ChessTech 2020 goes big
Running parallel to the FIDE Congress was ChessTech2020, the online conference on chess and technology, which drew 526 registrations from more than 70 countries. Following a welcome to the two-day-meeting from Zurab Azmaiparashvili, President of ECU, the FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich gave a keynote address Chess: Driving Technological Innovations in the 21st Century and answered a wide range of questions afterwards. The event, the 8th in the sequence of the London Chess Conferences, was directed by John Foley from ChessPlus Limited, a London-based training, and education company, with a programme developed by Stefan Löffler of ChesstechNews. FIDE was a foundation sponsor through its continental funding of the ECU. Commercial sponsors of the event included Tornelo, Chessable, DGT, LearningChess, ChessKid, ChessLang, SzuperChess, GameAhead Consulting, and ChessStars. The Zoom-based conference comprised 44 sessions with 122 contributors. The conference was very well received with an average satisfaction star rating of 4.3/5. According to the post-conference survey, the three most frequent descriptions of the conference were “interesting”, “informative” and “inspiring”. There were many memorable sessions. One of the most important topics was anti-cheating on which there were three in-depth sessions examining different perspectives. Many attendees were impressed by Chris Callahan’s overview of the free platform Lichess. The book presentations from David Smerdon (The Complete Chess Swindler) and Noam Manella (Think Like a Machine) provided deep insights into cognitive psychology. Daniel King’s honest account of how he built up his YouTube channel PowerPlayChess attracted many admirers. Another session on streaming chess gave advice from setting up Twitch to running a successful channel. The clear presentation by Shohreh Bayat and Judit Sztaray on online arbitration was praised by the arbiter community. Many chess teachers valued the presentations from a range of education companies including LearningChess, ChessKid, Chesser, AcornChess, and ChessLang. Chessable made a major announcement about the provision of free software to schools. The session on sponsorship was excellent. The gender issues from the previous conference were revisited in a lively international forum. There were three sessions on Erasmus projects: Castle, CGS, and 8by8; and one session featuring the European Research Council funded Digital Ludeme Project. There were several panels such as “Is Chess an Esport?” and “How to Make Chess Greener?” Many people praised the session on new formats for chess journalism. There was a competition for the best chess startup in 2020. This was won by Chessvision.ai by Pawel Kacprzak from Poland. Lecture by Dr. Alexey Root In addition to the above sessions in English, there were also segments of the conference conducted in French, Spanish, and German which were reported to be highly satisfactory. The conference also comprised a social networking “Chess Café” where it was possible to meet with other attendees in an informal atmosphere. For those who did not attend the conference, these are available in three categories. Some are available to the general public and are being released one-by-one with social media notifications. A second category is for those people who registered for the conference and may not have been able to get into some popular sessions. The third category is reserved for those with professional tickets. Access to categories two and three is available for a modest fee. Earlier conference report on ChessTechNews
Gawain Jones takes the title
On the final day of the European Online Blitz Championship, both semi-finals went to Armageddon: Gawain Jones (ENG) won over David Navara (CZE) while Alexei Shirov (ESP) beat Matthias Bluebaum (GER). In the final Jones convincingly defeated Shirov 2½:½. After losing the second game with white pieces (the first encounter was drawn) Alexei opted for a risky line in the third game but fell under a crushing attack. In the match for third place, Navara missed his chances in a won rook endgame that emerged in the first game and eventually lost. In the next two games, the German player scored 1½ points and took bronze. The medalists got trophies, medals, and invitations for the upcoming European Rapid & Blitz 2021, which will be held in Katowice, Poland. All the top-16 qualifiers got prizes. The players ranked from the 5th-8th place received a prize of €500 players from the 9th-16th place – a prize