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Matthias Blüebaum, King of Europe Chess and brain ageing Ten years of Chicago’s Chess in Jail Program Singapore Chess Federation gets a $360,000 donation Global Exchange Forum Brief news from National Federations READ NEWSLETTER
Matthias Bluebaum wins European Individual Championship 2022
GM Matthias Bluebaum (Germany) is a new European Champion. The 24-year-old native of Lemgo (North Rhine-Westphalia) completed the European Individual Championship 2022 undefeated, scored 8½/11 and achieved major success in his career. The European Individual Championship 2022, an 11-round Swiss tournament with classical time control, took place from March 27 to April 6, 2022, in Terme Čatež, Slovenia. The total prize fund of the event amounted to €100,000, with €20,000 reserved for the winner. The event brought together 320 players (257 titled ones) from 40 European federations, including 114 GMs, 53 IM, 3 WGM and 12 WIM. The champion started with a draw but then reeled off six straight victories and grabbed the lead. After making three draws with his main competitors, he slowed down a bit and allowed Gabriel Sargissian (Armenia) to catch up with him coming into the final round. Both leaders played with white pieces, which suggested an exciting fight in the home stretch, but somewhat surprisingly, the Armenian GM made a quick draw with Jaime Santos Latasa. The German GM, who faced Ivan Saric of Croatia, played a much longer game but also split a point. As a result, Matthias Bluebaum and Gabriel Sargissian (pictured above) tied for the top position, but the gold went to the German as the average rating of his opponents (the first tiebreaker) was 16 points higher. A large group of six players shared third place. Ivan Saric (pictured below) had the highest rating average of the opponents and claimed bronze. Govhar Beydullayeva from Azerbaijan got the best score among all women participating in the event. The 18-year-old runner-up of the two last national championships turned in an excellent performance, finished in the top-50 and picked up 76 rating points. According to FIDE regulations for World Cup and the ECU Board decision, 20 best players qualified for the FIDE World Cup 2023. Since Matthias Bluebaum and Mustafa Yilmaz had already qualified from the last year European Championship, Aleksandar Indjic (21st in the final standings) and Haik Martirosyan (22nd) also punched the tickets to the FIDE World Cup 2023. Final standings: 1 Bluebaum, Matthias GER 2642 8½ 2 Sargissian, Gabriel ARM 2681 8½ 3 Saric, Ivan CRO 2687 8 4 Cheparinov, Ivan ECX 2672 8 5 Santos Latasa, Jaime ESP 2648 8 6 Yilmaz, Mustafa TUR 2624 8 7 Ponomariov, Ruslan UKR 2636 8 8 Durarbayli, Vasif AZE 2628 8 9 Gadimbayli, Abdulla AZE 2451 7½ 10 Iskandarov, Misratdin AZE 2577 7½ 11 Guseinov, Gadir AZE 2661 7½ 12 Ter-Sahakyan, Samvel ARM 2632 7½ 13 Sargsyan, Shant ARM 2639 7½ 14 Kobo, Ori ISR 2510 7½ 15 Moussard, Jules FRA 2630 7½ 16 Tari, Aryan NOR 2653 7½ 17 Anton Guijarro, David ESP 2694 7½ 18 Kuzubov, Yuriy UKR 2639 7½ 19 Kozul, Zdenko CRO 2619 7½ 20 Nesterov, Arseniy FID 2522 7½ 21 Indjic Aleksandar SRB 2605 7½ 22 Martirosyan Haik ARM 2633 7½ You can find full results here. Photo: ŠZS/Luka Rifelj Official website: eicc2022.eu/
Israel to host 21st IPCA World Individual Championship 2022
Israeli Chess Federation will host the World IPCA Chess Championship for Disabled Players together with IPCA (International Physically Disabled Chess Association – Affiliated to the International Chess Federation, FIDE). The event will be held from May 8-17 in Ashdod City (Israel). Organizers: The Israeli Chess Federation, Sports Authority of Ashdod Municipality, Ashdod Municipal Chess Club, IPCA (International Physically Disabled Chess Association – affiliated to FIDE). Venue & Dates: The championship will be held in Hotel “Leonardo”, Mediterranean Sea Ave. 1, Ashdod City, Israel from May 8 (arrival date) to May 17 (departure date). Location: https://cutt.ly/vDIBdIw Participation: All physically disabled chess players – men, women and juniors (boys, girls) 2002 year of birth and younger (including users of wheelchairs) with the disability group in the player’s country but not less than 50% physical disability