Nepomniachtchi wins Candidates Tournament with a round to spare

Ian Nepomniachtchi sealed his victory in the Candidates tournament by securing a draw with the white pieces against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The Russian Grandmaster wins the event with a round to spare and will challenge the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen at the end of the year in Dubai, with a prize fund of two million euros at stake.  This draw left the Frenchman definitely out of the race, but the decisive result came just a few minutes later when Anish Giri resigned in his game with Alexander Grischuk. Despite showing some of the best chess in his career during this second half of the Candidates Tournament, Anish did not have his best day today. Grischuk scored a victory that helped his countryman Nepomniachtchi to achieve his goal.  Nepomniachtchi, who won the 2002 World Championship in the under-10 age group ahead of Magnus Carlsen, will have a chance now, two decades later, to take the crown from the hands of the Norwegian.  “It’s a huge milestone in my career and perhaps in my life. I am extremely tired. It was one year of thinking about this tournament, one year of preparation. I am extremely happy to qualify for the match and I am extremely thankful to all and everyone who supported me, especially to my team,” said Ian Nepomniachtchi. Fabiano Caruana defeated Wang Hao, who mishandled a symmetrical and roughly equal position. Ding Liren took full advantage of Kirill Alekseenko’s mistake in a much better position and scored a victory. Ian Nepomniachtchi – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (½ : ½) Ian Nepomniachtchi changed his opening choice once again and started the game with 1.Nf3. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave responded with a rare variation of the English Opening, in which Black fianchettoes both bishops, but at the same time relinquished control over the center. Ian Nepomniachtchi pointed out that, as someone who plays the Gruenfeld Defence himself, he knows very well that 1.Nf3 is an annoying option for the black player. “One of the variations that I prepared at home was played today.” Ian improved White’s play in comparison with the recent online game Grischuk – Dubov and obtained a very promising position. White exchanged Black’s potentially dangerous bishop on g7, while the other bishop remained locked on b7. With no Black’s counterplay in sight, Ian began slowly preparing a pawn-breakthrough on the queenside. “I was playing today with a fighting mindset, I tried in every possible way to complicate the position, to be tricky. But of course, winning on-demand with Black is not an easy task and it can very easily backfire”, said Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Maxim went for a pawn sacrifice and managed to complicate matters. But at the moment when Black had some chance to seize the initiative, the French grandmaster unexpectedly decided to exchange all the major pieces. Nepomniachtchi could have played for a win without any risk, although objectively the position was closer to a draw. However, at that very moment, it became obvious that Ian’s closest pursuer Anish Giri has a hopeless position against Alexander Grischuk. Nepomniachtchi took a practical decision and offered a draw that secured his first place in the tournament. Alexander Grischuk – Anish Giri (1:0)  The Dutch grandmaster, playing with black did not burn bridges in the opening and opted for a Queen’s Indian Defence. After the exchange of both pairs of bishops, a calm position arose on the board with a small but stable edge for White. Alexander Grischuk pointed out that he was terrorizing his opponent with a draw, considering that if Anish decides to take a risk he might end up in an inferior position. He added that he analyzed this variation together with Vishy Anand. According to Anish, he lost his sense of reality at some point and taking no heed of White’s threats. In particular, he underestimated the move 25.Qe2, after which it turned out that Black’s counterplay with f7-f5 was not the best idea. Out of despair, Giri still went for this continuation, but Grischuk mercilessly dashed all Anish’s hopes. After the queen exchange, the Dutchman defended in an ending two pawns down for a while, but had to resign on move 51. “It was a very poor game. I think it was the combination of a mindset that does not suit the position and a heavy lack of understanding. I made a lot of terrible mistakes.” “Ian put me under a lot of pressure,” said Anish Giri at the press conference. Wang Hao – Fabiano Caruana (0:1) In the Alapin system of the Sicilian Defence, a position with a symmetrical pawn structure emerged on the board, with isolated central d-pawns blocking each other. White had a minimal advantage since his opponent had to defend the d5-pawn, but it was the only weakness in Caruana’s position. Around move ​​23-24, Wang Hao silently offered a draw by repetition, but Caruana decided to continue the fight and started advancing his pawns on both wings. Vladimir Kramnik, who was commenting on the game, criticized this decision, feeling that only Black could have problems here. However, it worked very well for Caruana, as the Chinese grandmaster cracked under pressure and allowed his opponent to activate his pieces. Wang Hao lost a pawn soon and threw in the towel on the 42nd move. Kirill Alekseenko (Russia) – Ding Liren (China) (0:1) Kirill Alekseenko chose a solid system with d2-d3 in the Two Knights Defence again just like in his game with Wang Hao. Ding Liren responded with a very ambitious plan. First, he pushed d6-d5, and then sacrificed the central pawn but got some pressure in the center and on the kingside. White outplayed his opponent in a complicated maneuvering battle and got a seizable advantage. Trying to complicate the position, the Chinese grandmaster started a very risky operation. He sacrificed his bishop, tying up the opponent’s pieces and threatening checkmate on the back rank. Alekseenko failed to find a beautiful sequence, which would help him to fend off all the threats and achieve a decisive advantage (47.Bb2 followed by 48.Nf3) and simply overlooked the opponent’s threat. The Chinese grandmaster restored the material balance,

