Vasif Durarbayli wins Azerbaijani Championship
Vasif Durarbayli is a new Azerbaijan Champion. The 29-year old native of Sumgait won his first national title and punched a ticket to the FIDE World Cup. The Azerbaijani Championship took place in Nakhchivan from May 03-18 2021 and was held in two stages. Twelve participants competed in a round-robin with the top four advancing to the knockout stage. Each match consisted of two classical games. If tied, a 2-game rapid match (15 min + 10 seconds) was played, followed by a blitz portion (5 min +3 second) and an Armageddon game if needed. Vasif Durarbayli, Nijat Abasov, Eltaj Safarli, and Nidjat Mamedov (2609) advanced to the playoff stage: 1 GM Durarbayli, Vasif 2606 7½ 2 GM Abasov, Nijat 2665 7 3 GM Safarli, Eltaj 2598 7 4 GM Mamedov, Nidjat 2609 6½ 5 GM Asadli, Vugar 2572 6½ 6 IM Suleymanli, Aydin 2535 6 7 GM Abbasov, Farid 2528 5½ 8 IM Muradli, Mahammad 2449 5½ 9 GM Iskandarov, Misratdin 2535 5½ 10 IM Gadimbayli, Abdulla 2470 4 11 IM Garayev, Kanan 2331 3½ 12 GM Sevdimaliyev, Urfan 2371 1½ In the semifinals, Vasif Durarbayli whitewashed Nidjat Mamedov whereas Nijat Abasov prevailed over Eltaj Safarli in the rapid games after two draws in classical format. In a dramatic final match, the future champion lost the third game with white pieces after two draws and found himself in a do-or-die situation. Durarbayli went through a lost position with black in Game 4 but managed to turn the tables on his opponent, levelled the score, and went on to win both blitz encounters. In the match for third place, Nidjat Mamedov defeated Eltaj Safarli and took bronze. Official website: asf.org.az Photo: official website of Azerbaijan Chess Federation
Albania wins first Online Chess Cup by Teams of Francophonie
Following the trend of developing online chess, the AIDEF – Francophone Chess Association – organized the first edition of the «Coupe d’échecs en ligne par équipes de la Francophonie». This tournament with the time control of 15 minutes + 5 seconds, run from May 15-16, attracted 30 amateur teams from four continents, selected by their federations. In order to participate, every team had to be affiliated with AIDEF and include at least one female player, one player below 2000 ELO and three players below 1800 ELO. The competition took place on Tornelo gaming platform under the supervision of international arbiter Laurent Freyd (France), assisted by arbiters Zoheir Slami (Morocco), Pierre Denommee (Canada), Mario Kran (Ivory Coast) and Timothé Scaillet (Belgium). On the first day, the event fell a little behind the original schedule due to some technical problems, but eventually, it kicked off to a great start. After the first day of the competition, Albania grabbed the lead winning all five matches. However team Moldova leapfrogged Albania on the second day in Round 10, going to the final round as a clear leader. The Moldovans had a seemingly firm grip on the situation, but unfortunately for them, the team lost the final match against Canada, which allowed Albania to come out on top. After all the games were analyzed and verified by the fair play commission the final results were announced: 1. Albania – 18 points (+9 -2) 2. Moldova – 17 (+8 =1 -2) 3. Canada – 16 (+6 =4 -1) Congratulations to the winning team which consisted of four young players: 1. WCM Shuqja, Klean (15 years old) 6.5 points / 11 2. Xhembulla, Aleksander (15 years old) 7.5 points /11 3. Ramaj, Ergit (13 years old) 4 points /11 4. Boci, Petro (17 years old) 9.5 points / 11 The winners will receive a medal and a copy of the album “Chess in Art” https://chessinart.com and a commemorative trophy provided by the Albanian Chess Federation. The awards ceremony, medals and trophies will be in presented during the closing dinner of the 8th edition of the “Rencontres Internationales des Echecs Francophones” at the end of 2021. All the results and the complete ranking were published on Chess-results: https://chess-results.com/tnr558897.aspx?lan=1&art=0&rd=11 The Francophone Chess Association thanks all the players, the captains and the arbiters for their participation and invites you for the “Championnat d’échecs en ligne par équipes de la Francophonie” which will be reserved for national teams with no ELO limit. Text: Patrick VAN HOOLANDT, AIDEF president Official website: https://aidef-tournois-en-ligne.com/