Hikaru Nakamura is granted wild card to FIDE Grand Prix
Hikaru Nakamura has been selected as the Presidential nominee to be one of the 24 participants in the FIDE Grand Prix, organized by World Chess. The series will take place in February — April of 2022 and will consist of three tournaments: two in Berlin and one in Belgrade. Not having played any official rated game since December 2019, Hikaru failed to qualify for the current world championship cycle. “Travel restrictions affecting US player, and his activity as one of the most popular streamers in the world, prevented him from taking part in key events. Nevertheless, he remains very active in online tournaments, where he consistently shows he is in top shape and among the best in the world”, explains the FIDE President, Arkady Dvorkovich. “Very strong and experienced, and popular among the fans, I believe he deserves a chance to fight. The chess community will be delighted to see him sitting at the chess board again”. Prior to the Grand Prix, Hikaru will also take part in the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship in Warsaw, breaking a two-year-long impasse without playing over the board competitions. Having recently turned 34 years old, Hikaru is currently ranked #21 in the world, with a rating of 2736. That would make him the 10th top seed in the Grand Prix series 2022, behind Ding Liren, Levon Aronian, Anish Giri, Wesley So, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Alexander Grischuk, Richard Rapport, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Lenier Dominguez. The field of 24 participants with be completed once the organizer World Chess announces its nominee – which is expected to happen in the next hours. Each participant will play in two out of three of the tournaments (Berlin, Belgrade and Berlin). Each event will consist of a group stage with 16 players, followed by a knock-out semifinal among the top-four players. Players receive Grand Prix points according to their finishing position in each tournament. The two players with the most Grand Prix points across the Series play to qualify for the Candidates Tournament 2022. About the FIDE Grand Prix FIDE Grand Prix organized by World Chess is a 3-event series that features 24 players, each of whom will compete in two out of three tournaments. Two winners of the Grand Prix Series will qualify for the Candidates Tournament. The series will take place in Berlin, Germany and Belgrade, Serbia. The prize fund for each event is EUR 150,000, which is a EUR 20,000 increase from 2019. The FIDE Grand Prix Series 2022 is supported by Algorand as the Official Blockchain Partner, Kaspersky as the Official Cybersecurity Partner, and FIDE Online Arena as the official gaming platform.
European Rapid and Blitz Championships: Duda and Motylev win titles
The European Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships 2021 finished on Sunday, December 19 in Katowice, Poland, after three days of play. After 11 double rounds in the Swiss blitz tournament, Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland) came out on top with 18 points. It was not an easy walk for the rating favourite as his compatriot Maciej Klekowski was hard on his heels throughout and scored 17½ points to take silver. Eight players tied for the third place netting 16½ points each. The tiebreaks favoured the European Champion Anton Demchenko, who claimed bronze. The total prize fund of the event was €11,000, with €2,000 allocated to the champion. In addition to the regular prizes for the best ranked 20 players, the best juniors, seniors, women, and best players of different rating categories were also awarded. Final standings blitz: 1 GM Duda, Jan-Krzysztof 2792 POL 18 2 GM Klekowski, Maciej 2444 POL 17½ 3 GM Demchenko, Anton 2531 RUS 16½ 4 IM Schneider, Ilja 2524 GER 16½ 5 GM Tazbir, Marcin 2518 POL 16½ 6 IM Teclaf, Pawel 2431 POL 16½ 7 GM Bernadskiy, Vitaliy 2500 UKR 16½ 8 IM Keinanen, Toivo 2358 FIN 16½ 9 GM Dragnev, Valentin 2396 AUT 16½ 10 GM Balog, Imre 2678 HUN 16½ The complete results can be found here. Three GMs, Alexander Motylev (Russia), Alexander Donchenko (Germany) and Paulius Pultinevicius (Lithuania) tied for