World Team Championship 2022: Four Teams Depart the Gathering
The Netherlands, Israel, South Africa, and the USA are eliminated On Tuesday morning, the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) hosted FIDE Deputy President and former World Chess Champion Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand and FIDE CEO Grandmaster Emil Sutovsky. The grandmasters played blindfolded, defeating three opponents each. Their opponents were Ze’ev Elkin, Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Minister of Housing and Construction, Aviad Friedman, Director General of the Ministry of Construction and Housing, Raz Frohlich, General Manager, Ministry of Sports and Culture, Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Ministry Director-General Netanel Izak, Yoav Kisch, Knesset member, and Eli Nacht, founder of Israel Empowerment Lobby. Besides being the name of Israel’s parliament, the word Knesset translates to “gathering.” At the start of the FIDE World Team Championship 2022, 12 teams from Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe gathered in Jerusalem. After each game, the opponents did a postmortem. Sometimes, the analysis took almost as long as the rapid game itself. Today, Tuesday, November 22, the fifth and final round of the pool stage took place. From Pool A, South Africa and the Netherlands exited the tournament. From Pool B, Israel and the United States of America were eliminated. Round 5, Pool A Before round 5, Husan Turdialiev, Chief of the Delegation of the Uzbekistan team, presented two gifts to Dr Zvika Barkai, Chairman of the Israel Chess Federation. One gift was a gold medal, as Uzbekistan won gold medals at the open section of the 2022 Olympiad. The other gift was a decorative plate. After presenting the gifts, Turdialiev struck the gong to start Round 5. France tied its match with China. Prior to this round, China had won every other match it played in Pool A. Both France and China progressed to the quarterfinals. As many expected, Spain defeated South Africa 4-0, and Spain advanced to the quarterfinals. The Captain of the South Africa team, Hendrik Petrus Du Toit, said that coming to Jerusalem was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for his players. To get this level of competition, Du Toit said, South African players must travel 9,000 miles. The Netherlands desperately needed to beat Ukraine to have a chance to make it to the quarterfinals, but it was not meant to be. The match ended 2-2, and the Netherlands was eliminated, whereas Ukraine tied for second place with France and Spain and progressed into the next stage. According to Grandmaster Max Warmerdam, Grandmaster Anish Giri would have come to Jerusalem if the Netherlands team had made it out of Pool A. Warmerdam said that the Netherlands team plans to tour Jerusalem before leaving for home. Round 5, Pool B In a very important match for the host team, Azerbaijan defeated Israel by a score of 2.5-1.5. Azerbaijan continues to the quarterfinals, and Israel got edged out of the tournament by Poland. Both teams scored equal match points and game points, but Poland, which drew its last match with Uzbekistan, had a better second tiebreaker (Sonneborn-Berger). Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan tied for first place in Group B and comfortably advanced. Meanwhile, India crushed the USA 3-1 after winning two games on boards 1 and 3 with black pieces. As a result, India progressed to the quarterfinals and the USA was eliminated. Final standings: Pool A Team MP GP 1 China 9 15 2 France 6 11½ 3 Spain 6 11½ 4 Ukraine 6 11 5 Netherlands 3 9½ 6 South Africa 0 1½ Pool B Team MP GP 1 Uzbekistan 7 12 2 Azerbaijan 7 11½ 3 India 6 10 4 Poland 4 9½ 5 Israel 4 9½ 6 United States 2 7½ Gens una sumus In the dining hall on Tuesday evening, players sat with their teammates, heads of delegations, and captains. They also talked with players from other countries. Several players moved their chairs closer together, creating, within their improvised table clusters, gatherings of many nations. Players from the eliminated teams and those remaining in Jerusalem exchanged cell phone numbers. Opponents over the board, friends over dinner – the FIDE motto Gens una sumus in action. Text: WIM Alexey Root, FIDE Press Officer, Jerusalem Photos: Dr. Mark Livshitz Official website: worldteams.fide.com/
World Team Championship 2022: Sunny days for China and Uzbekistan
Pool A: China dominates; Pool B, Uzbekistan narrowly leads Thus far, the chess teams competing in Jerusalem have enjoyed gorgeous weather. Each day has been sunny and warm, with highs approaching the mid-20s Celsius. But changes are coming for the weather and for the teams. Rain will arrive on Thursday, matching the mood of the four teams that will be eliminated by then. Twelve teams began the competition, divided into two pools of approximately equal strength based on the average rapid ratings of the four highest-rated players in each squad. Pool A had teams ranked 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, and 12. Pool B had teams ranked 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, and 11. On November 21, Rounds 3 and 4 of the pool stage were played. At the conclusion of Round 5 tomorrow afternoon, the top four teams from each pool will advance. After losing four matches, South Africa was eliminated from Pool A. In Pool B, the competition is much closer, with all the teams (including the USA sitting in the last place) having a chance to make it to the next stage. Round 3, Pool A France, the top-rated team in Pool