Global Chess League Day 3: Ganges Grandmasters reign supreme
Dubai, 24th June 2023 – The Ganges Grandmasters maintained their dominant streak as they kicked off the third day of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League (GCL) with yet another impressive victory. They are the only team in the Global Chess League to have three victories out of all three matches. SG Alpine Warriors – Triveni Continental Kings (8:7) The first match of the day was a duel between two teams in the middle of the scoreboard, looking to make a push to the top. Following the first two rounds, both had three Match Points each and 15 Game Points. The coin toss decided that Triveni Continental Kings would play as white. The team achieved the initiative from early on. The most anticipated encounter took place on board one with a faceoff between two icon players, world heavyweight Levon Aronian (as White) and the highest-rated chess player, Magnus Carlsen. Both sides put up a fierce fight, and Carlsen ended up defending an uncomfortable position with a minute on his clock against Aronian’s eighth. Aronian pushed hard, but Magnus, the best endgame player in the world, was confident and held his opponent to a draw. As two other games ended in a draw, the score was 3:3. The first break came when GM Yu defeated Gukesh with white, scoring important three game points for the Kings. The tables turned on the Kings when Indian Praggnanandhaa beat Jonas Bjerre, scoring four game points and erasing the advantage created by Yu. Everything was hanging on the game between Irina Krush (SG Alpine Warriors) and Kateryna Lagno (Continental Kings). Despite Krush’s creating a dominating position, both sides were in serious time trouble. The fact that Lagno is a three-time World Champion in Blitz came in handy as she managed to keep her nerve and get a draw. The final score of the match was 7:8 in Game Points for SG Alpine Warriors, giving them another critical three match points. In the post-game interview, Carlsen noted that “wins with Black are so valuable” (as they bring four instead of three points which White gets for victory), which makes the whole thing more exciting. “People are still trying to find the optimal strategy here and we’re seeing some interesting decisions that you don’t see in team chess”. Ganges Grandmasters Vs Balan Alaskan Knights (11:6) It was an encounter between the two leaders on the scoreboard. The match began with an intriguing prelude as Henrik Carlsen, the father of Magnus Carlsen, conducted the coin toss to determine the colours. The flip favoured the Ganges Grandmasters, and they picked to play with White. Right from the outset, it was clear that the Ganges Grandmasters were not ready to relinquish their hold on the tournament. Board one witnessed a swift draw between Viswanathan Anand and Ian Nepomniachtchi, where the leader of the Balan Alaskan Knights made 30 moves without even spending a minute! Simultaneously, things were firing up on board six between two prodigies: GG’s Andrey Esipenko took the initiative early on against Raunak Sadhwani and went on winning. Soon, team Balan Alaskan Knights found themselves in trouble as they were losing on more boards. The only ray of hope for them was in the Chinese matchup on board four. In a game between two former women’s World Champions, Ganges Grandmasters’ Hou Yifan was losing badly to Tan Zhongyi playing as Black, making an important comeback for the Knights. However, at the same time, Ganges’ Leinier Dominguez Perez and Richard Rapport had a significant advantage in their games. While Perez converted his into a victory, Rapport blundered in time trouble, allowing his opponent Abdusattorov to escape with a draw. Despite an impressive rook sacrifice, Balan Alaskan Knights’ Bella Khotenashvili lost to her Georgian compatriot Nino Batsiashvili which was very disappointing. With a commanding score of 11 game points to 6, the Ganges Grandmasters secured yet another triumphant victory, solidifying their position at the top of the leaderboard and earning three valuable match points. After three days of play at the inaugural Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, the team of Ganges Grandmasters is at the top, having won all three matches they played. With 9 match points out of three matches, Ganges Grandmasters have a significant lead. They are chased by Triveni Continental Kings, who are on six match points and have the same number of game points as GG (32) but have played four matches. SG Alpine Warriors are also on six match points but have 23 game points. upGrad Mumba Masters have four match points, and Balan Alaskan Knights have three, but they are the second team in the Global Chess League to have played four matches. Chingari Gulf Titans have a tough challenge ahead. They are at the bottom of the board, with just one match point, having failed to win any of the matches. Here follows a detailed