Pranesh M wins 2022/2023 Rilton Cup
IM Pranesh M emerged as the winner of the Rilton Cup, the first tournament of the FIDE Circuit. The 16-year-old from India, seeded 22nd, made a clean sweep of the field in Stockholm, winning eight games and finishing a full point ahead of IM Kaan Kucuksari (Sweden) and GM Nikita Meshkovs (Latvia). The 2022/2023 Rilton Cup, the strongest open tournament in Sweden, ran from December 27 to January 5 and brought together 136 players representing 29 national federations. Photo: Lars OA Hedlund The champion crossed the 2500 rating threshold and became India’s 79th Grandmaster, having completed his three norms prior to this event. Pranesh M is now the early leader of the FIDE Circuit with 6.8 circuit points that he gets for this victory. The one who accumulates the most points by the end of the year qualifies for the 2024 FIDE Candidates. More information is available on worldchampionshipcycle.fide.com/. Final standings: 1 IM Pranesh M IND 2475 8 2 IM Kucuksari Kaan SWE 2492 7 3 GM Meshkovs Nikita LAT 2566 7 4 GM Urkedal Frode Olav NOR 2536 6½ 5 GM Galperin Platon UKR 2530 6½ 6 IM Gorshtein Ido ISR 2469 6½ 7 IM Sokolovsky Yahli ISR 2415 6½ 8 GM Raja Rithvik R IND 2453 6 9 IM Parkhov Yair ISR 2470 6 10 IM Souleidis Georgios GRE 2410 6 Photo: Lars OA Hedlund In addition the main tournament several side events were held at the 2022-2023 Rilton Cup. Lavinia Valcu of Sweden (pictured above) won the Rilton 1800 with a perfect score 7/7, while Andre Kunz from Germany came out on top in the Rilton Elo. Official website: rilton.se/ Photo: Lars OA Hedlund
India Championships: Karthik Venkataraman and Divya Deshmukh win titles
GM Karthik Venkataraman and WGM Divya Deshmukh are the freshly minted India Champions. It is Karthik’s first victory in a national championship, while Divya successfully defended her title. The MPL 59th National Chess Championship 2022, organized by Delhi Chess Association at Indira Gandhi Sports Complex, Near ITO, New Delhi, took place from December 22, 2022, to January 03, 2023. The 13-round Swiss tournament brought together nearly 200 players from 30 states and five affiliated units of the country, including 18 GMs, 27 IMs, 12 FM and 8 CMs. With many leading India’s players battling at FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship at the same time, the top seed of the event was GM Sethuraman SP (2642). Coming into the final round with 9.5/12, a half-point half point ahead of three competitors, GM Karthik Venkataraman of Andhra Pradesh drew his game with Visakh N R and came out on top with 10/13. As many as four players finished on 9.5/13 with GMs Abhijeet Gupta and Visakh N R taking silver and bronze, respectively, thanks to superior Buchholz. IM Koustav Chatterjee of West Bengal scored 9 points and completed his final GM norm, while Hari Madhavan N B of Tamil Nadu and Subhayan Kundu of West Bengal secured their IM norms. At the Closing ceremony Shri Bharat Singh Chauhan, Chairman FIDE Advisory Committee and Deputy President of the Asian Chess Federation awarded prizes to the winners. Final standings: 1 GM Karthik Venkataraman 2503 10 2 GM Gupta Abhijeet 2601 9½ 3 GM Visakh N R 2544 9½ 4 IM Shyaamnikhil P 2490 9½ 5 IM Das Sayantan 2475 9½ 6 IM Aronyak Ghosh 2521 9 7 IM Koustav Chatterjee 2508 9 8 GM Mitrabha Guha 2487 9 9 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2642 9 10 Hari Madhavan N B 2385 9 The 48th Edition of the Indian Women’s National Championship was held at Ghodawat University Kolhapur from December 26, 2022, to January 05, 2023. The 11-round Swiss tournament was organized by the Chess Association of Kolhapur under the aegis of FIDE, All India Chess Federation, Maharashtra Chess Association & Kolhapur District Chess Association at the Sanjay Ghodawat University, Kolhapur. The MPL Sports Foundation was the title sponsor of the event, while Sanjay Ghodawat University co-sponsored the Championship. Chitale Dairy, H2e Systems Pune, Jain Irrigation, and Firodia Group were the Associate Sponsors for the event. WGM Divya Deshmukh successfully defended her title after defeating IM Bhakti Kulkarni in the final round and scoring 9.5/11. WGM Mary Ann Gomes finished second on 9/11 after beating WIM Rucha Pujari, and WGM Vantika Agrawal came third (8.5/11). Interestingly, since 2011 every national Women’s champion has won her title at least twice in a row, and Divya was no exception. Final standings: 1 WGM Divya Deshmukh 2347 9½ 2 WGM Gomes Mary Ann 2320 9 3 WGM Vantika Agrawal 2352 8½ 4 WIM Chitlange Sakshi 2213 8 5 WIM Sharma Isha 2212 8 6 IM Kulkarni Bhakti 2319 7½ 7 IM Soumya Swaminathan 2322 7½ 8 WGM Srija Seshadri 2204 7½ 9 WIM Arpita Mukherjee 2211 7½ 10 WGM Varshini V 2141 7½ Photos: All India Chess Federation
Call for submissions: FIDE Veterans Support Program
The International Chess Federation is pleased to announce the continuation of its support to chess veterans. A number of grants will be awarded next month to distinguished players, coaches and organizers aged 65+. Anyone over this age who has contributed to the development of chess and who is in an unstable financial situation is eligible to submit an application. As in previous years, we invite federations, clubs, and players themselves to send their applications, including a CV of the nominee, to the FIDE Secretariat: office@fide.com. The deadline for submissions is January 23, 2023.
