Russia scoops at European Team Championship
The European Team Championship in Batumi ended with the Russian teams’ claiming gold in both open and women’s sections. One may think that in the women’s tournament Russia smoothly sailed to the victory – after all the team was leading throughout the tournament distance and finished a point ahead of the silver medalists, but in reality, it was not that easy. In the sixth round, Russia drew with Azerbaijan, whereas in the eighth round the team was teetering on the brink of defeat in the match with Armenia. Hadn’t Kateryna Lagno outfoxed her opponent in a theoretically drawing rook-and-bishop-vs-rook endgame the team would have lost two matchpoints and let Georgia catch up. Lagno became the main point-winner in the team – after sweeping three final games Kateryna ended up with 6.5 out of 8. The Challenger of the upcoming Women’s World Championship match Alexandre Goryachkina sealed off the first board (6 out 9); the champion of Russia Olga Girya earned several important victories (5.5 out of 7). Both Valentina Gunina and Alina Kashlinskaya were far from their best but scored +2. The Georgian team came second. After losing the key match to Russia in the fourth round the home-squad won all others save for a draw with Azerbaijan in round 7. On the first board, a participant of the Candidates Tournament Nana Dzagnidze netted 7 out 9; Meri Arabidze also turned in a fine performance (she suffered her only defeat in the match with Russia). The managers decided to put Nino Batsiashvili at the helm of the Georgia-2 team – one may wonder how it would have played out if she had been a member of the main team. Azerbaijan deservedly took bronze. Young Azerbaijan players drew the matches with both gold and silver medalists and lost just one at the start of the tournament. IM Gulnar Mammadova delivered the best performance (6.5 out of 8). It was much more close contest in the open section where, in accordance with unspoken rules of team competitions, the winner was determined in the very last minutes of the final round. After Ivan Saric managed to build a fortress in the game with Vassily Ivanchuk, Russia finished one point ahead of Ukraine and England. As we mentioned in our half-way review, the key match between the favorites was played in the sixth round, right after the day off. Russia pulled out a victory – Dmitry Andreikin outplayed Vassily Ivanchuk in the Najdorf Variation of Sicilian defense on the top board and brought his team a decisive point. However, right after that Russia faltered, drawing two matches with Germany and England. In the first one, the future champion barely escaped thanks to a sparkling although not error-free play by Daniil Dubov in the game with Rasmus Svane. The final combination of this highly entertaining encounter was immediately tweeted all around the chess world: 36.Bb3! (the only move) Bd7 37.Qc1+ Kxb3 38.Qc2 Ka3 39.Qa2# As a result, before the final round, Urkaine stood alongside Russia but had better tiebreaks. However, Ukraine failed to break down Croatia’s resistance, whereas Russia prevailed over a strong Polish team thanks to Kirill Alekseenko’s victory on the third board. Daniil Dubov, who asked to call him “Joker” after the tournament, put in the best performance in the team-champion (5.5 out 7). The team leader Dmitry Andreikin scored the same amount of points but in eight games. The fatigue accumulated after Grand Swiss Isle of Man had an impact on three other Russian players, but their high level coupled with a little luck helped the team to snatch gold. Ukraine tied with England for the second place but was awarded silver due to better tiebreaks. Legendary Vassily Ivanchuk did not spoil the party, scoring 5.5 out 9 on the first board. Vladimir Onischuk (formally a reserve player) notched 6 points in 8 games, although sometimes his positions made his teammates sweat. Unfortunately, a tight tournament schedule also took its toll on the Ukranian team – Alexander Moiseenko played way below his abilities. Third place by England is in line with pre-tournament expectations – the team had second rating after Russia. It is important to note, that England has played the second team championship in a row virtually without substitutes. Given that McShane, Howell, and Jones were among the participants in Grand Swiss Isle of Man, it was particularly difficult for them to pace up. Curiously enough, the leaders of Ukraine and England Vassily Ivanchuk and Michael Adams won their first European Team Championship medals in 1992 in Debrecen. Ironically, the first three lines in the final standings back then were taken by Russia, Ukraine, and England. Most likely Armenia (4th place) and the defending champion Azerbaijan (6th place) had set more ambitious goals before the tournament. The Armenian team suffered from insufficient roster depth, whereas, in the case of Azerbaijan, its leaders Shakhryar Mamediarov and Arkadij Naiditsch were out of shape. On the other hand, Croatia emerged as a real breakthrough of the event. The Croatian squad finished fifth even though two of its members did not win a single game. This is just another evidence of a very close contest in the tournament. FIDE.com congratulates all the winners and thanks ECU for organizing the championship.
