Judit Polgar partners with ChessKid to set a new Guinness World Record
FIDE Vice President Judit Polgar has teamed up with ChessKid in an attempt to set the Guinness World Record for the “Largest Online Chess Tournament”. Even though there is no record officially set, Guinness has required that at least 20,000 kids participate for the record to count. Here’s the full announcement of the tournament’s structure, prizes, and some rules. In order to have the best chance to break the record, Guinness has allowed ChesKid to have many “qualifiers” from Sept. 1 to Oct. 12. Any kid competing in any single qualifier “counts” toward the total. A child can play in as many as he/she wants. Four daily qualifiers will be at 5 pm in these time zones: Eastern Australia, Central Europe, Eastern U.S., Pacific U.S. They will each be 5 games of 5-minutes each so the qualifiers will last about one hour. If a child finishes in the top 20 in any qualifier, then they qualify for the finals on Oct. 19, which will be commentated on by Mike Klein of Chess.com, and Judit Polgar herself. Kids that complete one qualifier event will also receive some benefits from ChessKid, like one free month of gold membership if they are basic members, 100 extra stars in their account, limited edition ChessKid wallpaper, and of course the signed certificate by Judit Polgar and Mike Klein. The final “last chance” qualifiers on Oct. 12 will also be in conjunction with Judit’s “Global Chess Festival.” Please check the official announcement for more information on how to join and be a part of this World Guinness Record: https://www.chesskid.com/article/view/help-chesskid-and-judit-polgar-set-a-world-record
Ding Liren wins Sinquefield Cup
Ding Liren scored a victory at Sinquefield Cup by beating Magnus Carlson in the tiebreak. Both players scored 6,5 out of 11 in the tournament, with Magnus Carlsen winning the last two games against So and Vachier-Lagrave to catch leading Ding. After first two rapid games were drawn the match moved on into a blitz stage. Surprizingly enough, Ding won both blitz encounters and became the first player to defeat Carlsen in playoff sinсe 2007. The world champion was gracious after the loss admitting that the opponent “won absolutely deservedly”. The Chinese GM earned $82,500 and 16.5 Grand Chess Tour points. He is now second in overall Grand Chess Tour standings (see table below). (Photos and image courtesy of Grand Chess Tour)
FIDE helps to set records in Helsinki
A big festival comprising three round-robin tournaments took place in Helsinki last week, with the financial support of FIDE and the sponsorship of ROSATOM: one for juniors (U20), one for junior girls, and one for seniors (S65). These all tournaments were 10-player round-robins, where the players invited came from all Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Faroe Islands), Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) and from St Petersburg, Russia, totalling 10 countries represented in the event. The playing venue was the 4-star hotel Crowne Plaza Hesperia, in the centre of Helsinki. For the first time in many years, a local chess event was covered in the main Finnish newspapers. This was in good part due to the visit of the 12th World Champion Anatoly Karpov, who still is a very mediatic figure wherever he goes. Anatoly gave a lecture and a chess simul in Helsinki, activities funded by FIDE that had a record attendance. The lecture was held at the Chess Arena last Friday and lasted for two and a half hours, in which Karpov analyzed his games against Spassky, Korchnoi and Kamsky, and answered in detail over 20 questions from the enthusiastic chess audience. In the simul, played on Saturday at the Library Oodi, Karpov faced 15 young Finnish players. It took Karpov almost 3 hours to win 14 of the games, conceding just 1 draw. The happy half-point grabber was Ilkka Koota, who had travelled from Turku some 160 km just for this game. These promotional activities were followed by a dinner with Karpov, FIDE’s Director-General Emil Sutovsky, and representatives of all the Nordic countries. The next day, they all held a two hours long meeting, and later on, Sutovsky also held five one-to-one separate meetings with each one of the officials representing the Nordic Federations. The particular situation of each country was analyzed, looking for ways in which FIDE could offer them support. The other highlight of the festival was probably the senior tournament, named “Heikki Westerinen 75 year jubilee tournament”, to honour Finland’s first-ever grandmaster. The legend himself was one of the participants and, eventually, he became the winner. The other GM participant was 70-year old GM Yrjo Rantanen, and the next two strongest by rating were the familiar faces in Finland, IMs from St Petersburg Karasev and Mishuchkov. The Estonians WGM Tatiana