FIDE President makes a tour of Latin America
The FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich is making an official visit to Latin America. Tomorrow, he will attend the closing ceremony of the XII South American Games in Paraguay, where chess has been part of the official program. His first stop was Sao Paulo, where he met the Brazilian delegate Darcy Lima. Even if brief, this was an important meeting: Darcy is one of the most active persons in the region, and this has been the first visit of a FIDE President to Brazil since 1995. The second stop was in Montevideo, where Arkady Dvorkovich met Robert Silva, President of ANEP, the national institution in charge of education in Uruguay. Together they discussed how to strengthen chess in schools program in the country. After the South American Games, the President will set off for Buenos Aires to attend the Pro-Am International Chess Tournament held as part of the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Argentinean Chess Federation.
French Championship: Jules Moussard and Almira Skripchenko win titles
GM Jules Moussard and IM Almira Sripchenko are new champions of France. The 27-year-old Moussard claimed his first national title, while Skripchenko won the women’s event for the seventh time (first time since 2015). The French Championship, a 16-player knockout tournament held in open and women’s sections, took place from 12-21 August 2022 in Albi, France. In case of a tie after two classical games, a 2-game Rapid (15+10) was played, followed by a 2-game Blitz (5+3) and an Armageddon (5 vs 4) if needed. Held for the first time since 2019, but in the absence of the two best French players, Alireza Firouzja and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, the open section brought together five players who represented France at the Chess Olympics in July in India. On his way to the final, Moussard consequently defeated Marc’Andria Maurizzi (2-0) and two former national champions, Christian Bauer (2.5-1.5) and Matthieu Cornette (3.5-2.5), while in another half of the draw Etienne Bacrot eliminated Adrien Demuth (1.5-0.5), Tigran Gharamian (2.5-1.5) and Laurent Fressinet (4-3). The final match was an exhilarating battle that came down to the wire. After two draws in classical games, Bacrot made a horrible mistake in the first rapid game, lost a piece and resigned soon afterwards. To his credit, Etienne roared back in the second game and levelled the score, sending the final to blitz. The opponents exchanged blows in blitz, both winning with black, and it boiled down to an Armageddon game. Playing with white and needing a victory, Moussard prevailed in a topsy-turvy encounter and clinched the title. In the match for third place, Laurent Fressinet defeated Matthieu Cornette by a score of 2.5-1.5 In the women’s draw, Almira Skripchenko beat Natacha Benmesbah in the final match (2-0) and won her seventh title. Almira became the most successful female French player ahead of Sophie Milliet (six titles). In the match for bronze WIM Andreea Navrotescu bested WFM Sarah Djidjeli (2-0) Draw – Open Section Draw – Women’s Section Official website: nationaux-albi-2022.ffechecs.org/ Photo: © FFE