of €300, while the players ranked 17th-20th received the invitations for 2021. Special prizes were established for the best 3 female players: AntoanetaStefanova (BUL), Anna Sargsyan (ARM), and MonikaSocko (POL) received €200 each. Three best senior players – AvigdorBykhovsky (RUS), Igor Efimov (MNC), Leon Mazi (SLO) – and three best junior players – Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU), Kanan Garayev (AZE), and Nikolozi Kacharava (GEO) – are invited to the 2021 European Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship. A large number of spectators followed the live commentary in English by WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili, GM Marcin Tazbir, and WFM Maria Leks at the Polish national channel on Twitch TVP_Sports and the commentary in Polish provided by Infoszach. The organization of the championship was supported by the city of Katowice, the Ministry of Sport of the Republic of Poland, and Mokate. About Katowice: Katowice is one of the fastest-growing Polish cities which passed a deep restructuring in a short time. For the first time, the European Rapid Chess Championship in Katowice took place in 2017 and was certainly one of the greatest events in the history of the European Chess Union. The great organization of the competition back in 2017 made it possible for Katowice to receive the right to host the participants of the European Rapid Chess Championships in 2020 and 2021. Official website: https://www.katowice2020.eu/ Email: office@katowice2020.eu Social media: Facebook / Twitch
#21
Belgian Chess Federation turns 100 Field announced for Wijk aan Zee and Gibraltar WGP ‘Nepo’and Goryachkina, 2020 Russian Champions Brief news from National Federations ChessTech Conference 2020 Anniversaries READ NEWSLETTER
Kazhgaleyev and Abdumalik win Kazakhstan Cup 2020
Murtas Kazhgaleyev and Zhansaya Abdumalik won the 2020 Kazakhstan Championship in the open and women sections. Both championships were round robins that brought together the best Kazakhstani players. Murtas turned in a very solid performance in the open competition scoring 7½ out of 11 points. The champion lost just one game but compensated for it with five victories and finished a half-point ahead of Aslan Aitbayev. It is the third national title in Kazhgaleyev’s career. Aitbayev had a very good tournament as well – after reeling off three straight victories at the finish he took silver. The highest-rated participant of the event Rinat Jumabayev ended up in the third position. Photo: David Llada Final standings open: 1. GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev (2569) – 7½2. IM Aslan Aitbayev (2457) – 73. GM Rinat Jumabayev (2654) – 6½4. GM Petr Kostenko (2429) – 5½5. FM Ramazan Zhalmakhanov (2393) – 5½6. GM Anuar Ismagambetov (2528) – 5½7. IM Agmanov Zhandos (2407) – 58. Azamat Utegaliyev (2496) – 59. GM Rustam Khusnutdinov (2491) – 510. IM Ayan Akhmetov (2438) – 511. IM Denis Makhnev (2486) – 512. GM Nurlan Ibrayev (2395) – 3½ In the women’s tournament, the excitement was there until the final moves. In the penultimate round, IM Guliskhan Nakhbayeva defeated Abdumalik and gained a half-point lead going into the last round. However, on the final day, the leader lost to WFM Amina Kairbekova, while Abdumalik showed her mettle (it is not for nothing that boxing is her hobby!), won over Laura Abdildayeva, and leapfrogged Nakhbayeva to claim the title. Nakhbayeva finished second, Kairbekova took bronze. Final standings women: 1. IM Zhansaya Abdumalik (2478) – 72. IM Guliskhan Nakhbayeva (2328) – 6½3. WFM Amina Kairbekova (2065) – 54. Liya Kurmangaliyeva (1974) – 55. WIM Assel Serikbay (2247) – 4½6. WGM Gulmira Dauletova (2319) – 4½7. WFM Xeniya Balabayeva (2146) – 4½8. WFM Meruert Kamalidenova (2231) – 3½9. WFM Alua Nurmanova (2026) – 2½10. Laura Abdildayeva (1845) – 2
Top-16 playoff: Day 2 recap
The Round of 16 and Quarterfinals were played on the second day of the European Online Blitz Chess Championship. The pairing was determined by the final standings in the qualifying stage. The participants battled it out in four-game matches with the time control 3’+2” followed by an Armageddon if needed. The Round of 16 saw many tightly contested matches. Georg Meier (GER) (pictured below) advanced to the next stage after winning a very tense Armageddon game against Radoslaw Wojtaszek (POL) (3:2). Alexei Shirov (ESP) eliminated Mikhail Demidov (RUS) (3:2), whereas Levan Pantsulaia (GEO) beat Mustafa Yilmaz (TUR) (3:2). In the Armenian derby between Manuel Petrosyan and Robert