Monaco hosts the second leg of FIDE Women’s Grand Prix
Monaco is ready to take on the role of the world’s chess capital for the next 17 days. On November 30th, the European Chess Union stages its first European Chess Awards Ceremony with a gala that took place at the prestigious Hotel de Paris. Many famous guests including FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich and chess legends Garry Kasparov and Nona Gaprindashvili attended the event. From November 29 to December 1, Monaco also hosted the European Women’s Blitz and Rapid Championships in the Novotel Hotel. The blitz event, a 13-round Swiss tournament brought together 88 players from 21 countries. Despite losing her last round game, Alexandra Kosteniuk scored 10 out of 13 and won the title. Antoaneta Stefanova and Valentina Gunina tied for the second with three other participants but received silver and bronze respectively thanks to better tiebreaks. Final standings of the European Women’s Blitz Championship 1. Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) – 102. Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) – 9½3. Valentina Gunina (RUS) – 9½4. Marie Sebag (FRA) – 9½5. Natalia Zhukova (UKR) – 9½6. Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS) – 9½7. Anna Muzychuk (UKR) – 98. Irina Bulmaga (ROU) – 99. Lilit Mkrtchian (ARM) – 910. Marta Michna (GER) – 8½ (Photo: David Llada) The second competition, an 11-round Swiss tournament saw Alexandra Kosteniuk celebrate double success. The Russian GM tied for the first with her compatriot Olga Girya but took her second title over the course of days this time due to better tiebreak (she beat her rival in the penultimate round). Final standings of the European Women’s Rapid Chess Championship: 1. Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) – 9 2. Olga Girya (RUS) – 93. Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) – 84. Nino Batsiashvili (GEO) – 85. Valentina Gunina (RUS) – 86. Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS) – 87. Pia Cramling (SWE) – 88. Elisabeth Paehtz (GER) – 89. Natalia Zhukova (UKR) – 7½10. Inna Gaponenko (UKR) – 7½ These events are followed by the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix, which runs December 2-15 at the Yacht Club de Monaco, under the patronage of H.S.H. Prince Albert II. This is the second leg of the 4-tournament Series of the World Championship Qualifying cycle for the Women World Championship 2019-2021. The competition is a 12-participant round-robin tournament with most of the strongest female players in the world taking part. Humpy Koneru is the current leader of the Grand Prix Series, as she won the first leg in Skolkovo. The Indian is currently 3rd of the World Ranking and the highest-rated participant in Monaco. Among the stars, one should note the presence of former World Champions Alexandra Kosteniuk from Russia and Maryia Muzychuk from Ukraine, as well as living legend Pia Cramling. The Swede was already one of the best players in the world when none of her Monaco opponents had been even born yet! List of participants: 1. Humpy Koneru 2. Alexandra Goryachkina 3. Kateryna Lagno 4. Elisabeth Paehtz 5. Valentina Gunina 6. Harika Dronavalli 7. Alexandra Kosteniuk 8. Pia Cramling 9. Anna Muzychuk 10. Mariya Muzychuk 11. Nana Dzaganidze 12. Xue Zhao The opening ceremony takes place on December 2nd at 8 pm in the beautiful Yacht Club de Monaco. Many honored guests from the diplomatic world are expected to attend the act, as well as FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich. The first round will be played on December 3rd. The drawing of lots has already been made at the end of October and the full pairings for all rounds can be found at the official website. Play starts at 3 pm for all rounds days except the last one on December 14th (1 pm). December 9th is a day-off. The games will be broadcasted live with commentaries on the tournament website: https://wgp2019.fide.com Press Officer for the event: Yannick Pelletier Contact: press@fide.com
December rating list: Grischuk is back in the top 5
(Photo: Valeria Gordienko) FIDE December 1 rating listAll Top-100 listsAll rating lists – download November of 2019 was rich with both individual and team events which greatly influenced the December rating list. Since Carlsen, Caruana and Ding Liren were not very active in classical chess whereas their closest pursuers did not accumulate many rating points in November, Alexander Grischuk became a real action-maker in top-10. The winner of FIDE Grand Prix Hamburg not only picked up 13 rating points but also returned into the top 5 for the first time since April 2015. Top-10 December rating 1. Carlsen, Magnus (2872; +2)2. Caruana, Fabiano (2822; +0)3. Ding, Liren (2801; +0)4. Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime (2780; +3)5. Grischuk, Alexander (2777; +13)6. Aronian, Levon (2775; +3)7. Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar (2772; 0)8. Giri, Anish (2769; -7)9. Nepomniachtchi, Ian (2767; -6)10. Radjabov, Teimour (2765; -2) Incidentally, Alexander’s opponent in the final Jan-Krzysztof Duda notched 10 points and reached his career-high (12th position in the rating list). (Photo: Niki Riga) Biggest gains 1. Jones, Gawain (2683, +20)2-3. Shirov, Alexei (2684, +18)2-3. Edouard, Romain (2653, +18)4. Kuzubov, Yuriy (2667, +15)5. Dubov, Daniil (2690, +14)6. Grischuk, Alexander (2777, +13)7. Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter (2668, +12)8. Ivanchuk, Vassily (2690, +11)9. Mamedov, Rauf (2659, +11)10-11. Duda, Jan-Krzysztof (2758, +10)10-11. Vallejo Pons, Francisco (2704, +10) The leaders in this nomination distinguished themselves in two team events – European Team Championship and Euro Club Cup. Gawain Jones ran rampant on the fourth board in the Team England at the European Team Championship in Batumi and then scored 5 out of 6 points in Budva, playing for the team-champion Obiettivo Risarcimento Padova. These excellent results translated into 20 rating points and the top position in this nomination. (Photo: Andreas Kontokanis) Alexei Shirov, Yuriy Kuzubov, Daniil Dubov, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, Vassily Ivanchuk, Rauf Mamedov, and Francisco Vallejo also did very well in Batumi where they earned many rating points. At the end of November Alexei and Francisco along with five other GMs tied for first in a very strong Spanish Championship and improved their rating tally even more. Welcome to top 100 Mamedov, Rauf (2659)Berkes, Ferenc (2656)Edouard, Romain (2653)Saric, Ivan (2651) We have just four newcomers this month. Romain Edouard has been hovering around the top 100 lately. This November was particularly good for the Frenchman as he turned in a very solid performance in Batumi and Budva, picked up 18 points along the way and got back in the top 100 for the first time since March. (Photo: Przemysław Jahr) This November was marked by two Grand Chess Tour rapid & blitz events in Bucharest in Kolkatta. Since Maxime Vachier-Lagrave did not participate in any of them, Magnus Carlsen had a chance to win back the top position in the rapid list. As we all know, the Norwegian crushed his opponents in India earned 27 rating points and triumphantly regained the top spot (2886). Women’s top echelon remains pretty much the same with just one change. Thanks to her excellent results in both above-mentioned team events Nana Dzagnidze netted 18 points and overtook Valentina Gunina in the top 10.
Grand Chess Tour finals highlight London Chess Classic festival
The $350,000 Grand Chess Tour Finals at the London Chess Classic are starting on Monday, December 2 at Olympia. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave squeezed into the fourth qualifying place after the dramatic elimination of Vishy Anand. Anand narrowly lost out on his ticket to London after going down in the penultimate blitz game against Magnus Carlsen at the Tata Steel India Rapid & Blitz in Kolkata. Missing a one-move opportunity for a brilliant rook sacrifice (48…Rh6+!!) meant that the Indian former World Champion, playing in front of a heartbroken home crowd, was not going to the Grand Chess Tour Finals. MVL, who was not playing in India due to already having played in his allotted five GCT qualifying events, thus squeaked through – setting up a semifinal clash with the Norwegian World Champion in London. The timing is problematic for the Frenchman, however, who must now play two tough matches in London on December 2-4 and December 6-8, just two days before starting his challenge at the final FIDE Grand Prix event in Jerusalem. At that knockout tournament, which runs from December 10-24, Maxime is bidding to qualify for the first time for the World Championship Candidates tournament. Magnus Carlsen will be most pundits’ strong favorite to win the Grand Chess Tour first prize of $150,000 in London after an impressive victory in Kolkata. After four days of dominating the super-strong field, Magnus was laid low by a stomach bug early on the fifth and final day and was forced into taking some unprecedented quick draws before recovering and winning the Rapid & Blitz a full 4 points ahead of the second-placed player, American Hikaru Nakamura. Ding Liren, while not challenging for first place in Kolkata, had the distinction of beating Carlsen twice in blitz there – setting up the mouth-watering prospect of a possible Ding-Carlsen final in London. The Chinese star became the first player to beat Carlsen in a playoff for a dozen years this summer at the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis in August, so a final between the two at London Olympia would promise a brilliant end to the 2019 Grand Chess Tour – and be a foretaste of a potential challenge by Ding Liren for the World title next year. Levon Aronian, the ever-popular Armenian, qualified for the London GCT Finals by dint of his overall 3rd place finish in the Tour events, but he will be desperate to recover his form after finishing last in Kolkata. Whoever gets to lift the Grand Chess Tour trophy in London on Sunday 8th December, chess fans can be assured of a brilliant and fitting climax to the biggest Grand Chess Tour to date, thanks to its expanded roster of tournaments in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Alongside the Grand Chess Tour Finals, the London Classic will also play host to the British Knockout Championship Semi-Finals and Final, which take place simultaneously with the GCT Finals. A strong line-up includes England Open Team members Mickey Adams, Luke McShane, David Howell, and Gawain Jones.