Latvia stages International Children and Youth Festival «ChessYes»
The International Children and Youth Festival «ChessYes» is an official side event to the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss 2021 to be held in Riga from October 25 to November 08, 2021. The FIDE endorsed event is organized by Latvian Chess Federation, Public organization “KIS”, the non-governmental organization “Rudaga Plus” with the support of Children and Youth School of Education and Creativity “Rudaga” (Jurmala, Latvia) and chess club “KAISSA” (Riga, Latvia). The Festival consists of two separate events: online (October 09 – November 07, 2021) and offline (October 27 – November 02, 2021) tournaments. The online tournament will be played on lichess.org in four age groups: U-8, U-10, U-12, U-14. Each section will consist of two stages: the Qualifying stage, two online 9-round Swiss System tournaments held from October 09-23, 2021, and the Final stage for top players, a 16-player Knockout tournament, played from October 24 to November 07, 2021. The time control for both stages is 5 minutes + 3-second increment starting from the first move. Applications for participation are accepted until October 06, 2021 (U-8, U-10 age categories), October 13, 2021 (U-12) and October 20, 2021 (U-14). The registration is done via the official website of the tournament: https://chessyes.online/. The registration fee is €10. In addition to standard prizes, winners and medalists of the online event in the categories U-8, U10 (open & girls) will get a free online 1.5-hour group lecture by GM Dmitry Gordievsky. Top-3 finishers in the categories U-12, U-14 (open & girls) will be awarded an online 90-min group lecture by GM Boris Gelfand – FIDE World championship runner up (2012). Online tournament regulations (pdf) The offline event will be held in the Hanzas Perons Cultural Center, Hanzas iela 16A, Rīga, Latvia as a side event for the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and Grand Swiss Women’s Tournament. The event will consist of 3 Swiss system 9 rounds tournaments: rapid 15′ + 10″, rapid 10′ + 5″ and blitz 5′ + 2″. The overall standings of the Festival will be calculated by summing the results of three tournaments. Photo: https://www.fold.lv/ Winners and awardees in the overall standings of Festival “ChessYes” will be determined in two age categories: Participants born in 2005 and younger; Participants born in 2009 and younger. Registration fee for participating in tournaments is €30 for Rapid 15′ + 10″, €20 for Rapid 10′ + 5″, and €10 for Blitz 5′ + 2″. Children with special needs and orphans are exempt from the fee. Participation in the tournament is confirmed by invitation sent by the Organizer, based on received applications, lists of participants and payment of the registration fee. Applications for participation are accepted until October 24, 2021 (if a visa is needed, applications are accepted until October 10, 2021). Application forms: “ChessYES” RAPID 15`+10″ https://forms.gle/AxjQ1tfZEAeBp79z8 “ChessYES” RAPID 10`+5″ https://forms.gle/4rcLtYb6BKSVrLB27 “ChessYES” BLITZ 5’ + 2” https://forms.gle/CXpurWh2JcKKftdh8 Offline tournament regulations (pdf) Tournament official website: https://chessyes.online/ Organizer’s contacts: Organizer-coordinator Inessa Testelecs +371 29236910 Festival Administrator Elena Naumovich +37126431869 (WhatsApp) Tournament Director Nadezhda Kravchuk +380 50 906 44 61 (WhatsApp)
Anton Demchenko wins European Championship
Anton Demchenko (Russia) is the new European Champion. The native of Novorossiysk scored 8½ out of 11 and secured the title after drawing the last-round game against Bogdan-Daniel Deac. The eventual champion was coming into the final round a half-point ahead of Bogdan-Daniel Deac (Romania), Vincent Keymer (Germany) and Alexey Sarana (Russia) who had some chance to contest for gold. The German managed to win over Daniele Vocaturo and caught up with Demchenko but had to settle for silver due to inferior tiebreaks (average rating of the opponents). Keymer also won a qualification spot for the 2021 FIDE Grand Swiss as the best-ranked player under 20. Sarana and Deac made draws and tied for third. Again, the tiebreaks favoured the Russian player who took bronze. The European Individual Championship was held in Reykjavik and brought together 190 players from 36 federations. The participants of the 11-round