Latvia to stage the International Children and Youth Chess Festival “Rudaga – Kaissa 2021”
The FIDE Endorsed International Children and Youth Chess Festival «Rudaga – Kaissa 2021» will be held from 23 July to 1 August 2021 in Jūrmala, Latvia. The event is organized by the non-governmental organization “Rudaga Plus” and supported by FIDE, Latvian Chess Federation, Jurmala City Council, Children and Youth School of Education and Creativity “Rudaga” (Jurmala, Latvia), chess club “KAISSA” (Riga, Latvia), and Semarah Hotel “Lielupe” (Jurmala, Latvia). The festival includes three tournaments with three different time controls – Rapid (7 rounds held on July 24 and 25), Standard (Swiss System, 7 rounds held on July 26 – July 28 and July 30 – August 01) and Blitz (9 rounds, July 29). During «Rudaga – Kaissa 2021» festival creative and intellectual workshops, children friendship tournaments, master classes, simuls, a dedicated photo-corner and other entertainment activities will be organised. All participants of the event must be born in 2001 or later and have FIDE IDs (except rapid tournament players born in the year 2013 and younger). The registration fees for participation are 15 EUR for Blitz tournament, 25 EUR for Rapid tournament and 35 EUR for Standard tournament. Children with special needs and orphans are exempt from the fee. In addition to standard prizes – commemorative cups, diplomas, medals and memorable gifts – the winner of the Standard tournament among boys and girls will receive accreditation for the World Chess Olympiad 2022, an entrance ticket for the Opening Ceremony and accommodation for two nights in the official hotel of the Olympiad. Participation in the tournament is confirmed by an invitation sent by the Organizer, based on received applications, lists of participants and payment of the registration fee. Applications for participation are accepted until July 20, 2021 (if you need a visa, applications are accepted until July 10, 2021). Application forms: Registration for the Standard tournament: https://cutt.ly/xnKl1CP Registration for the Rapid tournament: https://cutt.ly/znKzqdg Registration for the Blitz tournament: https://cutt.ly/knKlKmF Tournament Regulations (pdf) Organizer’s contacts: Tournament Director: Inessa Testelecs, +371 29236910, chess.rudaga@gmail.com Chief Arbiter: Natalia Popova, International Arbiter Category D, Belarus, nata_chess@mail.ru
Budapest Chess Olympiad 2024: The contract is signed
The contract for the Budapest Chess Olympiad 2024 is now officially signed. On Wednesday, June 23, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich visited the Hungarian capital Budapest to meet with the organizers of the Chess Olympiad 2024. The signing of the contract for the most important team chess competition was the high point of the day. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, Laszlo Szabo, President of Hungarian Chess Federation, and Attila Mihok, Executive Director of the NSÜ – National Sports Agency of Hungary put their signatures under the document. Evgeny Stanislavov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation in Hungary, was also present. In his speech, FIDE President noted that the pandemic created obstacles for organizing sports events and chess tournaments in particular, but he firmly believes that there is enough time to organize the 2024 Olympiad on the highest level. “Hungary has incredible chess traditions, with great players like Lajos Portisch, Zoltán Ribli, Polgar sisters, and many others, a very active chess federation, and the support of national authorities and a beautiful city of Budapest. That is what makes it a perfect place for this most important team event,” said Arkady Dvorkovich. Legal support for the preparation and terms negotiations of the contract was provided by KIAP, Attorneys at Law – the official legal partner of FIDE. The Chess Olympiad 2024 is scheduled to run from September 10-23 at the renovated Hungexpo Exhibition and Conference Centre, with a total budget of 16,6 million euros. Political authorities, chess legends, and prominent members of the Hungarian Olympic movement and the sports administration have expressed their unconditional support to the event.
