Day 1: Caruana, Dominguez and Vachier-Lagrave take early lead
The fifth and final leg of the 2021 Grand Chess Tour kicked off today with an exciting first round, as Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Leinier Dominguez all won their games to take the early lead. In the meantime, Jeffery Xiong drew with Richard Rapport, while Wesley So squandered a decisive advantage against Shkhriyar Mamedyarov. With a hefty prize fund of $325,000, as well as the final GCT standings on the line, we are due to see some decisive action over the course of the next two weeks. Xiong – Rapport This was the first game of the round to finish as Xiong was surprised by Rapport’s unusual response to the 4.Qc2 Nimzo. Despite gaining the advantage of the two bishops, Xiong wasn’t able to keep the bishop pair, as Rapport was able to force a trade of several pieces, leaving White without any edge whatsoever. The players then repeated moves to draw in a completely equal bishop endgame. Vachier-Lagrave – Svidler In the battle of the two Grunfeld specialists, the French No. 1 utilized the trendy line 3.h4, launching an early assault on the kingside. Svidler was well-prepared in this variation, sacrificing a pawn in ‘Benko Gambit’ style with b7-b5, and achieved an equal position out of the opening. However, MVL kept up the pressure, as Svidler blundered shortly before the time control, landing him in a completely lost situation as White’s pawn on h6 paralyzed Black’s position. After the decisive mistake 25…Ne8. Here MVL played 26.bxc5, as 26…Qxc5 would run into 27.Bb4!+- (threatening Qh8 mate, winning). Instead 26…dxc5 was forced, but after 27.Bg7+ Kg8 28.Qa8! White had a decisive bind along the back rank. 1-0, 31 moves. Caruana – Shankland Looking to avoid deep preparation, Caruana opted for the solid but flexible London System, taking the game out of charted territory early on. After missing an early chance to equalize comfortably, Shankland found himself worse in the middlegame, as White’s pieces had better squares to work with on the kingside. Caruana built up his advantage methodically and then capped off a great strategic effort with a brilliant sacrifice, first offering his queen before sacrificing a knight for a decisive kingside attack. After the brilliant 28.Ng4!! (28…Nxh4 29.Nh6 mate), intending to sacrifice a piece after 28…h5 29.Qg5! hxg4 30.hxg4 Ng7 31.Qh6+-, with an irresistible attack. 1-0, 38 moves So – Mamedyarov After outplaying Mamedyarov in a quiet Italian Game, So obtained a long-term advantage by saddling Black with an isolated queen pawn. Although White’s edge was decisive, Mamedyarov was able to create counterplay and stir up massive complications leading into the first time control. Facing serious time pressure, So faltered, quickly losing all of his advantage and the game was soon drawn. Swiercz – Dominguez The final game of the round looked quite even from the start, as Dominguez played the Petroff Defense and achieved a very solid position out of the opening, despite White having the pair of bishops. However a slip by Swiercz allowed Dominguez to trade off one of White’s bishops, leaving Black with a slightly better pawn structure long-term. Dominguez carefully nursed his advantage, and eventually started to outplay his opponent, utilizing an outside passed pawn that ended up being the decisive factor in the endgame. Round 2 of the 2021 Sinquefield Cup takes place Wednesday, August 18, starting at 2:50 PM CDT with all of the action covered live by commentators GM Yasser Seirawan, GM Alejandro Ramirez, and GM Maurice Ashley. Watch live on grandchesstour.org as well as twitch.tv/kasparovchess. Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Photo: Lennart Ootes and Austin Fuller Further Information:Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTourInstagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour#GrandChessTour#STLRapidBlitz Venue: Saint Louis Chess Club, USAAugust 10- August 16, 2021 Press Contact:press@grandchesstour.org Photos: Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum Studios Credits available on Flickr. Livestream:Grandchesstour.orgKasparovchess.com
Alexander Donchenko wins RTU Open 2021
