FIDE Trainer Awards for 2020 announced
FIDE Trainers’ Commission (TRG) is pleased to announce the FIDE Trainer Awards for 2020, which will recognize and celebrate the outstanding achievements of the training industry. The FIDE Trainer Awards will be given in the following six categories, five for trainers and one for book authors: Mikhail Botvinnik Award to the best achievement by trainer(s) in Open Section competitions Vakhtang Karseladze Award for the best achievement by trainer(s) in women’s and/or girl’s competitions Mark Dvoretsky Award for the best achievement by trainer(s) in junior competitions Yuri Razuvaev Award for best contribution to grassroots education Yuri Averbakh/Isaac Boleslavsky Award for instructional material in a book Tigran Petrosian Award for special achievement/trainer education An important change is that the Razuvaev Award, which in previous years was awarded “for Contributions to Trainers Education”, will now go to a grassroots trainer. We believe that this role is extremely important and too often it doesn’t receive the recognition it deserves, so we would like to contribute to changing that. There are also some novelties regarding the panel of judges, which again we tried to keep as diverse as possible with all continents represented, and keeping a balance between both experienced players and trainers. For the Trainers Award, Vladimir Kramnik, Antoaneta Stefanova and Alonso Zapata repeat in their roles, but they are now joined by Ahmed Adly, Maia Chiburdanidze, Ramachandran Ramesh, and the World Champion’s trainer, Peter Heine Nielsen. It must be noted that when a coach is made a member of the panel, that means he is automatically out of the race for the award. That is one of the main reasons for this rotation. The awards must be for achievement in the year of the award 2019, but earlier achievements may be mentioned to strengthen a nomination. Eligible to nominate are FIDE Presidential Board members, Continental and National Chess Federations, TRG Commission members, Principals of FIDE Endorsed Academies, FIDE Senior Trainers and past winners. All Nominations must be sent to TRG Secretary Peter Long via email at trainers@fide.com and received by 1st April. The Averbakh/Boleslavsky Award for “Book of the Year” is again judged separately. Nigel Short and Artur Yusupov repeat as judges, being joined on this occasion by John Donaldson. Nominations will be made by leading chess book publishers by 31st March with the shortlist published by 1st July and the winner will be declared on 21st July. The trophies will be awarded at the Moscow Olympiad, along with the Svetozar Gligoric Award for Fair Play. Books nomination formTrainers nomination formRegulations for the Annual FIDE Trainer Awards 2020
WGP Round 3: The World Champion stumbles in Lausanne
Harika Dronavalli dominates Ju Wenjun and moves to shared first place with four other players. Every loss by a World Champion makes headlines and we shall not go against this rule. White’s position did not look that promising at first sight, but as Harika Dronavalli explained in her post-game interview, she had small elements to play for. Having the better Bishop, she maneuvered skillfully in order to get rid of her doubled pawns on the kingside. Her technique worked wonders as she managed to create a passed pawn, after which Ju Wenjun could only resign. With hindsight, it is hard to pinpoint any real mistake by the Chinese. Anna Muzychuk scored an easy victory after Marie Sebag erred in the opening. The decisive mistake came as early as on move 14, after which the French could not avoid material losses. The third winner of the day is Alina Kashlinskaya, who overcame her countrywoman Alexandra Kosteniuk. The latter appeared much better prepared, as witnessed the respective time consumption of both players in the opening phase. It is unclear whether Kosteniuk forgot the details of her preparation or got surprised by the exchange on g5 followed by 18…f6. In any case, it seems as if retreating the Bishop all the way to c1 in order to disrupt the later defensive resource Ne7 would have been better than 19.Bd2. Kashlinskaya took over and never looked back. The three winners of the day join Nana Dzagnidze and Aleksandra Goryachkina, who drew their games. The Georgian ventured upon a bold exchange sacrifice against Antoaneta Stefanova, which set the board on fire. The fight became very complicated with inevitable inaccuracies coming from both opponents. Nevertheless, one gets the impression that Dzagnidze is the one who got closer to a win. Zhansaya Abdumalik made a quick draw with White. She seemed surprised, perhaps even disappointed, that her opponent Aleksandra Goryachkina chose the Berlin Defense in Ruy Lopez. After her loss on the previous day, the youngest participant in Lausanne decided to play it safe and settled for a theoretical draw by repetition. The encounter between Mariya Muzychuk and Pia Cramling was fairly balanced, and both players agreed to a draw on move 45. Results of round 3: Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) – Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS) 0-1Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ) – Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS) ½-½Antoaneta Stefanova (BLG) – Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) ½-½Harika Dronavalli (IND) – Ju Wenjun (CHN) 1-0Anna Muzychuk (UKR) – Marie Sebag (FRA) 1-0Mariya Muzychuk (UKR) – Pia Cramling (SWE) ½-½ Standings after round 3: 1-5. Dronavalli Harika (IND), Nana Dzagnidze (GEO), Anna Muzychuk (UKR), Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS) and Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS) – 26.