Magnus Calsen Tour Final: Carlsen gifts Nakamura the lead
Magnus Carlsen punched the air in disbelief after his howler gifted Hikaru Nakamura the lead in the $140,000 Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Final. The World Champion stunned a bumper audience watching online as he fell to a simple trick from the American who goes 2-1 up in the best-of-seven decider. Viewing figures hit new highs as tens of thousands tuned in to watch the drama unfold in the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour’s dream final between the fierce rivals. Carlsen had looked exhausted and out of sorts in the first two days of the final with some commentators suggesting his summer of intense online chess had finally caught up with him. But the champ signaled he was back in the groove straight away on day 3 with an opening game win that was as smooth as silk. Game 2 then saw Carlsen repeat the match tactic both he and Nakamura have used of, having gone into the lead, piling on the pressure ahead by playing for a quick draw. Carlsen laughed when it happened yesterday, but this time it was Nakamura who was seen chuckling to himself as the game lasted just 17 moves. However, with the score 1.5-0.5 to Carlsen and games running out, Nakamura still needed a route back into the match. And it came. Nakamura struck back in the third with aplomb as he outplayed the champ in a brilliant game which ended with Carlsen resigning in disgust. With game 4 finishing in another draw, Carlsen and Nakamura headed into a two-game blitz decider. It was then that Carlsen made his shock mistake, falling into a trap in the first few moves of the first blitz game. Nakamura converted with ease and left Carlsen needing to win the next game on demand. The Norwegian showed his incredible trademark tenacity in the final blitz game to take the fight to Nakamura but the American matched him and yet another thrilling game ended in a draw. Nakamura said afterward: “It was obviously a very tricky match and then at the end, it got really crazy.” Nakamura is now 2-1 up in the best-of-seven final with play due to start again tomorrow at 16:00 CEST. Supporting Kiva Broadcaster chess24 has pledged 50 percent of new Premium memberships bought during its Tour Final to Kiva’s Global COVID-19 Response fund that aims to raise at least $50 million for entrepreneurs and small businesses impacted by COVID‑19. During the event, chess24 and Kiva will highlight stories where chess has changed people’s lives under the official tournament social media hashtag #ImpactChess. Viewers are encouraged to engage with the Tour Final and support small businesses impacted by COVID-19 by signing up for a premium subscription here. More details on the Finals The Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour was devised by Norway’s World Champion and chess24 after traditional over the board chess was halted suddenly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tour Final kicks off on August 9 and runs until August 20. It is the culmination of four elite-level super-tournaments that began in March as a way of getting chess started again while other sports worldwide were prohibited. The first four stages of the first Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour were: The Magnus Carlsen Invitational The Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge The Chessable Masters The chess24 Legends of Chess Four players have qualified for the final crescendo of chess after being the best performers during the preceding tour events. The winner of the Tour Final, which has a total prize pot of $300,000, will scoop a top prize of $140,000 and the title of Champion of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. Tournament rules and schedule The Tour Final will be a 12-day event running from August 9 to August 20. Time control is a rapid 15m + 10s from move 1 played in the chess24 Playzone. The semi-finals of the Tour Final tournament will be a best of 5 four-game mini-matches. The final will be a best of 7 mini-matches. As usual, play will start at 16:00 CEST. Highlights English:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_QSmtZoiwL24EGuZSEmi1UR5j4hInR0u?usp=sharingNew files at around 23.00 CEST Rough edit highlights:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12mwKPkAfzeyfzd1Gay-FU5dJ8uU6OXMY?usp=sharingNew files ready around 02.00 CEST FOR MORE INFORMATION:Leon Watsonleon@chessable.com+447786 078770
Division 2: Day 2 Round-up