Swiss tournament were fighting not only for titles and the prize fund of €100,000 but also for the next FIDE World Cup 23 qualifying spots. In addition to regular prizes, also the special prizes for the best-ranked Juniors, Seniors, Females and ACP players (who did not take a regular prize), were established. Two juniors, Jonas Buh Bjerre (Denmark) and Yahli Sokolovsky (Israel) scored 7 points each with the Dane coming on top thanks to better tiebreaks. Dominik Horvath (Austria) is third with 6½ points. Among senior players Lubomir Ftacnik (Slovakia), Tiger Hillarp Persson (Sweden) and Johann Hjartarson (Iceland) scored an equal amount of points (6), but tiebreaks favored the Slovakian. Hillarp Persson and Hjartarson got second and third prizes respectively. Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (Russia), Tea Gueci (Italy) and Svenja Butenandt (Germany) tied for the prize of the best female player. According to tiebreaks, Maltsevskaya was first, Gueci took second prize, and Butenand came third. Final standings: 1 Demchenko Anton RUS 8½ 2 Keymer Vincent GER 8½ 3 Sarana Alexey RUS 8 4 Deac Bogdan-Daniel ROU 8 5 Piorun Kacper POL 7½ 6 Mamedov Rauf AZE 7½ 7 Erdos Viktor HUN 7½ 8 Huschenbeth Niclas GER 7½ 9 Navara David CZE 7½ 10 Sanal Vahap TUR 7½ 11 Bluebaum Matthias GER 7½ 12 Vocaturo Daniele ITA 7½ 13 Antipov Mikhail RUS 7½ 14 Paichadze Luka GEO 7½ 15 Yilmaz Mustafa TUR 7½ 16 Fridman Daniel GER 7½ 17 Mamedov Nidjat AZE 7½ 18 Svane Rasmus GER 7½ 19 Gabuzyan Hovhannes ARM 7 20 Ivic Velimir SRB 7 21 Nagy Gabor HUN 7 22 Bjerre Jonas Buhl DEN 7 23 Lagarde Maxime FRA 7,0 Official website: https://www.reykjavikopen.com/ Photo: official website and europechess.org
“Chess helped me in so many ways”: interview with ex-convict Hector Guifarro
The first Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners is scheduled for October 13-14, 2021, on the International Day of Education in Prison. Although the registration deadline is two weeks ahead, teams from 16 countries have already joined the event. Such an interest can be explained by the successful introduction of chess in prisons through different educative programs across the world. Hector Guifarro is one of those proving by personal example that the game has a positive impact on the lives of people who have ended up in jail after making a wrong choice. A former convict picked up chess while serving his sentence and, in his telling, it saved his life in prison and is saving it now. FIDE Managing Director Dana Reizniece-Ozola talked to Hector to find out how the game helps people to find another chance in life. – Hector, you’ve been in prison for seven years, and you have confessed that chess saved your life. What is it about chess that makes it so special to you? – Chess helped me in so many ways. It made me more patient, accountable cause in chess, you can’t blame anybody but you. It helped me to look at the points of view of other people. It became my outlet. Whenever I had a lot on my mind, I would play chess and I always felt better afterwards. But first of all, chess built my self-esteem through education. I really feel that is important. When you first go to prison, you have to take a test to see where you are education-wise. When I first took it, I scored really low. Before prison, I’ve never really taken education seriously, never did my homework. Five or four years later, in order to enter college, I had to take the same test, and my results were much higher. I am not trying to say that chess taught me math or improved my reading, but playing chess for all these years improved my memory and focus. – When in prison, did you have a coach, or you played with your fellow inmates, or read chess books? What was it like? – I didn’t have a chess coach. It was just all free will; it was just so common. At first, I was just killing time playing chess. But after a certain point, I realized that my approach was more like take-to-take; it didn’t have any strategy. So I started thinking more, seeing pieces flow together, and then it just became beautiful to me. I started reading books on chess, learning chess theory. – Did you like playing against the opponents, or reading the books and learning the theory? – All of it. I love playing, I love winning, whenever I checkmate – I smile. Whenever I lose – I couldn’t wait to play back again. For a long period of time, all I was thinking of