Online Olympiad Division 3: Preview
The first Online Olympiad in history is gradually becoming an essential part of chess life. For the third weekend in a row, players from all around the world sit down at chess boards, by Sunday night they determine the winners in a division, and then tensely await the results of the drawing of lots for the next round. After the pool lineups are announced, the teams have a couple of days for preparation, and then the Olympic caravan sets in motion again. On August 7, the teams in Division 3 enter the battle, which means that we will see GMs in action – there are 15 holders of this title among 50 squads. Pool A This pool can be called “Asian” as six out of ten teams represent this part of the world. Singapore, headed by GM Kevin Goh Wei Ming is the strongest of Asian squads. This team along with Monaco and Albania looks like clear favorites in pool A. Kevin Goh Wei Ming Two potential winners are pitted against each other in the first round and this matchup will be a centerpiece of the starting day. Both teams have GMs in their lineups but we will hardly see their duel as GM Igor Efimov (Monaco) is listed on the second board. It will be also interesting to follow Fiorina Berezovsky, who used to be the youngest ever participant of Chess Olympiads. She plays for team Monaco together with her parents. As for the teams that participated in previous stages, it seems that Syria has the best shot. Pool B This pool brought together teams from all over the globe, representing different continents. Two European squads – Portugal and Scotland – appear to be the main favorites in the group. Jose Francisco Veiga with rapid-rating 2369 is a potential scorer on a junior board in Portugal and should earn many points for his team. The only GM in the pool, Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant (pictured below), will play on women’s board. It will be an invaluable chess lesson for her opponents from the Junior World Champion of 1985, a three-time medal winner in USSR championships and a participant of Women’s Candidates (1988). Naturally, the majority of chess fans will enjoy watching Ketevan play in the livestream – a joint effort by chess.com and FIDE. Photo: John Saunders It is quite a challenge to pick out the main candidate for the third spot in Division 2 – even if we rely on ratings, then IPCA (INTERNATIONAL PHYSICALLY DISABLED CHESS ASSOCIATION) and a qualifier, team Nigeria are on par. Don’t forget Angola, the team that proved its strength in Division 4. Pool С This is the most mysterious pool. Although Belgium lead by GM Bart Michiels (pictured below) is a rating-favorite, the team lacks high-level women-players, which might complicate its task of advancing to Division 2. Jordan has a more balanced lineup – this country has every reason to count on progressing to the next stage. Photo: Frans Peeters Overall, virtually any team in Pool C can hope for a spot in the top-3. We are talking about Madagascar, Iraq, and several qualifiers including Lebanon that started from Base Division. After a tragedy that struck Lebanon on Tuesday, many spectators will root for this team. Pool D This is the strongest pool in Division 3. Five teams out of ten would not be out of place even in Division 2, but at least two of them will drop out at this stage. Denmark is very unlikely to be one of them. Indeed, with four GMs rated 2500+ in its roster this team has a very good chance for the first place even in the company of strong South American squads. On the other hand, picking two teams out of four – Chile, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Uruguay – is simply an unsolvable problem. The three out of four teams have strong GMs, whereas Venezuela can compensate with a more balanced lineup. One of the key matches of the entire pool Bolivia – Uruguay is scheduled for the first round with two experienced grandmasters Oswaldo Zambrana (BOL) and Alejandro Hoffman (URU) facing off on first board. Overall we will see 10 grandmasters in action in this pool, which means many interesting, high-level games. Oswaldo Zambrana Two African teams, two real scrappers in Division 3, Mozambique and Mauritania, fell into this pool. If they manage to prove their mettle in such a strong group, it will be a real miracle! Pool E The arbiters to officiate the matches in Pool C are intensely studying Spanish! The best teams from Central America and Carribeans square off in this pool with the highest average rating. There are no underdogs in this tournament – even the qualifiers from Division 4 – Honduras, Nicaragua, and Suriname assembled battle-ready squads. Mexico, headed by GM Luis Fernando Ibarra Chami and having two WIMs on women’s boards seems a bit stronger than the other teams. Based on ratings, Costa-Rica and Guatemala will be major Mexico’s competitors, but just like in Pool C, any team’s getting into the top-3 won’t be a surprise. It is all about chess form on a given day and luck which should not be underestimated in rapid chess. The matches in Division 3 start on August 7, at 08:00 UTC. As usual, the teams from Pool A are first to get into action. The official website of Online Olympiad olymp.fide.com will be closely following the event. Good luck to all the participants!
