Batumi to host FIDE World Cadets Championships 2022
The FIDE World Cadets Chess Championships 2022, a tournament organized by FIDE, the Georgian Chess Federation and the Georgian Chess Club “64”, will take place in Batumi, Georgia from September 15-28, 2022. The championships will be held in three age groups – Under 8, 10, 12 and 2 sections – open and girls (totally 6 tournaments). All the competitions will be 11-round Swiss tournaments with the time control 90 minutes for each player plus 30 seconds per move starting from move one. Default time is 15 minutes. All FIDE member federations, eligible players and accompanying persons are invited to participate in the Championships in Euphoria Hotel Complex and enjoy excellent playing conditions as well as sunny weather during the swimming season at the seaside. The players placed 1-3 in FIDE Online World Cadets & Youth (under 10–12) Rapid Chess Championships 2020, the winners of the 2019 World Cadets Championships and the Continental Cadets Champions of the year preceding this edition have the personal right to participate in the World Cadets Championships of the corresponding age category or a higher age category if the age stipulation is met. Such players shall also be classified as invited players and have to be registered by the national federation. In addition to standard prizes – commemorative cups, diplomas and medals – top-5 players in all age categories will be awarded with iPhones, computers and photo cameras. The Registration fee of 100 USD for each player (invited, personal or additional) and each accompanying official/person, plus an entry FIDE fee of €70 for each invited (official) player and €140 for each Additional player should be paid. In order to ensure proper tournament standards, FIDE member federations must fully complete the official registration form and send it to batumi2022@fide.com before the registration deadline July 18th, 2022. Incomplete registrations will not be accepted. Individual applications will not be accepted also. Regulations for the FIDE World Cadets Chess Championships 2022 You can find all the information related to the FIDE World Cadets Chess Championships 2022 on the official website of the tournament wccc2022.fide.com. Contact information: E-mail address: batumi2022@fide.com
2022 GCT Superbet Chess Classic Romania: Day 5 Recap
Day 5 of the Superbet Chess Classic Romania came with an exciting finish with GM Fabiano Caruana taking down Azeri GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov to get back to fifty percent. Today’s games brought some surprise lines and missed opportunities, but was overall a peaceful day. Going into tomorrow’s rest day, Grandmaster Wesley So has drawn his game and maintains half a point advantage from his competitors sharing 2nd place. Ian Nepomniachtchi – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave The first game to finish was the one between GM Ian Nepomniachtchi against GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, which ended in a draw after some missed opportunities by the French Grandmaster. Ian surprised MVL in the opening with a slight move order change. He played Bb5+ on move 5 instead of move 3. Nevertheless, the position transposed to a typical Maroczy-bind a few moves later. The position looked absolutely equal, and Nepo’s blitzing through his moves resulted in an inaccuracy (25.Qxe7?! instead 25.Rb1 which would have maintained easy equality). MVL played all of the right strategic moves and started putting on the pressure in a Q+R (queen and rook) endgame. He had his best chance to pose real problems for his opponent around move 27, with the h5-h4 idea followed by the infiltration along the c-file, which could have given Black good chances to play for a win. Maxime missed this opportunity and let Nepo escape a little too soon with a perpetual check right after the time control was reached. Ian Nepomniachtchi looking focused and possibly concerned about his game in Round 5 | Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Richard Rapport – Leinier Dominguez The start of the game between GM Richard Rapport and GM Leinier Dominguez brought smiles among the players and commentators, as Richie played 2.Ne2!? in order to avoid Dominguez’ Petroff Defense and test the waters in some less explored territories. Dominguez responded in a principled, but ultra-solid fashion. By move 6 all the central pawns were exchanged and as soon as the players developed their pieces, a massive trade off ensued. Although the game did continue for quite a bit, it was clear that the game was heading to a draw, which happened on move 51 in a king and pawn ending. Richard Rapport smiling after his 2.Ne2 against GM Leinier Dominguez | Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Fabiano Caruana – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov The players followed a well-known Petroff line where Caruana chose a variation which happened between Nepomniachtchi