was chess. I love everything about it, but chess theory is what made me realize how deep it was. I wanted to read all I could. There are so many openings, so many variations, inmates are in the perfect place to learn chess theory, as they have a lot of free time. – What was the first chess book that you read? – I really don’t remember its name. It was a book that I borrowed from a catalogue. It was for beginners. But now, when I came out of prison, I have more access to the theory, more videos. It all makes me a better player. I started looking at the game differently. Since the last time we spoke in May, I participated in two tournaments and, let me tell you, playing on a clock is really different. It makes my heart beat faster. – Was it a few weeks ago when you played your first tournament? – Yes. I didn’t win my session, but I won a few games and met so many new people. At the end of the day, just being in this environment, seeing other people who love chess was great. – How is your training going on now? Do you have a coach? – No, I don’t have a coach. I use apps. I am on chess.com, I am on Lichess. I use Chessable, which is a great app. It makes it easier to remember the lines, and it’s very simple. I play chess on my phone all the time. – You’ve been released almost a year ago. How is your life now? – Chess is really a part of my life now. Other than chess, I am a personal trainer. I have my day job, and then I am with the family. Other than that, I am studying or playing chess. That’s pretty much what it is. – What is your chess goal? – I love playing chess, I am participating in some tournaments, I master the theory and I know that I will get better, wherever that takes me… who knows. I like playing chess and I really like to see kids and the community involved in it. I just want everybody to play chess. It really hurts me that not so many people are playing chess in my community; I want to do something about that. I actually ended up having a meeting with Javier Martinez, recreation specialist of Waukegan Park District, south to Waukegan, Illinois. I told him the benefits of having chess in the community, and he loved the idea. They weren’t able to go forward with me due to my background, but they went forward with the program! So now we have a chess program in the community which starts at the beginning of September. Kids will be playing now, and I just hope that whoever teaches the program brings this passion to them. It is especially important with kids to make it fun for them, otherwise, it will be like any other game. I just want to thank Javier for pushing this idea through. – Are you still in contact with
Carlsen hits target to win Aimchess US Rapid
Magnus Carlsen is the Aimchess US Rapid winner after a near-faultless display against Vladislav Artemiev. The World Champion now marches into next month’s $300,000 Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Final top of the leaderboard and in top form. Having secured the Aimchess US Rapid, Carlsen takes home the $30,000 first prize. He has won three of the eight Tour events he entered and racked up total earnings of more than $215,000. Carlsen had won the first match decisively yesterday and carried that advantage through to Sunday’s second match. It took just three games in the second for the Norwegian to brush aside his 23-year-old opponent. Artemiev, the world number 39, simply wasn’t given a chance. Right from the start, Carlsen was on top. He launched a swift attack in the first game and broke through to go 1-0 up. Artemiev – playing in his second Tour final – tried to resist but found himself low on time and collapsed under pressure. It left the Russian – who has been the breakout star of the Tour – needing to win at least two of the next three games just to force a tiebreak. In the second, Artemiev played powerfully and forced Carlsen onto the defensive. But his advantage evaporated when time trouble told again, and the Russian had to settle for a draw. Artemiev, with a mountain to climb, now had to win, or Carlsen would be crowned champion. Artemiev went all-out attack, but there was no way through. Carlsen maintained complete control and broke through to clinch the title in style. The match ended 2.5-0.5, and Carlsen won 2-0 overall. “It feels great,” Carlsen said afterwards. “It’s the first time, in like, ever that I’ve won one of these Tour events, and