Tan Zhongyi and Goryachkina 1-1 with two games to go
The second game of the 2022 FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament, Pool B, played this afternoon in the magnificent Farovon Hotel venue in Khiva, Uzbekistan, ended in a draw after forty moves. After a very equal encounter, GM Aleksandra Goryachkina and GM Tan Zhongyi are now tied 1-1 in the match: two classical games are left to decide the winner before resorting to the tiebreak. In her quarter-final match against Kosteniuk, Goryachkina faced 1.e4 in both of her games with Black; today, we got to see her preparation against 1.d4. Her choice was the Semi-Slav Defense, deviating from the pure Slav Defense, which she used to defeat Tan Zhongyi very recently in the Astana leg of the 2022 Women’s Gran Prix. Tan Zhongyi seems to have a preference for the Carlsbad pawn structures, so it was hardly a surprise to see her exchange pawns on d5 following a game that she had played back in 2017 against GM Wei Yi, one of China’s best 2700+ players. By move transposition, they left the realms of the Slav to return to the kingdom of the Queen’s Gambit Declined, exchange variation. Most surely, Goryachkina had prepared this line very well: Tan Zhongyi went for the same structure in her second quarter-final classical game against Lagno. On the move eleven, after thinking for about four minutes, Goryachkina essayed a very rare move 11…Bd6!?, which had only been seen once before, in an old 1946 game between Steiner and Denker. Alternatively, 11…Bf5 is by far the most popular move in this position, featured in many games between top-level players. Tan Zhongyi went into the tank for nearly ten minutes and eventually declined the pawn sacrifice, probably fearing home preparation – there is some positional compensation for the pawn. However, her proposal wasn’t as testing, and after several solid moves and exchanges, Goryachkina more or less equalized going into the middlegame. Maybe at some point, Tan Zhongyi did enjoy a very tiny edge – the engine oscillates between 0.0 and +0.5 – but at no stage did Goryachkina seem to be in any kind of real danger. After more exchanges and precise play, they arrived at a theoretically drawn rook ending which both players agreed not to play out to the inevitable draw. “I think in the opening stage, it should be within the scope of Goryachkina’s preparation. She seems to have played a similar game before, but I did not focus on it too much or analyze it deeply. Indeed, it may also be because of the long game played yesterday. It was very complicated today, to be honest. I spent a lot of time, in general, also thinking about the strategy and approach for today. The situation was not balanced, but, in the end, I chose to play more stable. Her defence today was very good, and she didn’t give me any chance. Then we ended the game smoothly,” said Tan Zhongyi in short in a short interview after the game. The players will enjoy a free rest day tomorrow and return to the venue for game three on Friday, December 9th, at 3 pm. It can be followed live with expert grandmaster commentary on the FIDE YouTube channel. On another note entirely, the 1st International Al-Beruniy Chess Tournament, also played in the venue as a parallel event to the Candidates, was won by IM Abdimalik Abdisalimov edging out GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov on a tiebreak. Both of the Uzbekistan players scored 7/9. Twelve-year-old Uzbekistan prodigy FM Khumoyun Begmuratov scored an IM norm with a 2525 performance, qualifying in 4th place. FIDE Women’s Cadidates format and prizes Under the new knock-out format, players in each of the two brackets or “pools” will play a four-game match (plus tie-breaks, if needed) in order to advance to the next stage, with the final match being played over the distance of six games. The prize fund for this pool is €70,000, while another €110,000 will be at stake in the Women’s Candidates Final, raising the total to a record-breaking amount of €250,000. Khiva Established around 1500 years ago and currently housing a population of more than 90,000 people, Khiva is the former capital of Khwarezmia, and one of the three Uzbekistan historical cities on the Silk Road. The inner town, Itchan Kala, is encircled by brick walls, whose foundations are believed to have been laid in the 10th century. Mosques, madrassahs, and minarets are the present-day must-see highlights of the city. OFFICIAL WEBSITE: womenscandidates.fide.com/ There is also a Flickr official page from where you can download the photos in high resolution. Text: IM Michael Rahal Photo: Timur Sattarov
Chess for Social Benefits and Women Inclusion Conference held in Paris
