FIDE Grand Prix Hamburg: Final starts with a draw
The FIDE Grand Prix in Hamburg has reached the home stretch. After starting the event with 16 grandmasters, only Alexander Grischuk and Jan-Krzysztof Duda have remained to determine the winner and runner-up of the third leg of the series. Grischuk would like to increase his lead in the Grand Prix by as much as possible since this Hamburg leg will be his last one in the series. The 36-year-old grandmaster has collected 17 points so far, but with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (13 points), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (10 points) and Ian Nepomniachtchi (9 points), there are three players left who could theoretically surpass him in the last instalment of the series in Jerusalem. In the first game of the final, the German champion under 10 Alissa Wartenberg made the first move. For the first encounter in classical chess between these two players, Grischuk decided to open the game with 1.d4. Duda responded with the Queen’s Indian Defence, which is one of his favourite openings. The opponents followed one of the main lines where Grischuk seemed better prepared. By moving his rook to c2 on move 13, he adopted an idea of Ivan Cheparinov which the Bulgarian grandmaster played three weeks ago at the Chess.com FIDE Grand Swiss on the Isle of Man. This, clearly, came as a surprise for the 21-year-old Polish player who thought for more than 50 minutes for his next two moves. Grischuk returned the favour and sank into deep thought. He used 47 minutes for his next two moves to find a forced sequence that yielded him a better position. He managed to resolve the situation in the centre and ruin black’s kingside pawn structure. At this point, it was clear that both players would suffer severe clock pressure. Time trouble became more evident when less than four minutes remained and the time control mark was still 13 moves away. White still held an advantage due to a better pawn structure and a strong knight, but Black activated all of his heavy pieces on the open e-file. Duda’s counterplay seemed to be sufficient to distract Grischuk. Shortly before time control on move 40, Alexander had the chance to get a clear advantage with a strong knight move 35.Ne5. Instead, he exchanged the queens and forced an endgame where Black was a pawn down but had enough counterplay thanks to his active rooks. After the time control, Grischuk spent 25 minutes evaluating the situation on the board. As there was no advantage on the horizon, he forced matters by exchanging a rook and simplifying the position. Duda also didn’t see a path leading to advantage, so the players agreed to a draw after 46 moves in an equal rook endgame. Final, game 1 result:Alexander Grischuk – Jan-Krzysztof Duda 1/2-1/2 Game 2 of the final will start on Saturday at 15:00 (CET). Official website and LIVE broadcast: https://worldchess.com FIDE Press officer for the event: Georgios Souleidis Official Photographer: Valeria Gordienko World Chess contact: media@worldchess.com Photos are available for the press via the following link to Dropbox. Leading partners supporting the FIDE World Chess Grand Prix Series 2019 include: Algorand as the Exclusive Blockchain PartnerPhosAgro as the Official Strategic PartnerKaspersky as the Official Cybersecurity PartnerPella Sietas Shipyard as Official PartnerPrytek as the Technology Transfer Partner
FIDE Book of the Year 2018 shortlist
After great deliberation and an anonymous vote, the panel of judges narrowed down a longlist and announced a shortlist for the FIDE Book of the Year 2018 award. Three books are running for the prestigious award (in random order): The Complete Manual of Positional Chess (by Konstantin Sakaev and Konstantin Landa) This book co-authored by two Grandmasters focuses on numerous positional concepts such as quick development, fighting for the center, material balance, etc. Together with the Candidates: Budapest 1950 to Berlin 2018 (by Alexey Kuzmin) The book presents the history of Candidates tournaments and matches and offers many tests position taken from these competitions. Applying Logic in Chess (by Erik Kislik) In his work Erik Kislik proves that many important topics such as pawn-structure, material imbalance, compensation, etc., can be tackled applying logic. Unlike other awards by FIDE Trainers’ Commission, the Averbakh/Boleslavsky Award for Book of the Year is judged separately. The panel includes three judges: Nigel Short, Artur Jussupow, and the World’s oldest living grandmaster, Yuri Averbakh. “We congratulate the finalists! The competition level was very high, all nine books have their merits”, Artur Jussupow said. The judges hope to complete their work by the end of November and announce the winner.