the first place in the European Rapid Championship scoring 9½ points out of 11 each. The Buchholz criteria gave Motylev gold, with Donchenko and Pultinevicius claiming silver and bronze, respectively. Final standings rapid: 1 GM Motylev, Alexander 2703 RUS 9½ 2 GM Donchenko, Alexander 2535 GER 9½ 3 GM Pultinevicius, Paulius 2536 LTU 9½ 4 GM Krasenkow, Michal 2430 POL 9 5 IM Brodowski, Piotr 2414 POL 9 6 IM Janik, Igor 2462 POL 9 7 GM Bjerre, Jonas Buhl 2330 DEN 9 8 IM Keinanen, Toivo 2341 FIN 8½ 9 GM Balog, Imre 2629 HUN 8½ 10 GM Bernadskiy, Vitaliy 2616 UKR 8½ The complete results can be found here. The total prize fund of the event amounted €19,000, with $4,000 going to the 2021 European Rapid Chess Champion. Along with the regular prizes, the best juniors, seniors, women players and best ranked players of different rating categories were awarded. There was a three-way tie in the women’s category as well and again, Buchholz decided the winners: Alicja Sliwicka (Poland) first prize Klaudia Kulon (Poland) – second and Annika Froewis (Austria) – third. The closing ceremeony held on Sunday and was attended by ECU Vice President Adrian Mikhalchishin and FIDE Vice Presidents Lukasz Turlej and Anastasia Sorokina. Official website: katowice2021.eu/ Photo: Official website and Facebook page of the event
Tamir Nabaty wins Israeli Open Championship
The Israel Open Championship took place from December 8-16, 2021, in the old northern city of Tzfat (Safed) by the Israel chess federation, under the auspices of the local municipality and Mifal Hapais (the national lottery). 102 players, including 9 GMs and 9 IMs, competed in a 9-round Swiss tournament for the top honours as well as for the 8,000 NIS prize fund. Four members of the national team topped the starting rankings and entered the competition as the natural favourites: GMs Tamir Nabaty, Ilya Smirin (both former Israeli champions), Victor Mikhalevski (the current champion) and Evgeny Postny (former winner of the open championship). Ilya Smirin and Victor Mikhalevski had a good time at the opening ceremony Quite a few of the country’s best junior players were among the participants, too, led by IMs Or Bronstein, Yair Parkhov and Ido Gorshtein. Mayor Shuki (Joshua) Oçhana made the first ceremonial move on board one to signal the start of the first round. GM Tamir Nabaty, the highest-rated participant, emerged as the winner despite an early defeat at the hands of youngster Yeshaaiahu Tzidkiya in Round 3. After this slip-up, the rating-favourite kicked into top gear and finished on 7½ points, a half-point ahead of GM Evgeny Postny, Israel’s best female player IM Marsel Efroimsky (both undefeated) and 19-year-old IM Yair Parkhov. The champion won his most instructive game in Round 6, outsmarting Ido Gorshtein in a rook ending. Tamir Nabaty – Ido Gorshtein Ido made a natural but wrong choice 39…Ke8? defending his f7-pawn (in case of correct 39…Kc8! White is just slightly better). However, after 40. Rd6! Black can’t prevent the rook exchange and goes down in a pawn endgame despite an extra pawn: 40…Ra8 41. c7 Rc8 42. Rd8+ Rxd8 43. cxd8=B f5+ 44. Kh5 Kxd8 45. Kxh6 g4 46. Kg5 Ke7 47. e4 fxe4 48. Kxg4 e5 49. h4 Ke6 50. h5 Kf6 51. Kh3 1-0 GMs Ori Kobo, Victor Mikhalevski and Israel Caspi, IMs Ido Gorshtein and Or Bronstein and FM Yotam Shohat scored 6½ points each. FM Yeshaaiahu Tzidkiya became the best junior, finishing on 6 points. GM Avigdor Bykhovsky (pictured below) was declared best senior, while the best female prize was awarded to WCM Ronit Levitan – both netted 5½ points. A total of 28 players received money prizes in all categories. The event was smoothly run by director Olga Volkov (pictured below) and the team of experienced arbiters led by IA Alon Shulman. Shaul Weinstein, deputy chief arbiter, was in charge of the official website and the live broadcasting of the games. School championships and simultaneous exhibitions took place in the city during the tournament. Hopefully, another peripheral city has been captivated by our game to start a new chess community. Final standings: 1 GM Nabaty, Tamir 2639 7½ 2 GM Postny, Evgeny 2557 7 3 IM Efroimski, Marsel 2429 7 4 IM Parkhov, Yair 2434 7 5 GM Kobo, Ori 2513 6½ 6 GM Mikhalevski, Victor 2562 6½ 7 IM Gorshtein, Ido 2417 6½ 8 GM Caspi Israel 2499 6½ 9 IM Bronstein, Or 2484 6½ 10 FM Shohat, Yotam 2325 6½ The full results may be seen here. Text: Yochanan Afek Official website: chess.org.il/ Photo: Ritvo photography
