2022 Women’s Speed Chess Championship announced
Happy International Women’s Day! On this special occasion, FIDE is thrilled to announce that the 2022 edition of the Women’s Speed Chess Championship has been confirmed and is set to start on May 24. The event was born from a partnership between FIDE and Chess.com and is the most important online tournament for titled women in the world. This year, fans will enjoy top women players vying for their piece of the $70,000 prize fund! Last year, fans had the chance to appreciate the lightning-fast chess of many of the leading women of our time. Six out of the top 10 active women in the world participated, including GMs Hou Yifan, Kateryna Lagno, Lei Tingjie, Nana Dzagnidze, and Anna Muzychuk. Other formidable players such as GM Humpy Koneru, current Women’s Blitz World Champion IM Bibisara Assaubayeva, and Women’s Rapid World Champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk also joined last year’s field. With such fierce competition, not even Hou, a four-time world champion and the highest-ranked woman in the world, had an easy time. The Chinese grandmaster clinched the title only after defeating GM Harika Dronavali in the nick of time, winning the last two bullet games of the match to uneven the score. Earlier this year, FIDE declared 2022 as the Year of Women in Chess. According to FIDE’s Managing Director, Dana Reizniece-Ozola, partnering with Chess.com once more to promote the Women’s Speed Chess Championship is part of the effort to celebrate women in chess. “Celebration does not mean being entertained or amused. Celebration is about appreciation,” said Reizniece-Ozola. “With FIDE announcing 2022 as the Year of Women in Chess, the power of great women in chess is celebrated. And this tournament organized by Chess.com is one such event. Chess moves women forward and women move the chess world forward.” With an increased prize fund and tweaks to improve the event’s format, this year’s Women’s Speed Chess Championship promises to be the best yet. Make sure you tune in to Chess.com/TV, Chess.com Twitch channel, or FIDE YouTube to catch the live broadcast with expert commentary!
FIDE Workshop for Changes in Regulations held online
The FIDE Workshop for Changes in Regulations organized in partnership with the Asian Chess Federation was held online from March 4-7, 2022 via Zoom. At the opening ceremony, the Asian Chess Federation General Secretary Hisham Al Taher welcomed participants and the Guest of Honour FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich. The FIDE President said that the FIDE General Assembly held last December had approved these changes to regulations and emphasized the importance of keeping up with the latest FIDE regulations for arbiters and organizers. Arkady Dvorkovich thanked Arbiters for their participation, welcomed feedback and invited comments for further discussion with FIDE. Mr. Dvorkovich drew attention to the recent FIDE Council decision caused by the current geopolitical situation and the tragic war in Ukraine – Russian players can take part in FIDE events only under the FIDE flag. He confirmed that FIDE had to move the Chess Olympiad and FIDE Congress from Russia. FIDE opened bids for hosting Chess Olympiad and has already received a bid from All India Chess Federation. There can be separate bids for Chess Olympiad, Olympiad for People with Disabilities and FIDE Congress. FIDE President invited all potential bidders to contact FIDE. A total of 180 participants from 53 countries registered for the Workshop, namely 30 Asian countries, 10 European countries, 7 African countries and 6 countries from the Americas. The Workshop was attended by 49 International Arbiters, 54 FIDE Arbiters, 63 National Arbiters and eight International Organizers. FIDE Qualification Commission Secretary Alex Holowczak of the U.K. made a report on changes to FIDE title and Rating Regulations which came into effect 1st January 2022 explaining the logic behind the changes. Rules Commission Chairman Abdulrahim Mahdi of the UAE presented the updates to the FIDE Laws of Chess and online regulations. Rules Commission Secretary Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh of Iran told about updates to Arbiter title regulations, classification and updates to Fair Play regulations. ACF Executive Director Casto Abundo of the Philippines rounded off the seminar with a lecture on How to Organize Chess Tournaments. The Workshop was a project of the Asian Chess Federation aimed to assist Arbiters and Organizers and speed up a post-pandemic return to over-the-board chess.
