Invitation: 44th Chess Olympiad & FIDE Congress 2022
Dear Member Federations, Please find enclosed the official invitation to the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai, as well as the FIDE Congress 2022. DOWNLOAD INVITATION: Along with welcome messages by Tournament Director Bharat Singh Chauhan and FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, in this document prepared by the All India Chess Federation you will find all the basic information regarding this event: Venue, schedule, hotels, tournament regulations, dress code, travel subsidies for participants of the Olympiad and delegates of the FIDE Congress. The document also includes practical information on how to get to Chennai, climate, currency, transportation, visa information, et cetera. All this information, along with the registration for players, arbiters, and participants in the FIDE Congress, will be soon available at the official website. You can contact the Organizing Committee at olympiad@aicf.in, and they also have a dedicated support line for visa enquiries: visa@aicf.in. A call centre will be operating two months before the Olympiad, just after the closing of the registration system, at +91-8100003030. The working hours for this hotline will be from 10:00 to 18:00 (GMT +5:30), and then, during the Olympiad, it will be operational 24/7. However, the Organizers request that federations use the call centre only in case of strict necessity or emergencies. Otherwise, the preferred way to contact the organizers will still be the email indicated above. Looking forward to seeing you in Chennai, International Chess Federation & Olympiad Organizing Committee DOWNLOAD INVITATION:
American Cup: Day 6 Recap
Both GM Fabiano Caruana and GM Irina Krush managed to qualify to the finals of the American Cup, after drawing the second game and avoiding a playoff in their Champions Bracket matches against GM Leinier Dominguez and FM Alice Lee. In the Elimination Bracket, GM Levon Aronian defeated GM Ray Robson 2-0, while WGM Tatev Abrahamyan ended up winning a playoff against WGM Begim Tokhirjonova. Taking place tomorrow will be the finals of the Elimination Bracket, with Aronian facing Dominguez and Lee taking on Abrahamyan for one more chance at overall tournament victory. The time control for the event is 90 minutes plus 30 seconds increment for all games in the Champions Bracket, with a rapid time control of 25+10 for the Elimination Bracket and a 10+5 time control for all playoff matches. CHAMPIONS BRACKET DOMINGUEZ – CARUANA 1/2-1/2 After winning the first game, Fabiano Caruana needed just a draw to win the match, but a good preparation by Dominguez in the Italian Game earned him a serious advantage on the clock, as well as a clearly better position where he could play against Black’s isolated pawn. But a very practical pawn sacrifice by Caruana changed the character of the game, not letting Dominguez to simply improve his position. Dominguez was then unable to keep his edge as the players entered a rook and knight endgame where Black always had enough counterplay to survive. Further good defense by Caruana allowed him to hold the game, clinching the classical match 1.5-0.5. 23…e3! threw a wrench into White’s plans, as there was no comfortable way to capture the pawn. | ½-½, 56 moves GM Fabiano Caruana | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes LEE – KRUSH 1/2-1/2 Also needing just a draw to clinch the match was Krush, who opted for the solid Cambridge Springs Variation against her young opponent. Lee played quite solidly in the middlegame, but wasn’t able to outplay Krush, who slowly managed to trade down into a drawish heavy piece endgame. Krush even ended up with an extra pawn in a rook endging, but the position offered no winning chances for Black and the players soon repeated moves to draw the game. GM Irina Krush | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes ELIMINATION BRACKET ARONIAN – ROBSON | 2-0 In a rematch of the Champions Bracket, Aronian started out the first playoff game with an interesting setup in a Reverse Benoni, forcing Robson to burn a lot of time in the opening. Unfortunately for Robson, his time-trouble would end up being the deciding factor in the match, as he eventually went down to 1 minute versus 15 and couldn’t maintain his accuracy. A few moves later, Aronian setup a nice tactic to win the exchange and converted the first game with ease. 37.Nxc5! was Aronian’s winning trick, with idea 37…Qxc5 38.d4 and 37…Qxf4 38.Nxd7+ | 1-0, 45 moves In the second game Robson again started spending a lot of time out of the opening, looking to keep the position as complicated as possible. But Aronian played quickly and confidently, even sacrificing an exchange for a strong initiative on the kingside. Robson was then forced to enter a position with two rooks for the queen, but his king was too exposed and a further blunder allowed Aronian to win the second game as well. GM Levon Aronian | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes TOKHIRJONOVA – ABRAHAMYAN | 1-3 The initial two games in the Elimination Match both came down to a complicated rook endgame. First Abrahamyan missed a serious chance to win as Black, allowing a draw–then Tokhirjonova was better in the next game but couldn’t make anything of her advantage, leading to a 1-1 tie and forcing a playoff. The first game of the playoff was quite a sharp struggle in the Italian Game, with very few pieces getting traded before the players entered time-trouble. As the clocks ticked down, the position opened up, with many possible tactics under the surface. A strategic blunder by Tokhirjonova allowed Abrahamyan to trade off the light-squared bishops, leaving Black’s kingside extremely vulnerable. Abrahamyan pounced on the chance and immediately decided the game with a powerful attack. 