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).
Rating analytics: New Year – new young leaders
Kaspars Migla is the creator and founder of chessratings.top. In his column, he analyzes monthly FIDE standard rating changes, career-high ratings, rating distribution by country, continent, region, and other rating-related statistics. In this edition, he reveals major changes in the lists of top junior players. Every new year traditionally brings about major changes in the top-rated juniors lists and the year 2020 is no exception. Some players lose their junior status and can play only in regular tournaments, others move up to the next age category in which their rating often is not good enough to qualify for the top 10. One of the most important changes in the January rating list is Wei Yi’s (born in 1999 and rated 2732) leaving juniors. According to chessratings.top, he stayed in the top 100 active juniors for 88 (!) straight months. The Chinese GM made his debut in the juniors top 100 back in September 2012 in 97th position (rated 2453). The second-longest stint in this list (72 months) belongs to an Indian Murali Karthikeyan (2611) but he also can play only in regular tournaments. Currently, the best Chinese player in this list is Yan Liu (2513). Born in 2000 he occupies 47th position in this list. After Wei Yi’s outgrowing juniors, the record holder is Samuel Sevian (2660) with 72 months in the TOP 100 or six full years. Since it is his last year in juniors Samuel has no chance to surpass the record of the Chinese wunderkind. When it comes to women, the situation is slightly different. The current leader Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ, 2471) has a whole year in juniors ahead of her. Since Zhansaya debuted in the TOP 100 in August of 2012 aged 12, by the end of the year her stay in this elite group will stretch over 100 months. It won’t happen only if Zhansaya loses 300 rating points but for such a strong player this is a highly improbable scenario. The leaders changed in all six junior categories: U-8, U-10, U-12, U-14, U-16 and U-18 (both open and girls). Back in December of 2019 Alireza Firouzja (2723) who is now playing under the FIDE flag had taken the top spot in U-16 and a month later became the #1 in U-18. Meanwhile, Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB, 2635) mounted from the second to top position in U-16. The ex-leader in U-14 Praggnanandhaa R (IND, 2602) not just moved to the U-16 category but found himself on the third place. Actually, Praggnanandhaa’s transfer to an older category allowed his compatriot Gukesh D (2542) to take the top spot in U-14. A young American talent Abhimanyu Mishra (2397) managed to make a “top-top” leap from U-10 to U-12. As ratings are growing very fast in these categories, it is quite an achievement. It suffices to say, that since ratings have been calculated monthly he became the first person to make such a transition. Vaclav Finek (CZE, 2234) tops the U-10 category, whereas in U-8 John Lance Valenxia (PHI, 1810) took over Ilan Schnaider (1893) who has moved to the next group. As a sidenote, the #4 in U10 category Alexander Usov received a wild card for the Rapid and Blitz Championships and got some scalps in this prestigious competition. More detailed information on the leaders in various categories is available here. Although we have covered seniors’ ratings in the previous column, one important event should not go unmentioned. In 2020 three top 100 players fell into seniors category: Viswanathan Anand (IND, 2758), Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR, 2698), and Aleksey Dreev (RUS, 2677). You can check a full list of active players