Ennio Morricone: legendary composer and avid chess fan dies at 91
Ennio Morricone, the legendary Oscar-winning composer of more than 500 film scores, has died today, at the age of 91. He played competitive chess in the mid-50s, and he took it very seriously: in an effort to improve, he even trained with the twelve-time Italian champion, IM Stefano Tatai. His passion for chess began by pure chance, when he came across a chess book when he was a boy, and ended up organizing a chess tournament with some other kids who lived in the same building. But his father noted that chess was interfering with his music studies, so he put an end to this new hobby, and Morricone would not play again until he was already a consecrated musician. “Had I not become a composer, I would have wanted to be a chess player, but a high-level one, someone competing for the world title”. He definitely had the talent, and he even drew in a game against Boris Spassky in what he describes in his memories as the peak of his chess career. “He started with a King’s Gambit, a terrible move and a difficult one for me. Thanks to this he took the initiative, but on my fifth move I tried a Bobby Fischer invention (a move by his historical rival), and I managed to force a triple repetition”. Morricone also had the chance to play against chess giants, the likes of Kasparov and Karpov, “and I lost dreadfully. I also played against Judit Polgar, who was pregnant at the time, and Peter Leko in Budapest. Those were great occasions. Leko was kind enough to offer me a rematch after I made a beginner’s mistake in my opening move. I lost anyway, but in a decidedly more honorable way”. “I have always admired Ennio Morricone”, posted Judit Polgar earlier today on Twitter. “I was fortunate to meet him, he challenged me in two rapid games in 2004 at the Hungarian Academy of Rome. I will always remember him and continue listening to his music as his artwork and compositions were one of a kind”, she concludes. Not surprisingly, Morricone made friends with another chess-musician, Mark Taimanov. And he often cited Mikhail Tal and Bobby Fischer as his favorite players. “I have often met players with whom I have nothing in common, but they turn out to be sensational chess players. Spassky, for instance, seemed like a very laid back, easygoing person, but on the chessboard, he was fiercely determined”.
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Correspondence between FIDE and Iranian Chess Federation
08-06-2020 Dear Mr. Nikoukhesal, I’d kindly remind you, that FIDE rejects any kind of discrimination against a country, private person or group of people on account of race, skin colour, ethnic, national or social origin, citizenship, birth, age, status, wealth, disability, language, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, sexual orientation, political opinions, or any other reason. This rule is strict, determined as one of the basic principles of FIDE, and explicitly spelled in the FIDE Charter (Article 4.4). At the same time, in recent years, there have been repeated cases where athletes from Iran refused to participate in games with Israeli citizens. In some cases, comments were even received, that such games were ignored intentionally for political and ideological reasons. It is important for FIDE that everyone abides the Charter, therefore we ask Iran’s Chess Federation to confirm in writing its position on the admissibility of the mentioned games (between Iranian and Israeli players). Failure to give such confirmation will force FIDE to discuss the compliance of Iran’s Chess Federation’s values with the principles of FIDE and the IOC. Sincerely yours, FIDE PresidentArkady Dvorkovich 22-6-2020 To the President of FIDE Dear Mr. Arkady Dvorkovich Hope this email finds you well. Following your letter dated 6 June 2020, I would like to inform you that the Chess Federation of Islamic Republic of Iran has been constantly working in compliance with the rules and efforts of FIDE, and adhere to FIDE’s statutes. As you are aware, Chess is a popular sport discipline in Iran and especially the young generation took a favorable attitude toward it. The names of around 44,000 Iranian Chess players have been recorded in FIDE, which demonstrates the level of importance of this sport in our country. The Chess Federation of Iran has been in permanent adhere to Olympic Charter. Since you have been informed in previous correspondences; at the International and Open tournaments, the athletes make