Wesley So wins 2021 Paris Grand Chess Tour
It may have been close at times, but in the end, it was smooth sailing for Wesley So who made it to the top of the leaderboard for the 2021 Paris Grand Chess Tour. Although his rival for first place, Ian Nepomniachtchi chased the American the entire day, Wesley So ultimately took home the first place win with a round to spare. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Alireza Firouzja fought hard today as well. Despite the fact that they both lost in the final round, the two finished the day tied for third place and then it was a tie for fifth between Levon Aronian and Richard Rapport. Vladimir Kramnik Kramnik felt rusty today, and it is not something the top chess contenders forgive. Over the two days of blitz, Kramnik was inventive, imaginative, and unafraid to take chances on the board. Unfortunately, he was not sharp enough when the tactics and fireworks inevitably happened to disrupt his games. Regrettably, the Russian made uncharacteristic mistakes and was consistently outcalculated among his competitors. Fabiano Caruana Unfortunately, World #2 did not become a contender at the top of this tournament’s leaderboard, and the last day was not a strong improvement for Caruana either. Luckily the American won twice today with black against Radjabov and Svidler, which meant that the day was still successful but not enough to move him to the top standings. Caruana’s previous final standings of seventh in Bucharest and now placing eighth in Paris shows that his chances to fight for the 2021 Grand Chess Tour title might be quickly slipping away. Richard Rapport After losing to Aronian on the second blitz game of the day, it could have been easy to dismiss Richard Rapport as not finding his form. But he came back fighting with three near-consecutive wins against Caruana, Radjabov and Firouzja that greatly improved his overall tournament results. The Hungarian ended up tied for fifth with Armenian player, Levon Aronian. Teimour Radjabov The tournament was sadly a bit of a disaster for Radjabov, he finished the final day of Paris with three losses in a row. The talented Azerbaijani will need to go back to the drawing board to see what went wrong in both the rapid and blitz sections as he gears up for his next Grand Chess Tour event. Unfortunately, Radjabov finished last in the event, even with Kramnik’s not-so-stellar performance in the blitz, which offset Bacrot’s excellent rapid portion. Peter Svidler The 8-time Russian Champion started the day in third place, but he was unable to keep pace and maintain the third-place position among his fellow competitors. Throughout the day he was in a fight for third place with Firouzja, Aronian and Vachier-Lagrave, but he fell apart in the second half of the day. Losing three games in a row saw him tumbling down the standings, finishing in seventh position overall. Levon Aronian A very solid +2 score on the last day of blitz was unfortunately not enough for Levon to achieve third place, even though the Armenian was fighting tenaciously throughout the day’s blitz games. Although Aronian’s games were fun to watch and his score in the blitz was good with +1 over these two days, it wasn’t enough to overcome his result in the previous rapid portion ultimately tying for fifth with Richard Rapport. Alireza Firouzja Amazing chess was played today by one of the shining stars of the game. His unique comeback story from the win-less rapid to a blisteringly hot performance in the blitz section stole all the viewer’s hearts. A tie for third place is a great result for the young phenom and future of our sport. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Vachier-Lagrave himself considered his play today to be “too uneven”. Indeed, masterstrokes and brilliant games were sometimes marred or wiped by multiple blunders or unnecessary losses. Still, tying for third place is not an awful result for the French #1. He hopes to be in better shape with his participation in the upcoming Croatia Grand Chess Tour stop. Ian Nepomniachtchi The World Championship Challenger had a great event. A good performance in the rapid portion, followed by strong showings in both days of blitz. His 21.5 total points would have won the last Paris Rapid & Blitz, that edition won in 2019 by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (21 points total for that first place win). This year, however, Wesley So was on fire for this year’s Paris leg. Huge kudos to Nepomniachtchi for trying his hardest against So in the final round, despite the result not mattering for the standings as So clinched with a round to go. That being said, Nepomniachtchi lost that final game against the tournament winner! Wesley So What a scintillating performance by the American player! Wesley So didn’t simply win the tournament – remained completely unbreakable. Aggressive positions, slow positions, endgames, openings – it didn’t matter what type of position appeared on the board, So was able to masterfully play it and win. The American superstar has lost only one game between the 36 Grand Chess Tour games he has played so far this season: 9 in Bucharest (classical) and 27 in Paris (rapid and blitz). Congratulations to the 2021 Paris Grand Chess Tour winner, Wesley So! So’s mother, Lotis Key, has been an important part of the American’s success Text: GM Alejandro Ramirez Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Official website: grandchesstour.org