The second day in Division 2 clearly demonstrated that several squads that got into action at this stage are superior to all the teams which thousands of spectators of the Online Olympiad have seen before. These teams showed their worth and should be reckoned with even in Top Division where they are bound to qualify. On the other hand, not all the favorites looked convincing and some of them might “zip rackets in a bag” this Sunday. Pool A Team Bulgaria continues its impressive run in the competition. Yesterday the Bulgarian chess players outclassed their opponents in all three matches losing just two games out of eighteen. If we have to highlight someone personally, it should be 19-year old WIM Viktoria Radeva who won all five games on her sixth board. Germany was scraping up points all day but the high level of this team allows it to win one match after another although sometimes by a minimal margin. Given that Elisabeth Paehtz is having rest this week, by the decisive matches in Top Division Germany will become a powerful force. Australia made an important, maybe even decisive step towards the third “golden” place in the final standings by winning three matches with the same score 4:2, including one against its main competitor Philippines. Team Philippines also lost two points in the encounter with Belgium and now has very little chance to progress into the next stage. Indonesia became the main rival of Australia – their match in Round 7 will be decisive. Belarus suffered three straight defeats yesterday – the Belarussian players surely just want to leave this terrible week behind and move on. Pool B The day started with the match between prohibitive favorite Romania and a hell-raiser team Slovakia. Not without some problems but Romania lowered the broom on Slovakia – 4:2, despite another victory by GM GM Lubomir Ftacnik. In Round 5 Lubomir lost after all – in-form GM Antonios Pavlidis from Greece, finished him off with a nice “petite combination” (as Capablanca would put it): Antonios Pavlidis – Lubomir Ftacnik Antonios played an elegant 32. Ra8! Qxa8 33. fxg6 hxg6? (33…Kh8 would have protracted the game, but after 34.gxf7 Black will hardly survive with White’s pawn on the seventh rank) 34. Qxf7+ Kh8 35. Rf3, and Black resigned facing the imminent checkmate. Despite its moral leader’s defeat, Slovakia managed to draw the match with Greece and now has all the reasons to be optimistic about its future. Israel lost one point in each of two matches with IPCA and Singapore and is trailing by two points. Given that in addition to the key match with Slovakia, Israel will also face Romania, the team has only a slim chance to advance. Pool С This pool has the highest concentration of star players in all Division 2. However, after his first-day setback, the leader of team Netherlands Anish Giri did not show up yesterday due to some organizational problems. For two-thirds of the day, the Dutchmen managed without their leader but unexpectedly lost the final match of the day against Switzerland and seriously complicated their task of advancing to Top Division. Noel Studer – Jorden Van Foreest A highly irrational, chaotic position emerged by move 15 on the first board, which Noel Studer (SUI) handled better than his higher-rated opponent. Spain also benched its leaders – David Anton Guijarro played just a single game, Francisco Vallejo Pons had a rest day, but as some sort of compensation, Alexei Shirov has torn it up, winning six games in six rounds. Check out how he wrapped it up in a key match with Italy: Danyyil Dvirnyy – Alexei Shirov Danyyil Dvirnyy has just imprudently played 26. g4?, thinking that Black’s queen was trapped. All of a sudden the hunter became the hunted – 26…Nxg4! 27. Rxg4 Qxg4! 28. Qxg4 Nxd2+ and it turns out that after 29.Ka2 b3+ Black delivers an elegant checkmate 0-1 Spain dominates the field in this group; despite the defeat in the above-mentioned game and the match Italy will most likely come second. As for the third position, there are four candidates for this spot with Slovenia (not the Netherlands) having the best shot. Pool D Three teams have shown outstanding results and level of play in this pool – Turkey, Norway, and Serbia won six matches each. Turkey was considered to be a clear favorite before the start but Serbia’s and especially Norway’s performance came as a surprise. Both teams clobbered Sweden yesterday with the same score 5:1. Since it is pretty much over for Sweden, Croatia remains the only squad that can prevent one of top-trio from advancing to the next stage. The Croatian players have to beat Norway and hope that this team will be a weak link in the matches between the leaders. Other teams are relegated to supporting roles although many spectators were happy to see in action legendary Icelandic GM Johann Hjartarson. Pool E Hungary has all the right to claim an unofficial title of the best team in Division 2. On the first day, the Magyars scored 15 out 18, on the second day they went even further and nicked 15.5. England also won all its matches including the key one against Ecuador in Round 6. In Round 7 the leaders will clash to determine who will take the first position in the pool. Since both teams advanced to the next stage only prestige will be on stake in this match. Ecuador looked like a clear candidate for the spot, but a loss in Round 5 at hands of Mexico complicated matters to the max. Today four teams – Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina – will determine the only team to advance in their matches between each other. After Scotland lost chances for top-3 Andrew N Greet and Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant opted not to play – in the absence of the leaders, the Scots did not win a single game and finished the day in 9th position. This Sunday the final matches in Division 2 will be played. Very soon we will know all 15 teams to join 25 seeded squads in Top Division. The way things are going, those will be 13 teams from Europe, Australia, and one of the South American squads.
