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China wins the FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup Carlsen and Lagno to star in FIDE Steinitz Memorial Upcoming FIDE Trainer Seminars Announcing the FIDE Online Cup for Players with Disabilities Success story: US Chess Women & “Isolated Queens” Anniversaires READ NEWSLETTER
China clinches title at the FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup
China held the USA to a 2-2 draw in the superfinal match, a result that was enough to secure the title thanks to its superior performance in the round-robin stage: having won the first part of the competition by a four points margin, China had draw odds in its favor. Team USA was forced to win the match, but after Hikaru Nakamura drew against Ding Liren, Yu Yangyi scored the decisive victory by beating Wesley So in a very impressive style. Irina Krush, playing with the white pieces, was never in trouble against the world’s best woman chess player Hou Yifan, but she didn’t have the chance to press for a victory either. Fabiano Caruana scored the only victory for team USA, but by the time he finished his game the title had already been decided in China’s favor. Yu Yangyi, China’s third board, turned in a very strong performance, scoring a total of 7½ points out of 10 games (six victories, three draws, one loss). However, the symbolic “most valuable player” title goes to Fabiano Caruana of the USA. Playing on board two, Caruana went through the event undefeated and scored six wins and three draws. The tournament took place May 5-10, 2020. The group stage run May 5-9, with two rounds per day, while the Superfinal was played today, May 10. The event was broadcast live across multiple outlets including FIDE’s and Chess.com’s own channels across Twitch, YouTube, Mixer, Twitter, and other international streaming platforms. With an estimated audience of several million worldwide, commentary by chess experts was conducted in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Turkish and Polish. More information in our initial press release about the event. FIDEwww.fide.comDavid Lladapress@fide.com+34 623 021 120 CHESS.comwww.chess.comNick Bartonnick@chess.com
FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup: Schedule and Results
The Superfinal match China – USA ended in a draw 2-2 but it was enough for China as the team won the round-robin stage. Congratulations! Ding Liren ½ – ½ Hikaru NakamuraWei Yi 0-1 Fabiano CaruanaYu Yangyi 1-0 Wesley SoHou Yifan ½ – ½ Irina Krush The tournament takes place May 5-11, 2020. The group stage runs May 5-9, with two rounds per day. The Superfinal is played on May 10. The games start 15:00 CEST / 9 a.m. Eastern / 6 a.m. Pacific. China and the USA qualified for the Superfinal. FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup pairings and results: May 05, 2020 Round 01 Round 02 May 06, 2020 Round 03 Round 04 May 07, 2020 Round 05 Round 06 May 08, 2020 Round 07 Round 08 May 09, 2020 Round 09 Round 10 Teams China, with an average rating of 2717, is followed in the initial ranking by Europe (2687), Russia (2662), USA (2641), India (2605), and the “Rest of the World” team (2597). The Chinese team is headed by Ding Liren and Wang Hao, the world’s numbers three and twelve respectively. They are two of the eight players who are currently a part of the Candidates tournament – the final stage which decides who will be the finalist in the World Championship Match. But the main news is the return of Hou Yifan to the Chinese national team. The four-time World Champion is a former prodigy and the youngest female player ever to achieve the Grandmaster title. Two years ago Hou won the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University and put her career on hold, but she is still the highest-ranked female player in ranking. Hou Yifan’s temporary return to the board might imply that the reigning Women’s World Champion, Ju Wenjun, is sent to the bench. CHINA Captain: Ye Jiangchuan Std. Rpd. Ding Liren 2791 2836 Wang Hao 2763 2750 Wei Yi 2732 2752 Hou Yifan 2658 2621 Yu Yangyi 2709 2738 Ju Wenjun 2560 2610 2.702,17 2.717,83 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, from France, will be leading a super-strong European team that also includes Levon Aronian, Anish Giri, and Anna Muzychuk, with Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Nana Dzagnidze as reserve players. But even the best players of the moment are slightly overshadowed when the team captain is a living legend like Garry Kasparov. The multiple-time world champion, who ruled the world of chess for two decades, put an end to his career in 2005 and has barely taken part in any competitive chess activity ever since. His presence in this event, even if only as a team captain, has been a pleasant surprise to chess fans all over the world. EUROPE Captain: Garry Kasparov Std. Rpd. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2778 2860 Levon Aronian 2773 2778 Anish Giri 2764 2731 Anna Muzychuk 2535 2533 Jan-Krzysztof Duda 2753 2774 Nana Dzagnidze 2524 2447 2.687,83 2.687,17 Russia no longer dominates the chess world as it once did, but even with the absence of some important players – like Alexander Grischuk and Kateryna Largo – the Russian team cannot be ruled out as a possible winner. Ian Nepomniachtchi has proven to be in great shape recently, and he will be defending the first board, along with Vladislav Artemiev, Sergey Karjakin, and Aleksandra Goryachkina. With Dmitry Andreikin and Olga Girya as reserve players, Russian is still a formidable rival, with great team spirit. RUSSIA Captain: Alexander Motylev Std. Rpd. Ian Nepomniachtchi 2784 2778 Vladislav Artemiev 2716 2769 Sergey Karjakin 2752 2709 Aleksandra Goryachkina 2582 2502 Dmitry Andreikin 2726 2740 Olga Girya 2469 2471 2.671,50 2.661,50 The USA, winners of the 2016 Olympiad, brings to the competition all their top guns, starting with the world’s number two Fabiano Caruana. With him, Hikaru Nakamura, who is considered one of the biggest specialists in fast time controls, and the Fischer Random World Champion Wesley So. The team is completed by two experienced female players – Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih, plus the Cuban-born Leinier Dominguez, who has represented the US Chess Federation since 2018. USA Captain: John Donaldson Std. Rpd. Fabiano Caruana 2835 2773 Hikaru Nakamura 2736 2829 Wesley So 2770 2741 Irina Krush 2429 2392 Leinier Dominguez Perez 2758 2786 Anna Zatonskih 2420 2327 2.658,00 2.641,33 India will be led one more time by the legendary Viswanathan Anand who, despite having reached the age of 50 in November, is still one among the top 15 players in the world – and remains as dangerous as ever when it comes to rapid play. It is a bit paradoxical that the average age of this team is the highest in the event when India is producing more young chess prodigies than any other country in the world. But the young Indian cubs are not ready yet to make it into the national team: the generational changeover will have to wait a bit more. INDIA Adviser to the team:Vladimir Kramnik Std. Rpd. Viswanathan Anand 2753 2751 Vidit Gujrathi 2726 2636 Pentala Harikrishna 2719 2690 Humpy Koneru 2586 2483 Adhiban Baskaran 2659 2624 Harika Dronavalli 2515 2450 2.659,67 2.605,67 The “Rest of the World Team” is, as it would be expected, the most colorful one, including players from Azerbaijan, Iran, Egypt, Peru, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. On top of the list, the winner of the 2019 FIDE World Cup, Teimour Radjabov. With him, one of the main attractions of the event, the 16-year-old prodigy from Iran, Alireza Firouzja. The teenager is developing a rivalry with the World Champion Magnus Carlsen that is becoming more and more serious by the day, and probably all eyes will be on him, as he will be taking on some of the very top players in the world during this event. The team also features the best African player of all times, Bassem Amin, one of the biggest talents from South America, Jorge Cori, a former Women’s World Champion, Mariya Muzychuk, and the Kazakhstani star Dinara Saduakassova. The FIDE President, Arkady Dvorkovich, will be acting as a captain for this team. REST OF THE WORLD Captain: Arkady Dvorkovich Std. Rpd. Teimour Radjabov 2765 2758 Alireza Firouzja 2728 2703 Bassem Amin 2686 2608 Mariya Muzychuk 2544 2506 Jorge Cori 2652 2599 Dinara Saduakassova 2500 2412 2.645,83 2.597,67 The tournament will be broadcast live across multiple outlets including FIDE’s and Chess.com’s own channels
FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup: China and USA meet in Superfinal
