Tata Steel Chess 2020: Firouzja forges ahead
Black has yet to score a victory after three rounds in Wijk aan Zee, but even another White’s 3-0 sweep in Round 3 of Tata Steel Masters was eclipsed by the clash at the top of the leaderboard – Alireza Firouzja became the sole leader after defeating Vladislav Artemiev. It looks like the outcome of the key game of the round was decided by better home preparation of the youngster. Artemiev chose the Caro-Cann Defense once again and Firouzja reacted with one of the sharpest lines 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 h5 5.c4. Alireza left his b2 pawn hanging, but it was really risky to take it – Vladislav didn’t dare and started spending a lot of time on every move. Till the move 15 the game followed the footsteps of Sutovsky – Maria Muzychuk encounter, convincingly won by FIDE General Director in 2018. Artemiev deviated with 15…Qd8 but his position already looked very suspicious. After the e5-e6 breakthrough, Black was in dire straights with his king completely exposed. The Iranian prodigy, playing under FIDE flag, missed a few opportunities to finish the game quicker, but the result was never in doubt.Firouzja is sensationally leading the event, but Jorden van Foreest‘s performance is probably even a bigger surprise. In Round 3 he scored his second win – this time against Daniil Dubov. Jordan’s unassuming 3.c3 in the Sicilian indicated that he wasn’t striving for an opening advantage in the Sicilian, but Daniil probably underestimated the danger of White’s “c” and “d” pawns advance – he started tanking after move 20, but only managed to cause some turmoil while objectively his position was only getting worse. The Dutch GM remained unfazed and easily navigated through muddy waters to a victory. Fabiano Caruana is demonstrating some excellent chess at the early stage of the tournament and is just half a point behind the leader. Yu Yangyi played his favorite Petroff Defense against World #2 but became a victim of Caruana’s impeccable understanding of chess. His pawn advances on both sides (13.b4 and 16.g4) looked somewhat speculative, but Fabiano managed to gradually deny Black of any counterplay and secure space advantage. Even after Caruana won a pawn, the outcome seemed unclear, but he confidently thwarted all Black’s attempts and transposed into a completely winning pawn endgame. Very well-played, maitre! The other four games ended in draws. World Champion Magnus Carlsen is still out of his element – his attempt to fight for an advantage in a game against Jeffery Xiong looked completely unfounded and pretty soon he had to give up a pawn and switch to working for a draw. Carlsen was never losing but he is probably very disappointed with how the event has started for him. Magnus had no winning chances in any of the first free games and the fact that he is close to beating Sergey Tiviakov’s record in the number of the games without a loss is hardly satisfying him.Wesley So played against Nikita Vitiugov very accurately (keeping in mind that the Russian had knocked him out of the World Cup this September) and a draw looked a very logical outcome. Vishwanathan Anand was clearly better after the opening against Anish Giri. The Dutchman looked really uncomfortable in his chair, but probably yesterday’s drama took its toll on the Indian – he was too quick with 19.d5 (according to a chess engine, 19.Qb3 was a better move) and then offered a draw in a position where he still had real chances. Vladislav Kovalev obtained a comfortable position against Jan-Krzysztof Duda, and if not for the disastrous start he would have probably played a promising 13.Nb5. Instead, he settled for a calmer continuation and Duda defended with relative ease.Official site: https://www.tatasteelchess.com/Photo: Alina l’Ami Tata Steel Masters 2020 Standings after Round 3: 1. Firouzja – 2½;2-5. Xiong, So, Caruana, Van Foreest – 2;6-10. Artemiev, Dubov, Duda, Giri, Carlsen – 1½;11-12. Anand, Vitiugov – 1;14. Yu Yangyi, Kovalev – ½.
Togo hosts School Instructor Seminar
Togo will host the next School Instructor seminar in Lome, 27-31 January. The seminar, held at the Agla Hotel, will be in the French language, but there will be translations into English. The seminar will be led by Lecturer Bechir Messaoudi, assisted by FIDE’s General Secretary CM Enyonam Sewa Fumey. Applications from other countries are welcome and should be sent to: E-mail: ftdetogo@yahoo.fr.Tel: 228 9013 0628 https://www.facebook.com/ftdetogo/ Africa is buzzing at the moment. The last school Instructor seminar, in Bamako, Mali was just six weeks ago. Last week the Gambia Chess Federation launched a Chess in school program in the country.