Carlsen’s relief as mistake costs Nakamura
Magnus Carlsen had to use all his dark arts to overcome Hikaru Nakamura today and wrestle himself back into the final of his signature tournament. The two fierce rivals played out a thrilling but at times a bizarre second day in the $140,000 Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Final which the World Champion won to leave the match score at 1-1. Nakamura, who dominated yesterday, had looked in ominous form as his rode to victory in the first game, a razor-sharp encounter that had fans on the edge of their seats. A super-quick 14-move draw then followed as Carlsen wanted to stabilize and Nakamura was perfectly content to sit on his lead. In Game 3, Nakamura and Carlsen resumed hostilities with the American again looking strong. But a small lapse from Nakamura left a door open for Carlsen to roar back. The mistake cost the American dearly as Carlsen busted through to get the win he desperately needed to level the set 1.5-1.5. Then game 4 was an exact repeat of game 2 – a quick 14-move so-called “Grandmaster draw” that followed the precise moves and ended with a draw by repetition agreed between the players. Carlsen laughed on screen as it ended as both players were obviously content to back their skills in two sped up games and push the set into a blitz chess tiebreaker. “I thought it was just funny that we played the second game twice,” said Carlsen afterward. But in the commentary box four-time US champ Yasser Seirawan, a respected voice on the game, called it “cynical” and said it “leaves a bad taste”. Grandmaster Peter Leko added that rightly or wrongly in online chess the two quickly drawn games only served to ramp up the tension even more as Carlsen and Nakamura headed into the play-off. The first blitz game ended in another draw – this time keenly-fought. But in the second pressure finally got to Nakamura and the challenger cracked. At last, there was something to separate the two and Carlsen had won the set. When asked about Nakamura’s mistake, Carlsen said: “Yeah, that was a pleasant feeling!” Carlsen and Nakamura are now tied 1-1 in the best-of-seven final with play due to start again tomorrow at 16:00 CEST. Supporting Kiva Broadcaster chess24 has pledged 50 percent of new Premium memberships bought during its Tour Final to Kiva’s Global COVID-19 Response fund that aims to raise at least $50 million for entrepreneurs and small businesses impacted by COVID‑19. During the event, chess24 and Kiva will highlight stories where chess has changed people’s lives under the official tournament social media hashtag #ImpactChess. Viewers are encouraged to engage with the Tour Final and support small businesses impacted by COVID-19 by signing up for a premium subscription here. More details on the Finals The Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour was devised by Norway’s World Champion and chess24 after traditional over the board chess was halted suddenly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tour Final kicks off on August 9 and runs until August 20. It is the culmination of four elite-level super-tournaments that began in March as a way of getting chess started again while other sports worldwide were prohibited. The first four stages of the first Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour were: The Magnus Carlsen Invitational The Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge The Chessable Masters The chess24 Legends of Chess Four players have qualified for the final crescendo of chess after being the best performers during the preceding tour events. The winner of the Tour Final, which has a total prize pot of $300,000, will scoop a top prize of $140,000 and the title of Champion of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. Tournament rules and schedule The Tour Final will be a 12-day event running from August 9 to August 20. Time control is a rapid 15m + 10s from move 1 played in the chess24 Playzone. The semi-finals of the Tour Final tournament will be a best of 5 four-game mini-matches. The final will be a best of 7 mini-matches. As usual, play will start at 16:00 CEST. Highlights English:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_QSmtZoiwL24EGuZSEmi1UR5j4hInR0u?usp=sharingNew files at around 23.00 CEST Rough edit highlights:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12mwKPkAfzeyfzd1Gay-FU5dJ8uU6OXMY?usp=sharingNew files ready around 02.00 CEST FOR MORE INFORMATION:Leon Watsonleon@chessable.com+447786 078770
Division 2: Day 1 Round-up
