Candidates play-off introduced
As per the decision made at the FIDE Council meeting on December 27, a playoff has been introduced for the Candidates Tournament and the Women’s Candidates Tournament, to be played in the case of a tie for first place. This decision has been taken after consultation with all the players who have already qualified for the competition. A majority of them favoured the option of a play-off over the tie-break system used in previous editions (“1. The results of the games between the players involved in the tie; 2. Number of wins; 3. Sonneborn-Berger”). The play-off will consist of rapid games. Details like the exact time control to be used and the total number of players to take part in the tie-break, will be decided in January after further consultation with players. Once the precise format has been defined, FIDE will publish an updated version of the regulations. As it was announced yesterday, the Candidates Tournament 2022 will take place in Madrid, Spain, from June16 to July 7.
92nd FIDE General Assembly: results and decisions
The 92nd FIDE General Assembly took place yesterday, December 28, and for the first time ever, it was organized under a hybrid format. While most of the delegates participated through videocall, and votes were cast online, the FIDE President, Management board, and several members of the Council were present in Warsaw, where the World Rapid and Blitz Championship takes place. As it has become a tradition, the meeting began with a video In Memoriam in remembrance of the chess family members who passed away during the year. The President summarized the highlights of the year, including all the FIDE main competitions and FIDE’s social initiatives, one of the areas where our organization made more progress over the past few months. The report of the Treasurer Zhu Chen and discussions on financial matters demonstrated that FIDE is in good financial shape. The approach of presenting the FIDE budget has been changed to presenting gross income and expenditure, which allows for more transparency and resembles the best practice of our peer international sports federations. Such profound change comes from the implementation of what can be considered a change in our business model. In the past, FIDE outsourced organization of most Events, including World Championship Matches, to third parties. But shortly after the new management team took office in October 2018, FIDE has been building capabilities to organize event and acquired back the right to stage the World Championship Match. “This is a major change of business model for FIDE that requires us to review our financial reporting and budgeting process,” explains Chen. “While the pandemic forced us to postpone the implementation of our new business model by almost two years, the recent World Championship Match has proved that FIDE is on the right track.” The budget for 2022 is balanced and established at a total income and expenditure of 12.84 million EUR. “The Development Fund has been doubled, which means many opportunities for great projects”, explains Dana Reizniece-Ozola, FIDE’s Managing Director. It must be noted that, in 2021, more than 80% of the income was generated by sponsorship, donations and broadcast rights, compared to 48% in 2020, and 4,8% in 2016. In other words, the income from licenses and fees paid by member federations and chess players has been reduced from 95,2% in 2006 to less than 20% in 2021. Another important step forward was the approval of a New Ethics and Disciplinary Code, a pivotal document to provide FIDE with better governance policies and increased transparency. The new Code is the product of intensive work and review over the past year. “It is the mission of FIDE to promote the highest possible ethical values within the sport of chess and to ensure that the spirit of fair play and good sportsmanship prevails. The Code sets out ethical values, principles, duties and proper sanctions applicable throughout the chess community and sport,” explains Francois Strydom, Chairman of the FIDE Ethics & Disciplinary Commission. In the same direction, a new set of FIDE electoral rules were approved for the electoral procedure that must take place in 2022. This document defines the scope of application and general principles, the eligibility and nomination and candidates, the ethical considerations to observe during the campaign, the designation of the electoral commission, and the counting of votes, among many other details. These new rules also imply a strong stance for an increased gender balance, something particularly important in a year that has been designated by FIDE as “The Year of Women in Chess”. Finally, we are happy to announce that the FIDE family keeps growing. To begin with, the request to join FIDE by four new Federations was approved. Dominica, St.Vincent and Grenadines, Niger, and Belize, are now members of FIDE. FIDE will be happy to host the new member federations in the World Chess Olympiad in Moscow next year, and also provide them with development funding and capacity building support. They are already taking the first steps, and for instance the St Vincent and Grenadines Chess Federation just held its first national championship ever. On December 17, Chinedu Benjamin Enemchukwu was crowned as the first national champion in this Caribbean country. FIDE also awarded a new title of a FIDE Honorary Member. The 92nd FIDE General Assembly voted unanimously in favour of awarding the title of “FIDE Honorary Member” to Andrey Filatov, President of the Chess Federation of Russia, for his special contribution to development of chess. Over the entire history of FIDE that counts nearly 100 years, the honorary member title has been awarded to about 80 people, including one of the Federation founders, Lord Frederick Hamilton-Russell, world champions Max Euwe and Boris Spassky, world women’s champions Nona Gaprindashvili and Maia Chiburdanidze, the oldest grandmaster in the world Yuri Averbakh, the inventor of the universally adopted in chess ELO system, Arpad Elo, and the leaders of the Soviet Chess Federation Boris Rodionov and Vitaly Sevastyanov. Decisions of 2021 FIDE General Assembly Decisions of 2021 4th FIDE Council Meeting Please visit the FIDE Congress website for a complete information. Photo: David Llada
Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Alexandra Kosteniuk win World Rapid Championship
Following a blitz tie break victory against Ian Nepomniachtchi, the 17-year-old Uzbek prodigy Nodirbek Abdusatorov won the crown in rapid chess, stripping the defender Magnus Carlsen of his title. In the women’s section, Alexandra Kosteniuk finished first with 9/11 and won her first-ever world crown in rapid chess With 9.5 points out of 13 rounds, Nodirbek Abdusattorov was the first among four players tied for the top spot in the open section of the World Rapid Chess Championship. The other three were Ian Nepomniachtchi, defending champion Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana. Under regulations, only the top two players went on to play the tie-breaks. The champion in rapid chess was decided by two blitz games in which each player had three minutes with a two-second increment per move. The first game was drawn, so the champion was decided in the second game, where Abdusattorov as White scored a victory against Ian Nepomniachtchi. With this victory, Abdusattorov did not only make history but also won a prize of 60,000 USD. In the women’s section, Alexandra Kosteniuk is the winner of the World Rapid Chess Championship. In eleven rounds of the women’s tournament, Kosteniuk did not lose a single game – scoring seven victories (6 in a row in the first six rounds) and making four draws. How the final day unfolded in the open section Day three of the rapid saw the remaining four of 13 rounds played. There was a big surprise in Round Ten as the defending champion Magnus Carlsen lost to the 17-year-old Uzbek Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Following the English Opening, both sides ended in an equal position, but Carsen, leading black pieces, tried to force a victory. However, things didn’t go his way and – for the first time in the tournament – Carlsen was the one in time trouble. Undeterred, he played aggressively, but Abdusattorov did not let himself be intimidated, finding the right moves and seeking counterplay. The two ended in a queen and pawn endgame where, although Carlsen had an extra pawn, White advanced his pawn down the h-file closer to the promotion. Carlsen could have forced a draw with precise play, but he overlooked a check on the a1-h8 diagonal which forced the exchange of queens, leaving White to promote and win. Carlsen resigned instantly. This was not the first time Abdusatorrov caused problems for Carlsen. In the 2019 edition of the World Rapid Championship, played in Moscow, the then 15-year-old Uzbek managed to make a comeback in a weaker position against Carlsen and get a draw, which then visibly upset the world champion. Abdusatorrov’s victory was a big shock which not only turned the tables on Carlsen but changed things at the top of the scoresheet. It was now Abdusattorov and Ian Nepomniachtchi (who in Round Ten beat compatriot Alexander Grischuk) who were in the lead, on 8.5/10, half a point ahead of Carlsen, who was joined by Fabiano Caruana (who scored a confident victory as Black over Bassem Amin to reach the top). Round 11 saw the first duel between Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi since the two played the match for the title of World Champion earlier in the month in Dubai. Carlsen (White) opted for a sideline in the Catalan, but Nepomniachtchi was unfazed with this surprise. He easily equalised and brought the game to a draw. While Carlsen was struggling to get a lucky break, luck was clearly on the side of Abdusattorov as he managed to save a very bad position with a two-pawn deficit as Black against Fedoseev, keeping him in the lead after the 11th round, together with Nepomniachtchi. Things changed again in Round 12: luck was again on the youngster’s side. Playing with black pieces, he ended in a hopeless position against the young Indian star Gukesh but managed to wriggle out, although not without some help from his opponent. Meanwhile, Carlsen, won an exchange but his opponent, the seasoned heavyweight Levon Aronian was holding his ground. Suddenly Aronian overlooked a rook exchange, handing over the victory to Carlsen and a place among the tournament leaders. In this round, Nepomniachtchi made a quick draw with Nakamura, saving himself for the final rapid game. In the final round of the regular part of the tournament, it was an open race: there were four players on nine points (Abdusattorov, Nepomniachtchi, Carlsen and Caruana) and three on 8.5 (Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Hikaru Nakamura and Dommaraju Gukesh). The game between Caruana and Nepomniachtchi ended in a speedy draw, with almost no serious play. The local favourite, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, was close to winning as Black against Abdusattorov, but the Uzbek managed to save a weaker rook endgame and clinch half a point. All eyes were now on the game between Nakamura (who in 2019 won the bronze medal at the world rapid) and Carlsen. Nakamura, playing with white pieces, was caught out in the opening but managed to consolidate. The position transpired into an even rook endgame where Carlsen had an extra pawn. Despite being an expert in grinding opponents in equal positions until they finally make a mistake, Magnus did not manage to convert as Hikaru did not crack and the two finally agreed to a draw. Thus, the third and final day of the World Rapid Chess Championship – which started with an upset for Carlsen – ended in a drama as there were four players on 9.5 points, in a tie for first place: Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana. According to the rules, only the first two among them (Abdusattorov and Nepomniachtchi) went to the tie breaks to decide who would be the champion. The tie-breaks There was a drawing of lots to determine who would be leading the white pieces in the first blitz game. Nepomniachtchi drew White. In the first blitz game of the tie break, Nepomniachtchi had come out from the opening with a strong position. Abdusattorov had serious problems in the middlegame but – like in other games during this final day – managed to defend well and get a draw. In the second game, Abdusattorov opted for his favourite