ATTN: Participants of 2021 FIDE World Cup and FIDE Women’s World Cup
Dear participants of the recently concluded 2021 FIDE World Cup and FIDE Women’s World Cup: Our financial department needs to know your actual, up-to-date banking information in order to pay your prize money by bank transfer. If you have not yet communicated your banking details, please make sure to send the following information to office@fide.com: Recipient full name. Recipient address. Recipient bank name, address, SWIFT code. Recipient bank account number (IBAN). If you have already communicated this information, no further actions are required – you will receive your prize money within two weeks from the conclusion of the tournaments as stipulated in the players’ contracts.
2021 STL Rapid & Blitz Day 2: Caruana shoots ahead
After another exciting day of chess, Fabiano Caruana has emerged as the sole leader. Despite losing his Round 4 game to Sam Shankland, Caruana came roaring back. He defeated compatriots Leinier Dominguez and Wesley So and now sits atop the leaderboard with 9 points. Hikaru Nakamura claims clear second place with 7 points. The best performance of the day came from Sam Shankland who scored dazzling victories over Caruana and Mamedyarov, and drew Nakamura. Although Shankland started the day at the bottom of the standings due to a rough result on day 1, he now sits in a tie for third place with So, Rapport, Mamedyarov, and Dominguez. Round 4 Forty-five minutes into the first round of the day, GM Maurice Ashley jubilantly exclaimed, “All the games are on FIRE!” This wasn’t far from an exaggeration. Every single board featured extremely intense struggles, with the clock times dwindling for many of the players. It wasn’t clear how any game would end or even which game the commentators should focus on. Remarkably, the round produced just one decisive outcome, with Shankland taking down Fabiano Caruana in a fiery tactical finale. In other games, opportunities were missed. Dominguez achieved a dominating position against Wesley So, but let his advantage slip in time pressure. Xiong had a clearly better position against Mamedyarov but settled for a draw when he could have pushed for more. Perhaps the youngster gave his veteran opponent a little bit too much respect. Liem Le demonstrated incredibly strong and deep preparation in the Classical Variation of the Nimzo Indian against Hikaru Nakamura. This put Hikaru on the back foot from early on, but he defended valiantly to equalize in the endgame and secure a draw. The intriguing battle between Richard Rapport and Peter Svidler featured an incredibly obscure opening and that resulted in a complex tactical slugfest. Rapport pushed for a kingside attack, but after a series of trades, the fire of the position died down and perpetual check was delivered. Round 5 The excitement of the day certainly continued into the 5th round. In the marquee matchup, Caruana defeated co-leader Dominguez in a one-sided positional squeeze to claim the sole lead. Peter Svidler managed to win his first game of the event by taking down Liem Le in an incredibly messy debacle. For any brave soul that wants to check the Stockfish analysis of this game, you’ll see a computer graph that’s more volatile than Bitcoin. Meanwhile, Sam Shankland unleashed his Semislav Chessable course preparation against Mamedyarov, who clearly didn’t do his homework. The American won with the black pieces in just 25 moves. The commentators praised Shankland’s play and dubbed his victory one of the best games of the competition thus far. In another fascinating game, Jeffery Xiong (pictured above) brilliantly outplayed Nakamura from the black side of a Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation. Clearly, Xiong was seeking revenge for falling victim to Hikaru’s Bongcloud in last year’s online STL Rapid & Blitz Event. However, Nakamura displayed his masterful survival skills once again and managed to fight his way to draw from a completely losing position. Round 6 The final round of the day also produced some notable highlights. Wesley So committed a one-move blunder that was more characteristic of an amateur rather than a super-grandmaster. Caruana snagged a free knight, prompting So to resign immediately. In the post-game interview, Caruana half-joked that many of the players were having a hard time seeing the pieces because the masks were causing their glasses to fog up. In the only other decisive game of the round, Dominguez stumbled against Mamedyarov. Yasser Seirawan was deeply disgusted by the placement of Dominguez’s rook, calling it the worst rook he had ever seen. The final position featured complete paralysis of the white pieces, allowing Mamedyarov to score a key victory and catch up to Dominguez in the standings. The 2021 Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz coverage continues today, August 13, 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
Berlin wins popular vote; will host the Grand Prix Series and other events in 2022
August 12, 2021 — Berlin, the capital of Germany, will be the main host of the 2022 Grand Prix Series. The Series, a part of the World Chess Championship circuit, will run from February to April in a bespoke-designed chess arena. The city was chosen by World Chess, the gaming company that organizes the Series in partnership with FIDE, as well as by chess fans from around the world. In a survey conducted over two weeks, chess players, organizers and federations were asked to suggest a city to host the prestigious series, and Berlin emerged as a clear favourite with 16 percent of the total votes. The runners-up were Sao Paulo and London. In total, over 4000 people took part in the survey. Throughout the two weeks, chess lovers got the chance to cast a vote for their favourite chess city. According to the organizers, such an enthusiastic response was a little unexpected but is in line with the growing popularity of chess both online and offline. The popular vote marks an important point in chess history because, for the first time, the global chess community was actively involved in the process of deciding on a new chess capital, and Berlin is indeed a worthy choice. The sport is very popular in the city: according to a YouGov study, 23% of the population plays chess regularly. Ilya Merenzon, CEO of World Chess says “Chess in Berlin has a lot of history and Berlin has a lot of love for the game, and we are looking forward not only to bringing 3 months of top-level chess here but also to establishing a permanent home for one of the most popular games”. Arkady Dvorkovich, the FIDE President, says: “FIDE continues to support and bring top-level chess to the world’s cities. Chess in Berlin is a part of the culture, and we are thrilled that the city and the whole of Europe will have an opportunity not only to follow the games online but also the see them life, even in these challenging times”. Ullrich Krause, President of the German Chess Federation: “We are pleased that the organizers are bringing the FIDE Grand Prix 2022 to Germany! And as we know from the 2018 Candidates Tournament, Berlin is the perfect city for a world-class event of this kind: a chess-loving international audience meets excellent and interesting venues. The German Chess Federation and World Chess will make these 45 days of Grand Prix a true chess festival with activities throughout the city”. The Series will feature 24 players, each of whom will compete in two out of three tournaments. Each event will consist of a group stage and then a knockout round. In the group stage, each group will play a round-robin six-round tournament. The system has been improved based on feedback from the chess community regarding the number of classical games: there are six classical games in the first round of each competition. This further reduces the chance of random results and ensures that players with consistently high scores advance to the next stage. The prize fund for each event is EUR 150,000 , which is a EUR 20,000 increase from 2019. The design theme of the Series will be ‘Time to Say Berlin’. The slogan is a play on the now-famous tweet by World Champion Magnus Carlsen’ Time to Say Dubai’ once he learned the name of his challenger in the FIDE World Chess Championship which is due to take place in Dubai in November. The Berlin Grand Prix Series marks the beginning of a new cycle. The design of the Series represents the main characters and archetypes of Berlin and is supplemented by the chessboard and graffiti-style bespoke typeface. The Series consists of three events, each featuring 16 players. Each event consists of a group stage and a knockout. The events are planned to take place in Berlin. However, FIDE may propose a supplementary city with excellent transportation links with Berlin for one out of three events. The FIDE Grand Prix Series 2022 is supported by the following leading global companies: Algorand as the Official Blockchain Partner Kaspersky as the Official Cybersecurity Partner For further questions, please contact: media@worldchess.com Official website: https://worldchess.com/news/ About World Chess: World Chess is a London-based chess gaming and entertainment group and FIDE’ official broadcaster and commercial partner. World Chess organized the FIDE Championship Matches in Russia, the USA, and the UK, and revolutionized the sport by signing the biggest media partnerships in history. World Chess develops Armageddon, the chess league for prime-time television. World Chess also runs FIDE Online Arena, the exclusive official chess gaming platform. More at worldchess.com. About Algorand: Algorand is building the technology to power the Future of Finance (FutureFi), the convergence of traditional and decentralized models into a unified system that is inclusive, frictionless, and secure. Founded by Turing Award-winning cryptographerSilvio Micali, Algorand developed a blockchain infrastructure that offers the interoperability and capacity to handle the volume of transactions needed for defi, financial institutions and governments to smoothly transition into FutureFi. The technology of choice for more than 700 global organizations, Algorand is enabling the simple creation of next generation financial products, protocols and exchange of value. For more information, visit www.algorand.com. About Kaspersky: Kaspersky is a global cybersecurity and digital privacy company founded in 1997. Kaspersky’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into innovative security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company’s comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialized security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky technologies and we help 240,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.
2021 STL Rapid & Blitz: Day 1 Recap
The Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz kicked off with an exciting mix of blunders, brilliancies, and plenty of decisive outcomes. After three rounds, American grandmasters Fabiano Caruana and Leinier Dominguez lead the field with 5 out of 6 points. Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura trail close behind with 4 points. In the rapid portion, a win is worth 2 points, a draw is 1 point, and a loss is 0. Round 1 The first round of the tournament began with two victories as Richard Rapport (pictured below) and Leinier Dominguez made quick work of their opponents. Rapport reached a winning position after just 14 moves against GM Sam Shankland after the American grandmaster made a costly tactical oversight. Rapport pounced on the opportunity to sacrifice a piece for the overwhelming initiative. The final position featured a rare material imbalance in which Rapport’s 5 extra pawns completely overpowered Shankland’s minor piece. Meanwhile, Dominguez played an immaculate positional game against Jeffery Xiong. Although the game featured a relatively mild-looking Italian Opening with an early queen trade, Dominguez acquired a dominant grip on Black’s queenside weaknesses, causing Xiong’s position to crumble quite rapidly. Round 2 The second round featured another two decisive results, with grandmasters Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Fabiano Caruana (pictured below) joining the top of the standings. For those chess fans who truly despise the London Opening (known for it’s extremely solid and annoying nature), here is some good news: Fabiano completely dismantled Liem Le‘s London is a highly instructive game. The American number 1 unleashed some hypnotic knight manoeuvres leading to a clear middlegame edge. By move 21, Caruana achieved a strong outpost in white’s territory and gradually transformed his advantage into a winning endgame. For the staunch London Opening supporters (including yours truly), we will have to dig hard to find some improvement against Caruana’s super-grandmaster preparation. The matchup between Peter Svidler and Mamedyarov produced the most shocking twist of the day. For much of the game, the Russian grandmaster displayed extraordinary tactical vision in a complex position to achieve a decisive advantage. According to Maurice Ashley, Svidler was playing “BOSS CHESS.” However, in an unexpected turn of events, Svidler froze up in time trouble and ended up flagging to give Mamedyarov the victory. Check out a short clip of the game’s climax on the Grand Chess Tour’s Twitter feed. Round 3 In the final round of the day, all heck broke loose… decisive outcomes EVERYWHERE! Hikaru Nakamura (pictured above), wearing his iconic pineapple shirt, earned his first victory of the event by beating Svidler while he was still down. Jeffery Xiong committed a one-move blunder in the early middlegame to give his compatriot Caruana another victory. Mamedyarov got wiped off the board in just 23 moves with white after his off-beat opening completely backfired against Le. Wesley So outclassed Sam Shankland’s Slav in a one-sided beatdown. In the last game to end, Leinier Dominguez (pictured below) displayed exceptional technique against Rapport to secure another victory and join Caruana for the lead. The 2021 Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz coverage continues today, August 12 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
Rhodes to host World Amateur Championships 2021
FIDE is pleased to announce that the World Amateur Championships 2021 will take place from the 16th to October 26 on Rhodes Island in the 5-star Rodos Palace Conference Center. In total, 6 championship titles in 3 categories will be awarded (categories for FIDE ratings under 2300, under 2000 and under 1700): Open & Women u-1700, Open & Women u-2000, Open & Women u-2300. The prize fund of the event, supported by FIDE, amounts to €10,000. The three winners of the Open sections receive the titles of: 2021 World Amateur Champion u-23002021 World Amateur Champion u-20002021 World Amateur Champion u-1700 The three winners of the Women sections receive the titles of: 2021 World Women’s Amateur Champion u-2300 2021 World Women’s Amateur Champion u-20002021 World Women’s Amateur Champion u-1700 Tournament regulations (pdf)Event in the FIDE Calendar Covid-19 and Health Protocol: The official information regarding travel regulations to Greece, including instructions for the PLF form to be filled 24h before the flight and the vaccine policy of Greece, is published at: https://travel.gov.gr The organizers and the participants should follow the official FIDE Health Measures. The organizers will accept all valid Covid-19 vaccines and/or negative PCR tests from participants. The organizers and the participants should follow strictly all the vaccination and testing regulations applied by the Greek Health Authorities. The deadline for registrations is September 16, 2021. For complete information on the event’s regulations, including registration procedure, participation costs, detailed prize fund and travel instructions, check out the official website. To contact the Organising Committee, send you messages to: rodos2021@chess.travel
FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss 2021: lists of qualified players
FIDE has published the lists of players qualified for the Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss and the reserve lists respectively. 2021 Grand Swiss Open – the list of qualified and reserved players (pdf) 2021 Grand Swiss Women – the list of qualified and reserved players (pdf) Contracts for participation will be published later this week. The FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss Tournament and Women’s Grand Swiss 2021 are the parts of the qualification for the World Championship cycle 2021-23. Both events will be 11-round Swiss-system, tournaments, with 114 and 50 players respectively, scheduled to be running from 25 October to 8 November 2021 in Riga (Latvia).
So wins Chessable Masters final to clinch third Tour title
Wesley So triumphed in the Chessable Masters final to seal an unprecedented hat-trick of Meltwater Champions Chess Tour titles. The reigning US Champ dominated the first day of the final against Liem Quang Le then held off a spirited challenge in the second. The scores finished 2-2 as So secured the draw he needed to take the tournament’s $30,000 top prize. It puts So just 34 points behind World Champion Magnus Carlsen in the overall Tour standings with just one tournament to go before the finals event. So said he hoped his win would mean Carlsen – who did not play in this event – would “have to show up”. The Norwegian has already indicated that a showdown will happen. So’s win was crushing – but it wasn’t plain-sailing straight away. Liem came out swinging in the final’s second match after being disappointed by his performance yesterday. The Vietnamese star, who shocked the field by just making the final, raced into a lead by winning the opener with a devastating rook attack. It was just the start Liem needed. But So, the World Fischer Random king, drew the second and then hit back in the third. A draw in the final game of the day sealed it. In truth, the American star, who has emerged as Carlsen’s biggest threat on the Tour so far, was streets ahead. The unconventional Liem battled hard and was dangerous to the last, but So’s experience in Tour rapid events eventually told. The 27-year-old, from Minnetonka in Minnesota, was just too strong. He has now reached four finals in total and is the only player on the Tour to have reached the knockout stage in every event. In the third-place play-off match, the Russian Vladislav Artemiev emerged victorious with a clean 2.5-0.5 win over the Goldmoney Asian Rapid winner Levon Aronian. The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour returns on August 28 with Carlsen expected to play in leg 9.
FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss to be held in Riga
The events will be staged in the format and dates originally scheduled: from 25 October to 8 November, 2021 The city of Riga will host the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss, two events that are part of the qualification cycle for the World Championship. The difficult decision to relocate the tournament from Douglas, its original planned location, was forced due to the strict COVID-19 restrictions still in place in the Isle of Man and the UK. With the support of the Scheinberg family, sponsor of the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss, the International Chess Federation has been working to find an alternative host city for the events, with the priority to stage them in the format and dates originally scheduled, and keeping the excellent organizational standards that the event enjoyed on its previous editions. Taking into consideration the current and prospected COVID-19 regulations in Latvia, and the readiness to host the events providing high-level organization, Riga has been designated as the host city. Latvia doesn’t require mandatory self-isolation and offers the flexibility of regulations and capability to host major sport events. This weekend, the Riga Technical University Open 2021 kicked off with more than 400 players from 35 countries, proving that the city is ready for the challenge of running a large event. FIDE is thankful to the Latvian Chess Federation, organizers, and authorities, for taking the responsibility that would allow the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss to be staged in Riga, without altering the planned dates and format. “We are not only ready to handle all the COVID-19 formalities but also put our maximum effort to carry out a high-level tournament that will leave good memories to all the players,” emphasizes Egons Lavendelis, the leader of the experienced organizing team. “In such a dynamic world the only risk is not to take any risks”, added Dana Reizniece-Ozola, FIDE’s Managing Director. “We have a great honour and also responsibility to host both Grand Swiss tournaments that will gather 164 distinguished players in Riga. We shall make sure that no compromises will be made on quality, so that players can fully concentrate on chess, audiences delighted by their fighting spirits and sponsors pleased.” The FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss Tournament and Women’s Grand Swiss 2021 form part of the qualification cycle for the World Championship cycle 2021-23. Both events will be an 11-round Swiss-system, tournament, with 114 and 50 players respectively, scheduled to be running from 25 October to 8 November 2021. A list of players qualified for the event is to be published later this week.
Wesley So blows away Liem Quang Le in first leg of final
Wesley So is on course for a third Meltwater Champions Chess Tour win after taking a convincing first-day lead in the Chessable Masters final. The reigning US Champ and World Fischer Random king thrashed Vietnam’s Liem Quang Le with a game to spare to go 1-0 up in matches. So now needs just a draw tomorrow to clinch the Chessable Masters and get within touching distance of World Champion Magnus Carlsen on the overall Tour leaderboard. The ruthless So started the day by taking full advantage of a big blunder from his opponent in Game 1. After a draw in Game 2, Liem then collapsed spectacularly to gift So the win that killed the first match of the final. So swooped in to launch a devastating attack. Liem said his performance was a “big disappointment” and that he had struggled to focus. So said: “Even though I won today I can’t relax or put a back pedal on it because Liem is very capable of coming back tomorrow.” Meanwhile, the battle for third place continues between Armenia’s Levon Aronian and the Russian Vladislav Artemiev as the Russian GM managed to tie the match after winning Game 4. Today’s final decider kicks off again at 17:00 CEST. All matches in the Chessable Masters are hosted in chess24.com’s playzone and available to watch on the platform’s Twitch and YouTube channels for free. The Chessable Masters is the penultimate leg of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour before the Finals event in San Francisco, where the ultimate winner will be crowned the world’s best online chess player. For further information, please contact: Leon Watson, PR for Play Magnus Groupleon@chessable.com+44 7786 078 770
FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss – Important Announcement
August 7, 2021 – It is with regret that we announce that Isle of Man will not be hosting the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss after all. Under Isle of Man and UK COVID-19 restrictions, there are currently too many players that would need to self-isolate before the tournaments, with no realistic prospect of this significantly changing before the scheduled start date of 25 October. FIDE, with the support of the Grand Swiss sponsor, the Scheinberg family, is working hard to find an alternative host country with an experienced organising team that is positioned to welcome all 164 participants without restrictions. Furthermore, FIDE is fully committed to staging the event in the format and dates originally scheduled. The new venue for the event will be confirmed within a week. This has been a difficult decision to make but we believe it is in the best interests of the players of both tournaments. Thank you for your understanding. Emil SutovskyDirector General, FIDE Alan OrmsbyDirector, IOM International Chess Limited