2022 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz – Day 4 Recap
After 9 rounds of blitz, the tournament has the sole leader again – Alireza Firouzja! Coming into the day, both Frenchmen Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Alireza Firouzja were tied for the lead with 13 points each, but by the end of the day, Vachier-Lagrave slowed down and let his countryman pass him. Before the second day of blitz, Alireza keeps a comfortable three points distance from MVL. Another storyline was the surge of Hikaru Nakamura, who climbed up the standings from finishing in last place after the rapid portion to being third after an impressive 7.5/9 performance. Tomorrow promises to be an exciting day as both MVL and Hikaru Nakamura may try to overtake Firouzja on the final day of the 2022 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz. The sole leader of the tournament Alireza Firouzja; photo: GCT/Lennart Ootes Alireza started the day with a victory against Ian Nepomniachtchi and made four consecutive draws after that. It’s hard to say if a topsy-turvy game vs Fabiano was a turning point today or something else, but after that game, Alireza scored 4 points, finishing the day with a 7/9 performance. “In blitz, you should really have the Day, so I was lucky I was in a good mood today and showed a good performance,” said Alireza during his interview in our studio. Hikaru Nakamura is known for his blitz expertise and didn’t disappoint his numerous fans today. Hikaru Nakamura wears his lucky pineapple shirt | Photo: GCT/Lennart Ootes He came fully equipped, wearing his famous pineapple shirt, even though, according to Hikaru, it didn’t play a huge role in his success today. Hikaru started the day with two victories against Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian, which definitely boosted his self-confidence after yesterday’s collapse. Things went Hikaru’s way for most of the games except his encounters vs Leinier Dominguez and Ian Nepomniachtchi, which were up and down. “It could not really have gone worse than it was in the rapid portion, so I just tried to play good chess,” commented Hikaru on his performance. He is currently three and a half points behind Firouzja and half a point behind MVL but can move up in the standings if he can keep the momentum going tomorrow. MVL lost in the 8th round to Alireza Firouzja | Photo: GCT/Lennart Ootes The current blitz world champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave had an unpleasant start, losing the first game of day four to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Later on, MVL defeated Leinier Dominguez and Levon Aroinian, but lost key matches against the leader Firouzja and “awakened” Nakamura. Despite an unimpressive 4/9 in blitz, MVL is in second place and will keep fighting tomorrow. Ian Nepomniachtchi showing winning moves in his game vs Nakamura to Levon Aronian and MVL | Photo: GCT/Lennart Ootes Ian Nepomniachtchi scored 5/9 and kept his 4th place in the tournament. He lost his first and last games vs Firouzja and Aronian and won the encounters against Mamedyarov, Xiong and Dominguez. Nepo certainly missed good chances in the games vs Shankland and Nakamura and could grab more points today. Jeffery Xiong at the Saint Louis Chess Club between the games | Photo: GCT/Lennart Ootes Jeffery Xiong scored an impressive 5/9 and tied for fourth place with Ian Nepomniachtchi. He was fighting in all his games, won four of them, lost three and made two draws. His fastest victory was against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who blundered a piece right in the opening and could resign after ten moves. The Azeri Grandmaster started the day with two victories, but in the game vs Ian Nepomniachtchi made 2 (!) illegal moves. Both players could not stop laughing during the game, but it took Shakhriyar a long time to recover after this loss. He started to play below his usual exemplary blitz form and scored only two points in the six remaining games. Players could not stop laughing after Shakh’s illegal move | Photo: GCT/Lennart Ootes Levon Aronian started the day with 1.5 points out of 4, but he made up some ground with a strong showing, scoring 4/5 later on. Fabiano Caruana finished the day with a solid plus-one. Follow all the action on the final day of blitz live with our commentators GMs Peter Svidler, Yasser Seirawan and Christian Chirila at grandchesstour.org/live. Text: WGM Anastasiya Karlovich Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz Sponsors Further Information:Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTourInstagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour Venue: Saint Louis Chess Club August 25 – 30, 2022 Press Contact:press@grandchesstour.org Livestream:GrandChessTour.org Photos:Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum StudiosCredits available on Flickr.