Call for Bids: FIDE World Chess Championships 2021
CALL FOR BIDS FIDE WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2021 Deadline 29th November 2019 1. World Junior Chess Championship 2021 2. World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad 20213. World Youth (U14, U16 & U18) Chess Championships 2021 (Africa) 4. World Cadets (U08, U10 & U12) Chess Championships 2021 (Africa) 5. World Youth & Cadets Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships 2021 Remarks: – World School Chess Championships 2021 awarded to Halkidiki, Greece (2-May-2021/11-May-2021) at 2018 2nd quarter Presidential Board 9-10 July 2018 Bucharest, Romania.– With effect from 1st January 2013, a bid for any FIDE Competitions onwards shall include the name of a FIDE licensed International Organizer.– All bids should be submitted by the due date in sealed envelope or scanned documents to the FIDE Secretariat, postal address: Avenue de Rhodanie 54, 1007 Lausanne, Switzerland / Email: office@fide.com by 29th November 2019, 16:00 CET (UTC/GMT + 1 hour).– Each bid should be accompanied with a bid fee. 2.000 Euro – World Youth & Cadets Chess Championships 1.000 Euro – World Junior Chess Championship 500 Euro – All other FIDE World Chess Championships Bid Fees are not refundable. Bid fees should be paid the latest by 6th December 2019 to the FIDE bank account (free of charges) or to be enclosed in the bid envelope. FIDE Bank Details:ACCOUNT NAME: FEDERATION INTERNATIONALE DES ECHECSBANK NAME: CAIXABANK S.ABANK ADDRESS: AV. DIAGONAL, 621-629, 0828 BARCELONABIC/CODE SWIFT: CAIXESBBXXXIBAN: ES32 2100 0555 3107 0028 5124 · All bidders must fill the bid form and the new bid from annex completely. · Price of hotels, details about the accommodation and tournament hall must be written in the bid.· FIDE EVE will make inspections. There will be a second inspection prior 2 to 4 months to awarded organization.· FIDE Officials -Appeals Committee, Chief Arbiter, Deputy Arbiter(s)- will be decided and appointed by FIDE by taking proposal of organizers.· FIDE Technical Delegate will be appointed by FIDE EVE.· The bid form and new added annex can be downloaded here. Bid Form Bid Form Annex
FIDE Grand Prix Hamburg: Duda advances into the final
Having concluded the classical leg of their semi-final match at the Hamburg FIDE Grand Prix with two draws, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Daniil Dubov had to fight it out once again on Wednesday to determine a winner who will meet Alexander Grischuk in the final. The modus of the tiebreak at the FIDE Grand Prix demands two rapid games with the time control of 25 minutes + 10 seconds increment as the first step. Game 1 saw Duda playing with white pieces. The reaction to his 1.e4 was the Kalashnikov variation of the Sicilian Defence. Dubov chose a sideline and played much faster than his opponent. Before move 20, the players had exchanged queens and several minor pieces to reach an equal endgame with a rook and a light-squared bishop respectively. But while the position looked stable, Dubov stirred things up by offering a pawn on his twenty-fourth move. Perhaps, it was best for Duda to avoid taking the pawn, but he decided to take the risk. In turn, the black forces immediately sprang into action. A passed pawn soon appeared on the ‘e’ file, and the active black pieces fully backed up its advance. Duda struggled to keep this pawn under control and ended up resigning on the 54th move. The Polish GM needed a win in the second game to level the score. With the black pieces, he opted for the Modern Defence and got an unbalanced position. In contrast to the first game, the players reached a closed setup in the middlegame which gave Duda chances to fight for the win. Dubov used his space advantage to launch a kingside attack, whereas Duda obtained a long-lasting edge on the other side of the board. The position soon became very complex, and with time running down both grandmasters failed to find the best continuations. After a bit more than 40 moves, time-trouble was making an even bigger impact on the evaluation of the position. First, Duda reached a winning position, but an oversight on his part allowed an equal rook endgame. Then, it was Dubov’s turn to blunder. He permitted the black king to penetrate into his camp and to get to his key b2-pawn. Dubov’s loss meant that the tiebreak was to continue. Another mini-match of two further rapid games with an even faster time control of 10 minutes + 10 seconds soon began. The first game was a short and painless affair. Dubov offered a draw after only twelve moves, and Duda accepted it. The second game, however, was a completely different story. Duda chose the Torre Attack and went out for the K.O. For the most part, the Polish grandmaster had the upper hand but Dubov, again, was playing faster. At some point, Daniil silently offered a draw by repetition, but Jan-Krzysztof was resolved to continue the fight. With only two minutes on the clock, Duda