FIDE delegation meets with representatives of Asian federations in Bangkok
On May 5 Bangkok hosted a meeting between representatives of 16 different chess federations from the Asian continent, a FIDE delegation headed by its President Arkady Dvorkovich, and the FIDE Planning and Development Commission (PDC), chaired by Sonja Johnson. This is the third continental meeting organized this year by FIDE and PDC, following the ones held in the Americas (Mexico City, February 17) and Africa (Kampala, February 22). These meetings serve multiple purposes, starting with the introduction of FIDE’s development and social programs. For instance, in Bangkok, FIDE VP Anastasia Sorokina made a Presentation of the successful program “Infinite Chess”, for children with an autism spectrum disorder. Secondly, these periodical meetings are crucial to discuss the specific needs and challenges of different federations. As Dana Reizniece-Ozola pointed out, “The feedback from the federations is basic to streamline our support in the most effective way, and also to draft policies”. The meetings also play an important role in stimulating the exchange of experiences among the participating federations, effectively increasing the levels of cooperation, cohesion, and engagement. Very often, important projects have been set into motion after these gatherings!
Canada stages Zonal Tournaments at Easter
The last time Canadian chess conducted a national over-the-board championship was back in 2019! Fast forward now to Easter (April) 2022, and with pandemic restrictions being loosened, eager players from across this vast northern country gathered in the central city of Kingston, Ontario; to play in the Canada Zonal and the Canada Women Zonal. At stake were places on the Canadian teams for the upcoming Olympiad, and qualification for the next World Cup and Women’s World Cup. The playing location was a very comfortable hotel at the Kingston waterfront, with a dozen DGT boards relaying the top games across the big country and to multiple international chess servers. The 2022 Canada Zonal, with so much at stake (Olympiad team, World Cup) for just the top two winners, turned into a wonderfully aggressive tournament that resulted in some of the greatest upsets in Canadian chess history. Even though the field included a GM and six IMs, it was two FMs who truly shocked the event by tying for first place, a full point ahead of the third-place GM! FM Yuanchen Zhang, was the winner on tiebreaks, winning six(!) games en route to a score of 7-2. FM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux (pictured above), still a Junior, was unbeaten en route to the same score of 7-2. Canada Women Zonal The 2022 Canada Women Zonal was also very popular, with live video being continuously streamed on the BotezLive Twitch channel. Over the board, the top-ranked player, WGM Maili-Jade Ouellet, also still a Junior, was absolutely without a match, as she won all(!) of her games to finish with a perfect score of 9-0. Reserve Sections Other winners were: U2200 Savio Joseph Benher, U1900 Randika Balasooriya, and U1600 Aaron Reeve Mendes. Text: Aris Marghetis, IO/IA, Canada Photo: John Upper, ChessCanada Facebook
FIDE EDU Upcoming Courses for Lecturers and Teachers
Dear Member Federations, FIDE’s Chess in Education Commission accelerates its provision of training for Lecturers and Teachers of Educational chess. The Preparation of Lecturers course leads to the diploma of Chess in Education Lecturer and is intended primarily for those who will lecture to teachers in order to swell the number of teachers in the world who can teach educational chess. The course hones their existing skills and opens new vistas for those from the chess world without educational background. The training has a cost of €75, which covers both access to materials and preparation, and the exam. Those who successfully pass the course will receive the diploma of Certified FIDE Chess in Education Lecturer (CEL). This is valid for three years, and it implies an administrative fee of €50. The Preparation of Teachers course leads to the FIDE title of School Instructor. A 3-day (15 hours) course will help to develop participants’ knowledge and skills in educational chess, help them to find new digital tools and platforms for online learning, and get ideas on the application of important pedagogical approaches to the teaching process of chess basics. The course fee is €100. The last hour of the course will be devoted to an exam (multiple choice questions) with a pass mark of 65%. Candidates who achieve the pass mark will qualify for the FIDE title of School Instructor, subject to paying the title fee of €50. The schedule of the FIDE EDU upcoming courses is below: To join the courses, please register via the following links:The second course for teachers in Spanish (May 20-22)The third Preparation of Teachers Course (May 27-29)The Second Course for Teachers in French (June 17-19)The Fifth Course for Lecturers (July 08-10) Applicants are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Those who are ‘late’ will be placed on a waiting list and will thus be at the head of the queue for the next course.
