Riga to host Lindores Abbey Blitz in honour of Mikhail Tal’s 85th birthday
In honour of the 85th anniversary of the birth of the 8th World Chess Champion Mikhail Tal, FIDE is delighted to endorse The Lindores Abbey Blitz, which will take place on 8th November in the historical Hanzas Perons venue in Riga, Latvia A number of leading world Grandmasters – many of whom will previously be taking part in the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss – have confirmed they will be playing at the Blitz. The line-up so far is headed by leading world players such as Levon Aronian, Alexander Grischuk, Richard Rapport, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, as well as the two-time winner of the Tal Memorial Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, the former contender for the title of World Champion Boris Gelfand, former world youth champions Jeffery Xiong and Parham Maghsoodloo, and others. Among female players, the three-times Women’s World Blitz Champion Kateryna Lagno leads the field, joined by former Women’s World Champion and this year’s winner of the Women’s Chess World Cup, Alexandra Kosteniuk, as well as top women GMs Nana Dzagnidze, Harika Dronavali, Polina Shuvalova, and others. More players are expected to confirm their participation, including wildcards invited by the Organiser, with a maximum of 164 players taking part. The FIDE endorsed event is a part of a series of Lindores Abbey chess tournaments involving top-world Grandmasters, following Lindores Abbey Chess Stars (2019) and Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge (2020). Georgiy Tal, the son of Mikhail Tal, will be the guest of honour at the Blitz event. In 2019 he visited Lindores Abbey and, together with the company’s General Manager Andrew McKenzie Smith, presented the World Champion Magnus Carlsen with a chess set made of amber. This amber chess set was presented by the Latvian Government to Mikhail Tal in 1960, following him becoming World Champion. Photo: Ron Kroon / Anefo FIDE Managing Director and Latvian WGM Dana Reizniece-Ozola welcomed the event in memory of the great chess champion: “Mikhail Tal, the famous Magician from Riga, is a legend that has influenced generations of chess players not only in Latvia but in the whole world. He has been a timeless trendsetter.” ‘With each game that will be played in this Blitz tournament, we will commemorate and celebrate Tal’s sharp, creative, and adventurous personality,’ Reizniece-Ozola added. Tournament rules and details: The tournament is organised by “RTU Sports” with the support of the Latvian Chess Federation and FIDE. The Swiss System tournament will have nine rounds. Each round will consist of two games played against the same opponent, one game with each colour. Players will be seeded based on their FIDE Blitz rating. In the absence of such a rating, the player’s FIDE Standard rating will be used. The time control will be 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move, from move one. If the two or more players score the same points, the tie is decided by the following criteria, in order of priority: a) Buchholz; b) Most games won; c) Direct encounter between the players in the tie. The total prize fund is 60,000 USD. This includes a 10,000 USD fund provided by FIDE for prizes intended for female players only. Regulations for the FIDE Endorsed Tournament Lindores Abbey Blitz (pdf) The list of players who confirmed participation (as of 8th October) can be found here. Discover the Lindores Abbey chess initiative.
2021 U.S. Championship & U.S. Women’s Championship kick off in St-Louis
The 2021 U.S. Championship & U.S. Women’s Championship kicked off on October 6 in St-Louis, featuring 24 of the country’s top players battling it out for two national titles. In the U.S. Championship, only GM Ray Robson and GM John Burke managed to win their first-round games, while in the U.S. Women’s Championship, GM Irina Krush, WGM Katerina Nemcova, WIM Ashritha Eswaran, and tournament newcomer WGM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova all started off with a victory. Check out the full replay of live coverage from the day here. The time control for the event is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an additional 30-second increment per move starting from move one. Round 1 of the U.S. Championship saw the top seeds under heavy pressure early on, with World No. 2 GM Fabiano Caruana falling seriously worse out of the opening against Bruzon, So facing difficulties against Xiong, and Dominguez in huge trouble against Lenderman. But somehow, they all managed to survive their positions, and all three games were drawn. In the meantime, Ray Robson (pictured above) played an excellent game to defeat Naroditsky, making the most of his space advantage in an Alekhine Defense. The 2020 U.S. Junior Champion GM John Burke (pictured below), making his U.S. Championship debut, also won his game, a wild back-and-forth struggle against GM Darius Swiercz. In the critical moment, Swiercz missed his chance to land a decisive combination and instead fell into a slightly worse endgame, which Burke promptly converted. In the U.S. Women’s Championship there were four decisive results today, with multiple games decided in mutual time-trouble. Top seed and eight-time U.S. Champion GM Irina Krush