FIDE Grand Prix Belgrade: Round 6 Recap
Dmitry Andreikin, Anish Giri, Richard Rapport and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave move on to the next stage of the FIDE Grand Prix Belgrade The final – sixth round – of the group stage of the Grand Prix finished in Belgrade, with four clear winners progressing to the semi-finals. Despite players such as Richard Rapport and Anish Giri entering the round as comfortable leaders in their groups, it was a tense day as things could have still gone wrong even for them. On the other hand, players such as Etienne Bacrot, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Nikita Vitiugov had to play for a win in order to secure a place in the tiebreaks. These circumstances were promising an exciting final round of the group stage of the Belgrade leg of the Grand Prix. The first move in the round was made by Lukasz Turley, FIDE Vice President, in the game between Nikita Vitiugov and Anish Giri. Pool A: In Pool A it was Andreikin and Shankland who had the most chances to move to the next stage. If they drew their games, or if both won, the two would have to play each other in the tiebreak. However, if Andreikin lost and Shankland drew, it would be the Bacrot and the American who would have to decide in tiebreaks who moves forward to the semi-finals. Dmitry Andreikin opted for a rare line in the Queen’s Gambit Accepted against Etienne Bacrot but did not get even a slight edge. Bacrot was holding his own quite comfortably, and a draw seemed like the most logical outcome. Trying to reverse his fortune, Andreikin ventured upon a queen sacrifice for a rook and minor piece, but it did not offer much had Bacrot played the natural move 27…Qxd5. The game was full of twists and turns where both sides had a significant advantage and then blundered it away. The final portion of this encounter was a real blunder fest. Black had just a rook for the queen at some point but allowed the opponent to weave a mating net around his king. A miracle victory by Andreikin, who qualified for the semis. Sam Shankland essayed the Sicilian defence against Alexander Grischuk, who responded with the Rossolimo Attack. White opted for a very solid setup, restricting Black’s activity. Shankland played the right logical moves, but unfortunately for him, they led to massive exchanges and a draw was agreed on move 24. Pool B: Anish Giri was the favourite to win in Pool B. He was Black against Nikita Vitiugov. In their previous game, in the second round, Giri was victorious as White. In the round six game, Vitiugov had to win in order to get a chance to fight Giri again, but in the tiebreak. Starting with the English Opening, the game quickly transposed into a sideline of the Tarrasch Defence. It seemed that Vitiugov managed to surprise Giri as Black spent a lot of time on the opening: nearly 32 minutes on move eleven and 15 minutes on his 15th move. The time was well-spent as Anish got a comfortable position and after exchanges in the centre reached equality. With a solid pawn structure and no queens on the board, Giri was safe, and the two called it a draw. With this draw, Anish Giri was on 4/6 and in clear first place in Pool B. “It’s very important that I qualified and not so much how the games went… All the games were tough, and my play was decent. I’m happy with my score, and I’m looking forward to the next phase”, said Giri in his post-game interview. Pentala Harikrishna lost as White to Amin M. Tabatabaei. The two had no chances to qualify for the next stage, but they still played an exciting game. In the Open Line of the Ruy Lopez, White sacrificed an exchange, getting a pawn and a bishops pair as compensation, following the idea introduced in the game Caruana – Dominguez in 2021. Tabatabaei offered a repetition on move 23 but White opted to play on. However, immediately after this, following a strange move 28.b3, White opened the queenside to Black. Tabatabaei’s rooks jumped into action, and his extra exchange quickly came to fore. The Iranian finished the event with his first and only victory. Pool C: Richard Rapport drew with Alexei Shirov, and with this result, sealed his card for the next stage of the tournament. In the English Opening, the Hungarian opted for the line he had tested back in 2013 but with black pieces. Shirov was trying to create some chances on the queenside but did not manage to get anything substantial. Everything was in Rapport’s hands, who opted for a safe path to a draw that promoted him to the next stage. Vladimir Fedoseev and Vidit Santosh Gujrathi had a theoretical discussion in a popular line of the Petroff Defense. Castling on opposite sides promised a sharp game, and the opponents did not disappoint. Black pushed his pawns towards the centre, pressing White’s c4-square. Fedoseev had to switch to defence and allowed Vidit to seize the advantage, which he increased by cutting off White’s king on a1. Vidit Gujrathi was in control, but a strong computer-like move 30…Rd8! escaped his attention. White avoided the worst and after several unsuccessful tries by Vidit the game ended in a draw. Pool D: One of the most anticipated games of the round was between Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who was leading white pieces against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The only way Mamedyarov could qualify for the next stage was to score a victory against the Frenchman, who was the leader in the extremely strong Pool D. After 1.d4, MVL decided not to play his pet Gruenfeld and opted for a more solid opening. In the Carlsbad Variation of Queen’s Gambit, the two players castled to the opposite wings suggesting a sharp game. White tried to engineer some activity on the kingside but the Frenchman was quick in his counterplay. His dark-squared bishop was a particularly functional piece, cementing defence and eyeing the b2-pawn in White’s camp. By move 30 Mamedyarov exhausted his attacking options and