Fomina and last-minute reserve Kalle Peebo completed the field. GM Westerinen started carefully with four draws, but after that, the old machine pulled up the steam and Westerinen won the next four rounds just to secure shared first with a short last round draw. GM Rantanen had a more aggressive start but also settled for a draw in the last round to share the top prize. After these two short last round draws the interest was focused on the encounter between IM Kestutis Kaunas and IM Nikolai Mishuchkov. In the case of Kaunas winning, he would rise to share the top laurels, in case of losing IM Mishuchkov would gain the 3rd place. The latter actually happened, and the player from St Petersburg got the bronze medal. The junior tournament was dominated by the top seed FM Toivo Keinänen from Finland, who had secured his final IM norm just the previous Sunday in Riga Technical University RTU tournament. He was simply unstoppable despite some bad positions and scored 8½/9, finishing 2½ points clear from FM Marat Askerov from St Petersburg. The third position was for FM Ilja Semjonovs from Latvia. The top-seed in the girls’ tournament was WIM Mai Narva from Estonia. Mai started the event with an upset, losing a rook ending in the first round to Estonia’s WFM Margareth Olde. But she reacted to this defeat by winning her remaining eight games, taking the first prize with 8/9 and one point ahead of Margareth Olde (EST) and Ekaterina Diakonova (RUS). Official website: www.shakkiliitto.fi/helsinki-chess-festival Photos courtesy of Panu Olavi Laine.
FIDE President holds meetings with the Moroccan authorities
FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich traveled to Morocco, where he joined the rest of the FIDE delegation: Executive Director Victor Bologan, International Director Mohd Al-Mudahka, Advisor to the FIDE President Berik Balgabaev, and FIDE events manager Kema Goryaeva. The first meeting in their tight agenda was a reception, on Tuesday 27th, with the top representatives of the National Olympic Committee in Rabat: Mr Kamal Lahlou (Vice President of NOC, member of Association of African Olympic Committees), Anin Kouame (Director of NOC Morocco) and Mr Majd Chekroun (Director of international relations of NOC). FIDE President thanked the NOC for the inclusion of chess in the program of the African Games 2019. He expressed his satisfaction with the organization level of the Games in general and the chess championships in particular. “It is very important”, he emphasized, “that every NOC is aware of the development of chess federations, to further support them in any endeavours and deeds”. Arkady Dvorkovich also stressed that FIDE will continue supporting official chess tournaments in Africa and in Morocco in particular. The delegation also had an opportunity to visit the local NOC Museum. Later the same day, the FIDE delegation held a meeting with the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Rachid Talbi Alami. Arkady Dvorkovich expressed his gratitude on behalf of FIDE for the support given by the Ministry to organize these Chess Championships in the framework of the African games. The second main point to be discussed were the plans for chess development in Morocco. FIDE President reassured the International Chess Federation will maintain its financial support to Moroccan chess and its different competitions. Coaching and chess publications will be provided as part of this support. The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Rachid Talbi Alami, thanked the FIDE president for this assistance. Both parties agreed that Morocco will host an international chess event every year. Later that day the FIDE delegation attended the football match between Nigeria and Mali. At 18.00, the Awards Ceremony of the African Games Chess Championship (Rapid) took place. FIDE President awarded the medals to the winners, together with FIDE International Director Mohamed Al Mudahka.
Pal Benko dies at age 91
It is with the deepest sadness that we learnt about the passing of Pal Benko, a two-time candidate for the world title (1959 & 1962), as well as a renowned composer of endgame studies and chess problems. He was 91 years old. To the chess family, Benko was a historical figure of legendary proportions, whose name and legacy will never be forgotten as long as people keep playing this game. His love for chess and his contributions to many aspects of the game, from the opening to the endgame, were an inspiration to several generations of players. Very few in the history of the game demonstrated the inextricable link between art and chess quite as he did. He left behind an invaluable legacy, compiled on several books. Besides, he was a fantastic individual, respected by everybody who crossed paths with him. His personal charm and bonhomie earned him countless friendships among his colleagues.
