Lei Tingjie wins her spot in the Women’s Candidates finals
The 4th and final classical game of the semi-finals between Anna Muzychuk and Lei Tingjie kicked off by Marie Noelle Gibelli, a member of the National Council of Monaco, making the ceremonial first move. Marco Biagioli, Mitropa President and External Manager of the Italian Chess Federation, also was in the playing hall watching the game. Lei’s first move hardly surprised anyone as she has always played 1.d4 for the whole event, and this last game was no exception. The exchange Grunfeld was tested again, but this time White played 7.Qa4+ to deviate from the previous game. At the post-mortem analysis, Lei said that she knew 11…Bg4 was an inaccuracy, and Black had to exchange Queens to hold in the endgame. Lei thought she was better after 19.Re4 since she had a space advantage and the bishop pair. Engines find the position still holdable for Black but very difficult to play. And indeed, Anna missed the idea of 19…Nc8 followed by 20…Qe5 and 21…Nd6 and after 19…Rfc8 20.Bg4 Rd8 21.c4 found herself in dire straits. Lei got a considerable advantage, won some material a few moves down the road and very convincingly converted it in the endgame afterwards. Final position. One of White’s passers inevitably promotes 1-0 Huge congratulations to Lei Tingjie, who showed a very high level of play, eliminating both Muzychuk sisters with two wins with the White pieces in the classical segments. There is still a lot of chess to be played as the Pool B of the FIDE Women’s Candidates is not far away. The event will take place in Uzbekistan from the 28th of November to the 11th of December. See you there to meet Lei’s opponent for the finals then! Official webstie: womenscandidates.fide.com Text: WGM Andreea Navrotescu Photo: Michał Walusza ORGANIZERS: PARTNERS:
Winners crowned at 2022 European Senior Team Championships
The 2022 European Senior Chess Championships (50+ & 65+ age categories) concluded yesterday in Dresden, Germany. A record number of 79 teams took part in the event, with more than 370 players representing their federations. Both The top rated England 50-1 won the 50+ section (a 9-round Swiss tournament) with a round to spare and scored very convincing 17 match points. Berlin 1 and Germany tied for the second place scoring 14 match points, each. According to tiebreaks criteria (Olympiad-Sonneborn-Berger), Berlin 1 claimed silver and Germany had to settle for bronze. The best ranked women’s team was Germany 1 that netted 8 match points and tied for the first place with Germany 2, but came out on top thanks to better tiebreaks. Schachköniginnen Heidenau finished third. Final standings 50+: 1 England 50-1 17 2 Berlin 1 14 3 Germany 14 4 Slovakia 13 5 Berlin 2 11 6 Bielefeld 11 7 Österreich 11 8 England 50-2 11 9 TU Magdeburg 11 10 Graal-Müritz/Teterow 10 German Lasker Schachstiftung GK team won the 65+ category with 15 match points, after defeating Sweden 1 in a direct final round match for medals. Finland 65 and Germany 3 tied for the second place scoring 13 match points, but the Sonneborn-Berger favored Finland 65 (silver) over Germany 3 (bronze). The best ranked Women’s team was Germany with 7 match points. Final standings 65+: 1 Lasker Schachstiftung GK 15 2 Finland 65 13 3 Germany 3 13 4 Sweden 1 13 5 Schweiz 13 6 SC Kreuzberg Berlin 12 7 Cercle d’Echecs de Strasbourg 12 8 England 65 – 1 11 9 Germany 2 11 10 Germany 1 11 The winners of the event received trophies and medals, and the title of European Senior Team Chess Champions 2022 for the respective category. The total prize fund of the event was 6,000 EUR. Text: europechess.org Photo: official website Official website: schachfestival.de/