Tata Steel Masters: Vidit shoots ahead
Vidit Gujrathi prevailed over Daniil Dubov in a wild game to grab a sole lead in Tata Steel Masters. Andrey Esipenko, Jorden Van Foreest and Richard Rapport also scored victories and now sit on 2/3 together with Magnus Carlsen and Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who drew their game. True to his creative style Daniil Dubov introduced a novelty in the Italian Opening against Vidit Gujrathi as early as on the move 8. The Indian GM took the seemingly risky approach, first trading his dark-squared bishop and then accepting a central pawn sacrifice. As a result, he fell behind in development, whereas Black’s king got stuck in the centre. Still, Vidt managed to maintain balance finding all the right answers in a critical situation. Daniil pushed hard and sacrificed an exchange, but surprisingly it did not change the evaluation of position as roughly equal. Indeed, the white queen was chasing down the black king, but there were no decisive threats in sight. A real drama happened on move 32 – after a series of checks, the Russian GM decided to protect his rook with 32.f3, which turned to be a fatal mistake. Most likely, Dubov missed that his rook was taboo due to checkmate in three. Vidit immediately traded the rooks, escaped with his king and quickly converted the material advantage. Richard Rapport instructively outplayed Nils Grandelius on the black side of the Sicilian Defense and finished off his opponent with a textbook combination. Nils Grandelius – Richard Rapport 29…Rh1! An excellent illustration of the deflection motif! White resigned after 30.Rg1 Rxg1 31.Qxg1 Qc3 with imminent checkmate on b2 0-1 In the Russian derby, Esipenko – Karjakin, Black was patiently defending a slightly worse position but all of a sudden left his bishop en prise. Sergey got a couple of passers in return, but Andrey found the correct way to retain his bishop, rearranged his pieces and promptly neutralized all the opponent’s threats to score a full point. Jorden Van Foreest surprised Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa with a rare line 3.Bc4, which is mostly seen in the games by low-rated players. The Dutchman offered a pawn sacrifice and obtained positional compensation that became more than sufficient when his Indian opponent opted to trade the light-squared bishop at the cost of doubling his pawns along the e-file. Although Jorden put serious pressure on Black’s weaknesses, Praggnanandhaa held his own up to some point but eventually decided to return a pawn for some activity. Unfortunately, this activity quickly petered out while Black’s weak pawns fell. The game transposed into a rook endgame in which White’s queenside pawns were unstoppable. Jan-Krzysztof Duda followed the footsteps of Ian Nepomniachtchi in the Anti-Marshall against Magnus Carlsen and got a slight edge. The World Champion had to demonstrate resilience and accuracy to reach a draw in an endgame. Anish Giri won a theoretical duel and a pawn in Anti-Meran against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, but maybe Black’s position was not as bad as it looked as the opponents split the point on the move 21. Fabiano Caruana desperately tried to extract water from the Berlin endgame stone as White against Sam Shankland, but all his attempts were thwarted by the opponent’s precise play. Standings after Round 3: 1. Vidit Gujrathi – 2½; 2-6. Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Magnus Calsen, Richard Rapport, Andrey Esipenko and Jorden Van Foreest – 2; 7-8. Fabiano Caruana, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov – 1½; 9-13. Sam Shankland, Sergey Karjakin, Daniil Dubov, Anish Giri, Praggnanandhaa R. – 1; Nils Grandelius – ½. Official website: tatasteelchess.com/ Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit and Lennart Ootes – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022
TRG announces Trainer Professional Education & Development Workshops
The FIDE Trainers Commission (TRG) is pleased to announce the first of a series of Trainer Professional Education & Development Workshops to be organised quarterly with credits to be awarded towards title awards in seminars. Each 6-hour workshop will be held on a designated Saturday, usually from 10 a.m to 12 p.m, then from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and finally from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. In our better teaching series, FIDE Senior Trainer and Grandmaster Artur Jussupow will present “How to Teaches Pawn Endings” on March 26, followed by “How to Teach Calculation” on May 14, then “How to Teach Rook Endings on October 24 and finally “How to Teach Positional Play” on December 10. The fee for each workshop is 80 Euros for the public, 50 Euros for licensed trainers. Recognising that 2022 is FIDE’s The Year of the Woman in Chess, there will be no fee charged for female participants nominated or endorsed by the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess. A series of seminars on “Use of Technology in Chess” will also be organised by TRG, the first one with Chessable, on February 26, which will be free for all licensed trainers. Full details will be available at the TRG website: www.trainers.fide.com
New set of FIDE regulations came into force