China and the USA are the teams that will face each other in Sunday’s Superfinal of the FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup. In a dramatic turn of events, the USA lost in the 9th round against its direct rival, Europe, but then defeated China in the 10th and final round to get their ticket to the final. Despite beating the USA in both their direct encounters, Europe lost its chance of reaching the final by drawing against the “Rest of the World” team in the very last round. FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup final standings: Round 9 The big clash between the USA and Europe was likely going to decide the fight for second place, considering the pairings for the final round where the USA would face the leader China, while Europe would play the Rest of the World. After three tense games on the top three boards, where Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was closest to a win vs. Hikaru Nakamura, it was the ladies’ board where this key match was decided. Nana Dzagnidze always had a slight edge and eventually outplayed Irina Krush in a rook endgame. With no chance for qualifying for the final, team captain Vishy Anand and player Vishy Anand must have agreed that he could take the day of. Meanwhile, Yu Yangyi was the absolute star player of this event, at least for nine rounds. He improved his score even further to 6.5/8 with another excellent win, this time against Baskaran Adhiban. In a match that was only played for the history books, Sergey Karjakin learned the hard way how fast Alireza Firouzja has improved lately, as he was completely outplayed and then beaten in a kingside attack. Round 10 Europe was going into the final round a match point ahead of the USA, and as said, with a much better pairing. But the unthinkable happened. While Europe couldn’t win their match, the USA did manage. After the team exchanged blows on first and second boards, Wesley So became the first player to beat Yu in this tournament, and with that win, he secured two match points for the USA. Where did it go wrong for Europe? As always, it’s a team effort but the one board that went lost was Levon Aronian‘s game with Firouzja. Unfortunately, for Aronian and his team, the Iranian star had his best day of the event as he scored 2/2 with two fine games. In another match where not much was at stake, Vladislav Artemiev stole the show with a flashy attack on Vidit Gujrathi’s king: 22. Rxa7+! Kxa7 23. Qa3+ Kb6 24. Qb4+ Kc6 25. Qb7+ Kxc5 26. Bb4# 1-0 Tomorrow’s Superfinal will start an hour later, so 7:00 a.m. Pacific / 10 a.m. Eastern / 16:00 CEST. China will have white on boards one and three. As the winner of the round-robin, China got to choose and also has draw odds in the one match that is the final. In other words, the USA needs to do again what no other team managed: beat China. Again. The tournament is being broadcast live across multiple outlets including FIDE’s and Chess.com’s own channels across Twitch, YouTube, Mixer, Twitter, and other international streaming platforms. With an estimated audience of several million worldwide, commentary by chess experts will be conducted in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Turkish, and Polish. You can watch live broadcasts and replays on FIDE YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmDtpw5HJEQ Text: Peter Doggers (chess.com) FIDEwww.fide.comDavid Lladapress@fide.com+34 623 021 120 CHESS.comwww.chess.comNick Bartonnick@chess.com
FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup: USA leapfrogs Europe
After eight rounds, China is already secured of a place in Sunday’s Superfinal of the FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup. The USA leapfrogged Europe in the standings on Friday and these teams will battle for second place in tomorrow’s final two regular rounds. Round 07 Ian Nepomniachtchi‘s woes continued as he lost another game in round seven. It was Hikaru Nakamura who kept a slight edge throughout their game (a 5.Na4 Grünfeld), and capitalized on what could be interpreted as a “positional” error in a rook endgame. India finally scored its first victory in the tournament thanks to wins by both Viswanathan Anand and Pentala Harikrishna. Interestingly, Anand chose 1.d4 as the first move against Teimour Radjabov, who played his old love, the King’s Indian. There are only five games in the database by Anand against the KID, all of them featuring the Bayonet Attack (9.b4). He scored an unbeaten 3-1 in 1996 and 1997 but lost his last game in it to Nakamura in 2011. Although Teimour got some play, he was still slightly worse throughout and then made a big mistake on move 28. Harikrishna not only secured the victory for his team but also made arguably the most spectacular move of the