Pranesh M leads FIDE Circuit race
IM Pranesh M is the early leader of the FIDE Circuit. The 16-year old from India emerged as the winner of the 2022/2023 Rilton Cup and picked up 6.8 circuit points to grab the top position in the leaderboard. IM Kaan Kucuksari (Sweden) and GM Nikita Meshkovs (Latvia) finished a full point behind the winner with the former taking second place thanks to better tiebreaks. Consequently, the top finishers of the 2022/2023 Rilton Cup are leading the FIDE Circuit race. FIDE Circuit race top 10 after the Rilton Cup 1 Pranesh M 2475 IND 6.76 2 Kucuksari, Kaan 2487 SWE 5.24 3 Meshkovs, Nikita 2576 LAT 4.90 4 Urkedal, Frode Olav 2536 NOR 3.55 5 Galperin, Platon 2534 UKR 3.21 6 Gorshtein, Ido 2498 ISR 2.87 7 Sokolovsky, Yahli 2431 ISR 2.54 8 Raja Rithvik R 2459 IND 0.73 9 Parkhov, Yair 2467 ISR 0.06 10 Souleidis, Georgios 2410 GRE 0.06 You can find full current standings on worldchampionshipcycle.fide.com/ In the end of 2022, FIDE Council approved a major reform of the qualification paths to the Candidates Tournament – the event that decides the challenger for the World Championship match. One of the paths is the newly created FIDE Circuit (Path D). The player accumulating the most points during 2023 in eligible tournaments qualifies for the 2024 Candidates Tournament. The final score is calculated as the sum of the player’s five highest results.
FIDE reforms qualifications paths to Candidates Tournament
The FIDE Council approved a major reform of the qualification paths to the Candidates Tournament – the event that decides the challenger for the World Championship match. The main innovation is creating a new qualification path through different FIDE-rated tournaments. Tournaments that meet certain criteria, like being played under standard time control, supervised by International Arbiters, and where Fair Play measures are applied (among other criteria listed below in detail), will grant points towards the “FIDE Circuit”. The player with more points at the end of 2023 will get the coveted spot in the most prestigious of all chess tournaments. The second main change consists of increasing the number of qualification spots at the World Cup from 2 to 3. Already a flagship event, the popularity and importance of the World Cup keep increasing even further, and this extra spot would add more interest for the match for the 3rd-4th place. FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024 Eight players shall qualify for FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024 by the following criteria: Path A. 1 spot – FIDE World Championship Match 2023, Runner-up (Ian Nepomniachtchi or Ding Liren)* Path B. 3 spots – FIDE World Cup 2023 (Baku 2023), three players who finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd. If any of these players already qualified for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024 or the FIDE World Championship Match 2024 at the moment of the beginning of World Cup via another qualification path, the qualification spot(s) shall be be awarded, in order of priority: – the player who finished in 4th place in the World Cup; – according to rating as in (E). Path C. 2 spots – FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2023 (Isle of Man 2023), two players who finish 1st and 2nd. If any of these players already qualified for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024 or the FIDE World Championship Match 2024 at the moment of the beginning of Grand Swiss via another qualification path, the qualification spot(s) shall be awarded to the highest-placed player(s) in the final standings who have not yet qualified to the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024 at the moment of the beginning of Grand Swiss. Path D. 1 spot – High-Level International Tournaments (HIT), the player with the best results during one year (2023) in FIDE rated tournaments satisfying the below criteria who has not already qualified from Path A, B or C. The winner becomes a qualifier before determining a qualifier by rating as in (E). Path E. 1 spot – The highest-rated player by standard rating in the January 2024 rating list provided