Egypt takes the Gold at the African Games
Egypt topped the standings at the team’s competition of the African Games Chess Championship, undefeated with eight matches won and one match drawn, but with just one point margin over Algerie. Zimbabwe, Bronze, performed above their initial expectations and was the only team to hold the winners to a draw. Egypt’s victory was hardly a surprise, with a line-up that included two of the four Grandmasters present in the competition, as well as the two only Woman Grandmasters. However, the second day of play started with a surprise when both Ahmed Adly and Bassem Amin suffered a shocking losses in their morning games (round 7) against Rodwell Makoto and Emarald Mushore – despite a rating difference of 250 and 500 points respectively. This allowed Algeria to close in a little in the standings. This result was a wake-up call for the Egyptian team, that cruised past the remaining three rounds defeating Botswana, Zambia and Malawi and scored 11 points out of 12 games. This sealed their victory, and gave the Egyptians their 17th medal in the African Games.* Today (Monday) the first five rounds of the individual championship will be played. While in the teams’ event there were 20 nations in the competition, in the individual championship the number goes up to 24, making chess one of the sports with a strong representation of different countries at the African Games. Official website: https://www.jar2019.ma Final standings after 9 rounds: Rank Team Points (board points) 1 EGYPT 17 31 2 ALGERIA 16 25 3 ZIMBABWE 12 21½ 4 NIGERIA 11 21 5 BOTSWANA 10 20½ 6 NAMIBIA 10 20½ 7 MOROCCO 10 19½ 8 CAMEROON 10 19½ 9 ETHIOPIA 10 18½ 10 TUNISIA 10 18 11 ZAMBIA 9 20 12 MALAWI 9 18½ 13 ANGOLA 8 20 14 KENYA 8 19½ 15 SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE 8 17½ 16 MAURITIUS 8 16 17 MALI 5 13 18 CENTRAL AFRICA REPUBLIC 5 7½ 19 ERITREA 3 9 20 CAPE VERDE 1 4 * Contrary to previous editions of the African Games, this year no individual medals are awarded for the results in the teams’ championship.
Tomashevsky and Girya become the new Russian Champions
The Superfinals of the 72nd Russian Championship and the 69th Russian Women’s Championship finished in Izhevsk on August 22. Both events were 11-round all-play-all tournaments. Scoring 7 points out of 11, Evgeny Tomashevsky wins the Russian Championship Superfinal for the second time, repeating his success of 2015. Nikita Vitiugov, Maxim Matlakov and Ernesto Inarkiev have got 6.5 points each. Vitiugov won the silver medal thanks to his superior tie-break, while Matlakov took the third place. Final standings: 1 Evgeny Tomashevsky (2706) 7 2 Nikita Vitiugov (2728) 6,5 3 Maxim Matlakov (2710) 6,5 4 Ernesto Inarkiev (2682) 6,5 5 Vladislav Artemiev (2757) 5,5 6 Alexander Motylev (2668) 5,5 7 Alexandr Predke (2650) 5,5 8 Kirill Alekseenko (2668) 5,5 9 Alexey Dreev (2662) 5 10 Vladimir Fedoseev (2671) 4,5 11 Alexey Sarana (2655) 4,5 12 Dmitry Jakovenko (2704) 3,5 Olga Girya and Natalija Pogonina both scored 8 points in the women’s tournament. According to the regulations, they had to play a tie-break for the first place, like last year. Olga Girya won the first rapid game, but Natalija Pogonina managed to win the second. The rivals had to play a sudden death game, which was won by Olga Girya, who had the white pieces. The grandmaster from Ugra became the Russian women’s champion for the first time in her career. The World Champion Candidate, Aleksandra Goryachkina, took third place with 7.5 points, repeating her last year’s performance. Final standings: 1 Olga Girya (2462) 8 2 Natalia Pogonina (2457) 8 3 Aleksandra Goryachkina (2564) 7,5 4 Valentina Gunina (2497) 7 5 Margarita Potapova (2335) 6 6 Alina Kashlinskaya (2491) 6 7 Alexandra Kosteniuk (2507) 5,5 8 Daria Charochkina (2352) 5 9 Anastasia Bodnaruk (2429) 