The Online Olympiad formula by FIDE is a real catch. Indeed, many strong GMs who got into action yesterday rarely take the stage as their teams usually don’t fight for the top positions. And to think that by the fourth tournament weekend we have already seen many exciting games and unexpected outcomes. The first rounds in Division 2 pleased those fans who treat chess as an art with many games of exceptional quality. Pool A Since nobody expected many crushing defeats at this stage, the first round’s results came as a surprise. Team Australia lead by a young GM Anton Smirnov started with 12 straight victories whitewashing even Belgium. Despite a promising start, Australia has not secured a spot in Top Division yet – in Round 3 this team fell to Bulgaria that turned in even more impressive performance and tied for the lead with clear favorite team Germany. Australia most likely will fight for the third spot with Indonesia and Philippines. These two Asian teams already faced each other with Philippines coming on top. Turkmenistan also made a splash in the starting rounds – the team nearly wrestled a match point from Germany losing by a minimal margin and then somewhat unexpectedly defeated Belarus. Unfortunately, the Belorussian players performed badly on the first day, losing two matches out of three – apparently, the representatives of this chess power are having a hard time concentrating on the games these days. Pool B This pool produced the most unexpected leader so far. Although Slovakia did not play with most dangerous opponents, 6 points out of 6 came as a strong bid for the top-3. With no formal leaders playing yesterday, 62-year old GM Lubomir Ftacnik (pictured below) was shining on the first board. The veteran won all his three games, creating an impressive positional masterpiece in the encounter with FIDE Executive Director and the leader of team Moldova Victor Bologan (check it out here). Photo: Frans Peeters The pool favorites Romania and Greece along with Latvia (5 points each) are close behind the leader. Romania and Greece scored confident victories in Rounds 1 and 2 and then drew their match in Round 3. There has been no reason question these teams’ advancing to Top Division so far. Meanwhile, Latvia split points with Israel. It is fair to assume that these two teams plus Slovakia will fight for the third spot in Top Division. Speaking of the teams qualifying from lower divisions, one might have expected more from Singapore. On the other hand, Thailand has picked up points in every match although not enough for even a single draw. One of the discoveries of Online Olympiad Prin Laohawirapap scored two victories and even when losing stayed true to himself: Prin Laohawirapap – Ilia Lipilin White has a nice play against Black’s king that is stuck in the center. Laohawirapap opted for the sharpest continuation: 19.f5!?, and after 19…gxf5 White should have played 20.Qe5, with a good position, but the young player is carried away by a flashy but unsound idea – 20.Rxf5?? exf5 21. Qe5+ Kd7 22. Qxh8 Bh6 (apparently the youngster missed this move) 23. Qxh7 Bxd2 24. Qxf5+ Qe6, and Black converted his extra piece. Pool С The biggest story in this pool is a poor performance by the highest-rated player in Division 2 and the leader of team Netherlands Anish Giri, who scored only a half-point in three games. In a short interview during the livestream Anish said that he was having many distractions these days and could not concentrate on the game. The leader’s result affected the overall team performance – Netherlands is outside the top-3 with four points. Moreover, in the match with Italy, Netherlands was lucky to close the two-point gap. Spain and Italy came atop the standings, although both teams lost points along the way. As mentioned above, Italy drew with team Netherlands, whereas Spain conceded a point to a very tenacious team Slovenia. The Slovenian players who already faced off all the favorites have a good shot for a spot in the top-3; on the contrary, Albania’s high position in the leaderboard is misleading – this team played only with the underdogs. Pool D In this pool, more experienced teams are simply ruthless in the matches with qualifiers from Division 3. We saw crushing scores in many matches even in the clashes of the teams with a comparable average rating. As a result, it became evident that only five teams are running for three qualifying spots: Turkey, Serbia, Norway, Croatia, and Sweden. Team Turkey that conceded only 2.5 points in three matches looks the most powerful. On the other hand, Turkey is yet to play key matches. Serbia already prevailed in a very important encounter with Croatia 3.5:2.5. The Croatian players, in turn, crushed Sweden 4.5:1.5. Somewhat unexpectedly, Denmark is at the tail-end. The team is not showing its best, but in all fairness, the fortune turned away from the Danes: Mads Andersen – Winston Darwin Cu Hor Being up an exchange Denmark’s leader Mads Andersen had many ways to victory in the game with his opponent from Guatemala Winston Darwin Cu Hor, but decided to to rush off to complications. This plan appeared to have worked – there is no defense against checkmate after 39.Qf6. Instead, in a terrible time scramble White played an unthinkable 39.g4??, but after 39…Qf2! that was White who got checkmated – there is no way to prevent a deadly knight-check from g5. Pool E Before the event many experts pointed out that Hungary and England stood out in this pool as marquee teams with the highest average rating – Hungary is a three-time champion, whereas England came second after the invincible team USSR three times in a row. Indeed, each team did win three matches on the first day, but the scenarios were quite different. Hungary had no problem whatsoever brushing the opponents aside (three 5:1 victories). In Round 3 match against Argentina the youngest Hungarian GM Adam Kozak created a real masterpiece: Tomas Kapitanchuk – Adam Kozak White has just carelessly played 15.d4. The punishment came quickly: 15…Rxf3! 16. gxf3 Nf4 17. d5 Qh5!! 18. dxc6 Qxf3 19. h4 b5 (simpler was 19…bxc6, but being a rook down Black does not want to lose momentum) 20. Qb3 (The Argentinean did not find the most stubborn continuation but became a co-author of a spectacular finish) 20…Rf8! 21. Qd1 Ne2+ 22. Kh2 Rf4