A new set of regulations covering FIDE titles, rapid and blitz games and ratings became effective as of January 1, 2022. Worked out by FIDE Qualification Commission (QC), the new regulations came out after a lengthy period of consultation with other Commissions, federations, individual players, and chess supporters worldwide. Two important meetings, one limited to the QC members and another open to all, took place in 2020. The most significant point of interest was the minimum time controls for games to be rated by FIDE. After many different views were expressed, the QC put together a detailed questionnaire, again open to all (but not anonymously). There was then another worldwide Zoom meeting where final decisions were taken. As a result, 3-hour games (90+90) will be accepted provided that both players are rated below 2400, an increase from 2200. Hopefully, it will help the organisers of tournaments with shorter time controls to submit their events for FIDE rating. FIDE Title Regulations effective from January 1, 2022 Changes made to FIDE Title Regulations (effective from 1 January 2022) (Word document) FIDE Rating Regulations effective from January 1, 2022 Changes made to FIDE Rating Regulations (effective from 1 January 2022) (Word document) FIDE Rapid & Blitz Regulations effective from January 1, 2022 Changes made to FIDE Rapid and Blitz Rating Regulations (effective from 1 January 2022) (Word document) It should be noted that these regulations are intended for the long term. Chess is now returning to normal after almost two years of lockdowns and quarantine, but the damage to the rating system caused by this gap in results is yet to be assessed. Possibly, some short term adjustments will be required. If so, the chess community will be kept informed, although the consultations might not be as lengthy.
Tata Steel Masters: Magnus Carlsen join leaders
Magnus Carlsen scored his first victory at Tata Steel Masters 2022, defeating Anish Giri in Round 2 and joined Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Vidit Gujrathi at the top of the standings. The only other winner of the day is Richard Rapport who took full advantage of Jorden Van Foreest’s mistake in a knight endgame. All other games were drawn. Magnus Carlsen reaped the fruits of his preparation for the title match against Ian Nepomniachtchi. The World Champion played the Catalan with a pawn sacrifice on c4, and by move 12, the opponents stepped into uncharted territory. Five moves down the road, Anish allowed an interesting exchange sacrifice which gave White sufficient compensation but no visible advantage. However, Anish almost immediately made severe miscalculation and White’s pieces pounced on the Black’s king. Giri managed to trade queens, but Magnus’s passed c-pawn became a knockout punch. Jorden Van Foreest maintained the balance for most of the game against Richard Rapport but a terrible mistake 35…Nd7? in a pawn ending cost him dearly. White emerged with two extra pawns, and the rest was a smooth sail for the Hungarian. In the games, Vidit – Caruana and Karjakin – Dubov players made just a few their own moves. Both encounters followed long theoretical lines known for drawish tendencies. No surprise, both pairs split points. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov opted for a rare and very aggressive line 3.g4!? (after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6) against Andrey Esipenko and quickly got a fresh position. The young Russian played very sensibly, arranging his pieces in the centre but spent a lot of time. Nevertheless, after the queens left the board, the opponents somewhat surprisingly decided to bury the hatchet. Sam Shankland and Nils Grandelius also agreed to a draw after White built a fortress with a rook and a knight against the queen, but it was American who had a fair chance to pull out his first victory. Unfortunately, Sam did not find 32.Rh1!, forcing Black to part with a pawn with no compensation. Later on, Shankland missed an interesting option Rd7 on moves 35 and 36 and let the opponent trade his most active pieces. Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Jan-Krzysztof Duda played a very solid game in which White had a slight advantage that was virtually impossible to turn it into something tangible. A draw came as a logical outcome. Standings after Round 2: 1-3. Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Magnus Calsen and Vidit Gujrathi – 1½ ; 4-11. Fabiano Caruana, Richard Rapport, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Sergey Karjakin, Andrey Esipenko, Praggnanandhaa R. and Jorden Van Foreest – 1; 12-14, Sam Shankland, Nils Grandelius, Anish Giri – ½ Official website: tatasteelchess.com/ Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit and Lennart Ootes – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022
Brahami and Nassr win 2021 Africa Junior Championship
FM Lamine Brahami and WIM Lina Nassr, both of Algeria, are the proud winners of the 2021 Africa Junior Chess Championship. The event held in the Liberian capital of Monrovia from December 29, 2021 to January 4, 2022 saw FM Brahami Lamine score 8 points out of 9 rounds to take his maiden African title. WIM Lina Nassr won the Ladies section by a perfect score 9/9 to grab her second title. She won her first Africa Junior title in the 2017 edition held in Lome, Togo. Both tournaments were officiated by Nesla Adnane of Algeria (Chief Arbiter) and Mario Kpan of Ivory Coast, who provided photos for this article. Open Section The Open Section had a total of 18 players from 8 federations. Liberia, as the host nation, fielded eight players. Other federations included Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Mauritania, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Uganda. The race for the top spot between Lamine Brahami and Callistus Denyefa Eyetonghan (pictured below) culminated in the final round. Both had 7 points, and each had a chance of claiming the title. Brahami Lamine beat David Lery Debblay of Liberia and won the gold medal as his main competitor lost to one of the top Egyptian junior players, David George. Still, with 7 points, Callistus tied for second place with Mohamed Abderrahim Taleb of Mauritania and took silver thanks to the victory in the direct encounter. Lamine Brahami qualified for the 2022 World Junior Chess Championship. Final standings: 1 Brahami, Lamine ALG 2212 8 2 Eyetonghan, Denyefa Callistus NGR 2005 7 3 Mohamed, Abderrahim Taleb MTN 1923 7 4 George, Samir David EGY 2063 6 5 Noumbo, Vidal CMR 1756 6 Ladies Section WIM Lina Nassr took the title after winning all her games, while her younger sister WCM Manel Nassr netted 8 points to earn the silver medal. WFM Naledi Marape came in third with 7/9. The champion punched her ticket to the 2022 World Junior Chess Championship. Final standings: 1 WIM Nassr, Lina ALG 9 2 WCM Nassr, Manel ALG 8 3 WFM Marape Naledi BOT 7 4 Abigail, Karyah LBR 6 5 Meleh, N. Davis LBR 5 Text and photo: Kenya Chess Masala