it’s been a fairly smooth ride. So it’s been good!” Asked whether his performance in this event was the best of the Tour so far, Carlsen said: “I would say so for sure.” He added: “I’m feeling good. I’m playing quicker and more confidently, so that’s good.” Artemiev has been super-impressive in the Tour played only three events, and made two finals and a semi. He also now progresses to the Tour Final as one of the top eight. Speaking of his opponent, Carlsen said his natural talent is “undeniable”. The Tour Final runs from September 25 to October 3. All games will be played in the chess24.com playzone. Coverage with full commentary is available on www.championschesstour.com or www.chess24.com. For further information, please contact: Leon Watson, PR for Play Magnus Groupleon@chessable.com+44 7786 078 770
Kingue Victor Ebosse and Whilema Ndjock win Cameroon Championship
FM Kingue Victor Ebosse and Whilema Ndjock are new champions of Cameroon. The Cameroon Chess Championships of the 2021/2022 season started with the regional qualifying rounds, with the best players advancing into the final. The final was split between the two largest cities (four rounds in Yaoundé and four rounds in Douala) and held in Open and Junior Under 15 categories. The eventual champion started right out of the gate and took the lead, winning four straight games. Given that he had beaten his local nemesis IM Marius Amba (who blundered right after the time control), many thought the title was in Victor’s bag. However, after the event moved to Douala the leader slowed down as he had to work hard to make draws in the games against Zebaze Martial and Meli Junior. Luckily for Victor, his main competitor IM Marius Amba stumbled, losing to Michael Tchuenbou. The champion finished strong, defeating Hassan Mouliom and Noumbo Vidal and clinched the national title (fifth in his career) with an excellent score of 7/8. Marius Amba finished clear second, a full point behind the champion; Zebaze Loïc Dylane is third with 5/8. The 2020/2021 championship was special as, for the first time, it featured a junior event (Under 15) won by Whilema Ndjock (pictured above).
Carlsen bullies Artemiev on Day 1 of final
Magnus Carlsen dominated on the first day of the Aimchess US Rapid final and is now a hot favourite to win his third Meltwater Champions Chess Tour title. The World Champion and overall Tour leader raced into a swift lead against the event’s 23-year-old breakout star. Artemiev is ranked just 39 in the world but has entered three Tour tournaments and reached the final in two of them and a semi in the other. But Carlsen, winner of the New In Chess Classic and the FTX Crypto Cup, was in no mood to welcome him into the top bracket of elite chess players and showed absolutely no mercy. Not even an unfortunate mistake in game 3 which provoked shocked reaction from Carlsen could hold him back. After calling Artemiev a “sublime” positional player yesterday, Carlsen stamped his authority by blowing him away with a positional masterpiece of his own. It was an ominous start for Artemiev. The second was worse. Artemiev was pressing for most of the game but suffered connection problems and wasn’t able to keep up on the clock. It was a hammer-blow. A blunder lost him a piece and then Carlsen started working his endgame magic. Facing a barrage of tricks, Artemiev was running out of time and resigned. Two-nil up, Carlsen just needed a draw in the third to end the match a game early. Then came the strange mistake which looked like a mouse-slip and gifted Artemiev the win. The Russian now had hope of a comeback. He still had to win the final game, however, and the turnaround was not to be as Carlsen calmly minimised Artemiev’s chances and steered it to a draw. Carlsen had won the first match 2.5-1.5 and takes a 1-0 lead into tomorrow’s decider. Carlsen said after it was “reasonably comfortable” and admitted he’d made a mistake, not a mouse-slip, in game 3. He added: “It was unfortunate because without that move, I don’t think the fourth game happens.” Artemiev said the disconnection in game 2 hampered him but facing the champion was a “good experience”. In the battle for third-place, Levon Aronian was awarded the win without a game being played as teen hotshot Alireza Firouzja pulled out of the tie due to ill health. Firouzja, who lost to Artemiev in the semis, apologised to fans on Twitter and said he would be back. Tomorrow’s deciding match starts at 17:00 CEST. All games will be played in the chess24.com playzone. Coverage with full commentary is available on www.championschesstour.com or www.chess24.com. For further information, please contact: Leon Watson, PR for Play Magnus Groupleon@chessable.com+44 7786 078 770
