Monaco to host Pool A of Women’s Candidates
The glamorous Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo will host the Pool A of the Women’s Candidates tournament, organised by the Monaco Chess Federation, from October 24 to November 6. This bracket will see the clash between Humpy Koneru and Anna Muzychuk (first Quarter-Final), and Lei Tingjie and Mariya Muzychuk in the second Quarter-Final. Under the new knock-out format, players in each of the two brackets or “pools” will play a four-game match (plus tie-breaks, if needed) in order to advance to the next stage, with the final match being played over the distance of six games. The prize fund for this pool is €70,000, while another €110,000 will be at stake in the Women’s Candidates Final, raising the total to a record-breaking amount of €250,000. The main sponsor for the event will be The Société des Bains de Mer (SBM), a company that owns and manages the Monte Carlo Casino, the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and the Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo. Originally founded in 1863 by Charles III, Prince of Monaco, and previously owned by Aristotle Onassis, SBM is now a publicly traded company registered in the Principality of Monaco, with the Government of Monaco as the main shareholder. Photo: Håkan Dahlström The games venue will add a touch of distinction to the event, as the Hôtel Hermitage is one of the most emblematic hotels in Europe. Set in a palace in Monaco listed as a historical monument, this luxurious five-star hotel features Belle-Époque décor, a winter garden, and a 7,000 m² spa. Among other recognitions, it received the “Best spa in a hotel in Europe” Prix by Villégiature Award in 2016 and the Gold Award in the “Event Hotel of the Year” category by Eventia in 2012. Pool B of the Women’s Candidates will be staged under the same conditions, and the host city will be confirmed in the coming days. The Final that will determine the challenger to Ju Wenju’s throne, played over the distance of 6 games, will take place in the first quarter of 2023, and two different European cities have already expressed their interest in organising it.
44th Chess Olympiad: Illegal move gives lead to Armenia
India B Gukesh stuns the world with 7/7. The Olympiad is arguably the world’s largest team championship, played at the same time in a single venue. It’s so big – more than 350 four-player teams – that it typically takes two or more buildings to lodge all the games. Here in Chennai, the main venue hall has a capacity for 27 matches in the open category and 20 women’s matches, with more than 350 players. However, since the Norwegian team is not doing very well at the moment – only the world champion Magnus Carlsen is playing at a decent level – this afternoon they faced North Macedonia on open table 28, in venue hall room B, with capacity for the other 1200 players! Carlsen’s presence generated great expectations amongst all the mostly amateur teams that play their “own” non-grandmaster Olympiad, and of course, one of the sponsors of the event, Mr Shrikant Madhav Vaidya Indian Oil Corporation Chairman, who performed the traditional ceremonial first move on his board. FIDE Director General, GM Emil Sutovsky captured this sentiment magnificently on Twitter. The final score of the match, 2.5-1.5 for Norway, will allow them to return to the main venue tomorrow. However, if they want to continue climbing the ladder, they need to improve on the lower boards. We were lucky enough to catch board two, Aryan Tari, just before he left the venue, and he agreed to a short interview with FIDE Press Officer IM Michael Rahal. Check it out if you want to know what it feels like sitting next to Magus every day! Meanwhile, in the main venue, all eyes were on the two main matches. USA vs Armenia was a classic, one of the most exciting matches to date. After less than 20 moves, Wesley So was already winning against Hrant Melkumyan: the American crashed through with a fantastic rook sacrifice, which, in one of the lines, would have been followed up by an unbelievable queen sacrifice and mate in six. On board three, Lenier Dominguez also brought home the point for 2-0, but then disaster struck. Fabiano Caruana lost on board one against Gabriel Sargissian – a very strong grandmaster who always performs strongly in team competitions. Fabiano is not having the best of events, performing more than 200 points below his rating. It looked like Shankland was going to lose on board four (for a final 2-2), but he got back into the game. When a draw was about to be agreed, a devastated Shankland illegally “premoved” his king and had to resign immediately. The final result permits Armenia to maintain the lead by one match point. The