President of Uzbekistan issues chess decree
On January 14, 2021, the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev issued a decree “On measures for the further development and popularization of chess and enhancing the system of training chess players.” Under the Decree, the project “Chess in school” will be implemented through the expansion of the chess education system in elementary school, as well as holding competitions among students and schools, promoting chess among kids and teenagers, and many other important measures. The state program for the development of chess until 2025 has been adopted. The program set several ambitious goals such as: – Increasing the number of permanently studying chess to 3 percent by the year 2025; – Bringing the number of districts (cities) in which special attention is paid to the development of chess as a priority sport up to 40; – Establishing 25 new chess schools and clubs based on public-private partnership within the next five years; – Increasing the number of active chess schools for children by 20% with the target of 10,500 children involved in chess; – Uzbekistan’s entering the top-10 rated countries by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) by the year 2025. In addition, several annual chess competitions and events are established starting from the year 2021: International Chess Tournament for the Prize of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan (Tashkent) Agzamov (the first Grandmaster from Uzbekistan) Memorial Tournament (Tashkent) International Tournament of the XVII World Chess Champion R.M. Kasymzhanov (Tashkent) Sakhibkiran Cup Chess Tournament (Samarkand) Al-Beruni Chess Tournament (Khiva) The Week of Tourism and Chess (Bukhara, Termez, and Khiva) Full text of the Decree (in Russian)
Full tour participants confirmed for 2021 Grand Chess Tour
Saint Louis, MO, January 13, 2021 – The Grand Chess Tour is pleased to confirm the ten players that will compete as full 2021 tour participants. The 2021 tour schedule consists of five tournaments as follows: Superbet Chess Classic: June 3 – 15, 2021, Bucharest, Romania Paris Rapid & Blitz: June 16 – 23, 2021, Paris, France Croatia Rapid & Blitz: July 5 – 12, 2021, Zagreb, Croatia St Louis Rapid & Blitz: August 9 – 16, 2021, St. Louis, Missouri USA Sinquefield Cup: August 16 – 28, 2021, St. Louis, Missouri USA The full tour participants will play in both classical events as well as in two of the three rapid and blitz tournaments. Following the cancellation of the 2020 Grand Chess Tour due to the Covid-19 pandemic, invitations for the 2021 edition of the GCT were extended to the ten players who had qualified for the 2020 season. World Champion Magnus Carlsen and Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura have elected not to take part as full tour participants in 2021 and have been replaced by Grandmasters Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Teimour Radjabov. Grandmaster Radjabov will be making his GCT debut this year. “We are excited to return to over the board events this year,” said Executive Director Michael Khodarkovsky. “All five event locations will comply with local COVID-19 guidelines and fans can expect the same excitement and action that they have come to love and enjoy from the Grand Chess Tour.” The full tour participants for the 2021 season: # Name FED FIDE (Rank) 1 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime FRA 2784 (5) 2 Ding, Liren CHN 2791 (3) 3 Caruana, Fabiano USA 2823 (2) 4 So, Wesley USA 2770 (9) 5 Nepomniachtchi, Ian RUS 2789 (4) 6 Grischuk, Alexander RUS 2777 (7) 7 Aronian, Levon ARM 2781 (6) 8 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar AZE 2770 (8) 9 Radjabov, Teimour AZE 2765 (10) 10 Giri, Anish NED 2764 (11) The wildcard participants for the three rapid and blitz events scheduled to take place in Paris, Zagreb, and Saint Louis will be announced as they become available. About the Grand Chess Tour™ The Grand Chess Tour is a circuit of international events, each demonstrating the highest level of organization for the world’s best players. The legendary Garry Kasparov, one of the world’s greatest ambassadors for chess, inspired the Grand Chess Tour and helped solidify the partnership between the organizers. All Grand Chess Tour 2021 events will comply with local and regional COVID-19 restrictions. For more information about the tour, please visit grandchesstour.org.
