World Junior Blitz and Rapid Championships start in Salobrena, Spain
Photo: President of the Spanish Chess Federation Javier Ochoa made a first symbolic move The World Junior Blitz and Rapid Championships U-14, U-16 and U18 in open and girls categories are underway in Salobrena, Hotel Salobreña Suites (Granada, Andalucia, Spain) The event will stretch over four 5 days (10-14 of September). 182 players from the USA, Netherlands, India, Israel, Portugal, Austria, Vietnam, Slovenia, Italy, Algeria, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Greece, Russia, Kazakhstan, Chile, Germany, Tajikistan, and Spain are contesting for the coveted medals. The strongest players are in the U-18 category are Lucas Van Foreest from the Netherlands, a current Absolute Dutch champion, Juan Plazuelo Pascual from Spain, the Spanish champion in different categories, Nguyen Anh Khoi from Vietnam and an Italian Francesco Sonis. The strongest girl comes from Russia – WFM Anna Afonasieva who is playing in the category U-18. Maria Eizagerri Floris, champion of Spain and the absolute Blitz champion of Spain will take part in the section U-16 boys. Official site: https://wyrbcc2019.com/
First games of FIDE World Cup finished in Khanty-Mansiysk
First games of the First Round of the FIDE World Cup were played in Ugra Chess Academy on September 10. Vasily Filipenko, President of the Ugra Chess Federation, and Konstantin Penchukov, Chairman of the city parliament, made ceremonial first moves in Press – Ding Liren game on the Board 1. Most of the higher-rated players achieved victories. There were, however, a few upsets, as it often happens at the World Cups. Radoslaw Wojtaszek lost to Johan-Sebastian Christiansen, whereas young Andrey Esipenko defeated Ruslan Ponomariov. Hikaru Nakamura, Levon Aronian, Peter Svidler, Dmitry Adnreikin, Bu Xiangzhi, Wang Hao, Vladislav Artemiev, David Navara, Maxim Matlakov, Le Quang Liem, Santos Vidit, Nikita Vitiugov, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Boris Gelfand, Wei Yi, Samuel Shanckland and some other players were held to draws, facing much lower-rated opponents. The games between players with more or less similar ratings were very closely contested. Rustam Kasimdzhanov defeated Evgeny Bareev, Ivan Cheparinov beat Ahmed Adly, Maksim Chigaev lost to Parham Maghsoodloo, David Anton Guijarro was stronger than S.L.Narayanan, Baskaran Adhiban outplayed Eduardo Iturrizaga, Vladimir Fedoseev prevailed over Surya Ganguly, Maxim Rodshtein forced resignation of Mateusz Bartel, Arkadij Naiditsch bowed down to Niclas Huschenbeth, while Jorge Cori lost to Nihal Sarin. Second games of the First Round will be played on Wednesday, September 11. The players will play against their today’s opponents with colours reversed. Full results
Chess Clock Contract: All Bids Submitted
As per the timeline established by the Chess Clock Contract Bidding Procedure, the bid opening meeting took place at FIDE Headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. The bid opening panel included Mr. Victor Bologan, the FIDE Executive Director and Ms. Sava Stoisavljevic, Assistant to the FIDE COO. Further, Mr. Robert Hinterberger, Senior Manager, Internal Audit Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers SA, served as an independent observer. FIDE thanks all participants who sent their offers. We will now proceed with the evaluation as scheduled. FIDE Procurement Department
FIDE Women’s Grand Prix kicks off in Skolkovo
The first of four legs of the 2019-20 FIDE Women Grand Prix (WGP) kicked off in Skolkovo, Russia. The participation of the current world women’s champion GM Ju Wenjun and the Challenger GM Aleksandra Goryachkina makes the tournament even more interesting. The opening ceremony was held at the MATREX Center, the venue for the tournament that will stretch over two weeks (September 10-23). The time control is 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes to the end of the game, plus a 30-second increment from move one. No draw offers are allowed before move 30. The games start every day at 3 pm (Moscow time). The rest day is scheduled for or September 17. The prize fund amounts to 80,000 Euros, with 15,000 Euros and 160 Grand Prix points for the winner. General Director of Magnit Company Jan Dunning and FIDE President Vladimir Dvorkovich made speeches in front of the participants and guests. Jan Dunning: “Planning, taking decisions and strategy – Chess looks a lot like a business. Supporting chess, getting initiative from our employees to start playing this game. Potentially we might invite out employees to the championship, who knows, because18% from 3,000 are women at work. Let the best one win. Arkady Dvorkovich: “The first series of Grand Prix is very important for us. We start the tournament after a long time of non-existence. Hopefully, all participants will show their best and also to show the beauty of chess and bring