Arkady Dvorkovich: “We are absolutely ready to start the Candidates Tournament”
Press conference on the FIDE Candidates Tournament was held today, on April 13, in Moscow, at the Rossiyskaya Gazeta Media Center. Six days before the resumption of the FIDE Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg the speakers answered questions of journalists from all parts of the world, who were attending the event online. The speakers of the press conference were: FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, multiple times World Сhess Champion, Сhairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sverdlovsk Region Chess Federation Anatoly Karpov, participant of many previous Candidates Tournaments and the winner of 2016 FIDE Candidates Tournament Sergey Karjakin, and Director of the Candidates Tournament, Executive Director of the Sverdlovsk Region Chess Federation Albert Stepanyan. Arkady Dvorkovich started by thanking chess fans and media for waiting for the resumption of the tournament, which was stopped on March 26, 2020. “FIDE is very proud to announce the resumption of the Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg. After all the games are played it’ll be determined who will be the World Champion Challenger and play the World Championship Match against Magnus Carlsen in Dubai in December 2021. We are absolutely ready to start the Candidates Tournament. All players are aware of the medical protocol, and we are in daily contact with all participants and their teams. The wearing of a mask during the tournament is not necessary for the players. Players will be required to have negative PCR tests done no earlier than 72 hours before the start of the tournament. They will not be required to do the tests during the tournament unless a player has symptoms. I know that 2 players have made the vaccination, I’m not aware of the other players, it’s their personal decision. We have decided that spectators would be admitted to the tournament with some of the measures, such as wearing face masks and social distancing. Also, spectators must have either a vaccine, or antibodies, or a negative test for coronavirus infection.” Albert Stepanyan assured that organizers took all the measures to make the event safe for players and visitors: “The whole chess world was waiting for this tournament to be resumed. The first part of the event was quite nervous, we were not sure what to expect in this non-standard situation. Nowadays, we know how to adapt to these conditions. The organizers, medical authorities and all the other bodies involved in making this tournament have a clear vision of what to do and how to conduct this event on a high level”. He also added that although the access to the playing hall will be limited, visitors will be able to listen to the live commentary of the games on the venue: “Access to the commentary hall will be free for everyone in accordance with all the necessary medical standards”. Anatoly Karpov reminded the reason the tournament was stopped: “All this time we were waiting for reopening borders between countries, and despite the fact that Russia was one of the first countries to open the borders, European Union and China were still keeping them shut. All this time Yekaterinburg was ready to resume the tournament at any moment. The next game is going to start on April 19th, and together with the whole chess world we are looking forward to knowing, who is going to get the right to play against the World Champion Magnus Carlsen“. Sergey Karjakin expressed his opinion that the event will run smoothly: “As a chess professional, I would like to say that I’m also very eager to see the start of the tournament and get to know who will be the next contender. I’m sure the organizers will do their best and conduct the tournament on the highest level. I have been to Yekaterinburg many times and know well how strong the local chess federation is“. The winner of the Candidates tournament 2016 gave some advice to the players, based on his own experience: “I think the players should find the way to abstract away from the tournament situation and the fact it’s only 7 rounds left. They should mainly concentrate on their play. Under so stressful conditions everything will depend on who has better nerves, who will manage to be stable during the whole distance and not break down psychologically”. FIDE Candidates Tournament 2020-2021: This double round-robin tournament kicked off on March 16, 2020. However, it had to be abruptly stopped 11 days later when the Russian government announced the closure of air traffic with other countries, amid a rapidly escalating coronavirus pandemic. After a long wait, the challenger to Magnus Carlsen’s