The Atabayev brothers sweep podium of Turkmenistan Championship
Three brothers – Maksat, Saparmyrat and Yusup Atabayev – dominated the 2023 Turkmenistan Championship, which concluded last Saturday. As expected before the start of the national tournament of the year, the 14-player round-robin, the most intriguing question was how the prizes would be distributed among the three brothers. In the end, the 29-year-old GM Maksat Atabayev (2472) became the national champion. Despite losing in the first round to Shahrukh Turaev, Maksat eventually scored 10.5/13 and clinched the title. The 24-year-old IM Saparmyrat Atabayev (2448) and 29-year-old Yusup Atabayev (2516) tied for second place finishing a half point behind the champion. The first tiebreak (Sonneborn-Berger) favoured Saparmyrat, who claimed silver, while Yusup had to settle for bronze. Based on tournament results, FM Azat Nurmammedov (2408) and untitled Amanmuhammet Hommadov (1956), who finished 4th and 5th, respectively, on 8.5/14, qualified for the national team. If such a solid result was expected from Azat, Amanmuhammet caused a minor sensation, leapfrogging such experienced players as CMs Shahrukh Turaev (6th place), Soltan Muradov (7th place), FIDE master Mergen Kakabayev (8th place) and IM Karen Grigoryan (9th place). The only female participant of the tournament, the women’s national champion Lala Shohradova (1891), turned in a solid performance and made her way into the top ten of the country’s strongest chess players with 4.5 points. Text and photos: orient.tm/en
London Chess and Education Conference set for March 17-19
Millions of chess games are played daily at tournaments, clubs, online, and in people’s homes. Apart from being a great pastime and a developed sport, chess is also a powerful educational tool. It is a “low floor, high ceiling” game that can be practised and enjoyed on many levels. This is one of the main reasons why chess is a welcome guest in today’s gamified classrooms. Chess can be implemented as a stand-alone subject or integrated into other subjects through exercises, investigations, and chess-related activities to help develop intellectual and 21st-century skills. FIDE Chess in Education Commission has been a supporter of numerous education conferences. The Commission focuses on expanding the global outreach for chess in education. The London Chess and Education Conference is an established, well-known, and prestigious event that brings together people dedicated to using chess as an educational tool. The Conference has been running annually since 2013 and celebrates its 10th edition from March 17-19, 2023. One of the EDU Commission’s top priorities is to expand its resources by developing preschool programs and materials. The first day of the London Chess Conference will be a special preschool session organized by FIDE. It is a hybrid event with several online and in-person presentations. Famous chess journalist and educator Leontxo Garcia will act as a host, and the audience (even on YouTube) can send questions to the presenters. The second and third days of the Conference will focus on Chess and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) subjects. Chess is thought to improve problem-solving skills necessary for STEM subjects, and we are looking to meet the impressive line-up of STEM experts and pedagogues at the Conference. There will be a session on the latest chess research. One could hear about the innovative ways to measure the impact of educational chess instruction and connect with partners interested in conducting such research. You can check the line-up of speakers, themes, and schedule at the Conference website: London Chess Conference FIDE is bringing you live the London Chess Conference 2023, organised by ChessPlus. Follow all sessions live on FIDE YouTube Channel and don`t forget to check your time zone.
