Lindores Abbey: Four-way tie after Day 1
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A glittering line-up of stars put on a stunning show of attacking chess on the first day of the Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge. World Champion Magnus Carlsen cruised through the first four rounds to set the pace again in the expanded 12-player second event of his $1 million Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. The Norwegian got off to a fast start with two wins in a bloody first two rounds. Other players also were in fighting mood as nine of the first 12 games ended decisively. However, Carlsen had to settle for draws in the third and fourth games against two of his biggest threats: Ding Liren and Hikaru Nakamura. Nakamura enjoyed a similarly smooth run and joins Carlsen and former US champion Wesley So in the lead on 3/4. Photo: Lennart Ootes Sergey Karjakin, who challenged Carlsen for the world title in 2016, caught up with the leaders after winning his final game vs. Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Of the other players, the Chinese pair Wei Yi and Yu Yangyi both struggled – perhaps due to the night-time zone where they were playing. Wei, particularly, seemed out of sorts as he finished on 1/4 and blundered a painful checkmate against Karjakin in his third game being a pawn up. Daniil Dubov, playing from Yekaterinburg where he has been since the Candidates tournament was halted, also scored only one point. It follows his final-day collapse in the FIDE Steinitz Online Memorial over the weekend. Wei and the Russian were joined in a four-way tie for the last place with the two talented youngsters Alireza Firouzja and Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Meanwhile, the two experienced Super Grandmasters Levon Aronian and Alexander Grischuk had mixed days scoring 2/4. Both will be hoping to catch up with the leaders tomorrow. Photo: Maria Emelianova IM Lawrence Trent said: “It has been a successful day for some and a not so successful day for others. “Magnus Carlsen has once again shown us fantastic chess for the most part, as has Hikaru Nakamura, they had a great game just now, very tense.” “Sergey Karjakin has also shown certainly that he’s motivated and Wesley So is also up there having done pretty well today.” The event, which runs until June 3, is being put on in association with the Lindores Abbey Heritage Society, which maintains the historic site. Coverage begins with commentary in 10 languages at 16.00 CEST. You can watch it live here Highlights English New files at around 23.00 CEST. FOR MORE INFORMATION:Leon Watsonleon@chessable.com+447786 078770
FIDE launches the biggest online chess marathon
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Dear Chess Friends, The worldwide community is facing an unprecedented crisis with the Coronavirus pandemic and I heartfeltly hope that my letter finds you in good health and spirit. FIDE, supporting the efforts of all national governments and people all over the world, has decided to promote an online international initiative in order to give a creative outlet to those that have to spend many hours at home. Additionally, we promote the ideals of unity and solidarity which must be manifested in such times. With the motto “Checkmate Coronavirus” we will organize at least 1500 online tournaments across all major chess platforms with hundreds of thousands participants running for 30 days and 720 hours non-stop. We’re planning to launch this project on May 18. The tournaments are aimed at all the chess players in the world, regardless of age, country or their level of play. There will be many special prizes, and all of them will be distributed not between those who score more points, but between winners of the random draw, thus giving a winning chance to everyone and reward first and foremost the value of participation. In line with this “Olympic principle” the major prize will be invitations to the 2021 Chess Olympiad in Moscow, for one week. I invite you to join this worldwide initiative in two ways: By actively organizing your online tournaments, which will also become part of the “Checkmate Coronavirus” initiative and will give your players a chance to take part in the prize draws. By spreading the news to the chess clubs and players of your country (or association), encouraging them to participate in “FIDE Checkmate Coronavirus” events, proving that chess is stronger than a disease! We stay safe, we stay creative, and we play online chess. Checkmate Coronavirus! Gens una Sumus! Arkady DvorkovichFIDE President How to be a part of “Checkmate Coronavirus? Guidelines for Federations & partners As the FIDE President pointed out in his letter, the International Chess Federation strongly encourages the National Federations to: A) Help to spread the news about this initiative, communicating with their club members and players. B) Getting actively involved, organizing their own tournaments within the Checkmate Coronavirus framework. Participants of tournaments organized by federations under the Checkmate Coronavirus initiative will also be eligible for the 1.500+ prizes. 5% of the players (and no less than 3), will get “raffle tickets” qualifying for the prize giving, second phase of the draw. In order to take part, a Federation should: 1) Inform the Checkmate Coronavirus team at info@checkmatecoronavirus.com about their intention to organize a tournament (or a series of tournaments) within the Checkmate Coronavirus project, with a minimum notice period of 24 hours The required information is: – Name of the Federation– Contact person– Tournament administrator– Plattform where the tournament will be held.– A complete schedule for the tournament (date, starting time, and ending time)– Time control for the event– Link of the tournament (if it has been already scheduled)– Additional notes If the Federation wants to organize more than one tournament, it can specify accordingly the details and schedule for each tournament. 2) The Federation must schedule the tournament(s) and send the links with the final results to the Checkmate Coronavirus administrative team, to the email info@checkmatecoronavirus.com. 3) Send a complete file with the result, in .xls format, including the following information:– Name of the tournament– Time control– Place– Nickname– Score– Number of finished games The administrative team can help in this task if requested. 4) Abide by the rules described in the Checkmate Coronavirus regulations. 5) Include a clear reference to the Checkmate Coronavirus project in all the promotional materials for the tournament.* *(Please remember that any materials -digital or printed- bearing the FIDE logo must be sent to marketing@fide.com for approval) More information Checkmate Coronavirus has a dedicated website, where you can find a “frequently asked questions” section: www.checkmatecoronavirus.com/faq. You can also follow regular updates via social media: Facebook – www.facebook.com/checkmatecoronavirus Instagram – www.instagram.com/checkmatecoronavirus Twitter – www.twitter.com/CheckmateCOVID The official hashtag we will be using is #CheckmateCoronavirus We encourage you to use the images above on your website/social media accounts to help us promote the event. Lastly, we would like to thank our partners in this project, Chess.com, Lichess.org, Chess24.com, and FIDE Arena Online, for their valuable help and enthusiastic support towards this initiative.
FIDE DIS Commission meeting summary
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May 19, 2020: FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich and FIDE DIS Commission held an online meeting to exchange plans and ideas on how to continue moving forward, keeping chess on top of the activities for players with disabilities. FIDE DIS members have reported to the FIDE President on the long-term plan of activities FIDE DIS prepared for the players with disabilities. Among them, there are at least three online chess competitions in open, women, and junior categories. The first online event, FIDE Online CUP for Players with Disabilities 2020, starts on 21 May on a popular online platform playchess.com with 38 chess players representing 28 national federations from different groups of disabilities participating. Many players with disabilities are looking forward to competing in this competition, bringing together participants from all around the world. It will serve as a rehearsal for the Competition for the Disabled People, which will be a part of Chess Olympiad. A significant initiative that FIDE DIS started last year – the seminar “Equal Opportunities” – will be continued this year and it is already scheduled for September. At this seminar, different lecturers will speak up to the audience via the Internet on the problems, issues, and recent developments. FIDE DIS Commission has also discussed the steps toward including chess for the disabled into the Paralympics program. The members of the commission put forth the idea of presenting chess to the audience of the next year Paralympics in Tokyo.