born in 1969 at chessratings.top. All juniors 1. Firouzja, Alireza (FID, 2723) U-182. Xiong, Jeffery (USA, 2712) U-203. Maghsoodloo, Parham (IRI, 2674) U-204. Sevian, Samuel (USA, 2660) U-205. Sarana, Alexey (RUS, 2656) U-206. Esipenko, Andrey (RUS, 2654) U-187 Tabatabaei, M.amin (IRI, 2638) U-208. Abdusattorov, Nodirbek (UZB, 2635) U-169. Deac, Bogdan-Daniel (ROU, 2626) U-2010. Nihal Sarin (IND, 2618) U-16 U-18 Open 1. Firouzja, Alireza (FID, 2723)2. Esipenko, Andrey (RUS, 2654)3. Sargsyan, Shant (ARM, 2601)4. Yakubboev, Nodirbek (UZB, 2597)5. Liang, Awonder (USA, 2592)6. Erigaisi Arjun (IND, 2575)7. Ivic, Velimir (SRB, 2558)8. Shevchenko, Kirill (UKR, 2553)9. Lomasov, Semyon (RUS, 2546)10. Engel, Luis (GER, 2541) U-16 Open 1. Abdusattorov, Nodirbek (UZB, 2635)2. Nihal Sarin (IND, 2618)3. Praggnanandhaa R (IND, 2602)4. Sindarov, Javokhir (UZB, 2537)5. Bjerre, Jonas Buhl (DEN, 2535)6. Keymer, Vincent (GER, 2527)7. Sadhwani, Raunak (IND, 2522)8. Gines Esteo, Pedro Antonio (ESP, 2482)9. Pogosyan, Stefan (RUS, 2477)10. Suleymanli, Aydin (AZE, 2473) U-14 Open 1. Gukesh D (IND, 2542)2. Yoo, Christopher Woojin (USA, 2449)3. Murzin, Volodar (RUS, 2442)4. Sreeshwan Maralakshikari (IND, 2440)5. Bai, Adelard (TPE, 2430)6. Aditya Mittal (IND, 2427)7. Maurizzi, Marc Andria (FRA, 2423)8. Mendonca, Leon Luke (IND, 2417)9. Bharath Subramaniyam H (IND, 2413)10. Lazavik, Denis (BLR, 2411) U-12 Open 1. CM Mishra, Abhimanyu (USA, 2397)2. Materia, Marco (FRA, 2320)3. Zhou, Liran (USA, 2307)4. Ansat, Aldiyar (KAZ, 2263)5. Mardov, Dimitar (USA, 2255)6. CM Kuhn, Clement (FRA, 2174)7. Li, Shanglin (CHN, 2166)8. Sreyas Payyappat (IND, 2166)9. Krylov, Ivan (RUS, 2165)10. Putnam, Liam (USA, 2147) U-10 Open 1. Finek, Vaclav (CZE, 2234)2. CM Manon, Reja Neer (BAN, 220603. Cherniaiev, Tykhon (UKR, 2151)4. Usov, Aleksandr E. (RUS, 2012)5. Chen, Ryo (USA, 1998)6. Mamedov, Edgar (KAZ, 1971)7. Uskov, Artem (RUS, 1951)8. Besou, Hussain (GER, 1924)9. CM Zverev, Lev (RUS, 1914)10. Ang, Ern Jie Anderson (MAS, 1910)10. CM Begmuratov, Khumoyun (UZB, 1910) U-8 Open 1. Valenxia, John Lance (PHI, 1810)2. Sauti Joshua (ZAM, 1623)3. Oikonomopoulos, Filippos (GRE, 1580)4. Coles, Ruben (FRA, 1557)5. Nilova, Elena (RUS, 1546)6. Mao, Daqi (NZL, 1527)7. Rami,Talab (SYR, 1525)8. Jara Pino, Mateo Stefano (PER, 1518)9. Muhd Ridzuan, Ariessa Rihana (MAS, 1515)10. Faryma, Maksym (POR, 1511)
WWCC Game 2: All quiet on the Eastern front
The second game of the FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship match was a peaceful affair that ended in a draw after threefold repetition. Zhao Guangsheng, Deputy General Director of Shanghai Sports Ministry, together with the Grandmaster Nigel Short, FIDE Vice-President, made the first symbolic moves in Game 2. Playing with white pieces, Ju Wenjun, who is a 1.d4 player, surprised her opponent with 1.e4. In the ensuing Berlin variation of the Ruy Lopez, Aleksandra Goryachkina introduced a novelty with 12…c6 and achieved a comfortable play. However, very quickly Black appeared to have gone astray with 16…Bg5, giving White an opportunity for some dynamic play after a possible move 18.g4, which Ju opted against, exchanging Queens and some pieces instead. Perhaps, both players are feeling the impact of yesterday’s 97-move marathon game and went for simpler, safer options. A quiet draw seemed inevitable and was agreed on move 40, after threefold repetition. Goryachkina’s ability to easily equalize in her first game with Black further cemented her position as a formidable challenger. After the game, Ju Wenjun felt satisfied with the result, believing that Black came out well after the opening. The players will enjoy a rest day tomorrow. The match will be resumed on January 8, with Aleksandra Goryachkina having white pieces in the third game. 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 2020 Game 1: Goryachkina puts Ju on notice