that the player has played at least four standard eligible tournaments according to the criteria in Article 1.1 below, who has not already qualified from Path A, B, C or D. Reserves If reserves are needed due to a withdrawal from the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024, their spot is allocated to a player who has not already qualified, in the following way: – In Paths B and C, the next highest-finisher in the final tournament standings, but not beyond 4th place. If this fails to replace a player, then the spot(s) are allocated using the process in Path E. – In Paths A, D and E, using the process in Path E. Qualification Path D: 1. Eligible Tournaments 1.1 Eligible over-the-board tournaments are FIDE-rated individual standardplay tournaments which meet the following criteria: a. Finish in the 2023 calendar year b. At least 8 players c. At least 7 rounds d. The 8 highest-rated players have an average standard rating of 2550 at the start of the tournament (TAR) e. The Chief Arbiter is an International Arbiter f. Recommended FPL Fair Play procedures are applied (see Annex 1) g. Players represent at least 3 national federations h. Not more than 50% of either the 20 highest-rated players, or not more than 50% of all players if there are fewer than 20 players, shall represent one federation. For National Championships, criteria 1.1g and 1.1h are waived. * * * * * FOR THE ATTENTION OF THE ORGANIZERS OF WORLD TOP EVENTS: If your tournament is eligible for the FIDE Circuit according to the criteria described in Art.1 Eligible Tournaments of the Qualification path D, please inform us using this form: CLICK HERE * * * * * 1.2 Other eligible over-the-board FIDE-rated individual tournaments are: a. World Rapid Championship b. World Blitz Championship c. Continental Rapid Championship d. Continental Blitz Championship e. Other Rapid & Blitz tournaments that meet the criteria of 1.1, except that the 8 highest-rated players have an average standard rating of 2700 at the start of the tournament (TAR) For National Championships eligible under 1.2e, criteria 1.1g and 1.1h are waived. 2. Points System per Tournament 2.1 Basic Points are awarded to players in one of the first 8 places in a tournament, provided that the player is in the top half of the final tournament ranking. 1st place 10 points 2nd place 8 points 3rd place 7 points 4th place 6 points 5th place 5 points 6th place 4 points 7th place 3 points 8th place 2 points 2.2 A player will only count for any calculation in Articles 1 and 2 of these rules if they played, or won by forfeit, in at least 50% of the total number of games in the tournament. 2.3 The number of basic points that tied players score shall be calculated as 50% of basic points for their final ranking determined by the tournament’s tie-break rules, plus 50% of the sum of basic points assigned for the tied places divided by the number of tied players. This also applies to players who tied for one of the first 8 places but appear below 8th place in the final ranking according to the tournament’s rules. 2.4 The event score for each player is determined by the number of basic points (see Articles 2.1 and 2.3) multiplied by a tournament strength factor calculated as follows: k=(TAR-2500)/100. 2.5 Losing Quarter Finalists in the World Cup shall be deemed to have
Pranesh M wins 2022/2023 Rilton Cup
IM Pranesh M emerged as the winner of the Rilton Cup, the first tournament of the FIDE Circuit. The 16-year-old from India, seeded 22nd, made a clean sweep of the field in Stockholm, winning eight games and finishing a full point ahead of IM Kaan Kucuksari (Sweden) and GM Nikita Meshkovs (Latvia). The 2022/2023 Rilton Cup, the strongest open tournament in Sweden, ran from December 27 to January 5 and brought together 136 players representing 29 national federations. Photo: Lars OA Hedlund The champion crossed the 2500 rating threshold and became India’s 79th Grandmaster, having completed his three norms prior to this event. Pranesh M is now the early leader of the FIDE Circuit with 6.8 circuit points that he gets for this victory. The one who accumulates the most points by the end of the year