Almost 500 players from over 30 countries participated in the Festival and were fighting for €28,000 prize fund in the beautiful capital of Latvia, Riga. A little bit over ten years ago, FM Egons Lavendelis, decided to organise a tournament. “It started with an informal conversation with the vice-rector of Riga Technical University. At that point, our team, the team of Riga Technical University, had just won our first Latvian Team Championship title and we got rights to participate in the European Club Cup. And we were discussing – can we do that? We decided it’s quite an expensive thing, and let’s better use the money for Latvian chess in a more useful way…let’s organise a tournament. That’s how it started,” he shared in an interview. And here we are, a decade later, the Riga Technical University Open has attracted thousands of players from over 50 countries over the years, becoming one of the biggest chess festivals in northern Europe and probably in the whole continent as well! There were nine different tournaments organised this year – six with classical control, two blitz events, and one rapid tournament. Each tournament attracted tens of chess-lovers from many countries, but the main focus was, as usual, the Open A. The winner of tournament A was Alexander Donchenko from Germany, who was the top seed and he actually signed up for it only two days before the event! Donchenko had quite a shaky start, scoring only 1.5/3 points, but as we know, it is all about the good finish in chess and he has done something amazing in the remaining rounds winning 6 out of 6 games! Narayanan S. L from India played excellent chess and deservedly finished second not losing a single game. The third prize goes to Lithuanian Tomas Laurusas, who had a great summer, won a tournament in Warsaw and got his last GM norm in July, becoming number 1 in Lithuania. Final standings: 1 GM Donchenko, Alexander GER 2657 7,5 2 GM Narayanan.S.L IND 2624 7,0 3 IM Laurusas, Tomas LTU 2549 7,0 4 GM Kantor, Gergely HUN 2533 7,0 5 GM Karthikeyan, Murali IND 2606 7,0 6 GM Kovalenko, Igor LAT 2644 6,5 7 GM Hakobyan, Aram ARM 2612 6,5 8 IM Arjun, Kalyan IND 2503 6,5 9 GM Ivic, Velimir SRB 2571 6,5 10 GM Smirin, Ilia ISR 2610 6,5 Thanks to FIDE’s aid package, which was significant support, the prizes for ladies and seniors were bigger this year and the top 3 places in those categories were: Among women: 1st – Margareth Olde from Estonia (pictured below), 2nd – Aashna Makhija from India and 3rd – Uliana Yeshchenko from Ukraine Among seniors: 1st – Igor Krivonosov from Latvia, 2nd – Ralf Akesson from Sweden and 3rd – Pierre Theon from France The tournaments B and Y (youth) were merged and took a whole week, just like the Open A. Latvians felt comfortable in this one as did the winner Renars Osis from Latvia. The best lady was Linda Krumina from Latvia and the best senior was Nikolaj Katishonok, also from Latvia! Vilius Rudziks (pictured below) from Lithuania became the best junior player. Interestingly – all of them finished in the top 5 in the final standings! (full results) The C and D tournaments were also played together this year. Designed especially for those who can not commit to a full 7-day schedule of play, those were 4-day events and the time control was a bit shorter – 60min+30sec. The first two places were taken by Spaniards – Alberto Eyo Castro-Rial came out on top and Dan Cruz Alvarez de Ron was second. The two top seeds of the tournament, they only switched places in the final standings. The best women player was Eibhia Ni Mhuireagain from Ireland, the best senior was Uldis Melderis from Latvia and the junior’s category was won by Aleksejs Adamovics from Latvia (full results). The shortest classical tournament in RTU Festival, Open E, only took three days and had a 30min+30sec time control. Agnis Mednis from Latvia came as the winner. The second place and also the best lady in the Open E was Anastasija Parhomenko from Latvia. The best junior player was also a lady – Melanija Luize Jansone, who is only 14 years old and finished 4th in the whole event! Stanislavs Saruns from Latvia was the best senior player in this group (full results). In addition to the classical tournaments, also the blitz and rapid events were organised. Igor Kovalenko, the best Latvian player, won the opening blitz and the opening rapid was won by Abhimanyu Puranik from India. The traditional closing blitz held right after the closing ceremony, was won by a young Indian star – R Praggnanandhaa. During the