Reopening Bidding Procedure announcement
Following the decision of the FIDE Council, the International Chess Federation is reopening a bidding procedure for the following events: 1. 2022 World Chess Olympiad and 2022 FIDE Congress (Expected for August 2022)Please note that the requirements for bidders are determined by the updated Olympiad regulations:https://handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/Olympiad2024.pdf 2. 2021 FIDE World Cup (Expected for September 2021)https://handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/WorldCup2021Regulations.pdf 3. 2020 FIDE Women’s World Cup 2020 (Expected in April 2021)https://handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/WWorldCup2020Regulations.pdf A bid for any FIDE Competitions onwards shall include the name of a FIDE licensed International Organizer. All bids should be submitted by October 10, 2020, at 16:00 (Lausanne time), in a sealed envelope addressed to the FIDE Secretariat postal address (Avenue de Rhodanie 54, 1007 Lausanne, Switzerland, Tel: + 41 21 6010039), or sending the scanned documents to the official email office@fide.com. Each bid should be accompanied by a bid fee. Bid Fees are not refundable. Bid fees should be paid the latest October 3 2020 to the FIDE bank account (free of charges) or to be enclosed in the bid envelope. FIDE reserves the right to extend the above-mentioned deadline or to give additional time to provide government guarantees for bidders who submitted their bid within the deadline. Downloads: 1) Bid form2) Bid form annex
David Anton and Sabrina Vega win Spanish Championship
The 2020 Spanish Championship was held in Linares from August 31 to September 8. The nine-round Swiss tournament brought together 139 participants, including 12 grandmasters competing for the title of national champion. Before the final round, the defending GM Alexei Shirov was leading the field with an excellent score 7/8, a half-point ahead of David Anton Guijarro and GM Jaime Santos Latasa. However, in the last round, 24-year-old Santos defeated the leader with white pieces and overtook him. GM David Anton also won his game over Manuel Perez, caught up with Santos, and clinched the title thanks to a better tiebreak – both scored 7½/9. Alexei Shirov finished fourth. IM Sabrina Vega claimed her 7th national title – with 6/9, she showed the best result among women. Final standings: 1. David Anton Guijarro – 7½/9 2. Jaime Santos Latasa – 7½ 3. Ivan Salgado Lopez – 7 4. Alexei Shirov – 7 5. Andres Merario Alarcon – 7 6. Manuel Perez Candelario – 6½ 7. Daniel Alsina Leal – 6½ 8. Jesus Martin Duque – 6½ 9. Pedro Antonio Gines Esteo – 6½ 10. Marcos Lianes Garcia – 6½ Photo: Ismael Nieto
FIDE announces resumption of Candidates Tournament
After consultation with the players and organizers, FIDE is pleased to announce the resumption of the Candidates tournament. The 8th round has been scheduled for November 1, 2020. According to the contract Yekaterinburg, the city that organized the first round of the Candidates Tournament at the highest level in March 2020, is still considered as the hosting city. However, considering the epidemiological situation, FIDE has designated a reserve venue: The city of Tbilisi, in Georgia, has been officially approved as an alternative, and it is ready to host the tournament in the same time frame. We are also in touch with other potential host cities from several countries where the event could be moved to, in case additional restrictions reappear in Russia and Georgia. FIDE considers the resumption of the World Championship cycle as one of the main tasks. As one of the oldest sports traditions in the world, it is our duty to protect it and ensure its continuity. The World Championship cycle is also a crucial event in order to increase the popularity of chess around the world. FIDE is aware that millions of fans are looking forward to seeing the best chess players on the planet back at the chessboard, and we have spared no effort to make it possible despite the challenging circumstances.
Are there chess players in Samoa?