FIDE Statement on anti-cheating cases at Online Olympiad
The Online Olympiad Fair Play Panel has identified four cases in which there are sufficient grounds to believe the Fair Play Regulations have been violated. All the results of these players in the Online Olympiad have been turned into losses, and where applicable they will not be allowed to play any further part in the tournament. Tournament officials and team captains concerned have been informed to that effect. These cases affect four players from Mali (Base Division, Pool B), Brunei Darussalam (Division 4, pool A), Hong Kong (Division 4, pool A), and Nicaragua (Division 4, pool E). If your team belongs to any of these groups, please check the website for updated results, to see if the standings in your pool might have been affected. FIDE will not disclose any more information or respond to any inquiries on this matter until a full investigation has been conducted.
World Champion Magnus Carlsen wins chess24 Legends of Chess
Magnus Carlsen is the chess24 Legends of Chess champion after he brutally wiped the floor with Russian challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi today. The World Champion made it a third win in four Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour events as he outplayed Nepomniachtchi 2.5-0.5 in a decisive second set. It ended the final a game and a day early and Carlsen picks up a $45,000 first prize. The 29-year-old is on an incredible 18 straight match wins and goes into the tour final, which starts on August 9, as the red-hot favorite. Speaking of his opponent, Carlsen said afterward: “It was clear he didn’t really have it today.” Carlsen’s win means China’s Ding Liren joins the Norwegian, US blitz king Hikaru Nakamura and Russia’s Daniil Dubov in the line-up. Among them, only Nakamura has managed to beat Carlsen in a tour event – the Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge quarter-final on May 30. Highlights in English:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Rmx6IFrFYxYPrNhZVtxZbRWTiMAIICvc?usp=sharingNew files at around 23.00 CEST Rough edit highlights:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SItw6DwCyoTsZ0WiVAjw4BkVHEaGQFDI?usp=sharingNew files ready around 02.00 CEST FOR MORE INFORMATION:Leon Watsonleon@chessable.com+447786 078770
Carlsen refuses to buckle on first day of final
Magnus Carlsen kept Russian ace Ian Nepomniachtchi at bay to edge ahead in a tight first day of the chess24 Legends of Chess final. The World Champion, who went into today’s match was on a run of 17 straight Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour wins, had appeared in cruise control yet again after winning the opening game and drawing the second. But after a rare Carlsen mistake in the third, Ian came back hard to level the score. A swift draw followed which left the match all-square on 2-2 and going into overtime. Carlsen, however, was not phased and took the two-game blitz play-off 2-0. Carlsen was critical of his own play but said: “I guess I’ll take it and I’ll try and play better tomorrow. The 29-year-old Norwegian is now one-up in the best-of-three final. Nepo has the chance to come back tomorrow and force a decider on Wednesday. During today’s play, the 12th World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov joined the show live from the glittering Central Chess Club in Moscow. The event, the fifth leg of the $1 million Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour, runs until August 5 and will carry a $150,000 prize fund.The winner will scoop a top prize of $45,000 and the last of the coveted spots in the tour’s Grand Final in August. Tournament rules and schedule The time control is a rapid 15m + 10s from move 1 played in the chess24 Playzone. There will be two stages starting with a 10-player round-robin (July 21-29) with each round consisting of 4-game matches and Armageddon tiebreaks if needed. The top four will advance to the knockout semi-finals (July 31-August 2) and two will go through to the final (August 3-5). July 30 is a free day. All sessions will begin at 16:00 CEST. Highlights in English:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Rmx6IFrFYxYPrNhZVtxZbRWTiMAIICvc?usp=sharingNew files at around 23.00 CEST Rough edit highlights:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SItw6DwCyoTsZ0WiVAjw4BkVHEaGQFDI?usp=sharingNew files ready around 02.00 CEST FOR MORE INFORMATION:Leon Watsonleon@chessable.com+447786 078770