4 10 Polina Shuvalova (2419) 4 11 Elena Tomilova (2376) 3 12 Zarina Shafigullina (2332) 2 The total prize fund amounted to 10,000,000 rubles. The winners of the men’s and women’s tournaments also won brand-new coupe-crossovers Renault ARKANA, which, according to the partnership agreement, became the official car of the Russian Chess Federation in 2019. The Closing Ceremony was held in the Udmurtia State Opera and Ballet Theatre. Head of the Udmurt Republic Alexander Brechalov, Director of the program Sport of the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation Igor Baradachev and Deputy Executive Director of the Russian Chess Federation Alexander Tkachev made speeches in front of the participants and guests. Official website: http://ruchess.ru/en/ (Photos: Andrey Pozdeev, Press service of the Head and the Government of the Udmurt Republic)
The 3rd World Cadets Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships finished in Minsk
The 3rd FIDE World Cadets Rapid & Blitz Championships among boys and girls under 8, 10 and 12 years old have finished in Minsk (Belarus), on June 18. 635 young chess players from 35 federations took part in the World Cadets Blitz Championships. Two players Aleksandr E. Usov from Russia (Open U-10) and Yeganegi Barad from Iran showed perfect score in the tournament 9/9. First Deputy Minister of Sports and Tourism Vyacheslav Durnov, FIDE Vice-president Lukasz Turlej and FIDE Vice-president, Head of the Belorussian Chess Federation Anastasia Sorokina delivered speeches at the closing ceremony. The winners of all categories were awarded cups, medals and presents. The organizers of the Championships are the National Olympic Committee of Belarus Republic, Ministry of Sport and Tourism of Belarus republic, Belorussian Chess Federation, chess school FIDE Belarus, President’s sports club of Belarus. Girls, U8 1 Diana Preobrazhenskaya RUS 8,5 2 Tong Thai Hoang An VIE 7,5 3 Mai Chi Nguyen VIE 7,5 Girls U10 1 Afruza Khamdamova UZB 8 2 Evgeniia Satanovskaia RUS 8 3 Ngoc Vy Ho VIE 8 Girls U12 1 Yana Zhapova RUS 8 2 Klara Szczotka POL 7 3 Milana Babic BIH 7 Open U8 1 Barad Yeganegi IRI 9 2 Savva Tereschenko RUS 8 3 Maxim Tsoy KAZ 7,5 Open U10 1 Aleksandr E. Usov RUS 9 2 Pavel Boykov RUS 8 3 Savva Vetokhin RUS 7,5 Open U12 1 Erdem Khubukshanov RUS 7,5 2 Gleb Pidluznij LTU 7,5 3 Dmitriy Mochalov RUS 7,5 Photos: Niki Riga
Full pairings for the Women Grand Prix in Skolkovo
The drawing for the first leg of the Women Grand Prix (Skolkovo, 10-23 September 2019) was made yesterday at our 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. Round 1 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 1 Cramling, Pia – Ju, Wenjun 12 2 2 Stefanova, Antoaneta – Goryachkina, Aleksandra 11 3 3 Paehtz, Elisabeth – Kosteniuk, Alexandra 10 4 4 Gunina, Valentina – Kashlinskaya, Alina 9 5 5 Lagno, Kateryna – Sebag, Marie 8 6 6 Koneru, Humpy – Harika, Dronavalli 7 Round 2 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 12 Ju, Wenjun – Harika, Dronavalli 7 2 8 Sebag, Marie – Koneru, Humpy 6 3 9 Kashlinskaya, Alina – Lagno, Kateryna 5 4 10 Kosteniuk, Alexandra – Gunina, Valentina 4 5 11 Goryachkina, Aleksandra – Paehtz, Elisabeth 3 6 1 Cramling, Pia – Stefanova, Antoaneta 2 Round 3 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 2 Stefanova, Antoaneta – Ju, Wenjun 12 2 3 Paehtz, Elisabeth – Cramling, Pia 1 3 4 Gunina, Valentina – Goryachkina, Aleksandra 11 4 5 Lagno, Kateryna – Kosteniuk, Alexandra 10 5 6 Koneru, Humpy – Kashlinskaya, Alina 9 6 7 Harika, Dronavalli – Sebag, Marie 8 Round 4 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 12 Ju, Wenjun – Sebag, Marie 8 2 9 Kashlinskaya, Alina – Harika, Dronavalli 7 3 10 Kosteniuk, Alexandra – Koneru, Humpy 6 4 11 Goryachkina, Aleksandra – Lagno, Kateryna 5 5 1 Cramling, Pia – Gunina, Valentina 4 6 