15 qualifiers join China, India and Russia in Top Division
UPDATE: The teams of the Philippines (Pool A) and Ecuador (Pool E) will not qualify for the Top Division after the fair play team reported that they were found in breach of the rules of the tournament. As a result, Australia and Paraguay, respectively, advance to Top Division. Saturday, September 4th, 2021 – Division Two came to a close this afternoon with some very exciting last-round matches, defining the three winners of each group. Although a couple of teams (especially Colombia) dominated their groups, this stage of the event has been very closely contested. In fact, some of the qualifiers had to win their last round match to get through! Pending the Fair Play panel report, Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Moldova, Philippines, Shenzhen, China, Slovenia and Sweden are the fifteen lucky teams that have qualified to play in the Top Division next week, running September 8th-10th. They will be joined by the twenty-five best teams in the world, including Russia (Grischuk, Dubov, Goryachkina, Kosteniuk, Esipenko and Shuvalova as main boards), China (Ding Liren, Wei Yi, Hou Yifan, Ju Wenjun, Xu Zhihang and Zhu Jiner) and India (Anand, Harikrishna, Koneru, Harika, Nihal and Vaishali). Division 2 – Pool A Pool A concluded with Indonesia, the Philippines and Shenzhen China, being the first three teams to advance to the Top Division. Indonesia and Philippines tied for first place with 16/18, but Indonesia came out on top with 40½ board points against 39½. A very close fight indeed! Indonesia did defeat the Philippines in their individual match by 4½-1½, so all in all, the final standings seem quite fair. The third qualifying spot went to the team from Shenzhen China (13/18), who won the crucial last round match against Australia (10/18) by 5-1. A big part to their success in this match went to GM Zhao Xue, who defeated WGM Julia Ryjanova. In the following diagram, White (Zhao) forced a big material gain. Can you see how? The Chinese GM played 48.Nxg5+ Kh6 49.Nf7+! and now 49…Kg6 or 49…Kh5 run into a discovered check with 50.Ne5. So her opponent went 49…Kh7 but after 50.Qh8+! Kg6 42.Ne5+! White forked the queen on d3 and forced resignation. The top scorers in this pool were two players from the Shenzhen China team, who fielded their only six main players – no reserves – during the whole tournament! WFM Li Xinyu scored a whopping undefeated 8/9 on board six while her teammate GM Zeng Chongsheng was a trustworthy board one: undefeated 7/9 score. Indonesian IM Irene Sukandar also performed well with 6½ /7 on board three and shared her joy on social media. Division 2 – Pool B Pool B was by far the most equal of the five groups, with the standings changing after each round. In the end, the group finished with Latvia, Moldova and Italy advancing to the Top Division. Latvia (14/18) and Italy (13/18) were leading the pack going into the last day of play, tied with Uzbekistan (12/18). But we did mention yesterday that anything could happen, as Moldova (14/18) and Estonia (12/18) were only one match point behind. An exciting final round determined the qualification spots. Moldova fielded their best team, headed by GM’s Victor Bologan and Viorel Iordachescu, and defeated Uzbekistan by 4½ -1½, overtaking at the same time Italy and Estonia, who tied 3-3. A very close shave for the Italians, who would have been out on their heels if they had lost! The main surprise of the group has been the relatively poor performance of Austria, one of the pre-tournament group favourites – their 2252 medium rating was very high. On board one, GM Markus Ragger (2630) couldn’t find his best game (3½ /8), but in general, most of the team underperformed this year. The best of luck to them for the future! The top scorer of this group (and the whole division!) was Latvia’s WGM Laura Rogule, who won all nine games on board three against a 1935 medium rating opposition. A huge achievement! The following diagram (Rogule plays Black) is one of her wins today. Black played 32…Nf4+! 