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) is the governing body of international chess. It was founded in 1924, and it is now one of the largest organizations of its kind, with 195 member countries. Chess is considered the king of games, and as such, it is widely known and played all around the world. For sure there are chess lovers in Samoa, too. However, we are not aware of any organized chess activity on the islands. Is there a chess club, is chess taught in the schools? We are looking for local chess enthusiasts who can help us to promote the game, and we would assist you to create a basic chess infrastructure. This would lay the foundation for the establishment of a Samoan Chess Federation and – why not? – you could even get the chance to represent Samoa at international competitions in the future. If you are interested in cooperating with us, just get in touch by sending an email introducing yourself to office@fide.com. We will get back to you right away.
Announcing FIDE Congress 2020
The FIDE Council has approved the decision of holding the FIDE General Assembly online, on December 6, 2020 (Sunday). According to the new FIDE Charter, the Assembly, together with the meetings of the Zonal Council, the FIDE Council, and the Commissions, forms the FIDE Congress, which dates are as follows: – FIDE Commissions meetings: December 1-3, 2020– FIDE Council meeting: December 4, 2020– FIDE Zonal Council meeting: December 5, 2020– FIDE General Assembly: December 6, 2020. The exact time of the meetings, agenda, hosting platform, and invitation link will be provided in future communication. If your National Federation or Affiliated Organization would like to propose an item to be included in the online General Assembly agenda, please provide the FIDE Secretariat with all the necessary documents, using the email office@fide.com. According to the FIDE Charter, these proposals should reach the FIDE offices at least two months before the opening date of the General Assembly, so please make sure to send them by October 6, 2020. We would also like to draw your attention to the provisions of Article 17.6 of the FIDE Charter and the requirements for delegates. The new FIDE Charter was approved earlier this year and it implies relevant changes. We recommend all participants in the FIDE Congress to get as familiar as possible with the FIDE Charter in preparation for the event. Regarding the Commissions meetings, the meeting of a Commission may be held at an earlier date than the one proposed here, taking into account the opinion of the Commission members.
Alexei Shirov wins Gazprom Brilliancy Prize
Alexei Shirov has been proclaimed the winner of the Gazprom Brilliancy Prize, a special trophy awarded by the General Partner of the Online Chess Olympiad. The game that earned Shirov this prize was his victory with the Black pieces against Danyyil Dvirnyy, in the match Spain – Italy that took place in the Pool C of Division 2. The game was a Slav Defense in which Alexei came up with a novelty relatively early in the game, 14…Qb8 instead of the queen’s exchange proposal that implies the most common continuation 14…Qb6. Shirov’s attack on the Queenside progressed much faster than Danyyil’s advances on the Kingside, and the Spaniard achieved a crushing victory in just 29 moves with an elegant checkmate thread following a Queen sacrifice. This isn’t the first brilliancy prize in Shirov’s career, and for sure it won’t be the last. The Spaniard remains one of the most popular players among chess fans on account of his uncompromising style and fighting spirit, and he is always willing to jump into the sharpest possible continuation that the position has to offer. During the Online Olympiad, Alexei demonstrated to be in very good shape, and this is just one of the dozen victories he scored with the Spanish team. He totaled 13 points in 15 games, with just 1 defeat and 2 draws. FIDE had invited a panel of 14 popular Streamers and YouTubers to be the judges for the Gazprom Brilliancy Prize, asking them to give 3 points to their favorite game, 2 to their second favorite, and 1 to the third. Ten out of the fourteen judges picked Shirov’s game as their top choice, announcing their votes in their respective channels. Final results: Dvirnyy – Shirov, 33 points Kapitanchuk – Kozak, 18 points Anand – Maghsoodloo, 10 pointsNoritsyn – So, 10 pointsPavlidis – Ftacnik, 4 pointsSalman – Aziz, 4 pointsXiong – Esipenko, 3 pointsGunina – Gara, 1 pointZabi – Napoleao, 1 point These are the votes, judge by judge, and the links to their respective videos: Anna Cramling (Sweden) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/7301845123 