Tata Steel Chess 2020: Five players atop after two rounds
White completely dominated in the second round of Tata Steel Masters 2020 winning 4 games out of 7. There are five leaders after two rounds with heavy favorites Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana still at the 50% mark. Iranian sensation Alireza Firouzja had a chance to grab the sole lead as he was clearly better after the opening in his game against Jan-Krzysztof Duda. In the Queens Gambit Accepted Duda somewhat surprisingly went for the line with an early queen exchange, but the opponents still found a way to set fire on board. Firouzja came up with a creative 9…Ng4 novelty and Duda’s reaction probably wasn’t precise. Black won a pawn, but it seemed that White was only slightly worse before Duda put his king in front of the whole army with 23.Kc4?! Firouzja cemented his advantage and could have got clear winning chances had he foiled the activation of the white knight with 26…g5! Alireza opted for a natural rook move instead and Duda managed to save half a point for the second day in a row. Another Round 1 winner Jorden Van Foreest suffered his first defeat in a game against Jeffery Xiong, but once again he played fearlessly. In a typical Sicilian set-up, he went for an ambitious pawn breakthrough/sacrifice with 13…b5!? and 15…d5! Van Foreest moved his bishop to f6 one move too late and found himself in a worse position. He still had his chances in sharp complications later but went astray with kamikaze 29…Bf2+ and 30…Bh4. Xiong won a piece and the game. Russian up-and-coming stars Vlad Artemiev and Daniil Dubov also caught up with Firouzja. Dubov easily crushed Vladislav Kovalev after the Byelorussian decided to sacrifice a central pawn in an unpleasant position hoping for an active counterplay in the endgame. It was nothing more than an illusion though, and Dubov converted in style. Kovalev was unlucky to start with two Black games, but he seems out of form with 0/2 and that can be fatal in this kind of event. Artemiev outplayed his compatriot Nikita Vitiugov in a clear positional style. At some point, Vlad could have gone for a nice “little combo” with 27.Rd8+! but he was completely dominating in the center and on the queenside anyway. Unfortunately, even the greatest chess players can become a victim of a hallucination on a bad day, and this was the case for Viswanathan Anand today. He miscalculated when making decision to sacrifice a bishop with a tempting 12…Bxf2+. Anand was right that he was winning a piece back immediately but probably missed that his knight would be trapped in the White’s camp after that. Easy win for World Fischer Random champion Wesley So and frankly speaking he hasn’t even done that much to achieve it. (FIDE.com – Future analysis proved that the position was still completely unclear if Anand would have played 22…Nxg2! as after 23.Rxg2 Rxg2+ 24.Kxg2 Qe2+ 25.Kg3 Rf8! Black’s attack was sufficient for a draw) There were two more draws in Round 2. Yu Yangyi didn’t have any ambitions having White against Magnus Carlsen and was trying to exchange all pieces as soon as possible. Anish Giri and Fabiano Caruana played probably the best game of the round on a level which can be achieved only by few players on the Earth – Giri put heavy pressure on his opponent and even won a pawn in the endgame, but the former world title challenger defended brilliantly and was never in real danger. Official site: https://www.tatasteelchess.com/Photo: Alina l’Ami Tata Steel Masters 2020 Standings after Round 2: 1-5. Xiong, So, Artemiev, Dubov, Firouzja – 1½;6-10. Caruana, Duda, Giri, Carlsen, Van Foreest – 1;11-13. Anand, Vitiugov, Yu, Yangyi – ½;14. Kovalev – 0.