Winners crowned at World Cadets & Youth Rapid and Blitz Championships
The World Cadets & Youth Championships 2022 for Rapid and Blitz were held in Rhodes, Greece, from May 1-3, 2022. With the participation of 331 players from 40 countries, it was the first massive event on the FIDE calendar for this year. According to the final standings of all under 8 to under 18 years old age categories, Ukraine won the most medals with 14 medals including 6 gold, followed by Poland with 11 medals including 2 gold, England with 10 medals including 4 gold and Turkey with 7 medals including 3 gold. The event was attended by the Governor of the South Aegean region, Mr George Hatzimarkos, and the Mayor of Rhodes, Mr Antonis Kampourakis, who, for many years now, have actively supported chess and its promotion among youth. The World Cadets & Youth Championships 2022 for Rapid and Blitz was part of the annual Rhodes Chess Festival. Its main sponsors were the Regional Government of South Aegean (Περιφέρεια Νοτίου Αιγαίου) and the Cultural & Sport Organisation of Rhodes Municipality (Δημοτικός Οργανισμός Πολιτισμού Αθλητισμού Ρόδου – ΔΟΠΑΡ). More information, including the complete results, final standings and photos from the event and the closing ceremony are available at rodos2022.com. Photos credit: Niki Riga
Sri Lanka Championships: De Silva and Ranasinghe clinch titles
The reigning national champion, 17-year-old FM Susal de Silva of Nalanda College, won the Sri Lanka National Chess Championship 2022 for the second consecutive year scoring 10/13. The Sri Lanka National Chess Championships 2022, with a half-million rupees prize fund, took place from April 23 to May 1 in the Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research Institute, Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo. Both tournaments, organized by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka, were 14-players round-robins with classical time control. One of the most promising players in the country, Susal De Silva, grabbed the lead from the very start and beat his main rival Ranindu Liyanage in the eighth round clash, which gave him so much needed tie-breaking points to win the title, the gold medal and shared cash prize. On his way to this achievement, Susal scored eight victories and suffered just a single defeat at the hands of Achinthya Shamane Kaluarachchi. The top-seed FM, Ranindu Dilshan Liyanage of Ananda College, netted 10 points and tied for first place but settled for silver due to inferior tiebreaks. FM Isuru Alahakoon of Sri Lanka Navy claimed bronze, scoring 8½/13. Unfortunately, the women’s event did not bring together the country’s best players as the reigning champion, Tharushi Niklesha and Harshana Thilakarathne (rated over 2300), withdrew due to academic reasons. WIM Sachini Ranasinghe confidently won her fifth national title, scoring 9/13. Desandi Dihansa Gamage of Sirimavo Bandaranaike College finished just a half-point behind and earned silver. Janandani Abeysinghe of NSBM Green University came out third with 8/13. The top five players in both events qualified for the Sri Lanka national teams to participate in the 44th Chess Olympiad 2022. The awards ceremony was held on May 1 at Hotel Taj Samudra, right after the final round. Mr Luxman Wijesuriya, President CFSL, General Secretary of the Commonwealth Chess Association and Mr Shiang Wong, Deputy General Manager – Product Marketing of SLT Mobitel (the primary sponsor of the national chess federation), presented the awards to the champions. The games can be seen via the links below: Sri Lanka National Chess Championship 2022Sri Lanka Women’s National Chess Championship 2022 Final standings Open: 1 De Silva Susal 2162 10 2 Liyanage Ranindu Dilshan 2345 10 3 Alahakoon Isuru 2014 8½ 4 Kiriella K G T S D 1737 8 5 Nabil Nazar Mohamed 1680 7½ 6 Kaluarachchi Achinthya S 1801 6½ 7 Senevirathne S D B K 1757 6 8 Bandara Dhanushka 1882 6 9 Tennakoon Lisara Samadhith 1680 5½ 10 Amarasinghe A A C B 1855 5½ 11 Lahiru N P G Sithija 1783 5 12 Saravanabaavan Brijeash 1643 4½ 13 Wijekoon Chandana 1823 4½ 14 De Silva Elath Mathanga 1816 3½ Final standings Women: 1 WIM Ranasinghe S D 1698 9 2 Gamage Desandhi Dhihansa 1447 8½ 3 Abeysinghe H M H Janandani 1465 8 4 WCM Wijesuriya G P Y 1581 7½ 5 WCM Wickramasinghe Minethma 1527 7 6 WCM Sanudula K M Dahamdi 1710 7 7 Mapa M M W H 1587 7 8 Pallie Ehsha Mishela 1475 6½ 9 Abeysekara Yasasi Geemini 1324 6 10 Wijesinghe W M M N 1509 5 11 Ramanayake Nemindi Linaya 1387 4 12 Vithanawasam Oneli 1449 2 13 Yapa Bandara Chamodya 1533 3 14 Yashora Tiumi 1624 2
Gretarsson dominates Icelandic Championship