33.gxf4 Qg4+ 34.Kh2 Qxh4+ 35.Kg2 Qg4+ 36.Kh2 Qh4+ 37.Kg2 Qg4+ 38.Kh2 and now 38…Qh5+! 39.Kg2 exf4! (threatening both …Rg5 and …f3) 40.Ne2 f3+ 41.Kg1 fxe2 and White resigned. Division 2 – Pool C A very tight last round win by 3½ -2½ decided the final standings of Pool C. Israel (17/18) was trailing Belarus (16/18) by one match point after their draw against Sri Lanka, but they left the best for the end, fielding a very strong team and overtaking their rivals at the critical moment. Israel made perfect use of their players, fielding all twelve of them during the tournament and ensuring they played between three and five games at the most: a very interesting strategy indeed! Both of these teams have displayed excellent playing skills in this division and have to be reckoned with in the Top Division next week. Sweden (13/18) won their last three matches and squeezed through, edging out Sri Lanka (12/18) by just one match point. They will join Israel and Belarus in the Top Division as well. The top scorers in this group were WFM Yana Ilyuchyk, who won all of her games for Belarus on board four (7/7). GM Pia Cramling (7½ /9) also gave a huge performance on board two for Sweden and was paramount in their qualification Division 2 – Pool D Slovenia and Argentina (both 16/18) were joint winners of Pool D, with the former team edging out the Argentineans on tiebreak: both teams scored 40½ board points, but Slovenia defeated Argentina 4-2 in their seventh-round individual match The third qualifying spot went to Brazil, who were able to score three on-demand wins – including a last-round 3½ -2½ victory over Uruguay – to stay ahead of Venezuela. These three teams have dominated the event leaving no chance for the rest of the group. One of the pre-event group favourites, Uruguay (8th), has had a very unfortunate tournament: four of their six defeats have been by the 3½ -2½ margin. It’s no wonder that they have more board points than fifth-placed Algeria. They probably deserved more, but that is chess! WIM Zala Urh on board six was Slovenia’s best player, with a very decent 7½ /9
Carlsen faces Artemiev in Aimchess US Rapid final
Magnus Carlsen has reached his fifth Meltwater Champions Chess Tour final and will face the new Russian sensation Vladislav Artemiev. The World Champion battled through a tough Aimchess US Rapid semi against Levon Aronian to win 3-1 and make tomorrow’s decider. Hoping to turn the tables on him is 23-year-old Artemiev, who was super-smooth best as he won a fascinating clash of styles against the tricky, trappy teenager Alireza Firouzja. Heaping praise on his potential opponent before the result was known, Carlsen said of Artemiev that he is, “Somebody who has just a sublime positional feeling!” And in beating Firouzja, Artemiev displayed all his talents. After a 2-2 yesterday, Artemiev and Firouzja’s second match started in a similar vein as the two – the youngest in the tournament – played out a nervy draw. But then it heated up. Firouzja was at his flashy best in the second as he unleashed a killer f3 pawn push that crushed Artemiev’s position. The win put him in the lead. But in the next game, Artemiev hit back immediately to tie the match going into the fourth game. With both players going toe-to-toe and looking for a win, the final game ended in a draw to take the match to tiebreaks. After two fighting draws in the blitz section, Artemiev finally broke through in an “Armageddon” play-off. Artemiev, who has now reached an impressive two finals in three Tour events, said the final would be “two big days for me” as he geared up for his toughest test yet. In Carlsen’s semi, the die was cast with an opening game win for the Norwegian that left Aronian needing to strike back to level the match. The 38-year-old Armenian pushed hard and had chances – but Carlsen held firm and stayed in the lead. Getting desperate, Aronian created a crazy, complicated position where there would be chances for both sides. But it was Carlsen who found the way through, and Aronian collapsed. Carlsen admitted afterwards: “The last game was so unbelievably shaky.” He added: “The first game was really the only one that I played well, and I’m happy that it was enough. It was one of those rare games where you have a plan and everything works.” Magnus said the other three games were “anything but easy”. Carlsen said it’s “very nice” to be in a final, but he needs to “step it up” to win. It was a hard-fought semi-final win for a relieved Carlsen, who reaches another final in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour final. Todays’s final starts at 17:00 CEST. All games will be played in the chess24.com playzone. Coverage with full commentary is available on www.championschesstour.com or www.chess24.com. For further information, please contact: Leon Watson, PR for Play Magnus Groupleon@chessable.com+44 7786 078 770