other top match was India A vs India C. The A-team outrated their colleagues by more than 100 points, and the final 3-1 score more or less reflects what happened on the boards. Not without difficulties, Erigaisi and Narayanan took down their opponents on boards three and four, while Harikrishna (slightly better most of the game) and Vidit secured draws on the top boards. They will face Armenia for the tournament lead tomorrow. Playing for India B, Gukesh D is still on a roll, and this afternoon he won his seventh game in a row! His TPR (tournament rating performance) is mind-blowing: 3335, nearly 400 points more than Magnus Carlsen, chasing him down. His opponent, Cuban grandmaster Carlos Albornoz, rated 2566 and is a very strong player. Still, Gukesh achieved a comfortable position after the opening with Black, and then he just gradually outplayed Carlos in a complicated endgame. Sarin and Praggnanandhaa also won their games, notching up a convincing 3.5-0.5 win against Cuba. Tomorrow they will face the USA in a match that might easily decide the outcome of the young guns – medal or not? We caught up with five-time World Champion Vishy Anand, India’s chess superstar, in the playing venue. Vishy is not playing this year with team India because he is running for election. Amongst other things, we wanted to find out what he thought about Gukesh’s uncanny performance. You can watch the interview with Vishy here. Tomorrow’s other two top matches will feature Germany (2.5-1.5 against Serbia today) against Uzbekistan, who whitewashed Peru (4-0). Surprise winners Kazakhstan also have 12 points: they defeated Spain by a marginal 2.5-1.5 score in an up and down match that could have gone either way. Their opponent tomorrow will be Azerbaijan, another tough nut to crack. Of the other favourites, England, Ukraine and especially Poland are underperforming. However, with four rounds to go, anything can happen if a team can string together three in a row. Round 8 will be played on August 6 at 3 pm sharp and can be followed live on the tournament website. For a complete list of results, please visit the official website at https://chessolympiad.fide.com/open-results/ Text: IM Michael Rahal, FIDE Press Officer, Chennai Photos: Lennart Ootes, Mark Livshitz and Stev Bonhage
India A Women’s team extends sole lead
Indian Women A notched their seventh successive victory against sixth seed Azerbaijan by a 2.5-1.5 score to maintain their sole lead in the Women’s section of the 44th Chess Olympiad with 14 points – two points ahead of second-placed Ukraine and Armenia. Indian eves suffered a few hiccups after Humpy ended up on the losing side in the first game to end. Tania and Vaishali once again rose to the occasion magnificently by scoring hard-fought victories, while Harika also battled hard to split the point. Tania and Ulviyya battling in a Queen’s Gambit Declined game matched pace for the most part till the middle game. A strayed knight on the king-side allowed Tanya to break through in the centre, and even though her opponent’s rook had invaded the seventh rank, Tanya managed to exchange most pieces and steered the game to a much better ending. Tanya eventually broke her opponent’s resistance and scored a full point on the move 63. Vaishali played splendidly in a drawish rook endgame, pressurizing her opponent with precise and active moves and finally pulled off so much-needed victory. Vaishali later confessed: “Till the 40th turn, my game was dead equal, and I considered settling for a draw. After Humpy’s loss, I had to keep pressing and, interestingly, this was one position which we had worked in the camp with Boris Gelfand, and I followed his suggestions to the ‘T’. A hallmark of the Women’s A Team has been the ability of every player to score a win when the team needed it most.” Abhijit Kunte said: “The way Harika, Vaishali and Tania continued in this pressure position is very heartening. The players understand the situation perfectly and deliver.” Georgia bounced back after yesterday’s loss to beat Romania 2.5-1.5, and Ukraine trounced Netherland 3.5-0.5, while Bulgaria held Poland to a 2-2 draw. India Women B team, seeded 11th, was shocked by 27th seeded Greece 1.5-2.5. Divya Deshmukh scored the lone victory for India, while Vantika Agrawal and Soumya Swaminathan lost their encounters, and Mary Ann Gomes had to settle for a draw. India Women C defeated Switzerland by 3-1, with victories by Eesha Karavade and P V Nandhidhaa and draws by Bodda Pratyusha and Vasnawala Vishwa. The complete results for round 6 can be found at the official website for the Olympiad, https://chessolympiad.fide.com/women-results. Standings after round 7 can be found at https://chessolympiad.fide.com/women-standings.