Hjörvar Steinn Grétarsson defended his title of Icelandic champion with flying colours, winning his second straight national championship with a round to spare. The rating favourite delivered a commanding performance of 7½/9, conceding his opponents just three draws. The 2022 Icelandic Championship, a 10-player round-robin tournament (Elite), took place from April 22 to May 1 in Reykjavik. Despite suffering two defeats, the second-rated Hannes Stefansson (pictured above) scored 6/9 and claimed silver – a great improvement compared to the 2021 edition of this event. There was a three-way tie for the third place, but bronze goes to Gudmundur Kjartansson, thanks to the best result in the direct encounters with his opponents. Alongside the Elite round-robin, a 25-player Candidates tournament (Swiss system) was held. Aleksandr Domalchuk-Jonasson (pictured below) emerged as the winner of this side event. Final standings Elite: 1 GM Gretarsson, Hjorvar Steinn 2542 7½ 2 GM Stefansson, Hannes 2525 6 3 GM Kjartansson, Gudmundur 2430 5 4 GM Steingrimsson, Hedinn 2538 5 5 IM Stefansson, Vignir Vatnar 2501 5 6 GM Thorhallsson, Throstur 2422 4½ 7 FM Heimisson, Hilmir Freyr 2321 4½ 8 GM Thorfinnsson, Bragi 2419 3½ 9 Mai, Alexander Oliver 2177 2½ 10 FM Thorhallsson, Simon 2252 1½ Final standings Candidates: 1 Domalchuk-Jonasson, Aleksandr 2169 7 2 Ingvason, Johann 2172 6½ 3 Briem, Benedikt 2062 6½ 4 Jonsson, Gauti Pall 2064 6 5 Heidarsson, Arnar Milutin 2019 6 6 Hauksdottir, Hrund 1746 5½ 7 Thorisson, Benedikt 1778 5 8 Ragnarsson, Johann 1913 5 9 Omarsson, Josef 1352 5 10 Heidarsson, Mikael Bjarki 1574 5 Official website: skak.is/skakthing Photo: IEB, Íslenskir skákmenn
Vázquez Maccarini wins Puerto-Rican Women’s Championship
FM Danitza Vázquez Maccarini emerged as the winner of Puerto Rico Women’s Championship. The five-round Swiss tournament that brought together nine participants, took place at the University of Puerto Rico, Bayamón Recinto. Danitza turned in a dominating performance winning four straight games and securing the title with a round to spare. Despite forfeiting the last round game and tying for the first place with Natasha Morales Santos, Vazquez Maccarini became the champion as the winner of their third-round direct encounter. Keyshla Vega Jimenes claimed bronze. With this achievement, Danitza qualified for the Puerto Rico Women’s National Team that will be representing the country at the 44th World Olympiad 2022 in Chennai, India, this summer. Final standings: 1 FM Vazquez Maccarini, Danitza 2067 4 2 WIM Morales Santos, Natasha 1967 4 3 WCM Vega Jimenez, Keyshla M. 1656 3½ 4 WCM Rivera Negron, Yanira 1773 3 5 Alvarado Perez, Coralys M. 1502 3 Photo: Federación de Ajedrez de Puerto Rico Facebook page
Winners crowned at 2022 US Middle School Championship
The 501(c)3 US Chess Federation’s 2022 National Middle School (K-8) Championship took place from April 28-May 1, 2022 at the Gaylord Texan Hotel and Resort in Grapevine, Texas. A total of 931 players from 35 states competed. This tournament was formerly known as the National Junior High School (K-9) Championship. The individual K-8 Co-Champions are (listed in tiebreak order): Brewington Hardaway, 7th Grade, Speyer Legacy School: New York, New York Jonathan Chen, 8th Grade, Chaparral Middle School: Diamond Bar, California Troy Cavanah, 8th Grade, Olson Middle School: Minneapolis, Minnesota Vaseegaran Nandhakumar, 7th Grade, Anthony Elementary School: Anthony, Kansas Ilya Levkov, 6th Grade, Millburn Middle School: Millburn, New Jersey In the K-8 Team Championship the Hunter College Campus School of New York, New York took the title. Many other winners in multiple sections below the championship section were also determined. These winners are properly identified as, “Winner of the <X> section at the National Middle School Championship.” For a full list of winners, please see here: http://www.uschess.org/results/2022/ms/. As US Chess fulfils its mission to “empower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities through chess,” we use our scholastic nationals to fulfill our goals to expand the educational, social, recreational and rehabilitative applications of chess; increase the visibility of chess on mainstream communications channels; develop the depth and breadth of our partnerships; use chess to increase opportunities for underrepresented segments of society, and to continuously improve internal operations and member services. US Chess Executive Director Carol Meyer notes, “Our vision is that chess is recognized as an essential tool that promotes inclusiveness and benefits education, rehabilitation, recreation, and friendly competition. This all comes together at our national scholastic championships.” For more information on our events, please visit www.uschess.org. Photo credit: Randy Anderson
Susan Namangale: “I want to be a part of the change”