A with a 2688 average, tied its match with Spain (2589). The last game to finish in that match was a 124-move win by Spain’s GM David Anton Guijarro against GM Jules Moussard of France. The Spaniard converted an extra exchange in a protracted endgame and chalked up a very important point to level the score. China (2557) somewhat surprisingly crushed Ukraine (2637) 3-1, with draws on boards 1 and 2 and victories on boards 3 and 4. The Netherlands is still missing its top-rated player, Anish Giri, which means the other players moved up a board. The Netherlands alternate, Grandmaster Robby Kevlishvili, has been covering the fourth board. Kevlishvili attends Saint Louis University, where he plays third board for their national champion college team. Kevlishvili says the weather in St. Louis was cold and that he is enjoying the warm weather in Israel. The Netherlands (2638) won 4-0 against South Africa (2261). Round 3, Pool B Playing on its home turf, team Israel (2589) drew with team Poland (2556). The teams traded blows on boards 1 and 2 while the encounters on boards 3 and 4 were drawn. India (2611) defeated Azerbaijan (2662), the highest-rated team in Pool B, by a score of 2.5-1.5. Vidit Gujrathi scored an unexpected victory on the top board after his opponent, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, blundered a knight in a very promising position. All the other games in this match were drawn. The top board for the United States of America, Grandmaster Hans Niemann, swam laps in the indoor hotel pool for five minutes, from 2:15 to 2:20 p.m. Despite the nice weather today, the Dan Jerusalem Hotel’s outdoor pool is closed. After swimming, Niemann donning a dark suit drew as Black against Grandmaster Nordirbek Yakubboev of Uzbekistan. Niemann’s teammates on boards 3 and 4 also drew, but Lazaro Bruzon fell to the youngest player in the tournament Javokhir Sindarov (born December 8, 2005). As a result, Uzbekistan (2524) beat the United States of America (2643) by a score of 2.5-1.5. Round 4, Pool A Ringing the gong to start round 4 were three children, Teddy, Nesli, and Britt, from the Beer Sheva Chess Club. Spain (2589) tied with Ukraine (2637), 2-2, while China (2557) steamrolled the Netherlands (2638) 3.5-0.5. The South African team (2262) went down against the ratings-favourite France (2688). China, France, and Ukraine are through to the quarterfinals. The last spot in the quarters will go to either Spain or the Netherlands, with the former favoured to get that spot as they face South Africa. Round 4, Pool B In a big win for the host country, Israel (2589) defeated the United States of America (2643) thanks to the victory by the two-time national champion Tamir Nabaty over Alexander Onischuk. Uzbekistan (2524) trounced India (2611), winning 3.5-0.5, while Azerbaijan (2662) and Poland (2556) split points, 2-2. Only Uzbekistan punched its ticket to the quarterfinals from Pool B, with other teams having chances to qualify for the next stage. Much depends on tomorrow’s results in Pool B. Standings after Round 4 In each match, the winning team gets two points. A tied match gives one point to each team. Losing a match gains no match points. If two teams finish round 5 with equal amounts of match points, the first tiebreaker will be the game points scored. With this in mind, winning a match by 3-1 or 4-0 is better than winning it by 2.5-1.5. The game points are in parentheses after the match score. Therefore, China 8 (13) means that China scored 8 match points, following the formula given in the previous paragraph, and 13 game points. Pool A China – 8 (13) France – 5 (9.5) Ukraine – 5 (9) Spain – 4 (7.5) Netherlands – 2 (7.5) South Africa – 0 (1.5) Pool B Uzbekistan – 6 (10) Azerbaijan – 5 (9) Israel – 4 (8) India 4 – (7) Poland – 3 (7.5) United States of America 2 (6.5) The fifth and final round of the pool stage begins at 3:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday, November 22. For more information, please visit FIDE World Team Championship 2022 official website. Text: WIM Alexey Root, FIDE Press Officer, Jerusalem Photos: Dr Mark Livshitz Official website: worldteams.fide.com
Bernard Lesbros wins Senegalese Championship 2022
Bernard Lesbros is the new champion of Senegal. The 74-year-old rating-favourite came out on top in fierce competition with Ware Diop and El Hadji Saidou Nourou Ba. After the preliminaries, the final stage of the Senegalese Championship 2022, a 10-player round-robin with classical time control, took place over the last two weekends in the Arene Nationale de Pikine, Dakar. The reigning champion Amadou Lamine Cissé did not defend his title as he was out of the country. The championship saw a very close fight, with neither player completing the event unbeaten. Lesbros had a slow start scoring just 50% in the first three rounds but then stringed together six straight victories to finish clear first, a half point ahead of Wara Diop. El Hadji Saidou Nourou Ba, the only player to defeat the new champion, took bronze. “It is very difficult to win a national title at my age, but I prepared very well for the event. I even hired a personal coach to achieve this goal,” said Bernard Lesbros with a broad smile in a short interview after the final round. Final standings: 1 Lesbros, Bernard 1878 7½ 2 Diop, Wara 1636 7 3 El Hadji Saidou Nourou, Ba 1644 6½ 4 Marochkina, Nadezhda 1668 5½ 5 Bodin-Hullin, Thomas 1838 5 6 Kone, Sidy 1400 4½ 7 Ly Abdoulaye, Aziz 1400 4 8 Wane, Al Hassane 1789 3 9 Kaundum A, Robert Diatta 1635 1 10 Diankha, Bara 1400 1 Photo: FESEC Facebook page