The first game of the Women’s World Chess Championship 2020 (WWCC), held in Shanghai, China, ended with a hard-fought draw. Ye Jiangchuan, President of the Chinese Chess Federation, and Alexandr Shmanevskiy, Consul General of the Russian Federation in Shanghai, made the first symbolic moves in the game. The opening was as cautious as it gets: Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia), playing White, chose 1.d4 as her first move. Instead of her usual Ragozin defense, defending champion Ju Wenjun (China) opted for 4…Be7. The challenger decided to go for a solid Catalan with 5.g3. The impression is that Goryachkina tried to take the game out of the book as soon as she could, and despite the symmetrical and seemingly equal position, she managed to put some pressure on the Champion. In fact, an inaccuracy by Ju Wenjun gave the Russian the opportunity to gain an advantage, and for a while, the Challenger seemed to be playing cat and mouse with the Champion, only to squander it with an untimely rook exchange on move 44. Although the endgame bishop vs. knight looked unpleasant for Black, Ju stoically defended for the next 50-plus moves, before the draw was agreed right before the opponents reached the sixth hour of play. At the press conference held after the game, Ju complimented Goryachkina’s fighting style, looking to exploit even minuscule chances. For her part, Goryachkina was content with putting the world champion on the ropes at the very start of the match. Game 2 will be played tomorrow, January 6, with Ju Wenjun having white pieces. Official website: https://wwcm2020.fide.com Text: Michael Friedman Photos: Zhang Yanhong Contact: press@fide.com Photos in high resolution are available for the press at our official Flickr account.
Women’s World Championship Match kicks off in Shanghai
Women’s World Chess Championship Match in Shanghai kicked off with an opening ceremony and a press conference, attended by the current World Champion Champion Ju Wenjun (China) and the Challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia), as well as FIDE, Russian and Chinese Federations’ officials, the local and foreign press. The biggest prize fund—500,000 euros—in the history of women’s chess championships brings a greater emphasis on women’s chess and represents a shift in priorities. This Championship commits to a new strategy adopted by FIDE in 2018 of ensuring that both world championship cycles have similar structure. FIDE VP Nigel Short spoke about the history of championship matches split into games played in different countries. In Shanghai, the players will face-off in six games from January 5 to 12. The second half of this Championship—the remaining six rounds—will be played in Vladivostok, Russia, from January 16 to 23. The tie-break, if needed, and the closing ceremony will be held in Vladivostok on January 24. In the drawing of lots conducted by Chief Arbiter IA Shohreh Bayat (Iran), Goryachkina picked a white hand fan and will have White in the first game. Her opponent Ju Wenjun wasn’t dismayed and said she became a stronger player in the past two years and feels confident with her hometown advantage. Game 1 is set for Sunday, January 5, 15:30 (local time). Official website: https://wwcm2020.fide.com Text: Michael Friedman Photos: Haohao Zhang Contact: press@fide.com Photos in high resolution are available for the press at our official Flickr account.
The 2019 World Rapid and Blitz recap: How will the event be remembered?
