Kaspersky becomes an official sponsor of the Lindores Abbey Blitz in Riga
The International Chess Federation is pleased to announce a new partnership with Kaspersky, a global cybersecurity and digital privacy company. By this agreement, Kaspersky becomes an official sponsor of the Lindores Abbey Blitz, which will take place on 8th November in the historical Hanzas Perons venue in Riga, Latvia. The FIDE endorsed tournament will be held in honour of the 85th anniversary of the birth of the 8th World Chess Champion Mikhail Tal. The line-up of the nine-round Swiss System tournament includes top players such as Levon Aronian (Armenia), Yu Yangyi (China), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), David Navara (the Czech Republic), as well as former FIDE World Chess Champion (2002-2004) Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine), former world youth champions Jeffery Xiong (USA) and Parham Maghsoodloo (Iran), and others. Among female players, former Women’s World Champion and this year’s winner of the Women’s Chess World Cup, Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia) leads the field, joined by former Women’s World Champions Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria) and Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine), as well as top women GMs Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia), Harika Dronavali (India), Valentina Gunina (Russia), Zhansaya Abdumalik (Kazakhstan), and others. “FIDE is happy and proud to continue our long and fruitful partnership with Kaspersky. I am glad that this year the company is an official partner of the World Championship Match in Dubai and, no less important, the Lindores Abbey Blitz, which starts in Riga. Mikhail Tal, the eighth world chess champion and the “Magician from Riga”, was known as a brilliant attacker and a creative genius. With each game that will be played in this Blitz tournament, we will commemorate and celebrate Tal’s sharp, creative, and adventurous personality,” said FIDE Managing Director Dana Reizniece-Ozola. “Kaspersky is happy to continue building the partnership with FIDE, being a cybersecurity partner for its World Chess Championship series since 2017. We’re especially honoured to support the Lindores Abbey Blitz tournament in Riga, as we will be paying tribute to Mikhail Tal, the brilliant master of chess, whose creativity and strategic genius is a daily inspiration to many of us,” said Konstantin Tarasenko, Regional Manager Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The Lindores Abbey Blitz is organised by “RTU Sports” with the support of the Latvian Chess Federation and FIDE. The line-up of the tournament is comprised of the participants of the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and additional wildcards invited by the organisers. The total number of players would not exceed 164. The time control of the tournament will be 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move, from move one. The total prize fund for the event is 60,000 USD. This includes a 10,000 USD fund provided by FIDE for prizes intended for female players only. Chess fans can keep up with the Lindores Abbey Blitz by watching the live broadcast of the event supplied by Chess.com. Regulations for the FIDE Endorsed Tournament Lindores Abbey Blitz (pdf) About Kaspersky Kaspersky is a global cybersecurity and digital privacy company founded in 1997. Kaspersky’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise are constantly transforming into innovative security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company’s comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialised security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky technologies, and we help 240,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at kaspersky.com
FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss: Round 9 Recap
Fabiano Caruana knocked out Alireza Firouzja and, together with David Howell, who also won, the three players now share first place in the Grand Swiss. Lei Tingjie won again and with 8/9 is almost certain to take first place at the inaugural Women’s Grand Swiss Open Event The open section of the 2021 FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss turned into a three-man race following the defeat of leader Alireza Firouzja at the hands of the former contender for the title of World Champion, Fabiano Caruana. England’s David Howell was the second player with 5.5/8 who scored a victory in round nine. With 6.5/9, the three are now tied for first place. They are followed by ten players on 6/9. The derby