Year of the Woman in Chess Awards Granted in Chennai
Photo courtesy: FIDE/Anna Volkova We are happy to announce the winners of the Year of the Woman in Chess Awards honouring outstanding women and those supporting women in chess. The ceremony took place on the evening of August 5 in Chennai, India, as part of the 44th Chess Olympiad, and was broadcast live on our YouTube channel. In the months before the ceremony, national chess federations were encouraged to submit their nominations in more than a dozen award categories that covered nearly all aspects of chess life. Apart from the overall winner in each category, the awards were also presented to continental winners. FIDE Managing Director, Dana Reizniece-Ozola, opened the ceremony with an inspiring speech. “We must ensure that when a girl or a woman thinks of what she wants to become, she keeps in mind that chess is also a career path. It is our duty to create an environment where they can become the greatest players in the world, the greatest arbiters, managers, leaders of the chess world.” Dana is a women-in-chess movement enthusiast who works tirelessly to encourage more women to participate in every aspect of chess life, from playing to administrative roles. She received a special Spirit of FIDE prize for her contribution and passion. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich welcomed guests of the ceremony and praised the awardees: “Ladies who will be awarded today did a great job already for a long period of time, including this year. They are examples and role models for everyone who loves chess and who wants to contribute every day, every month, every year. 2022 was announced the Year of the Woman in Chess, but it should not be just one year; it should be the whole life.” Hungarian legend Judit Polgar, the strongest female chess player of all time, received the Fide ICON award. “It is a great honour to receive the FIDE ICON Award. This award is a recognition of my decades-long career as a chess player and my work promoting chess and encouraging women’s orientation towards chess. We must continue to work to ensure that more girls experience this ancient game’s beauty, knowledge, and benefits. I take every opportunity to convey the message to girls and people around them: strive to make the most of their talents. Because if we do not limit girls, if we encourage and inspire them to persevere and build their confidence, they will succeed in any field of life,” said Judit Polgar after receiving the award. The awards have been provided by Dr Alwahshi Abdullah Salem of the Saudi Arabian Chess Federation, which fielded a women’s team at the Olympiad for the first time. Some of the recipients of the Awards, like Anastasiya Karlovich, the overall winner of Outstanding photographer, came to Chennai for the occasion. Others, like Sonja Johnson (Outstanding chess administrator) or Anastasia Sorokina (Outstanding chess arbiter), were already at the Chess Olympiad performing other duties. Some winners, like Alexandra Kosteniuk (Outstanding chess player of 2021), could not be present but recorded a touching speech. Here is the complete list of winners. Our congratulations to all! Outstanding ‘game changer’ (social project leader, role model, etc.) Jennifer Shahade Susan Namangale (Africa) Tris-Ann Richards (Americas) G.S.Wijesuriya Mrs. (Asia) Nona Gaprindashvili (Europe) Outstanding chess administrator Sonja Johnson Christiana Ashley (Africa) Alejandra Beatriz Zavala Galindo (Americas) Medina Zhumashova (Asia) Gulkiz Tulay (Europe) Outstanding chess arbiter Anastasia Sorokina Tshepiso Lopang (Africa) Sabrina de San Vicente (Americas) Kaussar Bauyrzhan (Asia) Shohreh Bayat (Europe) Outstanding chess educator Alshaeby Razan Magret Ngugama (Africa) Sandra Torres Braiz (Americas) Rozaliya Vendrova (Asia) Nilufer Cinar Corlulu (Europe) Outstanding chess organiser Cristina Pernici Rigo Judith Kiragu (Africa) Beatriz Marinello (Americas) Gulmira Dauletova (Asia) Yana Sidorchuk (Europe) Outstanding chess player of 2021 Alexandra Kosteniuk Amanda Ngwinondebe (Africa) Maria Esther Granados Diaz (Americas) Bibisara Assaubayeva (Asia) Outstanding chess trainer Shadi Paridar Anzel Laubscher (Africa) Regina Ribeiro (Americas) Baktygul Tilebaeva (Asia) Natalia Popova (Europe) Outstanding influencer/commentator/social media star Tania Sachdev Jovita Nwansi (Africa) Alexandra Botez (Americas) Dilayla Sadvakasova (Asia) Ellen Fredericia Nilssen (Europe) Outstanding photographer Anastasiya Karlovich Patricia Claros Aguilar (Americas) Shakhnazi Musaeva (Asia) Eteri Kublashvili (Europe) Peter-Heine Nielsen received award for his wife from the hands of Vishy Anand Outstanding politician Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen Damaris Abarca (Americas) Zhansaya Abdumalik (Asia) Outstanding representation of ‘He-For-She’ Jean Michael Rapaire Erick Takawira (Africa) Carlos Rivero Gonzalez (Americas) Ye Jiangchuan (Asia) Wojciech Zawadzka (Europe) Woman with disability for outstanding fighting spirit Svetlana Gerasimova Valeska Rozas Lazcano (Americas) Dariia Kudainazarova (Asia) Handenur Sahin (Europe) Federation with the highest % of female rated players Vietnam – 37% Mozambique (Africa) – 34% Ecuador (Americas) – 24% Mongolia (Asia) – 35% Georgia (Europe) – 27%