throne will be finally known by the 28th of April. After the first half, the French Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi are in the lead, with 4½ points after seven games. Fabiano Caruana (USA), Anish Giri (Netherlands), Wang Hao (China) and Alexander Grischuk (Russia) are in the chasing pack, all with 3½ points. Partners supporting the FIDE Candidates Tournament are: Sima-land, a wholesale online store, as the General Partner Algorand, as the Official Blockchain Partner Kaspersky, as the Official Cybersecurity Partner PhosAgro, a leading chemical company as the CFR General Partner Chessable, as Event Partner Pine Creek Golf Resort, the first and only world-class golf resort in the Urals, as event Partner Mercedes-Benz Russia, as the Official Auto Partner PRESS KITFIDE CANDIDATES TOURNAMENT:
“Chess for Freedom” program launched
As we always stress, promoting chess as a tool for education is one of FIDE’s top priorities. However, the scope of work in this field is not limited to chess in school programs, and there are many other opportunities. In recent years we have witnessed the successful introduction of chess in prisons, through different educative programs in Russia, England, the USA, Brazil, Italy and Spain, with very positive outcomes. These experiences show that chess improves behaviour, helping to reduce inmate violence and developing communication skills while promoting positive use of leisure time. Chess also drastically improves the decision-making capabilities of a group of people that, very often, due to the lack of opportunities and access to proper education, has ended up in jail after making a wrong choice in life. Besides, the game has a positive impact on the inmates’ overall health, fighting depression, stress and anxiety, and motivating them to change for the better. As a result, chess greatly contributes to efforts towards rehabilitation, and some studies have already proven it to reduce reoffending. It can be potentially life-changing, as many testimonies show. In prisons, just as in wider society, the impact of sport and games can be far-reaching. Aiming to support and promote this line of work, FIDE and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office (Chicago, USA) have signed a cooperation agreement, and together we are launching the “Chess for Freedom” program. This project, under the patronage of the 12th world champion Anatoly Karpov, will kick off with an online conference and an exhibition tournament with four participant countries, scheduled for May 11th. The conference will feature FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, the 12th World Chess Champion Grandmaster Anatoly Karpov, and Tom Dart, Cook County Sheriff, among other distinguished guest speakers. Starting at 4:00 pm CET (9:00 am US Central Time), it will be broadcast on the FIDE YouTube Channel. To take part in this conference, please fill out the registration form. If any of our readers know about any chess in prisons initiative or is willing to volunteer and start one, please get in touch with the FIDE Social Commission: socialchess@fide.com. We would like to hear about your experience, offer guidance and support where needed, and stimulate more research and papers being published on this topic.
Candidates 1956: Smyslov again!
The third Candidates tournament held in the Netherlands was from March 27 to April 30 of 1956, where ten players competed for the right to challenge the World Champion. In comparison to the previous event, (Zurich, 1953), FIDE reduced the number of participants from 15 to 10. The challenger of the previous World Championship match, Vasily Smyslov, was seeded directly, and the other participants qualified from the Gothenburg Interzonal (1955). The opening ceremony took place on 26 March in Vossius Gymnasium, Amsterdam where the chairman of the Dutch Chess Federation, Hendrik Jan van Steenis, and FIDE President, Folke Rogard, held welcoming speeches. The fifth World Champion (1935-1937), Max Euwe, conducted the drawing of lots. All the rounds except the tenth and eleventh (that were held in Leeuwarden) were played in Amsterdam. Unlike the Candidates in Zurich, which turned into a close duel between Smyslov and Reshevsky, this time around it was wide open almost until the very end as at least four grandmasters had a fair chance to challenge Botvinnik. After the first part of the event, Efim Geller was leading the field with 6 points (+3) followed by Paul Keres and David Bronstein with 5.5 points (+2). The winner of the Candidates in Zurich (1953) Vasily Smyslov was sitting on 5 points after spoiling an overwhelming position and losing to young Spassky in Round 9. Round 10 complicated