Yakini Tchouka is new National Champion of Togo
Yakini Tchouka won the National Chess Championship of Togo scoring 5½ points in six rounds. The new champion completed the event undefeated conceding his opponents just a half-point in the final round. A total of twenty-two players took part in this Swiss event that was held in La Base 57 Hotel in Assahoun (about 60 km from the capital Lome) and ran from the 20th to 22nd of November 2020. The highest-rated participant and four-time national champion of Togo Ephoevi-Ga Adama Mawulikplimi lost a critical game against Yakini Tchouka in Round 5 and failed to defend his title but ended up in a respectable joint second place with 4.5 points. Final standings: 1. Tchouka Yakini (1591) – 5½2. Amewounou Komlan Kouessan (1745) – 4½3. Botsoe Koffi (1642) – 4½4. Ajavon Ayayi Jean Le Clair (1629) – 4½5. Ephoevi-Ga Adama Mawulikplimi (1749) – 4½6. Amega-Dzaka Komi Nukunu (0) – 47. Etey Yaovi Agusto (1241) – 48. Egbe Kossi Thierry (0) – 3½9. Ballebako Kokou Difendramakada Jacques (1284) – 310. Numatsi Yawotsu Dzigba (1588) – 3 Photo: Togo Chess Federation
FIDE Historical Committee meeting
The second meeting of the FIDE Historical Committee will be held today, as a part of the FIDE Congress. The meeting will begin at 15:00 CET, and it will be broadcast via Youtube: https://youtu.be/6kD9Bh9Tcf8 These are some of the topics to be discussed: FIDE titles and awards Queen’s Gambit movie and FIDE FIDE Anthem FIDE Chess Museum project FIDE Golden Book project FIDE Archive project FIDE’s 2024 anniversary in Paris and Budapest project
91st FIDE Online Congress 2020 Timetable
TUESDAY, 1 DECEMBER 11:00-13:00 Chess in Education Commission11:00-13:00 Commission for the Disabled14:00-16:00 Planning and Development Commission14:00-16:00 Qualification Commission16:00-18:00 Constitutional Commission16:00-18:00 Trainers’ Commission WEDNESDAY, 2 DECEMBER 10:00-12:00 Rules Commission12:00-14:00 Events Commission14:00-16:00 Ethics & Disciplinary Commission14:00-16:00 Verification Commission15:00-17:00 Technical Commission15:30-17:30 Global Strategy Commission16:00-18:00 Commission for Women’s Chess16:00-18:00 Medical Commission18:00-20:00 Data Protection Committee THURSDAY, 3 DECEMBER 11:30-13:30 Fair Play Commission15:30-17:30 Social Commission16:00-18:00 Arbiters’ Commission18:00-20:00 SPP Commission FRIDAY, 4 DECEMBER 10:00 – 11:00 Commonwealth Chess Association meeting15:00-19:00 FIDE Council meeting SATURDAY, 5 DECEMBER 11:00- 13:00 South Asian Chess Council (SACC) meeting15:00-17:00 FIDE Zonal Council meeting18:00-20:00 Francophone Chess Association (AIDEF) meeting SUNDAY, 6 DECEMBER 15:00- 20:00 FIDE General Assembly You can find the agenda for the GA at the following link: https://fide.com/news/822 *The times of the meetings are given according to the CET time. * The duration of the meetings is subject to further modification
Mednyi Vsadnik and CFM win Russian Team Championships
Russian Team Championships concluded in Sochi. The event was held from November 18-29, 2020, in the Grand Hotel Zhemchuzhina, Sochi. The open section 9-round tournament was played in a round-robin format, whereas women competed in a 9-round Swiss tournament. In the open section, Mednyi Vsadnik from Saint Petersburg, with Nikita Vitiugov, Maxim Matlakov, and Vladimir Fedoseev in the lineup, secured the title with one round to spare after winning eight matches in a row. In the final round the newly-crowned champions split points with CPRF Moscow (3-3) Chess Federation of Moscow (Evgeniy Najer, Vladimir Malakhov) finished second, Molodezhka from Tyumen region (Daniil Dubov, Alexander Riazantsev) took bronze. Final standings open: 1. Mednyi Vsadnik – 17 match points (35 points) 2. CFM – 14 (35½)3. Molodezhka – 14 (34)4. Ladya – 11 (31½)5. M. Botvinnik school – 10 (30½)6. CPRF – 9 (27½) 7. SShOR – 6 (23½)8. Achimgaz YNAO – 6 (22½)9. Cimmeria – 2 (14½)10. Moscow region – 1 (15½) Chess Federation of Moscow, led by IMs Polina Shuvalova and Ekaterina Kovalevskaya, won the women’s tournament. Ugra (WGMs Natalija Pogonina, Olga Girya) came in a close second, Cimmeria headed by IM Tatiana Vasilevich, claimed bronze. Final standings women: 1. CFM – 16 (25)2. Ugra – 15 (28)3. Cimmeria – 12 (22)4. SShOR-1 – 11 (23½)5. Moscow region – 11 (19)6. Ladya (Tatarstan) – 9 (17)7. Achimgaz YNAO – 8 (17½)8. SShOR-2 – 8 (17½)9. Amazones Yadda – 7 (16)10. Chess Federation of the Nizhny Novgorod region – 7 (14)11. Turbonasos – 7 (12½)12. Belgorod State University – 4 (11½)13. Tolpar – 2 (10½) Photo: Vladimir Barsky
Carlsen and So square off in final