day: 31.Nxe5! the knight is immune despite being under triple attack 1-0 Top seed China impressively secured a place in the Superfinal with two rounds to spare after another day with two wins. Europe was set aside by China’s MVP Yu Yangyi, who defeated Jan-Krzysztof Duda in an elegant style and improved his score to a splendid 5.5/7 before he was rested in the next round. Round 08 With a straightforward win against Aleksandra Goryachkina, the #1 in women’s rating Hou Yifan brought her score to 3.5/4 and secured another two match points for China, who will go into the final day of the round-robin phase with a four-point lead over the USA. Europe was down 1-2 (as Vidit Gujrathi had won a good game against Aronian) but Jan-Krzysztof Duda leveled the score by defeating Harikrishna. This way, the team remained in striking distance of the US. Team USA managed to finish the day a point ahead of Europe thanks to a win against the Rest of the World, the only team that never seemed to have a chance in this event. Fabiano Caruana won a spectacular game against Egypt’s Bassem Amin where both players sacrificed an exchange, and the world number two eventually crashed through on the kingside. The tournament will be broadcast live across multiple outlets including FIDE’s and Chess.com’s own channels across Twitch, YouTube, Mixer, Twitter, and other international streaming platforms. With an estimated audience of several million worldwide, commentary by chess experts will be conducted in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Turkish, and Polish. You can watch live broadcasts and replays on FIDE YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmDtpw5HJEQ Text: Peter Doggers (chess.com) FIDEwww.fide.comDavid Lladapress@fide.com+34 623 021 120 CHESS.comwww.chess.comNick Bartonnick@chess.com
Carlsen and Lagno star in Steinitz Memorial
Historic event to remember the father of modern chess Reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen will star 20 top players compete in two sections FIDE event held on Chess24.com from May 14 From its inception in 1886 to Magnus Carlsen today, a mere 16 people have worn the official crown of undisputed World Chess Champion. Now, to celebrate the legacy of the man who started it all, the chess world is staging a unique online competition in memory of Wilhelm Steinitz (1836-1900). The International Chess Federation FIDE and broadcaster Chess24.com have joined forces to hold the first FIDE Online Steinitz Memorial tournament. It will take place over the Austrian-American legend’s birthday between May 14 and 17 and be a thoroughly modern online event – fitting for a true chess legend, considered the father of the modern game. The star performer is Carlsen, the current undisputed World Chess Champion and heir to. He’s joined by 3-time World Blitz Champion Alexander Grischuk, 2013 World Blitz Champion Le Quang Liem, and star players such as Peter Svidler and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. 2018 and 2019 Women’s World Blitz Champion Kateryna Lagno heads the women’s line-up, with former Women’s World Champions Alexandra Kosteniuk, Antoaneta Stefanova and Tan Zhongyi, and 2018 World Blitz silver medalist Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, all in action. Photo: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Mr. Dvorkovich said: “Steinitz is the first official World Chess Champion, and with him began a long tradition lasting to our day. He was also a revolutionary, who created a whole new school of chess: ‘positional play’ was a concept that didn’t exist before him. His historic 25 game winning streak, or his 32 years undefeated in match play, speak volumes about his caliber as a player. He was also a celebrated author and publicist. All this is his legacy, a legacy to which we pay tribute today. We are very proud to have Magnus Carlsen taking part in this event, as a worthy heir of this long lineage of champions. Probably Magnus understands better than anyone that the role of a World Champion implies certain responsibilities, and he has always been on the frontline when it comes to giving chess the role it deserves in our society. It is safe to say that Steinitz would have been proud of him.” Carlsen added: “Organising the FIDE Online Steinitz Memorial is a nice way to commemorate the first official World Chess Champion and to highlight the significance of the strong tradition his match against Zukertort started for modern chess