qualifies for the 2024 FIDE Candidates. More information is available on worldchampionshipcycle.fide.com/. Final standings: 1 IM Pranesh M IND 2475 8 2 IM Kucuksari Kaan SWE 2492 7 3 GM Meshkovs Nikita LAT 2566 7 4 GM Urkedal Frode Olav NOR 2536 6½ 5 GM Galperin Platon UKR 2530 6½ 6 IM Gorshtein Ido ISR 2469 6½ 7 IM Sokolovsky Yahli ISR 2415 6½ 8 GM Raja Rithvik R IND 2453 6 9 IM Parkhov Yair ISR 2470 6 10 IM Souleidis Georgios GRE 2410 6 Photo: Lars OA Hedlund In addition the main tournament several side events were held at the 2022-2023 Rilton Cup. Lavinia Valcu of Sweden (pictured above) won the Rilton 1800 with a perfect score 7/7, while Andre Kunz from Germany came out on top in the Rilton Elo. Official website: rilton.se/ Photo: Lars OA Hedlund
India Championships: Karthik Venkataraman and Divya Deshmukh win titles
GM Karthik Venkataraman and WGM Divya Deshmukh are the freshly minted India Champions. It is Karthik’s first victory in a national championship, while Divya successfully defended her title. The MPL 59th National Chess Championship 2022, organized by Delhi Chess Association at Indira Gandhi Sports Complex, Near ITO, New Delhi, took place from December 22, 2022, to January 03, 2023. The 13-round Swiss tournament brought together nearly 200 players from 30 states and five affiliated units of the country, including 18 GMs, 27 IMs, 12 FM and 8 CMs. With many leading India’s players battling at FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship at the same time, the top seed of the event was GM Sethuraman SP (2642). Coming into the final round with 9.5/12, a half-point half point ahead of three competitors, GM Karthik Venkataraman of Andhra Pradesh drew his game with Visakh N R and came out on top with 10/13. As many as four players finished on 9.5/13 with GMs Abhijeet Gupta and Visakh N R taking silver and bronze, respectively, thanks to superior Buchholz. IM Koustav Chatterjee of West Bengal scored 9 points and completed his final GM norm, while Hari Madhavan N B of Tamil Nadu and Subhayan Kundu of West Bengal secured their IM norms. At the Closing ceremony Shri Bharat Singh Chauhan, Chairman FIDE Advisory Committee and Deputy President of the Asian Chess Federation awarded prizes to the winners. Final standings: 1 GM Karthik Venkataraman 2503 10 2 GM Gupta Abhijeet 2601 9½ 3 GM Visakh N R 2544 9½ 4 IM Shyaamnikhil P 2490 9½ 5 IM Das Sayantan 2475 9½ 6 IM Aronyak Ghosh 2521 9 7 IM Koustav Chatterjee 2508 9 8 GM Mitrabha Guha 2487 9 9 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2642 9 10 Hari Madhavan N B 2385 9 The 48th Edition of the Indian Women’s National Championship was held at Ghodawat University Kolhapur from December 26, 2022, to January 05, 2023. The 11-round Swiss tournament was organized by the Chess Association of Kolhapur under the aegis of FIDE, All India Chess Federation, Maharashtra Chess Association & Kolhapur District Chess Association at the Sanjay Ghodawat University, Kolhapur. The MPL Sports Foundation was the title sponsor of the event, while Sanjay Ghodawat University co-sponsored the Championship. Chitale Dairy, H2e Systems Pune, Jain Irrigation, and Firodia Group were the Associate Sponsors for the event. WGM Divya Deshmukh successfully defended her title after defeating IM Bhakti Kulkarni in the final round and scoring 9.5/11. WGM Mary Ann Gomes finished second on 9/11 after beating WIM Rucha Pujari, and WGM Vantika Agrawal came third (8.5/11). Interestingly, since 2011 every national Women’s champion has won her title at least twice in a row, and Divya was no exception. Final standings: 1 WGM Divya Deshmukh 2347 9½ 2 WGM Gomes Mary Ann 2320 9 3 WGM Vantika Agrawal 2352 8½ 4 WIM Chitlange Sakshi 2213 8 5 WIM Sharma Isha 2212 8 6 IM Kulkarni Bhakti 2319 7½ 7 IM Soumya Swaminathan 2322 7½ 8 WGM Srija Seshadri 2204 7½ 9 WIM Arpita Mukherjee 2211 7½ 10 WGM Varshini V 2141 7½ Photos: All India Chess Federation
Call for submissions: FIDE Veterans Support Program
The International Chess Federation is pleased to announce the continuation of its support to chess veterans. A number 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 January 23, 2023.