Filip Haring wins FIDE Slovak Open
Skalický Šachový festival, a chess forum financially supported by the FIDE Aid Package, took place in the town of Skalica (Slovakia) from August 20-28. The main event, FIDE Slovak Open, a nine-round Swiss tournament, attracted 68 players from 10 federations. To the delight of local fans, two Slovakian players, IM Filip Haring and GM Jergus Pechac (who was recently awarded Gligoric Tropy 2021), tied for first place, scoring 7/9 each, with the former coming out on top thanks to a slightly better Buchholz. The 19-year-old Haring was in the leading pack from start to finish and deservedly took the title, earning 19 ELO points along the way. Vlastimil Babula (Czech Republic), Pranav Anand (India) and Gergely Aczel (Hungary) finished a half point behind Haring and Pechac and shared third place. Final standings: 1 IM Haring Filip SVK 2449 7 2 GM Pechac Jergus SVK 2587 7 3 GM Babula Vlastimil CZE 2577 6½ 4 IM Pranav Anand IND 2489 6½ 5 GM Aczel Gergely HUN 2497 6½ 6 GM Mihok Oliver HUN 2552 6 7 FM Turcan Richard SVK 2320 6 8 GM Lanka Zigurds LAT 2399 6 9 IM Sahidi Samir SVK 2477 6 10 FM Holtel Jasper GER 2405 5½ Photo: Skalický Šachový festival Facebook page Official website: chessslovakopen.sk/
Inmates around the world getting ready for Intercontinental Chess Championship for Prisoners
FIDE, jointly with Cook County (Chicago) Sheriff’s office, will hold the second Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners, dedicated to the International Day of Education in Prison, from 13-14 October 2022. The online event is open to male, female and youth teams representing correctional facilities. Registration for participation is open here until September 21. So far, prisons and correctional facilities from 20 countries have ready registered for the competition. Inmates from Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, England, Germany, India, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, North Macedonia, Norway, Philippines, Serbia, South Sudan, Spain, Turks and Caicos Islands and the USA are getting ready for the October event. For some, this will be the first official online chess tournament ever played; still, others have already participated in the inaugural event held in October 2021 and are working hard to improve their results. “As the international chess competition is fast approaching, we are determined to join again and become champions. Our team is composed of the persons deprived of liberty who are competitive, and with the help of some Philippines’ chess masters, namely NM Winston Silva, AGM Shrihaan Poddar and yours truly, we will showcase our talent worldwide”, – says Jail officer 1 Cedrix B Cabangal representing the General Santos City Jail in South Cotabato, Philippines. A chess enthusiast, Cabangal also serves as a team coach. “In 2021, when I saw a post on FIDE’s website about the Chess for Freedom programme and got to know they would be hosting a tournament for prisoners, I immediately signed up”, – he said. And the team showed its worth as it finished a solid fifth place in the first FIDE Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners. The chess program started at General Santos City Jail Male Dorm under the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) when the COVID-19 pandemic hit last April 2020. The project supervisor said that during the pandemic, a lot of changes in the mental health of the prisoners were noticed due to the restrictions related to the COVID-19 health protocols. “Therefore, we have organized a chess competition inside the jail facility to manage the anxieties of the inmates. Around 50 prisoners participated. Out of the 50 competitors, only 5 were chosen to compete in the National Competition. Thus, the Philippines held the first ever BJMP Caraga National Inter-Jail E-Chess Tournament Championship.” Now the team is getting ready for the second intercontinental championship. Players train every day; they watch videos and chess tutorials and analyze and review their past games. “We saw the potential of our team, and we believe that playing chess will build our self-confidence and teamwork”, – adds Cabangal. To learn more about the Chess for Freedom Programme and the second Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners, please visit the official website of the initiative: chessforfreedom.fide.com/