FIDE Athletes Commission elections to be held in Chennai
In May 2020, FIDE constituted the Athletes Commission, with a total of 15 members: 10 elected and 5 appointed by the FIDE Commission. During the first term, the elected positions were directly assigned to the 9 candidates who put themselves forward, with the remaining spots being appointed by the FIDE Council. During this period, Dinara Saduakassova (Kazakhstan), Ju Wenjun (China), and Ahmed Adly (Egypt), were the first athletes to Chair this Commission for a period of half a year each, in a six-month rotation. As it was stipulated back then, elections will be held during the Chess Olympiad in Chennai, this time for a full term of 4 years. The elections will be held under the following rules: TEMPORARY RULES FOR 2022 ELECTIONS 1. The 2022 Athletes Commission elections will be held from 9 am CEST July 29th, 2022, to 9 am CET August 3rd, 2022. The results should be announced no later than August 5th, 2022 (23:59 CET) 2. The Candidature Nomination Form must be completed, signed by the candidate and received by the FIDE Secretariat by July 20th, 2022 (23:59 CEST). The Candidature Nomination Form must be sent by e-mail to office@fide.com. 3. Every candidate for election to the Athletes’ Commission must satisfy all of the following requirements: a) be at least 18 years old; b) Candidates must have competed in at least one of the last three FIDE World Championship Cycles, open or Women’s (namely: World Cup, Grand Prix Series, Candidates Tournament, Grand Swiss), or have qualified for the next FIDE World Championship Cycles, open or Women’s (namely: World Cup, Grand Prix Series, Candidates Tournament, Grand Swiss); c) be able to speak and understand English reasonably well; d) not to be under a FIDE EDC disqualification. For the avoidance of doubt, endorsement by a Member Federation is not required. 4. The final list of the eligible candidates will be published at the fide.com not later than July 24th, 2022 (23:59 CEST) 5. A player is eligible to vote if: – he or she is a holder of GM/WGM title; – he or she competed in at least one of the last three FIDE World Championship Cycles, open or Women’s (namely: World Cup, Grand Prix Series, Candidates Tournament, Grand Swiss), or has qualified for the next FIDE World Championship Cycles, open or Women’s (namely: World Cup, Grand Prix Series, Candidates Tournament, Grand Swiss) – he or she is the official player of the team taking part in the 44th Chess Olympiad in India, Chennai (further – Olympiad). 6. Voting shall be conducted in a hybrid format (for voters eligible according to step 3 of the art. 5 “Electoral Procedure”: – A voter may receive the ballot in the Olympiad during the period mentioned in art. 1 and vote in person. In such case, the ballot should be signed by the voter. – By e-mail in all other cases. Votes shall be sent to the e-mail of the electoral commission (to be announced later). E-mails shall be deemed as valid if previously used by voters for signing contracts and accepted by FIDE. E-mails not used before shall be deemed valid if confirmation from a national federation of a voter or of an official from such a federation is provided. FIDE reserves the right to request additional confirmation for any e-mails (regardless of whether they had been recognized previously) whenever they find it necessary. From this link, you can download the Candidature Nomination Form.