whole Festival, there was a live broadcast lead by GM Arturs Neiksans and WIM Anna Kantane. They were analysing the games, which were really exciting – a lot of aggressive play, risks and even queen sacrifices were almost an everyday occurrence! A very interesting part of the broadcast was interviews with the players and special guests. Some of the personalities who joined the studio were: FM Egons Lavendelis – the tournament Director; WGM Dana Reizniece-Ozola – FIDE Managing Director; GM Ilja Smirin – one of the best grandmasters in Europe for 2 decades now; GM Ramesh R B – one of the best coaches in the world; GM Kaido Kulaots – winner of the 2019 Aeroflot tournament and of course GM Alexander Donchenko – winner of the event. The commentary by the Latvian-Polish duo reached over 124,000 unique viewers and was watched over 1 million minutes! The entire Festival was a true celebration of the game we all love and what it truly means – sportsmanship, unity, respect and fun! And as Egons Lavendelis mentioned during an interview, the next editions are also planned, so chess will be back in Riga next summer for the 11th Riga Technical University Open. “Our goal is clear – we want it to be a Festival for everyone” – added Egons. You can find out more about the Festival on the website – www.rtuopen.lv and all the news are on the official facebook page – www.facebook.com/rtuopen Photo: Anna Shtourman
Bulgaria to stage Junior U21 Chess Championship
The Junior U21 Chess Championship will be held from September 26 to October 03, 2021 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The 9-round over-the-board event is organized by Chess club ChessBomb – Plovdiv under the auspices of FIDE and in cooperation with Bulgarian Chess Federation 1928, Plovdiv Municipality, and with the sponsorship of Club Round Table 3 Plovdiv and KIM 2003 Ltd. Schedule: September 26th, 2021 – Opening Ceremony, Round 1September 27th, 2021 – Round 2September 28th, 2021 – Rounds 3 and 4September 29th, 2021 – Round 5September 30th, 2021 – Round 6October 1st, 2021 – Round 7October 2nd, 2021 – Round 8October 3rd, 2021 – Round 9, Closing Ceremony Time control: 90 minutes per player for 40 moves plus 15 minutes until the end of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds for each move played, starting from the first. All participants of the event must be born after 31/12/1999. The registration is free for players with GM, IM, WGM, WIM titles and players with a rating above 2400. For other participants, the fee is 70 EUR. The tournament prize fund of over 20,000 EUR will be distributed among top-30 players and top-3 female players, with 10,000 EUR going to the winner of the event. Registration and payment must be submitted by September 10, 2021. Registration for the Junior U21 Round Table Chess Championship:https://chessbomb.bg/registration-u21/ For more information visit the tournament’s page: https://chessbomb.bg/wjrtocc-event/ Organizer’s contacts: Tournament DirectorKaloyan Mateevinfo@chessbomb.bg+359 877 657 701
European Union Youth Championship 2021 kicks off in Kouty nad Desnou
On Saturday, August 14th, the 19th European Union Youth Chess Championship U8, U10, U12 and U14 took off in the Hotel Dlouhe Strane in Kouty nad Desnou in the Czech Republic. Following previous successful years, the European Union Youth Chess Championship 2021, under the patronage of the European Chess Union, is organized again by Sachovy klub Svetla nad Sazavou in cooperation with the Czech Chess Federation. Boys and girls in each category play the same 9-round Swiss tournament but are ranked separately. The time control is 90 min + 30 sec increment for each move played. This prestigious event traditionally attracts many young chess talents – 104 players from 12 national federations of ECU registered this year. Due to the new travel measures in EU countries, the number of players has been reduced to 81, and the number of federations has been cut to 10. The highest-rated player of the event is Bulgarian CM Nikola Kanov (2199). For players’ parents and all chess fans, the organizers prepared an extensive program of chess and non-chess activities. Visitors in Kouty nad Desnou can watch the games in the projection hall of the Hotel Dlouhe Strane. All participants can enjoy the leisure time activities offered by the hotel, such as