Qualifying stage – Day 1 recap
The European Online Blitz Chess Championship 2020 started with the welcoming words from the President of the European Chess Union Zurab Azmaiparashvili. 353 players from 40 European federations, including 134 Grandmasters and 100 International Masters, took part in the first qualifying stage. The 11-round Swiss tournament with time control 3+2 kicked off at 6 pm CET. The best 16 players (after the anti-cheating check is completed) qualify for the play-off which will take place today (19th Dec), starting at 8 pm CET. Five players scored 9 out of 11 points: Radoslaw Wojtaszek (POL) (pictured below), Robert Hovhannisyan (ARM), Levan Pantsulaia (GEO), Vladimir Onischuk (UKR), and Aleksandar Indjic (SRB). Photo: PAP/Andrzej Grygiel David Navara (CZE), GM Gawain Jones (ENG), Mikhail Demidov (RUS), Alexei Shirov (ESP), Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU), Eltaj Safarli (AZE) netted 8½ points each, followed by Deniz Ozen (TUR), Matthias Bluebaum (GER), Mustafa Yilmaz (TUR), Manuel Petrosyan (ARM) and Georg Meier (GER) with 8 points out of 11. Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) (pictured below) scored 7 points and showed the best result among female players. She is followed by Anna Sargsyan (ARM) – 6 ½ points and Monika Socko (POL) with 6 points. Photo: David Llada Apart from the women prizes (200 EUR each), special prizes are established for the three best senior players and boys and girls U18 and U20. Among the seniors, the best player is Avigdor Bykhovsky (RUS) with 5 ½ points, followed by Igor Efimov (MNC) and Leon Mazi (SLO) – with 5 points. All three received an invitation for the OTB European Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship 2021. In the junior category, Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU), Kanan Garayev (AZE), IM Nikolozi Kacharava (GEO), and Anna Sargsyan (ARM) secured their invitations to 2021. Chess enthusiasts and the chess community have an opportunity to follow the games live with English commentary provided by WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili, GM Marcin Tazo, and WFM Maria Leks and Polish commentary provided by Infoszach. The organization of the championship is supported by the city of Katowice, the Ministry of Sport of the Republic of Poland, and Mokate. For more information please contact office@katowice2020.eu Official website: https://www.katowice2020.eu/Social media : Facebook / Twitch #katowice2020 Text: Bojana Bejatovic FIDE Fair Play Commission ACP Board Member & Social media manager
John Fawole Chess Awards 2020: Full list of winners
John Fawole Chess Awards, the most prestigious and anticipated chess awards in Nigeria, was held virtually on the 12th of December 2020 and streamed Live on YouTube, Facebook and Periscope. The program began with the director of John Fawole Chess Awards, FM Fawole John Oyeyemi giving a welcoming speech. He started by giving a brief introduction to the awards. According to him “John Fawole Chess Awards started rewarding the excellence of chess players in the year 2016. The John Fawole Chess Awards believes in rewarding excellence of chess players, chess administrators, chess coaches, organizers, or anyone doing anything related to chess…” He went further to congratulate everyone who will be winning an award, after which he appreciated the organizers of The John Fawole Chess Awards by stating his sincere gratitude. “My sincere gratitude goes to the team of organizers, the panel of judges, and everyone that has shown us support and encouragement for us to have a successful chess award.” He also thanked subscribers virtually present at the awards, thereafter officially opening the virtual edition of the John Fawole Chess Awards 2020. The winners of the John Fawole Chess Awards are determined