Ponkratov and Guseva win Higher League of Russian Championship
The Higher League of the 74th Russian Championship and the 71st Russian Women’s Championship ended in Cheboksary last Monday. Five best players of each Swiss tournament qualified for the 2021 Russian Championships Superfinals. Both competitions with classical time control were held from June 26 to July 5. Having scored 7 points out of 9, Pavel Ponkratov (pictured above) became the winner of the open event. Maksim Chigaev and Aleksandra Goryachkina finished a half-point behind and tied for second place. Aleksandr Rakhmanov and Alexander Motylev also secured their spots in the Superfinal netting 6 points each. Women’s vice-champion Aleksandra Goryachkina made a real splash in the event. Competing with an array of strong GMs she turned in an excellent performance and became the first woman to qualify for the Russian Championship Superfinal (open section). Aleksandra picked up 15 rating points and surpassed a 2600 mark in live rating. Marina Guseva came out on top in the women’s tournament scoring 8.5 points out of 9 – two points ahead of Anastasia Bodnaruk, Daria Voit, and Evgenija Ovod who shared second place. Alina Bivol (Moscow) is in fifth place with 6 points. Official website: https://ruchess.ru/en/ Photo: Anastasia Domchenkova
Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners announced
The International Chess Federation is pleased to announce the first Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners, organized as a part of the Chess for Freedom program. The project, aimed at introducing chess as a tool for education and social inclusion in prisons of different countries, is carried out under the 12th World Champion Anatoly Karpov’s patronage. The first events of the Chess for Freedom program were held earlier this year. The FIDE Online Conference “Chess for Freedom” and the invitational Online Chess Demonstration Tournament for Prisoners from 4 countries – USA, Russia, Armenia and Spain – took place on May ’11. The first Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners will be a continuation of the international championship first held in 2019. The event will be organized by FIDE and the Cook County (Chicago, IL, USA) Sheriff’s Office and is scheduled for October 13-14, 2021, on the International Day of Education in Prison. The championship, hosted by Chess.com, is open for teams made of 4 players representing any correctional facility (jail or prison) without any specification by age and gender of prisoners. Each country can have one team for the event. However, additional teams from the same country can be represented by prisoners of female and juvenoid (U20) correctional facilities. Up to three teams can represent every country. The championship consists of two stages: the preliminary tournament, a 7-round round-robin, held on October 13, 2021, and the Championship Round for top teams, which will occur on the second day of the event, October 14, 2021. Regulations for Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners (pdf) Chess for Freedom Presentation (pdf) The registration deadline is September 21, 2021, and there is no entry fee. Registration link: https://cutt.ly/kmgAbof About the Chess for Freedom program In recent years, we have witnessed the successful introduction of chess in prisons through different educative programs in the USA, Armenia, Norway, Russia, England, Brazil, Italy and Spain, with very positive outcomes. In prisons, just as in broader society, the impact of sport and games can be far-reaching. The experiences referred above demonstrate 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 positively impacts 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. To support and promote this line of work, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office (Chicago, USA) have signed a cooperation agreement and launched the “Chess for Freedom” program. Under the patronage of the 12th world champion Anatoly Karpov, this project kicked off in May 2021 with an online conference and an exhibition tournament with four participant countries. Later on, in October, the first Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners – a much larger competition with the participation of tens of prisons will be held.
FIDE events postponed until 2022 due to COVID restrictions
Due to the many travel restrictions still in force all around the world, the FIDE Council has approved postponing several events, initially scheduled for 2021. With multiple states across the world still under lockdown and uncertainty remaining around border controls, the FIDE Council decided to postpone the following international tournaments until 2022: World School Individual Championships 2021 Panama City, Panama World Youth U14, U16, U18 Championships 2021 Mamaia, Romania World Cadet U8, U10, U12 Championships 2021 Batumi, Georgia World Senior Championship 2021 Assisi, Italy World Senior Team Championship 2021 Acqui Terme, Italy World Youth U14, U16, U18 Rapid & Blitz Championships 2021 Greece World Cadet U8, U10, U12 Rapid Blitz Championships 2021 Greece The decision was made following the recommendations of the World Health Organization, national sports authorities in the hosting countries, and concerns expressed by many participants and national federations. As for the World Amateur Championship 2021, which is scheduled to take place in Rhodes, Greece, from October 17th to October 27th 2021, the dates will remain unchanged. However, the tournament organiser is obliged to require the participants to get fully vaccinated with any COVID-19 vaccines or provide a valid negative COVID-19 test and run regular testing as COVID-safety measures. FIDE is also considering postponing some remaining 2021 competitions to 2022. We will keep monitoring the situation, and an announcement will be made as early as possible.