pool, wellness, bowling, billiard and table tennis. There is a new aquapark opened In Velke Losiny. The guests and the participants also can visit a new The Sky Walk in Dolni Morava. On Sunday, August 22nd, we will know eight new young champions of the EU for the year 2021. The champions in each category will receive laptops, whereas the 2nd and 3rd place finishers in each category will get digital chess clocks. After each round, the best game of every category will be awarded a prize. All participants will receive a memorial diploma, a medal and a t-shirt with the championship logo. Text: Zdeněk Fiala, director Sachovy klub Svetla nad Sazavou Photo: the official website Official website: https://www.chess.cz/mistrovstvi-evropske-unie/ Results: http://chess-results.com/tnr573693.aspx?lan=5&art=0&turdet=YES&flag=30 Online broadcast of the category U8 Online broadcast of the category U10 Online broadcast of the category U12 Online broadcast of the category U14 Photo gallery of the championship: https://sachysvetla.rajce.idnes.cz/EUYCC_2021/ Photo gallery of the championship – players:https://sachysvetla.rajce.idnes.cz/EUYCC_2021_Players/
Hikaru Nakamura wins 2021 Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz
At the end of another thrilling day of chess, Hikaru Nakamura was crowned the champion of the 2021 Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz. The American speed demon demonstrated impressive form throughout the event and will take home $37,500.00 for his efforts. This marks Hikaru’s second victory at the Saint Rapid in Blitz since the tournament’s inception in 2017. His previous victory was in 2018. Fabiano Caruana narrowly edged out Richard Rapport to capture clear 2nd place and a nice paycheck of $25,000.00. Coming into the final day of blitz chess, Hikaru Nakamura had three goals: Win the tournament Maintain his no-loss streak Maintain his #1 spot in the world blitz ratings. Nakamura accomplished the first goal without a hitch. He clinched clear first place with 3 rounds to spare. Such a feat is incredibly impressive on its own, given the strength of the field. The second goal was a bit more challenging. Throughout the day, Hikaru found himself hanging on for dear life, especially in his games against Sam Shankland and Leinier Dominguez. However, Nakamura demonstrated amazing precision and resourcefulness to save difficult positions and stay undefeated. After nine rapid games and 18 blitz games over the course of 5 days, Nakamura did not lose a single one. Unfortunately, the final goal of keeping the top blitz rating in the world was just out of reach. Given a large number of draws, Nakamura slipped just below Magnus Carlsen in the world blitz rankings. Magnus had this to say to Hikaru on Twitter: “Congrats to world #2 rated rapid and blitz player @GMHikaru for winning the #STLRapidBlitz with a dominating, unbeaten performance!” The fight for the top places in the overall Grand Chess Tour standings is still very hotly contested. With a 4th place finish in this event, Wesley So earned 7 GCT points and leapfrogged Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to become the new tour leader with 28.3 GCT points. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov earned 4 GCT points in this event, boosting his overall score to 22.5 GCT points, barely eclipsing MVL, who now stands in third place with 22 GCT points. With the Sinquefield Cup starting on Tuesday, August 17, there are still several players who are in contention for the title of 2021 Grand Chess Tour Champion. A report from the final day of the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz would not be complete without giving huge kudos to GM Liem Le. He produced another excellent performance in the blitz portion and scored 5.5/9 on the final day. Over the last two days of blitz, Le gained 84.4 points on the live blitz rating list and now stands at #14 in the world. Despite standing in the last place after the rapid portion, Le’s epic recovery landed him in 5th place, earning a $12,500.00 paycheck. The coverage of the 2021 Sinquefield Cup will begin Tuesday, August 17 at 2:50 PM CDT with live commentaries by GM’s Yasser Seirawan, Alejandro Ramirez, and Maurice Ashley on grandchesstour.org. Watch all the action live on grandchesstour.org and Kasparovchess.com Text: IM Eric Rosen Photos: Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum Studios Credits available on Flickr. Further Information:Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTourInstagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour#GrandChessTour#STLRapidBlitz Venue: Saint Louis Chess Club, USAAugust 10- August 16, 2021 Press Contact:press@grandchesstour.org Livestream:Grandchesstour.orgKasparovchess.com