history.” The Steinitz Memorial will be a double-round robin blitz contest broadcast online in at least six languages: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Turkish. Steinitz, who moved to America and was buried in New York, was the dominating chess figure for most of the latter half of the 19th century. He was crowned the first official World Chess Champion after his match victory against Johannes Zukertort in 1886. Steinitz himself, though, claimed his reign truly commenced with his match victory against Adolf Anderssen at London 1866. Either way, the highly influential writer and chess theoretician’s place in chess history is secure: Steinitz is the original chess champion and the forerunner of today’s great players. Steinitz Memorial – List of the invited players N Open section Blitz Rating Women section Blitz Rating 1 Carlsen 2887 Lagno 2608 2 Grischuk 2765 Lei Tingjie 2530 3 Bu Xiangzhi 2760 Kosteniuk 2521 4 Svidler 2754 Tan Zhongyi 2510 5 Xiong 2724 Stefanova 2485 6 Dubov 2720 Sebag 2482 7 Mamedyarov 2716 Khademalsharieh 2431 8 Le Quang 2690 Abdumalik 2409 9 Korobov 2667 Paehtz 2396 10 Anton Guijarro 2590 Cori D 2391 FIDE Online Steinitz Memorial Regulations (pdf) Tune in to honor him at the Fide Online Steinitz Memorial, live on Chess24.com from May 15. Schedule (all times are CEST): Friday, May 15th Saturday, May 16th Sunday, May 17th Rounds 1-6 Women:15:00 – 18:15 Rounds 7-12 Women:15:00 – 18:15 Rounds 13-18 Women:15:00 – 18:15 Rounds 1-6 Open:18:30 – 21:30 Rounds 7-12 Open:18:30 – 21:30 Rounds 13-18 Open18:30 – 21:30 FOR MORE INFORMATION:David Lladadavid.llada@fide.com+34 623 021 120
Over four million moves and €10,000 raised in a charity marathon
The French Chess Federation liaised with the Fondation de France to fights the coronavirus and organized 24-hour chess marathon in cooperation with Lichess, Blitzstream, Europe-Echecs, Chess24, Variantes, and Apprendre-les-Echecs. The event, held on May 2, was broadcasted by the most popular streamers in the country (including Kévin Bordi, FM Sylvain Ravot, and John Cappon) to mobilize the French-speaking chess community towards making online donations to the “Tous unis contre le virus” (all units against the virus) campaign run by the Fondation de France. The time control was blitz (5+2), and almost 3,000 players (GMs Anthonys Wirig, Tigran Gharamian, Rémi Trouville among others) joined this massive tournament playing close to 60,000 games. The winner, a French grandmaster Sébastien Feller played 183 games! Romain Bilquez, a nurse in the intensive care in a Covid-19 unit, finished second in the event. A chess enthusiast, member of the Chartres club, and a very young father, he frequently plays the French chess league after a night of work in his hospital. During the marathon, he only had a one-hour break: baby bottle time! He won online chess lessons, but he thinks about offering this prize to a friend. His story was covered in the French press: https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/centre-val-de-loire/eure-et-loir/chartres/chartres-infirmier-reanimation-jeune-papa-il-joue-24-heures-dormir-tournoi-echecs-caritatif-1825172.html You can check out the final standings (nicknames only) here: https://lichess.org/tournament/yDTJ461h The chess community raised almost €10,000 during this charity marathon, showing great generosity in this difficult context. It is still possible to make a donation before May the 10th on https://dons.fondationdefrance.org/mettonslevirusechecetmat/~mon-don Many prominent figures took part in this marathon. The twelfth World Champion Anatoly Karpov played a few games during this event under a nickname Sokolov_Kirill-10. FIDE Deputy President and the President of French Federation GM Bachar Kouatly was in action for almost 4 hours, commenting his games on the live stream. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich made a donation to this initiative. This is a great symbol of the “gens una sumus” motto, proving that chess players form a worldwide community, joining efforts for great causes. One hundred prizes – chess books, online lectures, premium subscription for chess websites – have been awarded during the event. The first prize is an all-inclusive invitation for Rencontres Internationales des Échecs Francophones (international meeting of French-speaking players) organized by the Association Internationale des Echecs Francophone, which will be held in Djerba from December 26 to January 4.
FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup: Europe trailing China after Day 3
China continues to lead the FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup with four regular rounds to go. It’s Europe that’s having the best chances to join them in Sunday’s Superfinal. Team USA defeated and leapfrogged Russia in the standings, while India and the Rest of the World are out of contention by this point. Round 05 The round started with a stunning victory for Viswanathan Anand against Ian Nepomniachtchi, a game that was over in about five(!) minutes. Nepo got caught in preparation, and was already lost by move 14! In his post-game interview in the live broadcast, Anand said that 12.Nf3 (which seems mostly a tricky move order) was one of several ideas his second GM Grzegorz Gajewski had recently shared with him, adding that his former second, GM Radek Wojtaszek, told him that everything was already in their files 10 years ago! This shockingly quick win eventually did not bring India’s first victory in the tournament as Pentala Harikrishna suffered a painful loss against Vladislav Artemiev due to a mouse slip in a roughly equal position. China continued on their winning path with another victory in round five against the U.S. despite Fabiano Caruana’s scoring his third win in as many games. It seemed Wang Hao brought the pain over himself in a closed position with the unnecessary 39.h5 which had a tactical flaw. The #1 in women’s rating Hou Yifan doesn’t seem to be suffering much from her inactivity in recent years as she is playing powerful games so far in the Nations Cup. It must be said that her win against Irina Krush was based on one big miscalculation but after that Hou was merciless. Europe played itself to a second-place behind China halfway the round-robin phase thanks to a hard-fought victory over the Rest of the World. Levon Aronian scored his third win in a row this time over Alireza Firouzja in a basic but complicated rook ending in which both opponents were not precise. First, the Armenian GM untimely gave up his h-pawn then the Iran-born youngster was last to err in an equal position. Amin Bassem leveled the score by defeating Anish Giri, but Nana Dzagnidze again demonstrated her excellent endgame technique in the encounter with Dinara Saduakassova. Round 06 This is not Nepomniachtchi’s tournament. The Russian top GM ended up losing his second game as well, although in a very different way. This time he was the last one playing, against GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Ian lost the thread in complications but finding himself in a hopeless position he gradually dug out of the hole. The draw seemed imminent when he blundered on move 91 to end a terrible day at the office. China bulldozed over the Rest of the World with a 3.5-0.5 win, further cementing their status as favorites to win the event. You might expect fireworks in a game between young guns Wei Yi and Alireza Firouzja, but in this case, the Chinese player won a beautiful, technical endgame that Anatoly Karpov would have been proud of. Even after six rounds, India is still waiting for its first win as they went down against the USA in their second match of the day. It was GM Wesley So who opened the score with a crushing win against GM Baskaran Adhiban that included the threat of a pretty combination. Unluckily for chess aesеts, the Indian GM chose a more prosaic way to lose the game. Another key game was the board-one encounter between Nakamura and Anand. With 2-1 on the scoreboard, Hikaru had to save the draw to secure two match points. After a few inaccuracies, he was completely outplayed on the kingside earlier in the game and was material down, but his fighting spirit coupled with a couple of rush moves by the Indian eventually saved the day for the US. The tournament will be broadcast live across multiple outlets including FIDE’s and Chess.com’s own channels across Twitch, YouTube, Mixer, Twitter, and other international streaming platforms. With an estimated audience of several million worldwide, commentary by chess experts will be conducted in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Turkish, and Polish. You can watch live broadcasts and replays on FIDE YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmDtpw5HJEQ Text: Peter Doggers (chess.com) FIDEwww.fide.comDavid Lladapress@fide.com+34 623 021 120 CHESS.comwww.chess.comNick Bartonnick@chess.com
Andor Lilienthal: 99 years of prowess
