FIDE Trainer Awards 2018: Winners announced
Lausanne, October 18, 2019 The FIDE Trainers’ Commission (TRG) is pleased to announce the Trainer Awards results for the best achievements in 2018. The Mikhail Botvinnik Award, for best trainer of men or a team in an open event, goes to William John Donaldson. William John Donaldson (born in Los Angeles, 1958) has been the Captain of the US Open team for most of the Olympiads since 1986 – which equals to say, for most of his adult life. He retired from his job at San Francisco Mechanics’ Institute earlier in the year, but hopefully not from the US team. In the last two Olympiads, the US took Gold and Silver, with an identical lineup after paper-thin tie-break finishes. The Vakhtang Karseladze Award, for best trainer of women or a team in a women’s event, goes to Yu Shaoteng (余少腾). Yu Shaoteng (Guangzhou, 1979) became China’s 17th Grandmaster at the age of 25. As a coach, he has five World Championships under his belt as a coach: two with Hou Yifan, one with Tan Zhongyi, and two with Ju Wenjun. He is also the coach of the Chinese Women’s team that triumphed at the Batumi Chess Olympiad. Since Ju Wenjun won, not just one but two World Championship titles in 2018, Shaoteng was a clear favorite to win this award. The Mark Dvoretsky Award, for best trainer of juniors or a team in a juniors event, goes to Ramesh RB. Ramachandran Ramesh (born in Chennai, 1976) has coached a total of 39 Gold winners at Junior, Youth and Cadet World Championships, starting with Aarthie Ramesh in 1999, and lately the 14-year-old prodigy Praggnanandhaa, who just won the 2019 World Championship for players U18, and is now among the leaders in the World Junior Championship (U20). The Tigran Petrosian Award, for special achievements, goes to Michal Konopka. Michal Konopka (born in Prague, 1966) has been the captain of the Czech Men National Team, and since 2013 he has been the manager of both Men and Women National teams. Over the past decades, he has coached at many World and European Youth Championships, where his students won several medals. He has also been a second for elite players like David Navara and Viktor Laznicka. The Yuri Razuvaev Award, for Contributions to Trainers Education, goes to Adrian Mikhalchishin. Adrian Bohdanovych Mikhalchishin (born in Lviv, 1954) was the TRG chairman for a decade after the death of his mentor and predecessor, GM Yuri Razuvaev. With lots of hard and passionate work, Adrian’s dream of increasing the prestige of chess trainers is quickly becoming a reality. The Awards will be presented on five different dates and locations, according to the wishes of the winners. All the awardees will receive the trophy “The Tree of Chess”, designed by the famous Ukrainian sculptor Volodymyr Odrehivskyj. The final results were voted by the most qualified and diverse panel of judges ever, consisting of both experienced players and trainers. All continents were represented in a gender-balanced jury, which includes four world champions: Word Champion Vladimir KramnikWorld Champion & FIDE Senior Trainer Susan PolgarWorld Champion Zhu ChenWorld Champion & FIDE Senior Trainer Antoaneta StefanovaGM & FIDE Senior Trainer Eugene TorreGM & FIDE Senior Trainer Alonso ZapataGM & FIDE Senior Trainer Slim Bouaziz The Averbakh/Boleslavsky Award for Book of the Year is judged separately. This award has three judges: Nigel Short, Artur Yusupov, and the World’s oldest living grandmaster, Yuri Averbakh. The shortlist is expected out in early November, and the winner will be declared some weeks thereafter. The deadline for submission for the 2019 Awards will be Friday 3rd April 2020. The categories are likely to be slightly altered to reflect new priorities. Eligible to nominate are any FIDE Office Bearers, Continental Chess Federations, National Chess Federations, TRG Commission Members, and FIDE Endorsed Academies. Eligible are all FIDE trainers with a valid license for 2018 and 2019, except for the TRG Chairman (Jacob Aagaard) and Secretary (Peter Long). The same person can not be nominated in more than one category by the same eligible body. The 2020 Awards will be presented at the Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk. Official site
Grand Swiss: Levon Aronian breaks through to the top