are eligible for participation. Registration for the tournament: Registration for the 21st IPCA World Individual Chess Championship 2022 should be completed on the official website until April 20, 2022 The championship participants are responsible for obtaining an Israeli visa if needed. For assistance with visa arrangements, please contact the Israeli Chess Federation via e-mail office@chessfed.org.il and provide the following information: 1) Surname and name(s) (as in passport)2) Citizenship3) Date of birth4) Passport number5) Passport expiry date6) Function (player, accompanying person). The participation fees should be paid to the bank account of the organizer not later than April 20, 2022. Bank details: ACCOUNT HOLDER: THE ISRAELI CHESS FEDERATION BANK NAME: MIZRACHI BANK ADDRESS: TAGORE 28, TEL AVIV IBAN: IL56-0204-9300-0000-0488-009 SWIFT CODE: MIZBILITXXX Official Web page of Championship – https://ipca.chess.org.il/ Start list on Chess Results – https://cutt.ly/yDINeul Official IPCA Web page – https://ipcachess.org/ Organizers e-mail – office@chessfed.org.il Moshe Slav – Championship Manager Phone: +972-508557766, E-mail: moshe@slavgroup.co.il Svetlana Gerasimova – IPCA President Zvika Barkai PhD – Chairman of the Israeli Chess Federation
Panama to host World School Chess Championship 2022
The World School Chess Championship 2022 will be held from June 10-19, 2022, at the Wyndham Panama Albrook Mall Hotel & Convention Center, Panama City, under the auspices of FIDE and the Panama Chess Federation. There will be 12 sections in the tournament, Open and Girls for each age category: Under 17, Under 15, Under 13, Under 11, Under 9 and Under 7. A player’s age as of January 1, 2022, determines their age eligibility for a particular section. Tournament Schedule: 10 June 2022: Arrivals 11 June 2022: 10:30 Technical Meeting 11 June 2022: 14:15 Opening Ceremony 11 June 2022: 15:00 Round 1 12 June 2022: 15:00 Round 2 13 June 2022: 10:00 Round 3 13 June 2022: 17:00 Round 4 14 June 2022: 15:00 Round 5 15 June 2022: Free Day 16 June 2022: 10:00 Round 6 16 June 2022: 17:00 Round 7 17 June 2022: 15:00 Round 8 18 June 2022: 10:00 Round 9 18 June 2022: 18:00 Closing Ceremony 19 June 2022: Departures The participating National Federations, FIDE-affiliated organizations, as approved by the FIDE Council, and FIDE endorsed Chess Academies shall submit their registration of participants to registro@wscc2022.org until May 9, 2022. All entries shall include full name, FIDE ID, rating, accompanying persons, accommodation type, dates of arrival/departure and receipt of bank transfer. The following fees will be charged: – Tournament Registration Fee – $110.00/player – FIDE Entry Fee – $45.00/player – Special Fee for Accompanying Persons – $90.00/accompanying person Regulations for the World School Chess Championship 2022 (pdf) The official website of the championship: wscc2022.org
Wesley So wins FIDE Grand Prix Berlin
The last battle of the entire 2022 FIDE Grand Prix series organised by World Chess has finished on the 4th of April. In the final match tiebreaker, Wesley So outplayed Hikaru Nakamura by a score of 1½:½ and won the third leg of the Grand Prix in Berlin. The tournament winner and the runner-up looked happy at the closing ceremony as both of them could celebrate the success in the tournament. Despite the result of the final match, Hikaru Nakamura qualified for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2022 and became the overall winner of FIDE Grand Prix Series 2022. Richard Rapport, who is the second in the overall standings and also punched his ticket to the Candidates, while Wesley So took third place in the Series. After the match ended, Wesley So said: “I am only 28, and I’m hoping that next year or in a couple of years, I will get a chance to play in the Candidates. The last time I played, I was very inexperienced and finished second to last, so I think if you qualify, you have to be ready to fight for first place.” Hikaru Nakamura: “The odds [of winning the whole series] were probably 10-15% before everything began. I was quite fortunate in the first leg as I got players who hadn’t played as much; they weren’t sharp.” In the first tiebreaker game, Hikaru chose the Bishop opening, which