managed to force a better rook endgame and finally overcame the resistance of his opponent. Semi-final, tiebreak results:Jan-Krzysztof Duda – Daniil Dubov 2,5-1,5 Modus for the tiebreak:Two 25+10 rapid games are played. If still tied, there are two 10+10 games, then two 5+3. Finally, a single Armageddon game is played, where White has 5 minutes to Black’s 4 (with a 2-second increment from move 61), but Black wins the match with a draw Official website and LIVE broadcast: https://worldchess.com FIDE Press officer for the event: Georgios Souleidis Official Photographer: Valeria Gordienko World Chess contact: media@worldchess.com Photos are available for the press via the following link to Dropbox. Leading partners supporting the FIDE World Chess Grand Prix Series 2019 include: Algorand as the Exclusive Blockchain PartnerPhosAgro as the Official Strategic PartnerKaspersky as the Official Cybersecurity PartnerPella Sietas Shipyard as Official PartnerPrytek as the Technology Transfer Partner
Judit Polgar inspires ‘Chess and Female Empowerment’ conference
The strongest female chess player of all time, Judit Polgar, will be the inspirational headline speaker at the 7th London Chess and Education Conference (November 30-December 1, at the Irish Cultural Centre, Hammersmith). The conference, a regular feature of the festival of events during the London Chess Classic, will feature a stellar line-up of expert speakers from around the world and focus on the ground-breaking theme ‘Chess and Female Empowerment.’ Conference participants from up to 40 countries, including female and male chess players, educators and organisers, are expected to offer insights on how to improve the gender balance in chess and examine initiatives to make the game more welcoming and accessible to women and girls at all levels. Judit, an Honorary FIDE Vice-President, will relate how her experiences – breaking through to the world top 10 while overcoming obstacles to female participation in professional chess, and promoting chess for all in her home country of Hungary and around the world – can inspire new generations of female players to excel and compete on equal terms with their male counterparts. Other keynote speakers at the conference will include US Chess Federation Executive Director Carol Meyer and Grandmaster Viktorija Cmylite-Nielsen, a former professional chess player who is now a leading politician in Lithuania. The conference will reach a fitting conclusion with Judit Polgar leading a wide-ranging roundtable discussion, “A Century of Women´s Chess: What Have We Learned?” on Sunday, 1st December. Speakers from the UK will include England’s top female professional chess player, IM and WGM Jovanka Houska, the renowned chess writer and investigative journalist Sarah Hurst, leading chess educators Sarah Kett and Samantha Ali, of charity Chess in Schools and Communities, and Chris Fegan, Director of Women’s Chess for the English Chess Federation. Roundtables and workshops will include: * Creating a safe and welcome environment for women * Successful women who have played chess* How can girls be encouraged to excel at chess?* How to make chess more accessible to women* Challenges for female chess officials* Lessons from other sports Underlining the conference’s important role in promoting women and girls in chess will be the presentation of two brand new surveys on women and girls in chess – a statistical analysis of numbers of women and girls in national chess federations by the European Chess Union, and a study conducted through the US Chess Federation, with qualitative insights into chess and gender issues. A third study of online chess games in the Netherlands will provide details of how girls and boys compare. An extra highlight will be a Q&A discussion during the Saturday lunch break featuring leading chess author Jonathan Rowson, an acclaimed expert in applied philosophy, who will be sharing insights from his new book, “The Moves That Matter: A Chess Grandmaster on the Game of Life” in conversation with Guardian journalist Stephen Moss. The fee to attend the London Chess and Education Conference: ‘Chess and Female Empowerment’ is £65 for one day and £95 for two days. Participants of the London Chess Classic Open or Weekender events can take part on both days with a one-day-ticket. Tickets can be bought directly here. The 7th London Chess and Education Conference takes place at the Irish Cultural Centre, 5 Black’s Road, Hammersmith, London W6 9DT from 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM on Saturday, November 30 and 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM on Sunday 1st December. It is organized by ChessPlus and sponsored by FIDE, the European Chess Union, leading UK chess and education charity Chess in Schools and Communities (CSC), the London Chess Classic and the ECF. Official site: www.londonchessclassic.com
FIDE Grand Prix Hamburg: Big win for Alexander Grischuk
