FIDE Grand Prix Berlin Final: Game 1 Recap
After a long theoretical debate, Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura drew the first game in the final of the third leg of the FIDE Grand Prix Series organized by World Chess. Hikaru Nakamura will have white pieces in the second game of the mini-match. The opponents arrived at the empty playing hall today for the final match. All other players were eliminated in the previous rounds, and both finalists felt a bit lonely playing in the venue despite the presence of many spectators who visited the tournament on Saturday. The first game of the final saw a classical variation of the Nimzo-Indian Defence where both players had lots of experience with White and Black. The same long theoretical line had even happened in their previous games a few times before, and all of the encounters ended in a draw. Despite having lots of knowledge of this opening, it was still important to remember some sharp lines, where every mistake can lead to a quick loss. With a slightly different move order, the opponents reached the position from the game Xiong – So played in 2021, but this time around, Wesley had White pieces. Surprisingly, he could not recall the exact position from that game while analyzing it during the post-game interview. Hikaru opted for 23…Qh6, following the game Xiong – So and gave his opponent a chance to improve the variation by trying 27. Qe4, recommended by Stockfish. However, Hikaru was not worried about this line, feeling confident about his position. “Maybe he will press somehow after Qe4, but it is hard to believe,” said Hikaru. After 27.Qb7 met by precise 27…Rc2, the game ended up in a draw just three moves later. 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
Richard Rapport reaches career-high in April rating list
The first month of spring was marked by the second leg of the FIDE Grand Prix Series in Belgrade, a few national championships and several round-robin and Swiss tournaments in Italy, the USA, India and Serbia. Those who stood out in these events became the main beneficiaries in the April rating list. The only noticeable change in the top-10 Open and top-10 Women is the rise of Richard Rapport, who turned in a remarkable performance in Belgrade. The Hungarian GM not only won the second leg of FIDE Grand Prix and qualified for the Candidates 2022, but also reached his peak career rating of 2762 and the highest position in the rating list ever. Photo: Mark Livshitz Biggest gains in top-100 (Open and Women): Kamalidenova, Meruert 2427 (+65) Sjugirov, Sanan 2696 (+16) Erigaisi, Arjun 2675 (+15) Rapport, Richard 2776 (+14) Nyzhnyk, Illya 2685 (+11) Abdusattorov, Nodirbek 2661 (+10) Sevian, Samuel 2693 (+9) Saric, Ivan 2695 (+8) Swiercz, Dariusz 2664 (+8) Santos Latasa, Jaime 2656 (+8) Meruert Kamalidenova (pictured below) picked up impressive 65 points and deservedly won this monthly nomination. First, the youngster from Kazakhstan earned 19 points in the FE Mix Grand Master – B (the event in Cattolica, Italy, won by Lucas Van Foreest) and then netted whopping 46 points in another Italian tournament Grandiscacchi Kursaal. These achievements helped Meruert to make a huge jump from 95th to 35th position in the top-100 Women. Photo: Niki Riga Sanan Sjugirov, the winner of a GM tournament in Belgrade, earned 16 rating points, whereas Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who tied for second place in this event, improved his rating by 10 points. Coincidentally, both grandmasters ascended 18 steps in the top-100 Open. Arjun Erigaisi of India continues his climbing in the rankings after clinching a national title in Kanpur and then winning the 19 Delhi International Open. These excellent results translate into 20 rating points, and although Arjun dropped 5 points in the Golden Jubilee of Independence League, he moved eleven positions up in the top-100 Open. Photo: St-Louis Chess Club Facebook page Illya Nyzhnyk and Sam Sevian (pictured above) came out on top at the 2022 Spring Chess Classics in Saint Louis and became the main rating beneficiaries of this event, picking up 11 and 10 points, respectively. Another participant of this tournament, Dariusz Swiercz, who tied for third place, also has nothing to complain about as he gained eight rating points. Again when it comes to absolute numbers of rating gains, youngsters are beyond competition. Here are some impressive achievements by young players: Sahithi Varshini M (+124), Miruna-Daria Lehaci (+82), Katharina Ricken (+62), Candela Francisco Guecamburu (+46), the winner of Romania Women’s Championship Alessia-Mihaela Ciolacu (+40), Martyna Wikar (+37), Vignir Vatnar Stefansson (+24) Gukesh D (+23).
