2023 GCT Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland: Day 4 Recap
After winning five straight games to close out the day World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen roared back to within half a point of the leader, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, at the half-way mark of the blitz portion. Going into the final day of the blitz tomorrow, Duda has 17.5 points, Carlsen – 17, with Wesley So (16.5), Levon Aronian (16), and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (15.5) all within striking distance. BLITZ | ROUNDS 1-9 The day started somewhat slowly for Carlsen as he beat MVL in the first round before losing to So in Round 2, followed by two draws against Deac and Wojtaszek. But then after executing a clinical mating attack against Shevchenko’s Dragon in Round 5, the previous World Champion simply could not be stopped, as he won the next four games as well, ending the day with a technical endgame win against Duda. 25.Qh2! forced resignation, with an inevitable mate on the h-file. 87…Rxe4! was Carlsen’s winning breakthrough, allowing Black to promote one of his pawns next. Back to his usual self, a whopping 7.0/9 in the blitz for Magnus. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Duda in the meantime also struggled during the first part of the day, scoring just 1/4 until a win against MVL propped him back into the lead: After 35…d5? 36.cxd5 MVL realized too late that he could not recapture 36…exd5 in view of 37.Bb5!+-, heading into a winning king and pawn ending. Duda then went on to defeat Deac and Wojtaszek in back-to-back games before losing to Carlsen in the final round, though he was still able to stay in the lead at the end of the day. Duda did just enough to remain in first going into the final day. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes So finished the day on a decent +2, with wins over Carlsen, Aronian, and Deac while only losing a single game to Giri. In particular So’s game against Magnus was high class, as he did not achieve much out of the opening against Carlsen’s Scandinavian Defense, but managed to masterfully exploit the power of his bishop in the endgame, which eventually allowed him to win two extra pawns in the knight endgame. 35.Nf3! allowed So to first pick up the d4-pawn, with a winning knight endgame. So was the only player to successfully best Magnus. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Aronian’s day was quite topsy-turvy, as he started off with a loss to Giri, then scored wins over Shevchenko, Duda, and Deac before ending the day with losses to Carlsen and Rapport. But a strong performance was shown by the Ukranian-Polish Shevchenko, who managed to win games against Deac, Rapport, Wojtaszek, and Giri. 29…Rc8! allowed Black’s rook to penetrate decisively on the 2nd rank. Tour wildcard Shevchenko did not fare well in the rapid, but his 5.5 in the blitz was tied with So and second only to Carlsen. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes The 2023 Superbet Rapid & Blitz continues Thursday, May 25, with tournament action live starting at 7:05 AM CT with Grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Var Akobian, Cristian Chirila and International Master Nazi Paikidze on grandchesstour.org and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels. Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Photos: Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum Studios Credits available on Flickr. Further Information:Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTourInstagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour#GrandChessTour#SuperbetRapidBlitzPoland Venue: Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, PolandMay 21 – May 25, 2023 Press Contact:press@grandchesstour.org Livestream:GrandChessTour.org
Georg Meier wins American Continental Championship 2023
A native of Germany GM Georg Meier, representing Uruguay, emerged as the winner of the 2023 American Continental Chess Championship 2023. The 11-round Swiss tournament with classical time control took place from May 15-23 in Juan Dolio, Dominican Republic. The event brought together 162 players from all around the Americas. The top four finishers qualified for the 2023 FIDE World Cup, which is a part of the World Championship cycle. Georg had a shaky start losing his second-round encounter to FM Matias Latorre (Paraguay) but then picked up steam and won five straight games in Rounds 6-10. Coming to the final round a half-point ahead of GMs Carlos Daniel Albornoz Cabrera (Cuba) and Fidel Corrales Jimenez (USA), Meier drew his game with the former and clinched the title and the $5,000 first prize as the latter also scored just a half-point facing Cristobal Henriquez Villagra. As many as seven players netted 8 points each and tied for fourth place, with IM Josiah Stearman (USA) punching the fourth ticket to the 2023 FIDE World Cup thanks to the superior rating average of his opponents (the first tiebreak criteria). Final standings: 1 GM Meier, Georg URU 2614 9 2 GM Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel CUB 2586 8½ 3 GM Corrales Jimenez, Fidel USA 2489 8½ 4 IM Stearman, Josiah USA 2385 8 5 IM Ghazarian, Kirk USA 2475 8 6 GM Henriquez Villagra, Cristobal CHI 2616 8 7 GM Kaidanov, Gregory USA 2559 8 8 IM Leiva, Gianmarco PER 2392 8 9 GM Santiago, Yago De Moura BRA 2471 8 10 GM Cori, Jorge PER 2650 8 Complete results Photos: Federación Dominicana de Ajedrez Facebook
FIDE World Cadet Championships U8, U10 and U12: Registration is open
FIDE and the Egyptian Chess Federation invite all FIDE Member Federations and eligible players to participate in the FIDE World Cadet Chess Championships U8, U10 and U12. The event will take place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, from October 14-27, 2023. National Federations can register one invited player in each category: under 8, 10, and 12 (Open and Girls). A total of six invited players and one accompanying official from the national federation are invited by the Organizer. All players must not have reached the age of 8, 10 or 12 by January 1, 2023. Photo: dailynewsegypt.com Personal rights are granted to the top three finishers in each category of the 2022 World Cadet Championships and the 2022 Continental Cadets Champions. National federation can register as many additional players and accompanying persons as they wish but only upon confirmation by the organizing committee. The deadline for registration is August 14, 2023. FIDE World Cadet Chess Championships 2023 official website will be launched in July. FIDE World Cadet Championships regulations and invitation letter (pdf) E-mail: wccc2023@fide.com
