USA and Russia square off in the final
Tuesday, September 14th, 2021 – The teams of the United States of America and Russia will battle it out tomorrow (UTC 16.30) for the gold medals in the 2021 edition of the Online Chess Olympiad. Russia was the first team to advance to the final this afternoon by defeating China in two close six-board matches, while the USA qualified by besting last year’s co-winner India in the tiebreaks, after the two regular matches ended in a win apiece. Both teams arrive in top form after nearly a month of competition, in which teams from 155 countries have played each other in a novel pool-structured system, ending in a knockout playoff. Before the Olympiad began, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a greetings letter to all the countries participating in FIDE’s most universally recognised chess event. Semi-finals I Team USA advanced to the final after defeating, not without much difficulty, team India in the tiebreaks. The achievement is outstanding: after being crushed 5-1 in the first match, they managed to regain focus and win the second match by 4-2 to prevail in the blitz tiebreaks 4½-1½. In match one, Jeffrey Xiong uncorked an interesting novelty (10…Qa3 instead of 10…Qxc2) against Vishy Anand in a fashionable line of the Caro-Kan. The engines are not impressed, but the American was doing very well until he lost his way in the ending. Meanwhile, on board two, Pentala Harikrishna, with Black, reached the following position against Dariusz Swiercz. The Indian GM played the strong 41…c3! 42.Bxa6 and now the startling 42…Ra1! winning. After 43.Bxc8 Rxb1+ 44.Kg2 Rg1+, White resigned a few moves later. However, in the second match, the Americans made a huge comeback. Xiong took his revenge against Anand in a nice positional game, while Vidit overplayed an equal position with White against Ray Robson and ended up losing. Harika levelled the score by defeating Paikidze with a strong attack, but in the key game, the USA tipped the balance in its favour when Awonder Liang took advantage of a mistake by Praggnanandhaa in the ending to win a pawn and the point. It all went down to the blitz tiebreaks. In a risky move, India decided to replace Anand with Adhiban, a very dangerous blitz player, well known for his attacking skills. Nihan Sarin came in for Praggnanandhaa, the substitution that India had been doing in every match. Meanwhile, the USA fielded the same team as the second match, and their strategy paid off, as they won 4½-1½. Prag and Nihal Sarin kibitzing with “the king” Anand – Photo: Amruta Mokal On board one, Harikrisna went all out against Xiong but fell to the young American’s sharp counterattack. On board two, Ray Robson converted the advantage of two minor pieces against a rook against Adhiban. On board three, Irina Krush defended solidly against Humpy Koneru’s two bishops and took home the point when the Indian missed a tactic and dropped her queen. On board four, Harika chalked up her third straight point but to no avail. India did have some connection problems on board six – Vaishali was clearly winning when her time ran out – but the match was lost in any case. Semi-finals II The other finalist of the day was Russia, who defeated China in both semi-final matches by 3½-2½ and then 4-2. In the first match, the three evenly-rated top boards ended in draws, but Alexandra Kosteniuk – recently crowned Women’s World Cup Champion – won the first of her two games against Ju Wenjun, who up to that moment had performed spectacularly in the event. Team Russian in action – Photo: Eteri Kublashvili – Russian Chess Federation China did miss an opportunity on board two. In the diagram, Yu Yangyi, playing Black, has a queen for a rook and a knight, but his opponent does have drawing chances. The Chinese GM played 30…Bd6 but after 31.Rh8+! Kxh8 32.Ng6+ Kg8 33.Nxe7 a draw was soon agreed. Instead, 30… Qc7 would have kept the game going. The other win for the Russian team came from the U-20 junior board Andrey Episenko who also won both of his games, first against Wang Shixu B (demonstrating great endgame technique) and then against Xu Zhihang. Andrey Esipenko – Photo: Eteri Kublashvili – Russian Chess Federation Episenko is a real find for Russia: although only 19, with his amazing standard rating of 2720, he could have easily defended any of the first two boards. In the second match, China bounced back with a win by Hou Yifan against Aleksandra Goryachkina, in the bout between the world women’s number one and two, but