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov2 points: Noritsyn – So1 point: Kapitanchuk – Kozak Anna-Maja Kazarian (Netherlands) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/7279364513 points: Noritsyn – So 2 points: Salman – Aziz 1 point: Zaibi – Napoleao Antonio Radic (Croatia) https://youtu.be/3kNznwra7yg3 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov2 points: Pavlidis – Ftacnik1 point: Kapitanchuk – Kozak Ayelen Martinez (Argentina) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/7300949683 points: Anand – Maghsoodloo2 points: Noritsyn – So1 point: Kapitanchuk – Kozak Carlos Matamoros (Ecuador) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/7291819753 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov2 points: Anand – Maghsoodloo1 point: Noritsyn – So Daniel King (UK) https://www.youtube.com/user/PowerPlayChess3 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov2 points: Anand – Maghsoodloo1 point: Noritsyn – So Daniel Naroditsky (USA) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/7307617313 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov 2 points: Kapitanchuk – Kozak 1 point: Xiong – Esipenko Eric Rosen (USA) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/7306656043 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov2 points: Anand – Maghsoodloo1 point: Noritsyn – So Fiona Steil Antoni (Luxemburg) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/7272053693 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov 2 points: Kapitanchuk – Kozak 1 point: Salman – Aziz Jesse February (South Africa) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/727913527 3 points: Kapitanchuk – Kozak 2 points: Xiong – Esipenko 1 point: Dvirnyy – Shirov Maria Emelianova (Russia) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/7300306003 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov 2 points: Pavlidis – Ftacnik 1 point: Anand – Maghsoodloo Michael Rahal (Spain) https://youtu.be/WP1GSRgtB3s3 points: Kapitanchuk – Kozak 2 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov 1 point: Salman – Aziz Sagar Shah & Amruta Mokal (India) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzJPLw4AoFM3 points: Dvirnyy vs Shirov2 points: Vidit – Nepomniachtich1 point: Kapitanchuk – Kozak Simon Williams (UK) https://youtu.be/CVRrQ_1N06s3 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov 2 points: Kapitanchuk – Kozak 1 point: Gunina – Ticia Gara
David Navara wins Czech Chess Championship
David Navara won his tenth title of the Czech chess champion at the championship held in Pilsen. The highest-parted participant lived up to his status of favorite and conceded his opponents only three draws in nine rounds. The silver came to Viktor Láznička, the second-ranked Czech player; another favorite Zbyněk Hráček took bronze. “I am glad that I managed to win the tournament. Maybe I played a little better than the others, but not by much, more like the first among equals,” the champion humbly said. Navara won his first title of Czech champion back in 2004 when he was only 19 years old. Navara went through a difficult moment in Round 8 when he had to defend an inferior position against Jiří Štoček, the winner of last year’s Czech Open, but he managed to neutralize the opponent’s pressure. It was one of Navarre’s three draws for the entire tournament – he also slit points with the two other medalists. In Round 4 David had an almost six-hour battle with Zbyněk Hráček, his predecessor in the position of Czech number one and former 20th chess player in the world; in Round 6 he drew with the Czech number two Viktor Láznička. Before the last round, Navara was a half-point ahead of four players and by defeating Karel Malinovsky he secured the title. Out of four pursuers, only Láznička scored a victory and took silver. Zbyněk Hráček tied for third place with several players but was awarded bronze thanks to better tiebreaks. A young prodigy Václav Finěk turned in a solid performance and finished 14th, leaving behind GMs Peter Michalík or Pavel Šimáček. Final standings: 1. David Navara (2719) – 7½2. Viktor Láznička (2638) – 73. Zbyněk Hráček (2563) – 6½4. Jiří Štoček (2595) – 6½5. Thai Dai Van Nguyen (2569) – 6½6. Milan Orság (2300) – 6½7. Daniel Šorm (2343) – 6½8. Karel Malinovský (2474) – 69. Daniel Kožúšek (2307) – 610. Josef Havelka (2367) – 6 Text and photo: https://www.chess.cz/
Gazprom Brilliancy Prize