intellectual satisfaction to all chess lovers in the world. We will continue to focus on the development of women chess. We are looking forward World championship in January next year, which will be held in Shanghai and Vladivostok. Let me assure you that here in Skolkovo you will see the best possible hospitality. I wish you all success, fair play and yes let’s best win. Gens Una Sumus.” Women’s FIDE Grand Prix Series 2019-2020 consist of four Women’ Grand Prix tournaments held over two years (2019-20) Sixteen players compete in four WGP tournaments. Each of the sixteen players participate in three (3) out of four WGP tournaments. Each WGP tournament is played with twelve (12) players round-robin. In each WGP tournament, every player scores WGP points according to her position in the final standings; the winner of WGP Series is a player who scores the greatest number of cumulative points earned in all three WGP tournaments she participated. Two players who score the most number of cumulative points in WGP Series qualify to the FIDE Women Candidates Tournament to be held in the first half of 2021. Official website: https://wgp2019.fide.com
FIDE World Cup starts in Khanty-Mansiysk
The opening ceremony of the FIDE World Cup took place in the Arts Center for Gifted Children of the North on September 9. It started with a chess-themed laser show followed by “Heart of taiga” dance performance with the colorful introduction of countries participating in the event. The protocol part of the ceremony started with speeches by Minister of Sport of the Russian Federation Pavel Kolobkov and FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich. Pavel Kolobkov, Russian Minister of Sport, greeted everyone in the capital of Ugra and wished the participants of the World Cup exciting games and brilliant victories. “I am happy that Russia got the right to carry out such a significant event, thus making Khanty-Mansiysk a chess capital of the world. I wish everyone a good contest, and may the strongest win”, said the Minister. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, speaking on behalf of the International Chess Federation, congratulated the players on the start of the World Cup, and thanked the organizers – Government of Ugra and Governor Natalya Komarova – for hosting such an important tournament. Arkady Dvorkovich: “We are all familiar with a wonderful chess tradition of Ugra, the region that organized almost all the most important chess tournaments, including the Olympiad. It is wonderful that this region develops chess for everyone regardless of occupation or age. Still, everybody loves to watch games of the strongest players, and the strongest players are present here tonight. I wish you excellent play and best of luck, and declare the 2019 FIDE World Cup open!” Mr. Dvorkovich also announced that on September 8 FIDE Presidential Board approved a bid for the 2020 Candidates Tournament from Yekaterinburg and Russian Chess Federation. For the drawing of lots, Ding Liren, the highest-rated player of the tournament, was assisted by Chief Arbiter Ashot Vardapetyan two actors dressed as chess kings. The Chinese grandmaster picked a black piece. Therefore, all players with odd numbers will be playing Black in the first game of the first rounds. The protocol part was followed by an art show by the Art Center for Gifted Children of North, “Grotesque” Theater of Plastic Arts and Pantomime, “Light It” modern dance studio, and Youth Theater. The evening was concluded by the Million Voices song performed by White and Black chess queens. A press briefing with Natalya Komarova, Pavel Kolobkov, and Arkady Dvorkovich took place after the conclusion of the opening ceremony. Natalya Komarova, Governor of Ugra: “In chess community, FIDE World Cup is strongly associated with Khanty-Mansiysk. Four out of nine World Cups were carried out in Ugra, and today we are starting the fifth one. One can safely call Khanty-Mansiysk home of this tournament. The organizers do their best to make our guests feel at home. The World Cup is not only a major sporting event but also an opportunity to experience being a part of a large and close-knit chess family. Ugra and chess are inseparable. We wish to present the exciting world of chess to thousands of Ugra people. By 2024 we want 55% of them engaged in various sports activities, in accordance with the national project “Sport is the way of life”. The first games of the FIDE World Cup will be played on Tuesday, September 10. The Ugra Chess Academy (Loparev street, 6) is a playing venue. Schedule: Rounds 1-3 – September 10-18 Rounds 4-6 – September 20-28 Final and Match for 3rd place – September 30 – October 4 Rest days: September 19 and 29. All rounds start at 3 pm local time. The total prize fund of the tournament: 1,600,000 USD. The competition is organized by the Government of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra, International Chess Federation (FIDE), Ugra Chess Federation, and Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation. General partner – Gazpromneft-Khantos LCC. Official airline – Utair. Official partners of the competition: OJSC Rostelecom, Ugra Chess Academy, Russian Chess Federation, AB InBev Efes and PJSC Rosneft. FIDE official partner – JSCo “RZD”. General media partner – News Agency TASS. Media partners – Match TV, World of Chess social network, OTRK “Ugra”, Ugra-news.ru, “News of Ugra” regional newspaper, “AIF-Ugra” newspaper. Official site