FIDE Grand Prix Berlin: Nakamura and So face off in final
Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So won their matches and will meet in the final of the third stage of the FIDE Grand Prix in Berlin organised by World Chess. Both Americans defeated their opponents, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Amin Tabatabaei, by a 2:0 score. Wesley So will have White pieces in the first game of the final match on the 2nd of April. Hikaru Nakamura – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2:0 Hikaru Nakamura chose to play one of his favourite openings in the fast chess Nimzovich-Larsen attack. He uses this system pretty often in bullet chess and knows the positions quite well. However, Shakhriyar got a very strong initiative on the kingside and refused to repeat the moves, feeling he had good winning chances. Hikaru managed to complicate the position by creating a strong counterplay on the queenside. The Azeri GM didn’t find the precise way to continue his attack and made a few inaccurate moves in time trouble. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov lost the first game and had to win on demand to stay in the match. “I think the first game was a match, basically. It was too complicated; I tried to be too creative… I think Shakh had good chances to win that game, but we were low on time. After Rh4 and Rg4, which was probably not a mistake, his rook is suddenly got trapped, and there were no easy moves, and it was just too hard to play. I was a little bit lucky,” said Hikaru after the match. In the second game the English Opening was played. The match situation required Shakhriyar to go for a kill, and he decided to go for the line that he would not choose in different circumstances. He exchanged two pieces for a rook and two pawns, hoping to get some chances. According to Hikaru, he was expecting Shakhriyar to play that line but felt confident about his position. After a couple of exchanges, Black managed to keep the pair of bishops on the board, which weaved a checkmating net around White’s king. Hikaru scored another victory and eliminated Shakhriyar from the Grand Prix Berlin. Wesley So – Amin Tabatabaei 2:0 In the first game of the match, Amin Tabatabaei got a sharp position against Wesley So right in the opening, using a fresh idea suggested by one of his seconds American Grandmaster Hans Niemann. GM Anish Giri, who was commenting on the tiebreaks today, remembered Amin playing 2.Nc3 regularly online but was surprised to see him choosing this line today in the official competition. It was a surprise to Wesley too, who admitted he was in huge trouble after the opening. The Iranian Grandmaster didn’t find the best plan in the position, and Wesley So managed to gradually activate his pieces and advance central pawns. In an equal position, White lost his d6-pawn after missing a tactical trick and Wesley confidently converted his advantage into a full point. The second game had a similar scenario as Amin was well-prepared in the opening again and got an advantage with Black. He got a strong attack on the kingside, and when the dust settled, the Iranian GM emerged with three pawns and a bishop for a rook and decisive advantage. Wesley So was defending actively and managed to create a dangerous passer on the a-file that decided the game. Thus, the American GM punched his ticked to the final. After the game, Wesley So spoke about his opponent in the final, Hikaru Nakamura: “He is very determined and it seems like he is getting back to this old 2800 level form, so it’s going to be a very tough match. Also, the way that he beat Shakhriyar today was very convincing, I must say.” 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 signs contract with AICF for the 2022 Chess Olympiad
A FIDE delegation headed by its President Arkady Dvorkovich has paid a three-day visit to India. The purpose of the trip was to inspect the proposed venue for the 44th Chess Olympiad, discuss the road map for the event, and sign the contract with the All India Chess Federation (AICF). The FIDE President also held a round of meetings with all the relevant authorities whose support has made this event possible. AICF President Sanjay Kapoor and Tournament Director and AICF Secretary Bharat Chauhan, along with District Collector, AR Rahul Nadh, escorted the FIDE delegation to the venue for the upcoming Olympiad in Chennai on March 31. All the operational aspects of the Olympiad were discussed in detail between the FIDE representatives and the local organizing committee. Later that day, Dvorkovich met with Siva. V. Meyyanathan, Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development Government of Tamil Nadu, and Dr R Anandakumar IAS, Member Secretary Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu. Today, April 1, during a public act hosted in Delhi, the FIDE President officially signed the contract for India to organize the FIDE Chess