Wesley So didn’t expect to see on the board today. However, Wesley played confidently with Black and got a serious positional advantage by move 15. Hikaru showed his excellent defensive skills, and after a couple of mistakes by the opponent, he managed to create a very dangerous attack on the kingside. It was Wesley’s turn to find the only moves to stay in the game. After several evaluation swings in this complicated topsy-turvy game, the opponents split a point in a drawish rook ending. In the second game, the Berlin Defense in Ruy Lopez was played. White managed to get a pleasant edge, but the position seemed quite balanced until a certain point. Wesley exchanged the queens at the cost of doubling his pawns on the d-file but engineered some initiative in the center. On the 32nd move, Hikaru made a terrible blunder 32…c6 and after a simple refutation 33.Bxe5 found himself in a hopeless position. Wesley emerged a piece up and then slowly but surely converted his advantage to win the game and the match. FIDE Grand Prix Series 2022 final standings: Player Berlin Belgrade Berlin Total Hikaru Nakamura 13 10 23 Richard Rapport 7 13 20 Wesley So 4 13 17 Levon Aronian 10 2 12 Dmitry Andreikin 10 10 Amin Tabatabaei 3 7 10 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 3 7 10 Leinier Dominguez 7 2 9 Sam Shankland 4 4 8 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 7 1 8 Anish Giri 7 0 7 Vidit Gujrathi 3 4 7 Nikita Vitiugov 3 3 6 Alexandr Predke 3 1 4 Grigoriy Oparin 0 4 4 Andrey Esipenko 4 0 4 Vincent Keymer 0 4 4 Radosław Wojtaszek 4 4 Vladimir Fedoseev 2 1 3 Yu Yangyi 0 3 3 Daniil Dubov 3 0 3 Alexander Grischuk 2 0 2 Pentala Harikrishna 2 0 2 Etienne Bacrot 0 2 2 Alexei Shirov 0 1 1 The FIDE Grand Prix Series is brought to you by World Chess. Leading partners supporting the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2022 include: Kaspersky as the Official Cybersecurity Partner; Algorand as the Official Blockchain Partner; Prytek as the Technology Transfer Partner; FIDE Online Arena as the official Partner. Photo: FIDE Grand Prix Berlin Press kit
FIDE announces World Senior Team Championship 50+, 65+
The International Chess Federation is excited to announce the FIDE World Senior Team Chess Championship 50+ and 65+, to be held from June 19-30, 2022 in Acqui Terme, Italy. The tournament will be played in four categories: age 50+ and 65+ (open and women). The event is a Swiss System team competition with teams of five players (4 board players + 1 optional reserve player). The time control is 90 minutes for 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game + 30 seconds per move starting from move 1. The prize fund of the Championship is €10,000, with the winners of the open section getting €1,200 EUR and winners of the women’s section receiving €400. Trophies and medals will also be awarded to the top-3 teams in each category. There will be additional prizes (cups & medals) in each board, for the top-3 individual board winners. The first round of the tournament kicks off on June 20, 2022; the winners will be determined on June 29. Schedule: June 19th – Registration, Welcome evening June 20th – Technical Meeting, Opening Ceremony, Round 1 June 21st – Round 2, special program June 22nd – Round 3, Blitz Fide Rated June 23rd – Round 4 June 24th – Round 5, Blitz Fide Rated June 25th – rest day June 26th – Round 6 June 27th – Round 7, Italian themed dinner June 28th – Round 8, special program June 29th – Round 9, Closing Ceremony, Prize awards June 30th – Departures The event’s programme also includes visits to museums, a blitz tournament and FIDE Arbiters Seminar. Registration of the participants should be done by May 25, 2022, using the registration form on the tournament’s website. Registration fee Each player pays a €100 registration fee, which includes registration, accreditation, badge, and transfer from and to Tjrino airport. There is no FIDE entry fee. For further information, please visit the official website of the Championship: Tournament regulations (pdf)
Lajos Portisch celebrates his 85th birthday