Magnus Carlsen storms into lead

Carlsen extends unbeaten streak to 10 Nakamura moves ominously up the leaderboard Top 8 tomorrow progress, bottom 8 go out Magnus Carlsen cranked up the gears to move smoothly into the lead in the New In Chess Classic on Sunday. The World Champion said felt “comfortable” as he stretched his unbeaten run in the $100,000 online event to 10 games.  Breathing down Carlsen’s neck are long-time rival Hikaru Nakamura, who is also 10 unbeaten, and Iranian wunderkind Alireza Firouzja.  Nakamura showed he is back in form and nearly broke through against Carlsen in the final round of the day. Firouzja, meanwhile, got himself into the mix by closing the day with two wins.  Carlsen eventually finished on 7/10 – half a point ahead of Nakamura and Firouzja. Along the way, the champion scored three draws and beat fellow Norwegian Aryan Tari and Gawain Jones, England’s first representative on the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour.  Carlsen’s win over Jones had the unintended consequence of humiliation for English Grandmaster David Howell who, as a result of losing a bet, was forced to commentate on the next round wearing a Teletubbies outfit.  Carlsen is now nearly home and dry for the knockout stage which starts on Tuesday and said his best is yet to come.  After Round 9, Carlsen said: “In general the score is good. I feel like if I had played at the very top of my game, maybe could’ve won a couple more, but I think am in the lead so I am obviously am happy about how it’s going.”  During rounds 6 to 10, Carlsen overtook Azerbaijan’s Airthings Masters champion Teimour Radjabov who appeared to play safely after a good first day. Radjabov recorded four draws and a single loss to teen star Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa to end up still in touch a point behind Carlsen.  Having impressed yesterday with 3/5, Pragg had a tougher time on Day 2. The youngster lost his first two before saving an unlikely Round 8 draw against fellow countryman Vidit Gujrathi.  That sparked him into life and Pragg then took down Radjabov before suffering a heartbreaking loss to Tari. Norway’s 2017 World Junior Champ claimed three victims on Day 2 and goes into tomorrow with a fighting chance of making it to the knockouts.  However, yesterday’s whipping boy Johan-Sebastian Christiansen is already out but he rallied today. The 21-year-old picked up three much-needed draws – including a solid outing against Carlsen. Christiansen had shown his spirit beforehand by saying he was going for his fellow Norwegian’s neck.  With the first 10 rounds of the three-day prelim stage completed, play will resume today at 19:00 CEST.  The field will be halved with eight going out and eight going forward to the knockout stage. For further information, please contact:  Leon Watson, PR for Play Magnus Group  leon@chessable.com+44 7786 078 770

Statement on the Fair Play decisions at the FIDE World University Championship

FIDE acknowledges that the decision of the Fair Play Panel of the FIDE World University Online Championship was made with due care and in accordance with the tournament regulations, and deems no further action to be necessary.  FIDE will not ask the Ethics and Disciplinary Commission to consider the extension of the recent sanctions imposed during the World University Online Championship. Further disqualification from other online tournaments or over the board chess events would require a higher level of proof.  While we recognize that the decision of the Fair Play Panel of the FIDE World University Online Championship was made with due care and in accordance with the tournament regulations, our goal is not only to keep the fair play principle strong in the game itself but also to treat the players fairly. We will continue to be strict on suspected cheating cases, while retaining an honourable attitude towards chess players, not unnecessarily stigmatizing them. Online tournaments have provided chess with a flexible and accommodative way to continue our active chess life even during the strongest restrictions. However, online chess has also notably increased the risk of a potential breach of fair play. Therefore, we as FIDE will be putting our maximum effort into improving our regulations, setting clear control procedures and continuously strengthening the practices and proficiency of Fair play panels of the tournaments.  Keeping the fair play principle strong is crucial for the reputation of chess, showing respect for players, organizers and the chess audience.