Alexander Grischuk celebrated a great victory at the FIDE Grand Prix in Hamburg on Wednesday evening. He won the second game of the semi-final against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and advanced into the final. At the same time, he collected valuable points for the overall standings of the Grand Prix Series. The other encounter of the day ended in a draw. Daniil Dubov was pressing throughout the whole game against Jan-Krzysztof Duda but had to split the point after the Polish grandmaster defended well in a slightly inferior endgame. These two players will meet again in the tiebreak of the semi-final to determine the second finalist. Alexander Grischuk opened his game against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave with the non-committal 1.Nf3, but after just five moves, the players reached a position of the English Opening which the French grandmaster has played 18 times within the past two years! In his first game, played in 2017, he had beaten none other than Magnus Carlsen at the Sinquefield Cup. Later, however, he had experienced some problems. The last time Maxim played this line, he suffered a loss at the hands of Teimour Radjabov at the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk about a month and a half ago. This time around, ‘MVL’ clearly had some improvements prepared. Grischuk, however, was not surprised and continued quickly until move twelve. He created a strong centre and pushed the h-pawn attempting to create some weaknesses on the kingside. The game sharpened soon, as Vachier-Lagrave started an attack of his own by advancing his b-pawn on the other side of the board. This lead to a liquidation of the pawn centre but the French grandmaster committed an error by allowing White to continue the fight with a strong bishop pair in an open position. Additionally, he had to deal with a knight stranded at the rim of the board. Grischuk developed a dangerous initiative and after finding a convincing sequence of moves, reached a winning position. His rook had entered the seventh rank, and he could have placed his queen in the middle of the board, dominating his opponent. With time running short, he chose to threaten a mate in one instead, which Vachier-Lagrave parried easily and got back in the game. Nevertheless, he was still the defending party as Grischuk had a bishop vs. knight in an open position and a passed pawn on the a-file. As the technical part of the game began, Vachier-Lagrave had a sidelined knight blocking the white passed pawn. Grischuk now had to find a way to break black’s defence. He did so by exchanging queens and penetrating with his king into black’s camp. By this time, Grischuk’s time trouble was the last straw Vachier-Lagrave was grasping on, but the experienced Russian grandmaster managed to navigate through the remaining obstacles with fantastic precision and scored a well-deserved victory. Jan-Krzysztof Duda chose the solid Slav Defence against Dubov’s 1.d4. The players followed theory until move thirteen and reached an endgame after an early queen exchange. Over the next few moves, the Polish grandmaster stabilized his position and kept a sound pawn structure. Dubov, on the other hand, had an active dark-squared bishop and slightly better prospects in the centre. Duda handled the position a bit carelessly and permitted White to gain better control of important squares and lines. Both sides had only a rook and two minor pieces left, but the young Russian was the one exerting some pressure. He attacked a weak pawn on f6, but Duda activated a knight and counterattacked one of white’s weak pawns as well. This counterplay turned out to be enough for Duda to save a half-point after three hours of play. Semi-final, game 2 results: Alexander Grischuk – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 1-0 Daniil Dubov – Jan-Krzysztof Duda 1/2-1/2 Official website and LIVE broadcast: https://worldchess.com FIDE Press officer for the event: Georgios Souleidis Official Photographer: Valeria Gordienko World Chess contact: media@worldchess.com Photos are available for the press via the following link to Dropbox. Leading partners supporting the FIDE World Chess Grand Prix Series 2019 include: Algorand as the Exclusive Blockchain PartnerPhosAgro as the Official Strategic PartnerKaspersky as the Official Cybersecurity PartnerPella Sietas Shipyard as Official PartnerPrytek as the Technology Transfer Partner
World Senior Championship kicks off in Bucharest
