Women’s Candidates, Day 1: White start strong
The first round of the 2022 Women’s Candidates tournament started with the encounters Lei Tingjie vs Mariya Muzychuk and Humpy Koneru vs Anna Muzychuk, with both Muzychuk sisters having black pieces. The same first move (1.d4) was made by Zhu Chen, former Women’s World Champion and FIDE Treasurer and Dana Reizniece-Ozola, Deputy Chair of FIDE Management Board and ECU Deputy President in both games. Humpy Koneru was the first to score a convincing win over Anna Muzychuk. Even though, according to Humpy, she did not expect the Queen’s Gambit Accepted by her opponent, she seemed to be more familiar with the emerging position. On move 15 Anna was forced to move her king, losing her castling option, but it would not have been that dangerous had she found the precise 16…Qb7! trading the queens. After Anna missed this chance, the queens remained on the board, and White preserved some initiative. As Humpy said in the post-game interview, she felt confident when she saw Anna taking on h2. One more mistake from Muzychuk – 18…Bd6 (19…Be5 looks better) and Black’s position collapsed. The game ended with a very nice tactical shot – 23.Nd6! Anna tried 23…Qxd6 but had to capitulate after simple 24.Rxa7 1-0 Lei Tingjie played a very high-quality game Mariya Muzychuk. After enjoying a comfortable advantage on the clock from the opening, Lei thought for a long time about the breakthrough 16.e4!? It seems she picked the right moment, as Black was slightly behind in development. Mariya’s reaction was not optimal. She decided to sacrifice her b7-pawn but did not get sufficient compensation. A few moves down the road, she went for White’s b2 pawn, but it was a deadly waste of time. Lei regrouped her pieces and, after another powerful breakthrough in the center: 25.d5! Black’s defences crumbled | 1-0, 53 moves Lei emerged two pawns up and converted her material advantage with flawless endgame technique. It a very exciting first round that produced two decisive outcomes. Humpy Koneru and Lei Tingjie made an important step toward the final, but the Muzychuk sisters will do everything in their power to strike back with White tomorrow. OFFICIAL WEBSITE: womenscandidates.fide.com Text: WGM Andreea Navrotescu Photo: Michał Walusza ORGANIZERS: PARTNERS:
FIDE World Fischer Random Championship: Group stage ready to begin
The opening ceremony for the official ‘Fischer Random’ world title — a chess variant where the pieces are shuffled around out of their usual starting positions — was held in Reykjavik on Monday evening. The capital of Iceland is also celebrating the 50th anniversary of the historic classical chess duel between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, which put both country and the game into the spotlight. Groups first The eight qualified Grandmasters took part in a double-drawing of lots, as they were first placed in two preliminary groups and then made the second round of choices to determine the order of the games. Reigning Fischer Random champion Wesley So, and the runner-up in the previous title event, classical World Champion Magnus Carlsen, were placed in different groups to keep possible favourites rematch alive for later stages. After this, chief arbiter Omar Salama distributed the remaining pairs of evenly rated players by offering his outstretched fists, one of which concealed a pawn. Each of the players given a choice: Hikaru Nakamura, Vladimir Fedoseev and Matthias Blübaum — picked an empty hand, and joined Carlsen in Group B. Ian Nepomniachtchi, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Hjörvar Steinn Grétarsson were placed in the defending champion’s Group A. Pairings second Next, each of the players was called up to choose a hidden number, folded underneath a wooden pawn, to determine their order of play. This resulted in the line-ups for the first day of play: Round 1: Group A Hjörvar – So Abdusattorov – Nepomniachtchi Group B Blübaum – Nakamura Carlsen – Fedoseev Round 2: Group A Nepomniachtchi – Grétarsson So – Abdusattorov Group B Fedoseev – Blübaum Nakamura – Carlsen The routine The start position — one of 959 possible — will be chosen at random 15 minutes before the beginning of each round. The players will play one game with each colour from this starting position. They can only consult with their designated assistant in this short window of time before the two games are played and cannot use any notes or devices. The player who wins the two-game match will score two points. A drawn match will score one point each. A lost match scores no points. The time control is the so-called ‘slow rapid’: Each game is 30 moves in 25 minutes, plus 5 minutes for the rest of the game after move 30, plus 5 seconds increment per move starting from move 31. The President of the Icelandic Chess Federation, Gunnar Bjornsson, made the opening speech Round one will begin at 15:00 GMT (17:00 CET). Possible highlights While the sharp styles of the players and the unexplored territories of Fischer Random should guarantee exciting games, a few match-ups are worth mentioning. Local attention will undoubtely be focused on the starting duel between Icelandic Grandmaster Grétarsson and defending champion So. The long-running rivalry between Carlsen and Nakamura, who contested the unofficial Fischer Random title match in 2018 that sparked the revival of interest in the variant, should also pack a punch. Assistants and supporters Perhaps the biggest attraction of Fischer Random chess is how it eliminates the huge body of opening preparation built up over decades and now enhanced with superhuman machine assistance. With this in mind, some of the players have opted for moral support from family or friends over a designated assistant. For example, Champion Wesley So is here with his mother. He emphasized how much he loves the difference Fischer Random provides, saying he clearly prefers it over classical chess, with its hours of opening preparation and kids wielding long, memorized, computer-generated variations. Playing Fischer Random is better, he says — but harder. At least as happy Arguably the most fascinating choice of assistant has been made by Hjörvar Steinn Grétarsson, who is aided by his childhood coach, former top Icelandic Grandmaster Helgi Olafsson. Hjörvar says that this assignment made Helgi at least as excited as Hjörvar himself was when he got a wild card spot in the event. The choice also has neat historic echoes. Helgi became Bobby Fischer’s close friend when the former world champion eventually immigrated and setted in Iceland, and he had the rare and possibly very valuable privilege … of playing Fischer Random with Fischer himself. Text: GM Jonathan Tisdall Photo: David Llada and Lennart Ootes Official website: fischerrandom.fide.com