FIDE WGP: Three-way tie in Cyprus with two rounds to go
With nine rounds in and only two to go, things have heated up in Cyprus, and not just because the sun has reappeared after a couple of rainy days! Not only is the tournament victory at stake but, more importantly, several players are contending for the overall win in the Grand Prix –20,000 euros extra prize money and two qualifying spots for the 2023-2024 Women’s Candidates cycle. A big deal, indeed! After this afternoon’s results, there is a three-way tie for first place with 5,5/9 with Tan Zhongi, Harika and Wagner, who unfortunately now has to share first place. Two of them face each other tomorrow. Shuvalova and Lagno are right behind, waiting for their opportunity to spring into the lead. Our guests today, performing the ceremonial first move, were Madhumita Hazarika Bhagat, High Commissioner of India in Cyprus, and Josie Christodoulou, Gender Equality Commissioner for Cyrus. Christodoulou opened the game with White for Tan Zhongyi while Madhumita Hazarika Bhagat played Harika’s first move with Black, at the same time wishing both of the players the best of luck. In a short interview, Madhumita Hazarika Bhagat put into words her feelings in the playing hall: “I am very proud to have played the first move for a very capable Indian player. The game has developed with an amazing history behind it – Vishy Anand has done us proud.” GM Lagno, Kateryna vs GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra (0.5-0.5) The round hardly began, but one of the games had already finished. Lagno and Kosteniuk decided to play it safe and agree to a draw in one of the many unforced three-fold repetitions in the Italian Game. Although the game only lasted fourteen moves, in accordance with the rules, the arbiter accepted the result. Rule 5.3 Draw by mutual agreement states: “The players cannot draw any game by mutual agreement before black’s 30th move. A claim for a draw before black’s 30th move is permitted only in cases of a draw by repetition or a stalemate”. IM Shuvalova, Polina vs GM Dzagnidze, Nana (0.5-0.5) Shuvalova has been getting great positions from the opening in her recent games but has been having some trouble converting, whereas Dzagnidze had a shaky start but has been scoring well in the second half of the event. Something went wrong for Shuvalova in the Advance variation of the Caro-Kan – it’s always hard to tell from the outside, but it seemed to me that Dzagnidze was more at home in the double pawn tension c4-d4/c5-d5. Shuvalova’s queen couldn’t find a safe square to hide behind. On move twenty, Dzagnidze found a nice tactic to win a pawn with 20…Nxe5!, effectively exploiting the pin on the d-file. However, Shuvalova’s tactical skills came to the rescue: she gave up a second pawn to open up the position and force a three-fold repetition thanks to the strength of her bishop pair. IM Kiolbasa, Oliwia vs IM Assaubayeva, Bibisara (0.5-0.5) A typical open Sicilian with opposite side castled kings. In a complex middlegame, Kiolbasa, playing with White, was controlling the d-file and putting pressure on Assaubayeva’s backward d-pawn. Meanwhile, Assaubayeva was manoeuvring her knights on the kingside, angling for strong dark squares. The key moment of the game, which both players discussed extensively in the press centre, was after 27.Nf1. Assaubayeva’s first idea was to play 27…Ng2!, and transfer her knight to f4, with a small positional edge. However, she changed her mind and went 27…Nb6, allowing Kiolbasa to regroup with 28.Qg3! isolating the black knight on h4 forever and allowing her knight on f1 to develop with tempi. Sensing that the game was starting to drift in her opponent’s direction, Assaubayeva offered a tactical draw which was accepted without much thought by her opponent. GM Tan, Zhongyi vs GM Dronavalli, Harika (0.5-0.5) Tan Zhongyi went for the exchange variation in the Queen’s Gambit, a line she already used to defeat Kiolbasa in the second round. However, Harika, supported this afternoon by India’s High Commissioner in Cyprus, was well-prepared and equalised effortlessly. Although the draw was agreed after fifty-five moves, Harika was never in danger: more than half of the moves were played out in a completely equal single rook ending. IM Mammadzada, Gunay vs WGM Wagner, Dinara (1-0) Although the game started out as – another – Sicilian Rossolimo, the middlegame pawn structure turned out to be more common of the French defence or the Exchange variation of the Slav. With some well-timed exchanges, Mammadzada created a few imbalances in the pawn structure – probably not enough for a win but definitely to press for the advantage in the endgame. Eventually, she won a pawn, although Wagner steered into an opposite-coloured bishop endgame, known for its high draw tendency. It’s hard to say if it was a draw at some point, but in any case, Mammadzada gave a masterclass on approaching and playing these types of endings, taking home the full point and her well-deserved second win of the tournament. GM Khotenashvili, Bella vs GM Goryachkina, Aleksandra (1-0) In a Neo-Grunfeld defence, Khotenashvili, playing with White, went for an apparently dangerous poisoned pawn grab on the queenside. She took her time to make the decision: her queen had been in trouble in the last couple of games. But fortune always favours the brave. Goryachkina tried to generate counterplay for the pawn but Khotenashvili kept things under control and increased her advantage. Under pressure, and after spending twenty-five minutes, Goryachkina blundered heavily. It’s always hard to tell what a player missed, but they do say that blunders generally occur after spending too much time on the clock. Goryachkina should have played 22…Rc4 with a slightly inferior position but everything to play for. Instead, she opted for 22…Bxf3? 23.Bxf3 and (I assume) realized that the intended move 23…Nf6 would lose to 24.Nxd5! Nxd5 and 25.Rc8! with an overwhelming advantage for White. Therefore, she had to permit Bxh5, and her pawn structure became seriously weakened. Towards the end, 35.d5! (instead of 35.f3) would have been a very nice tactic to finish off