Hungarian Championship: Peter Acs and Zsuzsanna Terbe clinch titles
Peter Acs and Zsuzsanna Terbe won the Hungarian Championship 2021, Géza Hetényi Memorial in the open in women’s sections. Both tournaments, round-robins with classical time control, took place in Budapest from December 7-17. The fourth-rated Peter Asc grabbed the lead in Round 2 but suffered a defeat in Round 4 at the hands of the rating favourite Ferenc Berkes and slid down to a 50% mark. To his credit, Peter braced up and scored an impressive 4½ in 5 games to finish clear first, a full point ahead of the runner-up Gergely Kantor. By clinching the first national title in his long career (Peter won silver with Hungary back in 2002), the native of Eger proved once again that there is life in chess after forty. Gergely Kántor lost two games but managed to overcompensate with four victories scoring a solid +2. In an interview before the event, the talented young GM pursuing his university studies humbly said that he would be satisfied with the bronze medal. As we can see, Gergely beat the target. Bence Copra became the only unbeaten player in this all-GM tournament, but eight draws and one win did not allow him to mount higher than third place. Final standings open: 1 GM Acs, Peter 2569 6,5 2 GM Kantor, Gergely 2575 5,5 3 GM Korpa, Bence 2520 5,0 4 GM Antal, Gergely 2561 4,5 5 GM Banusz, Tamas 2591 5,0 6 GM Prohaszka, Peter 2568 5,0 7 GM Berkes, Ferenc 2680 4,5 8 GM Aczel, Gergely 2553 4,0 9 GM Kozak, Adam 2526 3,5 10 GM Medvegy, Zoltan 2527 1,5 Zsuzsanna Terbe sprang a major surprise in the women’s event, winning her maiden national title. The lowest-rated player in the tournament, Zsuzsanna scored an amazing 5½/7 and picked 65(!) rating points. A multiple-champion Anita Gara chalked up a very solid +3 (5/7) but had to settle for silver this time. Zsoka Gaal and Bianka Havanecz tied for third place, with the former taking bronze thanks to better tiebreaks. Final standings women: 1 WFM Terbe, Zsuzsanna 2159 5½ 2 IM Gara, Anita 2359 5 3 WIM Gaal, Zsoka 2362 3½ 4 WIM Havanecz, Bianka 2229 3½ 5 WIM Terbe, Julianna 2294 3 6 WIM Mihok-Juhasz, Barbara 2275 3 7 WGM Lakos, Nikoletta 2211 1½ 8 IM Lazarne Vajda, Szidonia 2333 1 Official website: chess.hu/ Photo: Magyar Sakkszövetség
FIDE Online Cadets & Youth Rapid Super Final: Favourites Fall
The FIDE Online Cadets and Youth Rapid Super Final started on Tornelo today, December 18. Each of 10 separate sections (Open and Girls under 10, 12, 14, 16, 18) is a 6-player double round-robin. Every day of the championship, the participants play two games against the same opponent, changing colours. The rating difference is often not an explicit criterion to judge the strength of young and rapidly progressing players. The event won’t be an easy walk for the rating favourites, and some of them experience a bumpy road from the very first day. World’s top-rated (2276!) 10-year-old Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus from Turkey (pictured above) exchanged blows with his Round 1 opponent, Dau Khuong Duy from Vietnam. Both games were anything but dull: Dau sacrificed a piece in the first one, but the attack did not go his way. However, in the second game, his energetic style paid off and he stroke back, finishing the day on 1-1. In this section, the leaders after Day 1 are CM Ilan Schnaider Ilan from Argentina and AIM Ethan Vaz from India, who won both games. This summer, everyone learnt the name of Abhimanyu Mishra when this 12-year-old from New Jersey, USA, hit the headlines as the youngest person to become a grandmaster, beating Karjakin’s record by over two months. All eyes are on his development ever since, but he is off to a rocky start here. FM Ihor Samunenkov from Ukraine, the world’s #4 in this age group by rating, showed good endgame technique and defeated Mishra in the first game. The second game finished in a draw, placing Samunenkov on the