Carlsen blinks first in $140,000 dream final
The battle to be crowned the king of online chess got off to a stunning start today as US star Hikaru Nakamura took an early lead against World Champion Magnus Carlsen. The dream final, which closes the $1 million Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour, sees the two titans of the online game go head-to-head in a best-of-seven. Nakamura, the only player so far to have knocked Carlsen out of an event on his own signature tour, brought his A-game on day 1 as he pulled off a high class 2.5-1.5 win. The American appeared in full control throughout as he won game 2 to go ahead and then with scored draws in games 3 and 4 to end the day 1-0 up in sets. Carlsen, whose tight semi-final finished a day later than Nakamura’s, just never got going and, in fact, it could have been even worse for Norway’s world number 1. Game 3 was a big save for Carlsen as he escaped with a draw. In the fourth, Carlsen threatened but Nakamura kept him under control. Nakamura said: “It was a tough match. When I won the second game I figured at the very least I would get to tiebreaks. “The result seems smooth but the way the third game went messed up the whole rhythm because I was close to winning at a couple of points in that game and when I didn’t win that game it was a big swing of emotions. “But for the most part, I thought I played well, and even in the fourth game, when it was pretty bad, I always thought there would be chances of a draw.” Carlsen and Nakamura have a long-standing rivalry. In 2010 they duked it out all night over 40 games in a private grudge match in Moscow. Three years later Nakamura appeared to put noses out of joint when he likened Carlsen to Sauron from Lord of the Rings. For many years Nakamura failed to beat Carlsen in an over the board classical match before eventually breaking the spell at the 30th attempt in 2016. The event carries a total $300,000 prize pot and is the climax of Carlsen’s $1 million signature tour, the richest and most prestigious online chess event ever. Supporting Kiva Broadcaster chess24 has pledged 50 percent of new Premium memberships bought during its Tour Final to Kiva’s Global COVID-19 Response fund that aims to raise at least $50 million for entrepreneurs and small businesses impacted by COVID‑19. During the event, chess24 and Kiva will highlight stories where chess has changed people’s lives under the official tournament social media hashtag #ImpactChess. Viewers are encouraged to engage with the Tour Final and support small businesses impacted by COVID-19 by signing up for a premium subscription here. More details on the Finals The Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour was devised by Norway’s World Champion and chess24 after traditional over the board chess was halted suddenly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tour Final kicks off on August 9 and runs until August 20. It is the culmination of four elite-level super-tournaments that began in March as a way of getting chess started again while other sports worldwide were prohibited. The first four stages of the first Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour were: The Magnus Carlsen Invitational The Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge The Chessable Masters The chess24 Legends of Chess Four players have qualified for the final crescendo of chess after being the best performers during the preceding tour events. The winner of the Tour Final, which has a total prize pot of $300,000, will scoop a top prize of $140,000 and the title of Champion of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. Tournament rules and schedule The Tour Final will be a 12-day event running from August 9 to August 20. Time control is a rapid 15m + 10s from move 1 played in the chess24 Playzone. The semi-finals of the Tour Final tournament will be a best of 5 four-game mini-matches. The final will be a best of 7 mini-matches. As usual, play will start at 16:00 CEST. Highlights English:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_QSmtZoiwL24EGuZSEmi1UR5j4hInR0u?usp=sharingNew files at around 23.00 CEST Rough edit highlights:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12mwKPkAfzeyfzd1Gay-FU5dJ8uU6OXMY?usp=sharingNew files ready around 02.00 CEST FOR MORE INFORMATION:Leon Watsonleon@chessable.com+447786 078770
Online Olympiad Division 2: Preview