Lajos Portisch, a renowned Hungarian grandmaster, has turned 85 today. Portisch is not just an outstanding grandmaster who has participated in the Candidates eight times (both matches and tournaments). Lajos is more than a player who has been in the world’s top ten for a quarter of a century; he is more than a unique fighter capable of defeating three world champions in the same tournament. Portisch is a symbol, a brand, a role model. One may not have Tal’s creativity, not be a brilliant intuitive player like Karpov, not burn himself out in every game like Korchnoi, but one can still be consistently at the top through hard work, determination and a strong personality. Photo: Koch, Eric / Anefo He has been called the Hungarian Botvinnik. Although this comparison is not a hundred per cent correct (Mikhail Moiseevich cited his game played with Portisch in 1968 as an argument against it), they have much in common. An analyst of the highest level, who created entire opening concepts, solid, strategically thinking, ruthless to himself, Portisch has always epitomized a fundamental approach to chess. It is hard to call him a player or an athlete – Lajos has always been more like a scholar. And when I read about how “Portisch had prepared this improvement in the quiet of his home laboratory,” it was a real laboratory I imagined. Portisch’s aristocratism, exceptional strength, and scientific approach to chess made him one of the most respected players in all corners of the globe – despite his somewhat dry style. Photo: gahetna.nl Portisch feared no one, and although fallen short compared to the greatest, he has always been an undaunted fighter – Lajos led his team to Olympic gold in 1978 and shared first place in 1980. He deserved full credit for Hungary’s being a true chess country all these years. Lajos played at the highest level in his 40s and 50s. In 1987 he qualified for the Candidates for the last time in his career. Six years later in 1993, Portisch was very close again, even though he was 56 years old and battled with Gelfand, Ivanchuk, Anand, Kamsky and Kramnik (to whom he lost a decisive game for a qualifying spot). The Hungarian Grandmaster kept up his remarkable strength until the end of the nineties, but after turning sixty, he drastically reduced his participation in tournaments, devoting most of his time to music. Interestingly, during our meetings, we talked more often about singing rather than chess. We have different repertoires, but he spoke about his beloved Schubert and how to sing it properly so passionately that it became clear how much that subject meant to him. Photo: olimpia.hu/ So twenty years flew by – the years dominated by music – just like Smyslov’s and Gligoric’s lives at this age. However, even on the threshold of his eightieth birthday, Portisch played in tournaments very confidently, not the least bit embarrassed that most of his opponents were half a century younger. And when Lajos was already in his ninth decade, he put forward his candidacy for the captain of the Hungarian national team and took it very personally when this position was not given to him. I haven’t spoken to him for a long time, but back in 2019, Lajos was still actively following events in the chess world, commenting knowledgeably and not without a pinch of salt. We always talked with him in Russian, which Portisch speaks as brilliantly as English and German. Photo: ChessBase Lajos is a fascinating character, and those who paint him as a “cold fish” are wrong. Even though, Portisch played into that image sometimes. I wish the Hungarian Grandmaster many more years and a creative tone. And thank you, Maestro, for your contribution to chess! Emil Sutovsky, FIDE Director General
Indian Championships: Erigaisi and Deshmukh clinch titles