the decision to participate at any types of events and they carry out the registration process themselves; therefore, this is the athlete who determines about the types of event to participate in, without rendering any advisory opinion. Hence, the responsibilities of all decisions should be shouldered by the athletes themselves. Moreover, considering the efficient cooperation among FIDE and the Chess Federation of Iran, I would like to invite you to pay a visit to our country, sports equipment and the capacity of our country at your earliest desirable convenience. We are ready to any kind of cooperation for the development and growth of this sport within FIDE’s framework. Sincerely yours, Acting President of Iran Chess FederationFarhad Nikoukhesal
Titles approved by Q2 2020 FIDE Council Online
FIDE publishes the list of titles approved by the 2020 Q2 FIDE Council Online. GRANDMASTER GM 5040299 Akash, G IND GM 4901266 Munkhgal, Gombosuren MGL GM 4900774 Nasanjargal, Urtnasan MGL GM 1046730 Schoppen, Casper NED INTERNATIONAL MASTER IM 8609950 Pang, Tao CHN IM 26028999 Gatineau, Yovann FRA IM 25034430 Audi, Ameya IND IM 35028600 Pranesh, M IND IM 4901606 Agibileg, Uurtsaikh MGL IM 1195360 Baum, Jonasz POL IM 1113380 Lewicki, Miroslaw POL IM 1232622 Banzea, Alexandru-Bogdan ROU IM 960047 Budisavljevic, Luka SRB IM 925799 Panic, Nenad SRB IM 1721003 Pantzar, Milton SWE IM 14113406 Borsuk, Konstantin UKR IM 14129558 Roshka, Yevgeniy UKR WOMAN GRANDMASTER WGM 13702971 Dauletova, Gulmira KAZ WGM 1130790 Warakomska, Anna POL WOMAN INTERNATIONAL MASTER WIM 8608709 Ren, Xiaoyi CHN INTERNATIONAL ARBITER IA 411450 Elwin, Adrian G ENG IA 32015283 Martinez Martinez, Pedro Jose ESP IA 12917648 Mutschelknaus, Yves GER IA 4245199 Kontini, Angelina GRE IA 5088526 Chavan, Deepak IND IA 25708651 Gourav Kumar Ray IND IA 25649833 Sandesh, Nagarnaik IND IA 5087872 Sunil, Soni IND IA 12518948 Oliazdeh, Pedram IND IA 5300444 Shamieh, Jamal LBN IA 1601962 Wolfinger, Dominik LIE IA 22000712 Al Hinai, Hamdan Hamood OMA IA 14320142 De Winnaar, Benjamin RSA IA 24100498 Biryukov, Mikhail RUS IA 24129275 Druzhinina, Natalia RUS IA 1708260 Naslund, Mikael SWE IA 2005832 Brownscombe, Thomas USA FIDE ARBITER FA 7501587 Hermann, Martis AHO FA 3201791 Feldman, Vladimir AUS FA 3204081 Hardegen, Andrew AUS FA 3203360 Kordahi, Nicholas AUS FA 1605992 Wadsack, Winfried AUT FA 13400835 Dibirova, Ruhangiz AZE FA 2634120 Wan, Corina CAN FA 2634139 Wan, Karen CAN FA 6505694 Nunez Gonzalez, Joshebeth Elena CRC FA 353507 Drahotsky, Lubos CZE FA 514608 Tiiva, Eetu FIN FA 13604635 Kekelidze, Nino GEO FA 12915750 Born, Jonathan GER FA 24693316 Goettel, Tobias GER FA 16238460 Kawelke, Anton GER FA 705012 Jakobetz, Andras HUN FA 5063434 Aishwarya IND FA 25058657 Balasubramanian A IND FA 5097983 Chandan Kumar Prasad, Jharkhand IND FA 35046349 Makadiya, Atul IND FA 25631071 Meena, R IND FA 35070576 Murukaananth, A IND FA 46681434 Muthukumarasamy J IND FA 5012066 Ramesh, Kumar N IND FA 25125737 Shraddha, Vinchwekar IND FA 2252519 Golshani Poor Komeleh, Soghra IRI FA 12505366 Khalesi, Vahid IRI FA 12540889 Pakgohar, Mahdi IRI FA 2500256 Harding, Tim D IRL FA 11607327 Gertners, Gunars LAT FA 5706696 Sabri, Shamsuddin MAS FA 5704421 Syed Hussin, Syed Iskandar Shah MAS FA 16504615 Obrovic, Pavle MNE FA 13002864 Thandar, Aye Win MYA FA 1056069 Van de Krol, Sernin NED FA 3809277 Altamirano Porras, Ricardo PER FA 3827836 Llave Escobedo, Elia Emma PER FA 3801160 Soto Dextre, Elmer PER FA 3812731 Velarde Munante, Gloria Isabel PER FA 1936069 Lopes, Bruno Ricardo POR FA 24166308 Zhdanov, Alexander D. RUS FA 5700779 Lim, Chin Lee SGP FA 938114 Markovic, Miroslav R SRB FA 14000407 Bayramsahedov, Serdarguly TKM FA 10000631 Kimera, Innocent UGA FA 14129388 Timoshenko, Irina UKR FA 30910633 Buklis, William USA FA 2064545 McGreen, Maya USA FA 30962030 Reed, Louis USA FA 3903133 Romero Gonzalez, Jose Gregorio VEN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZER IO 7501587 Hermann, Martis AHO IO 7501595 Martis, Vladimir AHO IO 13522361 Tamkovich, Maria BLR IO 304689 Pisk, Peter CZE IO 1400789 Stuhr, Finn DEN IO 803731 Luciani, Valerio ITA IO 10802150 Sembei, Mutua KEN IO 15000192 Stojcevski, Zoran MKD IO 9311769 Alnuaimi, Ahmed M. UAE CONDITIONAL ON RATING GM 14001128 Atabayev, Yusup TKM CONDITIONAL ON INFO IM 11602988 Reimanis, Ritvars LAT IO 941328 Tomic, Goran MNE Arbiters’ Titles (from Seminars) approved by the 2020 Q2 FIDE Council Online Trainers’ Titles approved by the 2020 Q2 FIDE Council Online