New Regulations for World Senior Championships approved by FIDE Council
The FIDE Council has recently approved new regulations for the World Senior Championships. The main changes involve women’s representation, prize pool size and general conditions such as the playing hall, accommodation, competition website, photo reports, and the live broadcast. You can see the updated Rules for the World Senior Championships below: General Rules 1. FIDE World Senior Championships shall be governed by these Rules, starting from 2023. Participation & Prize Distribution 2. There shall be the following categories: 2.1 Open 50+, open to all players who are 50 or older in the year of the tournament 2.2 Open 65+, open to all players who are 65 or older in the year of the tournament 2.3 Women 50+, open to all women who are 50 or older in the year of the tournament. 2.4 Women 65+, open to all women who are 65 or older in the year of the tournament. 3. With FIDE support, the organiser of the competition should ensure representation of all continents and at least 20 players in each of the categories (2.1-2.4). 4. FIDE Events Commission (EVE) is responsible for the exceptional decisions regarding the final configuration of the categories mentioned in Rules 2.3 & 2.4. above in cases when the requirements of Rule 3 above are not met. All decisions in this regard must be made at least two weeks before the start of the competition. 5. The Championships are open tournaments for players registered by their federation. FIDE member federations shall have the right to send as many players as they wish. 6. The top 3 players in each category of the previous year’s World Senior Championships shall have a personal right to participate. If World Senior Championships had not been organised in the previous year, then EVE shall decide about personal rights. 7. In addition, the top 3 players from each category of the previous year’s Continental Senior Championships are qualified with personal rights, and their places cannot be substituted. If the Continental Senior Championships had not been organised in the previous year, then the relevant Continental Organisation shall decide which players shall be granted personal rights, subject to the confirmation of EVE. Accommodation 8.1 The accommodation with full board in a single room in a 3-4 star hotel shall be offered by the Organiser for players mentioned in Rules 6. & 7. above. 8.2 The accommodation choices for seniors’ competitions shall include hotels of different categories (minimum – at a 3-star hotel) and different meal plans (BB, HB and FB). Participants can choose a hotel beside the ones offered by the Organiser with at least a 3-week notice. Number of rounds & Time Control 9. There shall be a minimum of 9 rounds. 10. The time control for each game shall be: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1. Prizes 11. There shall be medals and cups for the first three places in each category. The Organiser is expected to give additional prizes. 12. The Organiser shall provide a prize fund of minimum 25 000 Euros. Playing Conditions and Promotion 13. The Championships shall be held under the supervision of EVE according to standards starting from chess equipment, playing conditions to the promotion of the event, including a website with daily photos, live games broadcast, live comments and parallel activities. 14. The Organiser must follow all FIDE Rules and Regulations relevant to the competition. 15. All other organisational and tournament details shall be written in the Tournament Invitation. The Tournament Invitation shall be approved by FIDE Council. Regulations for FIDE World Senior Champinships
Henríquez Villagra and Campos win Zonal 2.5 in Paraguay