FIDE World Cup: Press Conference and Draw
FIDE World Cup starts on September 9 in Khanty-Mansiysk. Prior to the opening ceremony, its organizers, honored guests, and participants answered questions from the media at the press conference. According to Pavel Kolobkov, Russian Minister of Sport, Ugra is a territory of chess development: “Not only they organize many events of various caliber, they also actively develop chess at schools. Judging by a number of people actively studying chess, Ugra is one of the leaders in our country. They promote chess among children, which is very important. I am very happy that Ugra is hosting the World Cup”. The Minister added that he frequently visits the region thanks to two kinds of sport – biathlon and chess. Mr. Kolobkov stressed the importance of preserving winning chess traditions. “In Russia, chess is more than just a sport. We are proud of our champions and their glorious victories. We must preserve this pride and develop this passion. Every year our Ministry together with Russian Chess Federation organizes about 80 major competitions of different level. I am quite happy about our chess development at the moment”, added the Minister. Arkady Dvorkovich, FIDE President, agrees with him. He reminded that Khanty-Maniysk is hosting the Chess World Cup for the fifth time. “On multiple occasions, the region demonstrated that it is capable of hosting a tournament of any magnitude”, said the FIDE President. “The World Cup is a significant event for the world chess calendar. The lineup consists of the best players of different countries as well as the highest ranked players in the rating list. Don’t forget that the World Cup provides an opportunity to qualify to the Candidates Tournament, the winner of which will challenge the chess crown. Both World Cup finalists will qualify directly, and the bronze medal winner also has a chance, if he is nominated by the organizer. The competition is going to be fierce”, said Mr. Dvorkovich. Vasily Filipenko, President of the Ugra Chess Federation, said that the region prepared for this important event very seriously, utilizing its vast experience in organizing major sports events. Boris Gelfand, grandmaster from Israel, always enjoys coming to Khanty-Mansiysk – back in 2009 he won the World Cup on Ugra soil. “If we count days I stayed in Khanty-Mansiysk playing different tournaments, it will add up to three months. Once I even hosted an excursion for other players”, recalled Boris Gelfand. The Israeli grandmaster took part in the very first World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk in 2000 and is participating in the World Cup this year as well. Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin also took part in the press conference. Mr. Karjakin pointed out that the capital of Ugra is a very special place for him: “I came here to my first World Cup in 2005 when I was just 15 years old.” The Russian also has a World Cup title under his belt – he prevailed in the 2015 World Cup in Baku. The first round of the FIDE World Cup will be played on September 10. 128 players from 47 countries will compete for the main trophy. The youngest participant is 14 years old, and the eldest is 53. FIDE World Cup top seed Ding Liren got black at the color draw during the opening ceremony. Ding and all the players with odd numbers will start with black pieces. The tournament starts tomorrow. Full pairing: https://khantymansiysk2019.fide.com/en/results/pairings/ Schedule: Rounds 1-3 – September 10-18 Rounds 4-6 – September 20-28 Final and Match for 3rd place – September 30 – October 4 Rest days: September 19 and 29. All rounds start at 3 pm local time. The total prize fund of the tournament: 1,600,000 USD. The competition is organized by the Government of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra, International Chess Federation (FIDE), Ugra Chess Federation, and Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation. General partner – Gazpromneft-Khantos LCC. Official airline – Utair. Official partners of the competition: OJSC Rostelecom, Ugra Chess Academy, Russian Chess Federation, AB InBev Efes and PJSC Rosneft. FIDE official partner – JSCo “RZD”. General media partner – News Agency TASS. Media partners – Match TV, World of Chess social network, OTRK “Ugra”, Ugra-news.ru, “News of Ugra” regional newspaper, “AIF-Ugra” newspaper.