Women’s Candidates Tournament (Pool A) starts in Monte-Carlo
The Women’s Candidates Tournament (Pool A) kicked off at the glamorous Hotel Hermitage Monte-Carlo with a glittering opening ceremony on October 24. The first part of the ceremony included a media reception where the journalists had the privilege to spend time with the players, asking them questions and taking photos in playing conditions. A lot of special guests attended the ceremony, and various of them had the opportunity to give inspirational speeches. It was especially the case with Dana Reizniece-Ozola, FIDE Management Board Deputy Chair, who stated that Monaco was the perfect place to celebrate the “intelligence and the beauty of women in chess”. Emmanuel Van Peteghem, secretary of the main sponsor of the event, the SBM company, added that they were very proud to support the chess discipline. Jean-Michel Rapaire, president of the Monaco chess federation, affirmed that it was a pleasure to organize once more an international tournament of this calibre in Monaco. Inna Bazhenova, another cornerstone of the event, based her intervention on the comparison between chess and art and finally, Arkady Dvorkovich, FIDE President, announced the start of the tournament, insisting on the fact that the event “will be interesting for the entire world” since the field involves players from Europe and Asia. The drawing of colours was as chic as the place where it happened. The players opened Fabergé like exquisite pearl eggs to reveal the queen chess piece, which indicated the colour. Humpy Koneru and Lei Tingjie will start with White against Anna and Mariya Muzychuk, respectively. Below you can also find a schedule for the event, as well as a short profile of each of the participants in this pool. Mariya Muzychuk Born September 21, 1992 Federation: Ukraine Rating: 2530 Mariya Muzychuk was the Women’s World Champion in 2015-16 and reached the semi-finals in the Women’s World Championship in 2018. She earned her spot for the Women’s Grand Prix 2022-23 thanks to her 4th place in the FIDE Grand Swiss 2021 held in Riga. Mariya was born on September 21, 1992, in Stryi, Lviv Region, Ukraine. She started her chess career in the village of Ugersko, where her parents used to work at a local sports school for children and youngsters. However, Mariya managed to train at home, too: her elder sister Anna used to help her along with her parents. Since she was 7, Mariya has participated in the Ukrainian youth championships; in 2002, she won the Ukrainian and European championships for children under 10. At the age of 11, Mariya was shortlisted for the Ukrainian women’s championship, then she won the world youth championship for children under 14 and later repeatedly won medals at the European and world youth championships. Her success at the European women’s championships brought Maria the title of women’s grandmaster, and in 2008 she was awarded the title of International Master. After taking her first serious steps into professional chess, Muzychuk was admitted to the Ukrainian national team (while her elder sister was playing for Slovenia); as a member of the Ukrainian national team, she was the silver medalist (2018) and a three-time bronze medalist (2012, 2014, and 2016) of the Olympiads, as well as the women’s World and European (2013) champion as a member of the Ukrainian team. Moreover, she won the gold medal at the 2018 Olympiad holding the best result on the second board. She is a two-time Ukrainian women’s champion (2012 and 2013). Muzychuk got her moment of glory in the 2015 knockout World Women’s Championship in Sochi: after outplaying Yuanling Yuan, Monika Socko, Antoaneta Stefanova, Humpy Koneru, Harika Dronavalli, and Natalija Pogonina one by one, the Ukrainian grandmaster became the fifteenth Women’s World Champion. In March 2016, Mariya Muzychuk failed to defend her title in a match against Hou Yifan, China. In 2014, Mariya Muzychuk won the first women’s prize at a prestigious Gibraltar Open tournament. Her beginning of this year has been fruitful: she won the second women’s prize in the same tournament, demonstrating an impressive performance with the score of 2718 points. Mariya Muzychuk holds the honorable FIDE Caissa award as the best women’s chess player in 2015. At the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2019 (Kazan, Russia) Mariya Muzychuk was the only woman chess player to defeat the tournament’s winner, Aleksandra Goryachkina, with their match game having been awarded the special prize for being the most beautiful game of the tournament. Like many other Ukrainian players, Mariya had to reallocate abroad since the start of the war, and for the last months, she has been living with her sister in Valencia, Spain. Despite the added difficulties, Mariya successfully defended the first for Ukraine at the Chennai Chess Olympiad, leading her team decisively contributing to a historical gold medal. Tingjie Lei Born March 13, 1997 Federation: China Rating: 2535 Throwback to the FIDE Grand Swiss 2021 in Riga, round 10: after making a draw against Mariya Muzychuk, the leader of the women’s event Lei Tingjie became the winner of the competition with one round to spare (!!) and qualified for the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament. This huge achievement is certainly the peak of her career, at least for now… Lei was born on the 13th of March 1997 in Fuling District, an area in Chongqing. The municipality of Chongqing, roughly the size of Austria, includes the city of Chongqing as well as various discontiguous cities. It is located in the Southwest of China. In 2014, at the early age of 17, Lei won the 4th China Women Masters Tournament in Wuxi on a tie-break from Ju Wenjun and was awarded the title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM) by FIDE. This was the rocket launch of her very impressive international career. In 2015, she won the women’s open event of the Moscow Open, ahead of World Junior Girls Champion Aleksandra Goryachkina (playing in the B Group of the Women’s Candidates). Lei has very convincingly represented team China on various occasions and just to mention the two most outstanding performances, she was part of