GM Cristóbal Henríquez Villagra (Chile) and WFM Maria Jose Campos (Argentina) emerged as the winners of the FIDE Zonal 2.5 open and women’s tournaments, respectively. The event, jointly organized by the Paraguayan Chess Federation and Dr Andrés Riquelme in agreement with the presidency of Zone 2.5 and the Chess Confederation for America, took place at the facilities of the Hotel Internacional in the city of Asunción, Paraguay. Two spots in the FIDE World Cup 2023 were at stake in the open tournament, and one ticket was in the women’s competition. GM Cristóbal Henríquez Villagra (pictured above, right) entered the open tournament as the rating favourite and did not disappoint. The Chilean GM turned in an excellent performance and punched his ticket to the FIDE World Cup with a round to spare. Despite losing in the final round and tying for first place with four other participants on 7/9, Cristobal came out on top thanks to a superior tiebreak (the highest rating average of his opponents). The second place in the FIDE World Cup goes to the sixth seed IM Pablo Ismael Acosta (pictured below, left) of Argentina, who has the second-best tiebreak. Final standings open: 1 GM Henriquez Villagra, Cristobal CHI 2624 7 2 IM Acosta, Pablo Ismael ARG 2482 7 3 GM Delgado Ramirez, Neuris PAR 2560 7 4 GM Krysa, Leandro ARG 2538 7 5 GM Salinas Herrera, Pablo CHI 2506 6 6 GM Rodriguez Vila, Andres URU 2430 5½ 7 FM Vazquez, Facundo URU 2357 5½ 8 FM Almiron, Antonio PAR 2323 5½ 9 GM Flores, Diego ARG 2532 5½ 10 IM Perdomo, Leandro ARG 2416 5½ The women’s competition was very close, with four players sharing first place after seven rounds. At this point, WFMs Maria Jose Campos (pictured below, right) and Candela Francisco Guecamburu from Argentina scored crucial victories and came to the final round as joint leaders with 6/8. As they won again in Round 9, only a slightly better tiebreak tipped the balance in favour of Maria Jose, who qualified for the FIDE World Cup. Final standings women: 1 WFM Campos, Maria Jose ARG 2216 7 2 WFM Francisco Guecamburu, Candela ARG 2209 7 3 WIM Borda Rodas, Anapaola S. ARG 2179 6 4 WGM Perez Rodriguez, Jennifer PAR 2254 5½ 5 WIM Brizzi, Milagros Tatiana ARG 2110 5½ 6 WIM Fernandez, Maria Florencia ARG 2128 5 7 IM Lujan, Carolina ARG 2309 5 8 WFM Toro Pradenas, Maria Jose CHI 1971 5 9 Oviedo Acosta, Paula PAR 1763 5 10 WFM Nejanky, Maisa ARG 1930 4½ Photo: es.chessbase.com and official website
EICC 2023: Shevchenko joins Sarana on the top with one round to go
Heading into the last round of the European Individual Chess Championship 2023, GM Alexey Sarana (FIDE, 2668) and GM Kirill Shevchenko (ROU, 2668) share the lead sitting on 8 points each. GM Kirill Shevchenko (ROU, 2668) outplayed GM Benjamin Gledura (HUN, 2637) in the penultimate round to catch up with the leader. Shevchenko had a slightly better position from the opening that transformed into the pawn-up edge in the endgame. Gledura still had chances for escape but after a questionable 30…Rb2?! the Romanian GM gradually converted his advantage into a full point. Playing on the first board, GM Alexey Sarana (FIDE, 2668) held a draw with black pieces against GM Andrey Esipenko (FIDE, 2680). Esipenko was searching for a victory and had a clear advantage most of the time, but Sarana found a very nice sequence making the opponent force a draw by perpetual check and secured the joined lead coming into the final round. Twelve players are trailing the leading duo by a half-point: GM Anton Korobov (UKR, 2658), GM Etienne Bacrot (FRA, 2659), IM Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis (GRE, 2520), GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen (CZE, 2651), GM Jaime Santos Latasa (ESP, 2655), GM Andrey Esipenko (FIDE, 2680), GM Valentin Dragnev (AUT, 2561) (pictured below), GM Yuriy Kuzubov (UKR, 2616), GM David Paravyan (FIDE, 2584), GM Daniel Dardha (BEL, 2610), GM David Anton Guijarro (ESP, 2685), and GM Igor Janik (POL, 2527). The final round starts tomorrow at 15:00 CEST, featuring the direct encounter for the gold medal on the first board between GM Alexey Sarana and GM Kirill Shevchenko. Round 11 top 10 pairings: 1. Sarana, Alexey (8) – Shevchenko, Kirill (8)2. Kuzubov, Yuriy (7½) – Anton, Guijarro David (7½)3. Paravyan, David (7½) – Esipenko, Andrey (7½)4. Janik, Igor (7½) – Bacrot, Etienne (7½)5. Korobov, Anton (7½) – Dardha, Daniel (7½)6. Santos Latasa Jaime (7½) – Dragnev Valentin (7½)7. Kourkoulos-Arditis, Stamatis (7½) – Nguyen, Thai Dai Van (7½)8. Predke, Alexandr (7) – Pechac, Jergus (7)9. Yuffa, Daniil (7) – Gelfand, Boris (7)10. Brkic, Ante (7) – Grandelius, Nils (7) The closing ceremony of the event will be held on March 13 at 22:00 CEST. Live broadcast with commentaries by IM Miodrag Perunovic can be followed through the ECU YouTube channel. Text and photos: official website Official website: eicc2023.com/
