Tatneft becomes an official sponsor of the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships 2021
The International Chess Federation is pleased to announce a new partnership with Tatneft, one of the largest Russian vertically integrated oil companies. By this agreement, Tatneft becomes an official sponsor of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2021, which will take place from 25-31 December in Warsaw, Poland. The tournament will be held at PGE Narodowy Stadium, the home stadium of the Polish national football team, used mainly for concerts and football matches. Over 250 players have already registered for the event. The list of participants is headed by five-time Classical World Champion and the reigning Rapid and Blitz World Champion Magnus Carlsen (Norway), followed by the number 2 in the FIDE rankings Alireza Firouzja, who has recently become the youngest ever 2800-rated player. The three latest challengers to the world championship title, Ian Nepomniachtchi (2021), Fabiano Caruana (2018), and Sergey Karjakin (2016), will also be present. Other favourites are Hikaru Nakamura (USA), who won bronze (in rapid) and silver (in blitz) in the last edition of the Rapid and Blitz Championships (2019) and the three-time world blitz champion Alexander Grischuk. All eyes will be on the local star, Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Krakow, Poland), whose popularity has reached new heights after winning the 2021 World Cup this summer in Sochi. This weekend Duda became the European Blitz Champion with a remarkable score of 18/22, demonstrating that he is in good shape and not affected by the extra pressure playing on home turf. In the women’s tournamentы, the highest-rated players are the defending Women’s Blitz World Champion Kateryna Lagno, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Valentina Gunina (all representing CFR), Anna Muzychuk, Mariya Muzychuk (both Ukraine), Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia), the reigning Women’s Rapid World Champion Humpy Koneru (pictured below) and Harika Dronavalli (both from India), and Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria). Photo: Maria Emelianova “We are extremely happy that we have been able to host this event despite all the difficulties. The World Rapid and Blitz Championships have become a nice tradition for the last days of the year, like the hockey NHL Winter Classic, the Boxing Day football match in the UK, or the NBA Christmas Day games. Many people in the world enjoy a holiday during this period, and they look forward to watching their favourite sport,” said FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich. “We are very grateful to Tatneft for their contribution towards this event. While the pandemic is still not over, chess life shall continue, and Tatneft’s support has been decisive to make these championships happen,” he added. “Tatneft pays great attention to supporting sports in its various forms. It is a great honour for us to be partners of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships. I am convinced that it will make this sport even more popular, will give spectators and fans the pleasure of watching exciting games performed by world-class masters,” said Tatneft CEO Nail Maganov. The total prize fund of the event is USD 1,000,000, with USD 700,000 USD going to the open tournaments and USD 300,000 to the women’s events. Chess fans can keep up with the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships by watching the live broadcast on FIDE’s official YouTube channel. The preliminary lists of participants can be found here: Rapid Open: https://worldrapidandblitz.fide.com/rapid-open/Rapid Women: https://worldrapidandblitz.fide.com/rapid-women/ Blitz Open: https://worldrapidandblitz.fide.com/blitz-open/Blitz Women: https://worldrapidandblitz.fide.com/blitz-women/ About Tatneft TATNEFT is one of the largest Russian vertically integrated oil companies, which develops oil and gas production, oil refining, petrochemicals, a tire complex, a network of filling stations, power engineering, development and production of equipment for the oil and gas industry and a block of service structures. The corporate social responsibility of TATNEFT is aimed at creating efficient and safe workplaces, minimizing environmental impact and maintaining a favourable environment, social support for employees and their families. Official website: https://www.tatneft.ru/?lang=en
Six rounds played at the FIDE Online Cadets & Youth Rapid Super Final
The FIDE Online Cadets and Youth Rapid Super Final is halfway through on Tornelo playing platform. Six rounds were played in all ten separate sections (Open and Girls under 10, 12, 14, 16, 18), and only four more are left before we know the winners’ names. In some categories, six rounds produced clear leaders, while in others, it is challenging to be on the mark with a prediction—so close is the race. Despite a somewhat rocky start losing his second game, Turkish star Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus won four games in a row to become a clear leader in the Open U10 tournament. His main rival is Indian Vaz Ethan, who trails by half a point. The two will meet on the last day of the event, and this encounter will likely determine the overall winner. Ihor Samunenkov continues his quest for gold in Open U12. The victory over the youngest-ever grandmaster Abhimanyu Mishra in the first round inspired the Ukrainian cadet to a solid run. With 4,5 points, he is one point above his closest pursuer. In Round 3, Samunenkov’s opponent faced an opening catastrophe. Can you find how White reacted to a blunder 6…a6? Replay the game for the solution by clicking here. Nothing is clear in Open U14. An early leader Aldiyar Ansat from Kazakhstan, who started from two wins, slowed down on Day 3 and let Ediz Gurel from Turkey catch him on 4,5 points. A similar situation emerged in Open U16. An early leader and the discovery of the event, Indian Aaryan Varshney, who was not among the initial favourites, keeps the lead with 4,5 points. However, Russian IM Volodar Murzin caught him up on Day 2. On Day 3, the two played against each other but are still on par after two draws. Nikolaos Spyropoulos is unstoppable in the Open U18. He is the only player in all sections to have won all six games, and most of them were very sharp! His opponents tried to break down his psyche by fierce attacks with cascades of sacrifices, but the Greek FIDE Master did not lose his cool and collected all points so far. In the Girls U10 tournament, there is no fear or mercy to the favourites! The results of the world’s top-rated girls in this category fell short of the expectations. However, everything might change because the leaders are not far off the field. Diana Preobrazhenskaya from Russia and Le Thai Hoang Anh from Vietnam scored 4 out of 6 and are closely followed by other contestants on 3,5, and 3 points. Girls U12 rating favourite Alice Lee (2178) from the USA, pictured above, made only one draw in Round 4, winning five games. But she must not relax as Anna Shukhman (Russia) is following just half a point behind. The two meet in Rounds 7-8 on Day 4, and if Anna embraces the moment, she can shake up the standings. The event continues to be a challenging journey for the rating-favourite in Girls U14, Hungarian star WIM Zsoka Gaal (2362). After a somewhat bumpy start, she won two games on Day 3 and is trailing the leader by only half a point. On top with 4,5 points is Fiorella Contreras Huaman from Peru (1931), clearly a discovery of this event. Try to play like Zsoka Gaal, Black to move. Replay the game for the solution by clicking here. Another surprising leader is Nguyen Hong Nhung from Vietnam (1697) in Girls U16. She has lost only one game; however, her main test is yet to come. On Days 4 and 5, she will face two young hopes of Kazakhstani chess WIM Meruert Kamalidenova (2351) and current co-leader WFM Xeniya Balabayeva (2220). WIM Govhar Beydullayeva (2290) from Azerbaijan recovered from a loss in the first round and reinstated herself at the top of Girls U18 standings, scoring 4,5 out of 5 in the next games. She is also a huge favourite against her next two opponents, so likely we won’t see any surprises in this category. Govhar Beydullayeva, photo: @WorldChess2019 Twitter You can watch and replay our live streams from the event with the commentary by GM Farrukh Amonatov on FIDE’s YouTube channel. Tune in for Days 4 and 5 at 16:00 CET on December 21 and 22. You can find the results, regulations, and other information on the official website. * * * The FIDE Online Cadets & Youth Rapid Super Final is held with the support of Gazprom.