34.Qc2+! was the game-winner, taking control over the light-squares on the kingside. After 34…f5 35.Ne5+ Black could not go 35…Kf6 in view of 36.Nh5 mate! | 1-0, 36 moves In the second game Tokhirjonova got a bit of pressure as White out of the opening, but it was quickly neutralized as Abrahamyan generated decent counterplay on the queenside. The players then traded down into a heavy-piece endgame where only Black (Abrahamyan) had chances to push for the win. In the ensuing time scramble Tokhirjonova ended up blundering her queen, and was forced to resign on the spot. Abrahamyan vs. Tokhirjonova during their Elimination Match | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Austin Fuller Day 7 of the 2022 American Cup will take place Tuesday April 26 starting at 12:50 PM CT. Catch all the action live with grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Cristian Chirila, and Alejandro Ramirez on uschesschamps.com and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels. Watch all the action LIVE at USChessChamps.com Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Photo credit: Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes and Austin Fuller Dates & Location:April 20 – 29, 2022, Saint Louis Chess Club Web: uschesschamps.com | Twitter: @STLChessClub Instagram: @STLChessClub | Facebook: @STLChessClub YouTube: @STLChessClub | Twitch.tv: @STLChessClub Photo Credits:Photos and appropriate credits available on Flickr Press Contact:Rebecca Buffington rbuffington@saintlouischessclub.org Saint Louis Chess Club | Building Champions 4657 Maryland Avenue, Saint Louis, MO 63108 | (314) 361.CHESS (2437)
Carlsen beats Praggnanandhaa to go joint-top of leaderboard
Magnus Carlsen upped his game for the big occasion today as he ended young pretender Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa’s unbeaten streak to go level at the top of the Oslo Esports Cup leaderboard. The World Champion shrugged off the illness he has suffered since the start of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour event to brush aside the challenge of the in-form Indian teen with a dominant 3-0 win. With a game to spare, Carlsen grabbed the maximum 3 points and $7,500 win bonus to move alongside Praggnanandhaa on 9/12. It also took the Norwegian to five straight wins in rapid chess. Carlsen, when asked whether he was feeling extra determination playing Praggnanandhaa, said: “I am the best — I don’t have any doubt about that, but you gotta prove it when you play!” Praggnanandhaa had gone into the Round 4 match ahead of Carlsen having played fantastic chess on his way to three match-wins in a row. In doing so, Rameshbabu had also chalked up $22,500 in earnings and ignited hope he could win the first Major of the Tour season overall. But against world No.1 Carlsen, the supremely-talented 16-year-old found himself up against next-level opposition. Carlsen went into the match with a spring in his step that has been missing over the last couple of days during which he has complained about feeling under the weather. In the first game, the young Indian showed no fear whatsoever as he opted for a Sicilian. But it was Carlsen who went on to take first blood. The champ overcame Pragg in a brilliant game that went right down to the wire when the champ showed his endgame prowess with the excellent 60.Qd6! Magnus Carlsen – Praggnanandhaa RWhite advances his pawn to a6 as both 60…Qxa5 and 60…Qe3+ fail to 61.Qe6+| 1-0, 76 moves In between games, Carlsen said he was feeling “quite a lot better” – and it showed. Pragg had to hit back. The youngster pushed aggressively in the second but then suffered an agonising mistake with 31.Bxd8 that lost a rook for a piece. It was a killer blow that lost the game and left him in a must-win situation going into the third game. Try as he might, Pragg could not hold back the tide and Carlsen broke through to finish him off in style. The champ shook his young opponent’s hand when the victory was secured before saying Pragg still has a “great chance” to win the event. Pragg said: “I think my play in the first and second games was good, but then in less time I started to play bad moves. Then in the third game I just didn’t get the position. “But I think it’s a great experience for me and I always enjoy playing top players.” He added: “Next time I’d like to put up more resistance against Magnus!” Vietnam’s Liem Quang Le also won his match against Eric Hansen with a game to spare, recording two wins in a 2.5-0.5 victory. The two other R4 matches both went to nervy tiebreaks after the regular matches finished 2-2. Poland’s World Cup winner Jan-Krzysztof Duda, moved into contention after he beat Shakrhiyar Mamedyarov in a close match that went to tiebreaks. It was Duda’s third win in a row and took him to 7/12. Meanwhile, the tiebreak in the all-Dutch encounter between Anish Giri and Jorden van Foreest started dramatically as a mouse-slip from Giri in the first blitz game left him behind. Giri then made a huge blunder in the second to hand the match to his countryman. Round 5 of 7 starts at 18:00 CEST on Tuesday. Full coverage with commentary from the Oslo arena is available on chess24’s Twitch and YouTube channels. For further comments contact: Leon Watson leon@championschesstour.com About the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour The Champions Chess Tour is the leading online chess Tour worldwide determining the world’s best chess player over a full competitive season of online chess. The 2022 season begins in February 2022 and features monthly tournaments culminating in a Final in November 2022. The best chess players in the world are competing in rapid chess. All games take place online on www.chess24.com with players competing for a total prize pool of over USD 1.5 million. For more information visit www.championschesstour.com. About Play Magnus Group Play Magnus Group is a global leader in the chess industry focused on providing premier digital experiences for millions of chess players and students. The company offers e-learning and entertainment services via its market leading brands: chess24, Chessable, iChess, New In Chess, Everyman Chess, Silver Knights, Aimchess, the Play Magnus App Suite, and the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. The Group’s mission is to grow chess to make the world a smarter place by encouraging more people to play, watch, study, and earn a living from chess. Play Magnus Group is listed on Euronext Growth Oslo under the ticker PMG. www.pmg.me