look at the final two matches of the third day of the Global Chess League. upGrad Mumba Masters vs Chingari Gulf Titans (6:6) Chingari Gulf Titans entered this match as the only team without a victory in the Global Chess League after the first two days. Commencing with black pieces, they had a difficult task to tackle. While the teams exhibited equal strength on the top three boards at the outset of the round, the momentum on the bottom three boards was shifting towards upGrad Mumba Masters: India’s top woman player Humpy Koneru managed to take the initiative against the former World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk following a slip. India’s second top-rated woman player Harika Dronavalli was pressuring Polina Shuvalova, and Javokhir Sindarov got an edge against Nihal Sarin. As the games on the top boards ended in a draw drama unfolded on the last board, where Sindarov made a grave mistake and found himself in a lost position. However, Nihal Sarin made a blunder in a completely winning position and allowed Sindarov to make a lucky escape with a draw. Following a draw on board five between Shuvalova
European Solving Championship: Polish solvers regain titles, Lithuanians keep rising
Photo: Eddy van Beers (Belgium, bronze), Kacper Piorun (Poland, gold) and Piotr Murdzia (Poland, silver) The season of the official solving competitions organized by the World Federation for Chess Composition is getting closer to its final and the most important stage: the 46th World Chess Solving Championship in Batumi (September 2-9). The 16th European Chess Solving Championship is in the books, and only four more legs of the World Solving Cup 2022/23 remain. The European Chess Solving Championship brought together 75 solvers from 18 countries in sunny and friendly Bratislava at the entrance to the Old City. As usual, the ECSC festival included several solving and composing tournaments. The major event, European Team and Individual Championship, went smoothly, officiated by experienced FIDE Solving Judge Marko Klasinc from Slovenia. Being FIDE Master for Chess Composition and FIDE Solving Master helped him to select a set of 18 solver-friendly compositions of high artistic quality. None of them was too difficult, but all together, they were tough enough to prevent even the best solvers from scoring the maximum of 90 points. Waiting for the new set of problems to solve The problems were spread over six rounds, each including three entries from different genres: 1. twomovers (20 minutes), 2. threemovers (60 minutes), 3. endgames (100 minutes), 4.selfmates (50 minutes), 5. moremovers (80 minutes) and 6. helpmates (50 minutes). The main favourites, multiple world champions Piotr Murdzia and Kacper Piorun, cruised through the first day with perfect results, the same as the 4th seed Marko Filipović from Croatia. The challenges and tension started mounting on the second day. Filipović lost 5 points on selfmates and gave up third place to Vladimir Podinić from Serbia, who in turn lost all 15 points in the next round of moremovers. Meanwhile, the Polish duo kept their cool and had perfect results all the way to the final round. Before three helpmates, later easily solved by several solvers (the shortest time was only 23 out of 50 minutes), Murdzia had a slight advantage in time over Piorun (250:259 minutes) and an excellent chance to win. The last round proved that tension affects even the best of the best. It all came down to the last two problems. The first one was a helpmate in four moves with two intended solutions. 1 Helpmate in 4 moves, 2 solutions Both leaders found only one solution, each of them missing a different one. Since both spent a maximum of 50 minutes and missed one solution each, it looked as if Murdzia won on time tiebreak, but see what happened with one of his solutions in helpmate in 2 moves: 2 Helpmate in 2 moves, 3 solutions This complex position, with three different pawn batteries set to open the lines of wB, wR and wQ, hides unusual regrouping of white guns in each solution. Probably, the trickiest solution is 1.Kf4 Rc4 2.Bxg7! e5# Eight-minute difference decided the tight race between the two favourites in the 2023 Polish Championship, but this time around 9 minutes had no importance as, in a hurry, the 8-time World champion switched the order of two black moves and wrote 1.Bxg7, jumping over the wRc3 on the first move. This rarely-seen blunder (1.5 points) was enough for Kacper Piorun to finally celebrate his first European victory after already having five world champion titles under his belt. Eddy van Beers from Belgium won the bronze medal and completed the expected domination of the top three seeds. Kamila Hryshchenko (GBR; below, center), Denisa-Andreea Bucur (ROU; below, left) and Daria Dvoeglazova (ISR; below, right) became the best female solvers (pictured with WFCC President Marjan Kovačević). With the top two individual