After a week of play, the first event of the Champions Chess Tour, Skilling Open, is down the stretch. Magnus Carlsen will face off with Wesley So in the final that will take place on Sunday and Monday on chess24. In the semifinals, Carlsen and So defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi and Hikaru Nakamura respectively in close duels. After winning the first match, Carlsen fell behind in the second but bounced back immediately and then sealed his spot in the finals by drawing games 3 and 4. So also won his first match over Nakamura and managed to hold his edge on the second day as all four games were drawn. Carlsen about his So: “He’s one of the people that I find most difficult to play against because he rarely makes either tactical or positional mistakes, so he’s just very, very strong and I’ll have to be on top of my game!” Carlsen’s loss to So in the 2019 World Fischer Random Championship final is still fresh in memory, so the upcoming match promises a fierce and exciting battle.
FIDE Online World Cadets & Youth Rapid Championships get underway
At a moment when chess is experiencing a massive surge in popularity, 1,380 young chess players from 114 different countries are taking part in the FIDE Online World Cadets & Youth Rapid Chess Championships. The event, which kicks off today, comprises five different age groups: U10, U12, U14, U16, and U18. The participants will be competing in two sections: girls, and open. The tournament starts with a continental selection stage: Africa: 28-30 Nov America: 2-4 Dec Europe: 7-9 Dec Asia: 11-13 Dec. This structure also helps to accommodate the different time zones of the participants. A participant in the FIDE World Cadets Rapid and Blitz Championship 2019 held in Minsk, Belarus. PHOTO: Niki Riga. The 12 best players from this continental stage will advance to the final, where they will be joined by 4 players directly seeded. The finals will consist of ten knock-out tournaments (one for each age group and section) of 16 players. In his message to the participants, the FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich thanked the support of Gazprom, general partner of the event, as well as the organizers, the Georgian Chess Federation, and the FIDE Vice-President Akaki Iashvili. “We hope this event will bring joy to all the participants”, he concluded, before wishing good health and good luck to all players. The championship will be played under rapid time control: 10+3 in the qualification stage and 15+ 10 in the finals. Official website: www.world2020.ge 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
Anton Korobov wins 2020 Open Ukrainian Championship
GM Anton Korobov became a four-time Ukrainian chess champion after winning the title in the 2020 Open Ukrainian Chess Championship Omelnyk village (Poltava region). The event brought together 15 Grandmasters, 2 Woman Grandmasters, and 12 International Masters. Considered to be one of the main favorites before the start of the event, the #3 in the Ukrainian rating list, Korobov delivered on these expectations and clinched gold after making a short draw in the final round. The champion turned in an excellent performance scoring 7 points out of 9 (no losses) and defeating one of his main competitors Kirill Shevchenko in a critical Round 6 clash. Kirill Shevchenko, Yuriy Kuzubov, Oleg Zubov, Vitaliy Bernadsky, Alexander Kovchan, and Sergei Ovseevych netted 6 points each and tied for second with Shevchenko capturing silver thanks to better Buchholtz. The bronze medal goes to Yuriy Kuzubov. Iulija Osmak produced the best result among women scoring 5 points. Final standings: 1. Anton Korobov (2683) – 72. Kirill Shevchenko (2592) – 63. Yuriy Kuzubov (2641) – 64. Alexander Zubov (2589) – 65. Vitaliy Bernadskiy (2619) – 66. Alexander Kovchan (2568) – 67. Sergei Ovsejevitsch (2587) – 68. Yuri Solodovnichenko (2544) – 5½9. Alexander Zubarev (2422) – 5½10. Peng Li Min (2428) – 5½ Photo: Official website
Upset Watch: Round 5
The fifth round of the FIDE Online Olympiad for People with Disabilities played host to more than a half-dozen upsets. At the team level, Poland 1 has been stopped dead in their tracks; indeed, in the wake of the disastrous crushing at the hands of Philippines 1, the second seed Poland – 2, has eclipsed their comrades as the Polish top team. Also failing to regain their momentum, on the other end of the spectrum, was India 4. The team captain K. Marimuthu, also stalled, ending his upset streak. Yet, as Russia begins to separate itself from the herd down the stretch, there are still hungry competitors on their tail. Arguably, the most important upset of the fifth round belongs to the anchor player of Poland 2, Emilia Tryjanska (1425), who flagged WIM Anto Jennitha (2001) of India 1. If the Polish upset was dwarfed in importance, it was also second in quality to the beautiful