Pairings for the FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup announced
At the opening ceremony held on May 4, 2020, the teams-participants of the FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup were paired in accordance with the drawing of lots: 1. Europe2. China3. India4. USA5. Rest of the World6. Russia That means on May 5, 2020, the following matches will be played: Round 01 Europe – RussiaChina – Rest of the World India – USA Round 02 Russia – USARest of the World – IndiaEurope – China Each team captain decides on his team composition for each match. This decision should be announced not later than 30 minutes before the beginning of the relevant round. In case of substitution on male boards, the reserve player goes to board 3. The tournament takes place May 5-10, 2020. The group stage runs May 5-9, with two rounds per day. The Superfinal is played on May 10. The games start 15:00 CEST / 9 a.m. Eastern / 6 a.m. Pacific. Date Pacific time Eastern time CEST Event May 5 6 a.m. 9 a.m. 15:00 Round 1 May 5 7:45 a.m. 10:45 a.m. 16:45 Round 2 May 6 6 a.m. 9 a.m. 15:00 Round 3 May 6 7:45 a.m. 10:45 a.m. 16:45 Round 4 May 7 6 a.m. 9 a.m. 15:00 Round 5 May 7 7:45 a.m. 10:45 a.m. 16:45 Round 6 May 8 6 a.m. 9 a.m. 15:00 Round 7 May 8 7:45 a.m. 10:45 a.m. 16:45 Round 8 May 9 6 a.m. 9 a.m. 15:00 Round 9 May 9 7:45 a.m. 10:45 a.m. 16:45 Round 10 May 10 7 a.m. 10 a.m. 16:00 Superfinal The tournament will be broadcast live across multiple outlets including FIDE’s and Chess.com’s own channels across Twitch, YouTube, Mixer, Twitter, and other international streaming platforms. With an estimated audience of several million worldwide, commentary by chess experts will be conducted in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Turkish and Polish. You can watch live broadcasts on FIDE Youtube channel. Round 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmDtpw5HJEQ Hosts: GM Robert Hess and IM Daniel Rensch. More information in our initial press release about the event. FIDEwww.fide.comDavid Lladapress@fide.com+34 623 021 120 CHESS.comwww.chess.comNick Bartonnick@chess.com
Carlsen wins the Magnus Carlsen Invitational
Magnus Carlsen has won the tournament with his name on it after winning a thrilling final match against Hikaru Nakamura 2.5:1.5. It was vintage Magnus in Game 1 as the World Chess Champion ground down Nakamura in a drawish endgame, while Game 3 was a positional masterpiece. Sandwiched between, however, was an equally impressive technical win by Hikaru Nakamura. The US star almost repeated that feat in the final game, but Magnus held him to a draw to claim the $70,000 top prize. “Happy to have pulled through!” he said. In the first game, Hikaru was playing confidently with Black and seemed to go on to solve most of his problems, but as so often in games between these two players, the pressure applied by Magnus eventually told. His h-pawn proved too strong in the ending – Nakamura resigned on move 84. In Game 2 Magnus accepted a big space disadvantage after playing the Queen’s Gambit Declined and then went for premature simplifications, met with instant disapproval from the commentators. Here is a position after 30.Qa3! (a move Carlsen actually missed) Black is paralyzed with the white queen ready to punish any attempts by Black to become active, and after 30…Kg7 31.Nde5 Bxe5 32.fxe5 Hikaru went on to get sweet revenge, winning a technical ending every bit as impressively as Magnus had the game before (the World Champion also had one or two chances to save himself, with e.g. 36…gxf5!). That was a tough blow for Magnus, but it helped to get over it that in the next game he blitzed out 11 moves of theory until 11.Ng5, which had given Radek Wojtaszek an excellent position against Dmitry Andreikin in 2019 Jerusalem Grand Prix. Hikaru sank into a 3 minutes 33 seconds think, and when he continued, his first new move 13…Qe7!? seemed a dubious one. Magnus had the advantage and seized the chance to exchange down into an endgame, as he’d seen the crucial follow-up 25.Bd6-b4!, a move that gained high praise from Alexander Grischuk. This was one position where the rook and a pawn were better than two minor pieces, with the white kingside pawn majority ready to advance. Hikaru tried to stop that with the radical 28…g5?!, but only created more weaknesses, and it was very much a case of Magnus doing what he does best. The World Champion converted his advantage creating a positional masterpiece. In a game Magnus only