2022 FIDE World Amateur Championships kicks off in Malta
The 2022 FIDE World Amateur Championships took off at the 4-star Conference Hotel “Paradise Bay Resort” in Malta. Running from October 20-30, the event brought together 197 players from 51 federations, including 27 title-holders. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich kicked off the championship with the ceremonial first move 1.e4. The event is held over four sections: U 2300, U 2000, U 1700 and Women U1700. Women playing in the open sections U 2300 and U 2000 will be eligible to win prizes from both categories. All the competitions are 9-round Swiss tournaments with classical time control. The final ranking order of the players is determined by the number of points scored. If at the end of the tournament, two or more players are tied for first place or any prize, the tie will be broken in accordance with the following criteria: 1. Results of direct encounters between the tied players (applies only if all tied players have played each other). 2. Buccholz Cut 1 3. Buccholz 4. The greater number of games played with black 5. The greater number of wins Photo: Andreas Kontokanis
Jan-Krzysztof Duda reigns supreme in Aimchess Rapid
Jan-Krzysztof Duda fended off a fierce comeback from Shakhriyar Mamedyarov to win the £150,000 Aimchess Rapid, his second Meltwater Champions Chess Tour title this season. Poland’s reigning World Cup winner came into today’s second day of the final needing just a draw to secure the tournament after a 3-1 first-match win. But Mamedyarov roared back to take the first two games of the second rubber. When Duda made the shock decision to take a quick draw in the third, perhaps to regroup, Mamedyarov was level and the match headed to tiebreaks. It seemed a questionable decision from Duda, but it worked as the 24-year-old Pole took the first blitz tiebreaker and then Mamedyarov blundered in the second to make it game, set and match. Duda was typically hard on himself afterwards, despite the win. “I’m extremely happy and joyful that I’ve managed to win the tournament,” he said. “But today’s performance was very, very bad I think and I would like actually to forget about the games I played in rapid…” The result was fully deserved for Duda. He topped the leaderboard in the all-play-all prelim stage and then knocked out Tour Champion Magnus Carlsen in the semis. Duda then outplayed the in-form Mamedyarov, who had a brilliant tournament himself. Grandmaster David Howell said Duda was simply the best player in the event: “He showed it in the prelims, he started fast, he kept it up every day and despite the dips which are inevitable in any player’s tournaments, he finished on a bang as well. Those blitz games, despite what he says, were very impressive.” Shakh’s explosive comeback started with a bang in Game 1 but sadly ended in a blunder in the blitz tiebreak. Under huge pressure in the first game, Shakh gave up his queen for a rook with 22…Bxc4. Duda was streets ahead according to the computer, but the Azerbaijani had set him problems down the line. Shakh, playing from Baku in Azerbaijan, found one last card to play and launched an imaginative rook attack that crashed though to set up a win. Duda resigned after 34…Be1+. The second game was even more thrilling. Shakh sacrificed a knight to blow Duda’s defence wide open with 13. Nxe6. Shakh castled to get his king to safety and then, with Duda’s king still stuck in the centre, swung his queen over to open a new angle of attack with the killer 18. Qh3. Duda’s defenses collapsed. Shakh had won two games in a row and now needed just a draw to level the score in matches and take the final to tiebreaks. Everything rested on the final game but Duda shocked everyone. Rather than try to win two games on demand, Duda decided to force a draw with a well-known quick 14-move drawing line in the Italian Opening. Both players headed straight to the blitz playoff. If Duda did it to get off his tilt, it worked. The first blitz tiebreak was over in 20 moves as Shakh went for a trick with the double-attack 19. Be8, but it backfired as Duda played the calm 19… Bg6 attacking three pieces at once. Shakh threw in the towel and resigned. The Azerbaijani number 1 needed to win the second on demand but blundered badly before Duda found the knockout blow with 32. Rxc4. Duda is now second on the 2022 Meltwater Champions Chess Tour leaderboard going into the final event next month in San Francisco with Magnus Carlsen already having sealed the overall Tour title. Mamedyarov qualifies for that event starting on November 14 along with Carlsen, Arjun Erigaisi, Duda, Praggnanandhaa, Liem Le and two more players.
2022 FIDE World Amateur Championships kicks off in Malta
The 2022 FIDE World Amateur Championships took off at the 4-star Conference Hotel “Paradise Bay Resort” in Malta. Running from October 20-30, the event brought together 197 players from 51 federations, including 27 title-holders. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich kicked off the championship with the ceremonial first move 1.e4. The event is held over four sections: U 2300, U 2000, U 1700 and Women U1700. Women playing in the open sections U 2300 and U 2000 will be eligible to win prizes from both categories. All the competitions are 9-round Swiss tournaments with classical time control. The final ranking order of the players is determined by the number of points scored. If at the end of the tournament, two or more players are tied for first place or any prize, the tie will be broken in accordance with the following criteria: 1. Results of direct encounters between the tied players (applies only if all tied players have played each other).2. Buccholz Cut 13. Buccholz4. The greater number of games played with black5. The greater number of wins Photo: Andreas Kontokanis
FIDE President congratulates medalists of 2nd Intercontinental Championship for Prisoners
On October 13-17, the second Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners – the biggest-ever chess event among correctional facilities – was held among 85+ men, women and youth teams representing 46 countries. The only country that managed to get two medals in the event was Serbia winning gold in the youth tournament and silver in the women’s section. The medalists were congratulated by the FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, who attended the Penitentiary Home in Belgrade (Padinska Skela) during his visit to Serbia. Dvorkovich had a meeting with the inmates of the Correctional Home in Krusevac, who played in the youth section of the 2nd Intercontinental Championship for Prisoners and female convicts of the Correctional Institution for Women in Pozarevac, who participated in women’s tournament. Players of both teams were awarded certificates, chess sets and online master classes with the top GM. In his speech, Arkady Dvorkovich thanked all participants and organizers from Serbia, congratulated them on the excellent results and noted that Serbia, with two medals won, is the most successful country in the 2nd Intercontinental Championship for Prisoners. “I wish chess will help you to overcome the current situation; you will continue to learn the game of chess and enjoy it,” he said. FIDE President also played a game of chess against one of the youth team members. The Chess Federation of Serbia plans to devote even more attention to the Chess for Freedom project and, together with the Administration for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions, will soon start preparing for the next chess competitions.