Arjun Erigaisi and Divya Deshmukh are new champions of India. The Open and Women’s Championships 2022 were held concurrently but in different Indian states. Both events were dominated by young players. The MPL 58th Senior National Chess Championship, an 11-round Swiss tournament with classical time control, took place from 25 February to 3 March 2022 in Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh, India). The event attracted 184 players from all over the country. The recent winner of Tata Steel Challengers Arjun Erigaisi and Gukesh D were heading to the final round as the joint leaders on 8/10, a half-point ahead of a big group of six people. Both leaders drew their games and made a half-step forward while among their pursuers, only Iniyan P scored a victory over Mithabha Guta to catch up with the duo. As a result, three players tied for the first, with Erigaisi taking gold thanks to better Buchholz. The same variable favoured Gukesh D (silver) over Iniyan P (bronze). Final standings: 1 GM Erigaisi Arjun 2633 8½ 2 GM Gukesh D 2614 8½ 3 GM Iniyan P 2516 8½ 4 GM Aravindh Chithambaram 2611 8 5 GM Aryan Chopra 2585 8 6 IM Koustav Chatterjee 2466 8 7 GM Karthikeyan Murali 2622 8 8 GM Visakh N R 2522 8 9 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2619 8 10 IM Pranav V 2486 8 In a glittering closing ceremony, BCCI Vice President Shri Rajiv Shukla awarded trophies and prize money cheques to the winners – Rs.6,00,000/-, 5,00,000/-, and 4,00,000/- for the top-3 places, respectively (Rs. 10,000/- is approximately $1,316) The MPL 47th Indian Women’s Championship is a 9-round Swiss tournament was held from 25 February to 2 March 2022 in Bhubaneswar, India. 16-year-old Divya Deshmukh becomes the National Champion of India. Divya won the title scoring impressive 8/9, and finishing a full point ahead of three players who shared second place. On her way to the victory, Divya beat such strong players as Vaishali, Bhakti Kulkarni and many others. She became the second teenager after Humpy Koneru to win Women’s National Championship. The champion picked 25 rating points and took home a solid prize of Rs.55000 (US$7250). Three players tied for second place with Chitlange Sakshi and Priyanka Nutakki, claiming silver and bronze respectively by dint of better Buchholz over Srija Seshadri. Final standings: 1 WGM Divya Deshmukh 2301 8 2 WIM Chitlange Sakshi 2205 7 3 WIM Priyanka Nutakki 2301 7 4 WGM Srija Seshadri 2219 7 5 IM Soumya Swaminathan 2360 6½ 6 IM Vaishali R 2403 6½ 7 IM Padmini Rout 2350 6½ 8 WGM Gomes Mary Ann 2361 6½ 9 WIM Priyanka K 2227 6½ 10 WIM Parnali S Dharia 2224 6½ Photo: All India Chess Federation Facebook page
FIDE Grand Prix Berlin: Final goes to tiebreaker
Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So drew their second game in the final match of the third stage of the FIDE Grand Prix organised by World Chess. The winner of the event will be determined tomorrow in a tiebreaker. Hikaru Nakamura picked White for the first rapid game against Wesley So during the drawing of lots procedure. It was a short draw in the Berlin Variation of the Ruy Lopez today, where both players deviated from the playable lines and quickly entered a famous drawish variation. After three-fold repetition, the shortest game in the tournament ended after 14 moves. Hikaru explained his decision in a post-game interview: “My main question was if I want to play something like Re1 and try to play some game, but the problem is that I’m also playing the online tournament at the same time today [The tournament was planned to start at 6:30 pm – Ed.]. If you go to the game trying to play something and hoping that I guess you will win the game like in 3 hours, it’s not a good attitude cause later on your choices will be affected”. Wesley So added with a smile that he planned to use all his time on the clock if Hikaru decided to play a long game. He knew Hikaru would like to play online and could try “to torture” his opponent.” I was ready to use every single second on my clock until the checkmate”, said Welsey So and made Hukaru laugh during the interview. Most likely, we are witnessing a new era of chess. It’s hard to imagine just a few years ago that, one of the top grandmasters would prefer playing the online rapid event to trying to use white colour advantage in a classical game. Both players admitted that such a quick draw could be disappointing for the spectators but expressed their hope to have an exciting tiebreak tomorrow. The FIDE Grand Prix Series is brought to you by World Chess. Leading partners supporting the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2022 include: Kaspersky as the Official Cybersecurity Partner; Algorand as the Official Blockchain Partner; Prytek as the Technology Transfer Partner; FIDE Online Arena as the official Partner. Photo: Official Photo FIDE Grand Prix Berlin Press kit and Niki Riga
