Olympiad for People with Disabilities: The link between chess, football and Royalty
It’s not every day that a world-famous footballer comes to follow a chess event, but that’s just what happened in Belgrade on the fourth round of the first Olympiad for People with Disabilities The first move ceremony in chess is a peculiar affair. A lot of things need to come together: the honorary guests need to be there on time and in the right place; if they’re not chess players, they need to be told how to make the first move and what to do; and everything needs to happen right when the round is due to start or, otherwise – and this also happens sometimes – if the guest is late, the round starts late. All of this somehow amplifies the already present tension ahead of the round, especially for those players on top boards where the first-move ceremony usually takes place. While many players will often brush this off and say they don’t mind, for some, it’s not pleasant. In the Olympiad in Belgrade, the person with the most experience with this issue is Poland’s first board, Grandmaster Marcin Tazbir (pictured above). His team is the favourite to win the event, and they are proving that with good performance. Tazibir has a score of 2.5 out of four – it would therefore seem it’s not impacting him much as he always seems calm and focused. The start of the fourth round of the first Olympiad for people with disabilities will be one of the highlights of the event as the famous Serbian and world footballer Nemanja Vidic came to make the first move. The round started a bit late because of the number of people – including players and team members from participating countries – who wanted to shake the hand or take a photo with one of the greatest defenders in football history. Nemanja Vidic earnt the respect of the football world for being the captain of Manchester United. During his eight-year spell at Old Trafford, Vidic won five Premier League titles and the 2007-08 Champions League. In an interview for FIDE, Vidic said that he doesn’t play much chess nowadays but acknowledged a strong link between football and chess: “Tactics always exist. You have to think about your opponent and do your preparation well. You need to anticipate their quantities. Any sport is psychologically very important. In football, as in chess, concentration is very important”. Vidic pointed out that in football and many other sports, “it’s the mind and the concentration that comes first and then the physical abilities”. The Royal game at the Royal Palace FIDE President Arkady Dvokovich, accompanied by the FIDE Managing board member Sava Stoisavljevic and Chief Arbiter of the Olympiad, Nebojsa Baralic, paid a visit to the Royal Palace in Belgrade today. The Palace is the home of Serbia’s Royal Family. Although a Republic, Serbia/Yugoslavia was a monarchy before the Second World War. Following the fall of communism in the early 1990s, Crowne Prince Aleksandar Karadjordjevic and his family were allowed to come back to the country and to live on the property built by their forefathers. FIDE officials were given exclusive access to the historic complex (including areas closed off to the public), which spreads on the area three times greater than Vatican City. The Palace also includes an underground level which features wall paintings and decorations depicting details from Serbian medieval tales and stories from One Thousand and One Nights. In that area, where back in the day, young princes would come to play games, relax or share secrets in the ‘Room of whispers’, there is a small nook with a large chess table, with pieces carved out of oak. Someone who set the pieces obviously knows chess, as the position on the board resembled the first ten moves of the closed variation of the Sicilian! The Royal Game truly has admirers in the circles of Royalty! The Games of Round Four: Poland alone on the top Two rounds before the end, the Polish team stands where it was expected to be – alone on the top. The brave Philippine players had a realistic chance to split the points with the main favourites, but Henry Lopez made a wrong decision to look for a draw in a pawn ending: After 43…Nc4+? (43…Kf7 or 44…exf4 were much better options) 44.Bxc4 dxc4 Black’s position became hopeless. Now, the white king can calmly walk to the g-line and use the weakness of two pairs of double pawns. Marcin Molenda did it, for the fourth team win (2.5:1.5) and his perfect score of four consecutive wins. As a small consolation, Darry Bernardo kept shining in the Philippine team (3.5 out of four), as illustrated by the dominance of black pieces in the final position of his game with Piotr Dukazcewski: 52…Rg2. White resigns. The next obstacle for the leaders will be India which