WWCC Game 6: Goryachkina puts pressure with black
The sixth game of the match, the last one to be played in Shanghai, ends in a draw. This leaves the score in 3-3 before the championship takes a short break and moves to the next host city: Vladivostok. Play will be resumed on Thursday, January 16. Arkady Dvorkovich, FIDE President, and Lu Lin, vice-secretary of the Party Committee of Shanghai Sports Bureau, made the first symbolic moves of Game 6. Ju Wenjun, a predominately 1.d4 player, reverted to 1.e4, a move she played in Game 2 of the match. The Berlin variation of the Ruy Lopez was repeated until move 10, with Ju opting for Re1. Ju failed to achieve much out of the opening with lethargic 17.b3, 18.c4, and 19.Bb2. With calm and measured play, Aleksandra Goryachkina managed to outmaneuver her opponent. By move 30 it became clear that Black would be playing for a win. Yet, similar to some earlier games of this match, Goryachkina was not able to build on her advantage. By the time players passed the first time control, the worst was behind Ju, and she was on the road to a draw. Nevertheless, Goryachkina made Ju sweat for it. Game 6 turned out to be the longest one of the match: it surpassed 100 moves.For the last 60 moves, Ju had to be extremely careful, while Goryachkina was playing with no risk waiting for her opponent to slip. Ju was visibly tired, her hand at times trembling. The game finally ended two moves shy of a 50-move draw rule. At the post-game press conference, Goryachkina said that she felt she was slightly better but just couldn’t find the decisive moves for a win. Ju was unhappy with her play and felt fortunate to escape with a draw. Stray observations: this was Goryachkina’s second consecutive game in which she was the only one pressing for a win. This must have felt great for her, following a loss in Game 4. It was also the first game where White was clearly worse. The stretch of four games in which Goryachkina had 3 black was akin to a test: she started with a loss but has done better than many expected, fully recovering in the last two games, and it feels like she has started dictating play.The break in the match—it’s moving to Vladivostok in Russia—is likely to benefit both players. Goryachkina is going home where large crowds are expected to support her, while Ju is getting the much-needed breather after six very long and draining games. Official website: https://wwcm2020.fide.com Text: Michael Friedman Photos: Zhang Yanhong, Lewis Liu, Michael Friedman Contact: press@fide.com Photos in high resolution are available for the press at our official Flickr account.
Tata Steel Chess 2020: Young guns take the lead
After several rapid and mix events, traditional Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2020 in Wijk aan Zee looks like a window into the glorified past of chess. A true classical super-tournament presents an interesting combination of established stars and ambitious newcomers in which every round is sure to deliver a lot of amazing encounters. Sometimes spectators and chess analytics will need to spend a lot of hours to understand the real nature of the players’ plans and concepts. The first round of the Masters event played on January 11 didn’t disappoint. 16-year old Alireza Firouzja was the first one to score a full point after he outplayed Challengers 2019 winner Vladislav Kovalev from Belarus with White. In a very well-known position of Zaitsev variation of Ruy Lopez Kovalev opted for dubious 16…c4 (instead of popular and standard 16…Nd7). Probably it was not a result of preparation, but a clear mix-up as Black was in trouble right away quickly losing two pawns without any compensation. Firouzja was ruthless in converting a clear opportunity into a win. Another leader after Round 1 is probably even more unexpected. Jorden Van Foreest is by far the lowest-rated participant of the event, but it didn’t stop the local hero from starting with a victory. His game against the World Cup semifinalist Yu Yangyi from China quickly transformed into a rook endgame where Black had to accurately defend his weak pawns. The endgame sharpened up rapidly and definitely needs much deeper analysis to understand what was really going on. One thing is clear though – after a few mutual inaccuracies, Yu was one to divert from a clear draw (44…Re8 45. Rxa7 Kg6! 46. Ra6+ Kg7 or even simple 44…e3) in favor of a suicidal maneuver 44…Kg4? 