The fourth episode of the FIDE Podcast, the initiative born under the umbrella of the Year of the Woman in Chess, as cooperation between FIDE’s Commission for Women’s Chess, Michael Busse of Schachgeflüster podcast, and Lilli Hahn of Chess Sports Association, has been released. The monthly episodes of the podcast feature a series of interviews with remarkable women in the chess world. The guest of the new episode is Susan Namangale, the President of the Malawi Chess Association, CHESSAM and the first female chess federation president in Africa. Among the key milestones achieved under her leadership: Increasing the number of female chess players from less than 10% to over 30% Launching chess in a school development program Reaching out to rural schools and setting up chess clubs there “Every child needs to have the privilege of learning chess at school. With the support of FIDE and other partners, we have been able to take chess to as many schools as possible, even to rural areas of the country. We are training patrons, making them able to teach the basics of chess. Most of the schools do not have the equipment, but we also try to distribute chessboards to schools. In 2018 we had less than 50 kids playing in school chess events, but now we can put together over 500 kids, and we have over 100 schools and clubs where chess is played,” Susan explains. Susan Namangale is not only a chess official, but a chess player and 2019 national women champion. “When I became a president, I made it clear from the very beginning that my intention was to improve the way we do things, to put up systems in place, and I wanted to be a part of the change. I was not happy with the number of women and girls playing chess. For that reason, I decided that I wanted to start playing again so that girls and women would get motivated as they see me as their president also being a part of the games. And from that moment, I saw the numbers going up. This time I did not qualify for the Olympiad, but I am happy that I’ve got new ladies who made it to the team and will participate in the World Chess Olympiad for the first time. That’s what I call growth. It means we are progressing as a federation,” says Susan in her interview. You can listen to the fourth episode of the FIDE podcast on the following platforms: Podbean Spotify Google Podcasts
Mr. Fumey announces his candidacy for FIDE President
Enyonam Sewa Fumey has announced yesterday, April 30, his intention to run for FIDE President. While the electoral campaign formally begins on May 7th, Fumey communicated his decision to present a candidacy on a call to the incumbent FIDE President, Arkady Dvorkovich. “FIDE machine is working effectively, but with my team, in a collaborative spirit with the current administration, we will ensure to deliver more and in a more efficient way, especially towards small federations”, declared Mr. Fumey. “Our team will develop a more sensible approach to the issue of sport and politics, while recognising the importance they have with each other. Our team will broaden FIDE sponsorship base, support all Level 4 and 5 federations by serious funding and help generate independent revenue for the federations. Our team will involve a broader range of countries in its operations”. Born in Lome, Togo, in 1981, Fumey got a degree in Linguistics, and he practised as a French teacher for several years after graduating. In 2003, he was one of the founding members, and the first General Secretary, of the Togolese Chess Federation, when the three existing chess clubs in the city of Lomé decided to put together their efforts to popularise the game of chess in the country. His chess career took off in 2012, when the federation was officially recognized by the Togolese government. This opened the door for the federation to become a member of FIDE in September 2012, as well as to participate in the Chess Olympiad. In Istanbul 2012, Enyonam Sewa Fumey was one of the leading players of the national team, as well as its captain. In 2014, Fumey was elected as General Secretary for the African Chess Confederation, a post he would hold for the next four years, until 2018. During this period, he also invested in his chess formation, earning the titles of International Arbiter, International Chess Instructor, and reaching his peak rating and the Candidate Master title. Between 2014 and now, he has been Chief Organizer at 11 chess events, and Chief arbiter at 12. In 2017, Enyonam Sewa Fumey was elected President of the Togo Chess Federation. Shortly after, he became one of the first people to take side with Arkady Dvorkovich in the electoral campaign, being one of the five people originally included on his ticket, in June 2018. In Batumi FIDE General Assembly, he was elected as FIDE’s General Secretary, a post he held until May 2021, when he stepped down to become a member of the FIDE Social Commission. Even though the tickets are not official yet, Fumey has announced that his Deputy-President would be FM Stuart Fancy. Born in London in 1959, and now a resident of Papua New Guinea, Stuart Fancy has represented that country at the 1982, 1992, 2002, 2004 and 2006 Olympiads. His best results were winning the individual Gold Medal on 2nd Reserve Board at the 25th Chess Olympiad in Lucerne 1982. He is a businessman that specialises in acquisitions.