Olympiad 2022. The President of All India Chess Federation (AICF) and the Organizing Committee Dr. Sanjay Kapoor, Tournament Director Mr. Bharat Singh Chauhan, Principal Secretary Youth Welfare & Sports Development Department Government of Tamil Nadu, IAS Ms. Apoorva, Five-time World Chess Champion Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, Chairman of Gujarat State Co-operative Banks Mr. Ajay Patel and Member Secretary, Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu, IAS Dr. R Anandakumar were in attendance to receive the official hosting rights on behalf of India. The Government of Tamil Nadu and Honourable Chief Minister Thiru M.K. Stalin along with the team at AICF carried out tremendous efforts to bring the FIDE 44th World Chess Olympiad 2022 to India. The prestigious competition, which has been organized since 1927, will be held in India for the first time and in Asia after 30 years. Speaking at the occasion, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich said, “It’s an honour and privilege to be here and this is a historic moment as India will host the FIDE World Chess Olympiad for the first time. The place which produces more Grandmasters than any other country truly deserves to host the FIDE World Chess Olympiad. I can see a clear interest to host the best-ever FIDE World Chess Olympiad in Chennai.” Indian chess grandmaster and five-time World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand, who was also present at the event in New Delhi, said, “I am delighted that the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad will take place in Chennai. I would like to thank the Tamil Nadu Government and especially Chief Minister Thiru M.K. Stalin and everyone else who has played a part in bringing the competition to India. I would also like to thank FIDE and FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich. And also credit must be given to All India Chess Federation (AICF) for moving very fast and I am confident that the competition will be a great success.” The President of All India Chess Federation Dr. Sanjay Kapoor said, “Today I am overjoyed and as the President of AICF, I would like to share this joy with the people of India. The FIDE World Chess Olympiad has never been hosted in India, but in 2022, the long wait is finally over. It’s a matter of pride for the entire country to host this event. Going by the number of countries participating in the tournament, it will be the biggest sporting competition ever hosted in India.” The Tournament Director Bharat Singh Chauhan added, “This is a historic moment for the All India Chess Federation (AICF) and all of us. This is going to be the biggest sporting event hosted by India. We are expecting participants from 160-190 countries to take part in the competition. We are going to host this event with the support of all chess players.” After the public act, the AICF representatives and the FIDE President were invited to a private reception with the Honourable Chief Minister of the Tamil Nadu Government Thiru M.K. Stalin. Mr Stalin, who was the mayor of Chennai in the period from 2009 to 2011, and had previously been 1st Deputy Chief Minister from 2009 to 2011, has backed the project from the very beginning. Without his decisive support, bringing the Olympiad to Chennai wouldn’t have been possible. The 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad will take place from 28 July 2022 to 10 August 2022 in Chennai. This is the complete schedule: Day 1, July 28, 2022 – Technical meeting, Opening ceremony Day 2, July 29, 2022 – Round 1 Day 3, July 30, 2022 – Round 2 Day 4, July 31, 2022 – Round 3 Day 5, August 1, 2022 – Round 4 Day 6, August 2, 2022 – Round 5 Day 7, August 3, 2022 – Round 6 Day 8, August 4, 2022 – Free day Day 9, August 5, 2022 – Round 7 Day 10, August 6, 2022 – Round 8 Day 11, August 7, 2022 – Round 9 Day 12, August 8, 2022 – Round 10 Day 13, August 9, 2022 – Round 11, closing ceremony Day 14, August 10, 2022 – Departures Chennai will also host the FIDE Congress 2022. According to the FIDE Charter, the elections of the FIDE leadership should take place there. July 31, 2022 – Arrivals August 1, 2022 – FIDE Management Board meeting & FIDE Commissions’ meetingsAugust 2, 2022 – FIDE Commissions’ meetingsAugust 3, 2022 – FIDE Zonal Council meeting & FIDE Commissions’ meetings August 4, 2022 – Elections of Zonal Presidents & FIDE Commissions’ meetingsAugust 5, 2022 – FIDE Council meeting & Elected Zonal Council meetingAugust 6, 2022 – Continental electionsAugust 7, 2022 – FIDE General Assembly & ElectionsAugust 8, 2022 – FIDE General Assembly August 9, 2022 – Departures During the press conference that followed the signature of the contract, Arkady Dvorkovich announced his decision to run for a second term. He also announced that five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand will join his team. You can read a separate announcement here.
