Shehzad Chouhan and Gul Mehak win Kashmir Day Cup Chess Championship
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Chess Federation of Pakistan (CFP) continued onboard chess tournaments and kept players’ motivation and morale high. From February 5-7, the CFP held the first National Chess Championship dated to Kashmir Solidarity Day and named “FIDE Rated Kashmir Day Cup Chess Championship 2021”. The participants competed in three categories: Open (more than 90 players), Women (8), and Juniors (22). The total prize fund of the event amounted to 630 USD. Although Shehzad Chouhan was outside of top-3 in the starting rank he turned in an excellent performance conceding his opponents just one draw. Tanveer Gilani finished second, just a half-point behind the champion, whereas Khali Butt took bronze. Final standings Open: 1. Shehzad Chuhan – 7½2. Gillani Tunveer – 73. Butt Khalil Ur Rehman – 6½4. Hazza Tariq – 6½5. Sibt Ali – 66. Rashad Rafique – 67. Muhammad Amin – 68. Yousuf Azeem Makhdoomi – 69. Saad Saeed – 610. Muhammad Saif Ullah – 6 Gul Mehak claimed the title in the women category (4½ points out of 5), followed by Tasneem Ahmed (4 points) and Anum Amjad (3 points). Final standings Women: 1. Gul Mehak – 4½2. Tasneem Ahmed – 43. Anam Amjad – 34. Alina Zahid – 35. Sehrish Rehman – 26. Zoya Azfar – 27. Adan Khalid Shah – 1½8. Inaya Khan – 0 In the junior category, Rehan Khan Nasir came out on top with a perfect score a full point ahead of Hussain Shahid, Abdullah Zubair and Malik Usman. Final standings Juniors: 1. Rehan Khan Nasir – 52. Hissan Shahid – 43. Abdullah Zubair – 44. Malik Usman – 45. Khan Zarafulla – 36. Muhammad Fouzan – 37. Muhammad Abdullah – 38. Qasim Bashir Waleed – 39. Issam Bashir – 310. Muhammad Zaidn Asfar – 3
Update of the FIDE Endorsed Academies Program
The FIDE Trainers Commission (TRG) keeps making progress in developing a comprehensive, meaningful and relevant FIDE Academies Program in 2021. For both FIDE and TRG, it is very important that FIDE Academies don’t simply bear the FIDE name just as a sign of endorsement, but that they are also active and serve as leaders in their area of work, with currently licensed trainers, and can work closely with us for the development of the game. That was not always the case in the past. FIDE now demands Academies to meet the standards established by the TRG and to use an established reporting procedure. Outstanding balances have been cleared since some academies were in arrears for years. The 2020 reports which were to submitted by the 31 January 2021 deadline have been used by TRG to better understand their work and to assist with any financial difficulties resulting from the pandemic. As it was mentioned in a previous newsletter, FIDE Trainer Seminars now adopt a teaching curriculum where the subjects have moved beyond just teaching how to play better chess through the inclusion of topics such as psychological and training issues and the use of the technology. These are skills critically needed by trainers today, and TRG will be looking to offer continuous learning through a series of Trainer Professional Education and Development Workshops to be organized together with FIDE Academies. FIDE and TRG have also developed three significant activity proposals/programs specifically for FIDE Academies in 2021: Inaugural FIDE Academies Annual Conference & Championships Having a Special Trainers Foundation Course for the Teaching of Young Players (FIDE Rated 1200-1700) Co-operation with TRG for the organizing of Seminars, Workshops, and Camps Currently, at the start of 2021, there are 43 academies (14 in Asia, 13 in Europe, 9 in Africa, and 6 in the Americas). In comparison, there were 74 academies at the end of 2018, but 43 of them were either terminated due to long-standing arrears or decided to opt out, while 12 new academies were added in 2019 and 2020.
Call for submissions: FIDE Veterans Support Program 2021
The International Chess Federation is pleased to announce the continuation of its support to chess veterans. A number of grants will be awarded next month to distinguished players, coaches and organizers aged 65+. Anyone over this age, who has contributed to the development of chess and who is in an unstable financial situation, is eligible to submit an application. We invite federations, clubs, and players themselves to send their applications, including a CV of the nominee, to the FIDE Secretariat: office@fide.com. The deadline for submissions is March 1, 2021. The total amount to be distributed this year will largely depend on the donations received through the fundraising that we are holding alongside the first World Corporate Chess Championship, to be held February 19-21. In 2020, we allocated to this program an initial amount of €35.000, which was later expanded with an additional €21.000. Combined, this amounted to a total of €56.000, a record since FIDE launched this program in 2012.
Carlsen in control: Magnus dominates first quarter-final set
World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen took control of his Opera Euro Rapid quarter-final with a dominating display today. The Norwegian’s form has been patchy of late but he turned it up a notch against Russian dangerman Daniil Dubov on Day 1 of the first knockout stage. Carlsen won the opener then, after a draw in the second, turned the screw on Dubov again to win today’s set 2.5-0.5 with a game to spare. Dubov has troubled Carlsen several times in the last few months and knocked out the champ at the same stage of the Airthings Masters. But the world number 1 was too strong today. Speaking about being drawn against Dubov, Carlsen said: “Certainly this was not an ideal pairing for me considering what happened last time. But every tournament is a new one so I thought I just need to focus on playing well.” Carlsen now goes into tomorrow’s final set with a one-set advantage and hot-favorite to make it to the $100,000 Meltwater Champions Chess Tour event semis. “I’m playing well,” Carlsen said. “But this is only a job half done and it is a big day tomorrow as well and I don’t take anything for granted.” He added: “It’s not going to be easy tomorrow, regardless of what happened today tomorrow will be tough.” A downcast Dubov said: “I cannot say I played way below my standards. I think I was just outplayed so it was sort of well deserved.” While Carlsen won his first game, the other three quarter-final ties started with cagey draws. However, in the second round, the results came in. Wesley So suffered a devastating blunder and fell behind against Polish hope Jan-Krzysztof Duda. So’s mistake turned a winning position around and the Skilling Open champ resigned soon after leaving 22-year-old Duda 1.5-0.5 ahead. Duda’s lead didn’t last long as World Fischer-Random Champion So hit back immediately to level the tie. The American then struck again in the final game to take a 1-0 lead into tomorrow. The Frenchman Maxime-Vachier-Lagrave also scored a sparkling win in the second game to take the lead against Levon Aronian. It sent the set to a critical final game. Aronian seemed in control but with his clock running down the Armenian made a mistake and MVL steered the game to safety. It was the draw MVL needed to win Day 1. In the match between Teimour Radjabov and Anish Giri, the tournament’s form horses, it took until the third game for the fireworks to start. Radjabov – who was unbeaten with 15 consecutive draws – took the lead leaving Giri in a must-win situation going into the final game. Giri dug deep and pulled the set back from the brink by winning the fourth to finish the day 2-2. The quarters reach their climax tomorrow from 17:00 CET. Dubov, Duda, and Aronian must launch comebacks to progress to the semis. Opera is the official browser of the Tour and title partner of the event which carries a $100,000 prize pot. The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, organized by the Play Magnus Group, is the first full season of top-level online chess events. It comprises nine Regular and Major tournaments culminating in a $300,000 Final which starts in September. All matches are played in a rapid chess format with blitz and “armageddon” tie-breaks if needed. For further information, please contact: Leon Watson, PR for Champions Chess Tourleon@chessable.com+44 7786 078 770