Gazprom becomes FIDE’s General Partner for the period 2021-2023

The International Chess Federation and PJSC Gazprom have announced expanding cooperation and signed a three-year agreement under which Gazprom becomes FIDE’s General Partner for the period of 2021-2023. The sponsorship agreement covers most of FIDE’s main competitions until 2023: the World Cup and Women’s World Cup in 2021 and 2023, the Olympiad in Moscow in 2022, the FIDE World Team Championships in 2021 and 2023, the Women’s Grand Prix series, and the FIDE World Junior Championships in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Management Committee for Gazprom: “We believe it is important to support popular sports, to create opportunities for the harmonious development of young people. Chess is a wonderful global game that fosters intelligence, strategic thinking, and self-control. These qualities are useful in every area of life. I am sure that the number of chess fans, including in our company, will only grow.” PJSC Gazprom has been a permanent partner of FIDE since 2019, providing invaluable support to chess worldwide. The company supported such landmark international competitions as the FIDE Online Olympiad 2020, the First FIDE Online Olympiad for Players with Disabilities, and the FIDE Online World Junior Rapid Chess Championship. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich: ”FIDE and Gazprom have a long-standing partnership with several key international tournaments held through our cooperation. Starting this year, Gazprom has become FIDE’s General Partner and this is undoubtedly the key to the global success of chess. Today we proudly observe chess regaining its huge popularity all over the world. The support by global companies such as Gazprom is, first of all, a significant contribution to unlocking the intellectual potential of the entire mankind.” About Gazprom Gazprom is a global energy company focused on geological exploration, production, transportation, storage, processing and sales of gas, gas condensate, and oil, sales of gas as a vehicle fuel, as well as generation and marketing of heat and electric power.  Gazprom is the global leader measured by natural gas reserves and production. The Company sells gas to Russian consumers and exports gas to over 30 countries within and beyond the former Soviet Union. Gazprom is the biggest gas supplier to Europe. Gazprom is among the top three oil and gas condensate producers in the Russian Federation, ranking number one nationally in terms of electricity generation among thermal generation companies, as well as thermal energy output.  More information: www.gazprom.com  Contact: pr@gazprom.ru

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Nepomniachtchi keeps sole lead after “bloody” Round 12

Ian Nepomniachtchi outplayed Wang Hao and is heading to the final rest day as a sole leader, while Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri were deciding who would become his main rival. The American grandmaster took a hard line in the middlegame, but lost the thread and let his opponent grab the initiative. Anish Giri found the precise way to convert his advantage into a full point and continues his pursuit of Nepomniachtchi. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won his first game in the second half of the tournament. He defeated Kirill Alekseenko, who misplayed a sharp line of the Caro-Kann Defense. Alexander Grischuk faltered closer to the time control and lost against Ding Liren. It was a truly remarkable round as for the first time in the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2020-2021, all four games ended decisively. Wang Hao – Ian Nepomniachtchi (0-1) Once again Ian Nepomniachtchi demonstrated his commitment to the “solid strategy” by opting for the Petrov’s Defence, which he had rarely used before. “I’m a new player to Petroff Defence, so I have no experience” admitted Ian at the press conference. Wang Hao chose a seemingly unambitious line with an early exchange of queens. However, Vladimir Kramnik, who was commenting on Round 12, explained that this “modesty” can be tricky and Black has to play accurately enough not to run into some troubles. “I was only thinking of how not to get into trouble. This position, of course, is equal, but it can be unpleasant sometimes as White very slowly builds up. I had no idea what to do, so I just started to move around to fix a structure” shared Ian his thoughts after the game. Wang Hao started spending lots of time, while Ian was responding quickly, coordinated his pieces, and achieved a very promising position. To avoid passive defence, Wang Hao pushed his pawn on the queenside to force massive exchanges. However, White did not manage not completely equalize and on move 39 the Chinese GM made a mistake and found his king off on the first rank. Wang Hao admitted that at some point he could not calculate anything and after the time control started playing like a 2200-rated player. Thanks to a strong a-passer, White had great chances to save the game, but Ian kept looking for opportunities, posing unpleasant problems for Wagn Hao. Already in a difficult position the Chinese GM made a final mistake and capitulated a couple of moves later. The leader Ian Nepomniachtchi on the tournament situation after 12 rounds: “I think it is still very complex and still two rounds to go.” Fabiano Caruana – Anish Giri (0-1) This extremely important game decided who would be the main rival of Ian Nepomniachtchi in the final stretch of the tournament. Giri chose the tricky move order in the Sicilian Defence trying to get the Sveshnikov system while avoiding the Rossolimo system (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 ). The most principled continuation for White could have led to a crazy position, where the white’s king has to move to the center of the board. Caruana deviated from this line and opted for a relatively quiet one. An original, approximately equal position with mutual chances appeared on the board after the opening. White voluntarily destroyed his pawn structure on the queen’s side, in order to get the central outpost on d5. Caruana was very optimistic about his chances, but Giri’s strong defensive move 20… Qf8! came as an unpleasant surprise for him. At this moment White should have switched to the fight for a draw by organizing the c4-c5 but according to Caruana, he didn’t see how to continue after Nc4. The American grandmaster lost the track of the game while the Dutchman felt the right moment to push for a win. Black got an important strategical advantage by exchanging the dark-squared bishops and securing an “eternal” stronghold on e5 for his knight. Although Giri made an inaccuracy on move 40, it did not affect the evaluation of the position as hopeless for White. Five moves down the road Fabiano hoisted the white flag. Anish Giri: “You have to be lucky of course [to win with black pieces] … I felt Fabiano was quite enthusiastic about his position but after 20…Qf8, which is a good move, he probably realised that he is no longer playing for an advantage … I think it was a big let-down for him.” Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – Kirill Alekseenko (1-0) Kirill Alekseenko tried to surprise his opponent by essaying a new opening – the Caro-Kann Defense. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave returned a surprise by choosing a sharp system with 3.f3, which is not a fixture in his opening repertoire. Kirill chose the most ambitious continuation, however, by his own admission, he mixed up several variations, and by the 10th move Black’s position looked precarious. Maxime pointed out that there are many very complex variations in this line, and he didn’t remember all the details but remembered enough to gain an advantage. Alekseenko rejected a central pawn sacrifice and was forced to defend an endgame, in which White had two bishops, active pieces and a mobile pawn center. To complete the development, Black had to give up a pawn but did not get sufficient compensation. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave instructively converted his advantage: the Frenchman was methodically improving his position not giving his opponent a single tactical chance, and confidently won the game. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave: “I feel mostly relieved. It’s the case of opening gone bad. I was happy with how I was calculating things. Hopefully, it was alright and it would mean I can move on with my tournament and try to play two good games.” Ding Liren – Alexander Grischuk (1-0) The opponents tested one of the popular lines of the Queen’s Gambit, which Alexander Grischuk himself tried to break through exactly 10 years ago.  During the Candidates Matches in Kazan he had White pieces against Levon Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik and obviously, extensively analyzed this somewhat passive, but extremely solid line. However, in the 12th round of the Candidates he played this line with Black. Alexander penetrated with his