The strongest-ever World Senior Championship took off in Bucharest, with the participation of 366 players from 58 countries in four different categories: +50 Open, +50 Women, +65 Open and +65 Women. The current World Champion in the main category, the Armenian Karen Movsziszian, won’t have an easy task defending his title: he is now 13th in the starting list, which is headed by Kiril Georgiev (MKD, 2582) Darcy Lima (BRA, 2540), Zurab Sturua (GEO, 2540), Alexander Shabalov (USA, 2528). Fifth in the ranking list is the local star Mihail Marin (ROU, 2521), who not only makes his debut in a senior event but is also playing his first World Championship ever. The +65 Open category, with 192 players, is the largest event. The field includes legendary players like Rafael Vaganian (ARM, 2514), Anatoli Vaisser (FRA, 2497), Evgeny Sveshnikov (RUS, 2485), Yuri Balashov (RUS, 2457) and Vlastimil Jansa CZE, 2436). Elvira Berend, of Luxemburg (2349) and Zoya Schleining, of Germany (2344) top the list in the +50 Women section, while in the +65W the absolute star is the defending champion Nona Gaprindashvili: she already has six senior titles under her belt, having been the only female World Chess Champion to obtain the World Senior title as well. The playing conditions for this event have dramatically improved, reaching a total prize fund of €46,000, further to the FIDE decision to increase the prizes by €30,000. The venue for the event is the main ballroom of RIN Grand Hotel Bucharest, a four-star hotel placed right next to the Vacaresti Natural Park, also known as “the Bucharest Delta”. The opening ceremony was conducted by the tournament director, Elena Cristian, the director of the Senior Center of the Municipality of Bucharest, Alexandra Dobre, the president of FR Chess, Sorin Iacoban, and the Grandmaster Florin Gheorghiu. FIDE was represented by the Belgian Jan Rooze, Senior Chess Director, and the Jamaican Ian Wilkinson, Honorary Vice President; both of them are taking part in the tournament. The honorary first move was made by the legendary Florin Gheorghiu, the first Romanian player to achieve the Grandmaster title and winner of the Junior World Champion in 1963 at Vrnjacka Banja. A participant in four interzonal tournaments, he won the Romanian Championship a total of nine times, being at the same time a university lecturer in foreign languages. Now, at 75, he is still a very active person and his passion for chess remains intact – as it does for every and each of the 366 players who gathered in Bucharest for this event. Official website: https://worldseniors2019.com/ LIVE games: https://worldseniors2019.com/live-games/ Contact: worldseniors2019@gmail.com Schedule: Round 1 – Tuesday 12 November, 15:00Round 2 – Wednesday 13 November, 15:00Round 3 – Thursday 14 November, 15:00Round 4 – Friday 15 November, 15:00Round 5 – Saturday 16 November, 15:00Round 6 – Monday 18 November, 15:00Round 7 – Tuesday 19 November, 15:00Round 8 – Wednesday 20 November, 15:00Round 9 – Thursday 21 November, 15:00Round 10 – Friday 22 November, 15:00Round 11 – Saturday 23 November, 14:00
Dates for the Candidates and the 44th Chess Olympiad announced
Moscow, November 11, 2019 The Russian Chess Federation called for a press conference today, at their headquarters in the historic building at Gogolevsky boulevard, to announce the exact dates and details of two of the highest-level events that this country will host along 2020: the Candidates Tournament and the Chess Olympiad. The speakers were the former World Champion Anatoly Karpov, the FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, the President of the Chess Federation of Russia Andrey Filatov, and the Head of Sverdlovsk Region Chess Federation, Andrey Simanovsky. Also present were FIDE’s Director-General Emil Sutovsky, and Chief Executive Officer of RCF, Mark Glukhovsky, who conducted the press conference. Andrey Simanovsky started by thanking FIDE and the RCF for choosing Yekaterinburg as a host city for the 2020 Candidates tournament. “We have everything to make it a great event and will try our best to deliver”. The exact dates were confirmed: the event will take place from March 15 till April 5. Arkady Dvorkovich expressed his satisfaction with this bid: “We are happy to continue our cooperation with the Chess Federation of Russia and are thankful to them and to Sverdlovsk Region Chess Federation for their bid. Today, on behalf of the FIDE Presidential Board I’m glad to sign an official agreement to host this key event in Yekaterinburg. This tournament will decide who will face WC Magnus Carlsen in the World Championship match that will take place in November 2020.” Andrey Filatov also thanked the Sverdlovsk Region Chess Federation “for their interest and constant support of chess in Russia”. He continued: “It’s a pleasure that we have trust from FIDE to organize such an important event. The decision to host this event in Russia guarantees that there will be a Russian player participating. We’re still considering different options on how we’ll choose a Russian wild-card, but it will probably be a match or match-tournament with Kirill Alekseenko, third-place finisher in the Grand Swiss, taking part in it.” As a member of the Organizing Committee, Anatoly Karpov added: “I’m regularly visiting Yekaterinburg and I admire how the city has recently flourished. Yekaterinburg has all the needed infrastructure to organize the best Candidates’ tournament in chess history. I’ll be there myself taking part in the event’s cultural