FIDE marks World Autism Awareness Day with panel discussion on Chess and ASD
People across the globe observe April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day – designated by the United Nations to raise awareness about autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This year marks the 15th World Autism Awareness Day. In celebration of World Autism Awareness Day, a supervision panel of the Infinite Chess FIDE Project was held online. The Infinite Chess is one of the key social initiatives of FIDE, and it aims to enhance knowledge and awareness about chess for children with ASD, give practical advice to teachers and parents, study the benefits of introducing chess and develop teaching methods. The event was joined by the organizers of the pilot projects for children with ASD that are currently running in Turkey, France, Spain, Gibraltar, Norway and South Africa. FIDE Managing Director Dana Reizniece-Ozola opened the discussion: “I already see that the first steps that we have made are very concrete, successful and give a very good basis for further enhancement of the project. I think it is very important to keep the regular communication, to see what progress has been made. Today you will exchange information on what activities have been carried out on the national level in our partner states. It gives ground for a better understanding of how we should proceed with the project. For this kind of initiatives, we work with the key stakeholders outside of the chess world, the international organizations that can come with their experience, with their platforms for the project results dissemination so that it doesn’t remain in the pure chess world. It opens up new opportunities for additional fundraising. I think it is very important for such initiatives because however good our intentions are, we need resources for them.” During the discussion, the Erasmus application, an 18-months cooperation partnership program that launches at the end of 2022/beginning of 2023, was presented. The project made by Alcala University (Spain) and supported by educational institutions and chess organizations in Spain, France, Bulgaria, Norway, Germany and Turkey is devoted to chess training for children with autism spectrum disorder and research on its effectiveness. Another key topic was raised by Franck Droin, President of the Health Social Disability Commission of the French Chess Federation, who presented national chess projects for people with different kinds of disabilities, including ASD. FIDE supported Chess for People with Autism program will be launched in France later this year. Sixteen autistic young people between 6 and 12 years old will participate in an adapted program carried out in four specialized centers in different regions of France. Forty hours of lessons per year will be carried out by the trained facilitators of the centers. By 2024, the number of centers where chess is used to support the development of children with autism spectrum disorders, the DYS (dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia) or attention and hyperactivity disorders will reach 80. “In coordination with Anastasia Sorokina, FIDE Vice President and leader of the Infinite Chess, we are very confident about the project’s success. We feel proud to be partners with FIDE, as well as Spain, Greece, South Africa and other countries. This is very important because we need to share results and ideas, especially for the evaluation program,” Franck Droin said. In South Africa, the pilot Chess for children with ASD project started in February 2022 for pupils aged 8-13-year old. Chess lessons were aimed at improving the children’s social skills and creating an awareness of friendship. Positive changes were also noted in their logical thinking and reasoning. Very soon, similar pilot projects will be launched in Turkey and Norway. FIDE Vice President and project leader Anastasia Sorokina emphasized the essential impact of all parties: “Although in the Erasmus application we were limited by the geography of countries, this does not negate the fact that all those present are part of the global Infinite Chess project. We are grateful to all partners and colleagues for their work and professionalism.”