May 5 is the birthday of Andor (Andre) Lilienthal who lived a very long and eventful life. He was one of the 27 original grandmasters awarded the title by FIDE in 1950. His mother was a singer and father a racer, so the family traveled a lot. The future grandmaster was born in 1911 in Moscow, then the Russian Empire. In 1913, his mother with kids Andor and Margaret returned to Hungary. The family lived very poorly and Andor got used to working from the very childhood. At the age of 15, Andor left school to get a profession of a tailor but did not find a permanent job. At 16, he went into chess. Just three years later Andor scored 9 out of 12 in the international tournament in Czech Stubnianske Teplice (1930), ahead of Pirc and Flohr. His chess university was a famous Paris Café de la Regence in Rue de Rivoli where playing for money was normal practice. “Alekhine also was a customer of that café,” – recalled Andor. “One day they told him about me. They said that there was a boy who perfectly played simple games. He offered me to play four games, of course with no stake. To spectators’ surprise, he only managed to defeat me in the 4th game, whereas the three first games were won by me. Alekhine demanded revenge but I refused flatly: “I want to save this result for the rest of my life”, I said. Though Alekhine was a nervous and quick-tempered person, this time he saw my point and burst out laughing.” Soon Lilienthal stood neck and neck with Alekhine, sharing the first place in the prestigious Hastings tournament in 1933. A year later, he won the Ujpest tournament ahead of Pirc, Flohr, Gruenfeld, and other top players of that time. In Hastings 1935, Lilienthal shared 5-6 places with Botvinnik, but the tournament will be remembered for his sensational victory over Capablanca in just 26 moves with a queen sacrifice. Lilienthal – Capablanca, 1935 20.exf6!! “The motif of the queen sacrifice is to exploit the poor position of the enemy king and Black’s lag in development. A decisive factor in the attack is the opening of the e-file. In contrast to many similar sacrifices, the black king receives its first check only four moves later,” – Lilienthal. 20…Qxc2 21.fxg7 Rg8 22.Nd4 With a deadly threat Rae1+. 22…Qe4 23.Rae1 Nc5 24.Rxe4+ Nxe4 25.Re1 Rxg7 26.Rxe4+ Kd7 “Without waiting for my reply, Capablanca smiled and held out his hand, congratulating me on my win. I couldn’t conceal that I was happy,” – Lilienthal. Just a handful of players scored well against Capablanca. Along with Spielmann, with whom Lilienthal shares the birthday, Andor held his own; only Keres had a positive score against the Cuban world champion. During his career, Lilienthal played with almost all world chess champions and defeated Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, Botvinnik, Smyslov, women’s world champion Vera Menchik. In the 1930s, Lilienthal played in three Chess Olympiads for the Hungarian team, with the total score amounting to an impressive 75.51%. In 1935, during the tournament in Moscow, Andor fell in love with a lady who came to watch the competition; he decided to stay in the Soviet Union. Evgeniya became his wife and in 1939 Lilienthal got Soviet citizenship. After her death, he married two more times connecting his life with Lyudmila (1976) and Olga (1987). Lilienthal’s major results came during the Soviet period of his life. In 1940, Andor won the Moscow Championship and tied for first in the USSR Championship ahead of Smyslov, Keres, Boleslavsky, and Botvinnik. In that event Lilienthal won a great game against Mikhail Botvinnik, proving that when it comes to positional play, he’s in his element too. Lilienthal – Botvinnik, 1940 (commentary by Andor Lilienthal) 14.Qd2! This “unnatural” move was obviously underestimated by Botvinnik. 14…a5According to Botvinnik, it was necessary to go for 14…c5, although after 15.dxc6 Nxc616.Nd3 Black’s position remains difficult. 15.a3 Na6 16.b4! Now the a6 knight plays a miserable role. 16…Bf6 17.Bb2 Qd7 18.Bxf6 Rxf6 19.Nd3 19…a4. 20.bxa5 was a threat, and 19…axb4 was lost: 20.axb4 Qb5 21.Nf4 (21.Ra3 is also not bad, “tripling” the heavy pieces on the “a” file) 21…Qxb4 22.Qxb4 Nxb4 23.Rxa8+Bxa8 24.Ra1 Rf8 25.Ra4! c5. Here I saw that Black is getting mated in a funny way: 26.dxc6 Nxc6 27.Bd5+ Kh8 28.Ng6+! 20.Rac1 Qf7 21.Nf4. The knight took the dominating position. The weaknesses on c7 and e6 squares cannot be protected well and Black’s position is strategically lost. 21…Bc8 22.Rc3 Bd7 23.Rfc1 h6 24.h4 Ra7 25.h5! Now the knight has fortified his position on f4. 25…Ra8. 26.Re3! Positional 26.e3 and 27.Bf1 promises less due to b6-b5. 26…Kh7 27.Rcc3 Rb8 28.Qd3 Ra8 29.Ng6 Rxg6. Forced in a view of Re7 threat. 30.hxg6+ Kxg6 31.Re6+Spectacular, but perhaps not the best move. Immediate 31.g4 was simpler, causing massive simplifications (31…Kh7 32.gxf5 Bxf5 33.Be4). White is completely winning anyway and Lilienthal convincingly converted his advantage: 31…Kh7 32.g4 c5 33.b5 Nc7 34.gxf5 Nxb5 35.f6+ Kg8 36.Rc4 Re8 37.Rg4 g5 38.Rxe8+ Bxe8 39.Re4 Kf8 40.Re7 Qg6. 