There comes a time of decisive matches at the FIDE Online Olympiad. In Division 2 we will see in action the teams that can potentially if not run gold – China, Russia, and the USA are the main favorites here – then at least advance to the playoff. However, they are up against resilient opponents and ambitious qualifiers that made it to Division 2 from lower Divisions. One might recall that Thailand became the only team to get through to Division 2 from Division 4. Since the favorites in Division 2 are very strong, it is hard to imagine any of less experienced teams to progress to the next stage. Only Denmark might fight for the top-3 in its group but this team has to enlist its best players for three days. Pool A (Germany, Belarus, Indonesia, Philippines, Bulgaria, Bangladesh, Australia, Turkmenistan, Belgium, Kyrgyzstan) The highest-rated team in Division 2, Germany, is a real gem of Pool A; the Germans are particularly strong on women’s boards. Despite a high level of competition, Germany’s not taking one of the positions in the top-3 will come as a great surprise. Belarus, lead by a great expert in rapid chess Vladislav Kovalev (pictured below) and very experienced Aleksej Aleksandrov also should advance. Its greatest risk is internet connection but by Wednesday these problems seemed to have disappeared. Photo: Etery Kublashvili It is virtually impossible to name the third favorite in this pool, we can only assume that one of stong Asian teams – Indonesia or Philippines – might advance. On the other hand, Bulgaria‘s average rating should not misguide as rapid ratings of several women-players in this team have nothing to do with their real chess strength. Pool B (Romania, Greece, Israel, Slovakia, Latvia, Austria, Moldova, Singapore, IPCA, Thailand) Most likely, the Thai players have been preparing hard all these days – it is a rare opportunity to play with strong GMs. It will be really hard to show a great result, but they have a great chance to learn from such powerful teams as Romania, Greece, and Moldova. The European teams appear to be the favorites in this pool. Romania stands out thanks to very strong women’s boards and one of the best young players in the world Bogdan-Daniel on a junior board. Greece and Israel also have very balanced squads, whereas Singapore is capable of throwing a curve – this team can boast of several strong players in its lineup. Pool С (Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Switzerland, Portugal, Albania, Jordan, Estonia) Very often the team to join the competition at the very last moment becomes one of the potential winners of the entire tournament. Netherlands is very much suited for this role in Pool C. For Anish Giri (pictured below), Jorden Van Foreest and their teammates the upcoming weekend is going to be a good warm-up before the matches in Top Division and then maybe in Playoff. The South European teams are the main competitors of Netherlands, but it looks like only Spain has a real shot for the first place. Photo: Lennart Ootes If we use ratings as a reference, then Italy seems to be a strong candidate for the third spot. On the other hand, rapid rating is not a good indicator of real chess strength, especially in the case of young players since there not so many rapid chess tournaments are being held around the world. With this in mind, North Macedonia, Switzerland, and Slovenia have a fair chance to join the top-3. Pool D (Turkey, Sweden, Croatia, Serbia, Denmark, Norway, Chile, Iceland, Guatemala, Ireland) The tournament in Division 3 was not a walk in the park for Denmark, but a serious hurdle, that the team cleared not without some luck. Nevertheless, the Danes are the only qualifiers that can count on going even further. However, it will be quite a challenge as Denmark competes with Turkey and Sweden with ever-young Pia Cramling (pictured below) shining on a women’s board. Don’t forget teams Croatia and Serbia. Photo: Lennart Ootes Unfortunately, Magnus Carlsen won’t be able to play for team Norway. The World Champion is busy in the Magnus Carlsen Tour Finals. Without its leader, Norway will have a hard time fighting for the top-3. Pool E (England, Hungary, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina, Bolivia, Scotland, Montenegro, Mexico, Costa Rica) This traditionally South American domain is blended with European squads. One of the strongest European teams, England is the main candidate for a spot in Division 2. Two men’s boards are not enough for England – such good players as Gawain Jones and David Howell are benched as a result. Hungary also looks very strong. As for the teams prevalent in the time-zone of Pool E, it is virtually impossible to predict the squads that will fight for qualifying spots. Colombia and Ecuador have a slightly better chance on paper, but who knows, maybe Andrew N Greet of Scotland, who turned in a breakthrough performance in Division 3, will continue his good run this weekend. Andrew N Greet More than 140 GMs from all around the world will take part in Division 2, which traditionally starts on Friday at 08:00 UTC. It is high time to follow the high-level games closely either on chess.com, the official hosting partner of the Online Olympiad, or on FIDE’s official channels.