draw between the captain of Ukraine 3, IM Igor Yarmonov (2391), and Van Quan Nguyen (1783) (pictured below), the leader of team Vietnam. Nguyen managed to trap Yarmonov in a perpetual check net, bringing home a crucial half-point against a far stronger team and preventing a 3-1 routing. In a similar set of circumstances, Ana Vuljanic (1581) of Team Croatia held on to a critical draw against expert Andras Paal (2060), contributing a decisive half-point into an overall win over Hungary. Because Paal opted not to gamble and settled for a draw by repetition in an inferior position, Vuljanic might have been robbed of an even bigger upset. Romania 1 would have whitewashed India 3 if it had not been for a major upset on the fourth board, in which Vivek Watpade (1344) trapped the queen of Ciprian-Iulian Strete (1782) after the Romanian greedily snatched a poisoned pawn on move 21. Although Romania’s top squad was deprived of a full sweep in round five, Russia 2 would not be denied the same. In a critical upset, Polina Taranenko (1445) handily defeated Huseyin Sahin (1788) of Turkey 1. Huseyin Sahin – Polina Taranenko With a beautiful finishing move of 39…Nh1+!, Taranenko guaranteed checkmate on move 40. This spectacular game, which guaranteed Russia’s 4-0 victory over Turkey, may be a candidate for a tournament brilliancy prize. Perhaps, the greatest upset of the tournament was not, by any means, the most lopsided. In Round 5 Cuba’s status as the rising chess hegemon of South America was challenged by Ecuador. On board 1, IM Pedro Morales (2332) could not manage to earn the victory against Christopher Leonel Garzon Zapatanga (1697) (pictured below), despite a valiant positional exchange sacrifice in a deadlocked position. Cuba’s bad luck only got worse, as, on board 3, master-strength Raul Leonardo Lavigne Lopez (2229) suffered the tournament’s nastiest upset against Andres Nevarez Castro (1250), blowing an easily won position through poor time management. Round five’s final upset might be the most aesthetically pleasing one. Although rated over 500 points lower than his opponent, Kyrgyzstan’s Toktobek Bolotov (1448) stayed neck-and-neck with expert Gavril Draghici Flutur (2072), of team Spain, throughout a 73 move game. Forcing the game into the deep waters of a queen ending, Bolotov managed to simplify into an equal position with king and three pawns vs king and three pawns and held his higher-rated opponent to a draw. Essentially, Bolotov’s personal achievement is responsible for converting a close match into a decisive victory for team Kyrgyzstan over Spaniard by a score of 3-1. As we enter the final two rounds of play, the question which looms large over the tournament is whether or not anyone can prevent Russia from, once again, running away with a clear domination of a world championship. Win or lose, join Bear the Chess Husky, right here tomorrow, as we continue to keep a vigilant eye on The Upset Watch! Standings after Round 5: 1. Russia 1 – 102. Poland 2 – 93. Germany – 84. Philippines 1 – 85. Israel – 86. Ukraine 1 – 87. Ukraine 3 – 88. Croatia – 89. Poland 1 – 710. Russia 2 – 711. Ecuador – 712. Romania 1 – 713. Chile – 714. India 1 – 715. Vietnam – 6 Text: Arena International Master Sean J. Manross & Bear the Chess Husky Official website: dis.fide.com
Day 3: Carlsen wins prelims
Magnus Carlsen survived a blunder against Hikaru Nakamura in the first round of the day to win the Skilling Open prelims, but the main drama was elsewhere. 17-year-old Alireza Firouzja seemed to have wrapped up a quarterfinal spot with a stunning three wins in a row, but losses in the last two rounds meant heartbreak. After leading for two days, Anish Giri only scraped into the quarterfinals in 8th place and now faces Carlsen, while world no. 2 Ding Liren, who went into the day in 2nd place, is also out. There was joy and despair on the final day of the Skilling Open Prelims, as the 16 players battled to claim eight places in the quarterfinals. No-one summed up the joy better than Levon Aronian, who bounced back from a bad day to win three games and ultimately finish in 5th place. He celebrated with his dog Ponchik! Elsewhere there was a huge relief for Anish Giri, who went into his final round game, Black against Ding Liren, with his tournament survival hanging by a thread. It would have been a shocker to get knocked out after leading for the first two days, but the Dutch star got the draw he ultimately needed. French no. 1 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave also made it in by the finest of margins. The most dramatic story, however, was that of 17-year-old Alireza Firouzja. For the first three rounds, he was on fire, taking down Ding Liren, Anish Giri, and