Winners crowned at Children and Youth Festival “ChessYes”
The FIDE Endorsed International Children and Youth Festival «ChessYes», an official side event to the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss and Women’s Grand Swiss 2021, was held online from October 09 to November 07, 2021. The festival «ChessYes» was organized by FIDE, the Public organization “CIS”, and the Latvian Chess Federation. The tournament took place on lichess.org in four age groups: U-8, U-10, U-12, U-14. Each age group event consisted of two stages: the Qualifier stage, two online 9-round Swiss System tournaments, held on October 09-23, 2021, and the Final stage for top players, a 16-player knockout tournament, played from October 24 to November 07, 2021. More than 200 kids from 30 countries – Ukraine, Serbia, India, Latvia, Vietnam, Spain, Poland, Iran, Kazakhstan, Canada, the Philippines, Georgia, Australia, Great Britain, Greece, Luxembourg, Japan, Malaysia, Peru, Dominicana, Cuba, Russia, Chili, Ireland, Botswana, Brazil, Mexico, Palestine, Slovakia and France – took part in the event. Final standings: U-8 category Open 1. Minh Hoang Nguyen (Vietnam)2. Huy Quang Bui (Vietnam)3. Maksym Kryshtafor (Ukraine) Girls 1. Tam Anh Nguyen Dinh (Vietnam)2. Mica Claire Clar (Philippines)3-4. Shruthika Anand Kumar (India)3-4. Anna Shmeleva (Russia) U-10 Category Open 1. Piotr Brzezina (Poland)2. Sho Moritani (Japan)3. Nils Vorobjovs (Latvia) Girls 1. Prishita Gupta (India)2. Kristina Sultanova (Russia)3. Anna Velichkina (Russia) U-12 Category Open 1. Marcos Antonio Guach Rodriguez (Cuba)2. Alex Herrera Pedroso (Cuba)3. Dinh Nguyen Hoang Nhat Le (Vietnam) Girls 1. Elizaveta Maltseva (Russia)2. Pratitee Bordoloi (India)3. Mariam Kalandadze (Georgia) U-14 Category Open 1. Dau Khuong Duy (Vietnam)2. Cleon Amadeus Surya (Indonesia)3. Siddhesh Umashankar B U (India) Girls 1. Sawan Eman (Palestine)2. Ekaterina Skuridina (Russia)3. Aliah Diyanah Insyirah Binti Mohd Faizullah (Malaysia) In addition to standard prizes, winners and medalists of the online event in the categories U-8 and U-10 (open & girls) got a free online 90-minute group lecture by GM Dmitry Gordievsky. The top-3 finishers in the categories U-12 and U-14 (open & girls) were awarded an online 90-minute group lecture by GM Boris Gelfand, FIDE World Championship runner-up (2012).
European Team Championship gets underway in Terme Čatež
The European Team Chess Championship 2021 kicks off in Terme Catez, Slovenia. Stretching over twelve days from November 11-22, both open and women’s events are 9-round Swiss tournaments with classical time control held in Hotel Toplize of Terme Čatež Spa Complex. Thirty-nine teams from 38 European federations participate in the Open event, while the Women’s Championship features 31 teams representing 30 federations. Each team consists of five players (four main and one reserve player). European Team Chess Championship 2021 field is led by the defending champion Russia (average rating 2720), Azerbaijan (average rating 2717), France (average rating 2708), Poland (average rating 2678) and England (average rating 2671). European national teams fielded many strong GMs, including Anish Giri (NED, 2774), Alireza Firouzja (FRA, 2770), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 2766), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE, 2765), Teimour Radjabov (AZE, 2763), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL, 2756), Sergey Karjakin (RUS, 2743), Michael Adams (ENG, 2714) and others. Playing venue – Hotel Toplize of Terme Čatež Photo: booking.com The reigning champion Russia (average rating 2538) tops the list of rating favourites in the Women’s Championship, followed by Georgia (average rating 2446), Poland (average rating 2410), Ukraine (Average rating of players 2400) and Azerbaijan (average rating 2383). The teams enlisted many top players, such as Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS, 2604), Kateryna Lagno (RUS, 2550), Nana Dzagnidze (GEO, 2524), Polina Shuvalova (RUS, 2515), Elisabeth Paehtz (GER, 2485), Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS, 2482), Valentina Gunina (RUS, 2480), Gunay Mammadzada (AZE, 2459) and many others. The opening ceremony was split into two parts due to health restrictions. The first one took place on November 11, with the attendance of Team captains, delegates and officials. A short second part for all the participants is to be held right before the first round, commencing at 14:30 CEST. The events get underway today, November 12, with Round 1 starting at 15:00 CEST. Official website: euroteamchess2021.eu/