Arkady Dvorkovich will run for reelection
Today, on April 1, 2022, at a press conference held in Delhi, Arkady Dvorkovich announced his intentions to run for reelection as FIDE President for a second term. He also announced that five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand would join his team. “I am willing and determined to work with this team. It is a wonderful group led by Dvorkovich, and they have done a lot for the sport,” said the Indian legend. This is the President’s statement: “The past four years have been challenging for all of us, but I am proud to acknowledge that I personally, and the entire FIDE leadership team, have worked with full dedication for the benefit of chess all over the world. A lot has been done. The largest broadcasting contracts with the main platforms have been concluded, thus providing a stable basis for FIDE activities. With dedicated work, we have managed to create a stable financial basis, not being dependent on a sole narrow source of resources. New formats of work during the pandemics have been found, including the FIDE Online Olympiad. The World Championship Cycle tournaments have been successfully carried out. A new major cycle tournament Grand Swiss was established, thus making the qualification process much more democratic. I am happy that important steps have been taken to promote women’s chess. The World Championship cycle has been fine-tuned, and the prize fund notably increased. A tournament of Women Candidates has been approved, the Women’s Grand Prix series revived, and the Women’s Grand Swiss tournament established. The principle of gender equality has been encoded in our policies and electoral rules, and I am dedicated to continuing to close the gender gap in our sport. Extensive work is being done in the social sphere – major tournaments for people with disabilities are organized, and various chess programs for vulnerable groups like refugees, children with ASD, veterans and inmates are carried out. A motivational talent development program FIDE Chessable Academy has been launched, as well as training and Olympiad travelling support will be provided to the national teams of the less developed countries. Chess in education remains our priority with new training programmes and a certification system being developed. We continue consistent and transparent FIDE Development Fund’s support to important initiatives of Federations, Continents and Associated organizations. Chess development programs are being actively implemented around the world. However, there are even more important tasks ahead. In this situation, I consider it is my moral duty to confirm that I intend to run for the second Presidential term. I count on the support of the General Assembly and the chess society. Gens Una Sumus.” The President also confirmed that the campaign would start in May as per Electoral Regulations, but he highly appreciates that the team will be strengthened by the participation of the five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand. “We have discussed that Viswanathan will be a huge part of our team,” stated Mr Dvorkovich, emphasizing that “whoever wins, we will support chess, we will be involved in chess, that doesn’t depend on politics. It depends only on our will, our commitment and our love of chess.”
FIDE Grand Prix Berlin: Semifinals go to tiebreaks
In the second round of the semifinals of the third stage of the FIDE Grand Prix in Berlin organised by World Chess, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Hikaru Nakamura made a second draw and will continue fighting for a spot in the final on the tiebreak tomorrow. After a huge blunder by Wesley So, Amin Tabatabaei bounced back in the second game of the semifinal and took their match to the tiebreaker. With today’s half-point, Hikaru Nakamura has secured his overall victory in the 2022 FIDE Grand Prix Series. Even if he loses the tiebreak tomorrow, he still edges out Richard Rapport in the total number of points scored in classical games. Both matches will be decided on the tiebreaks tomorrow, with Hikaru Nakamura and Amin Tabatabaei starting their matches with white pieces. On the 1st of April, we will know the names of the finalists. Amin Tabatabaei tried to surprise Welsey So in the opening, and after an interesting move order, the Romanishin Variation in Nimzo-Indian Defense appeared on the board. Wesley, playing with Black, managed to exchange his side-pawn b5 for the central pawn on d5 and not only solved his opening problems but got a quite comfortable position. The critical moment of the game came on move 23. After spending only one minute on his clock, the American suddenly went for a piece sacrifice and completely missed a very strong reply 24.Rd1-d3! which effectively parried all Black’s threats and created his own ones. Amin Tabatabaei – Welsey So The key variation in the position is 24…Nf3 25.Rxf3 Bxf3 26.Qc3 with a double attack. “That’s basically a one-move blunder from Wesley So, which is very uncharacteristic of him,” said the commentator of the tournament GM Evgeny Miroshnichenko. “What happened was just crazy. I played 23.Rd1 and I completely blundered 23…Nh4 – I thought everything falls apart. And after 24.Rd3 it is so strange that White is completely winning,” shared Amin Tabatabaei after the game. “I was incredibly lucky at that moment.” “My opponent is a great player, fighting, very aggressive, very tactical. And yeah, I just blundered Rd3 – that’s all I can say about the game. Blunders happen,” said Wesley So. The game went into an ending with an extra pawn and the bishop pair advantage for White. Wesley decided not to check Amin’s technique and resigned on move 30. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov was quite satisfied with his position in one of the Queen’s Gambit Declined variations with 5. Bf4. By advancing his pawns on the queenside, White created certain threats, but Hikaru Nakamura found an interesting way to regroup his pieces and took control over the c-file. After White’s 25.a4, Hikaru probably could have put more pressure on his opponent by keeping the pawns on a-file on the board but went for a forced line, leading to massive exchanges. None of the opponents had real chances in the drawish ending, but they kept playing until the peace was finally signed on move 51. 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 Grand Prix Berlin Semis: Round 1 Recap
Wesley So takes the lead in the match against Amin Tabatabaei, while Hikaru Nakamura and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov drew their game. In the first round of the semifinals of the third stage of the FIDE Grand Prix in Berlin organised by World Chess, Wesley So managed to convert his advantage into a full point against Amin Tabatabaei. Hikaru Nakamura and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov played an uneventful game that finished in a draw. On Thursday, March 31, Amin Tabatabaei will play with white pieces needing to level the score in the mini-match to go to tiebreaks. Hikaru Nakamura has Black in the second game against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Hikaru decided to play one of the calmest systems in Petroff Defense with an early queen exchange, which is considered to be unambitious for White. In a post-game interview, Hikaru explained why he didn’t have an intention to go fpr the main lines today: “It’s quite nice to qualify but also very tricky because, for the last 24-48 hours, my thoughts are on that event and preparation. And then in today’s game, it’s an opening that many people at the Candidates might play, so I did not want to do anything too exciting.” With the queens leaving the board very early, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov had no problems keeping the balance in a symmetrical position. After massive exchanges, the game liquidated into the ending with rooks and opposite-coloured bishops and finished in a draw once the players reached the 30th move. “It was one of this Grandmaster’s draws”, said Shakhriyar, smiling. He congratulated Hikaru on qualifying for the Candidates tournament and added: “For chess, it is very important that players like Hikaru are in the Candidates. He is very popular, famous online and in the chess world in general.” It seems Hikaru Nakamura doesn’t spend any day without chess! He won the Titled Tuesday tournament yesterday on his free day and was in a hurry to get back to his hotel to participate in the Arena Kings after today’s round. Wesley So and Amin Tabatabaei went for a very complicated line in the Queen’s Gambit Declined. After blitzing out 18 moves, Wesley So spent lots of time figuring out the right plan. The line was new for him, and he was not really happy with what he got out of the opening. Both players came to the conclusion that Amin should have placed the knight on c4 right away no matter what, but the Iranian player hesitated and played Rf7 instead. After trading the knights on a4, Black was left with a passive knight on f6 versus White’s strong bishop. After losing the b7 pawn, Black found himself in a tough, most likely lost position, but Wesley wisely took his time making the precise moves and not giving his opponent any chances. Remembering the miraculous escape of Amin in the game against Yu Yangyi, the American made sure no perpetual checks would be on the board today. Amin Tabatabaei: “It’s great to play against such strong opponents. I am getting more and more experienced. If somebody can punish me in these positions, it’s top players like Wesley. I am a bit disappointed how the game went, but I need these losses to be a better player.” The semifinals continue on March 31 with the pairings as follows: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov – Hikaru NakamuraAmin Tabatabaei – Wesley So 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 Podcast: A new episode featuring Hou Yifan released