Taione Sikivou clinches Fiji Championship
Taione Sikivou has been crowned the new champion of the Fiji National Chess Championship for the first time. The championship which started on the weekend ended today after nine rounds. Sikivou who hails from Narovico in Rewa says started playing chess when he was 16 years old and he is super elated to finally win today after trying for so many years. 30-year-old Sikivou who defeated former champion Manoj Kumar in round four says he didn’t expect to win. The former Mahatma Ghandhi Secondary School student adds beating 15-time champion Kumar propelled him to winning the national title. “He was my toughest opponent and that game was really tough, it went down to the wire and we played almost close to four hours in that game and I was able to come away with a victory and that victory really propelled me to winning this tournament in the end”, said the champion. Kumar finished second while Avinesh Nadan came in third. Cydel Terubea won the women’s title. Yash Maharaj took the Intermediate Open title with Philip Sukhu winning the secondary school category and Arnav Lal is the primary school winner. Text: Akuila Cama Senior Multimedia Sports Journalist (www.fbcnews.com.fj/) Photo: www.fbcnews.com.fj/
Nicolas Croad wins 2021 New Zealand Championship
Photo above: Croad receives the Silver Rook trophy from the President of NZ Chess Federation FM Nicolas Croad became the winner of the 2021 New Zealand Championship. It’s his second national title. The 9-round event (NZ Open) was a part of the 128th Congress held in Palmerston North from January 2-12. The top four boards were broadcast live throughout the event. The second-rated Croad scored 7.5 out of 9, conceding just three draws to his opponents, and finished a full point ahead of the top-rated participant and his old rival FM Ben Hague (second with 6.5 points). From left to right: Anthony Ker, Leonard McLaren and Felix Xie Three players, namely Felix Xie, IM Antony Ker (14-time NZ champion), and Leonard McLaren tied for third place. Final standings: 1. Nicholas Croad (2455) – 7½2. Ben Hague (2497) – 6½3. Felix Xie (2110) – 64. Anthony Ker (2440) – 65. Leonard McLaren (2293) – 66. Robert Smith (2290) – 5½7. Russell Dive (2407) – 5½8. Ryan Winter (2165) – 59. David Cilia Vincenti (2276) – 510. Hao Tang (1950) – 5 The 128th Congress also hosted Major Open, Rapid, Lightning, and Junior championships. Major Open: 1. Clinton Wells (7/9); 2-4. Alan Winfield, Dion Charles, and Karl Holdo – 6½ NZ Lightning: 1. Anthony Ker – 8½/9 2. Ben Hague – 7½ 3. Russel Dive – 7. NZ Junior: 1. Josh Langford – 6/9 2.Weng Xintong (Winston) – 5½ 3-8. Daqi Mao, Isabelle Ning, Kendrick Botong Zhang, Euan McDougall, Paul He, and Thomas Vander Hoom – 5.