The 2019 King Salman World Rapid & Blitz Championships, held in Moscow December 26-30, were one of the most notable chess events of the year. The tournaments brought together many of the strongest chess players, including the World Champion in classical chess who took the crown in rapid and blitz thus simultaneously holding all three titles. The players and the games As noted by GM Peter Leko, who was the commentator in the live broadcast from the Moscow event, the rapid and blitz tournaments were “very tricky and tough, as they demand from the players to adapt quickly and swiftly shift between gears”. Several participants of this event really stand out from the rest. The 16-year-old Alireza Firouzja (rated 2614 in rapid), who participated in the tournament under the flag of FIDE after leaving the Iranian chess federation, turned in an incredible performance, taking second place in the Rapid Championship just behind the World Champion Magnus Carlsen and playing a great blitz tournament. In the first event, he scored eight wins, five draws and had just two losses. The 16-year-old Alireza defeated such heavyweights as the former contender for the title of world champion, Sergey Karjakin, the Isle of Man winner and one of the participants of the Candidates tournament, Wang Hao and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. His overall performance rating in the rapid reached spectacular 2835 points! Firouzja continued his blast in the Blitz section, where he finished sixth, on 13.5 points out of 21. As the blitz tournament was drawing to a close, Firouzja had all the chances to be in the fight for the first place had he won his game against Carlsen in Round 19 where he lost on time. Given his young age, it can’t but impress that Firouzja managed not just to keep pace with experienced players but also outperform many of them in both Rapid and Blitz competitions. The final (second) day of the Blitz saw some controversy in the 19th round game between Firouzja and Carlsen. Alireza managed to take control and was two pawns up. The game progressed to an endgame with opposite-colored bishops, with Firouzja creating a passed pawn on the b-file. In the final position, Carlsen had just a bishop, while Firouzja had (the opposite-colored) bishop and three pawns, with both players having seconds on their clock. However, Firouzja ran out of time in a winning position. He was clearly unhappy and there was a debate in the hall among the players and the arbiters whether the game should be declared a draw or not. Firouzja then filed a complaint but not about the result. Rather, he claimed that Carlsen was speaking in Norwegian and disturbed him in the final seconds (which does not appear on the available video footage of the game). The complaint was rejected. While the Firouzja-Carlsen game got the most attention in chess media, there was also another issue on board eight in the same round, where Anish Giri was playing Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. While no formal complaints have been filed in this case, it was claimed that Giri misplayed a move – putting the piece on one square and then deciding to move it on another just as he was releasing or have released it from his hand. Giri said he wasn’t aware that this happened, adding he would “feel really bad” had he done it. Giri, Mamedyarov and several other players then checked the video footage, but the issue did not escalate further and the game was confirmed as a draw in the scoresheet. Tense situations happen when players are in time trouble which is often the case in both the rapid and the blitz tournaments. However, according to the arbiters in Moscow, this event was one of the cleanest so far in terms of fair play, which was to be expected given the high profile of the participants. The nature of the event demanded high-security procedures – both for the players but also for the audience. As spectators had a chance to come close to the boards, they were constantly monitored by the arbiters and reminded of not using their phones close to the boards. Overall, it could be said that this event also showed good coordination between the arbiters and the staff in terms of managing the audience. The victory of Magnus Carlsen in both events marked an important milestone in chess history as the Norwegian now holds the crown in all three categories – classic, rapid and blitz. This “triple crown” has only been accomplished two times before: by Susan Polgar in women’s events back in 1996, and by Magnus Carlsen himself, in 2014. With these two victories the Norwegian breaks yet another record, having won 10 major events over the past year. It would be safe to say that no other sportsman in the world had a better 2019 than Carlsen. In fact, Magnus could claim the top spot on a list of the “best sportsman” of the decade, with 11 World Championship titles under his belt: 4 Classical World Championship titles, 