45.b6 Kf3? It was a point of no return for Black. The other five games were drawn but not without a fight. The most uneventful game was surprisingly played by World Classical, Rapid & Blitz Champion Magnus Carlsen. Facing the crowd favorite Anish Giri he chose an extremely rare line in the English opening (4.Qb3) but this approach did not pay off – Magnus did not get even a slight advantage; actually it was Carlsen himself who had to be accurate to reach a draw on move 25. Anand – Artemiev and a battle of American superstars Caruana – So ended in draws pretty quickly also. Wesley So seemingly had no problems equalizing in Gruenfeld while Vladislav Artemiev held his own in Caro-Cann where his two bishops were so strong that Anand decided to sacrifice an exchange and force a draw at some point. Youngsters Jeffery Xiong and Daniil Dubov were both out for the blood in their Sicilian showdown. When both white rooks paid a visit to an e7 square right in the center of Black’s defensive fortifications it became clear that it would be a tough day for Dubov. Being a pawn down (and for a few moves even two pawns) Russian GM was looking for some counterplay to escape and somehow succeeded. Xiong probably missed some chances, but the dubious “Miss of the Day” prize goes to Nikita Vitiugov who replaced Ian Nepomniachtchi two weeks before the event. Vitiugov who had a very successful 2019 was very close to starting 2020 with another excellent win, this time against Polish finest Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Vitiugov outplayed his opponent in Najdorf Sicilian and was winning prosaically with 30.c4 – instead, he decided to sacrifice an exchange and still had a huge advantage as his monstrous bishops were completely dominating black lonely knight, but after the time trouble GM from Saint-Petersburg let his advantage slip away (the clearest chance was probably Be3-c5-e7 maneuver), lost his key passed pawn and had to accept a draw. One more miraculous save by Jan-Krzysztof! In Round 2 Duda will examine one of the early leaders Alireza Firouzja. Their battles are always very interesting for the spectators – less than two weeks ago they exchanged blows in World Rapid & Blitz Championship in Moscow with Duda winning in the rapid game and Firouzja retaliating in blitz. Official site: https://www.tatasteelchess.com/Photo: Alina l’Ami
WWCC Game 5: Goryachkina strikes back
Aleksandra Goryahkina bounces back and beats Ju Wenjun in the fifth game of the 2020 FIDE Women’s World Championship Match. The challenger sets the score to 2½-2½ after five games, with only one left to be played in Shanghai; the remaining six games will be fought in Vladivostok. Ernst Yurkin, Deputy Consul General of the Russian Federation in Shanghai, and Zhu Chen, former World Champion made the first symbolic moves of Game 5. Before today, Aleksandra Goryachkina has never beaten Ju Wenjun. In fact, prior to the match, the Russian Grandmaster has never had a better position against the World Champion in any of their games. However, Goryachkina is a very young player still at the peak of her development, and already in the first games of the match, she showed she could put Ju Wenjun against the ropes. In that context, Goryachkina’s defeat in the fourth game was a cold shower for the Russian fans, but the challenger didn’t display any signs of disappointment. And after a rest day, she came back to the board ready to put up a fight, and with today’s victory, Goryachkina demonstrated the world that she belongs in this match and is the rightful challenger. Goryachkina appeared to have surprised her opponent with 1. c4, which sent Ju into a short think. In the ensuing English Opening, players went for a very sharp line, with Ju producing the first novelty 12… Be4. This seemed to have taken Goryachkina out of her preparation and black quickly achieved a very promising position. However, facing a 16.Qb5+, Ju went astray with Qd7, unnecessary opting for a variation in which White was up an exchange, with Black having some compensation for it in the form of a very dangerous d-pawn. Interestingly enough, in the post-mortem, Goryachkina thought that Ju simply blundered the exchange. It seemed that Game 5 would follow a familiar scenario from Games 1 and 3 where the Russian obtained comfortable positions out of openings but squandered her chances with some little inaccuracies right before the first time control. In today’s encounter, after mutual mistakes 29…g6? and 31.Rxf7? the game appeared to be heading for a draw, but a serious blunder by Ju (34…Nc6?? instead of 34…Nc4) allowed Goryachkina to consolidate her advantage and convert it into a full point fifteen moves later. In the post-game press conference, Goryachkina said she was relieved and happy to be back into the match. Ju agreed that while today’s result was disappointing, it was a logical conclusion and the overall score reflected the match thus far. Official website: https://wwcm2020.fide.com Text: Michael Friedman Photos: Zhang Yanhong, Lewis Liu, Michael Friedman Contact: press@fide.com Photos in high resolution are available for the press at our official Flickr account.