matters even more, as Petrosian defeated Geller, whereas Keres went through a lost position against Bronstein, scored a very important victory and reached the +3 mark. The ex-leader’s problems did not end there – in the next round, Geller fell to Smyslov. To his credit, he managed to rebound in Round 11, then beat Filip with Black and caught up with Keres. In Round 14 Smyslov scored his fourth victory in the event and joined this duo. The culmination of the entire tournament came in Round 16 when Smyslov faced Bronstein who was just a half-point behind after prevailing over Geller the day before. Both opponents were pushing hard but it was Smyslov who came out on top. Later on, the seventh World Champion included this victory in all his best games collections. Smyslov – Bronstein Black has just played a natural 31…Bg5-d2? Which turned out to be a decisive mistake 32.e6! Bg5 (32…fxe6 33. Rf3+) 33.h4 fxe6 34.Bh3 Bd7 35.Rxa7 exd5 36.Rxd7 and White won on move 57. Smyslov made a strong claim for the first place as Bronstein dropped out of the race, but Keres was hard on his heels. The oldest participant (Paul was 41) tried a new energy-saving strategy in Amsterdam: if Keres did not manage to obtain a promising position after the opening he offered a draw. In the penultimate round, Keres achieved a won position against Filip and got a real chance to catch up with Smyslov. Keres – Filip An obvious 38.Qf6 was winning easily (38…Nxe5 39.Qxe5 Re8 40.Qc7), but Keres played an overly “accurate” move 38.Kh2?? which was met with 38…Rc4! – Black got a defensive idea of Qf4+. After 39.Qf6 Nxe5! Keres opted to play a piece down but resigned on move 91 after a stubborn but hopeless defense. It is worth noting though that even in the case of Keres’ victory, Smyslov had a much better chance for the first place as in the last round he faced a “weak link” Herman Pilnik with White whereas his main rival took on Petrosian with Black. Still, it would have been an exciting final round but it was not meant to be. Source: Wikipedia Smyslov took well-deserved first place winning his second Candidates tournament in a row, whereas Keres eventually finished second and secured a spot in the next Candidates tournament. A big group of participants tied for third place, but their paths were quite different. The leader after the first part of the event, Efim Geller, scored as many victories as Smyslov but suffered five defeats (two of them at the hands of the eventual winner). The last one, in the final round with White against Laszlo Szabo, was particularly vexing as a draw would have allowed him to tie for second with Keres. Unlike Geller, Szabo did not have a chance for first place at any point, but this victory catapulted him to the third position in the final standings. The winner of the Gothenburg Interzonal, David Bronstein, was not in his best form but remained in the contest for first place until Round 16. All in all, despite receiving a “gift” from Petrosian he lost two crucial games to his main competitors (Keres and Smyslov). Tigran Petrosian was hardly content with his result as arguably he became the main underperformer of the tournament – take for example two won positions the future ninth World Champion achieved in the games versus Bronstein and Smyslov in which he netted zero points. The first defeat was particularly bitter: Petrosian – Bronstein White is in total control but Petrosian played 36.Ng5?? ignoring the only Black’s treat and after 36…Kxd6 resigned immediately, although Bronstein had just a few seconds left on his clock. Nevertheless, it became evident for many that Petrosian would be one of the main contenders in the future Candidates tournaments. Indeed, six years later he won a marathon competition in Curacao (1962) and eventually became the ninth World Champion. The youngest participant of the event, 19-year old World Junior Champion Boris Spassky, also scored a decent +1. Just like Petrosian, he did not compete for first place, but beat the eventual winner, Smyslov, and Bronstein along the way and showed great potential. Who could ever imagine back then that it would be his first and last Candidates tournament? But that is exactly what happened – Spassky missed the next two cycles failing to qualify for Interzonals (it is just another piece of evidence attesting the high level of USSR championships) and later on played only Candidates matches. Miroslav Filip and Oscar Panno had their bright moments in the event but their level was not high enough to hold out against the top Soviet grandmasters. The event in Amsterdam (1956) showcased Smyslov’s dominance throughout the 1950s. Indeed, during this decade he won two Candidates tournaments, played three