second spot behind the early leader Ivan Zemlyanskii from Russia, who won both games. Ihor Samunenkov, photo: Федерація шахів Києва Both rating favourites in Girls U10, Kolagatla Alana Meenakshi from India and Megan Althea Paragua from the USA, the world’s top-rated players in this category, lost points on Day 1. In fact, Meenakshi’s opponent, Le Thai Hoang Anh from Vietnam, scored 1.5 points and occupied the first spot in the tournament table. Not an easy day for the initial favourites in most of the categories! From the clear favourites in the Girls section, only Alice Lee from the USA (Girls U12) won both games. Girls U14 rating leader Hungarian WIM Zsoka Gaal gave half a point to her opponent, and the top seeds U16, WIM Meruert Kamalidenova, and U18, WIM Govhar Beydullayeva, faced a sadder fate, dropping 1.5 and 1 point, respectively. The most solid players take part in the Open U16 tournament. Three out of six games ended in draws — compare that to two draws in all other Open section games combined. Only Aaryan Varshney from India won both games and took an early lead. There are also no clear favourites in Open U14 and U18, and the leaders after Day 1 emerge from the group of possible victors: IM Aldiyar Ansat from Kazakhstan (U14), FM Liyanage Ranindu Dilshan from Sri Lanka (U16) and FM Nikolaos Spyropoulos from Greece (U16) started with two wins. Here are all the leaders after Day 1. You can replay the live stream of the first day, with the commentary by GM Farrukh Amonatov, here. Tune in for Day 2 at 16:00 CET on December 19. You can find the results, regulations, and other information on the official website. * * * The FIDE Online Cadets & Youth Rapid Super Final is held with the support of Gazprom.
FIDE Online Cadets & Youth Rapid Super Final Kicks Off
The Cadets and Youth Rapid cycle enters its ultimate stage with the Super Final event starting on Tornelo on Saturday, December 18. In 2020, reacting to pandemic restrictions and the impossibility of holding the over-the-board events, FIDE and Georgian Chess Federation organized the inaugural edition of this tournaments’ cycle for young players. This year, we are witnessing its second edition and will hopefully celebrate many more in the coming years as a pleasant addition to over-the-board events. More than 3,000 participants from 160 federations took part in this year’s competition. The qualifying stage of the event included three tournaments, World Cup and two Grand Prix, all in five different age groups (under 10, 12, 14, 16, 18) and in two sections, open and girls. The best in each category—three players from the World Cup, two from the Grand Prix Series and one by rating—qualified for the 6-player round-robin Super Final. Despite the young age, some players are well-known to the chess audience. The youngest-ever grandmaster, Mishra Abhimanyu from the USA, is the favourite in the Open U12 category. The #1 seed in Open U10 is Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus from Turkey, the top-rated 10-year-old in the world. With 2276, he is more than 150 points ahead of #2 on the global list. Two top-seeded girls U10, Kolagatla Alana Meenakshi from India and Megan Althea Paragua from the USA, are the world’s top-rated players in this category. The same status applies to Alice Lee from the USA, Girls U12, and Hungarian WIM Zsoka Gaal, Girls U14. The all-play-all event will have two games per day, from December 18 to 22 (or 23, if tie-break is necessary), and during the closing ceremony on December 24, after the Fair Play checks, we will learn the names of the new world champions. Apart from gaining titles and bragging rights, the winners will split the prize fund of 30,000 euros. In his opening address, FIDE Vice President Akaki Iashvili wished the participants to showcase their skill on the chessboards and not forget about the FIDE Fair Play regulations. The whole event will be broadcast live on our YouTube channel, with the commentary by GM Farrukh Amonatov. Tune in every day at 16:00 CET. You can find the results, regulations, and other information on the official website. * * * The FIDE Online Cadets & Youth Rapid Super Final is held with the support of Gazprom.