Hovhannisyan, the former also prevailed in the Armageddon game (3:2). Photo: John Saunders Aleksandar Indjic (SRB) secured his slot at the Quarterfinals after winning 3 games in a row against Deniz Ozen (TUR), the only IM at this stage. Matthias Bluebaum (GER) took down Vladimir Onischuk (UKR) (2½:1½). David Navara (CZE) (pictured below), a member of the Wasko HETMAN GKS Katowice, bested Eltaj Safarli (AZB) (3:1), while Gawain Jones (ENG) knocked out Deac Bogdan Daniel (ROU) (2½:1½). Photo: Niki Riga In the Quarterfinals, David Navara, Gawain Jones, Alexei Shirov, and Matthias Bluebaum prevailed over Levan Pantsulaia, Manuel Petrosyan, Georg Meier, and Aleksandar Indjic respectively, and progressed to the semis. The semi-finals and final are played today (20th Dec); Alexei Shirov takes on Matthias Bluebaum while David Navara squares off with Gawain Jones. The spectators can follow the games live with English commentary provided by WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili, GM Marcin Tazbir, and WFM Maria Leks and Polish commentary provided by Infoszach. For more information please contact office@katowice2020.eu Official website: https://www.katowice2020.eu/Social media : Facebook / Twitch #katowice2020
Royal Belgian Chess Federation – 100th anniversary
Chess tradition in Belgium started long before the creation of the national chess association. Like all the major cities, Brussels already had a chess café in the 19th century, the Café de l’Europe, which housed a chess club in 1815, and the chess enthusiast will have analyzed the games played during the several tournaments of Ostend at the beginning of the 20th century. Roughly a hundred years ago, on 17 December 1920, representatives of the leading clubs in the country, namely from Antwerp, Ghent, Liège, and Brussels gathered in the ‘Cercle des Échecs Bruxelles’ for a special occasion. They signed the statute establishing the Belgian Chess Federation! The first secretary of the newly born chess federation, Edmond Lancel, would later publish the famous Belgian chess magazine ‘L’Échiquier’ with regular contributions from Alekhine, Réti, and Tartakower (1925–1939). The foundation of the Belgian Chess Federation in 1920 also proved beneficial for the inception of FIDE four years later. The Belgian representative Léon Weltjens became a co-signatory of the FIDE Statute in Paris in 1924, and the Belgian chess champion, Edgard Colle, impressed with a third place in the first amateur world championship. Colle (right) against Alekhine in 1925 Photo: Agence de presse Meurisse – Bibliothèque nationale de France Colle would also become a regular fixture in international professional tournaments, but his premature death in 1932 prevented him from putting Belgium among the leading chess nations in Europe. Belgian chess history has been characterized by three main aspects: First, our enormous flexibility and adaptability. In our small country, the political situation has never been simple and when the country was split into three language communities in 1970, this naturally also had an impact on chess. Three regional federations were founded under the national federation, each of which must abide by regional rules and decisions. Chess is for example only recognized as a sport in the German-speaking community, not in the other ones and, for some years now, the Ministry of Education in the French-speaking community has allocated a considerable amount of money to the development of chess in schools, but again, not the Ministries of Education in the other communities. Difficult, of course, to plan a national policy under those circumstances. Secondly, our entrepreneurial spirit. It is no surprise that Belgians are keen to make an international contribution, such as Willy Iclicki (Chief Operating Officer at FIDE), Patrick Van Hoolandt (president of the A.I.D.E.F., the international French-speaking chess association) and other Belgians who promote chess in the various commissions of FIDE and ECU. And what about other Belgian ‘products’: Houdini, the chess program, and Thinkers Publishing, one of the best chess editors in the world. Is it therefore a surprise that – even without having real top players – we also manage to organize big tournaments: Spa 1926, Liège 1930, Antwerp 1932 and Ostend, again, in 1936–1937? In the less distant past, the top elite in chess came to play in the Lost Boys (Antwerp), the Swift tournaments (Brussels), and the Grand Chess Tour (Leuven). And even the youth can play in ideal conditions: the organizers of the Belgian Youth