by an online vote and this year’s awards were no different. The panel of judges was however impressed with the high turnout of entries within a short time frame.” According to a statement released by the panel of judges, “A big thank you to everyone who has shown support by taking out their time to vote online for this Chess Awards. We have been totally amazed by the turnout of entries in this edition within a short time frame (less than 3 weeks and we had over a thousand entries)…” The panel of judges who presided over this year’s awards are: Oluwalasinu Lanre Seye as the chairman of the panel; Abolade Odugbesan; Damaryam Yakkon Kenneth; Sunny Eyenghe; Adegbayi Oluwadara. The panel did a review of the nominees in each of the 16 categories to determine the winners. Below you can find a full list of the categories, nominees, and winners: 1. MAN CHESS PLAYER OF THE YEAR NOMINEES: ADU OLADAPO BALOGUN OLUWAFEMI AJIBOLA OLANREWAJU ANWULI DANIEL WINNER: IM ANWULI DANIEL 2. WOMAN CHESS PLAYER OF THE YEAR NOMINEES: PEACE SAMSON PERPETUAL OGBIYOYO TORITSEMUWA ONOKPITE EMMANUELLA TRUST WINNER: TORITSEMUWA ONOKPITE 3. JUNIOR CHESS PLAYER OF THE YEAR (MALE) NOMINEES: OYAKHILOME DAVID OYAKHILOME DANIEL EYETONGHAN CALLISTUS OKEMAKINDE TOLUWANIMI OKEKE ISAAC WINNER: OKEKE ISAAC 4. JUNIOR CHESS PLAYER OF THE YEAR (FEMALE) NOMINEES: NWAEZE ESTHER PELEMOH JESSICA IYEFU ONOJA IYANU OLOWE WINNER: PELEMOH JESSICA 5. ORGANIZER OF THE YEAR NOMINEES: BODE DUROTOYE ALI BRUVS CHESS MEDIA OGUNWOBI TOLULOPE MALOGY JUNIOR CHESS CPAN CHESS LEAGUE OSFI CHESS DASAOLU ROTIMI EGUAVOEN EDWARD WINNER: DASAOLU ROTIMI 6. ONLINE CHESS ORGANIZER NOMINEES: BRUVSCHESS ONLINE NIGERIACHESS.COM MALOGY- SAMSON ZLATER OFUBU 64 SQUARES- TITOLUWANI RAPHAEL CHESS NIGERIA ONLINE- SAMSON ZLATER OFUBU WINNER: SAMSON ZLATER OFUBU AND TITOLUWANI RAPHAEL (CO-WINNER) 7. CHESS CLUB OF THE YEAR NOMINEES: CREEKSIDE CHESS CLUB, PH ORCHID-LEKKI CHESS CLUB WINNER: ORCHID-LEKKI CHESS CLUB 8. MOST OUTSTANDING CHESS TEAM OF THE YEAR (MALE) NOMINEES: EDO CHESS TEAM TO (NSF 2018) DELTA CHESS TEAM TO (NSF 2018) BAYELSA CHESS TEAM (NSF 2018) LAGOS CHESS TEAM TO (NSF 2018) OYO CHESS TEAM TO (NSF 2018) WINNER: OYO CHESS TEAM TO (NSF 2018) 9. MOST OUTSTANDING CHESS TEAM OF THE YEAR (FEMALE) NOMINEES: EDO CHESS TEAM TO (NSF 2018) DELTA CHESS TEAM TO (NSF 2018) BAYELSA CHESS TEAM (NSF 2018) LAGOS CHESS TEAM TO (NSF 2018) OYO CHESS TEAM TO (NSF 2018) WINNER: OYO CHESS TEAM TO (NSF 2018) 10. YOUTH TEAM OF THE YEAR (MALE) NOMINEES: FCT JUNIOR CHESS TEAM OGUN JUNIOR CHESS TEAM OYO JUNIOR CHESS TEAM BAYELSA JUNIOR TEAM WINNER: BAYELSA JUNIOR TEAM 11. YOUTH TEAM OF THE YEAR (FEMALE) NOMINEES: KWARA STATE JUNIOR CHESS TEAM DELTA STATE JUNIOR CHESS TEAM BAYELSA STATE JUNIOR CHESS TEAM LAGOS STATE JUNIOR CHESS TEAM WINNER: LAGOS STATE JUNIOR CHESS TEAM 12. ONLINE BLITZ PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD NOMINEES: MICFEL DAPSAY DANIEL_ANWULI ODIROVSKI OLAROVFAN WINNER: OLAROVFAN 13. ARBITER OF THE YEAR AWARD NOMINEES: OGBONNAYA OBINNA OYELEYE P. OLAWALE BOYO PAUL KEHINDE WINNER: OGBONNAY OBINNA 14. SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARDS NOMINEES: ADESEWA OYEWOLE OSAYUWAMEN PEACE SALEH IM ODION AIKHOJE DR. PIUS OKIGBO DR. SYLVANUS EBIGWEI OLISANYE ARC. THEOPHILUS CAIAFAS MR. OMOTAYO ROBERTS TOP RADIO 90.9 KENNIS FM 104.1 OGUNSIKU BABATUNDE 15. SPECIAL SERVICE AWARDS NOMINEES: FEMI SOLAJA OGBONNAYA OBINNA BOYO PAUL KEHINDE 16. CHESS REPORTER OF THE YEAR NOMINEES: SOLOMON EDIVRI TROY WINNER: SOLOMON EDIVRI TROY Watch The John Fawole Chess Awards on Facebook The purpose of The John Fawole Chess Awards is to celebrate excellence and encourage every chess enthusiast. We are very positive you all feel encouraged and we look forward to seeing more Chess Champions next year! Text: Adesewa Oyewole, BruvsChess Media