The final round to decide the winner of Cyprus Grand Prix and two Women’s Candidates
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/
Icelandic Championship: Vignir Vatnar Stefánsson wins maiden title
20-year-old IM Vignir Vatnar Stefánsson won his first Icelandic championship title in a close and exciting competition that came down to the wire. Like many previous editions, the 2023 Icelandic Championship was a 12-player round-robin tournament with classical time control that took place from May 15–25 in Hafnarfjordur, Iceland. As tournament fate would have it, as many as three participants – Gudmundur Kjartansson, Vignir Vatnar Stefánsson and Hannes Stefansson – scored 8.5/11 and tied for first place. In the final round, the leaders Vignir and Hannes drew their game (although the former was very close to a victory) while Gudmundur beat Lenka Ptacnikova and caught up with them. To determine the champion, a blitz double round robin (5 min + 5 sec increment) was played. Vignir Vatnar Stefánsson defeated Gudmundur Kjartansson and then escaped with a draw against Hannes Stefansson, while Kjartansson made quick work of Hannes Stefansson to score a full point. The competition culminated in the fourth-round game between Gudmundur Kjartansson and Vignir Vatnar Stefánsson. Playing with White, Gudmundur achieved a slightly better position but made a fatal error on move 28, allowing his opponent to launch a deadly attack. Now Vignir needed just a draw with the white pieces in the duel between Stefanssons. Although he was in danger at some point, Vignir (pictured below, left) managed to trade most of the pieces and reached a draw that secured his maiden national title. Final standings: 1 IM Vignir Vatnar Stefansson 2470 8½ 2 GM Gudmundur Kjartansson 2402 8½ 3 GM Hannes Stefansson 2521 8½ 4 IM Hilmir Freyr Heimisson 2353 8 5 GM Hjorvar Steinn Gretarsson 2539 6 6 FM Aleksandr Domalchuk-Jonasson 2338 5½ 7 GM Johann Hjartarson 2466 5½ 8 GM Henrik Danielsen 2501 4 9 IM Dagur Ragnarsson 2346 4 10 WGM Lenka Ptacnikova 2099 3 11 GM Bragi Thorfinnsson 2431 2½ 12 Johann Ingvason 2076 2 Official website: https://skak.is/frettir/ Photos: official website
Magnus Carlsen wins 2023 Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland
Magnus Carlsen won the 2023 Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland after another incredible performance during the second day of the blitz portion, ending with a score of 24/36 and taking home the $40,000 1st place prize. Placing 2nd was local favorite and defending champion Jan-Krzyzstof Duda, who led until the final day and ended just a point behind with 23/36, after nearly winning a final game against Carlsen that would have forced a playoff. Tied for third were Wesley So and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, each with 21½ points, with Levon Aronian finishing in clear fifth place with 20½. BLITZ | ROUNDS 10-18 Carlsen’s day started off with victories against Vachier-Lagrave and So, extending his fantastic win streak from the end of yesterday to seven. He was then held to a draw by Deac, who played most of the game on the increment, before going on to defeat Wojtaszek, Shevchenko, and Rapport in consecutive rounds to overtake the lead. 55.Qxb3! was the stylish finish in Carlsen – So, as 55…Nxb3 56.Nc2++- leaves White with three extra pawns. After 20…Nb4!, which ended the game Rapport – Carlsen. Then followed draws with Giri and Aronian, leaving Magnus a full point ahead of the previous day’s leader, Duda. Duda led for most of the event, and in the end was extremely close to forcing a playoff. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes For Duda the day was more up-and-down, as he won several games, defeating Rapport, Shevchenko, So, Deac, and Wojtaszek–but he also dropped a couple games to Giri, Aronian, and MVL. 23.Qd5+! allowed Duda to force a winning bishop ending against So. Going into the final round, Duda would need to defeat Carlsen with Black in order to catch up and force a playoff. Despite losing an exchange out of the opening, Duda managed to survive into the endgame and completely turn it around. The Polish No. 1 was even winning at various moments, with a bishop and two pawns against Carlsen’s rook. But in the time-scramble Duda missed a few chances and Carlsen managed to hold after 124 moves of play, clinching the title. After 116.Re8, …Bb6! was one of Duda’s missed opportunities in the game, as White cannot prevent e3: 117.Kd2 Kd4 (threatening e3+ Rxe3 Ba5+, etc.) The final game. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Finishing in third place were Wesley So and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, each taking home $22,500 and 7.5 GCT points. Wesley So | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Bryan Adams Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Fifth place and $15,000 for Levon Aronian | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes $10,000 and four GCT points for Anish Giri | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Current GCT Standings after Poland The 2023 Grand Chess Tour continues with the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz in Zagreb, Croatia, taking place July 3-10. Tune in for live Grandmaster commentary on grandchesstour.org and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels. Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Photos: Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum Studios Credits available on Flickr. Further Information:Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTourInstagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour#GrandChessTour#SuperbetRapidBlitzPoland Venue: Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, PolandMay 21 – May 25, 2023 Press Contact:press@grandchesstour.org Livestream:GrandChessTour.org
2023 GCT Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland: Day 4 Recap
After winning five straight games to close out the day World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen roared back to within half a point of the leader, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, at the half-way mark of the blitz portion. Going into the final day of the blitz tomorrow, Duda has 17.5 points, Carlsen – 17, with Wesley So (16.5), Levon Aronian (16), and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (15.5) all within striking distance. BLITZ | ROUNDS 1-9 The day started somewhat slowly for Carlsen as he beat MVL in the first round before losing to So in Round 2, followed by two draws against Deac and Wojtaszek. But then after executing a clinical mating attack against Shevchenko’s Dragon in Round 5, the previous World Champion simply could not be stopped, as he won the next four games as well, ending the day with a technical endgame win against Duda. 25.Qh2! forced resignation, with an inevitable mate on the h-file. 87…Rxe4! was Carlsen’s winning breakthrough, allowing Black to promote one of his pawns next. Back to his usual self, a whopping 7.0/9 in the blitz for Magnus. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Duda in the meantime also struggled during the first part of the day, scoring just 1/4 until a win against MVL propped him back into the lead: After 35…d5? 36.cxd5 MVL realized too late that he could not recapture 36…exd5 in view of 37.Bb5!+-, heading into a winning king and pawn ending. Duda then went on to defeat Deac and Wojtaszek in back-to-back games before losing to Carlsen in the final round, though he was still able to stay in the lead at the end of the day. Duda did just enough to remain in first going into the final day. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes So finished the day on a decent +2, with wins over Carlsen, Aronian, and Deac while only losing a single game to Giri. In particular So’s game against Magnus was high class, as he did not achieve much out of the opening against Carlsen’s Scandinavian Defense, but managed to masterfully exploit the power of his bishop in the endgame, which eventually allowed him to win two extra pawns in the knight endgame. 35.Nf3! allowed So to first pick up the d4-pawn, with a winning knight endgame. So was the only player to successfully best Magnus. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Aronian’s day was quite topsy-turvy, as he started off with a loss to Giri, then scored wins over Shevchenko, Duda, and Deac before ending the day with losses to Carlsen and Rapport. But a strong performance was shown by the Ukranian-Polish Shevchenko, who managed to win games against Deac, Rapport, Wojtaszek, and Giri. 29…Rc8! allowed Black’s rook to penetrate decisively on the 2nd rank. Tour wildcard Shevchenko did not fare well in the rapid, but his 5.5 in the blitz was tied with So and second only to Carlsen. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes The 2023 Superbet Rapid & Blitz continues Thursday, May 25, with tournament action live starting at 7:05 AM CT with Grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Var Akobian, Cristian Chirila and International Master Nazi Paikidze on grandchesstour.org and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels. Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Photos: Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum Studios Credits available on Flickr. Further Information:Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTourInstagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour#GrandChessTour#SuperbetRapidBlitzPoland Venue: Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, PolandMay 21 – May 25, 2023 Press Contact:press@grandchesstour.org Livestream:GrandChessTour.org
Georg Meier wins American Continental Championship 2023