Sarana defeats Korobov to grab the sole lead in EICC 2023
GM Alexey Sarana (FIDE, 2668) defeated GM Anton Korobov (UKR, 2658) in Round 9 to take the sole lead in the European Individual Chess Championship 2023 with only two rounds to go. Alexey Sarana got the upper hand in a dynamic position, which later transposed into a pawn-up endgame for the 26-year-old grandmaster. Korobov fought hard, but Sarana demonstrated a perfect technique and scored a victory to get closer to the EICC-2023 throne. It was a draw in the clash of generations which was played on the second board between 23-year-old GM Benjamin Gledura (HUN, 2637) (pictured below) and 54-year-old Boris Gelfand (ISR, 2674). Gledura had a slightly better position out of the opening and eventually emerged up a pawn. However, it wasn’t enough to earn a full point, as Gelfand’s active pieces helped him to keep the position in balance. Sitting on 7 points (each), GMs Anton Korobov (UKR, 2658), Etienne Bacrot (FRA, 2659), Benjamin Gledura (HUN, 2637), Kirill Shevchenko (ROU, 2668), Andrey Esipenko (FIDE, 2680), Valentin Dragnev (AUT, 2561) and David Paravyan (FIDE, 2584) are tied for the second place. The 10th penultimate round starts tomorrow at 15:00 CEST with the clash between the two youngsters on the top board. Andrey Esipenko will have the white pieces against the new leader Alexey Sarana. Round 10 top 10 pairings: 1. Esipenko, Andrey (7) – Sarana, Alexey (7½)2. Shevchenko, Kirill (7) – Gledura, Benjamin (7)3. Bacrot, Etienne (7) – Paravyan, David (7)4. Dragnev, Valentin (7) – Korobov, Anton (7)5. Anton, Guijarro David (6½) – Kadric, Denis (6½)6. Ivic, Velimir (6½) – Predke, Alexandr (6½)7. Gelfand, Boris (6½) – Lupulescu, Constantin (6½)8. Grandelius, Nils (6½) – Azarov, Sergei (6½)9. Iskandarov, Misratdin (6½) – Santos Latasa, Jaime (6½)10. Nguyen Thai Dai Van (6½) – Guliyev, Namig (6½) Live broadcast with commentaries by IM Miodrag Perunovic can be followed through the ECU YouTube channel. Text and photos: official website Official website: eicc2023.com/
EICC 2023, Round 8: Korobov stays in front
GM Anton Korobov (UKR, 2687) remains in the sole lead sitting on 7/8 with only three rounds left to be played at the European Individual Chess Championship 2023. In Round 8, Korobov made a quick 8-move draw with GM Benjamin Gledura (HUN, 2637). Having black pieces against the leader, Gledura accepted the draw offer and kept his position in second place with a score of 6.5 points. GM Alexey Sarana (FIDE, 2668) (pictured above) defeated GM Yuriy Kuzubov (UKR, 2668) to join Gledura in a tie for second place. Alexey got a clearly better position from the very beginning and, step by step, built up his advantage. The positional dominance eventually transposed into the material edge, and Alexey Sarana scored a critical victory to secure his position in the race for the medals. As many as 27 players are sharing fourth place with 6/8 each, including GM Alexandr Predke (SRB, 2684) (pictured below), GM Andrey Esipenko (FIDE, 2680), GM Boris Gelfand (ISR, 2674), GM Kirill Shevchenko (ROU, 2668), GM Ivan Cheparinov (BUL, 2661), GM Etienne Bacrot (FRA, 2659), and others. The 9th round starts today at 15:00 CEST, with GM Alexey Sarana taking on GM Anton Korobov with the white pieces. Round 9 top 10 pairings: Results & Complete pairings for the 9th round can be found here. 1. Sarana, Alexey (6½) – Korobov, Anton (7)2. Gledura, Benjamin (6½) – Gelfand, Boris (6)3. Predke, Alexandr (6) – Dardha, Daniel (6)4. Esipenko, Andrey (6) – Bjerre, Jonas Buhl (6)5. Bernadskiy, Vitaliy (6) – Shevchenko, Kirill (6)6. Paravyan, David (6) – Cheparinov, Ivan (6)7. Bacrot, Etienne (6) – Brkic, Ante (6)8. Svane, Frederik (6) – Grandelius, Nils (6)9. Ponomariov, Ruslan (6) – Dragnev, Valentin (6)10. Guliyev, Namig (6) – Santos Latasa, Jaime (6) Live broadcast with commentaries by IM Miodrag Perunovic can be followed through the ECU YouTube channel. Text and photos: official website Official website: eicc2023.com/