The seventh day of the Isle of Man Grand Swiss tournament was a Day of draws. On the top 20 boards, only four games ended with a decisive outcome (and in all four cases, White was victorious). One of them was particularly important – Levon Aronian defeated the leader of the tournament, Wang Hao of China and has now emerged at the top! The second leader – Fabiano Caruana – drew with black pieces against Alexander Grischuk in a very time-challenging game for both players. There are now two leaders at the top and they will face each other in round eight: World No 2, Fabiano Caruana, and Armenian Levon Aronian, for whom this tournament is likely the last chance to get on the Candidates’ boat and fight for the opportunity to become World Champion. A large number of draws in round seven made things more complicated in the upper ranks as those players who scored a victory managed to climb up the ladder and add to the pressure on the rest. On board one, it was a chance for another Russian, Alexander Grischuk, to try and bring down Fabiano Caruana from the top board, after Fedoseev failed in round six. Time seemed to be the key factor of the game as first Grischuk got into serious trouble only to be joined by Caruana at the end. In the English opening, White (Grischuk) played a system for which Caruana later said he wasn’t fully prepared. The Russian, however, quickly got into time trouble: after two and a half hours and just 17 moves played, Grischuk had less than 20 minutes on his clock. The situation looked pretty dangerous for the Russian GM. Things then got crazy on the board, with Grischuk pushing forward the g-pawn in front of his king, launching an attack on the Black’s monarch. With good control in the center and two bishops well aligned to support the advancement, it seemed that Caruana was in real trouble. The World No 2 however was defending well, snatched a pawn while preparing a counterattack. Grischuk – a pawn down and weaker on time – had to switch to defense. After the exchange of queens, Fabiano Caruana pushed his opponent towards a complicated endgame. Interestingly, Magnus Carlsen came over several times to check what’s going on. Grischuk had under 30 seconds on his clock when the game was on move 29 (!) but thanks to the 30-second increment per move, he managed to hold the balance and even forced Caruana to spend more time. Eventually, both players found themselves in time trouble. Just a few moves before the 40-move watermark, opponents had under a minute on their clock. At one point, Caruana had even less time than Grischuk! Some were wondering, could Grischuk – the three-times Blitz world champion – outplay the World No 2 in a blitz endgame? But Caruana held his nerve and played it steady. With 35 seconds on his clock, Girschuk made it to the 40th move and reached the first time control. At that point, he got up from the board for the first time. The game was, however, to last for just further two moves – Grischuk went for a repetition of checks and the two agreed to a draw. (Photo: David Llada) Aronian breaks through the hurdle On the second board, Levon Aronian, as white, was facing one of the leaders after round six, Wang Hao of China. After white secured better control in the center, Black tried to counter it by sacrificing a pawn to activate his queenside pieces. Aronian saw through black’s plans and by move 23 the extra pawn transformed into a passer on the a-file for White. Wang then pushed for the exchange of queens which Aronian eventually had to accept, leading into a four-rook endgame with an extra pawn for White. The computer was showing that the position is likely a draw. Aronian, however, pushed forward. By move 42 Levon’s a-pawn fell, but his king infiltrated to h6, endangering black’s pawns. By move 46, one set of rooks was exchanged, with White pressing black from the back-ranks. Wang was in time trouble and that was an important factor for Aronian who kept the pressure up. Wang Hao was down to 1 minute and – according to the computer – there was only one(!) move held the position – 56…Rd3. After the Chinese GM played 53…Ra3 instead, it was all over for him. Just two moves down the road Wang Hao resigned. (Photo: Maria Emelianova) Like after Round six, there are now two players at the top (with 5.5 points) with the other seven (now on five points) on their heels: Wang, Alekseenko, Grischuk, Maghsoodloo, Guijarro, the World Champion Carlsen, and Vitiugov. Aronian will be facing the World No 2, Fabiano Caruana, the central encounter of the round eight and probably one of the most important games in the tournament for the Armenian. In an interview with chess.com after the game, when asked about the forthcoming game against Caruana, Aronian said: “It is always good to play somebody you respect – somebody who forces you to respect him!” (Photo: Maria Emelianova) Alekseenko withstands Carlsen’s pressure On board three, Kirill Alekseenko (who, as of last round, joined the 2700-club) was playing as white against Magnus Carlsen. The position was even throughout the game, but it seemed that white had more opportunities for active play. The best chance Carlsen had was in creating a passed pawn on the a-file but white was able to control that. In a double-rook endgame, being a pawn down and having to play precisely to maintain balance, the World Champion pushed his pieces forward hoping for an offensive. It seems that Carlsen wasn’t happy with a draw, despite the position suggesting it, and he went on testing his luck and that of his opponent. The World Champion ended up with an extra pawn in a rook endgame but the evaluating of the position as drawish did not change. Nevertheless, Magnus declined a draw offered by