The third 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 podcast’s monthly episodes feature a series of interviews with remarkable women in the chess world. The guest of Episode 3 is Hou Yifan, Chinese chess grandmaster, four-time Women’s World Chess Champion and the second highest-rated female player of all time. In the interview, she talks about her major chess achievements, her current work as a professor at Shenzhen University, the changes in the women’s world championship cycle, ways to improve women’s chess and many other things. Although Hou would have risen higher if she’d made chess her singular focus, she confesses that her life is not only about chess. “I agree that if I put more effort into chess, I would be stronger. Maybe one day I would break 2700, or even I could be top 50 or top even 40, 30. I don’t think that’s impossible, to be honest. But for me, I thought life shouldn’t be like that. Otherwise, it would be like a machine. A chess machine.” Hou Yifan says in her interview. In 2010, Hou Yifan won the Women’s World Championship in Hatay, Turkey, at age 16. Later she won three championships in 2011, 2013 and 2016. In 2017 she declined to defend her title. “I think I made this decision because I felt like there should be some improvements in the women’s world chess championship system. Back then, the systems of open section and women’s section were completely different. That was something that could be improved. My first and straightforward concern was why we couldn’t have the same system as the open section? I felt like that was more reasonable. Because once you win a match, you have the right to wait for the challenger, and the challenger should be qualified from the Candidates event,” she explains. “I felt like it’s probably a moment when I should do something not only for myself but also for the entire women’s chess. I was thinking, if I did not stand up to say something, maybe the system would just be like that, and if I say something, it could bring more attention to improving the system. And very soon, like in two years, the system was changed. Talking about this, I would like to thank the current management board of FIDE, who took this issue as a clear priority to improve the women’s system in general. I feel very happy that it could happen one day, and I actually helped this happen.” FIDE declared 2022 as the Year of the Woman in Chess. According to Hou Yifan, this is a great opportunity to improve women’s chess and encourage more girls and women to start playing the game. “I think FIDE already did a lot to improve women’s chess. For example, on a professional level they changed the format of the women’s world chess championship system. In the intermediate level they also try to create some projects to encourage more girls to participate in chess. And also I am very happy to see that we are going to have this Year of the Woman in Chess. It is really a great milestone in chess history for female players. I believe that this is a starting point, and there are a lot more things that we could do for women’s chess in the future. We could collaborate with other institutions bringing more resources to pay attention to women’s chess and to see how to launch more interesting projects, how to encourage more women to get involved into the chess world.” You can listen to the third episode of the FIDE podcast on the following platforms: Podbean Spotify Google Podcasts
FIDE Grand Prix Series: Nakamura and Rapport qualify for Candidates 2022
Hikaru Nakamura and Richard Rapport are officially in the Candidates 2022. Richard Rapport scored 20 Grand Prix points (7 points in the first leg for reaching semis + 13 points in the second for winning the event), while Hikaru has secured at least the same number (13 points in the first leg for winning the event + at least 7 points in the third leg for advancing into semis). No other player has even a theoretical chance to catch up with them in the FIDE Grand Prix standings. In the last and decisive round of the pool stage of the FIDE Grand Prix organized by World Chess, Hikaru Nakamura defeated Andrey Esipenko and became the winner of Pool A. He proceeds directly to the semi-final of the Berlin Grand Prix and will wait for his opponent from Pool B. Levon Aronian was the only player who could join Hikaru on tie-breaks, but he lost the game against Grigoriy Oparin. Only after the encounter between Leinier Dominguez and Vincent Keymer ended, it became clear that Hikaru and Rapport had secured their spots in the Candidates. By eliminating Dominguez, Keymer killed all theoretical chances to catch Hikaru and Richard in the Grand Prix. The local hero proceeds to the tie-break in Pool B and will be playing against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who quickly drew with Daniil Dubov. Both players have the same number of points. Sam Shankland and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave ended their deep theoretical discussion in a draw by perpetual check quite quickly, while Wesley So and Alexandr Predke signed a peace a few minutes later. These results set Wesley So up for a play-off for first place in pool C against Sam Shankland. Pool A Grigoriy Oparin came well-prepared today and managed to get a complicated position out of the opening against Levon Aronian. He chose a relatively rare line with 11.Bf4 and was feeling it was easier to play this position for White. The American GM was unhappy with the way he played today and noted it was a one-move blunder in the game. He completely missed White’s 20.Ba5, which was a hard blow for Black as his position just fell apart a few moves after. Andrey Esipenko chose to play the Bishop opening and found an interesting way to complicate the position. He created some threats on the kingside, and his position looked quite promising. Esipenko was sure he had some winning chances, but