Chess Champions make use of about 120 electronic chess boards. Our Burgundian lifestyle is certainly a third element that reflects in our world of chess. The habit of offering something to drink before a game (and more than one drink after it) is something that surprises players coming from abroad. And our tournaments are not only for chess lovers but also for life lovers. Why not play the tournament of Ghent during the festivities in the city, or Bruges with its beautiful decor, or Charleroi with its relaxed atmosphere? Brasschaat offers its conviviality and Liège its warm hospitality. Is it our lifestyle that made a lot of players settle in Belgium? Victor Soultanbeieff and Georges Lalevitch, the unfortunate Akiba Rubinstein, and later, top trainer Vladimir Chuchelov and Michail Gurevich came to Belgium and even Magnus Carlsen went to an international school in Belgium when he was 7. Did he develop some necessary skills to become World Champion here? Our contribution at the chessboard may not be underestimated either: we mentioned Colle already, who gave his name to a rock-solid opening, and Jadoul gave his name to a variation in the Scandinavian, but Belgians are also known for their problemists. And did you know we even have a world champion? Indeed, in 2017 Daniel Dardha (pictured below)has become the U14 world champion blitz, and two years later, he even became the youngest national champion at the age of 13 years… Photo: Gazet van Antwerpen (gva.be) In short, the Belgian chess federation is 100 years old, but still alive and kicking. Text: Philippe Vukojevic, RBCF Board Member
Qualifying stage – Day 1 recap
The European Online Blitz Chess Championship 2020 started with the welcoming words from the President of the European Chess Union Zurab Azmaiparashvili. 353 players from 40 European federations, including 134 Grandmasters and 100 International Masters, took part in the first qualifying stage. The 11-round Swiss tournament with time control 3+2 kicked off at 6 pm CET. The best 16 players (after the anti-cheating check is completed) qualify for the play-off which will take place today (19th Dec), starting at 8 pm CET. Five players scored 9 out of 11 points: Radoslaw Wojtaszek (POL) (pictured below), Robert Hovhannisyan (ARM), Levan Pantsulaia (GEO), Vladimir Onischuk (UKR), and Aleksandar Indjic (SRB). Photo: PAP/Andrzej Grygiel David Navara (CZE), GM Gawain Jones (ENG), Mikhail Demidov (RUS), Alexei Shirov (ESP), Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU), Eltaj Safarli (AZE) netted 8½ points each, followed by Deniz Ozen (TUR), Matthias Bluebaum (GER), Mustafa Yilmaz (TUR), Manuel Petrosyan (ARM) and Georg Meier (GER) with 8 points out of 11. Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) (pictured below) scored 7 points and showed the best result among female players. She is followed by Anna Sargsyan (ARM) – 6 ½ points and Monika Socko (POL) with 6 points. Photo: David Llada Apart from the women prizes (200 EUR each), special prizes are established for the three best senior players and boys and girls U18 and U20. Among the seniors, the best player is Avigdor Bykhovsky (RUS) with 5 ½ points, followed by Igor Efimov (MNC) and Leon Mazi (SLO) – with 5 points. All three received an invitation for the OTB European Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship 2021. In the junior category, Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU), Kanan Garayev (AZE), IM Nikolozi Kacharava (GEO), and Anna Sargsyan (ARM) secured their invitations to 2021. Chess enthusiasts and the chess community have an opportunity to follow the games live with English commentary provided by WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili, GM Marcin Tazo, and WFM Maria Leks and Polish commentary provided by Infoszach. The organization of the championship is supported by the city of Katowice, the Ministry of Sport of the Republic of Poland, and Mokate. For more information please contact office@katowice2020.eu Official website: https://www.katowice2020.eu/Social media : Facebook / Twitch #katowice2020 Text: Bojana Bejatovic FIDE Fair Play Commission ACP Board Member & Social media manager
John Fawole Chess Awards 2020: Full list of winners