Women in Chess: FIDE WOM Workshop held in Stockholm
The International Chess Federation declared 2022 the Year of the Woman in Chess. Throughout the year, many events were held to form gender equity policies, practices and programs to promote women’s participation in chess and to make the game more attractive to women. The year is over, but the work continues. The first FIDE WOM workshop organized by the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess and Stockholm Chess Federation took place on January 05, in Stockholm, Sweden, during the Rilton Cup. The speakers of the event – Pia Cramling, GM, Swedish legendary chess player, Dana Reizniece-Ozola, WGM, Deputy Chair of the FIDE Management Board, Ofelia Thörnqvist, Chairperson Sveriges Schackförbund Women Commission, Anastasiya Karlovich, WGM, Chess Journalist, Photographer, Ulkar Umudova, member of the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess – talked about their chess careers and shared their experience how the game helps them in the profession and everyday life. Anastasia Sorokina, Chairperson of the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess, was the event’s moderator. A lot of things were said before about the positive impact of chess on decision-making, troubleshooting and communication. But true stories are worth a thousand words. ” I feel so well in this community. I’ve done so many things in my life, but the feeling that I am a member of a chess world has always helped me a lot. It has given me a very important sense of security,” said Deputy Chair of the FIDE Management Board Dana Reizniece-Ozola in her presentation. Speaking about the role of women in chess, she added: “There are no physical or other restrictions; it’s just our mindset that sometimes stops the girls and puts the glass ceiling for them. And it is our task to break it and allow them to excel.” According to the speakers, through chess, women can become not only professional players but journalists, bloggers, politicians, trainers, and arbiters. In her presentation, Pia Cramling shared her experience as one of the world’s strongest chess players and the experience of her daughter, who is also a chess player and a successful chess streamer. “I do so much believe in what chess gives to you. It is not what it was before, not something which is only for men. Now it changes. It is really for the young, for the girls, for everyone. We can meet anyone at the chessboard. Chess takes away the boundaries – age, sex, and other things don’t matter,” she said. Ofelia Thörnqvist, Chairperson Sveriges Schackförbund Women Commission, showed some statistics about women in chess in Sweden. According to her data, although in school chess clubs, the number of girls is almost equal to the number of boys playing chess, it significantly reduces among girls and women aged 15-25. To change these statistics for the better, Sveriges Schackförbund established online chess training for women and hosts girls’ and women’s national championships and weekly tournaments. The workshop was followed by a simul with Pia Cramling and Dana Reizniece-Ozola and a blitz tournament for all the participants. Watch the full event on the FIDE YouTube channel: youtu.be/L-DbU4ulGzs Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich
Belgrade to host Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities
Belgrade, Serbia will host the Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities, which will take place from January 29 to February 5, 2023. This is a team competition, played over four boards, and limited to a maximum of 30 participant teams: 27 teams are selected by rating, and four are nominated by the FIDE President. If there is an odd number of participating teams, the host Federation (Serbia) is entitled to register a second team. Preliminary list of participating teams and lineups You can find the invitation letter, with all the details about registration, travel and accommodation, et cetera, on the following link. DIS Olympiad 2023 Photo: guide.michelin.com/
2023 FIDE Laws of Chess published
During the last days of the year, the FIDE Rules Commission completed the administrative check on the 2023 Laws of Chess, which were approved at the 93rd FIDE General Assembly in Chennai, India, and came into force on January 1, 2023. The final reviewed version is now available in chapter E012023 of the FIDE Handbook. This English text is the authentic version of the Laws of Chess, and translations to other languages are now being prepared. The main novelty (12.2.7) is that the penalty in rapid games is now reduced to one minute from two minutes in the previous version. The new version also includes a mention of FIDE certified “electronic scoresheet” (8.1.1.2), which introduction was approved by FIDE in February 2022. No other rules were amended during this check, and most changes are purely editorial, consisting of correcting typos and adjusting the numbering of chapters and sections. Following a process that FIDE has applied to all its body of documentation, pronouns were changed from “he” to “he/she”. By now, almost all legacy documents at FIDE have already undergone this indispensable modification to make them inclusive. The FIDE Rules Commission has published on its website a comprehensive table showing all changes and corrections. You can find it at this link.