won fairly smoothly against WIM Megan Lee, outplaying her opponent in a sharp 7.Qf3 Taimanov Sicilian. Nemcova also won, taking down the #3 seed Zatonskih, while Eswaran used her advantage in an opposite coloured bishops middlegame to defeat Sharevich. In what was the craziest game of the day, WGM Tatev Abrahamyan maintained a near-decisive advantage for most of the round against WGM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova (also known as ‘Begim’), only to slip up at the very last moment, allowing her opponent serious counterplay which turned the game in Black’s favour. Round 2 of the 2021 U.S. & U.S. Women’s Chess Championships will take place October 7, starting at 12:50 PM CT. Catch all the action live with grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Maurice Ashley and Cristian Chirila on uschesschamps.com and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels. Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Photo: Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes Livestream:USChessChamps.Com Web: uschesschamps.com | Twitter: @STLChessClubInstagram: @STLChessClub | Facebook: @STLChessClubYouTube: @STLChessClub | Twitch.tv: @STLChessClub#USChessChamps #STLChessClu Press Contact:Rebecca Buffingtonrbuffington@saintlouischessclub.org Photo Credits:Photos and appropriate credits available on Flickr Saint Louis Chess Club | Building Champions 4657 Maryland Avenue, Saint Louis, MO 63108 | (314) 361.CHESS (2437)
Teams from 31 countries to participate in 1st Intercontinental Championship for Prisoners
Forty-three teams from 31 countries will play in the 1st Intercontinental Online Championship for Prisoners, a two-day event that starts on October 13, 2021 – the International Day of Education in Prisons. The championship is a part of the “Chess for Freedom” Program, launched earlier this year with an online conference and the invitational Online Chess Tournament for Prisoners from four countries. “We find this initiative very important; it allows FIDE to extend its impact behind the borders of purely chess world. Chess provides a route for incarcerated people into education; they find positive use of their leisure time and learn skills that help to turn their lives around. Playing chess teaches them how to improve their thinking and make better life decisions”, says FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich about the program. The Intercontinental Championship for Prisoners is held for the first time; still, many prisons and correctional facilities across the world took a keen interest in the initiative and joined by registering their teams to take part in the tournament. 43 teams, including 5 female teams and 3 juvenile teams comprised of four players with an unlimited number of substitutes, will be playing in the event’s group stage. Prisoners from Italy, England, Armenia, Spain, Palestine, Germany, Russia, United Arab Emirates, Columbia, Portugal, Philippines, Australia, Norway, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Mongolia, Uruguay, Ukraine, Serbia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Georgia, Zimbabwe, Turks & Caicos Islands, Croatia, Kyrgyzstan, Argentina, Cyprus, The Netherlands, USA and Macedonia are divided into six groups and will first compete in a round-robin chess tournament. Two top teams from each group will advance to the Championship round held on October 14. The tournament will be broadcast live on the FIDE Youtube channel. On Wednesday, October 13 at 11:45 a.m. EDT (4:45 p.m. CET), media are invited to attend an online press conference featuring FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich and Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. The virtual press conference will be held in Zoom and uploaded on the FIDE Youtube channel later that day. Media can either send their questions to the FIDE press team (socialmedia@fide.com) or, if they would like to participate on Zoom, send their contact info (name, media, position, contact phone number and email) to the same address. Zoom meeting link and log-in details to join the conference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81265595820Conference ID: 812 6559 5820. All the information about the Championship can be found at the official website of the program: chessforfreedom.fide.com/ About “Chess for Freedom” program Promoting chess as a tool for education is one of FIDE’s top priorities. However, the scope of work in this field is not limited to chess in school programs, and many other opportunities exist. In recent years we have witnessed the successful introduction of chess in prisons, through different educative programs across the world, with very positive outcomes. Aiming to support and promote this line of work, FIDE and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office (Chicago, USA) have signed a cooperation agreement, and together we are launching the “Chess for Freedom” program. Under the patronage of the 12th world champion Anatoly Karpov, the project kicked off in May 2020 with an online conference and an exhibition tournament with four participant countries. On October 13-14, the program will continue with the first Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners – a much larger competition with the participation of tens of prisons representing all continents.
