: fideevents@fide.com Regulations of the World Schools Team Championship (pdf)
FIDE WGP: Dinara Wagner reigns in Cyprus
GM Kateryna Lagno and GM Aleksandra Goryachkina qualified for the Candidates. It’s not often that the lowest-rated player in the field takes down a tough event, but WGM Dinara Wagner fought against the odds in Cyprus and achieved the most important success in her career. In the last-round, must-win scenario, Wagner defeated GM Bella Khotenashvili with Black in one of the most exciting rounds of chess I have ever witnessed. In addition to winning the fourth leg of the 2022-2023 FIDE Women’s Grand Prix and the first prize of 15,000 euros, Wagner scored her second IM norm and her first GM norm. With her important last-round win over IM Oliwia Kiolbasa, IM Polina Shuvalova shared second to fourth place with former World Champion GM Tan Zhongyi (third) and GM Harika Dronavalli (fourth), taking second on tiebreaks. The first game to finish in a draw was Lagno vs Assaubayeva. Although they played more than thirty moves, it was all home preparation, and both players seemed content with the result. Soon after, Goryachkina and Harika also split the point: with this result, Harika secured a well-deserved spot at the top of the table, confirming once again that her poor result in Delhi was already forgotten. Goryachkina also had a good reason to draw: after a series of very unfortunate results, a draw secured her qualification for the Candidates. Mammadzada and Kosteniuk battled it out in a technical queenless French Tarrasch, but neither of the two was able to unbalance the position to her favour, and the draw became inevitable. Shuvalova caught her opponent in opening preparation, and once again, Kiolbasa spent a huge amount of time: soon, she was in time trouble. Shuvalova missed a win and soon found herself in a complicated position but eventually, Kiolbasa blundered under the pressure. 40.Qxh6+ forced resignation due to 40…gxh6 41.Rg1+ In the key game of the day, Wagner outplayed her opponent with a very dangerous kingside attack, finishing things off with a nice tactic. 34…Bg2! Many roads lead to Rome and it is one of them. Bella tried 35.f3 but capitulated after 35…Qf4+ as Black checkmates in seven. From then on, she just had to wait to see if Tan Zhongyi could take advantage of her extra material against Dzagnidze. After some ups and downs, one of the most exciting games of the event ended in a draw. FIDE WGP Cyprus final standings Regarding the overall scores of the full Grand Prix, the winner is GM Kateryna Lagno, followed closely by GM Aleksandra Goryachkina. Both of these players qualify for the 2024 Women’s Candidates Tournament. Check out an interview with the overall winner of FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2022-2023, Kateryna Lagno. FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2022-2023 final standings During the closing ceremony FIDE General Secretary Lukasz Turlej expressed his gratitude to the Cyprus Chess Federation and partners Freedom Finance for the invitation to dispute the event in Nicosia and for the great conditions, hotel, and playing venue. Evgeniy Tyapkin, Executive Director of Freedom Finance Europe, confirmed that they were committed to cultivating the framework, the competition and the excitement in their partnership with FIDE in Cyprus and across the world. Olga Milko, Director of Business Development at Freedom Finance Europe, reminded everyone about the equality of opportunities. “Chess develops many strategic skills at the same time. Scientific research confirms that there is no difference in intelligence between genders, and if all other things are equal, girls show even better results.” Finally, Criton Tornaritis, President of the Cyprus Chess Federation, took the stage, congratulated all the players, and expressed his wish to see everyone again next year and organize more events in the future. Text: IM Michael Rahal (Nicosia, Cyprus) Photos: Mark Livshitz About Freedom Finance Europe Freedom Finance Europe, a subsidiary of Freedom Holding Corp., is a leading European stockbroker. The company’s Freedom24 web and mobile app investment platform provides traders with direct access to 15 global stock exchanges, including NYSE, Nasdaq, LSE, Euronext and others. Freedom Finance Europe is licensed by Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) with the right to cater clients from EU and EEA countries. The company is rated “B/B” by S&P Global Ratings. Headquartered in Limassol, the company has tied agents and representative offices in Berlin, Madrid, Paris, Milan, Vienna, Warsaw, and Athens. More information: https://www.freedom24.com/
Igor Zaitsev celebrates his 85th birthday
Igor Zaitsev, a legendary analyst and pioneer of many trails in chess openings, has turned 85 today. His most valuable contribution to opening theory is, arguably, the so-called Zaitsev Variation. Indeed, Igor was first to realize that the rook could move back – over a half-century it had not occurred to the best players in the world – and then developed the most complicated systems that became one of the main lines in such a thoroughly analyzed opening as the Ruy Lopez. Another illustration of his creativity is brilliant 11.Ng5! – a true revelation, a touch of genius. How many other interesting ideas, shown to Karpov (with whom he worked for many years), remained unseen? That said, Zaitsev has always been a creative rather than a practical person. He generated the brightest ideas but was not cut out to play at the highest level. After becoming a GM, Zaitsev quickly switched to coaching and analytical work. Most and foremost, he relished the depth and beauty of chess. Since, with such an approach, it became increasingly difficult to keep it up in the computer age, Zaitsev withdrew from elite chess at the turn of the century. Still, he has constantly analyzed and had numerous publications. He even refuted computer analyses on many occasions in those blessed years when this was still possible. Zaitsev also composed poetry on the anniversaries of colleagues and friends and for his own pleasure, sharing a bit of his soul. Congratulating Igor on his 85th birthday, I want to thank him on behalf of many chess players and fans of our game for those special moments he gave us. Thank you, Igor, and be well! Emil Sutovsky, FIDE Chief Executive Officer