Deac and Ciolacu win Romanian 2021 Championship

The Romanian Chess Championship saw the triumph of teenagers: Bogdan-Daniel Deac (aged 19) and Alessia-Mihaela Ciolacu (aged 17) won the national titles for the first time in their careers. Both Open and Women’s championships were 9-round Swiss tournaments held in Iasi, Romania from April 19-25. In the Open tournament it came down to the wire as Bogdan-Daniel Deac and Costica-Ciprian Nanu were heading into the final round with an equal amount of points – 6½  out of 8. Costica-Ciprian who had black pieces and slightly better Buchholz over his rival played it safe and made a quick draw with George Stoleriu. It was up to Bogdan-Daniel Deac (pictured below) to make his move and the rating favourite did not disappoint. He gradually outplayed David Gavrilescu and came out on top a half-point ahead of Nanu. Three players shared third place but the Buchholz tie-breaks favoured George Stoleriu, who clinched bronze. Photo: John Saunders Final standings: 1. Bogdan-Daniel Deac (2625) – 7½2. Costica-Ciprian Nanu  (2503) – 73. George Stoleriu (2349) – 6½4. Samuel-Timote Ghimpui (2315) – 6½5. George Albu  (2050) – 6½6. Vlad-Cristian Jianu  (2532) – 67. David Gavrilescu (2476) – 68. Nicodim-Cosmin Stepanencu (2104) – 69. Lucian-Ioan Filip  (2442) – 610. Matei-Marius Ignat  (1978) – 6 The women’s event produced a minor sensation. The fifth-rated Alessia-Mihaela Ciolacu (pictured below) turned in an excellent performance scoring 7½ out of 9 points and took her first national title at the tender age of 17. Photo: Alessia-Mihaela Ciolacu Facebook page The rating favourites Mihaela Sandu and multiple Romanian champion Corina-Isabela Peptan finished a half-point behind and tied for second place. Mihaela took silver thanks to better tiebreaks whereas Corina-Isabela had to settle for bronze. Final standings: 1. Alessia-Mihaela Ciolacu (2052) – 7½2. Mihaela Sandu (2268) – 73. Corina-Isabela Peptan (2392) – 74. Ema Obada (1940) – 65. Miruna-Daria Lehaci (2188) – 5½6. Andreea-Marioara Cosman (2164) – 57. Maria Anghel (1918) – 48. Lia-Alexandra Maria (1713) – 49. Aureliana-Eugenia Pancu   (1878) – 3½10. Daria-Ana Marcu (1533) – 211. Alexia Andries (1553) – 1½12. Maria Pirvan (1529) – 1