were unable to win the match due to Dubov’s fantastic attacking victory against Ding Liren, along with the previously mentioned victories by Kosteniuk and Episenko. Team China in action – Photo: Liang Ziming Pairings of the rounds, live games, PGN files and other useful information can be found on the FIDE Online Olympiad website. Please note that all results and standings remain provisional until the fair play panel submit its daily report. This stage of the event will run from Monday, September 13th (Quarter-finals) to Wednesday, September 15th (Final). Each duel will consist of two matches, and in the event of a tie (each team wins one of the two matches, or both matches are drawn) the tie shall be broken with one 3/2 blitz match, followed by Armageddon if need be. The games can be followed online on www.chess.com (Events) and on FIDE’s own Youtube channel. Commentators for this stage are GM Daniel Naroditsky, WGM Jen Shahade, WGM Dina Belenkaya, WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili, IM David Pruess and James Canty III. Text: IM Michael Rahal, FIDE Press Officer Email: press@fide.com About the tournament: Scheduled to take place from August 20th to September 15th, the 2021 FIDE Online Olympiad is a national teams event in which all federations affiliated to FIDE have the right to participate. Team’s consist of six players with a minimum of three female players and two junior players. Played online on Chess.com, the event features two main stages: the “Divisions stage”, and the Play-offs stage. All games are played with a 15
Global Chess Festival brings innovators of the future to Budapest
A musician paying tribute to female chess players. An engineer, who researches the “emotional” side of chess. A grandmaster of creativity, who wrote a book about the advantages of thinking like machines. What do they have in common? They will all be there at Global Chess Festival 2021, which will be brought to life in a hybrid, on- and offline form by Judit Polgar, the best female chess player of all time. The Judit Polgar’s Global Chess Festival returns on the 9th of October with a brand new approach, showcasing the multidisciplinary nature of chess through interactive exhibitions, speeches and an all-inclusive educational chess summit. For the first time, visitors can actively participate in the Global Chess Festival both on- and offline: while the Hungarian National Gallery gives home to the local events, those interested can take part in the festival from the comfort of their homes through Youtube Live. Furthermore, online chess enthusiasts can log in to a plethora of interactive digital activities. For the third year, the main sponsor of the event is Morgan Stanley, bringing coding classes for children, chess challenges against the players working at the company and the Morgan Stanley Chess Café to the festival. The main focuses of this year’s festival are creativity and innovation, promoted by revolutionary minds who dare to break conventions and give novel answers to challenges of their fields. Noam Manella – author of the book “Think Like a Machine”, will discuss how we can invoke the creativity within ourselves; Indian engineer Ashwin Subramanian will give us a sneak peek into a brand new experiment he’s been conducting: using biofeedback data, he is trying to determine how and what the chess player’s body responds to during the game, and how it can be utilized during preparation. Where the festival inspires the mind, soothes the spirit, through the unparalleled musical performance of Juga Di Prima, presenting piano performances paying homage to gender equality in chess. According to Judit Polgar, the founder of the Global Chess Festival, “Chess is a language that knows no borders, no age, no nationality – a common language that we all speak, a language that everyone can make his own at the Global Chess Festival. Nothing proves that better than the movement it invoked: chess enthusiasts, speakers, artists, scientists joined from all over the globe. Hence our timeless motto: chess connects us! The focus of 2021’s Global Chess Festival couldn’t be more pressing, as the last year all of our lives have been about pathfinding, innovation and introspection. This year we decided to expand the festival to the digital world, so more of us can be together than ever before.” “Mastering digital competencies and the capability to innovate are requirements that profoundly determine the success of corporations and experts. This also applies to