2021 2nd FIDE Council Meeting: List of Decisions
List of FIDE Council Decisions 2021 2nd meeting 2 August 2021 CM2-2021/01 To note President’s report. CM2-2021/02 To note financial report. CM2-2021/03 To approve that the 2021 FIDE Congress be organized in the 2nd half of December 2021 (the format of the Congress -online or in person meeting — will be determined later) and to entrust the President with the right to agree on the venue with the potential organizers (if the Congress will be held in the form of an in-person meeting). CM2-2021/04 To note the report on the FIDE Handbook update. CM2-2021/05 To forward the letter from the Romanian Chess Federation regarding the Mission and Role of FIDE and Prevention of Manipulation of Competitions to the respective Commissions and request their feedback. CM2-2021/06 To welcome the intention of a creation of a Chess Federation of Benin and to follow-up its proper application for FIDE membership in due course. CM2-2021/07 To approve the preparation of bidding procedures for all major FIDE events for 2022-2023. Instruct the GSC to prepare the regulations of the relevant tournaments and submit them for approval by the Council. CM2-2021/08 To open a bidding procedure for the 2026 Chess Olympiad in December 2021. CM2-2021/09 To approve changes in the FIDE Online Chess Regulations as per Annex 5.2a. CM2-2021/10 To note the General Strategy Commission’s report. CM2-2021/11 To note the Arbiters’ Commission’s report. CM2-2021/12 To approve the recommendations of the Arbiters’ Commission on Seminars, Classification upgrades, Amendments to the FIDE lecturer list, FA norms and titles. CM2-2021/13 To note the Chess in Education Commission’s report. CM2-2021/14 To note the Events Commission’s report. CM2-2021/15 To approve the recommendations of the Events Commission on titles. CM2-2021/16 To consult with FISU when deciding on the format and dates for the proposed World Universities Championship 2022 in Paris. CM2-2021/17 To note the Commission’s for the Disabled report. CM2-2021/18 To note the first draft of the Ethics and Disciplinary Code, to collect comments of the FIDE Council members and to send draft to the National Federations for their input not later than September 15, 2021. To organize the work so that all the relevant suggestions would be collected and integrated prior to General Assembly Meeting 2021. CM2-2021/19 To approve Ms. See Swee Sie (MAS) as a new member of the EDC Fact-finding Committee. CM2-2021/20 To note the Fair Play Commission’s report. CM2-2021/21 To conceptually approve the Fair Play Commission’s proposal establishing the “fast track” principle in disciplinary fair-play penalties; to request Messrs. Rivello and Strydom to suggest an optimal implementation model in order to minimize the necessary changes in the FIDE Charter and provide proper division of powers; to prepare the necessary changes in the FIDE Charter (if any) and other regulations accordingly; to request the Athletes’ Commission’s opinion about new rules. CM2-2021/22 To note the Medical Commission’s report. CM2-2021/23 To note the Planning and Development Commission’s report and principally to support Commission’s initiatives. CM2-2021/24 To note the Rules Commission’s report. CM2-2021/25 To send the proposed changes for the FIDE Laws of Chess presented by the Rules Commission, to the Arbiters’ and Athletes’ Commissions and request their feedback. CM2-2021/26 To approve the recommendations of the Qualification Commission on titles. CM2-2021/27 To approve the Qualification Commission’s proposal in respect of amendments for the Rating and Licensing Regulations regarding rights of the Affiliated Organisations for the FIDE Ratings and Participation in the FIDE Events. CM2-2021/28 To reject appeal from Praveen Balakrishnan (USA) against the Qualification Commission’s decision in respect of his GM title application. CM2-2021/29 To note the Social Commission’s report. CM2-2021/30 To consult the Qualification