FIDE Grand Prix Berlin Final: Game 1 Recap
After a long theoretical debate, Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura drew the first game in the final of the third leg of the FIDE Grand Prix Series organized by World Chess. Hikaru Nakamura will have white pieces in the second game of the mini-match. The opponents arrived at the empty playing hall today for the final match. All other players were eliminated in the previous rounds, and both finalists felt a bit lonely playing in the venue despite the presence of many spectators who visited the tournament on Saturday. The first game of the final saw a classical variation of the Nimzo-Indian Defence where both players had lots of experience with White and Black. The same long theoretical line had even happened in their previous games a few times before, and all of the encounters ended in a draw. Despite having lots of knowledge of this opening, it was still important to remember some sharp lines, where every mistake can lead to a quick loss. With a slightly different move order, the opponents reached the position from the game Xiong – So played in 2021, but this time around, Wesley had White pieces. Surprisingly, he could not recall the exact position from that game while analyzing it during the post-game interview. Hikaru opted for 23…Qh6, following the game Xiong – So and gave his opponent a chance to improve the variation by trying 27. Qe4, recommended by Stockfish. However, Hikaru was not worried about this line, feeling confident about his position. “Maybe he will press somehow after Qe4, but it is hard to believe,” said Hikaru. After 27.Qb7 met by precise 27…Rc2, the game ended up in a draw just three moves later. The FIDE Grand Prix Series is brought to you by World Chess. Leading partners supporting the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2022 include: Kaspersky as the Official Cybersecurity Partner; Algorand as the Official Blockchain Partner; Prytek as the Technology Transfer Partner; FIDE Online Arena as the official Partner. Photo: Official Photo FIDE Grand Prix Berlin Press kit and Niki Riga
Richard Rapport reaches career-high in April rating list
The first month of spring was marked by the second leg of the FIDE Grand Prix Series in Belgrade, a few national championships and several round-robin and Swiss tournaments in Italy, the USA, India and Serbia. Those who stood out in these events became the main beneficiaries in the April rating list. The only noticeable change in the top-10 Open and top-10 Women is the rise of Richard Rapport, who turned in a remarkable performance in Belgrade. The Hungarian GM not only won the second leg of FIDE Grand Prix and qualified for the Candidates 2022, but also reached his peak career rating of 2762 and the highest position in the rating list ever. Photo: Mark Livshitz Biggest gains in top-100 (Open and Women): Kamalidenova, Meruert 2427 (+65) Sjugirov, Sanan 2696 (+16) Erigaisi, Arjun 2675 (+15) Rapport, Richard 2776 (+14) Nyzhnyk, Illya 2685 (+11) Abdusattorov, Nodirbek 2661 (+10) Sevian, Samuel 2693 (+9) Saric, Ivan 2695 (+8) Swiercz, Dariusz 2664 (+8) Santos Latasa, Jaime 2656 (+8) Meruert Kamalidenova (pictured below) picked up impressive 65 points and deservedly won this monthly nomination. First, the youngster from Kazakhstan earned 19 points in the FE Mix Grand Master – B (the event in Cattolica, Italy, won by Lucas Van Foreest) and then netted whopping 46 points in another Italian tournament Grandiscacchi Kursaal. These achievements helped Meruert to make a huge jump from 95th to 35th position in the top-100 Women. Photo: Niki Riga Sanan Sjugirov, the winner of a GM tournament in Belgrade, earned 16 rating points, whereas Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who tied for second place in this event, improved his rating by 10 points. Coincidentally, both grandmasters ascended 18 steps in the top-100 Open. Arjun Erigaisi of India continues his climbing in the rankings after clinching a national title in Kanpur and then winning the 19 Delhi International Open. These excellent results translate into 20 rating points, and although Arjun dropped 5 points in the Golden Jubilee of Independence League, he moved eleven positions up in the top-100 Open. Photo: St-Louis Chess Club Facebook page Illya Nyzhnyk and Sam Sevian (pictured above) came out on top at the 2022 Spring Chess Classics in Saint Louis and became the main rating beneficiaries of this event, picking up 11 and 10 points, respectively. Another participant of this tournament, Dariusz Swiercz, who tied for third place, also has nothing to complain about as he gained eight rating points. Again when it comes to absolute numbers of rating gains, youngsters are beyond competition. Here are some impressive achievements by young players: Sahithi Varshini M (+124), Miruna-Daria Lehaci (+82), Katharina Ricken (+62), Candela Francisco Guecamburu (+46), the winner of Romania Women’s Championship Alessia-Mihaela Ciolacu (+40), Martyna Wikar (+37), Vignir Vatnar Stefansson (+24) Gukesh D (+23).