Sergey Karjakin to take the joint lead with Magnus Carlsen with just two rounds to go. He was garnering high praise. It seemed just a formality that he’d reach the knockout stage, but in the penultimate round, he ran into a killer tactic from Hikaru Nakamura. Then in the final round, when a draw with White against Liem Quang Le would have been enough for him to qualify, he again fell to defeat. After Liem’s win, it turned out both players were the unlucky ones to lose out in a 5-way tie with Teimour Radjabov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Anish Giri since in that mini-league Teimour scored 3/5, Maxime and Anish 2/5, and Alireza and Le only 1.5/5. The final standings look as follows, with the quarterfinalists on the left: The no. 1 finisher plays the no. 8, the no. 2 the no. 7, and so on, which produced the following mouth-watering ties. There’s no rest day, with the matches beginning Wednesday at 18:00 CET. Each clash is held over two days, with a 4-game rapid match each day. If the score is 1:1 after those two matches a playoff will be held with two blitz games and then Armageddon. Text and photo: chess24.com Official site: https://championschesstour.com/
Upset Watch: Round 4
The fourth round of the FIDE Online Olympiad for People with Disabilities saw an upset of an impressive campaign of Poland 1 and a fourth victory, in a row by the player who is, arguably, the most underrated competitor of the event, K. Marimuthu of India 4. Until yesterday’s battles, Poland 1 was merciless dominating Bangladesh, Chile, and Ukraine 2 in the first three rounds, respectively. However, an emergent chess superpower, India, proved that their top team could not be so easily brushed aside. Poland’s leader, GM Marcin Tazbir (2513), sat out the round while FM Marcin Molenda (2349) and FM Lukasz Nowak (2265) managed to score full points on Boards 1 and 2. However, the bottom two Polish boards fell to defeat, ending the team’s momentum and begging the question if it may have been a tactical error to bench the grandmaster. Russia 1 and Germany did not miss a chance to edge ahead by steamrolling Croatia (4-0) and Ukraine (3½-½) respectively. FM Stanislav Babarykin (pictured below) and IM Andrei Obodchuk, first and second boards of the Russian squad, both scored 4 out of 4 so far. Russia 1 and Germany won all four matches and will face off in Round 5. At their other end of the tournament’s spectrum, there were two upsets worthy of note. India 4’s gallant crusade against the pack has stalled – but their top board continues to exceed expectations. K. Marimuthu (1588) defeated Spanish expert, Albert Olivera Gutierrez (2097), adding another notch to the list of victories against players rated 400+ higher. Similarly stunning was the 14-move bludgeoning which Saltik Suleyman (1639) put on Pedro Basualto Penalieres (2025), in the match between Turkey 1 and Chile. Tomorrow, the Turk will have an opportunity to build upon today’s victorious Nimzo-Larsen in a match against Junior World Vice-Champion of the Disabled, Griffin McConnell of the USA. Griffin McConnell (pictured below), the “Colorado Kid,” has proven himself to be the de-facto leader of Team USA and an upset-machine at this year’s Online Olympiad. In the first round, the Junior World Vice-Champion handily defeated Russia 2’s International Master Alexey Pakhomov (2315) in what was, arguably, the biggest win of his career, to date. McConnell followed these successes with victories against an Expert and Class A player, respectively, in rounds 3 and 4, falling only in round 2 to Arena Grandmaster Henry Lopez, of Philippines 1. Team USA may have had a spectacularly-awful second round, getting blown out against the Philippines…but, today’s upset win over heavy-favorite North Macedonia, with 3.5/4, puts the Americans back in a position of much-needed momentum. Photo: Dora L. Martinez Russia 3 is led by McConnell’s arch-rival, Junior World Champion of the Disabled, FIDE Master Ilya Lipilin (2189). Lipilin plays on the second board but it should not obscure the fact that the Russian lad is one of the strongest competitors in the event. In round 4, Lipilin took down seasoned FIDE Master, Carlos Larduet Despaigne (2293). This win is his most significant in the event so far as it helped Russia 3 to upset Cuba and cemented its position in the top-10 of current standings. Standings after Round 4: 1. Russia 1 – 82. Germany – 83. Poland 1 – 74. Poland 2 – 75. India 1 – 76. Israel – 67. Philippines 1 – 68. Russia 3 – 69. Vietnam – 610. Poland 3 – 611. Hungary – 612. Ukraine 3 – 613. Ukraine 1 – 614. Croatia – 615. India 3 – 5 Text: Arena International Master Sean J. Manross & Bear the Chess Husky Official website: dis.fide.com