Magnus Carlsen Tour: Carlsen set up dream final
Magnus Carlsen survived a fierce onslaught from Ding Liren today to set up a dream final in his own $140,000 online signature tournament. The World Chess Champion was right on the brink of being dumped out in a topsy-turvy white-knuckle rollercoaster ride of a fourth set. Ding, the highest-rated Chinese player in history, missed a string of chances to pull off a shock result as the regular rapid chess games finished 2-2.A blitz chess play-off followed and in the final tiebreaker game, Chinese number 1 collapsed under pressure to send Carlsen through to the grand final of Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals benefiting Kiva. Carlsen, who looked visibly exhausted after today’s grueling match, said: “I can’t believe that I actually escaped, but that is the way it is sometimes.” He added: “He [Ding] put on an unbelievable fight today and I needed every inch to win this match. The main take away is that I’ve just got to be better to win the final.” It meant the Norwegian won the best-of-five Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals semi 3-1 and gets a rest day going into Friday’s final when he will face his biggest rival in online chess – US blitz chess king Hikaru Nakamura. Day 4 of the last four stage match-up had appeared to be going to form as the World Champion won game 1. But Ding put on a real show in game 2 as he checkmated Carlsen in 31 moves to get right back in the tie. Ding then missed a golden opportunity to take the lead in game 3 and wasn’t able to convert. It looked painful for the softly-spoken 27-year-old as the game he seemed fully in charge of ended in a draw. Ding squandered more opportunities in Game 4 which also meandered to a draw to leave the match locked 2-2 and going into a two-game blitz chess play-off. In a rollercoaster first play-off, Carlsen appeared to be heading for victory but with his clock down to 17 seconds took the draw as it was Ding’s turn to escape. Then in the second, Carlsen was in trouble but Ding messed up and the champion capitalized with ease to take the match and the tie. The event carries a total $300,000 prize pot and is the climax of Carlsen’s $1 million signature tour, the richest and most prestigious online chess event ever. Supporting Kiva Broadcaster chess24 has pledged 50 percent of new Premium memberships bought during its Tour Final to Kiva’s Global COVID-19 Response fund that aims to raise at least $50 million for entrepreneurs and small businesses impacted by COVID‑19. During the event, chess24 and Kiva will highlight stories where chess has changed people’s lives under the official tournament social media hashtag #ImpactChess. Viewers are encouraged to engage with the Tour Final and support small businesses impacted by COVID-19 by signing up for a premium subscription here. More details on the Finals The Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour was devised by Norway’s World Champion and chess24 after traditional over the board chess was halted suddenly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tour Final kicks off on August 9 and runs until August 20. It is the culmination of four elite-level super-tournaments that began in March as a way of getting chess started again while other sports worldwide were prohibited. The first four stages of the first Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour were: The Magnus Carlsen Invitational The Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge The Chessable Masters The chess24 Legends of Chess Four players have qualified for the final crescendo of chess after being the best performers during the preceding tour events. The winner of the Tour Final, which has a total prize pot of $300,000, will scoop a top prize of $140,000 and the title of Champion of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. Tournament rules and schedule The Tour Final will be a 12-day event running from August 9 to August 20. Time control is a rapid 15m + 10s from move 1 played in the chess24 Playzone. The semi-finals of the Tour Final tournament will be a best of 5 four-game mini-matches. The final will be a best of 7 mini-matches. As usual, play will start at 16:00 CEST. Highlights English:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_QSmtZoiwL24EGuZSEmi1UR5j4hInR0u?usp=sharingNew files at around 23.00 CEST Rough edit highlights:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12mwKPkAfzeyfzd1Gay-FU5dJ8uU6OXMY?usp=sharingNew files ready around 02.00 CEST FOR MORE INFORMATION:Leon Watsonleon@chessable.com+447786 078770
FIDE deploys the Chess ID project
After more than one year of preparation, FIDE is launching Chess ID, one of our most ambitious and long-term development projects. The purpose of Chess ID is to tackle two of the main problems that have to be solved in order to provide more effective services and tools for the worldwide chess community: lack of hard data, and fragmentation. How big the chess community really is? So far, any attempt to come up with a reliable estimation has been unsatisfactory. The recent “boom” of online chess gave us a glimpse of our true potential, making a lot of activity resurface in an environment where it can be tracked and measured. But we are somehow still looking at the tip of the iceberg since not all chess activities are so easily transferred to the online world. The problem is intrinsic to chess, a free-time activity that can be “consumed” in many different ways. There are those who are eager to play under any format, online or over the board. For many people, nothing has more appeal than the competition, while others prefer to solve puzzles or read chess books and magazines. Some like to play but have little interest in being spectators, while some others consume more than 15 hours a week of chess content. And we estimate than more than 30 million children take part in chess in school programs all over the world, mainly because of its educational benefits. There is a FIDE database of almost one million registered players, of which 0,4 million have a FIDE rating. But in parallel, there are multiple online playing platforms with their own pool of players, there are separate results and reporting databases, independent national federations databases, and educational programs and courses without coordination or any exchange of information between them. This fragmentation is a hurdle when trying to establish better interactions and wider development opportunities for the global chess community. Chess ID aims at uniting all agents in the chess community, creating a unified ecosystem that will result in benefits for us all. A unique reference code will be assigned to any person engaged in any chess-related activity, on any capacity: players, coaches, instructors, arbiters, publishers, et cetera. A consolidated database for all of them will result in many practical advantages: the implementation of chess programs or initiatives would be more effective, and registering to a tournament or a seminar would be faster and easier. Chess ID will be used for online and offline worldwide recognition and Chess ID holders will have access to multiple services and benefits as members of a global activities program. The means to achieve this goal are a conglomerate of digital tools and partnerships, and the first steps are being taken. The core of the project is an IT platform composed of several modules: personal rating and profile management, evens management and calendar, and an online gaming portal, to name a few. The first of these modules to be built within this platform is a “game viewer”, a basic tool to broadcast chess events. In the spirit of openness, transparency, and accountability, FIDE is pleased to announce the opening of a Call for Offers procedure to evaluate market conditions and to consider granting the rights to develop this browser-run application. You can find the technical requirements and all the required documentation in the following link: Call for Offers.