The 1st Chess Workshop for Women set for January 05
FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess and Stockholm Chess Federation are pleased to announce the 1st FIDE WOM and Stockholm Chess Federation workshop that will take place on January 05, 2023, at 12:00 in Stockholm, Sweden. The event will be held during Rilton Cup in the Scandic Continental, Vasagatan 22, Stockholm, subway station T-Centralen. According to the workshop’s organizers, chess is a special world, and through chess, women can become not only professional players and champions but journalists, bloggers, politicians, trainers, and arbiters. The speakers will exchange experiences and showcase how chess can change women’s lives for the better. Invited guests of the workshop: Pia Cramling, GM, Swedish legendary chess player, Dana Reizniece-Ozola, WGM, Deputy Chair of the FIDE Management Board, Ofelia Thörnqvist, Chairperson Sveriges Schackförbund Women Commission,Anastasiya Karlovich, WGM, Chess Journalist, Photographer Moderator of the event: Anastasia Sorokina, Chairperson of the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess The event will be live streamed on FIDE Youtube: youtu.be/L-DbU4ulGzs Prior to the workshop, the first WOM meeting will be held at 10:00 CET.
January 2023 Chess Solvers rating list published
The latest Chess Solvers Rating List, issued by the Solving Tournament Manager and released by the World Federation for Chess Composition, set a historical record in this chess format. On January 1st 2023, 20-year-old Danila Pavlov (FIDE) became the youngest ever #1. His compatriot Georgy Evseev occupied the top position for eight previous years and still holds the absolute record as the longest-standing No.1. Danila’s rise to the top was only a natural outcome of his unprecedented series of triumphs. In May 2022, he convincingly won the 15th European Chess Solving Championship (ECSC) in Riga, thus defending his 2019 European title (after the Covid break in 2020-21). This alone was an absolute record for his age. On the way to this victory, Danila won the Open tournament in Riga, a traditional introduction to ECSC. In the 45th World Chess Solving Championship in Fujairah (UAE) last November, Pavlov defended the title of World Champion from Rhodes 2021, again becoming the youngest-ever solver to do it. On top of that, he won the introductory open tourney again and became the overall winner of the World Solving Cup 2021/22, the cycle of 14 yearly solving competitions in different countries. As if that wasn’t enough, Danila capped the year by winning both tourneys in quick solving at the 64th World Congress of Chess Composition in Fujairah (Open Quick Solving and Open Solving Show), matching the 2022 domination of Magnus Carlsen in all different time controls. GM solver Danila Pavlov is not the only junior representing a new wave of youngsters in solving competitions raising after the quarantine break in 2020/21. His compatriot Ural Khasanov, the new World Vice-Champion aged only 16, is bound to mount much higher from his current 9th position in the rating list. Ilija Serafimović from Serbia (pictured above), aged 18, just broke into the top 20. An all-around chess problemist, he is equally good at solving and composing chess problems. Ilija convincingly won all Youth Chess Composing tourneys at the 64th WCCC. Another new name is 14-years old Anirudh Daga from India, a rising star in both solving and composing. The biggest gains in the rating list also belong to young solvers: Kamila Hryshchenko (20) from Great Britain (+163) (pictured below) and Kevinas Kuznecovas (17) from Lithuania (+144). Young Romanian chess players Denisa-Andreea Bucur (+74) and Mihnea Costacchi (+48), as well as Mongolian chess GM Bilguun Sumia (+65), are also on the upswing. Photos: Fujairah Chess & Culture Club Official website: https://www.wfcc.ch/