FIDE Circuit race: Anish Giri moves into the lead
Anish Giri is the new leader of the FIDE Circuit race following his excellent performance in the 2023 Tata Steel Masters. In a dramatic final round, the Dutchman leapfrogged Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who was leading most of the event and finished clear fist soaring to the top position in the race. Photo: tatasteelchess.com, Jurriaan Hoefsmit The top finishers in this competition, Nodirberk Abdusattorov and Magnus Carlsen round out the top three, while Wesley So, Fabiano Caruana and Parham Maghsoodloo earned enough points to make it into the top 10. There were plenty of FIDE Circuit points at stake in the 2023 Tata Steel Challengers as well. The winner of the event, Alexander Donchenko, mounted to fifth place whereas Mustafa Yilmaz, Javokhir Sindarov and Amin Tabatabaei are also among the top tenners. Photo: Azerbaijan Chess Federation Facebook Several tournaments counting toward the FIDE Circuit race ended in January. Although these competitions were not as big as Tata Steel events, their winners and top finishers picked up some points to get on the scoreboard. The national champions of India and Azerbaijan, Karthik Venkataraman and Vasif Durarbayli (pictured above), netted 6.43 and 6.83 points, respectively, while the winner of the IX Floripa Chess Open, Alan Pichot, gained 5.26 points. FIDE Circuit race top 10 as of January 31, 2023 1 Giri, Anish 2780 NED 27.00 2 Abdusattorov, Nodirbek 2734 UZB 20.25 3 Carlsen, Magnus 2852 NOR 20.25 4 So, Wesley 2766 USA 16.20 5 Donchenko, Alexander 2654 GER 13.33 6 Caruana, Fabiano 2766 USA 12.15 7 Maghsoodloo, Parham 2728 IRI 12.15 8 Yilmaz, Mustafa 2629 TUR 10.66 9 Sindarov, Javokhir 2661 UZB 9.33 10 Tabatabaei, Amin 2677 IRI 8.00 You can find FIDE Circuit overall standings on ratings.fide.com/circuit.phtml At the end of 2022, FIDE Council approved a major reform of the qualification paths to the Candidates Tournament – the event that decides the challenger for the World Championship match. One of the paths is the newly created FIDE Circuit (Path D). The player accumulating the most points during 2023 in eligible tournaments qualifies for the 2024 Candidates Tournament. The final score is calculated as the sum of the player’s five highest results.
Olympiad for People with Disabilities Round 1: From dreams to reality
The chess part of the journey of the first Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities started with the first round kicking off in Belgrade, Serbia A milestone moment in chess history occurred on January 30, 2023, shortly after 3 PM CET, when the opening move of the first Olympiad for players with disabilities was played in the main hall of Belgrade’s Crowne Plaza hotel. “This is the beginning of a new era of inclusion in chess, as players with disabilities started their first ever paralympic event,” said Thomas Luther, head of the FIDE Commission for players with disabilities. In chess, the ceremonial first move at the start of the tournament is a long-standing tradition, usually carried out by a high-ranking government official, FIDE President, key sponsor, or famous player. In the opening round, the spotlight was given to those who don’t often have it, as Grandmaster Thomas Luther, head of the FIDE Commission for players with disabilities, in the presence of FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, made the first move in the match between Venezuela and Israel. “This is really a touching moment for me. This is a dream of my life to have this Olympiad take place, and for so many years, many friends worked for this to happen, and now the tournament has started. I feel overjoyed”, Thomas Luther said immediately afterwards. Luther also noted that statistically, 15% of all people have a disability and that chess is a perfect game and the perfect sport for them. “For many of these players, chess is a way to enter a social life. By playing this game, these people really have a life”, said Luther. Joining the ceremony, but on the first board in the match between Poland and Germany, the honour of making the first move was given to Nikola Selakovic, Minister of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs of the Government of Serbia. A sign of how seriously the Serbian government took its commitment to supporting this event is signalled by the fact that it is planned that every day at least one high-ranking state official will visit the Olympiad or even take part in the first-move ceremony. The President of FIDE, Arkady Dvorkovich, was optimistic about what this event means for inclusion in chess. “FIDE has a long history of supporting players with disabilities. Some of them were able to take part in previous Olympiads. We thought they deserved better – to be the full-scale participants and have their own event. This is the first step to making high-level chess accessible for our family members… This is just the first step in a very long journey to have chess fully inclusive for all the players, regardless of their disabilities”, Arkady Dvorkovich said in an interview. Dvorkovich plans