Liudmila Belavenets passes away
With the most profound sadness, we learned about the passing of Liudmila Belavenets. A well-known Russian player and coach, Liudmila Belavenets, died on the 7th of November due to a serious illness. Liudmila Belavenets was the winner of the USSR women’s championship (1975), the world women’s champion in correspondence chess (1990), and the three-time winner of the World Olympiads in correspondence chess as a member of the Soviet team. In 1973, Liudmila Belavenets began to work with young chess players at the Stadium of Young Pioneers in Moscow. She was invited to work there by Vladimir Yurkov, a renowned coach. Very soon, Liudmila Belavenets became one of the best trainers for juniors in Russia. She also became one of the most famous trainers after becoming a presentor in the Chess School TV show back in 1974. Hundreds of thousands of chess fans were among her distant students. Some of the most famous players trained by her directly are Alexey Vyzmanavin, Andrei Sokolov, and Alexander Morozevich. Liudmila Belavenets was famous for her ability to connect with any student. A teacher by nature, she was a talented and wise mentor who fostered many generations of young chess players. She trained several world champions, champions of Russia and Europe, masters and grandmasters, professionals, trainers, and journalists. She brought up even more chess fans, who have remembered her lessons for the rest of their lives. To the last days of her life, Liudmila Belavenets worked as a coach in the Youth of Moscow Specialized Children and Youth Sports School of the Olympic Reserve in the T. Petrosian chess club and took part in the sessions of the Grandmasters school in Kostroma. She was awarded the CFR Golden Badge in April 2021. FIDE and the Chess Federation of Russia extend sincere condolences to Liudmila Belavenets’ relatives, friends, colleagues, and pupils.
Lindores Abbey Blitz in honour of Mikhail Tal’s 85th birthday
In honour of the 85th anniversary of the birth of the 8th World Chess Champion Mikhail Tal, FIDE is delighted to endorse The Lindores Abbey Blitz, which will take place on 8th November in the historical Hanzas Perons venue in Riga, Latvia A number of leading world Grandmasters – many of whom are taking part in the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss – have confirmed they will be playing in the Blitz tournament. The line-up includes leading world players such as the third-rated player in the world Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Yu Yangyi, Levon Aronian, David Navara, David Howell, the former contender for the title of World Champion Boris Gelfand, former world youth champions Jeffery Xiong and Parham Maghsoodloo, and others. Among female players, former Women’s World Champion and this year’s winner of the Women’s Chess World Cup, Alexandra Kosteniuk as well as top women GMs Nana Dzagnidze, Harika Dronavalli, Polina Shuvalova, and others will be playing. Altogether 120 players will be taking part in the tournament. The FIDE endorsed event is a part of a series of Lindores Abbey chess tournaments involving top-world Grandmasters following Lindores Abbey Chess Stars (2019) and Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge (2020). Georgiy Tal, the son of Mikhail Tal, will be the guest of honour at the Blitz event. In 2019 he visited Lindores Abbey and, together with the company’s General Manager Andrew McKenzie Smith, presented the World Champion Magnus Carlsen with a chess set made of amber. This amber chess set was presented by the Latvian Government to Mikhail Tal in 1960, following his victory in the World Championship match against Mikhail Botvinnik. Tournament rules and details: The tournament is organised by “RTU Sports” with the support of the Latvian Chess Federation and FIDE. The Swiss System tournament will have nine rounds. Each round will consist of two games played against the same opponent, one game with each colour. Players will be seeded based on their FIDE Blitz rating. In the absence of such a rating, the player’s FIDE standard rating will be used. The time control will be 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move, from move one. If the two or more players score the same points, the tie is decided by the following criteria, in order of priority: a) Buchholz; b) Most games won; c) Direct encounter between the players in tie. The total prize fund is 60,000 USD. This includes a 10,000 USD fund provided by FIDE for prizes intended for female players only. Regulations for the FIDE Endorsed Tournament Lindores Abbey Blitz (pdf) The official page of the tournament: https://lindoresabbeyblitz.fide.com/ The list of participants can be found here:http://chess-results.com/tnr588607.aspx?lan=1&art=0&flag=30 Discover the Lindores Abbey chess initiative.