scores, the Polish solvers had a massive chance for team victory, but it was not guaranteed since the three best results of four team members count in each round. Piotr Górski, another ex-world champion, was the only team member to have perfect 45 points on the second day, while Jakub Marciniszyn contributed in the 2nd, 3rd and 6th rounds. This lucky combination explains the convincing Polish win with 260 out of possible 270 points: when one of the solvers had a bad round, the other three made up for that! With their sixth European title, Polish solvers matched the record held by Serbian team, but in the meantime, new contenders for team medals emerged. Lithuanian solvers started their rise in 2018 when Martynas Limontas won the World Solving Cup and kept winning medals in this prestigious competition. Thanks to these impressive results, Lithuanian solvers got strong support on the governmental level, and this year another rising star was born. Aged under 18, Kevinas Kuznecovas reeled off several victories at the World Solving Cup to become the overall WSC leader after 13 out of 17 WSC legs. Given that his countryman Limontas holds 2nd WSC place, the silver medal for the Lithuanian team was no surprise, but the two WSC leaders wouldn’t have made it alone. Vidmantas Satkus became a hero of the team climbing to the 5th individual place, while Viktoras Paliulionis also contributed in a tense last round. Checking solutions after a round The bronze medal for the Slovakian team was a great satisfaction for the hosts and their organizing team. Having an average rating much lower than the 4th placed Serbian team, Tomáš Peitl, Richard Dobiáš, Juraj Lörinc and Marek Kolčák leapfrogged the defending champions and put the icing on the cake of their organizing efforts. Once again, the team’s success didn’t come from the sum of individual results but from a lucky match in each round, which usually comes with good team spirit. In fact, Marek Kolčák and Tomáš Peitl weren’t solving only chess problems in Bratislava. They were among the main members of the ECSC organizing committee, together with Marián Križovenský, Tomáš Peitl, Ľubomír Širáň and Milan Šumný. As mentioned before, ECSC is a massive festival, and this time, the organizers had to take care of not less than four different solving events and two thematic tournaments in composing. Marek Kolčák, an architect by profession, engaged several members of his artistically inclined family to help surf through the organizing duties. His daughter Nela Kolčák was on registering desk, his brother-in-low Erik Rothenstein was performing a musical program on saxophone during ceremonies, and his mother Běla Kolčáková inspired the official banner with one of her chess paintings
FIDE World Cup 2023: Official website is launched
The official website of the FIDE World Cup 2023 and FIDE Women’s World Cup 2023 is up. All the information related to these competitions can be found there. The event has seen its combined prize pool boosted to a whopping USD 2.5 million, the single largest one at any chess event in the world. The knock-out chess extravaganza, held every two years, will celebrate its 10th edition in Baku, Azerbaijan, from July 30 to August 24, 2023. The opening ceremony is scheduled for July 29, and all the first-round matches will be played on July 30. Photo: azernews.az/ Both competitions will be held at the Baku Marriott Hotel Boulevard. 146 of the 206 participants in the World Cup 2023 in Baku, and 71 of the 103 Women’s World Cup participants, have already been confirmed. The field will be completed between June 15-30, at the conclusion of the Zonal tournaments and the period that eligible federations have been given to submit their nominations. FIDE World Cup 2023 official website: worldcup2023.fide.com/
Global Chess League: Chess legends face off
The second day of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League witnessed the debut of Magnus Carlsen, the strongest chess player in the world. Carlsen played his first game against Ian Nepomniachtchi, a two-time challenger for the world crown. SG Alpine Warriors – Balan Alaskan Knights (9-7) The first to face each other were the teams of SG Alpine Warriors and Balan Alaskan Knights. The match saw the two strongest players of the event making their first appearance in the Global Chess League – the current world champion in rapid and blitz and the top-rated player in the world, Magnus Carlsen, and the two-time world champion candidate, Ian Nepomniachtchi. The game was largely calm ending in a draw relatively quickly, which was not the case for the rest of the games. Balan Alaskan Knights gained a significant advantage as Teimour Radjabov won as black, earning them four crucial points. Fortunately for the SG Alpine Warriors, they made a comeback with two victories, securing six points. After draws on two other boards the result was 8-6 for SG Alpine Warriors. Everything