Volokitin and Dolzhykova win Ukrainian Championship
Andrei Volokitin and Kateryna Dolzhykova are crowned champions of Ukraine. The 90th open and 81st women’s Ukrainian championships, 10-player round-robin tournaments, took place from December 8-17, 2021, in the Scientific Library of Yaroslav the Wise National Law University, Kharkiv. Following his strong performance in the European Team Championship, Volokitin completed the tournament undefeated and scored 6/9 to win his third national title. The resident of Lviv repeated his success of 2004 and 2015. The champion started with four draws, but in Round 5, he scored a crucial victory over his main competitor the top-rated Yuriy Kryvoruchko (pictured below) that gave him a great boost. Heading into the final round a half-point ahead of Alexander Moiseenko and Yuriy Kryvoruchko, Andrei did not leave it to chance and secured gold by defeating Yuri Kuzubov with black pieces. Krivoruchko also did his best in the final round beating Spartak Vysochin with black to claim silver. Moiseenko drew his last game and gave Kirill Shevchenko a chance to catch up. The talented youngster did not miss this opportunity as he ground down Volodimir Onischuk in a heavy piece endgame and clinched bronze thanks to better Sonneborn-Berger over Moiseenko. Final standings open: 1 GM Volokitin, Andrei 2677 6 2 GM Kryvoruchko, Yuriy 2685 5½ 3 GM Shevchenko, Kirill 2655 5 4 GM Moiseenko, Alexander 2597 5 5 GM Onyshchuk, Volodymyr 2620 4 6 GM Vysochin, Spartak 2505 4 7 GM Kuzubov, Yuriy 2652 4 8 GM Kravtsiv, Martyn 2604 4 9 GM Omelja, Artem 2509 4 10 IM Bakhmatsky, Vladislav 2432 3½ The eighth-rated Katerina Dolzhykova caused a minor sensation in the women’s event, earning her second national title. She previously won this event back in 2011. The champion demonstrated truly fighting chess, making only two draws in nine games. It really paid off as Kateryna scored 6 points out of 9 and came out on top despite two defeats. Olga Babiy and Olena Martynkova finished a half-point behind the champion, with the former taking silver as the winner of their direct encounter. Final standings women: 1 WIM Dolzhykova, Kateryna 2161 6 2 WGM Babiy, Olga 2259 5½ 3 WIM Martynkova, Olena 2180 5½ 4 FM Berdnyk, Mariia 2307 5 5 IM Gaponenko, Inna 2347 5 6 WGM Doluhanova, Evgeniya 2264 5 7 Tsirulnik, Maritsa 2054 4½ 8 WIM Rakhmangulova, Anastasiya 2174 4½ 9 WIM Petrova, Irina 2141 2 10 Lomakina, Anzhelika 2009 2 Official website: ukrchess.org.ua/ Photo: official website
FIDE Qualification Commission conducts survey
The Qualification Commission meeting on 14th December covered a number of topics about which we are seeking as wide an input as possible, so as to improve our regulations in future. The deadline to reply to this survey is 09:00 UTC on Wednesday, 22nd December. The link to the survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScHYeGmQPyoaTOcEs-g88H6Oyiq92JKPChdFEYrfVvKHGHleQ/viewform There will be a further open QC meeting discussing the survey results at 12:00 UTC on Wednesday, 22nd December. You can register for that meeting here: https://congress2021.fide.com/commissions/ Alex Holowczak,Qualification Commission Secretary
FIDE Vice-President Anastasia Sorokina pays working visit to France