Gazprom, General Partner of the first Online Chess Olympiad, is the sponsor of the Brilliancy Prize for the best game of the competition. A special trophy has been specially designed for the occasion, and FIDE has invited a panel of popular Streamers and YouTubers to be the judges. They will announce their votes along the week in their respective channels, and the final winner will be announced on Friday, once all their votes have been gathered. Judges have been asked to give 3 points to their favorite game, 2 to their second favorite, and 1 to the third. This is the initial* list: Anna Cramling (Sweden) Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/annacramling Anna-Maja Kazarian (Netherlands) Twitch: www.twitch.tv/annamaja Antonio Radic (Croatia) Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AGADMATOR/videos Ayelen Martinez (Argentina)Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/ayelenchess Carlos Matamoros (Ecuador)Twitch www.twitch.tv/gmmatamoros Daniel King (UK) Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/PowerPlayChess Daniel Naroditsky (USA)Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/gmnaroditsky Eric Rosen (USA)Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/imrosen Fiona Steil Antoni (Luxemburg) Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/fionchetta Jesse February (South Africa)Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/hashtagchess Maria Emelianova (Russia)Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/photochess Michael Rahal (Spain)Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/mikerahal/ Sagar Shah & Amruta Mokal (India)Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChessBaseIndiachannel Simon Williams (UK)Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GingerGM Do you have a favorite game from the Olympiad? We invite you to post the critical position from a favorite game on social media, tagging FIDE and/or using the hashtag #ChessOlympiad. We will make sure that the judges take your suggestions into account. (*One more judge is pending confirmation, due to problems with their schedule. They are expected to confirm along today).
Call for Interest: Chess Olympiad 2022
Dear Member Federations and chess organizers: The 2022 World Chess Olympiad in Minsk (Belarus), as well as a number of side events, are at risk after the current organizers failed to comply with their obligations. At the moment, FIDE is expecting the current Organizing Committee to confirm their final position regarding their organizational and financial duties. Unless the Minsk organizers meet their obligations in the upcoming days, FIDE will be forced to change the hosting country for the 2022 World Chess Olympiad and related events. In that eventuality, FIDE would launch a call for bids on September 7 for the right to host the following events: 1. 2022 World Chess Olympiad and 2022 FIDE Congress (Expected for August 2022)https://handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/Olympiad2024.pdf 2. 2021 FIDE World Cup (Expected for September 2021)https://handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/WorldCup2021Regulations.pdf 3. 2020 FIDE Women’s World Cup 2020 (Expected in April 2021)https://handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/WWorldCup2020Regulations.pdf The Federations or private organizers who wish to submit a proposal in response to this call for interest should do so before October 7, 2020, using FIDE’s official email account: office@fide.com. FIDE could give additional time to provide government guarantees. Likewise, FIDE reserves the right to extend this deadline.
Professional Education & Development Workshops for Trainers
Technology advances fast, and chess trainers need to have a good grasp of the latest developments in many fields: chess engines, databases, different learning platforms… “While logic and experience can get someone far, there is currently a huge gap of knowledge of what really the chess engines can and what they cannot do, which deprives the trainer to use them in their full potential”, explains Peter Long, Secretary of the Trainers Commission (TRG). To address this need, the TRG Commission has organized several 1-day seminars dedicated to explaining to chess coaches how to make the most of all these tools in their day-by-day. The lecturer is Nikos Ntirlis, a renowned chess author and a highly specialized professional in the fields of data analysis, adult learning theories, and sales engineering. The first of these seminars took place on August 29, but chess coaches still have the chance to join two of the upcoming ones: on September 5, and September 12 (starting from 9 AM CET). You can find more information in the following brochure, as well as the TRG website. https://trainers.fide.com/2020/08/03/professional-education-development-workshops-for-trainers/ https://www.dropbox.com/s/1qsr34icz0vs7qq/Analysis%20Engines%20Workshop.pdf?dl=0 E-mail for registration: trainers@fide.com