program”. Regarding the Chess Olympiad, the most important novelty is that this competition, one of FIDE’s flagship events, will grow even further with the inclusion of the first Chess Olympiad 2020, Competition for disabled in its program. The idea, championed by Nigel Short during the presidential campaign last year, received appreciation by Arkady Dvorkovich and all the FIDE team, and is now becoming a reality. This growth will imply that the Olympiad will have two host cities instead of just one, as it was initially planned. “The main host city will be Khanty-Mansiysk, that will host the FIDE Congress, the first-ever Chess Olympiad, Competition for disabled, and other official events. The dates are moved a little bit, and the official opening will take place in Khanty on July 29”, explained the FIDE President, Arkady Dvorkovich. “To make this great event more visible and accessible for the spectators, the joint decision made by RCF and FIDE is to hold the main tournament in Moscow, from August 5 to August 17”, he added. Khanty-Mansiysk has a long tradition hosting sports events for the disabled, having organized in recent years the IPC world championships 2011, the 2011 IPC Biathlon and Cross-Country Skiing World Championships, the Deaflympics 2015, and the International sledge-hockey tournaments “Ugra Cup” 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018. The FIDE Commission for the Disabled and the Ugra Chess Federation will work together in this new and exciting project. This will be the 44th men’s Chess Olympiad (the first one took place back in 1927 in London) and the 29th women’s Chess Olympiad. Moscow has hosted the Chess Olympiad twice, in 1956 and 1994 and Khanty-Mansiysk once, in 2010. The schedule for the Chess Olympiad will be as follows: July 29 (Khanty-Mansiysk) The opening ceremony of the Chess Olympiad July 30 – August 4 (Khanty-Mansiysk) Chess Olympiad 2020, Competition for disabled, FIDE Congress and General Assembly August 5 (Moscow) The opening ceremony of the Moscow leg of the Chess Olympiad August 6-17 (Moscow) Main competition August 17 (Moscow) The closing ceremony of the Chess Olympiad About the Candidates tournament: The Candidates tournament, in which eight top grandmasters will contest for the right to challenge the current World Champion Magnus Carlsen (Norway), will take place in Yekaterinburg from March 15 till April 5. Four participants are already known: Fabiano Caruana (USA), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan), Ding Liren and Wang Hao (both China). Two other participants will be determined following the results of the Grand Prix Series; one slot will be granted to the player with the best average rating in 2019. The eighth participant will be nominated by the organizers. About the Chess Federation of Russia: The Chess Federation of Russia (CFR) is a public nonprofit organization that brings together individuals and the chess federations of republics, districts, regions, cities of federal significance, autonomous regions and autonomous districts of the Russian Federation. The activities of the CFR are aimed at developing and popularizing chess in the Russian Federation. The CFR was founded on February 15, 1992. The management bodies of the CFR are its Congress and Supervisory Board. The Board of Trustees of the CFR is a collegiate, consultative and advisory body acting on a pro-bono basis. The CFR is the organizer of the annual All-Russian Children’s Championship, the tournament “Belaya Ladya” involving school teams from all over Russia, the Championship of Russia, and other chess competitions. Since 2012, the program “Chess in Museums” has been taken place in Russia at the initiative of the CFR together with the Charitable Foundation of Elena and Gennady Timchenko. The CFR develops and implements programs for the development of chess, including chess for children, and assists in expanding the network of chess clubs and leagues in the regions of the Russian Federation. It acts as the organizer of individual and team competitions in Russia and the participation of Russian chess players in international competitions. It assists in strengthening the positions of Russian chess players in the international arena and develops connections with international chess federations, national and international organizations, including FIDE. Official site: http://ruchess.ru/
FIDE Grand Prix Hamburg semifinals: Peaceful outcomes in the first games