Svetozar Gligoric Trophy 2020
The FIDE Council approved, during its 4th quarter 2020 meeting, the proposal to consider online chess events when awarding the Gligoric Trophy for the year 2020. The decision is only natural, considering that the vast majority of chess events during 2020 were played online. Candidates to win the Svetozar Gligoric Trophy shall have demonstrated during the period January 1st, 2020, to December 31, 2020, the following accomplishments: – Outstanding gesture or action of sportsmanship during the sports event.– Outstanding contribution to the popularization of the values and principles of Fair Play.– Outstanding support towards initiatives on enforcement of ethical values.– Promotion of integrity and high ethical standards. The spirit of the “Fair Play Svetozar Gligoric Trophy” is to give recognition to an individual who, during the previous year, had displayed exemplary behavior that promotes the spirit of fair play and sportsmanship in chess. We would like to stress again that this is an award for the nominee’s accomplishments during the previous year, and NOT a recognition of a lifelong career. Nomination Procedure The winner of the Gligoric Trophy is selected annually by the Award Commission chaired by Mr. Mahir Mammedov and its two members, the Grandmasters Mrs. Judit Polgar (FIDE Honorary Vice-President), and Mr. Eugenio Torre. Proposals for Nominations (Nomination Letter) shall be submitted by Continental Federations, National Federations, and FIDE Commissions, to the Gligoric Trophy Award Commission (gligorictrophy@fide.com) no later than February 20, 2021. Individual nominations, including self-nominations, are permitted, but they should be channeled through the Federation associated with the nominee. Please note, that Commission’s decision is final and not open to discussion, nor shall the members of the Commission be requested to give any justification beyond what they wish to, with their final announcement. About the award The fair play award named after Svetozar Gligoric was established by FIDE in 2019. In the 1950s and 1960s, Svetozar Gligoric was one of the top players in the world and one of the World’s most prominent, owing to his particularly engaging personality. At the chessboard, Gligoric was an uncompromising fighter and at the same time a symbol of gentlemanhood and correctness. His impeccable reputation has been a deserved result of his success in chess games and fair-play manners. Gligoric’s trademark was high respect to his chess opponents: his main principle was – It’s chess pieces, not a man I play against! It is no coincidence that the book of Gligoric’s selected games is called “I play against pieces!” Svetozar Gligoric Award is a recognition of sportsmen who exercise the fundamental values of Fair Play both during and beyond the game. It’s a way of thinking rather than a mere behavior and includes the concepts of: FairnessTo enjoy the victory is not enough. Triumph must include fairness and honestyRespectWritten rules are mandatory. Unwritten rules of respect to all are obligatoryFriendshipRivalry in sport does not exclude friendshipTeam SpiritA genuine consideration for othersEqualityCompeting on equal terms is essentialToleranceThe ability or willingness to accept what you may not agree withCareTrue champions care about each other
No fees for rating Rapid and Blitz tournaments
Last December, the General Assembly approved the new financial regulations, which came into effect on January 1st. These regulations cover all administrative matters and fix some important omissions. Among other changes, the regulations now include a reference to Rapid and Blitz tournaments, which were not contemplated before. Article 1.2 of appendix 2 of the Financial Regulations mentions that “All rated tournaments are subject to rating fees. FIDE Council, at its sole discretion, may waive or reduce rating fees for rapid and blitz tournaments for a given year.” We are happy to confirm that the FIDE Council has indeed decided “to waive rating fees for over-the-board Rapid and Blitz tournaments held in 2021 and 2022”. This decision is in line with FIDE’s general strategy of reducing all kinds of fees as much as possible. In the coming days, we will publish a more detailed report on how administrative fees have been reduced or waived altogether during the past two years. More information: New FIDE Financial Regulations (effective from January 1, 2021)Previous version of the FIDE Financial Regulations (effective until December 31, 2020)
Team Hikaru raises $355,720 for CARE