WWCC Game 4: Ju Wenjun breaks the ice
The reigning Women’s World Chess Champion scores the first win in the match. After four games, Ju Wenjun leads by 2½-1½ against Aleksandra Goryachkina. Gui Jinsong, director of Mass Sports Department of Shanghai Sports Bureau, and Liu Changle, party branch secretary of Shanghai Board and Card Games Administrative Center, made the first symbolic move in game 4.Ju Wenjun, playing white, reverted to her usual 1.d4 and both players appeared to be well within their preparations in the ensuing Slav Defense. With the game moving so quickly, it remained unclear who was better prepared and who was bluffing by playing at a blistering pace. Aleksandra Goryachkina‘s unnatural 22…Kxf8 further illustrated the point of how comfortable and prepared she either was or wanted her opponent to believe. Ju had an opportunity to increase pressure with a strong 26.Rc6, but chose to exchange the rooks, opting for playing a pleasant endgame with just queens and bishops. The white queen dominated the board on white squares, while black had to be patient and careful.The game seemed to be heading toward another draw but then Goryachkina—not content with sitting back—unadvisedly exchanged bishops on move 34, creating a long-term weakness on c5. In the ensuing endgame, Black had to find a precise plan of defense, such as advancing her f-pawn to f5. Goryachkina wasn’t able to find it, and Ju Wenjun, despite some hesitation was able to calculate the precise moment to exchange queens and transposed into a winning pawn ending.After the game, Goryachkina said that she lost the thread of the game, but she couldn’t quite pinpoint exactly where and accepted that her position just kept getting worse and she couldn’t recover. Ju was happy and relieved to finally get the full point, and praised Goryachkina’s valiant defense. Tomorrow (Friday), is a rest day. Play will be resumed on Saturday, January 10, with the 5th game of the match. Official website: https://wwcm2020.fide.com Text: Michael Friedman Photos: Zhang Yanhong, Lewis Liu, Michael Friedman Contact: press@fide.com Photos in high resolution are available for the press at our official Flickr account.
WWCC Game 3: Goryachkina dominates, but Ju saves a draw
Shan Xiali, president of the Shanghai Chess Academy, and Wang Lianyun, president of the Shanghai Xiangqi Association, made the first symbolic move in the third game of the Women’s World Championship match. Ju Wenjun, playing Black, countered Aleksandra Goryachkina‘s Queen’s Gambit with the Semi-Tarrasch Defence, transforming the duel into a comfortable, yet somewhat passive play for herself. The reigning champion failed to come up with a plan to fully equalize, and by move 23 Goryachkina enjoyed a considerable advantage. However, a momentary slip 23.Bd3 presented Ju with an opportunity to turn the tables with 23..Ne5, which was not played. As if Ju was so focused on defending an inferior position, that she simply missed her chance to snatch the initiative. Having also opted against 18.g4! in game 2, the World Champion seems to be wary when it comes to dynamic and tactical play. White continued to dictate and ten moves later and following the thematic break on d5, Goryachkina won a pawn. For a moment, it felt we would see the first decisive outcome of the match. However, the Russian played inaccurately in moderate time-trouble and before the first time control, the game steered into an easy save for the World Champion in a rook ending. Just like in game 1, the challenger kept pushing for another 40 moves, until the players agreed on a draw on move 85. Ju must feel relieved to be tied in this match after not playing her best game, especially with Black. Speaking at the press conference, the World Champion said that she was content with three draws. On her part, Goryachkina added that she felt good about dominating her opponent in two out of the first three games, yet somewhat frustrated having not capitalized on her chances. A difficult stretch of the match is coming for Goryachkina now as she will have black pieces in the next 3 out of 4 games. Game 4 will be played tomorrow, on January 9th. Official website: https://wwcm2020.fide.com Text: Michael Friedman Photos: Zhang Yanhong, Lewis Liu, Michael Friedman Contact: press@fide.com Photos in high resolution are available for the press at our official Flickr account.
90th FIDE Congress: List of Delegates
FIDE is publishing the list of delegates as is required by the FIDE Electoral Regulations Section 5.A.1. LIST OF DELEGATES (pdf) According to FIDE Electoral Regulations Section 5.A.2 At the latest five weeks before the opening session of the General Assembly, the President of each member federation shall inform the FIDE Secretariat in writing of any changes to be made to this list. If there has been no such notification by this deadline, and there is no delegate on the list that was published on the FIDE website pursuant to Section (1) above, the delegate shall be the President of the federation. In some cases, federations have already submitted documents requesting for a change of their delegate – these are to be approved after the verification of these documents. FIDE recommends that the following wording be used for informing the Secretariat, until 22 January (CET 17.00), of any change to be made to the list of delegates in accordance with this paragraph. “I, the President of the federation of _____________________ hereby inform FIDE that the Delegate of my federation at the FIDE 2020 General Assembly in Abu Dhabi will be _____________________. Date : _____________________ Signature: _____________________” —–FIDE Secretariat
FIDE World Cup 2021 – Allocation of Continental spots
We are publishing the allocation of Continental spots for the FIDE World Cup 2021 related to Article 2.1.V of the Regulations The quotas are calculated according to the average Rating of twelve standard FIDE Rating Lists from February 2019 to January 2020 of the world top eight juniors (born on January 1st, 1999 or later) and the world top sixty players (see here for the details).