Olympiad ABC: Argentina, Belarus and Colombia on a roll
Friday, September 3rd, 2021 – Rounds four through six of the Division 2 Online Olympiad were disputed today. We are currently halfway through the event, and emotions are running high. Practically all of the pools in this Division are very closely fought and many of them will be decided tomorrow in last-round match-ups. The first three teams qualify directly to the Top Division, where they will join the twenty-five best teams of the world, seeded directly into Stage Four of the tournament. Division 2 – Pool A Clearly, this group will not be decided until tomorrow, after the final three rounds have been played. Although after today’s games Indonesia (11/12) is still in the lead, only one match point separates them from the second-placed Philippines (10/12). Although they dropped a point against Bangladesh (3-3), Indonesia defeated the Philippines in round five by a clear 4.5-1.5 and, barring something very unfortunate happening tomorrow, should qualify for the Top Division. The top scorer in this group is Indonesia’s board three, IM Sukandar Irine Kharisma, with 5.5/6. In the following diagram, Sukandar’s advanced passed pawn on c2 should be the decisive factor. However, her precise play was admirable. Her first move was 32…Bh5! to exchange the knight on f3. After 33.Kf1 Bxf3 34.gxf3 Be5! the other bishop occupies the square controlled by the exchanged knight. Now 35.Kg2 Ra1! 36.Kf1 Bc3 forced resignation. White has been left with no space at all. The oldest player record was broken today: 77-year-old WIM Rani Hamid, playing for Bangladesh, debuted today in round four against Chelsie Monica Ignesias Sihite from Team Indonesia. Hamid has won three British Women’s Championships and twenty (!) Bangladeshi Women’s Championships. Right behind, in third place, Olympiad partners Shenzhen China (9/12) had a great day, overtaking Australia (8/12), who have dropped to fourth place. As mentioned yesterday, today’s pairings were very favourable for them, and they won all three matches handily, including a 6-0 against Ireland. With only one point separating these four teams, tomorrow’s Philippines-Shenzhen and Australia –Shenzhen match-ups will decide which teams qualify along with Indonesia. Two Shenzhen China players are also on 5.5/6: GM Zeng Chongsheng and WFM Li Xinyu. Curiously, Shenzhen China and Chinese Tapei are the only two teams of the pool using their six main players (no reserves). Division 2 – Pool B As predicted, Italy made a comeback this afternoon and scored 5/6, completing a three-way tie for first place with Latvia and Uzbekistan, all on 9/12. Latvia has 2.5 extra board points, which for the moment gives them the lead on tiebreak. However, Moldova (8/12) and Estonia (7/12) are both in striking distance and tomorrow’s last three rounds feature several direct encounters between these five teams. With six match points still to be played for, anything can happen. Surprise contender Uzbekistan – their 1735 is the lowest medium rating of the ten – has slightly better pairings (they face two of the teams at the bottom of the table). In any case, the last round match between Latvia and Italy will most likely decide two of the qualifying spots, and maybe even the winner of the group. The next diagram comes from the Round 6 match between Uzbekistan and Latvia. White played 33.Re6! sacrificing a rook for the attack. After 33…fxe6 34.Rxe6 Black should have played 34…Ra5 35.Rxd6 Rxd6 36.Ng3 and White is better, but instead opted for 34…Kg7? and White found the killer move 35.Ng3! heading for h5 with an unstoppable attack. WGM Laura Rogule is performing unbelievably on board three for Latvia, and with 6/6 is the top scorer in the pool. Division 2 – Pool C Two teams are way ahead of the rest in this group: Belarus (12/12) and Israel (11/12). Belarus crushed through all three of their opponent’s today with a 4.5 minimum