Sachini Ranasinghe clinches Sri Lanka Women’s Grand Prix
WIM Sachini Ranasinghe (Nf3 Chess Club) became the champion of the inaugural Sri Lanka Women’s Chess Grand Prix 2020. Despite losing her last round game against young Tharushi Sandeepani of Devi Balika Vidyalaya, she finished with an excellent score 9 ½ points out of 11. The four-time women’s National Chess Champion (2009, 2011, 2012 & 2013), Sachini played at four FIDE Chess Olympiads in 2010, 2012, 2016, and 2018). The champion was awarded a trophy, gold medal, and prize money in the amount of Rs. 30,000. WFM Dinushki Premanath of the University of Moratuwa took a poor start (including a loss in a key first-round game to eventual champion) but picked up steam in the middle of tournament reeling off six straight wins to finish on 8 points. Dinushki took the National Women’s Chess Champion title in 2010 and 2018 and has participated in a couple of Chess Olympiads in 2012 and 2018. Dinushki got silver and a prize of Rs. 12,000. WCM Tharushi Niklesha (Visakha Vidyalaya) and WIM Nelunika Methmani (University of Sri Jayawardenapura) also scored 8 points each and tied for second place but had to settle for bronze and fourth place respectively due to inferior tiebreaks. Both received equal money with Dinushki Rs. 12,000 each. Asvini Pavalchandran finished fifth scoring 7½ points and she was awarded Rs. 4,000 in cash. The tournament, organized by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka, became the first women sports event in the country after the COVID 19 outbreak. The competition was held at the Chess Federation Headquarters, Delkanda, Nugegoda, and stretched from July 25 to August. The total prize fund of the event amounted to Rs 70,000. Mr. Luxman Wijesuriya, General Secretary of South Asian Chess Council & Commonwealth Chess Association and Vice President of the Asian Chess Federation attended the awards ceremony as the guest of honor. Sachini, Niklesha, and Ashvini are the members of the national team which will take part in the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad. Final Standings: 1. WIM, Sachini Ranasinghe – 9½2. WFM, Dinushki Premanath – 83. WCM Tharushi Niklesha – 84. WIM, Nelunika Methmani – 85. Ashvini Pavalachandran – 76. Sandeepani Tharushi – 6½7. Prasansa Premanath – 5½8. Janadani Abeysinghe – 5½9. Oneli Weerawardena – 3½10. Sayumi Gamage – 311. Sayumi Vimansa Piyumanthi – 1½
Division 4: Day 3 Round-up
It was a relatively quiet day in most pools as many top teams had won the most important matches in previous rounds. Nevertheless, at the very end, we saw a real drama in group E. Pool A In Round 7, team Nepal, demonstrating some attractive chess lost its chance to qualify for Division 3. One of the team leaders, Bibek Thing, erroneously traded queens in a winning queen endgame, and after realizing that the emerged pawn ending was drawing he choked up and forfeited on time. As a result, Nepal lost to Hong Kong 2:4 and had to play a supporting role in the last round. On the other hand, Nepal did a great job even with this supporting role, ruining hopes of the rating-favorite Myanmar. After a disastrous first day, Myanmar was trying to make up but stumbled in Round 8. After Maynmar lost to Nepal the trio of qualifiers for Division 3 was finally formed – Hong Kong, Thailand, and Chinese Taipei. Hong Kong finished first after beating Thailand in the final round. It should be noted, that team Thailand gave a rest day to its leader FM Thanadon Kulpruethanon (6/6) and Pornouma Promsirinimit (5.5/6), playing on the fourth board. Pool B Since three teams – Syria, Mozambique, and Malta – had a good cushion after two days, only connection problems could have prevented them from advancing to Division 3. Everything went smoothly and the leaders carried their quest in this pool to its logical conclusion. Round 9 was decisive in terms of top-3 finals standings. Mozambique somewhat unexpectedly fell to Qatar 2:4 – apparently, due to misconnection on board 5. As a result, the African