between the top-seeded player Fabiano Caruana and tournament leader Alireza Firouzja ended with a victory for the American. In the Mikhail Tal Variation of the Caro Kann, White played an early 9.b4 move, with the idea of getting compensation on the b-file and achieving better development. Following the exchange of queens, Black entered a position that seemed quite comfortable. Caruana, however, had one important advantage: time. Firouzja had just 20 minutes on the move 19. Caruana used this to put more pressure on Black as Firouzja was forced to move fast. His move 20…c5 seemed to have surprised Caruana. After some thought, the American put his knight on d5, and it was White who now had the upper hand. Three moves down the road, Caruana decided to go after Black’s e6 pawn instead of a more solid 23.Bb4 and snatched it but allowed some counterplay. Despite being very short on time since the opening, Firouzja managed to find strong moves that kept him in the game as White’s pawn mass in the centre did not go anywhere. Closer to the time control, Firouzja conducted a raid with his king to White’s camp, but it backfired as Caruana finally managed to advance his central pawns at the cost of a bishop. Firouzja continued to resist, trying every trick and tactic he could find, but it wasn’t meant to be: Fabiano Caruana – Alireza Firouzja Engines initially suggest 38…Re8 with equality, but just a few seconds later realise that it fails to 39.Rxc6! bxc6 40.Bxb4 d2 41.Bxd2 Kxd2 42.g4!! hxg4 43.h5 and White wins Alireza tried 38…Nd4 but after 39.Bxb4 d2 40.Bxd2 Kxd2 41.Rc5 White’s pawns are unstoppable, just like in the line shown above | 1-0, 54 moves. After five and a half hours of play and 54 moves, the naturalised Frenchman had to resign and give up the sole possession of the top place in the tournament rankings. On board two, David Anton split a point with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and both are on 6/9. White opened with 1.d4 but did not develop his queenside knight to avoid a theoretical discussion in the Frenchman’s favourite Gruenfeld Defense. However, after a timely breakthrough in the centre (17…e5), Maxime equalised completely. White ended with two extra pawns, but as both were doubled (on files f and d), Black was never in danger of losing. The most senior player among the top boards, Alexei Shirov made a very quick draw as White with Nikita Vitiugov. After just 20 minutes of play and 16 moves, a draw was agreed upon repetition. Both players are now on six points. Englishman David Howell scored a victory against Anton Korobov of Ukraine on board four. Most of Howell’s games in the previous eight rounds have been long and tense, but this one was shorter. In an interview after Round Eight, Howell said that his main problem is “surviving the openings” as he “isn’t really prepared”. Probably due to the lack of opening preparation, Howell again spent a lot of time on his first moves in the game against Korobov. After some interesting complications in the centre, the Englishman ruined Black’s pawn structure and obtained a long-lasting advantage but was still short on time. Korobov seems to have played more against his opponent’s clock than on the position, but that didn’t phase Howell, who made all the right moves to force the Ukrainian to resign. With 6.5/9 and in a tie for first place, Howell’s performance so far is proving that innovation can sometimes defeat preparation. The Russian derby between Grigoriy Oparin and Alexandr Predke ended in a draw. In the Ruy Lopez with 5.d3 White got a slight edge. However, after a questionable manoeuvre Nh4 and Black’s centre push, Oparin assumed the defensive. After exchanges in the centre where both sides had major pieces hanging, the game transitioned to an even rook endgame and a draw was agreed. Both Oparin and Predke are on 6/9. Samuel Sevian was the last of the second-tiered players who started the round on 5.5 points. He was Black against Harikrishna Pentala. In the Queen’s Gambit Declined, White managed to get a slightly better endgame following the opening, but it was hard to make progress. Eventually, Sevian traded his knight for the bishop and the two called it a draw after playing a few moves in a rook endgame. Sevian is now on 6/9. Gabriel Sargissian scored a quick win against Alexey Sarana after Black blundered some nice tactics resulting in a lost position: Gabriel Sargissian – Alexey Sarana Black has just imprudently played 19…Be7? and got crushed after 20.Rxc8! Qxc8 21.Qxd5+ Qe6 22.Nc6! Qxd5 23.Nxe7+ Kf7 24.Nxd5 Re6 25.Rxe6 Kxe6 26.Nb6 1-0 With 6/9 the Armenian has joined