EICC 2023, R07: Korobov retakes the lead
Ukrainian GM Anton Korobov (UKR, 2658) once again took the sole lead in the European Individual Chess Championship 2023 after defeating IM Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis (GRE, 2520) in Round 7. The Greek IM sacrificed a piece in a very sharp and complicated game, but Korobov found a way to defend and consolidate the position. Kourkoulos-Arditis had his chances for a draw, but he did not manage to find the only moves that would have kept him in the game. With today’s victory, Anton Korobov scored 6.5/7 and is now a half-point ahead of GM Benjamin Gledura (HUN, 2637), the only player from the large group of players with 5 points to score the victory. Gledura is now in clear second place with 6 points after winning a drawish endgame GM Giga Quparadze (GEO, 2483). Playing with Black, Quparadze solved all the opening problems but completely mishandled the endgame. Gledura used his passed b-pawn to reach the won queen ending and scored a full point. Heading into Round 8, 13 players tie for the third place scoring 5.5 points each: IM Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis (GRE, 2520), GM Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR, 2655), GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen (CZE, 2651), GM Frederik Svane (GER, 2577), GM Etienne Bacrot (FRA, 2659), GM Jaime Santos Latasa (ESP, 2655), GM Alexey Sarana (FIDE, 2668), GM Alexandr Predke (SRB, 2684), GM Nijat Abasov (AZE, 2625), GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy (UKR, 2611), GM Boris Gelfand (ISR, 2674), GM Yuriy Kuzubov (UKR, 2616) and GM Kirill Shevchenko (ROU, 2668). Round 8 starts tomorrow at 15:00 CEST and the top 10 pairings are: 1. Korobov, Anton (6½) – Gledura, Benjamin (6)2. Santos Latasa, Jaime (5½) – Predke, Alexandr (5½)3. Gelfand, Boris (5½) – Nguyen Thai Dai Van (5½)4. Sarana, Alexey (5½) – Kuzubov, Yuriy (5½)5. Shevchenko, Kirill (5½) – Abasov, Nijat (5½)6. Kourkoulos-Arditis, Stamatis (5½) – Bacrot, Etienne (5½)7. Ponomariov, Ruslan (5½) – Svane, Frederik (5½)8. Sargissian, Gabriel (5) – Bernadskiy, Vitaliy (5½)9. Kadric, Denis (5) – Martirosyan,Haik (5)10. Lagarde, Maxime (5) – Navara, David (5) Live broadcast of the games can be followed with commentaries by IM Miodrag Perunovic on the ECU YouTube channel. Text and photos: official website Official website: eicc2023.com/
International Women’s Day Chess festival held in Tirana, Albania
International Chess Federation, Balkan Chess Federation and Albanian Chess Federation, in collaboration with Albanian Center for Openness and Dialogue, jointly held the International Women’s Day Chess festival, a series of chess events to celebrate the International Women’s Day and reinforce the commitment to women’s equality. The large-scale celebration took place from March 9-10, 2023 and included the “Balkan Chess Star” tournament, the women’s workshop “Chess is a safe space for women”, organized with contribution from ECU Women Commission, and a simul with female chess influencers. The workshop “Chess is a safe space for women” featured Dana Reizniece-Ozola, WGM, FIDE Deputy Chair of Management Board; Antoaneta Stefanova, GM, women’s world champion; Anastasia Sorokina, WIM, Chair of FIDE Commission for Women in Chess, international arbiter; Agnieszka Milewska, Director of the Women’s Chess in England; Majlinda Pilinci, General Secretary of Albanian Chess federation, member of FIDE PDC Commission, international organizer. “No matter what position I was occupying in my career, chess was always a source of my inspiration. Starting from elementary things like thinking a few moves ahead, seeing the whole chessboard, not just one square, respecting your opponent, remembering you’re not the only person in a game, appreciating the value of time, and making decisions. So in real life, whatever profession you will choose, even