team finished third, Malta is second and Syria came in the top. Pool C The clear favorites Nigeria and Lebanon along with the “revelation of the tournament” Mauritania progressed to Division 3 with a round to spare. After loosing to Mauritania Lebanon might have had some problems but the team resolved all the issues in a key match with Nigeria. The most spectacular move in this Division is authored by the Lebanon leader IM Fadi Eid – in the game with IM Oladapo Adu, the Nigerian, playing with Black, was dominating the entire game but let his guard down in time trouble: Fadi Eid – Oladapo Adu A careless 45…Qxa4? was met with a stunning 46.Kg5!!, and there is no adequate defense against 47.Kh6 followed by checkmate on g7-square. The game went on 46…Kh7 47. Rb7! Qe8 48. Qxg6+ Kh8 49. Qh6+ Kg8 50. Kf6! Qd8+ 51. Re7 and Black gave up his queen but got checkmated soon anyway. Despite losing the match 1.5:4.5 Nigeria had a great chance to take first place, as in the last round encounter with Mauritania the team looked like a clear favorite. After Rahilou Hemam (Mauritania) did not find an elegant checkmate in a few moves, one may have thought that Nigeria would eventually prevail, but then the unthinkable happened on first board: Abimbola Osunfuyi – Sidi Boidiya Abimbola Osunfuyi (Nigeria) made a misclick – 67.e5?? which resulted in a draw both in the game and in the match. Mauritania sensationally won the tournament in Pool C, Lebanon came second, Nigeria is only third. All three teams will be in the spotlight in Division 3. Pool D Again, we knew all three teams progressing to the next stage before the final round. Palestine, that shined on the starting day, first complicated its task by conceding an important point to Ghana in Round 7, and then blew all chances after losing a key match against Puerto-Rico (2:4). By winning this encounter Puerto-Rico secured third place, whereas the first two spots had been already taken by Angola and Suriname, the teams that comfortably defeated their opponents throughout the day. Angola also gave a day-off to its leaders in the last round. It is clear that this African team, scoring the absolute best result in Division 4, is capable of giving a hard time to many favorites. Pool E Unlike other pools, we saw a nail-biting finale in this group. After losing a key match vs. Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica had to take at least one point against Honduras and the team succeeded – 3:3 thanks to whitewashing on the women’s boards. In Round 8 all the favorites routed their opponents and before the final round, we had a very interesting situation. Nicaragua (15 points) locked up a spot in Division 3, Trinidad and Tobago (14 points) and Honduras (13 points) were playing each other, whereas Jamaica was more than likely to whitewash Sierra Leone (the team defaulted in the end). A simple calculation showed that a draw in the key match guaranteed both teams advancing to the next stage, but in chess, such a cynical approach and violation of fair play principles is a very rare case. Honduras won a very close match over Trinidad and Tobago 3.5:2.5 and climbed to the second position. FM Marlon Miller (Honduras’ second junior board) played the best game of the match; it is worth watching in its entirety (https://www.chess.com/events/2020-fide-online-olympiad-division-4-pool-e/09-Miller_Marlon-Mc_Intosh_Isaiah) – a sound positional play combined with a well prepared, spectacular attack. Any GM would be proud of it. As a result, Trinidad and Tobago fell back to fourth place and arguably became the unluckiest team in Division 4. Jamaica owes its third place to unstoppable Rachel Miller (pictured below) – one of the best young players in the Americas, she won all her nine games in an impressive style. In conclusion, let’s check out all the teams to advance to Division 3: Hong KongThailandChinese TaipeiSyriaMaltaMozambiqueMauritaniaLebanonNigeriaAngolaSurinamePuerto RicoNicaraguaHondurasJamaica They will be joined by 35 seeded teams lead by Denmark. FIDE Online Olympiad 2020 will resume on Friday, August 7. The composition of all the pools in Division 3 will be published within one-two days after the verification of Division 4 results by the Fair-Play Panel.