it was unclear where he could have improved his play. It turned out Hikaru didn’t feel the danger at first. “I didn’t feel it was getting dangerous until there were f4, g4 and Nf5 on the board. The great thing about the position is that no matter whether I’m lost, or I’m completely fine, I had only 1 or 2 choices on every move, and I just had to find a good move,” said Hikaru after the game. He thought that 27…f5, and 29…Nh5 were critical moves and he felt after that point the position should be a bit worse for Black. Esipenko was still hoping to win the game at the moment when it was his last chance to make a draw. On the move 35, he could have traded the rooks and transferred the game into the drawish ending. Instead, he chose a more ambitious plan that backfired immediately, as Hikaru consolidated his forces and scored a victory. Pool B Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Daniil Dubov drew in 13 moves after a three-fold repetition. Shakhriyar was not happy with his position out of the opening and decided to sign a peace and await the result of the Keymer-Dominguez game to learn whether he gets to play tiebreaks tomorrow. The local hero Vincent Keymer pleased his fans with one more victory in the tournament. He got a comfortable position with White out of the opening against Leiner Dominguez and managed to regroup his forces, creating unpleasant pressure on the kingside. After a couple of inaccurate moves by Leinier his position became dangerous, and the American decided to go for a forced line which resulted in the lost ending. Vincent was very happy after his victory and that he managed to squeeze into the tiebreak tomorrow. Pool C Maxime Vachier-Lagrave knew the entire line from the game until the end and spent just a few minutes, while his opponent Sam Shankland was struggling to find the best moves and not to lose “the most embarrassing game of his life”, as he put it in a post-game interview. He got clearly caught in the Grunfeld Defence, which is the main weapon of MVL and thought he would lose this game with Maxim not making even one move on his own. “Ï was just lucky that the most obvious moves of White were the good ones; otherwise, I thought I could lose immediately,” explained Sam in a post-game interview. After the game Maxime Vachier-Lagrave spoke about his participation in the FIDE Grand Prix series organized by World Chess: “The result is bad and of course, it is more painful because I’ve been putting all my focus on this Grand Prix for the past few months. Some things were working out, but some were definitely not clicking in terms of my play.” After the game, Maxim and Sam were discussing the possible scenarios for the second game from Pool C So – Predke. Had Alexandr won the game, Sam could have qualified for the semifinals immediately. “If Predke can be my hero, that would be great. If he wins today, I will buy him dinner, drinks, whatever he wants!” said Sam with a smile. However, So and Alexandr Predke finished their game in a draw. Alexandr Predke played creatively in the opening and sacrificed one more pawn in the tournament by playing 14…Nbd7. Wesley So was happy with his position as he had a bishop pair and a good knight on d5. The American was putting constant pressure on his opponent, but Alexandr defended precisely and managed to hold his position. “I underestimated his idea of Qa2 and Qa3, which was strong. My opponent just played very well today”, said Wesley
FIDE World Cup & Women’s World Cup 2023 – Call for bids
1.1 The International Chess Federation (FIDE) will hold the World Cup & Women’s World Cup in the second half of 2023 (see the Tournaments Regulations: World Cup 2023, Women’s World Cup 2023). 1.2 FIDE is opening a bidding procedure to invite any federation member of FIDE or any organiser approved by the national federation to host the event. The federation’s letter of support may be provided later when the bid’s evaluation procedure is launched. 1.3 The prize fund of the World Cup shall be a minimum of one million eight hundred thirty-four thousand (1,834,000) USD net of any applicable local taxes. The prize fund of the Women’s World Cup shall be a minimum of six hundred seventy-six thousand two hundred fifty (676,250) USD net of any applicable local taxes. Contribution to the FIDE Development Fund from each event shall be a minimum 20% of the respective prize fund.The bid may contain special proposals on financial and commercial conditions. The FIDE Council shall decide whether these conditions are admissible. 1.4 The Bidding Form shall be filled in by an Applicant. A signed copy shall be submitted as e-mail messages to the FIDE Secretariat to office@fide.com by 20 October 2022, 23:59 Lausanne time (FIDE has a right to extend this deadline). All the documents shall be submitted in English. Additional documents may be requested by the FIDE General Strategy Commission (GSC) for further evaluation. 1.5 Bid Evaluation Report shall be presented by GSC for an approval of FIDE Council. 1.6 Once the Organiser is granted the right to organise the event, a relevant announcement shall be made on the FIDE website. FIDE Technical Delegate (FIDE TD) may be appointed at the same time to supervise the event on behalf of FIDE in consultation with GSC.