John Fawole Chess Awards, the most prestigious and anticipated chess awards in Nigeria, was held virtually on the 12th of December 2020 and streamed Live on YouTube, Facebook and Periscope. The program began with the director of John Fawole Chess Awards, FM Fawole John Oyeyemi giving a welcoming speech. He started by giving a brief introduction to the awards. According to him “John Fawole Chess Awards started rewarding the excellence of chess players in the year 2016. The John Fawole Chess Awards believes in rewarding excellence of chess players, chess administrators, chess coaches, organizers, or anyone doing anything related to chess…” He went further to congratulate everyone who will be winning an award, after which he appreciated the organizers of The John Fawole Chess Awards by stating his sincere gratitude. “My sincere gratitude goes to the team of organizers, the panel of judges, and everyone that has shown us support and encouragement for us to have a successful chess award.” He also thanked subscribers virtually present at the awards, thereafter officially opening the virtual edition of the John Fawole Chess Awards 2020. The winners of the John Fawole Chess Awards are determined by an online vote and this year’s awards were no different. The panel of judges was however impressed with the high turnout of entries within a short time frame.” According to a statement released by the panel of judges, “A big thank you to everyone who has shown support by taking out their time to vote online for this Chess Awards. We have been totally amazed by the turnout of entries in this edition within a short time frame (less than 3 weeks and we had over a thousand entries)…” The panel of judges who presided over this year’s awards are: Oluwalasinu Lanre Seye as the chairman of the panel; Abolade Odugbesan; Damaryam Yakkon Kenneth; Sunny Eyenghe; Adegbayi Oluwadara. The panel did a review of the nominees in each of the 16 categories to determine the winners. Below you can find a full list of the categories, nominees, and winners: 1. MAN CHESS PLAYER OF THE YEAR NOMINEES: ADU OLADAPO BALOGUN OLUWAFEMI AJIBOLA OLANREWAJU ANWULI DANIEL WINNER: IM ANWULI DANIEL 2. WOMAN CHESS PLAYER OF THE YEAR NOMINEES: PEACE SAMSON PERPETUAL OGBIYOYO TORITSEMUWA ONOKPITE EMMANUELLA TRUST WINNER: TORITSEMUWA ONOKPITE 3. JUNIOR CHESS PLAYER OF THE YEAR (MALE) NOMINEES: OYAKHILOME DAVID OYAKHILOME DANIEL EYETONGHAN CALLISTUS OKEMAKINDE TOLUWANIMI OKEKE ISAAC WINNER: OKEKE ISAAC 4. JUNIOR CHESS PLAYER OF THE YEAR (FEMALE) NOMINEES: NWAEZE ESTHER PELEMOH JESSICA IYEFU ONOJA IYANU OLOWE WINNER: PELEMOH JESSICA 5. ORGANIZER OF THE YEAR NOMINEES: BODE DUROTOYE ALI BRUVS CHESS MEDIA OGUNWOBI TOLULOPE MALOGY JUNIOR CHESS CPAN CHESS LEAGUE OSFI CHESS DASAOLU ROTIMI EGUAVOEN EDWARD WINNER: DASAOLU ROTIMI 6. ONLINE CHESS ORGANIZER NOMINEES: BRUVSCHESS ONLINE NIGERIACHESS.COM MALOGY- SAMSON ZLATER OFUBU 64 SQUARES- TITOLUWANI RAPHAEL CHESS NIGERIA ONLINE- SAMSON ZLATER OFUBU WINNER: SAMSON ZLATER OFUBU AND TITOLUWANI RAPHAEL (CO-WINNER) 7. CHESS CLUB OF THE YEAR NOMINEES: CREEKSIDE CHESS CLUB, PH ORCHID-LEKKI CHESS CLUB WINNER: ORCHID-LEKKI CHESS CLUB 8. MOST OUTSTANDING CHESS TEAM OF THE YEAR (MALE) NOMINEES: EDO CHESS TEAM TO (NSF 2018) DELTA CHESS TEAM TO (NSF 2018) BAYELSA CHESS TEAM (NSF 2018) LAGOS CHESS TEAM TO (NSF 2018) OYO CHESS TEAM TO (NSF 2018) WINNER: OYO CHESS TEAM TO (NSF 2018) 9. MOST OUTSTANDING CHESS TEAM OF THE YEAR (FEMALE) NOMINEES: EDO CHESS TEAM TO (NSF 2018) DELTA CHESS TEAM TO (NSF 2018) BAYELSA CHESS TEAM (NSF 2018) LAGOS CHESS TEAM TO (NSF 2018) OYO CHESS TEAM TO (NSF 2018) WINNER: OYO CHESS TEAM TO (NSF 2018) 10. YOUTH TEAM OF THE YEAR (MALE) NOMINEES: FCT JUNIOR CHESS TEAM OGUN JUNIOR CHESS TEAM OYO JUNIOR CHESS TEAM BAYELSA JUNIOR TEAM WINNER: BAYELSA JUNIOR TEAM 11. YOUTH TEAM OF THE YEAR (FEMALE) NOMINEES: KWARA STATE JUNIOR CHESS TEAM DELTA STATE JUNIOR CHESS TEAM BAYELSA STATE JUNIOR CHESS TEAM LAGOS STATE JUNIOR CHESS TEAM WINNER: LAGOS STATE JUNIOR CHESS TEAM 12. ONLINE BLITZ PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD NOMINEES: MICFEL DAPSAY DANIEL_ANWULI ODIROVSKI OLAROVFAN WINNER: OLAROVFAN 13. ARBITER OF THE YEAR AWARD NOMINEES: OGBONNAYA OBINNA OYELEYE P. OLAWALE BOYO PAUL KEHINDE WINNER: OGBONNAY OBINNA 14. SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARDS NOMINEES: ADESEWA OYEWOLE OSAYUWAMEN PEACE SALEH IM ODION AIKHOJE DR. PIUS OKIGBO DR. SYLVANUS EBIGWEI OLISANYE ARC. THEOPHILUS CAIAFAS MR. OMOTAYO ROBERTS TOP RADIO 90.9 KENNIS FM 104.1 OGUNSIKU BABATUNDE 15. SPECIAL SERVICE AWARDS NOMINEES: FEMI SOLAJA OGBONNAYA OBINNA BOYO PAUL KEHINDE 16. CHESS REPORTER OF THE YEAR NOMINEES: SOLOMON EDIVRI TROY WINNER: SOLOMON EDIVRI TROY Watch The John Fawole Chess Awards on Facebook The purpose of The John Fawole Chess Awards is to celebrate excellence and encourage every chess enthusiast. We are very positive you all feel encouraged and we look forward to seeing more Chess Champions next year! Text: Adesewa Oyewole, BruvsChess Media