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Online Olympiad advances to the next stage: Division 3 Polish Power National Championships resume! “Chess Life” and the new chess boom A passionate chess coach from Msogwaba, South Africa New appointments by the Australian Chess Federation Anniversaries READ NEWSLETTER
Nepomniachtchi shows grit to set up final with Carlsen
Russia’s top chess star Ian Nepomniachtchi halted Anish Giri‘s comeback charge today to book a place in the chess24 Legends of Chess final as it was revealed the pair are bitter rivals. “Nepo”, as he is known, had looked home and dry against the Dutchman after winning Friday’s first set and briefly going ahead yesterday. Even chess great Garry Kasparov, a guest on chess24’s stream, had claimed it was obvious the 30-year-old would go through. The third day of semifinals was honored by another chess legend, Kasparov’s predecessor, 12th World Champion Anatoly Karpov. Giri, however, had other ideas fighting back yesterday to take the second set in a tight Armageddon and pushing hard in a tense match again today. But after the rapid games ended 2-2 the gritty Nepo dug in and ground out an incredibly tight win in a second blitz game play-off. It came after Grandmaster Alexander Grischuk, speaking in the commentary box, revealed there is no love lost between the pair. He said: “We are witnessing maybe the most grudge match-up we have currently in chess because I’m sure Ian hates Anish and I hope this feeling is mutual, so I think it’s going to be a very emotional and interesting match!” Nepomniachtchi said after his win: “I have no feelings – I’m just very tired.” Tomorrow he plays Magnus Carlsen, who has enjoyed a day’s rest beforehand, as the chess24 Legends of Chess final begins. The event, the fifth leg of the $1 million Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour, runs until August 5 and will carry a $150,000 prize fund. The winner will scoop a top prize of $45,000 and the last of the coveted spots in the tour’s Grand Final in August. Tournament rules and schedule The time control is a rapid 15m + 10s from move 1 played in the chess24 Playzone. There will be two stages starting with a 10-player round-robin (July 21-29) with each round consisting of 4-game matches and Armageddon tiebreaks if needed. The top four will advance to the knockout semi-finals (July 31-August 2) and two will go through to the final (August 3-5). July 30 is a free day. All sessions will begin at 16:00 CEST. Highlights in English:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Rmx6IFrFYxYPrNhZVtxZbRWTiMAIICvc?usp=sharingNew files at around 23.00 CEST Rough edit highlights:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SItw6DwCyoTsZ0WiVAjw4BkVHEaGQFDI?usp=sharingNew files ready around 02.00 CEST FOR MORE INFORMATION:Leon Watsonleon@chessable.com+447786 078770
Division 4: Day 2 Round-up
There were two main plotlines on the second day in Division 4: the teams that started poorly tried their best to make up, whereas relatively inexperienced African teams sensationally defeated more versed squads. Pool A The second day in the most unpredictable mini-tournament in Division 4 was as thrilling as the first one. After disastrous Friday Myanmar set off in pursuit for the leaders and swept aside outsiders in three matches. Nevertheless, Myanmar is still fifth and in order to advance into Division 3, it has to score three more victories today. Even in the best-case scenario, Myanmar stands no chance to catch up with Thailand and Hong Kong. These teams continued their good run on the second day, crushing the opponents. Chinese Taipei, the team that scored three victories on the second day will compete with Maynmar for the third qualifying spot. After losing critical points Kenya and Nepal have only a theoretical chance to advance. A good showing by Thailand was in the cards before the event, but team Hong Kong became a real breakthrough in the Pool A. The players from Hong Kong are definitely stronger than their ratings suggest. When Thailand and Hong Kong lock horns in the last round, both teams more than likely will secure their spots in Division 3. Pool B Uganda retraced Maynmar’s steps in this pool. This solid team made up for yesterday’s setback by winning three straight matches and moving up to the fifth position in the standings. Team Uganda However, it was Mozambique that stole the show in this pool. After the first day, it looked like this team owed its first position in the leaderboard to sheer luck as Mozambique should have lost to Pakistan. On the second day, we saw a strikingly different team. Its victories over Namibia and Cyprus could have been predicted but 4:2 on the scoreboard against Syria caused a real sensation. Interestingly, Mozambique achieved this result even though its sixth board blundered checkmate in two being up a rook. As a result, Mozambique caught up with Syria and pretty much secured its spot in Division 3. Team Malta, that lost an important match against Syria, is third. Given that the leaders already played against one another, it is highly unlikely that any other team will intervene fighting for the top-3. Unfortunately, Pakistan halted momentum it had picked up on the first day; the team lacks experience after all, but the Online Olympiad will become an important milestone in chess development in this country. Pool С Mozambique was not in the spotlight for too long. Just 30 minutes later Mauritania produced an even bigger surprise. Indeed, Mozambique was considered to be one of the favorites in Pool B, whereas Mauritania with only three rated players in its line-up just barely scraped through Base