WASKO Hetman GKS wins Polish Extraleague 2019
The strongest ever edition of Polish Team Championship – Extraleague finished in Katowice. The local team “WASKO Hetman GKS”, with Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, David Navara, Bartosz Socko, and other stars of Polish and European chess mounted to the very top. They drew only in one match against the eventual bronze-medalists “Wieża Pęgów” and won all other encounters, including the key one against the runner-up “VOTUM SA Polonia Wrocław”. Red carpet and gala opening had preceded the team championship. The Cesar Hall of Hotel Arsenal Palace Chorzow, the venue of the first half of the championship, hosted all participants, city officials, local artists, and other notable guests. The second part of the competition took place at the Silesian Voivodship Office with the Mayor (President) of Katowice city Marcin Krupa attending both the opening gala and one of the rounds. Extraleague became the second chess competition to receive the support of Coca-Cola under the cooperation agreement between FIDE and the global brand. The first one was Mikhail Tal Blitz and Rapid Chess Memorial held in Riga at the end of July. The broadcast in English was provided on FIDE Youtube Channel by European Chess TV, with IM Piotr An Nguyen and WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili as commentators. Official website: https://ekstraliga2019.pzszach.pl
Nenad Sulava dies at 56
With deep sadness, we have learned that Croatian GM Nenad Sulava passed away on September 5 following a terminal illness at the age of 56. Nenad was born on December 25 1962 in Osijek, Yugoslavia and in 1981 became the Junior Champion of his home country a year after winning the Croatian championship. As a member of the Croatian national team Sulava participated in two Chess Olympiads (2000 and 2002) and the European Team Championship (2003). Nenad Sulava loved chess passionately; it was his life. He spoke six languages and had very broad interests: museums, concerts, good cuisine, and cooking, especially for his friends. In late 1990s the winner of numerous international tournaments (Madrid 1987, Montecatini 1995 and 2007, Pacs 2000 Tournoi fermé GM, Hyères 2001, Cannes 2001, Monaco 2003, Lugano 2007, Menton 2008, Genève 2008, Bol 2010), Nenad settled in Nice where happily lived with his wife WIM Martine Dubois for more than 21 years until his untimely death. Later he joined Monaco Chess Federation and took part in his last Chess Olympiad (Batumi 2018) under a new banner. In 2017 as a playing captain of the Nice Alekhine team, he won the French Cup. During the European Women’s Rapid & Blitz Championship 2019 in Monte Carlo a special 9-round blitz tournament in honor of GM Nenad Sulava will be held (November 29, 9:30 PM local time). The event is open for all participation is free of charge. Our sincere condolences to the family, relatives and friends.
Women’s Grand Prix Skolkovo starts on September 10
The first leg of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Series 2019-2020 will take place in Skolkovo, Russia, on September 10-23. Twelve participants will compete in a round-robin event. The drawing of lots was conducted in FIDE office in Lausanne. FIDE’s Chief Operating Officer, Willy Iclicki, picked the numbers, and the Chief Arbiter for the event, Andrzej Fillipowicz, conducted the round-by-round pairings accordingly. The participants got the following starting numbers: 1. Pia Cramling (Sweden), 2. Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria), 3. Elisabeth Paehtz (Germany), 4. Valentina Gunina (Russia), 5. Kateryna Lagno (Russia), 6. Humpy Koneru (India), 7. Dronavalli Harika (India), 8. Marie Sebag (France), 9. Alina Kashlinskaya (Russia), 10. Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia), 11. Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia), 12. Ju Wenjun (China). Round 1 pairings: Cramling – Ju Wenjun, Stefanova – Goryachkina, Paehtz – Kosteniuk, Gunina – Kashlinskaya, Lagno – Sebag, Koneru – Harika. About Women’s FIDE Grand Prix: Women’s FIDE Grand Prix Series 2019-2020 consist of four Women’ Grand Prix tournaments (hereinafter referred to as WGP tournaments) held over two years (2019-20): 1st – Skolkovo, September 10th – 23rd, 2019; 2nd – Monaco, December 2nd – 15th, 2019; 3rd – Lausanne, between March 1st and 20th, 2020; 4th – Sardinia, between May 20th and June 10th, 2020. Sixteen (16) players compete in four WGP tournaments. Each of the sixteen players participate in three (3) out of four WGP tournaments. Each WGP tournament is played with twelve (12) players round-robin. In each WGP tournament, every player scores WGP points according to her position in the final standings; the winner of WGP Series is a player who scores the greatest number of cumulative points earned in all three WGP tournaments she participated. The two (2) players who score the most number of cumulative points in WGP Series qualify to the FIDE Women Candidates Tournament to be held in the first half of 2021.
FIDE World Cup Opens on September 9
The FIDE World Cup 2019 takes place in Khanty-Mansiysk on September 9 – October 4. The competition is a part of the World Championship cycle. 128 players from 47 countries participate in the 7-round elimination tournament. Both finalists of World Cup qualify to the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2020. The opening ceremony of the World Cup will be held in the Arts Center for Gifted Children of the North on September 9, at 7 pm local time. The draw of colors for Round 1 will take place during the ceremony. The Ugra Chess Academy (Loparev street, 6) will be the playing venue. Schedule: Rounds 1-3 – September 10-18Rounds 4-6 – September 20-28Final and Match for 3rd place – September 30 – October 4 Rest days: September 19 and 29. All rounds start at 3 pm local time. All matches except for the final and the match for 3rd place consist of two games with FIDE time control: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1. The final and the match for 3rd place consist of four games. If the score is level after the two regular games, tie-breaks games are played with the control of 25 minutes for each player + 10 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1. If the score remains tied, the two blitz games with 10 minutes + 10 seconds per move ensue. If the score remains tied, the next two games are played with the control of 5 minutes + 3 seconds per move. Finally, if the score remains level, then one sudden-death game is played. The player who wins the drawing of lots may choose the color. The player with the white pieces receives 5 minutes, the player with the black pieces receives 4 minutes; after move 60, both players receive an increment of 2 seconds per move, starting from move 61. In case of a draw, the player with the black pieces is declared the winner. The total prize fund of the tournament is 1,600,000 USD. Chief Arbiter – IA Ashot Vardapetian (Armenia). Russia is represented by 28 players, followed by India – 10, China – 7, and USA – 6. In the absence of Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, grandmaster Ding Liren (2811, China) is the highest-rated participant of the World Cup. Other famous players participating in the event include Anish Giri (2780, Netherlands), Ian Nepomniachtchi (2776, Russia), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2774, France), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2767, Azerbaijan), Wesley So (2767, USA), Yu Yangyi (2763, China), Leinier Dominguez Perez (2763, USA), Sergey Karjakin (2760, Russia), and other chess stars. The 14-year-old Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) is the youngest player in the field. The Indian prodigy Nihal Sarin is only a couple of months older. The most experienced player among the participants, Essam El-Gindy (Egypt) is 53. The list of former winners of the World Cup includes Vishwanathan Anand (India), Levon Aronian (Armenia), Gata Kamsky (USA), Boris Gelfand (Israel), Peter Svidler, Vladimir Kramnik, and Sergey Karjakin (all – Russia). This is the fifth time Khanty-Mansiysk is hosting the World Cup. The competition is organized by the Government of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra, International Chess Federation (FIDE), Ugra Chess Federation, and Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation. Official website: https://khantymansiysk2019.fide.com/en/ General partner – Gazpromneft-Khantos LCC.Official airline – Utair.Official partners of the competition: OJSC Rostelecom, Ugra Chess Academy, Russian Chess Federation, AB InBev Efes and PJSC Rosneft.FIDE official partner – JSCo “RZD”.General media partner – News Agency TASS.Media partners – Match TV, World of Chess social network, OTRC “Ugra”, Ugra-news.ru News of Ugra regional newspaper, AIF-Ugra newspaper.