41.Be4 Qh5 42.Bf3 Qg6 43.Rxe8+ 1-0 After the championship, Lilienthal, according to Botvinnik, “received the plaudits of all. His style of play was unique. As a rule, modest play at the start of the game, but then he would find his original plans for the middlegame, where he would create more problems for his opponent. I ‘suffered’ all of that myself. I saved myself more than once, but I also had to endure two heavy losses – in Moscow 1940, and 1941.” In 1950, Lilienthal played his only Candidates Tournament. The competition in Budapest was won Bronstein and Boleslavsky, Lilienthal finished 8th. His playing prime was behind and he turned to coaching, helping Tigran Petrosian from 1951 until 1960 and being second to his good friend Vasily Smyslov in his world championship matches against Botvinnik. “As a chessplayer, Andre stands out for his amazing intuition and feeling for the position. He is equally dangerous in positional play, as he is in the combinative. His victories over Capablanca and Botvinnik make a deep artistic impression.” Smyslov said. In 1976, at the request of his mother, Andor returned to Budapest and lived there since. Almost all chess kings of the XX century visited his apartment in the Hungarian capital, but Bobby Fischer was the only one who lived there for a month. It happened when he was hiding from the US authorities after the 1992 match with Spassky in Yugoslavia. “He could eat half a pot of Olga’s borsch and loved caviar,” – recalled Andor
FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup: China extends lead
China increased its lead at the FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup to two match points on the second day of play. The USA and Europe are tied for second place, followed by Russia, Rest of the World, and India. Levon Aronian became the only player on Day 2 to win two games. Round 3 China-Russia was an interesting matchup in many respects. Sergey Karjakin was playing his first official game since the World Blitz Championship in December; the two participants of the last women’s world championship faced one another again. The games on these two boards ended in draws. Vladislav Artemiev scored a convincing win against Wei Yi on board two, but China tied the match as Ding Liren defeated a still struggling Ian Nepomniachtchi. The latter almost came back to full equality after being put under pressure in the opening in what looked like deep prep from the Chinese player — the kind of material that could have been seen at the Candidates. Coming from a loss and a draw on day one, GM Levon Aronian did much better on the second day of play as he won both of his games. Even so, he wasn’t too happy about his play. One moment in Aronian’s game with Vidit Gujrathi was special: the way he created a passer with 47.b2-b4!! while also shutting off his opponent’s bishop was brilliant: After 47…axb3 48. Bb2! h5 49. g5! h4 50. a4 it turns out that White’s a-pawn is unstoppable: 51…Kg8 51. a5 Kh7 52. a6 Bd1 53. Kxd1 d2 54. Qxg7+ Qxg7 55. Bxg7 Kxg7 56. Kxd2 1-0 It’s high time to say a couple of words about the ladies and there’s no better opportunity than the USA vs. Rest of the World match where GM Irina Krush secured the two match points by beating IM Dinara Saduakasova with the black pieces. Krush fearlessly accepted a pawn sacrifice by young Kazakhstani and demonstrated nicely why it didn’t work. Round 4 Russia was too strong for the Rest of the World: Nepomniachtchi was back in shape in his encounter with Teimour Radjabov and Sergey Karjakin won a somewhat topsy-turvy game against Jorge Cori. Aronian scored his second win, this time against Leinier Dominguez. It started as a Petroff, not an opening the Armenian grandmaster normally plays. The game transposed into an endgame in which the American was a pawn up at the cost of a terrible pawn structure. Black had full compensation and maybe a slightly better position but hardly more. Nevertheless, from that point on Dominguez went downhill and resigned on move 48. Nana Dzagnidze demonstrated an excellent endgame technique converting an extra pawn in the game with Anna Zatonskih. It is worth mentioning, that Black scored two victories in this match. In another hard-fought match, it was Wang Hao who got the victory for China against India thanks to a relatively easy win against Vidit Gujrathi. The Indian GM mixed something up in the opening and was soon looking at a hopeless position. Viswanathan Anand held Ding to a draw from the black side of a Queen’s Gambit Declined by defending an endgame with an atrocious pawn structure. The tournament will be broadcast live across multiple outlets including FIDE’s and Chess.com’s own channels across Twitch, YouTube, Mixer, Twitter, and other international streaming platforms. With an estimated audience of several million worldwide, commentary by chess experts will be conducted in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Turkish, and Polish. You can watch live broadcasts and replays on FIDE YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmDtpw5HJEQ Text: Peter Doggers (chess.com) FIDEwww.fide.comDavid Lladapress@fide.com+34 623 021 120 CHESS.comwww.chess.comNick Bartonnick@chess.com