FIDE Candidates Tournament 2022 – Call for bids
1.1 The International Chess Federation (FIDE) will hold the Candidates Tournament in June-July 2022 (see the Tournament Regulations). 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 will be launched. 1.3 The bid may contain special proposals on financial and commercial conditions. The FIDE Council shall decide whether these conditions are admissible. 1.4 Bid Forms 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 from 6 October to 20 November 2021 by 23:59 Lausanne time (FIDE has the 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 approval of the 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.
FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Series 2022-23 – Call for bids
1.1 The International Chess Federation (FIDE) will hold the Women’s Grand Prix Series from August 2022 to June 2023 (see the Tournament Regulations). 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 bid may contain special proposals on financial and commercial conditions. The FIDE Council shall decide whether these conditions are admissible. 1.4 Bid Forms 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 from 6 October to 6 December 2021 by 23:59 Lausanne time (FIDE has the 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 approval of the FIDE Council. 1.6 Once the Organiser is granted the right to organise one of the four Women’s GP tournaments, 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.
Alexey Sarana wins Junior U21 Round Table Championship
Alexey Sarana (Russia) came out the winner of the Junior U21 Round Table Open Championship, a nine-round Swiss tournament that took place in Park Hotel Imperial, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, from September 26 to October 3. Despite severe travel restrictions, the tournament attracted an impressive lineup. The event brought together 58 junior players, including 9 GMs, 8 IMs, 1 WGM and 4 WIM. The first edition of the tournament was organized by Chess club ChessBomb – Plovdiv under the auspices of FIDE and in cooperation with Bulgarian Chess Federation 1928, Plovdiv Municipality, boasted of the total prize fund of €20,000 with €10,000 going to the winner. The prizes were guaranteed by the main sponsor of the event Club Round Table Bulgaria. The organizers hope that this competition will become a traditional Junior Cup. After taking bronze at the 2021 European Individual in Reykjavik, Alexey Sarana continues his hot streak. The native of Moscow started right out of the gate, winning five straight games but slowed down a bit and finished with four draws allowing Arjun Erigaisi (India) to catch up with him at the finish line. The young Indian won a critical last-round game against Vugar Asadli with black pieces and also scored 7 out of 9. Nevertheless, Sarana emerged as the winner thanks to slightly better tiebreaks. Three players tied for third place, but Buchholz favoured Abhimanyu Puranik, who took the third prize. Final standings: 1 Sarana, Alexey RUS 7 2 Erigaisi, Arjun IND 7 3 Puranik, Abhimanyu IND 6½ 4 Bharath, Subramaniyam H IND 6½ 5 Gukesh D IND 6½ 6 Niemann, Hans Moke USA 6 7 Muradli, Mahammad AZE 6 8 Stoyanov, Tsvetan BUL 6 9 Petrov, Martin BUL 6 10 Van Foreest, Lucas NED 6
CFR Team takes the gold to Russia
The Russian players, competing in Sitges under the denomination “CFR Team”, are the winners of the Women’s Team World Championship, held in the coastal town of Sitges, Spain. It was a truly dominant performance by CFR Team, winning every single match and scoring 35 board points out of the 44 games played. However, their rivals in the final, team India, didn’t go down without putting up a good fight. During the first match, Vaishali R blundered an exchange with 30.Rd5 and lost shortly after, but her teammate Harika managed to defeat Goryachkina and put a tie on the scoreboard. The clash between Katerina Lagno and Bhakti Kulkarni was one of the most entertaining ones of the day, with both players going for the most aggressive alternatives, but Lagno emerged from the opening with a clear edge and never let her opponent get back on her feet. Meantime, on the fourth board, Mary Ann Gomes had a favourable position, first, and a healthy extra pawn in the ensuing endgame, but a heroic defence by Kashlinskaya gave the Russians a narrow victory: 2½-1½. Match 1 CFR Team 2½ – 1½ India GM Goryachkina, A. 0-1 GM Harika, D. GM Kosteniuk, A. 1-0 WGM Vaishali R GM Lagno, K. 1-0 IM K. Bhakti IM Kashlinskaya A. ½-½ WGM Gomes, M. A. In the second set, CFR Team seemed to have the match under control from the beginning. Vaishali went for a dubious line in the black side of a Sicilian against Polina Shuvalova, who found all the right moves to punish the lack of development by the Indian player. No player managed to break the balance on the top board, so Dronavalli and Goryachkina agreed to a draw in a rook ending. Vaishali, with black, forced a perpetual check against Kosteniuk in a position where she