Nepomniachtchi on the verge of winning the Candidates as Ding breaks to second place
In a rollercoaster game, Ding Liren beat Fabiano Caruana after six and a half hours of play and is now alone in second place with 6.5/11. Leader Ian Nepomniachtchi beat Alireza Firouzja with black pieces and with 8/11 is 1.5 points ahead of the field It was a day of twists and turns in the Candidates. The results of this round may prove to be key for the remaining part of the tournament. The biggest fight of the day and possibly the biggest upset of the tournament was the duel between Fabiano Caruana and Ding Liren. After six and half hours of play, where both sides gained and dropped advantages, it was Ding whose nerves were steadier and who defeated Caruana in a stunning game. In a popular line of Anti-Marshall in the Ruy Lopez, which has been extensively tested lately (including the World Championship match) Caruana introduced a novelty on the move 15, aiming for the f5-square with the knights. An unusual position transpired where White put his knight in the centre of the black king’s fortress, on g7! Black started his counterplay on the queenside and the centre, forcing Caruana to evacuate his knight. Following exchanges, a roughly equal position emerged on the board in which Ding overestimated his chances and then miscalculated with 30…exf4 followed by 31…g5 and 32…Qe5. Caruana immediately jumped on f5 with his knight, and it turned out that Black had to sound the retreat and switch to defence. Ding was defending very well, hanging by a thread in some lines. Then Caruana made a few imprecise moves allowing Ding to equalise, but the position was still very sharp. As the game was nearing its seventh hour, Caruana, still looking for a win, went too far. With one inaccurate move, he ran into a pin and had to give up his e7-passer and maintain defence in an inferior but still holdable position. After 63 moves, Caruana was on 15 minutes while Ding had over thirty. In a very tense exchange, Caruana finally cracked on the move 72. He allowed Black to get his rook on the second rank and knit a mating net around his king, handing Ding Liren a victory on a silver platter. Caruana’s shock and disbelief at what he had done were obvious. After resigning, he immediately rushed out of the playing hall. A remarkable game and a shocking result. Caruana, who was all this time a step behind Nepomniachtchi, has lost three of the last four games in the Candidates. With 5.5/11 he is now on fifty percent(!) and in fourth place. On the other hand, Ding Liren’s comeback is spectacular: from the bottom board in the first part of the event, written off by almost everyone, he came back guns blazing. Ding made a record: he won three games in a row (two of them with black pieces!) – which was last achieved in the Candidates in 2013. With 6.5 points, he is now alone in second place. Tournament leader Ian Nepomniachtchi scored an important and comfortable victory with black pieces against Alireza Firouzja, the youngest participant of the Candidates and the player whom many have thought would show wonders in this tournament. As in all other games in this event, Nepomniachtchi was extremely solid and played very precisely. However, in this game, as in some others in Madrid – it was Firouzja who defeated himself: he prematurely started with an advance of his pawns on the kingside, launching an attack which not only brought him nothing but also quickly backfired. Firouzja deserves credit that he played ambitiously – as he did in every other game so far. But ambition not rooted in a fair dose of reality is destined to fail at this level of play. On plus five and with three more rounds to go, Nepomniachchi is almost impossible to catch. Hikaru Nakamura and Richard Rapport ended up drawing their game in the Sveshnikov Variation of the Sicilian. In a complex and sharp position, the two sides were pushing and looking for chances, but they were evenly matched. The game eventually transpired into a knight and bishop endgame where White had an extra pawn, but all pieces were on the kingside, and it was an easy draw for Black. Nakamura decided to test Rapport’s endgame knowledge, so the play dragged on for quite some time, but Black comfortably held White to a draw. Nakamura has six points and still has theoretical chances to reach the top, while Rapport is on 4.5. Teimour Radjabov and Jan-Krzysztof Duda played a very steady, calm game in the English double fianchetto. There wasn’t any excitement or suspension on board as both opted for a safe route. After massive exchanges, the two moved to an even rook endgame and called it a day. It was the first game to finish. Radjabov is on five points while Duda is on 4.5. Neither have reasonable chances for any of the top places, and it seems there isn’t much to motivate them further. Here follows a closer look at the games from round eleven of the Candidates. Hikaru Nakamura vs Richard Rapport: Sharp but even Hikaru Nakamura was seen as the favourite. Rapport lost three out of the last four games as his adventurous play didn’t seem to bear much fruit. The opponents played the main line of Sveshnikov in the Sicilian and followed a beaten path up to move 17. In this position, Nakamura opted for 17.Nxe7 with the idea of taking control over the light squares in the center after 17…Qxe7 18.Nf5. However, Rapport sensibly sacrificed his d6-pawn – 18…Qd8! and after 19.Qxe7 g6 got a sufficient counterplay on the queenside. With 26…Bxb3 Black recovered a pawn he gave up earlier. The position was even. Following exchanges of light-squared bishops, the two proceeded to a rook and knight vs rook and bishop endgame. After trading the rooks, White even managed to win a pawn, but the ending did not promise much. Nakamura decided to test Rapport, but the Hungarian had no problem holding