FIDE distributes an additional €21,000 among veterans
After carefully considering the numerous applications received, the special panel appointed by the FIDE Council decided that these will be the 10 chess players, coaches, and promoters who will benefit from FIDE’s support to chess veterans: GM Rafael Vaganian (Armenia)IM Anatoly Bykhovsky (Russia)WGM Lyudmila Saunina (Russia)IA Viktor Kart (Ukraine/Germany)WGM Lidia Semenova (Ukraine)Petko Petkov (Bulgaria)IM Raimundo Garcia (Argentina)IM Rico Yap Mascarinas (Philippines)IM Michael Basman (England)GM Włodzimierz Schmidt (Poland) A total of €21.000 will be distributed among these seniors. This second package of financial aid is added to the €35,000 that has already been distributed in April 2020, totaling a record €56.000.
Magnus Carlsen Tour Finals: Nakamura bombs out Dubov
Hikaru Nakamura outclassed Daniil Dubov with aplomb today to seal a place in the $140,000 Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour grand final. The world’s number 1 rated blitz chess player was in an incredible form yet again as he calmly dispatched his Russian opponent 2.5-1.5. Nakamura said afterward: “It was a pretty interesting match today and I was just a little fortunate to come out on top.” The American is likely to face his closest online chess rival Magnus Carlsen after the World Champion moved into pole position in his signature tournament semi-final. Carlsen, having lost the first set before leveling the match yesterday, beat China’s top player Ding Liren to go 2-1 ahead in their best-of-five semi. Having lost in game 2, Ding tried to launch an attack in the third but appeared to blunder and Carlsen capitalized to finish it off 2.5-0.5. Carlsen is now 2-1 up in sets against Ding in their best-of-five tie in the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals benefiting Kiva. Carlsen said: “We both decided to go for Open Sicilians today and that set the tone, right? It’s inevitably going to be pretty fighting, but both games could have gone either way and I am happy to prevail.” The event carries a total $300,000 prize pot and is the climax of Carlsen’s $1 million signature tour, the richest and most prestigious online chess event ever. Day 4 of the Tour Finals starts at 16:00 CEST tomorrow with Carlsen-Ding playing their fourth set. A win for Carlsen and it is all over. Supporting Kiva Broadcaster chess24 has pledged 50 percent of new Premium memberships bought during its Tour Final to Kiva’s Global COVID-19 Response fund that aims to raise at least $50 million for entrepreneurs and small businesses impacted by COVID‑19. During the event, chess24 and Kiva will highlight stories where chess has changed people’s lives under the official tournament social media hashtag #ImpactChess. Viewers are encouraged to engage with the Tour Final and support small businesses impacted by COVID-19 by signing up for a premium subscription here. More details on the Finals The Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour was devised by Norway’s World Champion and chess24 after traditional over the board chess was halted suddenly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tour Final kicks off on August 9 and runs until August 20. It is the culmination of four elite-level super-tournaments that began in March as a way of getting chess started again while other sports worldwide were prohibited. The first four stages of the first Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour were: The Magnus Carlsen Invitational The Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge The Chessable Masters The chess24 Legends of Chess Four players have qualified for the final crescendo of chess after being the best performers during the preceding tour events. The winner of the Tour Final, which has a total prize pot of $300,000, will scoop a top prize of $140,000 and the title of Champion of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. Tournament rules and schedule The Tour Final will be a 12-day event running from August 9 to August 20. Time control is a rapid 15m + 10s from move 1 played in the chess24 Playzone. The semi-finals of the Tour Final tournament will be a best of 5 four-game mini-matches. The final will be a best of 7 mini-matches. As usual, play will start at 16:00 CEST. Highlights English:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_QSmtZoiwL24EGuZSEmi1UR5j4hInR0u?usp=sharingNew files at around 23.00 CEST Rough edit highlights:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12mwKPkAfzeyfzd1Gay-FU5dJ8uU6OXMY?usp=sharingNew files ready around 02.00 CEST FOR MORE INFORMATION:Leon Watsonleon@chessable.com+447786 078770