Marcin Tazbir wins FIDE Online Cup for People with Disabilities
The first FIDE Online Cup for People with Disabilities is in the books. Held on May 21 on a popular chess platform playchess.com, this invitational five-round Swiss tournament brought together 38 participants representing 28 national federations playing not only for the title and glory but also for a €2,200 prize fund. In addition, three players (K. Shashikant, V. Panush, A. Bandawere) were randomly selected to take part in a prize drawing under the Checkmate Coronavirus project launched by FIDE earlier this week. During a brief opening ceremony the participants were greeted by FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich: “On behalf of FIDE, I would like to welcome all the player of the first FIDE Online Cup for People with Disabilities… I think it is a great effort by the organizing team and I hope that even in these difficult times, all the players, everyone who is online now can enjoy chess, show the best qualities and prepare for FIDE Olympiad, which will also have a competition for people with disabilities. Good luck everyone, stay safe and enjoy chess.” Before the start of the event, two highest-rated players Marcin Tazbir (Poland) and Sander Severino (Philippines) were considered to be the main favorites. Eventually, they finished with 4.5 points each with the Polish player taking the title thanks to better tiebreaks, but their way to the very top was not a smooth sail, to say the least. The champion had to work hard in the first two rounds as he found himself in tough positions in both encounters but managed to turn tables around and score two points. The second part of the event was much easier for him – after beating Mihail-Dacian Pribeanu in a solid positional style, he made a quick draw in the final game with Sander Severino. Photo: Rafał Siwik The silver-winner played his most important game in the fourth round with Yuri Meshkov (Russia) who was also on a perfect 3 out of 3 score. Sander Severino prevailed in this tensely contested battle and after drawing his last-round game tied for first place. To Meshkov’s credit, after a painful defeat, he bounced back in the last round and took bronze thanks to superior tiebreaks. “It was fascinating as I played in such an event over the internet for the first time. It was quite nice. I think all the participants were quite happy. The only thing that I could recommend is to invite more players. Maybe the number of rounds should be bigger as five rounds are not enough. I believe that through chess people are suffering much less at this tough corona-virus times,” the champion said in an interview right after the event. WIM Natasha Morales Santos from Puerto Rico showed the best result among women. She scored 3 out of 5 like Handenur Sahin and Annegret Mucha but had a better tiebreak. Final standings: 1 Marcin Tazbir 2535 POL 4,5 2 Sander Severino 2373 PHI 4,5 3 Yuri Meshkov 2258 RUS 4,0 4 Denis Palin 2091 RUS 4,0 5 Gabor Acs 2047 HUN 4,0 6 Mihail-Dacian Pribeanu 2169 ROU 3,5 7 Dmitrij Scerbin 2238 RUS 3,0 8 Vit Valenta 1994 CZE 3,0 9 Andrei Gurbanov 2284 ISR 3,0 10 Ilia Lipilin 1983 RUS 3,0
World Youth Chess Championships 2020 postponed
In response to the Romanian Chess Federation’s request to postpone the 2020 World Youth Chess Championships, the FIDE Management Board convened at 12:00 UTC on Friday, May 22, 2020, took its decision: “WHEREAS the FIDE Management Board received and duly examined a request from the World Youth Chess Championship 2020 organizers; and WHEREAS there still exists a large degree of uncertainty in the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic; NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: 1. To postpone the World Youth Chess Championship 2020 scheduled for September 2020 to a later date. 2. To determine the new dates of the World Youth Chess Championship 2020 in coordination with the organizers, taking into account the epidemiological situation. 3. To announce the new dates no later than four (4) months before the start of the event.“ Full document (pdf)
Lindores Abbey: Carlsen survives tense dogfight
Magnus Carlsen survived an almighty scare to scrape into the knockout stage of the Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge today. The World Champion was in serious danger of being dumped out of stage two of his $1 million signature tour early. Going into the last match of the day, Carlsen had scored just 50 percent in the tournament and was lying in seventh out of 12 with eight to advance. But in a must-not-lose game against 16-year-old hotshot Alireza Firouzja, the Norwegian gritted his teeth and got through. Afterward, Carlsen expressed total disgust at the way he played up until that point, but “I pulled through so I shouldn’t complain.” The tournament leaders, meanwhile, are Hikaru Nakamura on 7.5 and Sergey Karjakin on 7 who have both looked comfortable so far and without Carlsen’s dramas. Ding Liren and Wesley So also cruised into the next stage with So having drawn eight of his 11 games. Yu Yangyi also makes it through alongside the young Russian Daniil Dubov and Levon Aronian. The day started with a cagey opening round which saw five draws out of six. The only decisive game was a much-needed win for Ding over the Pole Jan-Krzysztof Duda. But the second round exploded as Carlsen lost spectacularly to the young Russian Daniil Dubov. Against Carlsen, the young Russian is fearless and has become something of a bogey player for the World Champion in recent weeks. He beat Carlsen in the FIDE Steinitz Online Memorial and he beat him again today in round 10 when an under-pressure Carlsen inexplicably blundered a knight. It led to gasps of amazement in the commentary box. “I’ve not seen him play like this in a very long time,” said IM Lawrence Trent. At that point, Carlsen was placed alongside Dubov and Levon Aronian, with Firouzja and Grischuk breathing down their necks. Duda and Wei Yi were already out of it having both had a tough tournament. Then in the final round, Dubov and Aronian faced each other and drew, securing their places. That left Alexander Grischuk out, despite his win against Wei. All eyes were on the Firouzja-Carlsen match which became a simple winner takes all game. Carlsen was visibly relieved when he finally broke through, but the tricky Firouzja had pushed him to the brink in an exciting game. The event, which runs until June 3, is being put on in association with the Lindores Abbey Heritage Society, which maintains the historic site. Tomorrow is a rest day but on May 23 coverage begins again with commentary in 10 languages at 16.00 CEST. Standings after Day 3: You can watch it live here Highlights English New files at around 23.00 CEST. FOR MORE INFORMATION:Leon Watsonleon@chessable.com+447786 078770