World Cup: Seventeen players advanced to the third round
The second games of the Second Round of the World Cup were played on September 14 in Khanty-Mansiysk. Three players – Sergey Karjakin (Russia), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland), and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) – whitewashed their opponents. It is worth mentioning that the Frenchmen have not conceded to his rivals even a half-point so far. Many matches ended with a popular 1.5-0.5 score. In arguably the most sensational one, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Germany) made a draw from the position of strength with Hikaru Nakamura (USA) and advanced to the third round. Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) won his match against his compatriot Alexandr Predke (at some point Ian was three pawns down, snatched the victory), Dmitry Andreikin (Russia) defeated Rinat Jumabayev (Kazakhstan), Levon Aronian (Armenia) was stronger than Parham Maghsoodloo (Iran), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) beat Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan), Xu Xiangyu (China) got the better of Ernesto Inarkiev (Russia), Wesley So (USA) bested Anton Demchenko (Russia), Pentala Harikrishna (India) passed though Vladimir Fedoseev (Russia), Wang Hao (China) defeated Maxim Rodshtein (Israel), Vladislav Artemiev (Russia) won against Ivan Cheparinov (Georgia), Evgeny Tomashevsky (Russia) knocked out Chitambaram Aravindth (India), Anton Korobov (Ukraine) lost to Le Quang Liem (Vietnam), Aleksandr Rakhmanov (Russia) gave way to Santosh Vidit (India), and Daniil Dubov (Russia) had to capitulate in a clash with Alireza Firouzja (Iran). Quite a few matches will once again be decided on tie-breaks. Only two players managed to come back after losing the first game: Eltaj Safarli defeated Nihal Sarin thanks to a terrible blunder from his opponent (Nihal just left his bishop unprotected), whereas Wei Yi from China took revenge with black pieces against the Spaniard David Anton Guijarro . The following matches moved on to tie-breaks after two draws: Ding Liren -Movsesian, Christiansen – Alekseenko, Svidler – Esipenko, Jakovenko – Jones, Giri -Najer, Tabatabaei – Xiong, McShane –Y uffa, Dominguez – Abasov, Grischuk – Bok, Sjugirov – Radjabov, Gelfand – Matlakov, Adhiban – Yu Yangyi, and Vitiugov – Huschenbeth. The tie-breaks will be played on September 15. 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.
Champions Crowned in World Youth Rapid and Blitz
FIDE World Youth Rapid and Blitz Championships (under 14, 16 and 18 years old categories) finished in Salobrena, Spain. 178 players from 22 countries, including 1 GM, 5 IMs, 12 FMs, 1 WIM, 12 WFMs participated in the chess forum in Granada. After three days of intense battles, we have all twelve champions. Final results of the World Junior rapid championships in Salobrena (11 – 12 September 2019): Winner U-14 Girls: Thien Ngan Nguyen (Vietnam) Winner U-14 Open: Aspet Tadevosyan (Spain) Winner U-16 Open: Pedro Antonio Gines Esteo (Spain) Winner U-16 Girls: Cecilia Guillo Longares (Spain) Winner U-18 Open: Lucas Van Foreest (Netherlands) Winner U-18 Girls: Honorata Kucharska (Poland) Final results of the World Junior blitz championships in Salobrena (13 September 2019) Winner U-14 Open: Pham Thien Phuc Vo (Vietnam) Winner U-14 Girls: Thien Ngan Nguyen (Vietnam) Winner U-16 Open: Dominik Horvath (Austria) Winner U-16 Girls: Ngoc Thuy Duong Bach (Vietnam) Winner U-18 Open: Lucas Van Foreest (Netherlands) Winner U-18 Girls: Kamila Hryshchenko (Ukraine) 18-years-old Dutch grandmaster Lucas van Foreest celebrates double success winning both rapid and blitz world championships under 18. He comes from the famous Van Foreest chess family: his brother Jorden won the 2016 Dutch Championship, and both his great-great-grandfather Arnold and great-great-granduncle Dirk were three-time Dutch Champions. It has been a very good year for Lukas so far – earlier in July he won the national championship and is now a part of the Dutch national team together with such grandmasters as Anish Giri and Erwin L’Ami. We will see him in action at the European Team Championship in Georgia in October. “I feel quite relieved, happy. I played such tournaments for the first time in my life. I came here to win,” said Lucas in an interview given to his compatriot Sergey Tiviakov. The closing ceremony included speeches delivered by FIDE Deputy President GM Bachar Kouatly and President of the Spanish Chess Federation Javier Ochoa, vibrant Flamenco dances by local artists and presentation of awards to all the winners.