schoolchildren: learning basic informatics, programming languages – the foundations of today’s digital solutions – can be supported with the logic of chess. Morgan Stanley is determined to support students in their endeavours to learn science, technology, engineering and mathematics – better known as STEM – as early as possible; enabling them to flexibly respond to the changes of the workforce market and to become innovators of the future.” – said Norbert Fogarasi, Managing Director of Morgan Stanley Budapest, active chess player and member of the Hungarian Chess Federation. Education is an inherent part of the DNA of the Global Chess Festival, climaxing in the Educational Chess Summit conference, where contemporary thinkers share their take on the connection between chess and education. The Festival is also home to the Judit Polgar Method, which is a practical approach to the application of chess in education; it’s newest element – Chess PE – will make its debut at the Global Chess Festival. Children and parents visiting the Hungarian National Gallery will witness how a chessboard can enhance the kids’ orientational abilities, and try it out in practice. This year’s Global Chess Festival will be more interactive than ever: the usual simultaneous chess exhibitions will be complemented by exciting online games, first of which is the ChessConnectsUs challenge: every single day, two new players join the online game, make their moves and then pass on the helm to two newcomers. Those interested should visit Chess24.com, where contemporary scientists, artists, athletes and politicians can be caught playing chess, and can try to predict what their next move will be in exchange for exciting prizes. Mission of the Global Chess Festival Facebook Website Pictures Twitter The Global Chess Festival promotes the 1000 faces of chess all around the world. We aim to share the beauty of chess with 5 million people by 2025. Chess Connects Us! More Information:Csató Krisztina // krisztina.csato@skyrocketgroup.hu About Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is dedicated to providing first-class service to our clients, in a way that reflects our commitment to creating a more sustainable future and fostering stronger communities around the world. In each line of business, we strive to demonstrate our belief in the power of transformative thinking, innovative strategies and leading-edge solutions—and in the ability of capital to work for the benefit of all society. More Information:Laky Zoltán // zoltan.laky@wshungary.hu
Yuri Solodovnichenko clinches title at Imperia Chess Festival
The 63rd edition of the Imperia International Chess Festival took place from September 5-12 at the Palazzetto dello Sport (Imperia, Italy). One of the oldest European chess forums, the Imperia Chess Festival, dates back to 1959, when the maiden edition was held. The Imperia International Chess Festival 2021 became one of 27 events that received financial support from FIDE. The festival attracted 109 participants (including 12 women) from 11 federations competing in Swiss tournaments A, B and C. Before the start, the Imperia Chess Club handed all the participants a bag with local products and some souvenirs with the inscription Festival Scacchistico Imperiese. Thanks to the commitment of the organizers and staff, Fabiano Lagonigro, a quadriplegic person, took part in tournament C, his first-ever OTB chess competition. The main event, Open A, was won by the rating favourite Yuri Solodovnichenko from Ukraine. Despite losing his third-round encounter, he scored 6½ out of 9 points and took the first prize. French IM Pierre Laurent-Paoli netted an equal amount of points but had to settle for second place due to inferior tiebreaks (he suffered defeat in the seventh-round clash with Solodovnichenko). Adrian Gschnitzer from Germany, the only player to defeat the champion, came in third. Final standings: Open A 1 Solodovnichenko, Yuri UKR 2581 6½ 2 Laurent-Paoli, Pierre FRA 2402 6½ 3 Gschnitzer, Adrian GER 2398 6 4 Yankelevich, Lev GER 2416 6 5 Salvador, Roland PHI 2412 6 6 Di Paolo, Raffaele ITA 2321 6 7 Dietmayer-Kraeutler, Marco AUT 2297 6 8 Barseghyan, Harutyun FRA 2444 6 9 Legky Nikolay A FRA 2381 6 10 Wilhelm, Till GER 2305 5½ Open B (under 2000) 1. Alain Wauters (FRA) – 6½2. Antonio Barletta (ITA) – 63. Andrea Zechner (AUT) – 6 Open C (under 1600) 1. Wolfango Rizzi (WLS) – 6½2. Ravihansa Moratumullege Dulmina (ITA) – 63. Andrea De Roberto (ITA) – 6 Official website: http://www.imperiascacchi.it/