Timur Gareyev wins XV Americas Individual Championship
GM Timur Gareyev emerged as the winner of the XV Americas Individual Championship, which took place from May 1-11, 2022, at the Best Western Hotel Terraza, San Salvador, El Salvador. The 11-round Swiss tournament organized by the Chess Confederation of the Americas, the Salvadoran Chess Federation and the National Institute of Sports of El Salvador brought together 11 players from 10 countries battling out for four qualification spots in the 2023 FIDE World Cup. The Uzbekistan-born American GM Timur Gareyev completed the event undefeated, scored a whopping 9½/11 (+26 rating points) and won the event with a round to spare. As many as seven players tied for the second place, finishing 1½ points behind the champion. The tie-breaks (average rating of the opponents) favoured IM Christopher Woojin Yoo of the USA (second place), Yasser Quesada Perez of Cuba (third place) and Gregory Kaidanov, also from the USA (fourth place). The top-4 finishers qualified for the 2023 FIDE World Cup. Final standings: 1 GM Gareyev, Timur USA 2565 9½ 2 IM Yoo, Christopher Woojin USA 2535 8 3 GM Quesada Perez, Yasser CUB 2560 8 4 GM Kaidanov, Gregory USA 2556 8 5 FM Proudian, Armen BRA 2418 8 6 IM Figueredo Losada, Leonel MEX 2337 8 7 IM Sarkar, Justin USA 2325 8 8 GM Salinas Herrera, Pablo CHI 2534 8 9 GM Pichot, Alan ARG 2652 7½ 10 GM Hungaski, Robert USA 2521 7½ 11 IM Thavandiran, Shiyam CAN 2399 7½
Jimma and Mongeli win 2022 Zone 4.4 Championship
The 2022 Zone 4.4 Championship has ended in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The event running from May 2-9 and attracted 65 players from six African federation (46 in the open section and 19 n the women’s section). However, notable absentees include Madagascar and Uganda, probably the strongest chess nations in the zone. WFM Sasha Mongeli of Kenya (pictured below) dominated the women’s event and secured the gold medal with a round to spare. She bulldozed her way by winning all nine games and walked away with a cash prize of USD 750. She will also receive are a conditional WIM title and a fully paid trip for the 2022 Sharjah Challengers Chess Championships. Abate Lidet Haile of Ethiopia won the silver medal scoring 7½ points, while her compatriot Aster Melake Batiwalu claimed bronze with 6 points. Essayas Berhane Elshalom of Eritrea deserves a special mention. Despite being unrated and aged just 14, she delivered a good performance to chalk up impressive 5 points tying for the fourth place. Final standings Women: 1 Mongeli Sasha KEN 1634 9 2 Haile Lidet Abate ETH 1611 7½ 3 Bantiwalu Aster Melake ETH 1387 6 4 Elshalom Essayas Berhane ERI 0 5 5 Abera Mekdes Demssie ETH 1272 5 6 Sara Gadalla Karar SUD 1422 5 7 Ayele Hana Mulugeta ETH 1408 5 8 Mekonen Selemawit Kidanemaryam ETH 1127 4½ 9 Weldegebriel Israel Tekeste ETH 1443 4½ 10 Melebo Yenenesh Lukas ETH 1417 4½ CM Desalegn Fekadu Jimma (pictured above) and CM Gezachew Abera Aydagnuhem of Ethiopia scored 7½ points each to tie for first place in the open section. They shared the top two cash prizes of USD 2,100. However, Jimma emerged the winner as his opponent’s average rating (the first tiebreaker variable) was higher. FM Samir Nadir of Sudan came out third with 6½ points. Final standings Open: 1 CM Jimma Desalegn Fekadu ETH 2057 7½ 2 CM Abera Aydagnuhem Gezachew ETH 2097 7½ 3 FM Nadir Samir SUD 2177 6½ 4 Hamed Mohamed SUD 2063 6½ 5 FM Tagelsir Abubaker SUD 2202 6 6 Njoroge Martin KEN 1932 6 7 Omar Abdulrahman SOM 2005 6 8 Gole Habtamu Ashenafi ETH 2054 6 9 Tsige Addisalem Temesgen ETH 2069 5½ 10 FM Abdelazeez Mohamed Abdalla SUD 2180 5½ The event was co-financed by FIDE Development Fund in Africa. The annual allocation for the continental events & projects is €100,000, and it allows the organizers to offer higher prizes and invite foreign players. Text and photos: Kenya Chess Masala
Southeast Asian Games kick off in Ha Long, Vietnam
The Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) 31 officially commenced their chess games on May 10, 2022, in Ha Long city, Quang Ninh province, Vietnam. This year’s event features 55 top chess players from seven Southeast Asian countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The players will compete in individual and team tournaments in standard, rapid, and blitz time controls for both open and women categories. Joining the opening ceremony were Madame Nguyen Thi Hanh, Vice President of Quang Ninh province; Mr Nguyen Dong Tien, President of Vietnam Chess Federation; Mr Victor Bologan, Executive Director at FIDE; and Ms Zhu Chen, former Women’s World Chess Champion and FIDE Treasurer.
FIDE elections: Call to Candidates
Dear Candidates, FIDE is pleased to announce that the FIDE Congress will be held in Chennai, India between 31 July 2022 (arrivals) and 09 August 2022 (departures). The Meeting of the General Assembly will take place on 07-08 August 2022, when the elections will be completed. You are welcome to save the dates in your calendar. You can find detailed information on the dedicated website for the FIDE Congress, at https://congress.fide.com. The Elections will take place for the following positions and in accordance with the following timelines in which applications can be submitted: • The positions of President and Deputy President (on a joint ticket)– no later than 07 June 2022, 6.00 PM, CET time inclusive• The position of Vice President – no later than 07 July 2022, 6.00 PM, CET time inclusive• The position of Zonal President – no later than 07 July 2022, 6.00 PM, CET time inclusive• The position of a member of Ethics and Disciplinary commission – no later than 07 July 2022, 6.00 PM, CET time inclusive• The position of a member of Constitutional commission – no later than 07 July 2022, 6.00 PM, CET time inclusive FIDE invites all interested persons to submit Candidate Application Forms to office@fide.com. Please note that electronic signatures or even scanned signature on a pdf document can be considered valid if there are no doubts about the origin and the attribution of the document. FIDE also informs that the Candidate Application Forms must be endorsed by letters of support from Member Federations (recommended form attached hereto) under the following rules: • Each candidacy for the Presidential ticket must be endorsed by nominations from at least five (5) Member Federations, among them at least one (1) from each of the four (4) FIDE Continents, but by no more than eight (8) Member Federations in total; • Each candidacy for the position of elected Vice President must be endorsed by nominations from at least three (3) Member Federations; • Each candidacy for the positions of members of commissions must be endorsed by nominations from at least three (3) Member Federations. Please consider that each Member Federation is entitled to endorse only one (1) Presidential ticket, as well as one (1) candidacy for one of the positions listed above. If you have any questions, please email them to FIDE Office at office@fide.com.
FIDE awards grants to Ukrainian seniors and disabled players
A dedicated FIDE panel under the chairmanship of FIDE Director-General Emil Sutovsky awarded grants for an amount of €2,000 each to 5 prominent Ukrainian veteran trainers. The panel would like to thank the leading Ukrainian players for their recommendations, and for their concern about chess veterans. FIDE has also contributed €1,500 to allow the IM Ukrainian Igor Yarmonov to take part in the 21st IPCA World Individual Chess Championship 2022 that is currently being held in Ashdod, Israel. Photo credit: Mark Livshitz