2021 FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss: the lists of players
FIDE is pleased to confirm the list of players who will take part in the 2021 FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss Tournament and the inaugural Women’s Grand Swiss. Altogether 164 players will be participating. The Grand Swiss tournament will see 114 players from 39 federations take part. The world’s second highest-rated player and former contender for the title of World Champion, American Fabiano Caruana, leads the lineup. He is joined by other leading world heavyweights such as Levon Aronian, Alexander Grischuk, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, as well as the top-10 newcomers, Richard Rapport and Alireza Firouzja. FIDE has awarded special wild cards to more than 20 players, ensuring that the strongest world juniors and players from all continents take part. The average rating of the players in the Grand Swiss is 2647, making this the strongest Swiss-system chess tournament in the world. This year the inaugural Women’s Grand Swiss will be played as well, bringing together the top 50 women players from 26 federations. The field is led by the former European Women’s Champion and currently ranked fifth women’s player in the world, Kateryna Lagno. She is joined by Mariya Muzychuk, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Nana Dzagnidze, from the women’s top-10 list. The average rating of players in the Women’s tournament is 2417. “FIDE is very pleased that the Grand Swiss – organised together with Chess.com and with the generous support of the Scheinberg family – is returning this year. By bringing together most of the highest-rated players in the world, including the strongest juniors, FIDE and its partners are demonstrating their support for talented, promising players from across the globe. This year we will also have the first-ever Women’s Grand Swiss, which is another step in FIDE’s effort to promote female chess,” said FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich. “I hope that Riga, the birthplace of the great Mikhail Tal and Aron Nimzowitsch, will warmly welcome the world’s best players and that this will be a great event”, Dvorkovich said. Alan Ormsby, the original organiser of the Grand Swiss before it was moved from the Isle of Man to Riga, welcomed the announcement of the list of players for the forthcoming event. “Unfortunately, covid-related restrictions made it impossible for the Isle of Man to commit to hosting the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss, although we left the decision as late as possible. Emil Sutovsky and Dana Reizniece-Ozola are to be commended for finding an alternative host at such short notice that could welcome all 164 players”. “On behalf of IOM International Chess Limited, plus the event’s sponsor, the Scheinberg family, I wish the Riga organisers well in hosting the tournaments”, said Ormsby. Photo: https://www.fold.lv/ The 2021 FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss Tournament and Women’s Grand Swiss will be held from the 25th of October to the 8th of November at the Hanzas Perons Cultural Centre in Riga, Latvia. Both tournaments are part of the qualifications for the 2021-23 World Championship cycle, with the top two players in the open event qualifying for the 2022 Candidates Tournament and the following six securing spots in the Grand Prix. The winner of the Women’s Grand Swiss will qualify directly for the Women Candidates and four best players will qualify for the next year’s Women’s Grand Prix. Please find the list of players for the 2021 FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss Tournament and the Women’s Grand Swiss. Regulations for FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss 2021 (pdf) Regulations for FIDE Chess.com Women Grand Prix Swiss 2021 (pdf) Official website: grandswiss.fide.com For further information and press accreditations to the event, please contact the FIDE Press Office at press@fide.com
Magnus smacks down Hikaru to stretch Tour Finals lead
Magnus Carlsen brutally smacked down one of his biggest rivals today to extend his lead in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals. The World Champion, who suffered a serious hiccup yesterday, got back on track with a dominating performance against the American streamer Hikaru Nakamura. Nakamura has vied with the Norwegian for many years, both on and off the board. He memorably pushed Carlsen right to the limit in last year’s epic Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour final. But in Round 5, he was totally outclassed as Carlsen ambushed him with two masterful wins to end the match with a game spare. In doing so, the champ picked up the maximum three tournament points. Meanwhile, Carlsen’s nearest rival Wesley So could only earn two as his match went to tiebreaks. It means So, who failed to take advantage of Carlsen’s loss yesterday, now has only four rounds left to close the gap. Carlsen controlled all three games and only let Nakamura off the hook briefly in game 2. Magnus, being typically understated, said afterwards: “I thought I played relatively well.” Then in an interview with Norwegian channel TV 2, Carlsen went further, saying Nakamura offered “very, very little resistance”. He added: “With this kind of resistance I got today, it’s not difficult to play well.” In comparison, So had suffered a horrible start as the ever-dangerous Dutchman Anish Giri played a near-perfect game to beat him with the black pieces. After a draw in the second, So managed to hit back and with another draw, the match ended 2-2 and went into overtime. With his tournament hanging by a thread, So finally found a way to beat Giri in a nervy second blitz play-off. It meant a relieved So picked up two points to stay in touching distance of the top. After his shock win against Carlsen yesterday, the Russian Vladislav Artemiev followed it up with a brilliant victory over Azerbaijan’s Shakrhiyar Mamedyarov. Artemiev, the breakout star of the Tour who reached two event finals in just three appearances, struggled at the start of the tournament but is on fire now. France’s number 1 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was also in fine form as he battered the Polish World Cup winner Jan-Krzysztof Duda 2.5-0.5. In the last match, a refreshed Teimour Radjabov won the re-run of the Airthings Masters final as he dispatched Levon Aronian 3-1 to make it two match wins in a row. Radjabov is out of the running for the Tour Finals title, but the Azeri number 2 still has Carlsen to play and could be a potential banana skin for the champ as he chases the title. The Finals of the 2021 Meltwater Champions Chess Tour sees the world’s best chess players face off across nine rounds of rapid chess from September 25 to October 4. Tune in on www.chess24.com, YouTube or Twitch starting at 17:00 CET each day. For further information, please contact: Leon Watson, PR for Play Magnus Groupleon@chessable.com+44 7786 078 770
CFR Team and Georgia win the group stage
The inability to play under their flag has not affected the morale of the Russian chess players: if anything, it seems to have given them extra motivation. The team headed by Aleksandra Goryachkina, who turned 23 yesterday, bulldozed through the pools stage, scoring five lopsided victories. Moreover, they haven’t lost a single individual game either: from 20 games played so far in the competition, they have won 14 and drew 6. The dominant performance by CFR Team is the main sensation of the event. The Russians will advance to the next stage alongside India, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, while France and Spain were sent packing. In fact, the Azerbaijani had a bit of luck on their side against the host country: they had inferior positions in two of the games, but the Spanish players ruined them and suffered a severe loss that put an end to their aspirations in the tournament. India, second in the group, lost – like everybody else – against CFR Team, but they also conceded a draw against Azerbaijan. Without Humpy in the team, they would need to take up a notch if they are serious about winning the event or even aiming for the silver. Georgia came out on top in pool B, with a much more modest performance compared to the Russians. Three victories and two draws were good enough to take the top spot in the group, one point ahead of Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Nino Batsiashvili, with 4/5, and Lela Javakhishvili, with 3/4, are the top scorers in the Georgian team, while Nataliya Buksa (4/4) (pictured below) and Dinara Saduakassova (4/5)are the best performers among those in the chasing teams. The FIDE Americas team, which englobes players from all over the continent, managed to qualify in the last moment, despite having won only one match. The 1-3 loss they suffered in the last round against Georgia was good enough to leapfrog Germany by half a point in “board points”, which is the main tie-break. The Germans will have to say goodbye to Sitges, just like Poland, much to their keen disappointment. Text: David Llada Photo: Niki Riga and Lourdes Porta Official website: worldwomensteams.fide.com