Wesley So is the first Fischer Random World Champion
America’s third-ranked player wins the first official world championship for this variant over classical world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway. 2-11-2019, OSLO, NORWAY: Wesley So took down Magnus Carlsen by 13,5 to 2,5. The final, played in Oslo, was a historical event in which for the first time the International Chess Federation recognized a new variety of chess. At the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter art museum located close to Oslo, Norway, GM Wesley So became the first World Champion in Fischer Random Chess. So defeated GM Magnus Carlsen by the dominant score of 13.5 to 2.5 in the event that started on October 27 and ended on November 2. Wesley’s victory, with four wins and only two draws, was so crushing that he clinched the title with six rounds to spare. In fact, the American cruised through the whole final stage of the event without suffering a single loss, showing his supremacy in this recently developed chess variant. The match’s fate was decided after Wesley won the second through fourth games. Magnus Carlsen, who hasn’t lost a game of classical chess since July 2018 and accumulates a streak of 101 games unbeaten, bit the dust three times in a row before his home crowd, who gathered in big numbers at the Henie Onstad Art Center in Bærum, Norway. The Norwegian has been the classical world champion since 2013 and the world-number-one since 2011 and has also been considered the unofficial Fischer Random champion, having won a match in 2018 against GM Hikaru Nakamura. “I just want to congratulate Wesley So, he played a lot better than me,” said the champion after his defeat. Wesley So, who reached the number two spot in the FIDE world ranking back in 2017, achieves his first official world title in individual competition—filling a hole in an already brilliant career, with numerous victories in top-level events. The event was organized by Dund AS, with Chess.com as a technological partner. “With FIDE’s support for Fischer Radom Chess, we are happy to invite you to join the quest to become the first, ever, FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Champion,” said Arne Horvei, Founding Partner in Dund AS. “Anyone can participate online, and we are excited to see if there are any diamonds in the ruff out there that could excel in this format of chess”. “From the moment we were presented with the vision for this incredible event many months ago, we immediately recognized the potential milestone that an official World Fischer Random Chess Championship would represent for the chess world. Chess.com is proud to have organized the first truly open online qualification process which saw over 10,000 games played and became the foundation for crowning a worthy champion like Wesley So. We believe this is a first step on the path towards a prosperous and exciting future for chess through online and over-the-board harmonization.” Chess, rebooted There have been many proposals over the long history of chess to revolutionize the game by introducing new pieces or changing the initial arrangement of these. However, none of these attempts succeeded until the former World Champion Bobby Fischer came up with his own idea. The American genius suggested that the pieces should be shuffled, but only following certain restrictions: the bishops must be placed on opposite-color squares, and the king must be placed on a square between the rooks. The result is a modality in which we have 960 unique possible starting positions, but the rules of chess remain the same. Thus, the tactics, and for the most part, the principles and basic strategies of the game, are still valid. The fact that both players keep the right to castle also contributed to the starting positions having some kind of “harmony” and balance, characteristical of standard chess. Fischer Random tackles a problem in modern chess: since the starting position was always the same, the possibilities in the “opening” phase of the game has been methodically analyzed. Even the beginners have their favorite opening lines – the systems that they employ to start the game, develop their pieces, and place them in the most favorable positions. At the top level, and since the irruption of the computers in the game towards the end of the nineties, chess openings have been exhaustively analyzed. Top players spend most of their time analyzing the lines used by their opponent and improving their own arsenal – the best way to respond to their opponent’s usual defenses. This implies memorizing an enormous amount of information. As a result, standard chess games between elite players often follow a line that has been played before, and a “novelty”, or a move that has never been used before, doesn’t show up on the board until as late as the 20th or 25th move. Many games are not decided by a move found over the board, but early on, during the preparation for the game. The random setup that Fischer Random implies makes gaining an advantage through the memorization of openings impracticable. Instead, players must rely on their skill, talent, and creativity, facing a completely fresh position over the board. All the opening theory that they have learned so far becomes useless – it is like rebooting chess, and giving it a fresh start. “It is probably for this reason that Fischer Random chess has won the favor of the chess community, including the top players and the World Champion himself”, stated the FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich earlier this year. “We couldn’t be oblivious to that: it was time to embrace and incorporate this modality of chess.” Who is Wesley So? Wesley Barbasa So was born on October 9, 1993, in Bacoor (Philippines). He learned chess at the age of 7 or 8 on the streets of Cavite, a suburb in the outskirts of Manila: “Chess is very popular in the Philippines because in third-world countries, chess is the poor man’s game. Rich people play tennis, polo, and golf, while poor people play chess because you don’t need anything – no uniform, no field or courts”, explained Wesley in an interview with David Cox of Chess.com. Wesley was nine years old