FIDE Vice-president Anastasia Sorokina visited France in mid-December and had several working meetings with French chess officials, including one with the President of the French Chess Federation (Fédération Française des Echecs or FFE), Mr Eloi Relange. The parties discussed various social chess activities while the President of «Health Social Handicap» Commission of FFE, Mr Franck Droin, told about ambitious programs of the FFE. On December 15, a meeting with the Social Commission of the FFE was held in Paris at which Mrs Sorokina presented the INFINITE FIDE project. Commencing from January 2022, FIDE plans to launch Infinite pilot projects in France, Spain, Norway, South Africa and Gibraltar. Several meetings with partners of the “Santé Social Handicap” Commission were organized, including one with TelaDoc Health France, a world leader in telemedicine. The directors of its French subsidiary and the FFE are considering a partnership in the pilot project INFINITE in France. FIDE also stresses the importance of the collaboration with AESIO Mutuelle, one of France’s non-profit health insurance leaders. Another meeting was held with an autism expert from MOOVEN, specializing in adapted physical activity. It is deemed that a pilot innovation project combining physical activity and the game of chess can be deployed for children with autism spectrum disorder in France. At the end of the round table, moderated by Franck Droin and chaired by Eloi Relange, Dr Maurice Bensoussan, President of the French Psychiatric Society and member of the “Santé Social Handicap” Commission, stated that the progress in the INFINITE project would be discussed at national congresses in France. The FFE, represented by Eloi Relange and Franck Droin, expressed deep satisfaction with the cooperation in the INFINITE project for children with ASD and proposed deploying its 3zen program, aimed at demonstrating the contribution of chess to concentration”, internationally in liaison with FIDE. A relevant document will be prepared by FFE and sent to FIDE in January of 2022. FFE plans to organize an official event on March 9, 2022, to present the progress report on the programs, including those carried out in partnership with FIDE.
Greek Championship: Mastrovasilis and Markantonaki win titles
Athanasios Mastrovasilis and Charitomeni Markantonaki came as the winners of the 70th National Chess Individual Championship and the 43rd Panhellenic Women’s Individual Championship. Coincidentally, both champions took their third national title. Both tournaments were 10-player round-robins (the open section turned into a 9-player event due to an unexpected withdrawal of Vasilios Kotronias) with classical time control held in Lamia from December 4-12. The open event was a close affair as neither player (including the champion) completed the tournament unbeaten. Athanasios Mastrovasilis netted 5½/8 (+3), to clinch the title a full point ahead of the closest competitor. There was a three-way tie for second place, with Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis, and Dimitrios Alexakis taking silver and bronze respectively as the winners of the direct encounters. Final standings open: 1 GM Mastrovasilis, Athanasios 2531 5½ 2 IM Kourkoulos-Arditis, Stamatis 2538 4½ 3 FM Alexakis, Dimitrios 2475 4½ 4 IM Ioannidis, Evgenios 2454 4½ 5 IM Kanakaris, Georgios 2372 4 6 GM Nikolaidis, Ioannis 2545 4 7 Mitsis, Georgios 2355 3½ 8 FM Trimitzios, Petros 2359 3 9 GM Kapnisis, Spyridon 2466 2½ Despite losing her first-round game against Ioulina Makka, Charitomeni Markantonaki scored an impressive 7/9 and came out on top in the women’s event. Ekaterini Pavlidou finished second, a full point behind the champion; Evanthia Makka is third (5½/9) Final standings women: 1 WFM Markantonaki, Charitomeni 2133 7 2 WIM Pavlidou, Ekaterini 2203 6 3 Makka, Evanthia 2046 5½ 4 WGM Makropoulou, Marina 2182 5 5 WFM Grapsa, Georgia 1946 4½ 6 Drakaki, Anna-Maria 1942 4 7 Androni, Konstantina-Eleni 1970 3½ 8 Michailidou, Magdalini 1728 3½ 9 Skaraki, Antigone 1979 3½ 10 WIM Makka, Ioulia 2023 2½ Photos courtesy of mag24.gr/