didn’t really have anything better than that. The decisive point came in the third board, where the unstoppable Katerina Lagno won once again, raising her personal score to an astonishing 9/10. This time her victory came in a double-edged rook and bishop endgame with 5 pawns for each side, where back’s majority in the queenside proved decisive. Match 2 CFR Team 3 – 1 India GM Goryachkina, A. ½-½ GM Harika, D. GM Kosteniuk, A. ½-½ WGM Vaishali R GM Lagno, K. 1-0 IM Tania, S. IM Shuvalova, P. 1-0 WGM Gomes, M. A. No sportsperson is truly happy after losing a final, but the performance by the Indian team was no short of memorable, and it didn’t take long for the smiles to return to their faces. The team led by Dronavalli made history by winning its first medal in this competition, despite the last-minute absence of Humpy Koneru, who was affected by travel restrictions and couldn’t make it to Sitges. With Korenu on the first board, India could have surely dreamed of getting the gold, and for sure they will be one of the teams to watch for in the 2022 Chess Olympiad in Moscow. The Women’s World Team Championship was played this year under a new format: two pools of six teams each, followed by a knock-out playoff with the eight best teams. The time control has been reduced to 45 minutes + 10 seconds per move, with two games to be played each day. This format allowed for the tournament to be played over just seven days instead of twelve, like previous editions, which makes it easier to stage, and more likely to count on the participation of all the top guns. More importantly, the changes seem to have succeeded in raising the interest of the fans, with the knock-out adding some intrigue and excitement. As FIDE’s General Director commented in our first report, “It is an experimental format, and we are not planning to make it extensive to the Olympiad or other tournaments. After holding this event, and the World Teams one next year, we will carefully weigh the pros and cons. We are aware that breaking is easier than building, so no changes are introduced unless there is strong confidence that they are needed. That was the case with the World Teams, and we hope that the new format will breathe new life into this competition”. Text: David Llada Photo: Niki Riga Official website: worldwomensteams.fide.com/
Magnus Carlsen wins first Meltwater Champions Chess Tour title
Magnus Carlsen has won the most viewed online chess event in history – the inaugural Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. A year of intense competition came to an end today as the Norwegian clinched first place overall in the Tour’s showpiece Finals event. Carlsen’s win was secured when closest rival Wesley So collapsed in a must-win match to leave the champ with an unassailable lead. Carlsen takes home $100,000 for winning the Finals with two matches to spare and the title of Tour Champion. He is also now considered the undisputed best online chess player in the world – the prestigious Tour’s true prize. While Carlsen’s victory was thoroughly deserved, So put up a fierce challenge from day one last November. Memorably, So beat Carlsen to win the first event, the Skilling Open, on his rival’s 30th birthday. But the man who went on to match Carlsen with an impressive three tournament titles appeared to finally run out of steam yesterday. Needing a win in today’s Round 7 match to stay in the race, So’s misery continued as a limp performance saw him quickly go 2-0 down against Levon Aronian. It meant the Filipino-born American had to win two remaining games just to take the match to tiebreaks. Yet an increasingly desperate So was unable to break down the wily Aronian in the third as the game ended with So crashing to defeat. The key match that decided the Tour was lost 3-0. Carlsen’s match against the Azerbaijani star Teimour Radjabov became irrelevant to the final result, with So challenge already ended. It was Radjabov who struck a fatal blow against So yesterday. The 2021 Meltwater Champions Chess Tour was the most viewed online chess event in history, with hundreds of memorable games and moments throughout the series of elite tournaments. For further information, please contact: Leon Watson, PR for Play Magnus Groupleon@chessable.com+44 7786 078 770
India will face off CFR Team for the gold