Commission in respect of FIDE IDs for refugees. CM2-2021/31 To note the Systems of Pairings and Programs Commission’s report. CM2-2021/32 To note the Technical Commission’s report. CM2-2021/33 To note the Technical Commission’s proposal in respect of changes in “C.02. Standards of Chess Equipment venue for FIDE Tournaments, rate of play and tie-break regulations” and to request the Arbiters, GSC, Rules, Events, SPP and Qualification Commissions to provide their feedback. CM2-2021/34 To note the Trainers’ Commission’s report. CM2-2021/35 To approve the recommendations of the Trainers’ Commission on titles and Academies. CM2-2021/36 To approve the proposal of the Trainers’ Commission in respect of adding a clause about financial obligations to the existing regulations. CM2-2021/37 To note the Commission’s for Women’s Chess report and to study further the Commission’s proposal for year 2022 (Women in chess year). CM2-2021/38 To note the Historical Committee’s report and to start preparations in line with the proposed roadmap. CM2-2021/39 To note Continental reports. CM2-2021/40 To approve contract with World Chess in respect of FIDE Online Arena. CM2-2021/41 To approve a draft resolution in support of Ms. A. Sorokina. CM2-2021/42 To note the letter from the Polish Chess Federation in respect of Grand Chess Tour in Warsaw. CM2-2021/43 To organize the next FIDE Council meeting online at the end of October 2021.
FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2022 – Call for bids
1.1 The International Chess Federation (FIDE) will hold the Women’s Candidates Tournament in the first part of 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. 1.3 Any Applicant shall fill in the Bidding Form. A signed copy shall be submitted as e-mail messages to the FIDE Secretariat to office@fide.com from 16 August to 15 September 2021 by 23:59 Lausanne time (FIDE has a right to extend this deadline ). All the documents shall be submitted in English. Additional documents may be requested by the FIDE General Strategy Commission (GSC) for further evaluation. 1.4 Bid Evaluation Report shall be presented by GSC for approval of the FIDE Council. 1.5 Once the Organiser is granted the right to host 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.
2021 STL Rapid & Blitz: Nakamura extends his lead
The first day of blitz was a roller-coaster day for many players, but the clear storyline was the dominance of Hikaru Nakamura. After nine blitz games, he now sits with 18 total points and remains at the top of the leaderboard. The race for second place has been hotly contested between Fabiano Caruana and Richard Rapport. The two grandmasters were neck and neck throughout the day, but it was Caruana who narrowly edged out Rapport to claim clear second place with a total of 15.5 points. Tomorrow will feature the nine final blitz games where anything can still happen. Hikaru Nakamura The five-time US Champion has yet to lose a game in this event. Nakamura had an ultra-solid performance with three wins and six draws. Although he did lose his 2900 rating on the live-rating list, he remains tied with Magnus Carlsen for the top blitz player in the world with a live rating of 2892. When asked if he cares about keeping his top blitz ranking, Nakamura responded: “It doesn’t matter at all… If I was really worried about the rating, I wouldn’t play the event.” Going into tomorrow, Nakamura has a comfortable 2.5-point lead over Caruana. He is getting all the more closer to the sweet $37,500 first-place prize, which is surely more rewarding than any sort of blitz rating. The Comeback of Liem Le Liem Le was clearly out of form in the first three days of rapid chess and found himself in clear last place after day 3. Today, he completely turned things around and reminded everyone why he is a former world blitz champion. In the first six rounds of blitz, Le scored an astonishing 5 out of 6 points. In the final round of today, he was incredibly close to taking down Hikaru Nakamura with the black pieces but couldn’t quite navigate his way through the tactical chaos. Ultimately, Hikaru won in a messy time scramble finale and slowed down Le’s momentum. However, the Vietnamese grandmaster still boasts an impressive 6/9 score for the day and moves up to 8th place in the standings. He also gained nearly 50 rating points on the live blitz