A native of Germany GM Georg Meier, representing Uruguay, emerged as the winner of the 2023 American Continental Chess Championship 2023. The 11-round Swiss tournament with classical time control took place from May 15-23 in Juan Dolio, Dominican Republic. The event brought together 162 players from all around the Americas. The top four finishers qualified for the 2023 FIDE World Cup, which is a part of the World Championship cycle. Georg had a shaky start losing his second-round encounter to FM Matias Latorre (Paraguay) but then picked up steam and won five straight games in Rounds 6-10. Coming to the final round a half-point ahead of GMs Carlos Daniel Albornoz Cabrera (Cuba) and Fidel Corrales Jimenez (USA), Meier drew his game with the former and clinched the title and the $5,000 first prize as the latter also scored just a half-point facing Cristobal Henriquez Villagra. As many as seven players netted 8 points each and tied for fourth place, with IM Josiah Stearman (USA) punching the fourth ticket to the 2023 FIDE World Cup thanks to the superior rating average of his opponents (the first tiebreak criteria). Final standings: 1 GM Meier, Georg URU 2614 9 2 GM Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel CUB 2586 8½ 3 GM Corrales Jimenez, Fidel USA 2489 8½ 4 IM Stearman, Josiah USA 2385 8 5 IM Ghazarian, Kirk USA 2475 8 6 GM Henriquez Villagra, Cristobal CHI 2616 8 7 GM Kaidanov, Gregory USA 2559 8 8 IM Leiva, Gianmarco PER 2392 8 9 GM Santiago, Yago De Moura BRA 2471 8 10 GM Cori, Jorge PER 2650 8 Complete results Photos: Federación Dominicana de Ajedrez Facebook
FIDE World Cadet Championships U8, U10 and U12: Registration is open
FIDE and the Egyptian Chess Federation invite all FIDE Member Federations and eligible players to participate in the FIDE World Cadet Chess Championships U8, U10 and U12. The event will take place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, from October 14-27, 2023. National Federations can register one invited player in each category: under 8, 10, and 12 (Open and Girls). A total of six invited players and one accompanying official from the national federation are invited by the Organizer. All players must not have reached the age of 8, 10 or 12 by January 1, 2023. Photo: dailynewsegypt.com Personal rights are granted to the top three finishers in each category of the 2022 World Cadet Championships and the 2022 Continental Cadets Champions. National federation can register as many additional players and accompanying persons as they wish but only upon confirmation by the organizing committee. The deadline for registration is August 14, 2023. FIDE World Cadet Chess Championships 2023 official website will be launched in July. FIDE World Cadet Championships regulations and invitation letter (pdf) E-mail: wccc2023@fide.com
FIDE WGP: Three-way tie in Cyprus with two rounds to go
With nine rounds in and only two to go, things have heated up in Cyprus, and not just because the sun has reappeared after a couple of rainy days! Not only is the tournament victory at stake but, more importantly, several players are contending for the overall win in the Grand Prix –20,000 euros extra prize money and two qualifying spots for the 2023-2024 Women’s Candidates cycle. A big deal, indeed! After this afternoon’s results, there is a three-way tie for first place with 5,5/9 with Tan Zhongi, Harika and Wagner, who unfortunately now has to share first place. Two of them face each other tomorrow. Shuvalova and Lagno are right behind, waiting for their opportunity to spring into the lead. Our guests today, performing the ceremonial first move, were Madhumita Hazarika Bhagat, High Commissioner of India in Cyprus, and Josie Christodoulou, Gender Equality Commissioner for Cyrus. Christodoulou opened the game with White for Tan Zhongyi while Madhumita Hazarika Bhagat played Harika’s first move with Black, at the same time wishing both of the players the best of luck. In a short interview, Madhumita Hazarika Bhagat put into words her feelings in the playing hall: “I am very proud to have played the first move for a very capable Indian player. The game has developed with an amazing history behind it – Vishy Anand has done us proud.” GM Lagno, Kateryna vs GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra (0.5-0.5) The round hardly began, but one of the games had already finished. Lagno and Kosteniuk decided to play it safe and agree to a draw in one of the many unforced three-fold repetitions in the Italian Game. Although the game only lasted fourteen moves, in accordance with the rules, the arbiter accepted the result. Rule 5.3 Draw by mutual agreement states: “The players cannot draw any game by mutual agreement before black’s 30th move. A claim for a draw before black’s 30th move is permitted only in cases of a draw by repetition or a stalemate”. IM Shuvalova, Polina vs GM Dzagnidze, Nana (0.5-0.5) Shuvalova has been getting great