After the pool stage, it was already clear that the central question in the tournament was what would be the team to challenge CFR Team for the gold. The Russian players were simply swamping the opposition, and it was almost unquestionable that, in their current form, a very serious accident should happen for them not to be on the podium. In the end, it was India that earned the spot to fight with them in the final, but their path was far from easy. The first seminal match between India and Georgia was a very close one, and it ended in 2-2, but the Indians were close to snatching the victory. In the first clash, Nana Dzagnidze settled for a quick draw against Harika Dronavalli. The same result would appear on the second board shortly after, in the game between Vaishali and Batsiashvili, while in the lower two boards the teams exchanged blows: Mary Ann Gomes won a very good game against Salome Melia – with a King’s march included – while Kulkarni lost in the time scramble a game that should have ended in a draw. For the second match, both teams introduced some changes in the line-up, with Arabidze jumping into the battle and Salome Melia taking a rest, while India lined up Tania Sachdev. Again, a draw was reached in the first board, while Batsiashvili played poorly in the opening with White, and found herself lost very quickly against Vaishali. Javakhishvili scored the only victory for the Georgian team in an excellent game against Mary Ann Gomes, while Tania Sachdev chalked up the final and decisive point for the Indian team. The Indians could not hide their joy after reaching a final that means the first medal ever for their country in this competition. In the other semifinal, CFR Team faced their toughest rival so far. Ukraine, led by the Muzychuk sisters, is always a candidate to win any event they play in. The first set was tense and very close, with three draws in the top three boards. The match was decided in favour of the Russians thanks to the victory of Kashlisnkaya (pictured below) against Osmak. The match was far from over, though. Only yesterday, the Ukrainians hit back after losing the first round against Armenia, forcing a tie-break, and today they showed up after the short break with a determined look on their faces. The result was indeed an exhilarating fight with lots of emotions, where all the four games reached a decisive result: three victories went for the CFR Team, and one for the Ukrainians. In the clash of two former world champions, Mariya Muzychuk and Alexandra Kosteniuk, Mariya got away with the full point. It was the first defeat of a Russian player in the whole competition so far, but their performance is still impressive: out of 36 games, they have won 24, drew 11, and lost only one. The final will be played tomorrow at 14:00. In the eventuality of a victory by the Russian players, the organizers have opted for the same solution adopted during the Olympic Games. Instead of the Russian anthem, the Piano Concerto No. 1 by Tchaikovsky will be played. Text: David Llada Photo: Niki Riga Official website: worldwomensteams.fide.com/
CFR Team, Georgia, Ukraine and India advance to semis
Not a single Russian player has lost a single game of chess in Sitges: “CFR Team” keeps its dominant performance, and as expected, they advanced to the semifinals without much trouble. The squad whitewashed the FIDE Americas team in the first match by 4-0; in the second, the American players put up a real fight and had good chances in a couple of games, but lost by 3-1. In the seven matches played so far, CFR Team has won a total of 20 games, conceding eight draws, with no losses. Georgia also continues advancing, solid and steady. They decided the eliminatory in the first clash, defeating Azerbaijan by 3½-½, and then sealed their ticket to the semifinals with a draw 2-2. The team leader, Nana Dzagnidze, seems to be in good shape and, despite having lost a game in the pools stage, she has scored 4½/6 on the first board. The other two clashes were much closer, and, in particular, the match between Ukraine and Armenia was as dramatic as it gets. The first match was won by the Armenians by 3-1. Anna Muzychuk had a decisive attack against Danielian, but she underestimated the threat posed by black’s passed pawn, and that cost her the full point. Ushenina avoided a threefold repetition trying to find ways to win her game just to end up losing. However, things would take a turn in the second match, where the Ukrainians manage to put themselves together and hit back, winning by 3½-½ and forcing a tie-break. Only Anna Muzychuk conceded a draw, while Mariya, Osmak and Buksa won their games. The tie-break was very balanced, and when indicated that it would be a 2-2 draw, Lilit Mkrtchian blundered as queen against Mariya Muzychuk in a game where she had a massive advantage. The Ukrainians advance to the next round, where they will face the arduous task of trying to stop the CFR Team. India-Kazakhstan was a very close affair throughout. In the first set, which ended 2-2, the top two boards drew, while Mary Ann Gomes for India and Meruert Kamalidenova for Kazakhstan scored the victories for their respective teams. In the second round, India managed to punch the ticket to the semis. Harika won a fine game in the black side of a Ruy Lopez against Abdumalik. Sachdev lost to Kamalidenova, but it was Mary Ann who saved the day, winning her second game in succession and scoring the decisive point for her team. CFR Team – Ukraine, and Georgia-India will be the semifinal matches, with games starting at 15:00 CET. Text: David Llada Photo: Niki Riga Official website: worldwomensteams.fide.com/