to stay in Belgrade for the duration of the event, which is unusual when compared to other tournaments. “This time, it’s special, and I thought I should be here and make our partners and sponsors confident that for us, this is a real priority”, he explained. The President of FIDE expressed hope that the next Olympiad for people with disabilities will have at least 50 countries taking part. Games and results of the first round After an intensive first day of the Olympiad, all the favourites scored victories save Croatia. Poland, the rating favourites at this event, started confidently defeating Germany 3:1. The match wasn’t that easy, as the difference in average rating had initially suggested. On the third board, Matthias Dorner scored the only win for the German squad, using the right moment for a nice temporary piece sacrifice in the middlegame: 29…Nxc5! winning a pawn as 30.dxc5 is met with 30…Re2! Woman FIDE Master Aleksandra Aleksandrova brought the first victorious point to second seed Israel, but Venezuela put a strong resistance. After the draw was agreed on the third board, with two long-lasting endgames on the top boards, Alexey Streltsov defeated Harlen Jose Otero Munelo, securing the key victorious point for Israel in the match. A nice mating final was executed by Attila Paal-Szucz in the match Hungary – Turkey: 29.Rxe5! fxe5 30.Rf7 Re8 31.Qxe5! (31…Qxe5 32.Rh7#) 1-0 The 3rd seed players had to work hard for the 3:1 victory when Suleyman Saltik won against the opponent with over 400 points advantage in rating! The first day of the Olympiad saw the first big surprise: the second team of the host country, Serbia, staged an upset as they defeated the seasoned team of Croatia, 2.5:1.5. Also, the team of Zimbabwe – which has an average ELO of 1363 – drew with the team of the International Chess Committee of the Deaf (ICCD), which has two players with an ELO of above 2000. The full list of results from the first round can be found – here. The pairings of the second round can be found – here. Report by Press Officer Milan Dinic Photos by Mark Livshitz About the event The Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities, a six-round Swiss tournaemnt is played at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Belgrade, Serbia. The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an addition of 30 seconds per move starting from move one. The default time is 15 minutes. The second round starts on Tuesday, January 31, at 3 PM CET time. For more about chess for people with disabilities, you can go to the official website of the Players with Disabilities Commission: dis.fide.com/ You can find more information on the official website: dis-olympiad.fide.com/ About NIS NIS (Petroleum Industry of Serbia) is one of the largest vertically integrated energy companies in Southeast Europe. Its core business includes exploration, production and refining of crude oil and natural gas, sales and distribution of a wide range of petroleum products, as well as implementing projects related to petrochemical operations and power generation. One of the NIS’ strategic commitments and fundamental practices is continuous improvement of the living standard of communities of the company’s operation. NIS also attaches immense importance to setting an example and supporting development of professional and children’s sport.
Azerbaijan Championship: Vasif Durarbayli clinches second title
It became a tradition that the national championship is the year’s first competition in Azerbaijan. The two-stage event with a total prize fund of 25,000 AZN took place in Baku from January 13-28. Although the top Azerbaijani players Mamedyarov, Radjabov, Mamedov, and Guseinov did participate, the tournament brought together eight grandmasters and four international masters. With the top eight players having an average rating of 2568, the competition counts towards the FIDE Circuit. Many young players took part in the competition, with 30-year-old Vasif Durarbayli being the oldest participant. On the other end of the spectrum was the 12-year-old runner-up of the European Youth Championship, Khagan Ahmad. The first stage of the competition was a 9-round Swiss tournament with classical time control. The top four finishers – Vasif Durarbayli (7/9), Vugar Asadli (6.5/9), Mahammad Muradli (6.5/9) and Eltaj Safarli (6.5/9) – advanced to the playoffs to determine the champion. In the two-game semifinals (with rapid and blitz if needed), the winner of the first stage, Durarbayli, beat Safarli 1.5-0.5, while Asadli whitewashed Muradli 2-0. Both the final and the match for the bronze medal were very close battles. Asadli won the first game in the final and needed just a draw in the second one to secure the title, but Durarbayli stormed back and sent the match to the rapid games. Vasif Durarbayli dominated in the faster format, winning both encounters and clinching his second national title. In the match for third place after three straight draws, Safarli delivered in the fourth encounter and took bronze. Photo: Azerbaijan Chess Federation Facebook Official website: asf.org.az/en