Tata Steel Masters: Duda, Vidit and Van Foreest take the lead
After the rating favourites Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri drew their games, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Vidit Gujrathi and Jorden van Foreest jumped on the opportunity to grab the lead in the tournament. The World Champion made a comfortable draw against Andrey Esipenko with black pieces on the move 21. Probably after last year defeat at the hands of the Russian youngster, Magnus opted not to take chances in a roughly equal position. Fabiano Caruana got the upper hand against Sergey Karjakin but missed a couple of good attacking opportunities (21.f4 and 30.bx5) and allowed his opponent to escape with a draw. Praggnanandhaa R. passed the test facing Anish Giri in a rare line of the English Opening with Black. Anish took control over the centre and made a promising pawn sacrifice to grab the initiative, but the Indian youngster cold-bloodily neutralized White’s threats and reached a safe haven. Daniil Dubov sacrificed c4-pawn in his trademarked g3-line against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov but found himself in dire straits after a series of precise Black’s moves. Luckily for him, the Azerbaijani GM did not demonstrate accuracy in a won position and got the Russian off the hook. Jan-Krzysztof Duda took control over the d-file in the game with Richard Rapport, but it would not have been enough had the Hungarian taken an active defensive line. As played, the Polish GM gradually crushed his opponent in an endgame. Vidit Gujrathi took a great start after grinding down Sam Shankland in a slightly better endgame. It seems that 33…f6 was a decisive mistake that ruined the day for Black. Jorden van Foreest also started with a victory over Nils Grandelius, just like in 2021. In the game riddled with mutual inaccuracies, White eventually advanced queenside pawns and scored a full point. Standings after Round 1: 1-3 Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Vidit Gujrathi, Jorden Van Foreest – 1; 4-11 Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Sergey Karjakin, Andrey Esipenko, Praggnanandhaa R. – 1/2; 12-14 Richard Rapport, Sam Shankland, Nils Grandelius – 0 Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit and Lennart Ootes – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022
FIDE – ISF World School Online Chess Cup: Registration begins
The FIDE – ISF World School Championship Online Chess Cup 2022, organised by FIDE and the International School Sport Federation (ISF), aims to motivate young students and teachers to be active and participate in the online chess competition. Following the success of the first-ever ISF World Schools Championship Online Chess Cup held in October 2020 that brought together boys and girls from 37 countries and five continents, the event invites students and teachers from FIDE and ISF member countries as well as students from all over the world to take part. The tournament will be held on Tornelo online platform in boys and girls U15 and U18 age categories and in men and women teachers in March of 2022. The qualification tournaments for students are scheduled for March 12 and 13, while the finals will take place on March 19 and 20. The teachers’ event will be held on March 26 (qualification tournaments) and March 27 (finals). The tournament registration will begin on January 19 and be open until March 05, 2022 (for students) and March 12, 2022 (for teachers) on the ISF website. The participation fee is 30€ per participant. The winners in each category will get a ticket to the World Chess Olympiad 2022 in Moscow with free accommodation for two nights in the official hotel of the Olympiad. All the medalists will also be awarded free participation at the lessons with top grandmasters. The top-5 ranked players in each age and gender category will receive the ISF – FIDE ranking certificate, while all the remaining finalists will get participation certificates. The Regulations for the FIDE – ISF World School Championship Online Chess Cup 2022 can be found here. About International School Sport Federation (ISF) Based in Belgium, International School Sport Federation (ISF) has been organising international competitions to encourage education through sport and student-athletes since its foundation in 1972. ISF was recognised by the IOC in 1995, and it currently has 113 members which compete in 45 different sport disciplines. Many of these sports have their own World Schools Championships every two years, while some others are part of the bi-annual Gymnasiade. In September 2021, FIDE and ISF signed the memorandum of understanding on ensuring the development and promotion of chess through school sport. The document signed within the framework of the School Sport Forum held in Serbia encourages and supports the education of youth through chess sport and culture, contributes to the social and intellectual development of youngsters, and promotes chess sport and chess in education on a local and international level.