2 Stefanova, Antoaneta – Paehtz, Elisabeth 3 Round 5 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 3 Paehtz, Elisabeth – Ju, Wenjun 12 2 4 Gunina, Valentina – Stefanova, Antoaneta 2 3 5 Lagno, Kateryna – Cramling, Pia 1 4 6 Koneru, Humpy – Goryachkina, Aleksandra 11 5 7 Harika, Dronavalli – Kosteniuk, Alexandra 10 6 8 Sebag, Marie – Kashlinskaya, Alina 9 Round 6 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 12 Ju, Wenjun – Kashlinskaya, Alina 9 2 10 Kosteniuk, Alexandra – Sebag, Marie 8 3 11 Goryachkina, Aleksandra – Harika, Dronavalli 7 4 1 Cramling, Pia – Koneru, Humpy 6 5 2 Stefanova, Antoaneta – Lagno, Kateryna 5 6 3 Paehtz, Elisabeth – Gunina, Valentina 4 Round 7 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 4 Gunina, Valentina – Ju, Wenjun 12 2 5 Lagno, Kateryna – Paehtz, Elisabeth 3 3 6 Koneru, Humpy – Stefanova, Antoaneta 2 4 7 Harika, Dronavalli – Cramling, Pia 1 5 8 Sebag, Marie – Goryachkina, Aleksandra 11 6 9 Kashlinskaya, Alina – Kosteniuk, Alexandra 10 Round 8 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 12 Ju, Wenjun – Kosteniuk, Alexandra 10 2 11 Goryachkina, Aleksandra – Kashlinskaya, Alina 9 3 1 Cramling, Pia – Sebag, Marie 8 4 2 Stefanova, Antoaneta – Harika, Dronavalli 7 5 3 Paehtz, Elisabeth – Koneru, Humpy 6 6 4 Gunina, Valentina – Lagno, Kateryna 5 Round 9 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 5 Lagno, Kateryna – Ju, Wenjun 12 2 6 Koneru, Humpy – Gunina, Valentina 4 3 7 Harika, Dronavalli – Paehtz, Elisabeth 3 4 8 Sebag, Marie – Stefanova, Antoaneta 2 5 9 Kashlinskaya, Alina – Cramling, Pia 1 6 10 Kosteniuk, Alexandra – Goryachkina, Aleksandra 11 Round 10 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 12 Ju, Wenjun – Goryachkina, Aleksandra 11 2 1 Cramling, Pia – Kosteniuk, Alexandra 10 3 2 Stefanova, Antoaneta – Kashlinskaya, Alina 9 4 3 Paehtz, Elisabeth – Sebag, Marie 8 5 4 Gunina, Valentina – Harika, Dronavalli 7 6 5 Lagno, Kateryna – Koneru, Humpy 6 Round 11 Board S.No. White Result Black S.No. 1 6 Koneru, Humpy – Ju, Wenjun 12 2 7 Harika, Dronavalli – Lagno, Kateryna 5 3 8 Sebag, Marie – Gunina, Valentina 4 4 9 Kashlinskaya, Alina – Paehtz, Elisabeth 3 5 10 Kosteniuk, Alexandra – Stefanova, Antoaneta 2 6 11 Goryachkina, Aleksandra – Cramling, Pia 1
Levon Aronian wins Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz
Levon Aronian is the sole winner of the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz, the 4th leg of the Grand Chess Tour. He takes home $37.500 and 13 GCT points, jumping to the third spot in the overall series standings, after Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Magnus Carlsen. This is his second victory in this event, that he already won in 2017. Both Aronian and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave rocketed in rapid, which brings twice as many points, and slowed down in blitz. However, in the end, Aronian was just a little more solid (despite being defeated by the Frenchman in the very last round!). Ding Liren, Yu Yangyi, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave finished tied for second, just half a point behind the winner. In the event where “everything went wrong” for him, Magnus Carlsen lost as many as 10 games in rapid and blitz. “My confidence is long gone. You’re probably going to see more of the same tomorrow”, said the world champion in the interview after the first day of blitz. That is indeed what happened: 4,5 out of 9 on the final day and the place in the lower part of the table. The World Champion will have barely two days to restore his confidence and heal his wounds, since the action in Saint Louis will resume on August 17th with the Sinquefield Cup. Games, video replays and other info at the official website: Grand Chess Tour Levon Aronian. Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour.