David Navara wins Czech Chess Championship
David Navara won his tenth title of the Czech chess champion at the championship held in Pilsen. The highest-parted participant lived up to his status of favorite and conceded his opponents only three draws in nine rounds. The silver came to Viktor Láznička, the second-ranked Czech player; another favorite Zbyněk Hráček took bronze. “I am glad that I managed to win the tournament. Maybe I played a little better than the others, but not by much, more like the first among equals,” the champion humbly said. Navara won his first title of Czech champion back in 2004 when he was only 19 years old. Navara went through a difficult moment in Round 8 when he had to defend an inferior position against Jiří Štoček, the winner of last year’s Czech Open, but he managed to neutralize the opponent’s pressure. It was one of Navarre’s three draws for the entire tournament – he also slit points with the two other medalists. In Round 4 David had an almost six-hour battle with Zbyněk Hráček, his predecessor in the position of Czech number one and former 20th chess player in the world; in Round 6 he drew with the Czech number two Viktor Láznička. Before the last round, Navara was a half-point ahead of four players and by defeating Karel Malinovsky he secured the title. Out of four pursuers, only Láznička scored a victory and took silver. Zbyněk Hráček tied for third place with several players but was awarded bronze thanks to better tiebreaks. A young prodigy Václav Finěk turned in a solid performance and finished 14th, leaving behind GMs Peter Michalík or Pavel Šimáček. Final standings: 1. David Navara (2719) – 7½2. Viktor Láznička (2638) – 73. Zbyněk Hráček (2563) – 6½4. Jiří Štoček (2595) – 6½5. Thai Dai Van Nguyen (2569) – 6½6. Milan Orság (2300) – 6½7. Daniel Šorm (2343) – 6½8. Karel Malinovský (2474) – 69. Daniel Kožúšek (2307) – 610. Josef Havelka (2367) – 6 Text and photo: https://www.chess.cz/
Gazprom Brilliancy Prize
Gazprom, General Partner of the first Online Chess Olympiad, is the sponsor of the Brilliancy Prize for the best game of the competition. A special trophy has been specially designed for the occasion, and FIDE has invited a panel of popular Streamers and YouTubers to be the judges. They will announce their votes along the week in their respective channels, and the final winner will be announced on Friday, once all their votes have been gathered. Judges have been asked to give 3 points to their favorite game, 2 to their second favorite, and 1 to the third. This is the initial* list: Anna Cramling (Sweden) Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/annacramling Anna-Maja Kazarian (Netherlands) Twitch: www.twitch.tv/annamaja Antonio Radic (Croatia) Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AGADMATOR/videos Ayelen Martinez (Argentina)Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/ayelenchess Carlos Matamoros (Ecuador)Twitch www.twitch.tv/gmmatamoros Daniel King (UK) Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/PowerPlayChess Daniel Naroditsky (USA)Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/gmnaroditsky Eric Rosen (USA)Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/imrosen Fiona Steil Antoni (Luxemburg) Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/fionchetta Jesse February (South Africa)Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/hashtagchess Maria Emelianova (Russia)Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/photochess Michael Rahal (Spain)Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/mikerahal/ Sagar Shah & Amruta Mokal (India)Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChessBaseIndiachannel Simon Williams (UK)Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GingerGM Do you have a favorite game from the Olympiad? We invite you to post the critical position from a favorite game on social media, tagging FIDE and/or using the hashtag #ChessOlympiad. We will make sure that the judges take your suggestions into account. (*One more judge is pending confirmation, due to problems with their schedule. They are expected to confirm along today).