3 in rapid, and 4 titles in blitz (the last three, consecutive). Two more players delivered a strong performance in the rapid and blitz open events. The 15-year-old Uzbek Nodirbek Abdusattorov faced very strong competition in both the rapid and the blitz. He finished on 7.5/15 in the rapid, having played opponents rated at least 100 points higher his 2418. Abdusattorov took a very good start in the Blitz tournament scoring 5/5 before holding Magnus Carlsen to a draw in Round 6. The World Champion missed a crucial move at the end and – according to Abdusattorov – “said a bad word”, but the Uzbek did not make anything of it. The performance of Abdusattorov reminds that of Firouzja in the previous World Rapid & Blitz, where the Iranian-born player started brilliantly but then slowed down. As GM Peter Leko noted, at such a young age and without sufficient experience, it is difficult to play every game against very strong players successfully. However, in the 2019 event Firouzja managed to
Firouzja soars up in January rapid and blitz rating lists
FIDE January 1 rating list All Top-100 lists All rating lists – download December of 2019 was marked by three key chess events: the final leg of FIDE Grand Prix in Jerusalem, Women’s Grand Prix in Monaco and of course the King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championships in Moscow. Consequently, those who did well in those competitions became the main rating beneficiaries in the last month of the year. Magnus Carlsen – 2872 (0) Fabiano Caruana – 2822 (0) Ding Liren – 2805 (+4) Alexander Grischuk – 2777 (0) Ian Nepomniachtchi – 2774 (+7) Levon Aronian – 2773 (-2) Shakhriyar Mamedyarov – 2770 (-2) Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – 2770 (-10) Anish Giri – 2768 (-1) Teimour Radjabov – 2765 (0) The triumphant of FIDE Grand Prix Ian Nepomniachtchi not only qualified for the Candidates but also returned to the top 5 after a two-month absence. The top 3 remains intact with Carlsen still holding the top spot followed by Fabiano Caruana and Ding Liren, whereas Alexander Grischuk moved one step up and found himself in the fourth position in the rating list. Biggest gains Anton Korobov – 2685 (+17) David Navara – 2717 (+10) Yuriy Kryvoruchko – 2685 (+10) Etienne Bacrot – 2679 (+10) Sanan Sjugirov – 2674 (+9) David Anton Guijarro – 2694 (+9) Alexandr Predke – 2684 (+8) Vassily Ivanchuk – 2698 (+8) Wei Yi – 2732 (+7) A.R. Saleh Salem – 2682 (+7) Ian Nepomniachtchi – 2774 (+7) Anton Korobov became the winner of a traditional Sitges Chess Festival in Spain with an excellent score 8.5/10 which translated into extra 11 rating points. Vassily Ivanchuk scored fewer points compared to his compatriot but his +4 was good enough to get 10 points. David Navara did not make it to the Grand Prix Jerusalem final, but his performance netted him 10 points. David Anton from Spain did not participate in tournaments but showed good results in Czech League and Bundesliga and subsequently earned 9 points. Welcome to top 100 We have only three newcomers this month, namely Andrei Volokitin, Andrey Esipenko and Constantin Lupulescu. Volokiting turned in a decent performance at the Ukrainian Championship in Lutsk, whereas Esipenko picked a few rating points in the Russia – China match. Humpy Konery and Alexandra Goryachkina tied for the first place at Grand Prix Monaco with Alexandra Kosteniuk and got closer to Ju Wenjun, who is still sitting on the second position in the rating list. Meanwhile, Alexandra Kosteniuk, who won the title in Monaco thanks to better tiebreaks, picked up whole 23 points and soared to the 12th spot. Dinara Saduakassova scored +3 in a very strong open section at Sitges Open and as a result, broke into women’s top 10 for the first time in her career. Magnus Carlsen ruled supreme in Moscow at the King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championship. The World Champion in all three categories took two titles but did not manage to return to the top position in the blitz rating – Hikaru Nakamura finished with an equal amount of points, losing only on the tiebreak, and preserved his #1 spot. Several GMs made huge leaps in the blitz rating list, namely Maxim Matlakov (+50), Vladimir Kramnik (+49), Alexey Dreev (+57), David Navara (+49), Evgeny Tomashevsky (+61)and Alexey Sarana (+49), but Bartosz Socko and Alizera Firouzja really stand out – both improved their rating by more than 100 points! The Iranian playing under FIDE’s banner also made a splash in rapid rating, adding 89 points to his tally. Putting that into context, we just mention that his closest competitors in biggest gains category (in rapid chess) Wei Yi (+34), Ian Nepomniachtchi (+33) and Ding Liren (+33) picked up almost the same amount altogether. By the way, Alizera Firouzja became the top junior in the standard junior rating list, but due to natural reasons – the former #1 Wei Yi (born in 1999) is not a junior anymore.