rating list and jumped to #29 in the world. Tragedies and Triumphs Fabiano Caruana had the most topsy-turvy day out of any player. He scored an abysmal 1 point out of the first five rounds but finished strongly with 3.5 points in the final 4 rounds. In his final blitz game against Richard Rapport, he had forced mate but was unable to find the right sequence amid time pressure. The game ultimately ended in a draw. Many more blunders and missed opportunities were seen throughout the day, leaving commentators bedazzled. In one game, Sam Shankland brilliantly defeated Wesley So in an absolute masterclass. In another, Shankland allowed a one-move knight fork against Jeffery Xiong, resulting in an instant loss. Peter Svidler lost a couple of miniatures after opening preparation went terribly wrong. Multiple players (including Svidler) lost on time in positions that still had life. No amount of words can truly reflect the drama and intensity that took place yesterday. For those reading this sentence, we highly encourage you to watch today’s commentary to relive the excitement. The 2021 Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz coverage continues on Sunday, August 15, at 2:50 PM CDT, with live commentaries by GM’s Yasser Seirawan, Alejandro Ramirez, and Maurice Ashley on grandchesstour.org. Watch all the action live on grandchesstour.org and Kasparovchess.com Text: IM Eric Rosen Photos: Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum Studios Credits available on Flickr. Further Information:Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTourInstagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour#GrandChessTour#STLRapidBlitz Venue: Saint Louis Chess Club, USAAugust 10- August 16, 2021 Press Contact:press@grandchesstour.org Livestream:Grandchesstour.orgKasparovchess.com
2021 FIDE Online Olympiad opens in Shenzhen
On August 13, 2021, the Online Chess Olympiad 2021 was opened in Shenzhen MSU-BIT University in Shenzhen, China. More than 1500 players from 155 teams will compete in rapid chess from August 20 to September 15. The opening ceremony was attended by Ye Jiangchuan, FIDE Vice President and Chairman of the Chinese Chess Association; Wang Zhiqiang, Deputy Inspector of the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports; Li Hezhang, Rector of Shenzhen MSU-BIT University and other officials. In his welcome speech, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich stressed the importance of this tournament for the players and the global chess community. “Warm welcome on behalf of FIDE to all the participants and organizers of the second FIDE Online Olympiad! We are happy to have it for the second year in the row following the success of the last year when more than 160 teams participated in the event. Today we have almost the same number, and this is another confirmation that people love it – both chess players and spectators. We are happy to be joined by Chess.com, and we are specifically grateful to our Chinese partners – their support is enormous and very much welcome at FIDE and the whole chess community. Best of luck! Stay cool and play chess!” he said. The second edition of the Online Olympiad is supported and sponsored by the Shenzhen authorities, including the Shenzhen Longgang District Culture and Sports Bureau, the Shenzhen MSU-BIT University, Shenzhen Chess Academy, Shenzhen Pengcheng Chess Club. Simaland, the Russian wholesale online store and proud sponsor of the Candidates tournament 2020-21 is also a partner for the Online Olympiad 2021. China will have two teams participating in the event – the Chinese National Chess Team seeded directly to Top Division, and the host Shenzhen team, composed of players representing Shenzhen (GMs Zeng Chongsheng, Yu Ruiyuan, and Zhao Xue, WIM Xu Tong, Xue Haowen and WFM Li Xinyu). They also made an appearance at the opening ceremony. The division stage will kick off on August 20. Top Division, featuring 25 seeded teams and 15 qualified teams, will begin on September 08. The decisive play-off stage is scheduled for September 13-15. Like a year ago, each team will consist of six players, including at least two women, at least one player U-20 (born in 2001 or later), and at least one female U-20 (born in 2001 or later). The time control is 15 minutes + 5 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1.