positions from the opening in her recent games but has been having some trouble converting, whereas Dzagnidze had a shaky start but has been scoring well in the second half of the event. Something went wrong for Shuvalova in the Advance variation of the Caro-Kan – it’s always hard to tell from the outside, but it seemed to me that Dzagnidze was more at home in the double pawn tension c4-d4/c5-d5. Shuvalova’s queen couldn’t find a safe square to hide behind. On move twenty, Dzagnidze found a nice tactic to win a pawn with 20…Nxe5!, effectively exploiting the pin on the d-file. However, Shuvalova’s tactical skills came to the rescue: she gave up a second pawn to open up the position and force a three-fold repetition thanks to the strength of her bishop pair. IM Kiolbasa, Oliwia vs IM Assaubayeva, Bibisara (0.5-0.5) A typical open Sicilian with opposite side castled kings. In a complex middlegame, Kiolbasa, playing with White, was controlling the d-file and putting pressure on Assaubayeva’s backward d-pawn. Meanwhile, Assaubayeva was manoeuvring her knights on the kingside, angling for strong dark squares. The key moment of the game, which both players discussed extensively in the press centre, was after 27.Nf1. Assaubayeva’s first idea was to play 27…Ng2!, and transfer her knight to f4, with a small positional edge. However, she changed her mind and went 27…Nb6, allowing Kiolbasa to regroup with 28.Qg3! isolating the black knight on h4 forever and allowing her knight on f1 to develop with tempi. Sensing that the game was starting to drift in her opponent’s direction, Assaubayeva offered a tactical draw which was accepted without much thought by her opponent. GM Tan, Zhongyi vs GM Dronavalli, Harika (0.5-0.5) Tan Zhongyi went for the exchange variation in the Queen’s Gambit, a line she already used to defeat Kiolbasa in the second round. However, Harika, supported this afternoon by India’s High Commissioner in Cyprus, was well-prepared and equalised effortlessly. Although the draw was agreed after fifty-five moves, Harika was never in danger: more than half of the moves were played out in a completely equal single rook ending. IM Mammadzada, Gunay vs WGM Wagner, Dinara (1-0) Although the game started out as – another – Sicilian Rossolimo, the middlegame pawn structure turned out to be more common of the French defence or the Exchange variation of the Slav. With some well-timed exchanges, Mammadzada created a few imbalances in the pawn structure – probably not enough for a win but definitely to press for the advantage in the endgame. Eventually, she won a pawn, although Wagner steered into an opposite-coloured bishop endgame, known for its high draw tendency. It’s hard to say if it was a draw at some point, but in any case, Mammadzada gave a masterclass on approaching and playing these types of endings, taking home the full point and her well-deserved second win of the tournament. GM Khotenashvili, Bella vs GM Goryachkina, Aleksandra (1-0) In a Neo-Grunfeld defence, Khotenashvili, playing with White, went for an apparently dangerous poisoned pawn grab on the queenside. She took her time to make the decision: her queen had been in trouble in the last couple of games. But fortune always favours the brave. Goryachkina tried to generate counterplay for the pawn but Khotenashvili kept things under control and increased her advantage. Under pressure, and after spending twenty-five minutes, Goryachkina blundered heavily. It’s always hard to tell what a player missed, but they do say that blunders generally occur after spending too much time on the clock. Goryachkina should have played 22…Rc4 with a slightly inferior position but everything to play for. Instead, she opted for 22…Bxf3? 23.Bxf3 and (I assume) realized that the intended move 23…Nf6 would lose to 24.Nxd5! Nxd5 and 25.Rc8! with an overwhelming advantage for White. Therefore, she had to permit Bxh5, and her pawn structure became seriously weakened. Towards the end, 35.d5! (instead of 35.f3) would have been a very nice tactic to finish off
2023 GCT Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland: Day 3 Recap
Jan-Krzyszstof Duda won the rapid portion of the 2023 Superbet Rapid & Blitz after ending the third day with a score of 13/18, sole leading the event going into the blitz portion tomorrow. With 18 rounds of blitz to play, Levon Aronian is currently in second with 12/18 while Wesley So and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are tied for third with 11/18 points. Meanwhile World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen ended the day in clear fifth, after scoring two wins a draw to regain his usual form. RAPID | ROUNDS 7-9 The day started with Vachier-Lagrave defeating So, one of yesterday’s co-leaders, after finding a nice breakthrough in the middlegame: 25.d6! Opened up the bishop on c4 and was followed with g4-g5, posing serious problems. Also taking place in Round 7 was Carlsen finally scoring his first win of the event, taking advantage of several mistakes in the endgame by Deac: After 23…c5, Carlsen managed to exchange his c-pawn and then win White’s a-pawn, converting the resulting endgame. The former champ showed signs of his usual self today. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes A draw by Duda with Shevchenko allowed him to pull ahead of So, as did Aronian who converted a nice middlegame advantage against Wojtaszek. In the next round Duda pulled ahead with a win over MVL, which featured a nice queen sacrifice for a rook and minor piece: After 19.Bxd3, Duda had a rook, bishop, and two pawns for Black’s queen, which proved to be more than enough. Last year’s winner looks poised to repeat his title this year. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes In the meantime Carlsen started to pick up steam, displaying more endgame magic against Shevchenko to win his second game with Black in a row: After 39…Bd4!, Carlsen was able to activate his king via the c5-square. In the ninth and final round of the rapid Duda drew with Aronian, solidifying their first and second place standing, while MVL was the sole winner, defeating Shevchenko in a Sicilian Dragon to sneak into third place. MVL started slow with one win and five draws, but went 2-1 today to keep himself within reach of first. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Carlsen’s third game of the day was a wild encounter against Rapport, who missed some chances as the players went into a messy time scramble which eventually ended in a perpetual check. One win, one loss, and seven draws in the rapid for Rapport. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes The 2023 Superbet Rapid & Blitz continues Wednesday, May 24, with tournament action live starting at 7:05 AM CT with Grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Var Akobian, Cristian Chirila and International Master Nazi Paikidze on grandchesstour.org and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels. Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Photos: Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum Studios Credits available on Flickr. Further Information: Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTour Instagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour #GrandChessTour #SuperbetRapidBlitzPoland Venue: Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, Poland May 21 – May 25, 2023 Press Contact: press@grandchesstour.org Livestream: GrandChessTour.org
5th FIDE World Championships for People with Disabilities: Registration is open
FIDE and the Polish Chess Federation are happy to invite all FIDE member federations, organizations affiliated with FIDE (IBCA, ICCD, IPCA) and eligible players to participate in the 5th World Chess Championships for People with Disabilities 2023. The championships will be held in Lublin, Poland from August 18 of August (arrivals) to August 28 (departures), 2023. Photo: Pankrzysztoff Only players with communication (hearing) impairments, visual impairments and physical disabilities are eligible to take part in the event. Players shall be approved by his/her National Chess Federation or organization affiliated with the FIDE or by the FIDE DIS Commission. The deadline for the registration is July 1, 2023. Regulations and invitation letter (pdf) Registration form 5th World Chess Championships for People with Disabilities official website will be launched by May 31. E-mail: wccpd2023@fide.com
FIDE WGP Cyprus: Wagner holds the lead with three rounds to go
Several guests made an appearance at the Nicosia Hilton this afternoon to follow the eighth round live. The ceremonial first move was played by Olga Milko, Business Development Director of Freedom Finance Europe, the main event’s sponsor. After starting the game between Assaubayeva and Khotenashvili, she was kind enough to spare some time to talk to us about the projects with the Cyprus Chess Federation. “Chess is the most underestimated sport as I see it now. After this tournament, I want to take a lot of initiatives to develop the sport in Cyprus, and probably in the next few years, we will see some great women and men taking part in international competitions of FIDE,” Olga explained proudly, having supported Bibisara in her game. Other guests included Alexandra Attalides, Member of Parliament for the Green Party; Annita Demetriou, Speaker of the House of Representatives of Cyprus and Criton Tornaritis, President of the Cyprus Chess Federation. Short interviews with all the guests can be found on FIDE’s Youtube Channel. IM Assaubayeva, Bibisara vs GM Khotenashvili, Bella (1-0) In an attempt to steer the game out of theory and surprise her opponent, Khotenashvili chose a very secondary move in the main-line Grunfeld (9…Qc7) that backfired. Confident