Today, FIDE published the dates for the next Candidates Tournament. It will take place from March 15 till April 5, 2020, in Yekaterinburg (Russia). Two spots are reserved for the top finishers of the FIDE Grand Prix, and only a few grandmasters remain who can qualify via this tournament series. Two of the aspirants are facing off in the semi-final of the third leg in Hamburg. So far, Alexander Grischuk has collected 14 points, but Hamburg is the last stop on his Grand Prix journey. His opponent, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave has 13 points under his belt but he will have an additional opportunity to earn more points in December during the fourth leg of FIDE Grand Prix in Jerusalem. Considering these circumstances, the Russian player is under more pressure to win their encounter. In the first game, Grischuk chose the Modern Arkhangelsk Defense with Black, which is considered to be a highly theoretical line of the Ruy Lopez. The last time he played this line was in 2007. After some thought, Vachier-Lagrave reacted with a sideline to avoid a theoretical battle. Alexander had no problems equalizing and around move 20 the pawn structure was nearly symmetrical with equal material. After the exchange of two minor pieces, there was little play left in the position and the players agreed to a draw after 27 moves. The game between Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Daniil Dubov started as an English Opening but soon transposed into a line of the Tarrasch Defense which Dubov has played several times this year against high-rated opponents. Duda did not show up empty-handed and introduced a new idea by developing the bishop on g5 on move eleven. The 23-year-old Russian seemed to be surprised. Dubov had some reservations about a key tactical sequence and spent over half an hour in thought. However, Duda avoided the sharpest variations and steered the game towards a double rook and opposite-colored bishops endgame. The position became completely equal and the players agreed to a draw after nearly two hours of play. Semi-final, game 1 results: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – Alexander Grischuk 1/2-1/2Jan-Krzysztof Duda – Daniil Dubov 1/2-1/2 Official website and LIVE broadcast: https://worldchess.com FIDE Press officer for the event: Georgios Souleidis Official Photographer: Valeria Gordienko World Chess contact: media@worldchess.com Photos are available for the press via the following link to Dropbox. Leading partners supporting the FIDE World Chess Grand Prix Series 2019 include: Algorand as the Exclusive Blockchain PartnerPhosAgro as the Official Strategic PartnerKaspersky as the Official Cybersecurity PartnerPella Sietas Shipyard as Official PartnerPrytek as the Technology Transfer Partner
Carlsen, Caruana and young guns in Tata Steel 2020
The World Champion Magnus Carlsen will once again participate in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in January. This event is one of his favorite tournaments: it will be Magnus’ 16th visit to Wijk aan Zee and the Norwegian GM will do his best to win his eighth title there. The list of participants includes three other players of the world’s top ten: Fabiano Caruana (2), Anish Giri (5) and Ian Nepomniachtchi (6). Former tournament winners Viswanathan Anand (5 times) and Wesley So also return to Wijk aan Zee. The 82nd edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament will take place in Wijk aan Zee January 10 – 26, 2020. The fifth found of the event will be played in the Philips Stadium in Eindhoven on Thursday, January 16. All rounds are open to the public and free of charge. Theo Henrar, chairman of Tata Steel Nederland: “One of this year’s themes will be the linking pin character of chess. In cooperation with the municipality of Eindhoven, PSV, Brainport and local chess clubs we will organize tournaments and seminars. In doing so, we will link professional sports, talent development and physical and mental fitness. For children, we will organize a special Chess Festival weekend and a big tournament in Eindhoven.” Tournament director Jeroen van den Berg: “The 82nd edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament has a very special mix of participants. With six grandmasters making their debut, the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2020 will be a clash between the establishment and talented young players. Jorden van Foreest, Vladislav Artemiev, Jeffery Xiong, Alireza Firouzja and Jan-Krzysztof Duda are all 21 years old or younger. The Tata Steel Masters group has an average rating of 2743. I only see the world’s absolute top players facing off in many tournaments, but I personally prefer a more mixed playing field. That is reflected in the 2020 field of participants. It will be very interesting to see how young talented players perform against the world’s best players. That is what makes the 82nd edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament already very fascinating long before the first moves are made.” Tata Steel Masters 2020 lineup: Magnus Carlsen (2870)Fabiano Caruana (2822)Anish Giri (2776)Ian Nepomniachtchi (2773)Wesley So (2760) Viswanathan Anand (2757)Yu Yangyi (2753)Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2748)Vladislav Artemiev (2731)Alireza Firouzja (2720) Jeffery Xiong (2712) Daniil Dubov (2676) Vladislav Kovalev (2674)Jorden van Foreest (2632) The lineup of the Tata Steel Challengers will be announced on November 25. Photo: Tata Steel Chess Official site