and Wang Hao in the last Candidates. Mamedyarov played with confidence and after the players reeled off around 20 moves of theory, it seemed that a draw would be the likeliest outcome. However, an inexplicable mistake was played by Mamedyarov on move 21, bringing his knight to a6 (21…Na6), which put him in a very unpleasant position. Caruana in return rushed with 23.f4 which let go of most of his advantage, yet he maintained an ongoing initiative. The pressure became increasingly difficult as the players were approaching move 40, but Shakhriyar survived the time control. Sadly for the Azeri super-GM, he began making inaccuracies after the time control was reached and by move 49 he found himself in a lost position. This time, Caruana showed patience and gradually, but assuredly, converted his advantage into a full point and his first win of the tournament. A calm GM Fabiano Caruana, cruising through to victory in his Round 5 game against GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Bryan Adams Bogdan-Daniel Deac – Alireza Firouzja Desperate for a win before the rest day, GM Firouzja chose the aggressive KID (King’s Indian Defense) to which the Romanian GM Deac responded with the ambitious 6.h4, hinting a promising fight among the two youngest players of the tournament. Firouzja went down a risky road and after some unsound strategic decisions (risky in favor of complications), his position was strategically worse for some time. However, both players burned their time a little too quickly and found themselves with less than 10 minutes at move 21. After a number of inaccuracies and a blunder in time scramble, the tide turned in the favor of Firouzja and he was up a piece. However, after a sequence of inaccurate decisions, most likely due to time trouble, right as they were approaching move 40, Firouzja let go of a simple win and spoiled all of his advantage. After the time control, it was clear that neither side could improve and this topsy-turvy game ended in a draw on move 68. Alireza Firouzja|Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Levon Aronian – Wesley So GM Aronian’s opening choice was a bit surprising. In the post game-interview GM Wesley So mentioned he was expecting 1. e4, although he was of course prepared for 1.c4 as well. On move 4, Wesley played 4…d5 opting for a Maroczy-bind with reversed colors, which Aronian denied later with 7.d4 . The theory considers this line rather harmless and the rest of the game proved so. After a number of quick trades the game ended in a draw with opposite-color bishops, but it was long drawn before it ended. With this draw, Grandmaster Wesley So maintains his half a point advantage from his competitors sharing 2nd place. Wesley So maintaining the sole lead going into the rest day | Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes The 2022 Superbet Chess Classic continues on Wednesday, May 11th at 6:50 AM CDT with live coverage from Grandmasters Yasser Seirawan, Peter Svidler and Alejandro Ramirez in studio. Grandmaster Cristian Chirila with Woman Grandmaster Anastasia Karlovich on location. Watch all the action live on GrandChessTour.org Text: WGM Sabina Foisor Photo: Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes and Bryan Adams Superbet Chess Classic Romania Sponsors Further Information: Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTourInstagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour Venue and dates: Sheraton Bucharest Hotel, Bucharest, Romania, May 5 – May 14, 2022 Press Contact:press@grandchesstour.org Livestream:GrandChessTour.org Photos:Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum StudiosCredits available on Flickr
Chess in Education online conference announced
Dear Colleagues, FIDE Chess in Education Commission (EDU) in collaboration with the “Chess” Scientific Research Institute of ASPU, organizes another great event to spread the insights about educational chess. The second edition of the “Chess in Education” online conference will take place on June 25-26 at 10 AM CET via Zoom. Main topics of the conference: Social and psychological aspects of chess Methodology of chess teaching and learning Chess and pedagogical training issues Chess and inclusive education Chess and the issues of gender-sensitive education The working languages of the conference are English and Russian. All attendees are required to register for the conference online via the following link: https://forms.gle/eSFmCdEtZ76sdXpQ7 The theses of the presentations and reports must be sent by May 15, 2022. The authors will be informed about the decision of the Organizational commission by May 23, 2022. You can find all the information here: https://edu.fide.com/chess-in-education-international-online-conference-2/ The information on the conference in Russian is available here:https://cloud.fide.com/s/8MGedLq2roFtXaY We would be glad to see you at our upcoming conference. Best regards, Smbat LputianChairman of FIDE EDU commission