this very training and a simul that we are playing with you will help,” said Dana Reizniece-Ozola to the participants of the event.” She was supported by Antoaneta Stefanova, who stressed the importance of decision-making for every person: “Each one of us should find a way to be useful for his country and society, and chess gives us a lot of preparation for life. I think that decision-making is one of the advantages of chess players. From a very early age, we get used to thinking, making decisions and then facing the consequences. Even though we were defeated so many times, we are not afraid to start a new game and make new hard decisions. Choose wisely. As we, chess players, say, it is always good to have a plan, even a poor one, than not to have a plan at all.” The “Balkan Chess Star” blitz tournament brought together eight girls born in 2007 and younger, representing all Balkan countries, who first competed in 2 round-robin qualification events on March 9. The Final was held today, March 10, between the winners of each event. Ailin Ndreko from Albania and Jona Recica from Kosovo qualified for the final from their groups. Ailin Ndreko bested her opponent and won the tournament. After the winner was determined, all the participants attended a masterclass by Antoaneta Stefanova, where they studied the Trompowsky Attack. Being in Albania, the FIDE delegation visited the National Olympic Committee and met its president Mr Fidel Ylli. The parties discussed mutual support in chess development and future cooperation. While the first part of the International Women’s Day Chess festival was held offline, the event continues with online training. The arbiters seminar by IA Panagiotis Nikolopoulos (GRE), IA Mihail Prevenios (GRE), and IA Tshepiso Lopang (BOT) is held from March 10-12. It will award norms and titles of FIDE Arbiter and is free for national female arbiters nominated by their federations. The Online FIDE Trainers’ Seminar for female trainers organized by the FIDE TRG Commission in partnership with the FIDE WOM Commission, scheduled for March 17-19, will finalize the celebration of International Women’s Day. Photo: Anna Volkova
FIDE – ISF World School Teams Online Chess Cup postponed
Following requests from participants and enabling more teams to register and take part in the Cup, the Organizing Committee of the FIDE – ISF World School Teams Online Chess Cup decided to make some changes to the event regulations. Given the above, the competition is postponed. The new dates for Qualification events will be the 29th and 30th of April, and the Finals to take place on the 6th and 7th of May. The changes below have been made to the regulations: Ages 8 (2015), 9 (2014) and 10 (2013) were included in the U15 category. Players could play in the upper group teams. So U15 category players can play both in U15 and U18 teams, but schools must choose one of that categories, as a player could not play in both categories. The updated version of the regulations will be published soon. About FIDE – ISF World School Teams Online Chess Cup FIDE – ISF World School Teams Online Chess Cup is organized by FIDE, ISF (the International School Sport Federation) and World Chess and provides a platform for schools from FIDE and ISF member countries, as well as students from around the world, to connect with chess enthusiasts from across the globe and showcase their skills in an official international chess tournament. The tournament features two age categories, U15 and U18. Each school team must consist of 1 to 7 full-time students from the same school. The winners and medalists of the event will be rewarded with exclusive team training sessions with world-famous grandmasters, chessboards signed by the GMs, subscriptions for the World Chess Masterclasses program, and FIDE Online Arena premium membership packages. The tournament will be held online on the FIDE Online Arena, with the final stage broadcast live on World Chess and FIDE’s YouTube channels. The new registration deadline is April 22, 2023. Please visit isf.fide.com to learn more about the event and to register your team.