the second tear of players ahead of Round 10. Evgeniy Najer’s good run in this tournament seems to have ended as he suffered a defeat at the hands of Yu Yangyi. The Chinese player’s attack on the queenside unfolded much faster than the Russian’s counterplay on the kingside, which resulted in Evgeniy’s demise. Yu Yangyi is now on 6/9. In the other boards in the open tournament, the former contender for the title of World Champion, Boris Gelfand, played a wild game against Sergei Movsesian. In a well-rehearsed line of the Slav Defence, the game saw four queens on the board as early as move ten. A piece down, Gelfand pinned all of his hopes on an advanced h-pawn which he eventually promoted, leading him to his first victory in the tournament. Gelfand
FIDE World Championship for People with Disabilities kicks off on Tornelo
The 1st round of the 4th FIDE World Chess Championship for People with Disabilities started on November 05. This year the championship, organized by Dresdner Schachfestival e.V. under the auspices of FIDE, is held online due to continuous Covid-19 restrictions across the world. Despite the change of the format, 255 players from 46 countries decided to participate in the 9-round Swiss tournament with 45 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1, and contest for the titles of “World Chess Champion among Disabled 2021” in the individual ranking and “World Chess Team Champion among Disabled 2021” in the team competition. Participants from Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, England, Spain, France, Georgia, Germany, Guyana, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Latvia, Morocco, Malaysia, Mongolia, Macedonia, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, the USA, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam and Zimbabwe, who belong to any of the three disability categories (visually impaired, hearing impaired and physically disabled) will play on the Tornelo platform from 5-13 November. There were 123 games played today in Round 1. The majority of the encounters ended in a victory by one of the opponents, and only eight were drawn. The first day did not bring many surprises; the top-seeded players such as GM Marcin Tazbir (2508, Poland), IM Igor Yarmonov (2394, Ukraine), FM Marcin Molenda (2365, Poland), FM Sander Severino (2364, Czech Republic) and FM Stanislav Babarykin (2364, Russia) celebrated victories today. They are joined by other 110 players who also won their games. During the pandemic, chess has been a consistent escape for many participants of the tournament. Among them is Jessica Lauser of USA, who defeated Russian player Vladimir Pronin today. Lauser has been blind for almost her entire life. “When I play chess, it’s as close as I’ve ever come to a sense of equality,” she said in her recent interview. “When you start the game, no matter who you are, no matter what your physical condition is or where you come from or whether you have money, both sides start with the same thing.” Tilegen Rakhatbekov from Kyrgyzstan also scored a full point today in a game against Martin Willms of Germany. Tilegen is only 16, but despite his young age, he has been playing chess for 7 years. “I like chess; I don’t need to talk and move; I just think. Online chess is good; you can play with the whole world from home. During the last two years that I’ve played online, I participated in many tournaments, even the Online Chess Olympiad for people with disabilities. But still, I prefer offline. I like to travel, visit new cities, and get new friends!” he said. Manuela Mekus from Germany defeated Mongolian player Mandakhbayar Byambasuren and also scored a full point today. “When I was a kid, I played a lot of tournaments. At the age of about 25, I played in the 2nd women’s chess Bundesliga. But due to the pain caused by my illness, I withdrew more and more from chess. But in November 2020, I played in the online Chess Olympiad for Germany. Since this online tournament, I have been training regularly with GM Sasa Martinovic from Croatia. 1-2 times a week. And I practice on Lichess and Chess.com. I just want to know whether I can still do it, whether I can still significantly improve my performance in chess, despite the very severe pain that I have every day without interruption,” she said. Round 2 of the 4th FIDE World Chess Championship for People with Disabilities starts at 12:00 UTC on November 06. For more information about pairings and standings, please visit the page of the event on Tornelo: https://tornelo.com/chess/orgs/fide/events/4th-world-championship-for-people-with-disabilities