Decisions of 2021 3rd FIDE Council Meeting
List of FIDE Council Decisions 2021 3rd meeting 27 October 2021 CM3-2021/01 To note President’s report. CM3-2021/02 To note financial report presented by FIDE Treasurer. CM3-2021/03 To approve in principle the proposal of the FIDE Treasurer for a new format for budget presentations that includes data on income and expenses for the events organised by FIDE. To ask the FIDE Treasurer to provide the final version of the format. CM3-2021/04 To approve that the 2021 FIDE Congress shall be organized at the end of December 2021 in a hybrid format (concurrent with World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, provided it will take place as expected) according to the following schedule (tentative, to be confirmed): – FIDE Commissions meetings: November 20th – December 25th, 2021 – FIDE Council meeting: December 26-27th, 2021 – FIDE Zonal Council meeting: December 26-27th, 2021 – FIDE General Assembly: December 28th, 2021. CM3-2021/05 To note the report on the FIDE Handbook update. CM3-2021/06 To approve the regulations for World Championship Cycle structure. CM3-2021/07 To approve the regulations for Continental Championships and Zonal Championships. CM3-2021/08 To approve the updated Olympiad Pairing Rules. CM3-2021/09 To approve the draft of FIDE Electoral Rules and prepare it for the approval of FIDE General Assembly. CM3-2021/10 To approve the provisional membership of St. Vincent and Grenadines Chess Federation and recommend its full membership for ratification by FIDE General Assembly. CM3-2021/11 To approve the provisional membership of Dominica Chess Federation, Niger Chess Federation, Belize Chess Federation pending the submission of the whole set of required documents. To recommend their full membership for ratification by the FIDE General Assembly provided the requested documents would be received. CM3-2021/12 To approve that World Rapid and Blitz Championships (2021) shall be organized in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, 25-30 December 2021. CM3-2021/13 To approve the Regulations for FIDE World Team Chess Championship 2022. CM3-2021/14 To authorize FIDE Vice-President Mr. Iashvili together with the Chairman of FIDE Events Commission Mr. Solakoglu to continue consultations with Sri Lanka Chess Federation regarding potential organization of the 2021 World U-21 Online Rapid Chess Championship. CM3-2021/15 To note the Global Strategy Commission’s report. CM3-2021/16 To note the Arbiters’ Commission’s report. CM3-2021/17 To approve the recommendations of the Arbiters’ Commission on Seminars, Classification upgrades, Amendments to the FIDE lecturer list, FA norms and titles. CM3-2021/18 To approve the Arbiters’ Commission’s proposal for the FIDE Regulations for Appointments of Arbiters at World Events and Arbiters’ Selection Procedural Rules (with a transition period until the end of 2021). CM3-2021/19 To note the Constitutional Commission’s report. CM3-2021/20 To reiterate FIDE’s willingness to help the US Virgin Islands Chess Federation in changing their constitution and election procedures. To propose to the US Virgin Islands Chess Federation to prepare an updated draft in full cooperation with FIDE Constitutional Commission not later than November 17th. To entrust FIDE President to evaluate further steps after this deadline in accordance with the previous FIDE Council’s decision. CM3-2021/21 To note the Events Commission’s report. CM3-2021/22 To approve the recommendations of Events Commission on titles. CM3-2021/23 To approve the updated draft of the Ethics and Disciplinary Code and prepare it for the approval of FIDE General Assembly. CM3-2021/24 To note the Fair Play Commission’s report. CM3-2021/25 To approve the Fair Play Commission’s Procedural Rules. CM3-2021/26 To note the Planning and Development Commission’s report. CM3-2021/27 To note the Rules Commission’s report. CM3-2021/28 To request the Rules Commission to discuss the proposed changes to the Laws of Chess (Article 5.1.2) with the Athletes’, Arbiters’ and other relevant Commissions and come back with the consensus proposal. CM3-2021/29 To approve the recommendations of the Qualification Commission on titles. CM3-2021/30 To approve the proposal of the Qualification Commission on the FIDE Rating Regulations and FIDE Titles Regulations effective from January 1st, 2022. CM3-2021/31 To approve the Resolution regarding the procedure for considering applications to move under FIDE flag. CM3-2021/32 To approve the Qualification Commission’s proposal to reject three individual requests to move under FIDE flag. CM3-2021/33 To approve the recommendations of the Trainers’ Commission on titles and FIDE Academies. CM3-2021/34 To approve the proposals of the FIDE Data Protection Committee regarding the enhancement of the FIDE Database. CM3-2021/35 To note the Social Commission’s report. CM3-2021/36 To note Continental reports. CM3-2021/37 To recommend to the FIDE Qualification Commission to revoke the FM title of Mr. O. Prokhorov (UKR). Instruct the Constitutional Commission to submit an opinion on the issue of Mr. Prokhorov’s right to play under the flag of the federation. CM3-2021/38 To approve the main provisions of the contracts aimed at the implementation of a pilot NFT project and to entrust FIDE President to sign the respective contracts. CM3-2021/39 To organize the next FIDE Council meeting in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, 26-27th of December 2021.
FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss: Round 10 Recap
Alireza Firouzja is back as the sole leader in the Open Event, as Lei Tingjie wins the inaugural Women’s Grand Swiss with a round to spare Open Event Alireza Firouzja has recovered from his loss to Fabiano Caruana on Friday by defeating David Howell in the crucial game of the tenth round of the Grand Swiss. With this victory, Firouzja has 7.5/10 and is entering the final round with a half-point advantage over everyone else. He is followed by Fabiano Caruana and Grigoriy Oparin, who are on 7/10. In the Italian Game, Firouzja spent significantly more time on the opening, presumably having been caught out by Howell’s preparation. It was surprising as Howell is known for getting into time trouble early. However, by move 19, both had similar time on their clocks, and with all the pieces on the board, the pressure on both was mounting. The tension was released in the centre in White’s favour as Firouzja aligned his pieces for an attack on the black king’s fortress. Howell, shorter on time, played 27…Be5 allowing White to sacrifice a knight on h6 (most likely 28.Rxe5 was even better), ending with an extra pawn and breaking through Black’s defences. However, in a better position, Firouzja hastily played 31.Qf3, to which Black responded with 23…Qc6 and the game was wide open again, although White still had an edge. Firouzja was visibly unhappy with the oversight. After reassessing the situation, Alireza went for an exchange of queens simplifying the position and moving towards a four-bishop ending with an extra pawn. Howell had to be precise to keep his hopes alive but was under serious time pressure for the first time control. He slipped on move 35 by playing a tempting but erroneous 35…d4. When the time control was reached, White had a decisive advantage and steered the game to a clean victory. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Fabiano Caruana drew their game on board two. In the Morphy Defence of the Ruy Lopez, both sides played quickly in the opening. The Frenchman ended with isolated pawns on d3 and d5, but was holding the a-file with the queen and rook and had a more active knight. After exchanges in the centre, the players moved to a rook endgame where Caruana was a pawn down, but a draw was the most likely outcome. The Frenchman decided to play on and test Black. The American had to proceed carefully but was essentially safe, and the two called it a draw. This outcome puts pressure on Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to win in the final round of the Grand Swiss if he wishes to have chances to get his pass for the 2022 Candidates tournament. In the Russian duel on board three, Nikita Vitiugov and Grigoriy Oparin tested each other in the Sämisch Variation of the Nimzo-Indian. Oparin called it a ‘wild game’. In a blocked position that appeared early in the centre, Black surprised his opponent and the audience with an odd-looking but logical novelty: Nikita Vitiugov – Grigoriy Oparin 11…Kd7!? “Overall, it’s a typical idea to bring the king to c7, and 11…Kd7 is a very nice move. For me, it was the most logical move, because the point is that we don’t really want to move our queen on d8 or bishop on c8 yet,” said Grigory after the game. Having two bishops, White naturally tried to open the position, but Black created a stronghold on e5 and managed to keep it closed. Vitiugov opted for a push on the d-file, but this approach backfired just a few moves later as following the mistake on move 27, he ended down a pawn down and with the key pieces hanging. Black won an exchange only to return it later, releasing a free runner on the c-file and securing victory. Oparin is now on 7/10 and in the race for the top two spots leading to the Candidates. Alexei Shirov’s good run in the Grand Swiss has continued as he managed to save a lost position from Yu Yangyi. In a rare variation in the Sicilian with d4 and a double fianchetto for White, Black launched a push on the b-file and Shirov carefully flanked it. After 14.a4 White seemed to have halted Black’s attack on the queenside, enabling him to safely castle to the left wing. Black, however, managed to deflect White’s attempts on the kingside, realign his pieces and activate the bishops. After several piece exchanges in the centre, Black got rid of his backward d-pawn and created an advanced pawn on the e-file. Later on, Yu made the most of White’s mistakes to advance it to e2 and play for a win. Shirov put up stubborn resistance at the last line of defence, but it wouldn’t have been enough hadn’t Yangyi failed to find the best continuations and allowed Shirov to reactivate. The game ended in a draw after six hours of play and 64 moves. Both are now on 6.5/10. Krishnan Sasikiran, the last of the players with 6/9, lost as Black to Andrey Esipenko. In the Canal Attack of the Sicilian, Black was standing slightly better coming into the middlegame. However, Sasikiran made a mistake when transitioning to a four-rook endgame as his position immediately turned from slightly better to inferior. Being in his element, Esipenko instructively activated his king and created a passer on the a-file supported by his rooks. Several moves down the and he collected a few more of Black’s pawns and advanced his own dangerously close to the last rank. In the face of further material losses, Sasikiran threw in the towel. With this victory, Esipenko is on 6.5 points. Samuel Sevian, Gabriel Sargissian, Alexandr Predke and David Anton – who were also among players with 6/9 – all finished their games in draws and are now further behind in their chances of reaching the top spots. One of the most interesting games of the round was played on one of the lower boards. In a clash of generations, chess veteran Kiril Georgiev (55) lost to 15-year-old Indian star D Gukesh. In the Ragozin Variation of the Nimzo Indian, Gukesh managed to create a so-called Octopus – a strongly