2019 3rd Quarter FIDE Presidential Board Meeting
The new FIDE Charter was the main point in the agenda of the 2019 third quarter Presidential Board meeting, held in Budapest last weekend. During the gala dinner, the Hungarian Chess Federation took the opportunity to express their will to bid to organize the Chess Olympiad in 2024. The Presidential Board meeting opened with the report from the FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, who informed the attendants about his recent trips to South America and Morocco. The main outcome from these trips has been a firm commitment from political authorities in the visited countries to support chess and to organize some top events in the near future. The President also briefed the Board about the incoming events (World Cup and Women’s Grand Prix), and about the new FIDE website that is about to be launched. On behalf of the Global Strategy Commission, Emil Sutovsky reported on the progress regarding FIDE’s flag-ship competitions. The Candidates tournament 2020 is confirmed to take place in Ekaterinburg during the second half of March (exact dates will be confirmed soon). As for the World Championship, there are three cities interested in hosting the match, but since the three of them requested some extra time, the bidding deadline has been postponed to November 1st. The chapter about the Chess Olympiad sparked an interesting debate regarding the role of captains. Should they be allowed to talk to their players during the games? In many cases, a strong Grandmaster is acting as a captain for a team where the average rating is 2300. Is it fair in a case like this that the captain can instruct a player to accept or offer a draw? Different views were exchanged on this topic, with the general conclusion that the matter deserves a longer discussion in the near future. Another important point that was unanimously approved was the fees reduction. FIDE will cut or waive fees at youth events by 120,000 euros annually, starting in January 2020. This will mean an approximate 40% cut in that concept. A small panel (for more agility) will be created to finalize the details on how this reduction will come into force. Viktor Bologan was in charge of reporting about the Planning and Development Commission and he presented very detailed figures about how the Development Fund has been used so far to support and develop federations to the members of the board. Some members of the board took the chance to exchange views on the best ways to promote chess. Bachar Kouatly strongly suggested investing in formation, rather than in events, while Judit Polgar offered her views and experience on how to use online tools for chess promotion. In general, the consensus was that FIDE should shift a little from supporting events, to support activities that imply grassroots promotion and growth. The most important point of this Presidential Board meeting was probably the reform of the FIDE Statutes. Roberto Rivello was given the task to chair a group of experts charged to prepare a proposal of full reform of the current Statutes, drafting a juridically correct and comprehensive text that the Constitutional Commission proposed to call “FIDE Charter”. “FIDE needs this reform, not only because the current FIDE Statutes were written many decades ago and the role of international sports federations is completely different today, as it is our society. But mainly because we need to move in the direction of a more modern, transparent, democratic and efficient institution, and the main rules of our organization have a fundamental role to play in making this possible.”, explained Roberto, who received warm applause when he finished his presentation. The members of the Presidential Board were invited to a gala dinner at the Hungarian Parliament. Pál Schmitt, former Hungarian Olympic fencer, member of the IOC and politician who served as President of Hungary from 2010 to 2012, gave the opening speech before the dinner. Mr Schmitt told the attendants how he uses to play chess online for more than an hour a day and expressed his firm support to the recognition of chess as a sport by the IOC. State secretary Tamás Menczer emphasized that the Hungarians are famous for being good organizers, with great experience in organizing major international sports events, and the country has a sports-friendly government that supports the efforts of the Hungarian Chess Association. But the biggest announcement came from László Szabó, recently elected as the new President of the Hungarian Chess Association (MSSZ). After stressing the close links between chess and some of the biggest personalities in the history of the country, on behalf of the Hungarian Chess Federation he expressed their will to bid to host the 2024 Chess Olympiad.
WGP: Gunina still ahead
After three rounds, Valentina Gunina is leading the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix with 2.5 points; followed by Harika Dronavalli, Ju Wenjun, Humpy Koneru, and Aleksandra Goryachkina with 2 points; Elisabeth Paethz and Kateryna Lagno are still in the 50% zone – 1.5 each; Antoaneta Stefanova, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Pia Cramling and Marie Sebag – 1 point; Alina Kashlinskaya – 0.5 point. The sole leader of the Skolkovo Women’s Grand Prix Valentina Gunina drew against the second-seeded player Aleksandra Goryachkina and kept her lead with 2.5 points. The Queen’s Gambit was played, where black managed to trade both bishops and held the draw in the endgame. In her game with Humpy Konery Alina Kashlinskaya apparently overlooked the move 18.Neg5! (the exchange 17… Bxe4 was called for) after which it was all over for black. The shortest game of the round lasted just 20 moves. Another Indian participant, GM Harika Dronavalli, celebrated a victory against French GM Marie Sebag. Harika decided to play a very unusual first move – f4, known as the Bird’s Opening (Dutch Defense with reversed colors). Harika gained initiative in the middlegame, snatched a pawn and confidently converted her material advantage in a rook endgame. The Rubinstein variation of four knights opening was played in the game between GM Kateryna Lagno and GM Aleksandra Kosteniuk. The opponents reconstructed a long theoretical line in which Black reached a safe heaven with a perpetual check. The clash between the former World Champion, Antoaneta Stefanova and the current World Champion, Ju Wenjun also resulted in a draw. In the Petrov’s Defence, black managed to get a slightly better position, but it was not enough for something more substantial than a half-point. The evaluation of position in the game Elisabeth Paethz and Pia Cramling hardly deviated from equality, so the draw was a logical outcome. The guest of honor during the third round was Victor Vekselberg, Chairman of the Board of Skolkovo Foundation, who made the first move on the first board. Among the side activities, Grandmaster Sergey Zagrebelny offered a simul exhibition against the students of the Botvinnik Chess School. The four-round games will be played at 3 pm local time (GMT +3) on September 14. Spectators can follow the games with English and Russian commentaries: https://www.youtube.com/fidechannel Official website: https://wgp2019.fide.com