Turkish Women’s Championship: Atalik clinches her fifth title
IM Ekaterina Atalık won her fifth national title after outperforming all the competitors in the 2021 Turkish Women’s Championship. Sponsored by a major Turkish home appliances company, Arzum, the event, a 7-round Swiss tournament, took place from June 13-19 in the beautiful halls of Çorum Museum which is also home to many important archaeological findings from Hattusa, the ancient capital of Hittites, and other settlements that lie inside the borders of the modern-day city of Çorum. The championship was expected to be a two-horse race between IM Ekaterina Atalık and WGM Kübra Öztürk Örenli and so it turned out to be in the end despite all the best efforts of the young and upcoming players in a dense field of 32 participants. The two regulars of the Turkish national team took the first two places with 6.5 and 6 points respectively after seven hard-fought rounds. Their eagerly awaited game ended in a draw after a tense battle, so the half-point loss WGM Öztürk Örenli suffered at the hands of the young Azra Ece Koç in the second round proved to be decisive for the championship race. 17-year-old WFM Esma Doga Duran finished clear third, a full point ahead of the rest of the field. The utmost care was given to the epidemiological regulations throughout the championship. The successful completion of the event without any health concerns sets an important example for the long-awaited full-scale return to OTB chess. Final standings: 1 Atalik, Ekaterina 6½ 2 Ozturk Orenli, Kubra 6 3 Duran, Esma Doga 5½ 4 Onur, Cigdem 4½ 5 Sahin, Hayrun Nisa 4½ 6 Kocyigit, Buse Naz 4½ 7 Gokbulut, Julia 4½ 8 Kalayci, Nino 4 9 Incecik , Seyma Zeynep 4 10 Akti, Ezgi 4 Text: Tarik Selbes Photo: official website Official website: kadinlar2021.tsf.org.tr
Amadou Lamine Cissé wins Senegal National Championship
Amadou Lamine Cissé won Senegal National Championship with an exceptional result of 9 out of 9 points. Cissé secured the title with a round to spare. The first part of the Senegal National Championship was held at Cours Sainte Marie De Hann from December 4, 2020, to December 6, 2020. The event was open for both Senegalese and foreigners. The seven-round Swiss tournament brought together 44 participants. Top ten Senegalese finishers qualified for the Senegal Closed National Chess Championship. The second and final leg of the Senegalese Chess Championships took place from June 11-20, 2021 at the Arène Nationale in Dakar, Senegal. The National Championship was originally supposed to be held in late December 2020 just after the Senegal Open Championship but was postponed due to tightened Covid-19 measures. The event was a 10-player round-robin tournament with a time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves followed by 30 minutes to the end of the game, plus a 30-second increment starting from move one. In second place with 7.5/9 is the top-rated Senegalese player Gbedo Sy Mansour who finished 1½ points ahead of third place. Bernard Lesbros and Mouhamadou Mourtada Fall tied for third place on 5½/9 with the former taking bronze thanks to better tiebreaks. Nadezhda Marochkina – the only lady participant in the tournament – proved herself against men’s competition by scoring 4½/9 and was crowned undisputed 2020 Senegalese Women National Chess Champion. Final standings: 1 Cisse, Amadou Lamine 9 2 Mansour, Gbedo Sy 7½ 3 Lesbros, Bernard 5½ 4 Fall, Mouhamadou Mourtada 5½ 5 Marochkina, Nadezhda 4½ 6 Wane, Al Hassane 3½ 7 Badji, Sekou Aransbene 3 8 Dioum, Mouhamadou Falilou 2½ 9 Diop, Wara 2 10 Kaundum, A. Robert Diatta 2 Official website: fesec.org Text and photo: Amadou Lamine Cisse
Players lists and full pairings of FIDE World Cups published
The final lists of the FIDE World Cup and the FIDE Women’s World Cup’s participants have been published. The knock-out events will be held from July 10TH to August 8th 2021 in the Gazprom Mountain Resort in Sochi. These top-rated events are part of the World Chess Championship cycles. The two finalists of the open event will qualify for the 2022 FIDE Candidates Tournament, whilst the three best players of the women’s competition will get spots in the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament. Two hundred and six (206) players will compete in the FIDE World Cup (eight rounds of KO play), and there will be one hundred and three (103) participants in the FIDE Women’s World Cup (seven rounds). The rating favourites of the open event are the current World Champion Magnus Carlsen (representing Norway, rated 2847 in the June 1st list), Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2820), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2781), Anish Giri (Netherlands, 2780), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2776), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan, 2770), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France, 2760), Alireza Firouzja (FIDE, 2759), Leinier Dominguez (USA, 2758), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2757), alongside many other well-known chess players from all over the world. The organisers have nominated the Russian players Rudik Makarian and Kirill Shubin. In addition, top youngsters Gukesh D (India), Jergus Pechac (Slovakia), Nijat Abasov (Azerbaijan) and Vladislav Kovalev (Belarus) have received direct “wild cards” from FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich. The FIDE Women’s World Cup will feature the Russians Aleksandra Goryachkina (2596) and Kateryna Lagno (2558), the Ukrainians Mariya and Anna Muzychuk (2544 and 2535, respectively), Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia, 2524), Harika Dronavalli (India, 2515), Tan Zhongyi (China, 2511), and many other chess stars. The organiser’s nominee for the Women’s event is Anna Afonasieva (Russia), while Amina Mezioud (Algeria) has been given the right to play by FIDE President. The first round of the FIDE World Cup and the FIDE Women’s World Cup will start off with one hundred and fifty-six (156) and seventy-eight (78) players, respectively. The winners of the opening matches will advance and be joined by fifty (50) high-ranked players in the open event and twenty-five (25) in the women’s competition, who are seeded straight into the second round. All matches consist of two classic games and a third-day tie-break, if necessary. Full pairings can be found on the official website of the FIDE World Cup 2021. Great matches are to be expected already in the first round! The prize fund of the FIDE World Cup is 1,892,500 USD and 676,250 USD in the FIDE Women’s World Cup. The tournament venue is the Galaxy entertaining center located in the Gazprom Mountain Resort, Krasnaya Polyana, Sochi. Participants: FIDE World Cup FIDE Women’s World Cup Media accreditation: press@fide.com Official website: worldcup.fide.com
Day 04 Recap
The first day of blitz was a rollercoaster day for many of the players, but the clear storyline was the surge of Alireza Firouzja – from finishing win-less and in the last place after the rapid portion of the 2021 Paris Grand Chess Tour to being tied for fourth after today’s 6.5/9 performance. Tomorrow, it will be a two-horse race to find out who will ultimately win between Wesley So and Ian Nepomniachtchi as they are so far ahead of the rest of their competitors. Vladimir Kramnik The former World Champion jumped into the action taking Etienne Bacrot’s spot in the blitz portion of this event. Kramnik had big shoes to fill in as Bacrot’s performance in the rapid was sublime. Unfortunately for Kramnik, he simply seemed out of form. Losing games on time and inattentive tactical moves showed he was a bit out of form. His lone win was against countryman and former second, Peter Svidler. Teimour Radjabov On a normal day, defeating Kramnik and Caruana with black indicates a good day. Not this time for Radjabov as he only scored 1/7 in the remaining games. It seemed like Radjabov was unable to keep up tactically today against any of his opponents. Fabiano Caruana Caruana has not been able to find himself in this leg of the Grand Chess Tour. With a full day of blitz left tomorrow, World #2 is already out of contention for first place in this event. The American will need a brilliant performance tomorrow to keep any hopes of winning the 2021 Grand Chess Tour. Richard Rapport Rapport had a very solid day today, drawing six of his nine games. His only win was against Kramnik, who forfeited in a lost position. Having missed the Superbet Chess Classic and with this performance in Paris, Rapport seems to also be putting himself out of contention for the 2021 Grand Chess Tour title. Levon Aronian 50% for Aronian keeps him in a tie for 6th with the Kramnik/Bacrot duo. Aronian played some excellent games today, like his win against Radjabov. Unfortunately, consistency wasn’t there and he suffered too many losses for him to seriously climb the standings. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave The Frenchman is typically one of the most dangerous blitz players in the World, and while we are used to him dominating or scoring highly in the blitz sections. Today, however, it was a topsy-turvy day for MVL who scored 50%, finding better form in the second half of the day. Peter SvidlerThe Russian star seemed to be fading away on the early part of the day: losses to Aronian and Kramnik to kick off the blitz was certainly not what he wanted. After a series of draws, however, inspiration came back to Svidler as he finished the day with a hat-trick and surged in the standings: his combined Rapid and Blitz puts him in an excellent third-place position. Wesley So Wesley So’s 5.5/9 was a solid score and combined with his rapid results he is still in the lead. The 2016 Grand Chess Tour champion lost his first game of the entire 2021 Tour against Aronian. An excellent win against Firouzja was the highlight of the day for the American, but he will need to do better than 5.5 tomorrow if he wishes to secure first place. Ian Nepomniachtchi The World Championship Challenger continued to position himself right behind Wesley So’s first place heels. The American’s lead is only because the Russian superstar scored an excellent 6/9 today – a score that could very well have been 7/9 if he had converted against Firouzja. Nepomniachtchi is only half a point behind So, and another day like this might be all he needs to take first place. Alireza Firouzja The Prince of Chess stole our hearts today. What a comeback story: the young phenom had been unable to win a single game in the rapid part of the event, but he started the blitz in blazing glory. A marvelous 5.5/6 certainly made him the attention of the commentators and the audience. His loss to So prevented him from realistically fighting for first place, but he is currently tied for fourth. The coverage of the 2021 Paris Grand Chess Tour final day continues tomorrow, June 22 at 7:00 AM CDT with live coverage from GMs Yasser Seirawan, Maurice Ashley, Cristian Chirila and IM Almira Skripchenko exclusively on kasparovchess.com/grand-chess-tour. Text: GM Alejandro Ramirez Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Official website: grandchesstour.org
Sam Shankland wins Prague Chess Festival Masters
Prague International Chess Festival 2021, a big chess forum that included Masters, Open and Futures tournaments, concluded last Sunday in the capital of the Czech Republic. American GM Sam Shankland emerged as the winner of the most prestigious Masters event scoring an impressive 5.5 out of 7 and picked 18 rating points. Thanks to this excellent performance Sam is returning to a prestigious 2700+ club. On his way to the victory, Shankland defeated the rating favourite Jan-Krzysztof Duda in their second-round encounter and earned the Award of Grandmaster Lubomir Kaválek for the best game of the festival which was awarded for the first time. Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland) finished just a half-point behind the champion; another Polish GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek came in third. Final standings Masters: 1 GM Shankland, Sam USA 2691 5½ 2 GM Duda, Jan-Krzysztof POL 2729 5 3 GM Wojtaszek, Radoslaw POL 2687 4 4 GM Nguyen, Thai Dai Van CZE 2577 3½ 5 GM Abasov, Nijat AZE 2665 3½ 6 GM Grandelius, Nils SWE 2670 2½ 7 GM Van Foreest, Jorden NED 2701 2½ 8 GM Navara, David CZE 2697 1½ In the other round-robin – Futures tournament – Jakub Vojta took the title whereas the narrowest possible victory (number of black pieces being the last tiebreak) in Open Swiss tournament goes to Polish GM Marcin Krzyzanowski. Chief arbiter IA Pavel Votruba, tournament director Petr Boleslav, silver Kamil Warchol, victorious Jakub Vojta, bronze Matouš Hlavina, Futures tournament manager Petr Pisk Final standings Open: 1 Krzyzanowski, Marcin POL 2503 7 2 Blohberger, Felix AUT 2475 7 3 Nasuta, Grzegorz POL 2512 6½ 4 Petr, Martin CZE 2489 6½ 5 Greenfeld, Alon ISR 2507 6½ 6 Plat, Vojtech CZE 2521 6½ 7 Kraus, Tomas CZE 2466 6 8 Sorm, Daniel CZE 2345 6 9 Neuman, Petr CZE 2394 6 10 Pavlidis, Anastasios GRE 2333 6 Futures tournament manager Petr Pisk, chief arbiter IA Pavel Votruba, tournament director Petr Boleslav, silver Felix Blohberger, winner of the Open Marcin Krzyzanowski, bronze Grzegorz Nasuta, Open tournament manager Jiří Petružálek Photo: official website Official website: praguechessfestival.com
Wesley So grabs the lead after rapid portion
The last day of the rapid portion of the 2021 Paris Grand Chess Tour, gave us a series of intense and interesting games. Some players surged, while others tumbled hard, but it was American GM Wesley So who found himself with the most consistent play and landed in the top position as the players move into tomorrow’s blitz portion. The day started with a minute of silence for chess legend Carol Jarecki, who sadly passed away recently. Round Seven Going into the round, it was clear that the all-American matchup between Fabiano Caruana vs. Wesley So would be crucial for the standings. In a sharp variation of the Re1 Berlin, it seemed that both players were well prepared but So was just one step ahead! Immediately after preparation, Caruana made an inaccuracy and after that it was an amazing display of technique and precision by So. Flawless move after flawless move eventually toppled Caruana’s position for a huge win – and with the black pieces. Richard Rapport tried an enterprising 3.h4!? against Peter Svidler’s Grunfeld, and with smashing success. After some dubious decisions, Svidler’s position was untenable after only 18 moves and he was forced to resign. Etienne Bacrot had some winning chances against Teimour Radjabov, but the Azerbaijani defended precisely and saved a point. The other two games were drawn uneventfully. Round Eight The first game to finish was an amazing shock: So sacrificed a pawn to pressure Maxime Vachier-Lagrave’s Grunfeld, but the Frenchman navigated the complications well and he was close to equality. However, a horrific and unfortunate blunder by MVL was immediately punished and So scored his second straight victory as he won his opponent’s queen with a simple combination. Peter Svidler had a strong advantage against his countryman Ian Nepomniachtchi, but the resourceful World Championship Challenger tricked his opponent and forced a perpetual. Radjabov and Rapport split the two points without much happening. Caruana, perhaps hungry for points and feeling the pressure, tried too hard against Bacrot, who got the best of the American in a Rauzer Sicilian. With this win, Bacrot joined Nepomniachtchi in a surprising tie for second behind So. The longest game of the round was the marathon and rollercoaster between Firouzja and Aronian. Blunders, time pressure, a long rook endgame – the game had it all. The two points were eventually split after an astonishing 122 moves of chess! Round Nine The final round of the day was full of action and excitement as the only “simple” draw was between Bacrot and So; finishing an amazing run by Bacrot who will be replaced with former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik for the blitz portion! But there certainly was action everywhere else; MVL tried a piece sacrifice against Firouzja, but the phenom defended like a magician. Just as the game was petering out to a draw in a technical rook endgame, Firouzja finally fumbled and MVL took the two points. Although young Alireza had a myriad of opportunities in the rapid portion, surprisingly he is entering the blitz in the last place. Garry Kasparov not only watched the games, but he gave candid commentary live! Aronian, also exhausted from his previous round, blundered quickly against Svidler allowing the Russian to collect an easy pair of points. Rapport had Caruana against the ropes, on the verge of dealing the third loss in a row to World #2. After playing an excellent move, Rapport’s follow-up was lackluster and Caruana mustered defenses just on time to give a perpetual and save a point from the day. Nepomniachtchi played an absolute brilliancy against Radjabov, but his conversion was extremely poor. The game became a strange roller coaster with both kings running around the board, but in the end, the Russian player was able to prove superiority and collected two points, ending the Rapid portion only one point behind American So. The action continues with the blitz portion – don’t miss the debut of Vladimir Kramnik in the 2021 Grand Chess Tour. The coverage of the 2021 Paris Grand Chess Tour continues on June 21 at 7:00 AM CDT with live coverage from GMs Yasser Seirawan, Maurice Ashley, Cristian Chirila and IM Almira Skripchenko exclusively on kasparovchess.com/grand-chess-tour. Text: GM Alejandro Ramirez Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Official website: grandchesstour.org
Hou Yifan sails into the quarterfinals
GM Hou Yifan becomes the 8th quarterfinalist of the FIDE Chess.com Women’s Speed Chess Championship. In the last match of the Round of 16, she defeated IM Gulnar Mammadova 15:6. The top-rated female player started off with three straight victories and never looked back steamrolling her opponent in the 5+1 and 3+1 segments of the match. Gulnar, on the other hand, found some comfort in winning the last 1+1 section. Hou Yifan’s quarterfinal opponent is Bibisara Assaubayeva. The FIDE Chess.com 2021 Women’s Speed Chess Championship is an online competition for titled female players. The qualifiers for the event took place from May 28-June 6, while the main event runs from June 10 to July 3. Players are battling for their share of a total prize fund of $66,000. Fans can follow the FIDE Chess.com Women’s Speed Chess Championship by watching the live broadcast with expert commentary on Chess.com/TV and Chess.com’s Twitch channel. They will also be able to enjoy the event through Chess.com’s Events page (https://www.chess.com/events). More info and a full schedule of the FIDE Chess.com Women’s Speed Chess Championship can be found here.