is alone in second place after sharing points 2:2 with the higher-rated team of Hungary. Second-seed Israel recovered from the shocking loss against India and passed by the FIDE selection 3.5:0.5. Aleksandra Aleksandrova (Israel) showed her tactical skills in another swift attack: 26…Qh5 27.hxg4 Bxg4 28.Qf1 Bf3 29.Qg2 Bxg2 30.Kxg2 Qf3 31.Kg1 Qxc3, and the huge material advantage brought her one more win. After draws agreed on three boards, the first selection of Serbia was hoping for a match win 2.5:1.5 against Uzbekistan. It was quite realistic, given the attacking position Milos Tonic had with the black pieces: However, the situation started to change during the next few moves: 33…Nd3 34.Qe2 Rh3 35.Qf1 Re3 36.Rxa7 Rf8. Now, Sardorbek Mamarajabov launched a sharp counter-attack: 37.Nd5 exd5 38.Qxf8 Kxf8 39.Rxc6 Re1+ 40.Kc2, and the 2.5 points went to the team of Uzbekistan, whose results in Belgrade largely exceed the expected 20th place in the starting rating list. The hopes of hosts to celebrate a good result in the inaugural completion were significantly reduced in the fourth round since the second team of Serbia suffered also suffered another defeat. The IPCA won 3:1 thanks to the successes on the lower boards. Eugenio Campos contributed with another win for a convincing score of 3.5 points out of the four games. While there
Kuybokarov, Ryjanova win Oceania Zonal Championships
The 2023 Oceania Zonal Championships (FIDE Zone 3.6) took place from 23-28 January 2023 in Melbourne, Australia with nearly 300 players from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Guam, Nauru participating. Both open and women’s sections were 9-round Swiss tournaments with classical time control. In the open section as many as six players scored 7.5/9 games and play off was required. The 2023 Australian Open Champion GM Temur Kuybokarov defeated IM Gary Lane by a score of 2-0 to win the event. Kuybokarov will represent Oceania in the World Cup. Final standings: 1 GM Kuybokarov, Temur WA 2558 7½ 2 IM Lane, Gary NSW 2343 7½ 3 FM Gong, Patrick WA 2292 7½ 4 FM Liu Yi QLD 2303 7½ 5 IM Solomon, Stephen QLD 2279 7½ 6 IM Morris, James, VIC 2456 7½ 7 GM Zhao Zong-Yuan NSW 2488 7 8 Soo Kai, Jie VIC 2046 7 9 IM Sardana, Rishi ACT 2459 6½ 10 IM Bjelobrk, Igor NSW 2405 6½ In the Women’s Zonal Championship two top Australian ladies dominated with Melbournian WGM Julia Ryjanova winning, after scoring 8 points in 9 games. Second place went to WGM Zhang Jilin from Sydney who finished a half-point behind. Third place on tie-break goes to WFM from New Zealand Vyanla Punsalan (6 points). Julia Ryjanova will represent Oceania in the Women’s World Cup. Final standings: 1 WGM Ryjanova, Julia VIC 2288 8 2 WGM Zhang, Jilin NSW 2212 7½ 3 WFM Punsalan, Vyanla NZL 1989 6 4 Vincent, Alaina NSW 1897 6 5 Fan, Chloe VIC 1554 6 6 WFM Quek, Kristine NSW 1807 6 7 O’Carroll, Om VIC 1525 6 8 Cheng, Chao Xin VIC 1806 5½ 9 Zeng, Vera VIC 1527 5½ 10 WFM Hardegen, Kathryn WA 1887 5½ Newly elected Oceania Chess Confederation Zone 3.6 President Shaun Press announced at the closing ceremony the plan to have more countries in our region. Full results can be seen in various websites including here and here. Text: asianchess.com Photo: asianchess.com and Chess Victoria Facebook
FIDE WGP Munich starts with a bang
The first round of the second leg of the 2022-2023 Women’s Grand Prix kicked off this afternoon in the Kempinski hotel with four decisive results in the six games. After the introductions and reminders, Chief Arbiter Jens Wolter initiated the clocks punctually at three o’clock, and, after the customary handshakes and pre-game smiles, the twelve players sat down to battle it out. The traditional ceremonial first move was performed on three different boards at the same time. Dana Reizniece Ozola, Deputy Chair of the FIDE management board, opened the game between Kosteniuk and Kashlinskaya; Roman Krulich, CEO of the Krulich Immobilien Group and main sponsor, opened the Muzychuk vs Muzychuk game and finally, Manuel Pretzl, CSU leader for Munich, opened the local game between Paehtz and Wagner. As in the first leg in Astana, the Munich Grand Prix is repeating the 30-move special regulation, much appreciated by chess fans all over the world. Notwithstanding the fact that women’s events are traditionally extremely hard-fought, the regulations of the tournament expressly forbid draw agreements before Black’s 30th has been played on the board, with the exception of move repetition or stalemate. Adding to this the 90-minute for 40 moves plus 30 extra minutes time control, exciting games are to be expected, and no less than four decisive results were scored in today’s first round. Muzychuk, Mariya — Muzychuk, Anna (0.5-0.5) Although most of