Women in Chess: FIDE WOM Workshop held in Stockholm
The International Chess Federation declared 2022 the Year of the Woman in Chess. Throughout the year, many events were held to form gender equity policies, practices and programs to promote women’s participation in chess and to make the game more attractive to women. The year is over, but the work continues. The first FIDE WOM workshop organized by the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess and Stockholm Chess Federation took place on January 05, in Stockholm, Sweden, during the Rilton Cup. The speakers of the event – Pia Cramling, GM, Swedish legendary chess player, Dana Reizniece-Ozola, WGM, Deputy Chair of the FIDE Management Board, Ofelia Thörnqvist, Chairperson Sveriges Schackförbund Women Commission, Anastasiya Karlovich, WGM, Chess Journalist, Photographer, Ulkar Umudova, member of the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess – talked about their chess careers and shared their experience how the game helps them in the profession and everyday life. Anastasia Sorokina, Chairperson of the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess, was the event’s moderator. A lot of things were said before about the positive impact of chess on decision-making, troubleshooting and communication. But true stories are worth a thousand words. ” I feel so well in this community. I’ve done so many things in my life, but the feeling that I am a member of a chess world has always helped me a lot. It has given me a very important sense of security,” said Deputy Chair of the FIDE Management Board Dana Reizniece-Ozola in her presentation. Speaking about the role of women in chess, she added: “There are no physical or other restrictions; it’s just our mindset that sometimes stops the girls and puts the glass ceiling for them. And it is our task to break it and allow them to excel.” According to the speakers, through chess, women can become not only professional players but journalists, bloggers, politicians, trainers, and arbiters. In her presentation, Pia Cramling shared her experience as one of the world’s strongest chess players and the experience of her daughter, who is also a chess player and a successful chess streamer. “I do so much believe in what chess gives to you. It is not what it was before, not something which is only for men. Now it changes. It is really for the young, for the girls, for everyone. We can meet anyone at the chessboard. Chess takes away the boundaries – age, sex, and other things don’t matter,” she said. Ofelia Thörnqvist, Chairperson Sveriges Schackförbund Women Commission, showed some statistics about women in chess in Sweden. According to her data, although in school chess clubs, the number of girls is almost equal to the number of boys playing chess, it significantly reduces among girls and women aged 15-25. To change these statistics for the better, Sveriges Schackförbund established online chess training for women and hosts girls’ and women’s national championships and weekly tournaments. The workshop was followed by a simul with Pia Cramling and Dana Reizniece-Ozola and a blitz tournament for all the participants. Watch the full event on the FIDE YouTube channel: youtu.be/L-DbU4ulGzs Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich
Belgrade to host Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities
Belgrade, Serbia will host the Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities, which will take place from January 29 to February 5, 2023. This is a team competition, played over four boards, and limited to a maximum of 30 participant teams: 27 teams are selected by rating, and four are nominated by the FIDE President. If there is an odd number of participating teams, the host Federation (Serbia) is entitled to register a second team. Preliminary list of participating teams and lineups You can find the invitation letter, with all the details about registration, travel and accommodation, et cetera, on the following link. DIS Olympiad 2023 Photo: guide.michelin.com/