2021 STL Rapid & Blitz: Nakamura in the lead after rapid
At the end of a dramatic final day of rapid chess, Hikaru Nakamura has emerged as the new tournament leader. With excellent opening preparation, tactical precision, and clever resourcefulness, the American grandmaster remains the only competitor to have not lost a single game thus far. Fabiano Caruana and Richard Rapport trail close behind in 2nd place. With 18 blitz games to come over the next two days, anything can happen. However, Hikaru has proven that he is the man to beat. Round 7 The first round of the day kicked off with fireworks. Jeffery Xiong scored his first win of the event by absolutely pummeling GM Liem Le from the black side of a Caro Kann. Xiong seized the initiative early with a strong central pawn break and did not stop making threats until winning material. The game ended in just 20 moves. Meanwhile, Hikaru Nakamura convincingly defeated Leinier Dominguez from the white side of a Queen’s Gambit Accepted. After misplaying the opening, Dominguez found himself in a horrendous position with his pieces lacking coordination, and his king stuck in the center. Although Dominguez managed to survive longer than expected, it was not enough to escape the powerful claws of Hikaru. The most shocking result of the round took place between Fabiano Caruana and Richard Rapport. The game began with Caruana completely eviscerating Richard Rapport’s Sicilian Defense with a kingside pawn storm that looked almost as sinister as the thunderstorm that hit St. Louis yesterday evening. When it looked like the American would cruise his way to victory, Rapport resisted. He used Caruana’s g7-pawn as an umbrella for his king and defended valiantly in severe time pressure. It was then Caruana who stumbled and found his own king in a mating net. In an unexpected twist, Caruana got mated on the board and lost what should have been an easily winning game. Round 8The second round of the day produced even more drama. The first game to finish was Richard Rapport’s convincing victory over Jeffery Xiong. The Hungarian grandmaster achieved a clear advantage from a King’s Indian Attack and maintained full control through the entire game. His winning technique was nearly as colourful as his vibrant shirt. Many of the other games were decided deep in time pressure situations. Peter Svidler demonstrated a brilliant tactical endgame sequence with less than a minute left to take down Leinier Dominguez. Caruana rebounded from his disappointing loss in round 7 by beautifully outplaying Mamedyarov. He showed how truly overpowering the bishop pair can be in the endgame and Mamedyarov could not tame the diagonal-moving beasts. Sam Shankland gave Liem Le his second loss of the day in a long endgame grind-down. After losing a pawn in the early middlegame, the Vietnamese grandmaster showed great resilience and reached a drawn rook endgame. However, one tragic blunder was enough to let the draw slip away and give Shankland the victory. The only draw of the round was seen in Wesley So versus Hikaru Nakamura. Although Hikaru was under pressure for much of the game, he demonstrated computer-like precision to fend off Wesley’s attack and maintain his no-loss streak. Round 9In the final round of rapid chess, all attention was on the marquee matchup between Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura. The American superstars entered a deep theoretical variation of the Ruy Lopez, with Nakamura showing superior opening preparation. Consequently, Nakamura acquired a massive advantage as the position transitioned into an endgame. Caruana’s position was highly unpleasant to defend and quickly crumbled as a result. Nakamura demonstrated stellar technique to cruise his way to victory and leapfrog Caruana in the standings. The only other decisive outcome of the round was seen in the game Jeffery Xiong versus Sam Shankland. In what should have been a drawn position, Shankland made an atrocious blunder in time pressure allowing Jeffery a simple and aesthetic winning tactic. Xiong pounced on the opportunity, and Shankland immediately resigned. If this foreshadows anything, we can expect a lot more blunders and decisive games as the time control will shorten to 5+2 for the remaining two days. The 2021 Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz coverage continues on Saturday, August 14, at 2:50 PM CDT, with live commentaries by GM’s Yasser Seirawan, Alejandro Ramirez, and Maurice Ashley on grandchesstour.org. Watch all the action live on grandchesstour.org and Kasparovchess.com Text: IM Eric Rosen Photos: Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum Studios Credits available on Flickr. Further Information:Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTourInstagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour#GrandChessTour#STLRapidBlitz Venue: Saint Louis Chess Club, USAAugust 10- August 16, 2021 Press Contact:press@grandchesstour.org Livestream:Grandchesstour.orgKasparovchess.com