was hanging on the last game between Indian chess hope Gukesh D who was up against Nodirbek Abdusattorov, the 2021 rapid world champion. Abdusattorov made a strong push from the early stages, but Gukesh managed to hold his ground, ensuring his team’s victory with a final score of 9-7. “I had a small edge but it was largely even through. I wanted to play a more interesting game but this one went the way it did,” said Carlsen who also noted that he is excited to be taking part in this event which is more dynamic and different to most others in chess. Chingari Gulf Titans – Triveni Continental Kings (7-8) In match four the Chingari Gulf Titans played as white against Triveni Continental Kings. Both started with a defeat on the first day and were looking for their first victory. It started well for the Titans whose players obtained better positions and grabbed the initiative in the match. In the duel of the prodigies, Nihal Sarin scored an impressive victory against Jonas Buhl Bjere, setting the Titans off to a good start. However, following a mistake in a tense game, Daniil Dubov allowed Wei Yi to score as black, making a comeback for the Triveni Continental Kings. As the four other games ended in a draw – including between heavyweights Jan-Krzystof Duda and Levon Aronian, this meant that Wei Yi’s victory was crucial to secure them an overall edge of 8:7 in the match. The second half of the second day of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League witnessed the great Vishy Anand face off against Magnus Carlsen when SG Alpine Warriors went up against Ganges Grandmasters. The SG Alpine Warriors were playing their second match of the day, winning the coin toss, they opted to play with the white pieces. Ganges Grandmasters – SG Alpine Warriors (11-6) All eyes were on board one where – for the first time in years – Magnus Carlsen was up against Vishy Anand, the man he beat in 2013 to claim the title of world champion for the first time. Carlsen seized the initiative early in the game and soon won a pawn. The former world champion Vishy Anand was in a tough sport – defending an inferior position, he gradually fell into time trouble. After an exchange of heavy pieces, Carlsen ended up in a significantly better endgame and step-by-step converted his advantage. In the end, Anand had to resign to his old foe. In the post-game interview, Carlsen and Anand shared their thoughts and impressions on the game and what it means to play one another. “There’s always a special touch when we play”, said Anand. “It was good to play Vishy, but right now, I am more concerned about my team”, Carlsen added. And he was right. Luckily for the Ganges Grandmasters, they bounced back. Carlsen’s attention proved well-placed as the Ganges Grandmasters made a remarkable comeback, securing victories on boards two and five. Richard Rapport convincingly defeated GM Gukesh, while Bela Khotenashvili triumphed over Elisabeth Paehtz. With the remaining three games ending in draws, despite their loss on board one, the Ganges Grandmasters crushed the SG Alpine Warriors by a final score of 11 to 6. Balan Alaskan Knights – Triveni Continental Kings (14-5) Both sides went in hard and the games were tough. Following a slip of the wrist as early as move eighth, Nino Batsiashvili ended up in a worse position against one of the top Indian female players in the world, Harika Dronavalli. However, while Batsiashvili was managing to hang on, her teammates Tan Zhongyi and Raunak Sadhwani scored victories, giving their team a huge eight-point lead early on. With top-icon players Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Ian Nepomniachtchi drawing, the pressure was on Grischuk and Vidit to save the day for upGrad Mumba Masters. As is often the case for Grischuk, he ended up in time trouble early. Despite managing to hang on, he eventually misplayed and lost. At the same time, Dronavalli finally brought Batsiashvili to defeat – it was clear the Balan Alaskan Knights won the match. Although the winner of the match had already been decided, this was not the end. Vidit Gujrathi of upGrad Mumba Masters achieved a winning position against Teimour Radjabov but found himself in desperate time trouble. Radjabov kept posing problems, fighting back, and Vidit finally slipped. In the end, it was a draw, after 123 moves! Day round-up – June 23, 2023 Match 3 SG Alpine Warriors 9 – 7 Balan Alaskan Knights Queen of the match – Irina Krush King of the match – Teimour Radjabov Match 4 Triveni Continental Kings 8 – 7 Chingari Gulf Titans Queen of the match – Polina Shuvalova King of the match – Wei Yi Match 5 Ganges Grandmasters 11 – 6 SG Alpine Warriors Queen of the match – Bella Khotenashvili King of the match – Richard Rapport Match 6 Balan Alaskan Knights 14 – 5 upGrad Mumba Masters Queen of the match – Harika Dronavalli King of the match – Raunak Sadhwani Text: Milan Dinic Photos: Global Chess