Knockout stage kicks off on December 19
The final knockout stage of the FIDE World Cadets & Youth Rapid Championships starts on Saturday, December 19. The event comprises five different age groups: U10, U12, U14, U16, and U18. The participants are competing in two sections: girls, and open. 1,380 young chess players from 114 different countries, divided into three groups (Africa, America, and Asia) took part in the preliminary stage to qualify for the knockout stage. Each age group at the knockout stage will have a separate 16-player tournament. Each match consists of two “15+10” games and the Armageddon, if necessary. The 160 participants represent 50 countries and there are as many as 89 titled players taking part, including 8 GMs, 2 WGMs, and 16 IMs USA (23 players), India (16), and Russia (15) have the highest number of representatives. The highest-rated participant Andrey Esipenko (Russia) Photo: Eteri Kublashvili FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich greeted the participants of the FIDE Online World Cadets & Youth Rapid Championships: “Dear friends, it is my pleasure on behalf of FIDE to welcome you at the final stage of the World Online Cadets and Youth Championships…. It is my honor to greet you today and wish you good luck at the final stage of the tournament and wish you good luck.” Don’t miss a chance to cheer for your favorites, tune in at 3 pm CET to follow all the action live on our YouTube channel together with GM Evgeny Miroshnichenko: https://www.youtube.com/fidechannel Official website: http://www.world2020.ge/ General Partner: PJSC Gazprom About Gazprom: Gazprom is a global energy company focused on geological exploration, production, transportation, storage, processing and sales of gas, gas condensate and oil, sales of gas as a vehicle fuel, as well as generation and marketing of heat and electric power. Gazprom is the global leader measured by the amount of reserves and volumes of gas production. Gazprom sells gas to Russian consumers and exports gas to over 30 countries within and beyond the former Soviet Union. Gazprom is the biggest gas supplier to Europe. Gazprom is among the top three oil and gas condensate producers in the Russian Federation, ranking number one in Russia in terms of electricity generation among thermal generation companies and in terms of thermal energy generation. More information: www.gazprom.comContact: pr@gazprom.ru
European Online Blitz Championship gets underway
Katowice, Poland (December 17, 2020) – European Online Blitz Chess Championship 2020 with a prize fund of €12,000, organized European Chess Union and Silesian Chess Federation, will be held on Tornelo.com, from 18-20 of December. The event’s host city is Katowice. In the era of pandemic lockdowns, the popularity of chess has exploded. The year 2020 showed that chess events can be easily transferred to the Internet. “Thanks to the new technologies, chess has this alternative that other sports cannot benefit from,” says Łukasz Turlej, Vice-President of the International Chess Federation. An amazing number of 134 Grandmasters and 100 International Masters will take part in the event. Most of them are from Poland (42), Russia (40), and Germany (30). “Although online chess is less respected in the world than traditional chess, its importance is growing,” says Jan-Krzysztof Duda, the top-ranked player of the tournament. The Mayor of Katowice, Mr. Marcin Krupa is proud that the city is hosting such an important chess event: “Chess is experiencing a renaissance. When it turned out that the traditional OTB tournament couldn’t be played, there was a feeling of regret, but we immediately rolled up our sleeves and thought about holding an online tournament.” Players will play under the arbiter’s observation in Zoom. “Fair play and honesty of this tournament are very important for us” – explains Mr. Turlej. The organization of the championship is supported by the city of Katowice, the Ministry of Sport of the Republic of Poland, and Mokate. About the Silesian Chess Federation: The Silesian Chess Federation was founded in 1924. The main mission is to develop and popularize the royal game and to coordinate the activities of chess clubs and sections, with particular emphasis on sports performance. For more information please contact office@katowice2020.eu Official website: https://www.katowice2020.eu/Social media : Facebook / Twitch #katowice2020