Manifesto: The Year of the Woman in Chess
The Commission for Women’s Chess is truly grateful to the FIDE President Mr Arkady Dvorkovich, the FIDE Council and the Management for their decision to have declared 2022 the Year of the Woman in Chess. This is our chance to take a leap forward in our mission of forming gender equity policies, practices and programs. In recent years, we have achieved a number of long-lasting strategic goals, from encouraging women to actively participate in all aspects of chess life by offering them free educational seminars to implementing gender quotas for various official positions and assignments. While our colleagues have worked tirelessly to provide better conditions for top female players and to greatly increase the prize funds, our commission has focused on connecting, inspiring and educating female players of all backgrounds from around the world. Last year we organised The Queens’ Festival 2021, a series of continental and global tournaments with over 460 participants from 82 countries. Many thousands more followed the side events featuring female role model guests and presenters on FIDE social media. Creating a strong women chess community is very important for us to continue pursuing our goals and representing the interests of women in chess. To follow in this spirit, throughout this Year of Woman in Chess, we are planning the following events and collaborations to make this an epic year for women: To establish a yearly award for women in various categories. To increase communication with national federations on the importance of nominating an “Ambassador for Women” in their country and encouraging them to organise support programs for women and girls. To organise “Global Exchange Forums” to share ideas that will improve the environment for women in chess. To create the “Queens Pavilion” during the Chess Olympiad 2022 in Moscow. To strengthen the collaboration with other FIDE commissions to support women’s participation in all aspects of chess life, even more intensely for this special year. The “Queens Festival” was very successfully organised for the first time in 2021. The plan for 2022 is to expand it with various exciting side events and more countries participating. Inspirational female role models will be featured weekly through the different FIDE channels: social media, a relaunched newsletter, and a newly created podcast. There are also other plans for the Year of the Woman in Chess which we will announce throughout the year on FIDE media: you can subscribe to receive the news directly in your email. We would also like to hear and promote your initiatives and ideas. Please, email us your stories, suggestions and pictures to women@fide.com, and share your initiatives online using the hashtag #womeninchess. With your help and support, we can make this an outstanding and game-changer year! Eva RepkovaChair of FIDE Women’s Commission
Tata Steel Chess 2022 gets underway in Wijk aan Zee
The Tata Steel Chess festival in Wijk aan Zee traditionally opens the season for elite players, and the 84th edition is no different. As usual, the 14-player round-robin Masters tournament running from January 14-30 (with three rest days on January 19, 24 and 27), is a nearly perfect mix of top GMs and talented and aspiring youngsters: # Name Rating Fed World rank 1 Magnus Carlsen 2865 NOR 1 2 Fabiano Caruana 2792 USA 4 3 Anish Giri 2772 NED 7 5 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2767 AZE 9 4 Richard Rapport 2763 HUN 11 6 Jan-Krzysztof Duda 2760 POL 13 7 Sergey Karjakin 2743 RUS 18 8 Vidit Gujrathi 2720 IND 24 9 Daniil Dubov 2714 RUS 27 10 Andrey Esipenko 2714 RUS 26 11 Sam Shankland 2708 USA 29 12 Jorden van Foreest 2702 NED 35 13 Nils Grandelius 2672 SWE 67 14 Praggnanandhaa R. 2612 IND 195 The action starts on January 15, after the opening ceremony and drawing of lots taking place the day before. All eyes are on Magnus Carlsen, who will embark on the quest for his 8th title in Wijk aan Zee. Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament The World Champion is facing a challenging task: 2020 winner Fabiano Caruana, the local heroes Anish Giri and Jorden van Foreest (who tied for first place last year), seasoned and always dangerous grandmasters Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Sergey Karjakin, ambitious GMs on an ascending trajectory such as Richard Rapport, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Daniil Dubov and Andrey Esipenko are eager to put up some serious fight. 16-year-old Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, who is making his debut in Tata Steel, also can throw a curveball. Photo: Niki Riga The Tata Steel Tournament organizers introduced a new tiebreak format this year. If the top two or more players score the same number of points, a tiebreak to determine the tournament winner will be played. All players with this highest score will participate in the tiebreak blitz games. Irrespective of the outcome, the prize money will be divided equally among all the players in the tiebreak. The organizers provided for every possible playoff scenario (i.e. for two, three, four and 5+ players). Check out complete tiebreak regulations for Tata Steel 2022 here. After a one-year hiatus, the Challengers tournament returns to Tata Steel Chess. The event will take place concurrently with the Masters and also bring together rising stars and established grandmasters: # Name Fed Rating 1 Rinat Jumabayev KAZ 2631 2 Arjun Erigaisi IND 2629 3 Surya Ganguly IND 2627 5 Erwin l’Ami NED 2622 4 Thai Dai Van Nguyen CZE 2609 6 Max Warmerdam NED 2599 7 Jonas Buhl Bjerre DEN 2586 8 Daniel Dardha BEL 2533 9 Lucas van Foreest NED 2530 10 Volodar Murzin RUS 2519 11 Polina Schuvalova RUS 2516 12 Marc Andria Maurizzi FRA 2496 13 Zhu Jiner CHN 2478 14 Roven Vogel GER 2452 The main question is who will qualify for the next-year Tata Steel Masters. It looks like at least 4-5 players have a fair chance to accomplish this task. It will also be very interesting to see two female players, Polina Shuvalova and Zhu Jiner, perform in such a strong tournament. Official website: tatasteelchess.com/
Hossain and Jannatul Ferdous win Bangladesh Championship
GM Enamul Hossain came as a winner of the Bangladeshi Championship, taking the fifth national title in his career. The Golden Jubilee of Independence, the 47th National Premier Chess Championship organized by Bangladesh Chess Federation and sponsored by Shah Cement, took place at Crown Hall of Hotel Asia Resorts from December 27, 2021, to January 10, 2022. The 14-player round-robin brought together five invited national GMs (all five accepted the invitation) and nine qualifiers from the National B Championship. The event was a very close race among three multiple national champions – Enamul Hossain, Ziaur Rahman (pictured below) and Niaz Murshed – taking turns on the top. The champion became the only unbeaten player, which eventually tipped the balance in his favour – Enamul came in the clear first with an excellent result 10/13. Ziaur Rahman was in contention for gold for the most part, but the defeat at the hands of Niaz Murshed in Round 12 shattered his hopes for the sixteenth national title as he finished a half-point behind the champion. Murshed claimed bronze. Final standings: 1 GM Hossain, Enamul 2398 10 2 GM Rahman, Ziaur 2413 9½ 3 GM Murshed, Niaz 2419 9 4 FM Mehdi, Hasan Parag 2230 7½ 5 IM Mohammad, Minhaz Uddin 2259 7 CM Zia, Tahsin Tajwar 2232 7 7 GM Reefat, Bin-Sattar 2394 6½ GM Mollah, Abdullah Al Rakib 2459 6½ 9 CM Md. Sharif Hossain 2211 6 10 FM Subrota, Biswas 2199 5½ 11 FM Chatterjee, Debaraj 2204 5 12 CM Nayem, Haque 2091 4½ 13 CM Manon, Reja Neer 1989 4 14 FM Islam, Khandaker Aminul 2155 3 WCM Jannatul Ferdous (pictured above) clinched the title in the 40th National Women’s Chess Championship. The 11-round Swiss tournament attracted 93 female players from all over the country. The champion completed the tournament undefeated and tied for first place with three players (all four scored 8½/11). The tiebreaks favoured Jannatul, who claimed gold; WCM Ahmed Walijah took silver; WIM Sharmin Sultana Shirin got bronze. Photo: Bangladesh Chess Federation Facebook