score. Israel basically did the same but dropped an unfortunate 3-3 tie against 4th placed Sri Lanka – a match in which they were more than 300 rating points favourites on every board. The leaders will face each other tomorrow in the last round to decide the winner, but it seems highly unlikely that either of the two will miss the qualification. The third spot should be for Sweden (7/12) or Sri Lanka (6/12), although both Portugal and Albania (both on 5/12) still have an outside chance to qualify. One of the anecdotes of the day, reported by principal arbiter Alex Holowczak, occurred precisely in the match between Sweden and Scotland. Sweden’s GM Ferdinand Hellers was playing Scotland’s GM Jacob Aagaard. Unfortunately, Ferdinand had connection challenges and had lost almost half his time. Therefore, Jacob sportingly offered a draw, which was accepted. Something that would probably never happen in an OTB Chess Olympiad! Montenegro and Scotland, who were sharing 4th place after the first three rounds, both lost their three matches today and are now out of the running: they have dropped down to 7th-9th place in the standings. The top scorer for Belarus is WFM Yana Ilyuchyk, who has won all of her games on board four (5/5). Also doing very well on board two for Sweden is GM Pia Cramling (5/6). Finally, Israel’s first two boards GM’s Tamir Nabaty and Ilia Smirin are both on 4/4 with solid performances. Division 2 – Pool D Argentina is on a roll! They lead the group with a perfect 100% score (12/12) after defeating South Africa and Uruguay, as well as their neighbours Brasil by a clear 5-1 in the fifth round. Due to that defeat and a 3-3 tie against Mexico, Brasil (9/12) has dropped to third place in the group and has been overtaken by Slovenia (9/12), who crushed their opposition today. However, Venezuela (8/12) is just behind these three teams and still has to face Argentina tomorrow. Also, Slovenia will play against Argentina in the first of tomorrow’s three rounds. In fact, Brasil has the most favourable pairings: their last three opponents are Uruguay (8th), South Africa (9th) and Morocco (10th). With 6/6, Argentinean WFM Candela Be Francisco Guecamburu is the top scorer of her team and the group. WIM Urh Zala from Slovenia is also performing above expectation with 5.5/6 on board five. Division 2 – Pool E Colombia (12/12) pulled away from the pack today after winning their three
Iniyan clinches Noisiel International Open 2021
GM Panneerselvam Iniyan of India emerged as the winner of the Noisiel International Open (France). The 18-year old rating favourite clinched the title in quite a convincing manner scoring 8/9. GM Yuri Solodovnichenko of Ukraine finished just a half-point behind the winner. The local favourites Yannick Kambrath and Joseph Girel tied for third, with the former taking the last place on the podium thanks to better tiebreaks. Alicia Randrianarimanana of France netted 5 points and became the best woman the in Open A. The 9-round Swiss tournaments (A, B and C) took place at Noisiel in the eastern suburb of Paris and attracted 174 players from 13 counties. The prizes were awarded in the presence of Mathieu Viskovic, Mayor of Noisiel. Final standings Open A: 1 INIYAN P 8 2 SOLODOVNICHENKO, Yuri 7½ 3 KAMBRATH, Yannick 6½ 4 GIREL, Joseph 6½ 5 DEGARDIN, Sylvain 6 6 ALBARIC, Etienne 6 7 MULLER, Anthony 6 8 DEFROMONT, Benjamin 6 9 BUJISHO, Benjamin 5½ 10 PUCHER, Sebastien 5½ The Noisiel Open is becoming one of the most important open tournaments in France. The event received a financial backup from FIDE to the extent of about 15% of the total budget. It is important to note that organizers have reduced the entry fee for certain categories such as women, juniors and veterans above 50 years as per the recommendations of FIDE. Some additional prizes for the women and veterans category were established. Traditionally, the Seine et Marne Department and the President of Noisiel Chess Club Mr Oupindrin, who has organized all the six opens, were sponsors of the event. A blitz tournament organized during the event attracted 64 players, including 6 GMs. The winner of the open Iniyan tied for first but achieved a double thanks to superior tiebreaks over Yuri Solodovnichenko and Namig Guliyev. The dates of the 7th Noisiel open will be announced before October 21, 2021. The upcoming open promises to be the strongest event ever held in Noisiel.