after yesterday’s win, Assaubayeva played for the standard kingside attack and quickly exerted a huge amount of pressure both on the board and on the clock. In this position, Assaubayeva played 23.Ba4, hitting the knight and preparing to trap the black queen with the rooks. Instead, 23.Rf4! followed by ideas such as Qh3, f6, Rh4 would have led to a deadly attack. Although slightly worried that Khotenashvili would come up with a defence, Assaubayeva pushed through and notched up her second win in a row. After the game, she was popped into the press centre and gave a quick interview. “I am happy to be on 50%, and now I just want to play chess and see what happens. To relax here, I sometimes go to the gym or go for a walk, or just watch some videos,” she explained. GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra vs IM Kiolbasa, Oliwia (0.5-0.5) After four consecutive losses, Poland’s number two player IM Oliwia Kiolbasa finally scored half a point this afternoon in her encounter against GM Alexandra Kosteniuk. Playing with Black, Kiolbasa surprised her opponent with an offbeat line in the Sicilian, the Lowenthal variation. The idea worked well: Kosteniuk hesitantly played – 9.a3 was already a step in the wrong direction – and soon landed in serious trouble. At some point, she was probably lost, but there was never a clear-cut way to finish off the game, and Kosteniuk’s resilience in worse positions is notoriously well-known. In serious time trouble, Kiolbasa decided prudently to accept a three-fold repetition, probably a smart decision, with ten moves to go to the time control and no clear way to continue. “This is a completely different tournament. At the Olympiad (she won a medal), I was playing third-board against weaker opponents and here everyone is playing for a win, pressing to the end. It’s definitely a learning experience for me,” Oliwia explained pragmatically when I asked her how she was dealing with the tough tournament situation. WGM Wagner, Dinara vs IM Shuvalova, Polina (0.5-0.5) Wagner used up another one of her seven lives today. Shuvalova came to the game, as usual, with excellent opening preparation and blitzed out her first eighteen moves at the speed of light. Under such pressure, Wagner blundered a pawn and was already on the defensive; in addition, she was running out of time. However, in a complex position with an extra pawn, Shuvalova missed some chances to convert to a decisive advantage, and Wagner managed to bail out into an opposite-coloured bishop ending: even a pawn down, the draw was unavoidable. GM Dzagnidze, Nana vs GM Lagno, Kateryna vs (0.5-0.5) In an attempt to avoid any type of home preparation, Dzagnidze chose an offbeat variation in the Queen’s Gambit Exchanged, in the hope of creating an unfamiliar situation for Lagno. A tactical melee was the result, out of which Dzagnidze emerged with an extra pawn, albeit with very few winning chances due to the drawing nature of rook endings with four pawns against three on the same side. Lagno defended with precision and a draw was agreed on move sixty-eight. GM Goryachkina, Aleksandra vs GM Tan, Zhongyi (0.5-0.5) A classical match-up in women’s chess. Goryachkina and Tan Zhongyi have faced each other none less than ten times since their first encounter in 2015, with mixed results. Goryachkina eliminated Tan Zhongyi in the 2019 Women’s Candidates, but more recently, Tan Zhongyi unexpectedly eliminated Goryachkina in the 2022 Women’s Candidates. Today’s game was a theoretical Catalan Opening, which both players executed swiftly, directly side-stepping the middlegame. Following a 2018 game between Chinese GM’s Ni Hua and Lu Shanglei, which ended in a draw, they battled it out in a: knight-against-bishop endgame which was slightly better for Goryachkina. Aleksandra tried her best for sixty-two moves, hoping to secure an edge in the case of a mistake by her opponent, but, ultimately, had to settle for a three-fold repetition. GM Dronavalli, Harika vs IM Mammadzada, Gunay (0.5-0.5) As Harika explained herself in the post-game video: “It’s fair to say that I was lucky in this game, I didn’t play well at all.” Already on the opening, she spent more than fifteen minutes to play 14.c5, an incorrect plan in the position. The advantage was on Mammadzada’s side: she gradually increased the pressure, and it looked as if she was going to score her second win of the event. However, Harika spotted a very nice trick 51.f4!? in the opposite-coloured bishop ending that landed her a draw, although technically speaking, she was still losing. Don’t miss Harika’s analysis in the last interview of the afternoon, which was recorded on the board immediately after the game, and includes a brief explanation of how to handle these endings. Text: IM Michael Rahal (Nicosia, Cyprus) Photos: Mark Livshitz About Freedom Finance Europe Freedom Finance