Division. With this in mind, three victories by Mauritania on the first day surprised attentive audience, let alone yesterdays’ triumph in the match with Lebanon, the team that along with Nigeria was considered a prohibitive favorite in Pool C. In a key moment fortune smiled upon the leader of team Mauritania: Faisal Khairallah – Sidi Boidiya Faisal Khairallah (Lebanon) was in command throughout the game but after 35…Rd6!? let his guard down for just a second – after 36.Qc1?? (after 36.Qc8, controlling g4-square White had an upper hand) Black checkmated – 36…Ng4+ 37.Kg1 Qd1+ and White resigned. Mauritania snatched the victory against Lebanon 3.5:2.5 and then won two following matches. Nevertheless, Mauritania has not punched its ticket to Division 3 yet – today this team is facing tough opponents Nigeria and Lesotho, but it has a fair chance to advance. Nigeria keeps leading the field, Lebanon occupies the third position. Pool D After a great performance on the first day, Palestina did not manage to hold its lead. Since the team leader Baha Miswadah did not participate on the second day, the Palestinians suffered two defeats, including clobbering 0.5:5.5 by Suriname. Its only victory Palestine earned in the match with Liberia won by a minimal margin. Palestine is sharing third place with Puerto-Rico and Netherlands Antilles and still has a chance to advance to Division but in order to do that, it must beat the former. With this in mind, Puerto-Rico looks like a main candidate for the third spot. The first two places almost certain will be taken by Angola and Suriname. On the second day, these teams scored three straight victories each, although the African players had problems not only in the key match with Puerto-Rico but also in the encounter with lower-rated Ghana. Team Ghana playing at Accra Sports Stadium Media center Pool E Since several inexperienced teams have connection problems in this pool, only four squads are fighting for three spots in Division 3 – Honduras, Nicaragua, Trinidad & Tobago, and Jamaica. Honduras seemed to be a clear favorite as in every match up to Round 6 it did concede more than one point, but the team bit the dust in a clash with its neighbor Nicaragua 2:4. Nicaragua quickly grabbed the lead after WIM Maria Esther Granados Diaz trapped her opponent and delivered checkmate on move 11, and did not let it go. Another very important match was played in Round 5 – Trinidad & Tobago outplayed Jamaica 4:2 and became the main candidate for the third spot. Now Jamaica badly needs to score points against Honduras. The team counts on Rachel Miller who has not lost a single point yet, but only her efforts won’t be sufficient in this decisive match. Today Rounds 7-9 are played which determine 15 teams that will resume chess battles in Division 3 on August 7. They join 35 seeded teams led by Denmark, Portugal, and Bolivia.
Legends of Chess: Carlsen makes final, Giri comes back
Magnus Carlsen displayed a killer instinct reminiscent of watching great Garry Kasparov today as he booked his place in the final of the chess24 Legends of Chess. The World Champion, who has won a stunning 10 matches in a row in this event, crushed eight-time Russian champ Peter Svidler 2.5-0.5 with a game to spare. However, as Carlsen won his match with relative ease, the real excitement was in the commentary box where former World Champion Kasparov made a rare appearance. The 57-year-old, who many consider the greatest player ever, had this assessment of Carlsen: “Magnus, whether he likes it or not, he’s also struggling with age. He makes more mistakes than he did before.” On Carlsen’s upcoming defense of his world title, Kasparov added: “It will be tougher… if not 2020/1 or 2022/3 he may be facing a younger player, maybe [Alireza] Firouzja.” Speaking about the launch of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour, which the Legends event is a part of, Kasparov praised chess24’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said: “I feel quite happy that chess can adjust to these new challenges. I think that is exactly what we need these days to show that the game is resilient even to the virus. “As a chess fan, as someone who is watching these games, I’m quite pleased to see that top players are not giving up to the coronavirus and they keep playing exciting chess.” Carlsen will now face either Ian Nepomniachtchi or Anish Giri in the $150,000 event’s final on Monday after Giri’s comeback kept him in the match against Russia’s number 1. Giri fell behind twice but leveled the score both times to prevail in Armageddon. The event, the fifth leg of the $1 million Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour, runs until August 5 and will carry a $150,000 prize fund. The winner will scoop a top prize of $45,000 and the last of the coveted spots in the tour’s Grand Final in August. Tournament rules and schedule The time control is a rapid 15m + 10s from move 1 played in the chess24 Playzone. There will be two stages starting with a 10-player round-robin (July 21-29) with each round consisting of 4-game matches and Armageddon tiebreaks if needed. The top four will advance to the knockout semi-finals (July 31-August 2) and two will go through to the final (August 3-5). July 30 is a free day. All sessions will begin at 16:00 CEST. Highlights in English:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Rmx6IFrFYxYPrNhZVtxZbRWTiMAIICvc?usp=sharingNew files at around 23.00 CEST Rough edit highlights:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SItw6DwCyoTsZ0WiVAjw4BkVHEaGQFDI?usp=sharingNew files ready around 02.00 CEST FOR MORE INFORMATION:Leon Watsonleon@chessable.com+447786 078770