Call for Interest: Chess Olympiad 2022
Dear Member Federations and chess organizers: The 2022 World Chess Olympiad in Minsk (Belarus), as well as a number of side events, are at risk after the current organizers failed to comply with their obligations. At the moment, FIDE is expecting the current Organizing Committee to confirm their final position regarding their organizational and financial duties. Unless the Minsk organizers meet their obligations in the upcoming days, FIDE will be forced to change the hosting country for the 2022 World Chess Olympiad and related events. In that eventuality, FIDE would launch a call for bids on September 7 for the right to host the following events: 1. 2022 World Chess Olympiad and 2022 FIDE Congress (Expected for August 2022)https://handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/Olympiad2024.pdf 2. 2021 FIDE World Cup (Expected for September 2021)https://handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/WorldCup2021Regulations.pdf 3. 2020 FIDE Women’s World Cup 2020 (Expected in April 2021)https://handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/WWorldCup2020Regulations.pdf The Federations or private organizers who wish to submit a proposal in response to this call for interest should do so before October 7, 2020, using FIDE’s official email account: office@fide.com. FIDE could give additional time to provide government guarantees. Likewise, FIDE reserves the right to extend this deadline.
Professional Education & Development Workshops for Trainers
Technology advances fast, and chess trainers need to have a good grasp of the latest developments in many fields: chess engines, databases, different learning platforms… “While logic and experience can get someone far, there is currently a huge gap of knowledge of what really the chess engines can and what they cannot do, which deprives the trainer to use them in their full potential”, explains Peter Long, Secretary of the Trainers Commission (TRG). To address this need, the TRG Commission has organized several 1-day seminars dedicated to explaining to chess coaches how to make the most of all these tools in their day-by-day. The lecturer is Nikos Ntirlis, a renowned chess author and a highly specialized professional in the fields of data analysis, adult learning theories, and sales engineering. The first of these seminars took place on August 29, but chess coaches still have the chance to join two of the upcoming ones: on September 5, and September 12 (starting from 9 AM CET). You can find more information in the following brochure, as well as the TRG website. https://trainers.fide.com/2020/08/03/professional-education-development-workshops-for-trainers/ https://www.dropbox.com/s/1qsr34icz0vs7qq/Analysis%20Engines%20Workshop.pdf?dl=0 E-mail for registration: trainers@fide.com
Lanka and Rogule win Latvian Championship
Last Sunday, August 30, the Latvian 2020 Classic Chess Championships came to the end in Tallink Hotel Riga. GM Zigurds Lanka (pictured above) won his second title in the open section, whereas Laura Rogule became the Lavian women’s chess champion for the tenth time. The 9-round open Swiss tournament brought together 39 participants battling for the title. Zigurds Lanka (2391) finished first with an excellent score 7.5/9 – a full point ahead of GM Tom Kantan (2499) and FM Ilya Semyonov (2368) taking silver and bronze respectively. Interestingly enough Zigurds’ first title dates back to 1993, while Semyonov won his first medal in open championships and completed first of the three required IM norms. Halfway through the championship, Semyonov was leading the field, but in Round 6 he was defeated by Lanka, he took the top spot. The future champion did not give up his position until the end of the tournament, scoring two more victories over Arsen Batashev (2149) and Alexander Jazdanov (2248). In the final round, Lanka made a quick draw with FM Matiss Mustap (2363) and secured the title. This year, many new players with a relatively low rating took part in the tournament, so a lot of them managed to significantly increase their rating. Kirill Bogdanovičs (1611) – plus 128 points, Artjoms Tolmačevs (1655) – 97, Emīls Jānis Mieriņš (1730) – 96, and Miķelis Vingris (1767) – 95. Final standings: 1. Zigurds Lanka (2391) – 7½2. Toms Kantans (2499) – 6½3. Ilja Semjonovs (2368) – 6½4. Matiss Mustaps (2363) – 65. Vladimir Sveshnikov (2426) – 66. Maksims Golubovskis (2234) – 5½7. Roland Berzinsh (2378) – 5½8. Arsens Batashevs (2149) – 5½9. Guntis Jankovskis (2256) – 5½10. Aleksandrs Jazdanovs (2248) – 5½ 24 participants competed in the ladies’ tournament. Laura Rogule (pictured below) entered the competition as an undisputed favorite and lived by to her status by scoring 7.5 points out of 9 (no losses). Laura won her first title back in 2003 at the age of fifteen. WFM Linda Krūmiņa (6.5) took silver, Madara Golsta (6) earned bronze – the first medal in her adult chess career. Text and photo: Official website of the Latvian Chess Federation