the encounters between the two Ukrainian sisters happily end in a draw – and today wasn’t an exception – this afternoon’s game proved to be most exciting. Playing with Black, Anna chose the very active Benoni defence, maybe in an attempt to unbalance her sister’s opening preparation. After the key theoretical move 15.f4, Anna sacrificed a piece for two pawns and a dangerous initiative against Mariya’s castled king. Mariya went into the tank for a few minutes and decided to avoid most of the complicated lines. She chose the solid option, which ultimately ended in a move repetition around move thirty. According to the engines, the final position is balanced, although White does enjoy the advantage of a piece for three pawns – there is still a lot of play in the position. Paehtz, Elisabeth — Wagner, Dinara (1-0) Something went wrong for Wagner in the opening. Out prepared in a side-line of the Sicilian defence, she spent nearly an hour on her sixth move, quickly falling into a completely lost position. In conversation with IM Michael Rahal, FIDE Press Officer for the event, Paehtz explained the reasoning behind her opening choice: “My coach prepared an opening for me. Meanwhile, my dad also worked on something totally different. Then, my dad said that I can’t play other stuff because he typed everything for three or four hours and it shouldn’t be for nothing. I said to my dad that I will play his stuff, and basically I won the game because of him.” Paehtz took her time to convert the advantage but finished off the game with a very cool tactical motif beginning with 22.Rd7! Black has no way out since 22…Bxd7 fails to 23. Nf6+ Kg8 24. Qc5+. Dinara tried 22…Qb6 but capitulated after 23.Bc4! h6 24. Nf6+ 1-0 Harika Dronavalli — Humpy Koneru (0.5-0.5) The game between India’s top two female players was a solid affair. Humpy Koneru uncorked the Petroff Defence and proceeded to exchange off all of her opponent’s minor pieces. Nonetheless, Dronavalli Harika retained a small edge thanks to the control of the only open file, but that alone is seldom enough to win the game. She might have missed an opportunity on move nineteen: the engine suggests 19.Nh4 instead of the mass simplification initiated with her choice 19.Ne5. After neutralizing the pressure, Humpy Koneru forced an equal rook plus three pawn ending, and both players agreed to a draw on move forty-one. Kosteniuk, Alexandra — Kashlinskaya, Alina (1-0) Representing FIDE, Alexandra Kosteniuk notched up her first win in the tournament by defeating Poland’s number one female player, Alina Kashlinskaya. “Alina opted for the Petroff defence choosing a different line today, very solid. I noticed that Koneru vs Harika was the same kind of structure with a different piece setup. I didn’t remember my opening preparation, and I was unsure of some moves, but I think that she should have played …Qf5 to exchange queens, and maybe I am very slightly better but definitely not much,” were Kosteniuk’s feelings in her brief post-game press conference. Kosteniuk opened up the position and combined the domination of the e-file with a direct attack against Kashlinskaya’s weakened kingside position, ultimately winning a piece and the game. “One thing is to get a good position; another thing is to actually get through,” were her final words before leaving the venue. Tan, Zhongyi — Zhu, Jiner (1-0) In the bout between the two Chinese players – a theoretically symmetrical English opening – Tan Zhongyi quickly took the upper hand damaging her opponent’s castled king. Unfazed, Zhu Jiner struck back with rapid centre piece development, ultimately winning a pawn but weakening her king. But Tan Zhongyi was clearly in for a long struggle. She gradually transferred her pieces to the kingside and initiated a direct attack, strongly supported by a tremendous bishop on c3, pointing towards the black king on h8. Under pressure, Zhu Jiner miscalculated on move twenty-four and lost her way: a few moves later, she was forced to sacrifice the exchange and resigned shortly afterwards. Abdumalik, Zhansaya — Dzagnidze, Nana (0-1) The game saw a fierce battle in a double-edged opposite-side castled kings Sicilian defence. Dzagnidze thematically sacrificed an exchange, destroying the pawn protection of Adbumalik’s castled king, achieving huge positional compensation for the material. “I got a very pleasant position in the opening as my opponent lost several tempi. After I sacrificed on c3 I have a huge advantage: I have an easy play, and it’s not at all easy for my opponent to defend,” said Dzagnidze in a brief post-game interview. Asked about her expectations in the tournament, Dzagnidze was quite frank: “I usually don’t like to talk about expectations. This WGP is very strong, and I