It all happened so quickly that you may have missed it, but December 30 left us with what was probably one of the chess highlights of the year 2020. In just about four hours, “Team Hikaru” – namely, Levy Rozman and Anna Rudolf – managed to raise $355,720 for CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere), a major international humanitarian agency delivering emergency relief and long-term international development projects. The fundraising stream took place during one of the rounds of the online Airthings Masters tournament, the second event in the Champions Chess Tour. In fact, that was the day when Hikaru got knocked out from the tournament, which allowed him to join the last moments of the stream where his colleagues Levy and Anna were commenting on the games. The idea of doing this fundraising stream began to take shape a couple of months ago, when Hikaru offered a 77 board online simul, effortlessly raising around $10,000 for Doctors Without Borders. That made Hikaru and his manager ‘Chessbae’ realize that they could probably set even higher goals. “Since Hikaru’s audience is truly global, we knew that we wanted to raise money towards an international charity. So we chose CARE, one of the most reputable global charities, that first came up with the concept of ‘care package’ in 1945”, explains Chessbae. Remarkably, the highest single donation received was ‘just’ $2,000, and only a handful of them surpassed the amount of $1,000. That means the participation was really massive, with a huge number of people donating small amounts. The stream was watched by 885,216 people, with 23,844 average viewers, reaching its peak at 38,031 spectators. “I’m incredibly proud of Anna and Levy for running this charity stream and thrilled that Chessbae set up the details and helped run the event. I was astonished that the stream raised over $350k in four hours and because of the success, we all hope to do it again. It’s our goal to raise 3 million US through the length of the Champions Chess Tour. It’s a high goal, but I think we can make it”, said Hikaru. “The growth of chess was one of the few positives of 2020, and I think it is our duty as the game’s ambassadors to set a positive example and give back to people who need it most. On the day of the stream, the chat was absolutely electric. We shattered our initial expectations by 250% and the community was excited to keep pushing for a higher goal. We are growing the game of chess and trying to help humanity—can there be a better job?”, added Levy. More information: www.carewithteamhikaru.com
FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Gibraltar rescheduled
FIDE and the organizing team of the Women’s FIDE Grand Prix in Gibraltar have decided to re-schedule the competition to a later date. The decision is taken in response to the development of the coronavirus pandemic in Gibraltar, where, unfortunately, the number of cases has increased significantly in recent weeks. In view of this, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo announced a new lockdown on January 2, which will be in place until at least January 16. During his press conference, Mr. Picardo said that “the numbers of new infections with Covid-19 in our community are remarkably high and concerning.” To ensure the safety and well-being of the players and all the staff involved in the event, we have decided to postpone it. The tournament will be held in late February if conditions allow. FIDE and the organizing team will keep working closely with the Gibraltar authorities to ensure that the competition meets and exceeds the recommendations of the local government and health authorities. Women’s FIDE Grand Prix Series:https://wgp2019.fide.com Gibraltar Chess Festival:http://gibchess.com Visit Gibraltar (Official Tourist board website):www.visitgibraltar.gi
Francis Anquandah and Felix Tobi win Ghana championship
Francis Anquandah and Felix Tobi Abena are new Ghana national chess champions. Anquandah scored 7 points in a 10-player round-robin that brought together most of the country’s top-rated players. Joseph Mensah came in second just a half-point behind the champion; Adu-Poku Kwabena took bronze. Ghana’s first and only International Master and multiple champion, Francis Anquandah won his first national title back in 1986, the same year he participated in his first Olympiad. His longtime rival and also multiple champion of Ghana John Hasford did not get to the podium this time and finished fourth. ½ Final standings open: 1. Francis Anquandah 7/92. Joseph Mensah – 6½3. Adu-Poku Kwabena – 64. John Hasford – 55. Cephas Fomevor – 4½6. David Ameku – 47. Edward Thompson – 3½8. Dwamena Aikings – 3½9. Prince Akpa – 2½10. Lionel Adu Jr. – 2½ The rating-favorite of the 5-player double round-robin national women’s championship, Tobi Felix lost only one game and won nine to finish 1½ points clear of the runner-up Maud Benson. This is the fourth consecutive title for Tobi. Final standings women: 1. Felix Tobi – 9/102. Benson Maud – 7½3. Ashley Christiana Naa Merley – 74. Majid-Michel Lady Rowena – 3½5. Addo Pearl – 36. Zakaria Minawara – 0
Reminder to member federations
Dear member federations, In the wake of the new year 2021, we would like to draw your kind attention to the following obligation of each Federation-member of FIDE, in accordance with the FIDE Charter: Article “11. Obligations of Member Federations Member Federations must: n) Communicate a copy of their current statutes to FIDE Offices, adding a translation into English, if written in a different language;” Therefore, we would appreciate your kind urgent providing the FIDE Secretariat office@fide.com with the said document and its translation into English, where applicable. Please provide your Statutes by February 1st, 2021. Thank you in advance. Best regards, FIDE Secretariat