“Chess for Social Benefits and Women Inclusion & INFINITE CHESS Evolution” conference, organized by FIDE Social Commission, FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess and French Chess Federation with the support of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), took place on December 01, 2022, in Paris, France. Dedicated to the current and new social chess projects, the conference was held in a hybrid format and brought together 118 people from 58 countries. The panel of speakers included Dana Reizniece-Ozola, Deputy Chair of the FIDE Management Board, Eloi Relange, President of the French Chess Federation, Franck Droin, ECU Social Commission Chairman, President of the Health Social Disability Commission of the FFE; Anastasia Sorokina, Chairperson of the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess, Infinite Chess Project Leader, Abhijit Kunte, 4th grandmaster of India, Coordinator of the Chess Social Projects in the Indian Oil Corporation and coach of the Indian National women team. The speakers exchanged experiences and showcased how chess helps people to improve their well-being and mental health. You can watch the video from the conference on the FIDE Youtube channel. “This is already the second social initiative we’ve launched together with French Chess Federation. They say, you need to touch hearts in order to move the brain. I think this is true. Every institution, including International Chess Federation, needs to understand that. There are several very practical reasons. We are in a better position to attract supporters and sponsors to our projects if we can touch their hearts. We can use the same principle to increase the authority and credibility of our organization. But the most important reason is the fact that any international organization or leader who has mandate and power needs to use the time to deliver so that the world becomes a better place,” said Dana Reizniece-Ozola in her welcoming speech. She was followed by Eloi Relange, President of the French Chess Federation: “I am very happy that this meeting is held in France. FIDE’s values and visions are very similar to the ones of the European Chess Union and of our national chess federation. It is very important to have visions, the team, the projects and the perfect execution. I am sure that this will be the case with the team we have.” During the event, the preliminary results and the evolution of the pilot FIDE INFINITE CHESS Project (chess for kids with autism spectrum disorder) were announced. According to the survey, chess is a viable medium to improve the social skills of children with autistism spectrum disorder and the quality of their lives. Among other topics discussed at the conference were other FIDE social initiatives, ICAR Project (International Chess Benefits Assessment Resources) led by Franck Droin, ECU Social Commission Chairman and President of the Health Social Disability Commission of the FFE; Prison to Pride program for Prisoners run by the Indian Oil Corporation; Chess like a tool for social responsibility for Coloured Girls presented by Geraldine Engelman, and others. On December 05, FIDE Social Commission, FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess and ECU Social Commission, headed by their chairpersons Geir Nesheim, Anastasia Sorokina and Franck Droin, held a meeting where commission members discussed their future joint efforts in promoting social and women chess projects. It was decided to organize one more Chess for Social Benefits and Women Inclusion Conference, a European chess tournament with refugees, and a contest among national federations for the best social initiative.
FIDE Chessable Academy Camp gets underway in Sitges
FIDE Chessable Academy’s year-end camp started yesterday in Sitges, Spain, with eleven most dedicated young talents out of more than 400 students from all over the world participating. It is a part of the FIDE Chessable Academy program, aiming to support young talents worldwide and attended by boys and girls between 8 and 16 years of age. Among the FIDE Chessable Academy students, there are top-five rated young talents in their age groups and the World Youth and Cadets Championships winners. The children, divided into groups, have two hours of training in English, Spanish, and Russian every weekend. Eleven of them were selected to come to Sitges for an offline training camp. On the first day of studies, they were greeted by the FIDE officials and those organizing the camp. “The camp brings together young talents representing all four continents, both boys and girls, who have shown through the course of the year-long program an extraordinary commitment to excel in chess,” said the Deputy Chair of the FIDE Management Board Dana Reizniece-Ozola. The five-day programme of the event includes ten training sessions with legendary Artur Jussupow and Alexei Shirov, young PRO’s media portfolios devised by Chessable, and a simultaneous game exhibition by Vasyl Ivanchuk and other activities. After a fulfilling and exhausting first day, the participants of the camp representing India, Ireland, Turkey, Spain, Bulgaria, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, Canada and Argentina visited the Chessable headquarters in nearby Barcelona. They attended a special workshop jointly conducted by Chessable CEO Geert Van der Welde and Dana Reizniece-Ozola on what it takes to be a successful chess professional. A day’s highlight at Chessable was individual photo shoots of the young talents to jump-start their professional media kits and chess brands.