needed a draw, he played the Cambridge Springs Defense, and on move 16 he found a break that surprised the commentators but seemed to be the perfect drawing mechanism. However, ten moves down the road Carlsen made a serious inaccuracy 26…Ke8? Hikaru didn’t hesitate to play the tricky 27.Rd7!, when 27…Rxc6?? would lose instantly to 28.Rxe7+, and after 27…Bf6 28.Rc5! Rxc6 29.Rxa7 Rxc5 30.Nxc5 Be7 31.Ne4 he was once again better in a technical endgame, with an outside passed pawn. It was far from easy for White, however, because if Hikaru exchanges minor pieces, as he eventually did, it only leads to a drawn rook endgame. Magnus was eventually able to draw by repetition and won the final. Hikaru Nakamura had pushed Magnus all the way and took home the $45,000 second prize: When asked to rank winning this event among his other achievements, Magnus summed it up: “It’s a big deal. Obviously, it would have been a disappointment if I hadn’t, I’m not going to lie, but yeah, I’m really, really happy both to beat Hikaru today but especially to have gotten through against Ding. I never felt like I really got in full gear in this tournament and I’m just so happy that I managed to pull through. I don’t know how it ranks. Certainly, it’s one of a kind so far, so that’s I suppose a very good thing.” The full breakdown of the prizes for the Magnus Carlsen Invitational was as follows: Text: Colin McCourty, Chess24.com Photo: Chess24.com
FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup Rosters: Team Rest of the World
The “Rest of the World Team” is, as it would be expected, the most colorful one, including players from Azerbaijan, Iran, Egypt, Peru, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. The FIDE President, Arkady Dvorkovich, will be acting as a captain for this team. Captain: Arkady Dvorkovich A son of an international chess arbiter Vladimir Dvorkovich, Arkady Dvorkovich was elected president of FIDE in October 2018, succeeding Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. He makes his debut as a team captain. Teimour Radjabov (Std. 2765 Rpd. 2758) One of the youngest grandmasters ever, Teimour Radjabov shot to fame in the Linares 2003 after beating Garry Kasparov. In November 2012, he has reached the highest rating in his career (2793) and became the #4 in the world. Together with team Azerbaijan Radjabov has won European Team Championship in 2009, 2013, and 2017. His chess resume includes a joint-first place in 2007 Tata Steel Chess, winning the Elista Grand Prix (2008), Geneva Grand Prix (2017), and the FIDE World Cup (2019). Radjabov is currently rated ninth in the world. Alireza Firouzja (Std. 2728 Rpd. 2703) The second-youngest player ever to reach a 2700 mark, Alireza Firouzja won the Iranian Championship at the age of 12 and has a reputation of the most promising talents. The leader of the junior rating, he became the runner-up in the World Rapid Chess Championship 2019 and two months later won Prague International Chess Festival Masters 2020. Bassem Amin (Std. 2686 Rpd. 2608) The highest-rated player of Africa, Bassem Amin became the first GM representing this continent to surpass a 2700 rating mark. A multiple African and Arab chess champion, he has participated in five Olympiads as a member of the Egyptian team. Mariya Muzychuk (Std. 2544 Rpd. 2506) The former World Women’s Champion and two time Women’s Champion of Ukraine, Mariya Muzychuk won two bronze medals with her national team in the Olympiads (2012 and 2014). In 2014 she won the best woman prize in Gibraltar Open and earned a GM norm. Mariya Muzychuk is currently ranked sixth in the women’s rating list. Jorge Cori (Std. 2652 Rpd. 2599) A twice World Youth Champion and four-time Pan American champion in his age category, Jorge Moises Cori Tello has played for the Peruvian team in the Chess Olympiads since 2010. Participating in 43d Olympiad in Batumi (2018) he scored 7.5 out of 8 points with a rating performance of 2925. Dinara Saduakassova (Std. 2500 Rpd. 2412) Two-time World Youth Champion in different age categories (2010 and 2014), Dinara Saduakassova played for the Kazakhstani national team in four Olympiads (2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014) and two Women’s World Team Chess Championships (2013 and 2015). In October 2019, she earned her first grandmaster norm after scoring 5.5 out of 11 points in the open section of the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss. Dinara is currently ranked eleventh in the world.