-8. Pia Cramling (SWE), Mariya Muzychuk (UKR) and Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) – 1½9-11. Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ), Ju Wenjun (CHN) and Marie Sebag (FRA) – 112. Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) – ½ Program of Round 4, 5 March at 3 pm: Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS) – Pia Cramling (SWE)Marie Sebag (FRA) – Mariya Muzychuk (UKR)Ju Wenjun (CHN) – Anna Muzychuk (UKR)Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) – Harika Dronavalli (IND)Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS) – Antoaneta Stefanova(BLG)Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) – Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ) Follow all the action live with commentary by grandmasters Mikhail Gurevich and Keti Tsatsalashvili on the tournament website http://wgp2019.fide.com. Pictures in high resolution are available for the press at our official Flickr account. Text: Yannick PelletierPhotos: David LladaContact: press@fide.com
WGP Round 2: Two leaders emerge in Lausanne
The second round of the Women’s FIDE Grand Prix witnesses two decisive games, so that Vice-World Champion Aleksandra Goryachkina and Nana Dzagnidze lead with 1,5 points. The symbolic first move of the day was made by Gérald Béroud, Executive Vice-President of the Swiss-Chinese Association. To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between Switzerland and China, the sinologist was naturally asked to execute the starting move for Ju Wenjun. The World Champion indicated 1.d4, the opening which Mr. Béroud used to prefer in his youth when playing chess actively. Despite this lucky hand, Ju Wenjun did not manage to put real pressure on Antoaneta Stefanova’s Grunfeld and even had to find some precise moves to hold a draw. The first victory in this tournament came from Nana Dzagnidze, who beat newcomer Zhansaya Abdumalik after launching a mating attack. According to the Georgian, her opponent committed the lethal mistake quite early on. Indeed, 13..a6 allowed Dzagnidze to place her Bishop on the dangerous diagonal b1-h7, which later paved the way for the white Queen to h7. The other decisive game of this round occurred in the Russian duel between Aleksandra Goryachkina and Alexandra Kosteniuk. The vice-World Champion obtained some pressure from the opening, but things only became clear after Kosteniuk blundered with 23…Rc4. This allowed Goryachkina to exchange Black’s powerful e4-knight, after which the Kosteniuk’s position collapsed. The remaining encounters all ended in draws. Alina Kashlinskaya did not manage to cause any problems to Mariya Muzychuk. Queens came off the board early on and the game remained balanced until both players agreed to a draw on move 30. Marie Sebag got a definite advantage in her opening against Harika Dronavalli and won a pawn on move 13. Unfortunately for her, the multiple French champion blundered her exra pawn back with 25.b4, after which the draw was inevitable. The longest game of the day featured a 5-hour battle between Pia Cramling and Anna Muzychuk. The advantage slowly shifted toward the Ukrainian, who won a pawn on move 34. But the Swedish legend defended well – by sacrificing a second pawn Pia transposed into an endgame with opposite-colored bishops in which she secured a draw. Results of Round 2: Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS) – Mariya Muzychuk (UKR) ½ – ½Pia Cramling (SWE) – Anna Muzychuk (UKR) ½ – ½Marie Sebag (FRA) – Harika Dronavalli (IND) ½ – ½Ju Wenjun (CHN) – Antoaneta Stefanova (BLG) ½ – ½Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) – Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ) 1-0Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS) – Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) 1-0 Standings after round 2: 1-2. Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS) and Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) – 1½ points3-10. Ju Wenjun (CHN), Harika Dronavalli (IND), Antoaneta Stefanova (BLG), Anna Muzychuk (Ukr), Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS), Mariya Muzychuk (UKR), Pia Cramling (SUE) et Marie Sebag (FRA) – 111-12. Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) and Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ) – ½ Program of Round 3, 4 March at 3 pm: Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) – Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS)Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ) – Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS)Antoaneta Stefanova (BLG) – Nana Dzagnidze (GEO)Harika Dronavalli (IND) – Ju Wenjun (CHN)Anna Muzychuk (UKR) – Marie Sebag (FRA)Mariya Muzychuk (UKR) – Pia Cramling (SWE) All the action can be followed live with commentary by grandmasters Mikhail Gurevich and Keti Tsatsalashvili on the tournament website http://wgp2019.fide.com. Pictures in high resolution are available for the press at our official Flickr account. Text: Yannick PelletierPhotos: David LladaContact: press@fide.com