FIDE World Schools Team Championship: Meet the teams
The inaugural edition of the FIDE World Schools Team Championship will take place in Aktau, Kazakhstan, from August 3-8, 2023. About 50 teams representing schools from all around the world will compete in U12 and U18 age categories. Many of them are winners of their national school chess championships. For them, the FIDE flagship event stands on top of the existing school chess competitions. Here we introduce some of the teams that will soon go to Aktau to battle for the title of the World Cchool Champions: A U12 team from Belgium is made up of Sint-Pietersinstituut Turnhout school pupils (pictured below). “In our school, everyone can play chess from the age of 6,” said Team Captain Dusty Bracke, “Kids have lessons during lunch breaks: they eat while they have a short instruction lesson, and then they play. It is done once a week for a 6-7 age group and twice a week for older pupils. Next year we plan to give chess lessons in kindergarten too. We know playing with teams from different countries will be a great experience. Now we are getting ready for the tournament. Normally it would be summer break, but we attend chess lessons every Friday and have online lessons from an International Master.” One of their future competitors, the team of the Silver Stream Public School from Canada (pictured at the top of this article), took first place in the 2023 Canadian School Team Championship and punched their ticket to Aktau. “Chess was not going well in our school, and we had a chess club only for students of grades 7 and 8, but a new chess club for all grades will be in place in the next school year of 2023-2024. Our team has been diligently working to improve as quickly as possible before the tournament. We practice every day, engaging in activities such as solving puzzles, practicing our chess skills, and more. Additionally, we attend chess camps, participate in chess tournaments, and focus on addressing our weaknesses. We would like to build a good reputation for Canada in the chess world, and hope to meet a lot of people from different countries and experience a world-class tournament,” said the captain of U12 team Canada, Yan Sun. Another Canadian team is going to play in the U18 category and is made up of students of Upper Canada College, Toronto (pictured above). “Chess has become an extremely popular pastime amongst the student population in our country. At UCC, we have a chess club with over 70 members, making it one of the largest clubs at the school,” said the captain Shixiong Liu. “In Kazakhstan, we’re hoping to play our best chess to finish high on the standings and also make some friends along the way.” On another continent, a U12 team representing School Lycee MIRVA from Madagascar is working hard to prepare for the World Schools Team Championship in Aktau. The school chess program was launched there in 2015 for children aged from 6 to 9, so the team line-up has some very strong players, including Ny Andolalaina Fitia Noah Rabarison, U8 and U12 champion of Madagascar, 4-time champion of Analamanga region. “The team is training four times a week. We are reading chess literature and play online. Of course, we want to win the title in Aktau, but we also expect a new adventure, where we could meet a new culture and make new acquaintances, and, more than that, acquire an atmosphere of solidarity between teams,” said Andrianantenaina Ramalanjaona, captain of Madagascar team. FIDE believes chess is a powerful tool for education, social inclusion, and personal growth. That is why promoting and supporting chess activities for children and schools around the world is one of the main priorities of the international federation. According to the survey made in the summer of 2020 by FIDE and the European Chess Union, over 25 million children participate in chess activities in school. And FIDE aims to double that number! The World Schools Team Championship will be one more step towards achieving this goal.
Queens’ Festival 2023 enters final stage
The Queens’ Festival 2023 is getting to its final stage this weekend. With the Online Blitz Qualification tournaments for Asia and the Americas finished, the last stage of the competition will be played tomorrow to determine the ultimate winners. The Asian Qualification event attracted 166 players from 24 countries. The title of the Queens’ Festival Continental European queen went to WIM Hong Anh Nguyen from Vietnam, who scored 9½ points in 11 rounds. Her compatriot WGM Hoang Thi Bao Tram finished second with 9 points, and WFM Tan Li Ting of Malaysia got bronze with 8½ points. The complete list of top-25 players qualified for the semi-finals on Saturday: Rank Name FED Pts 1 WIM Hong Anh Nguyen VIE 9½ 2 WGM Hoang Thi Bao Tram VIE 9 3 WFM Tan Li Ting MAS 8½ 4 Li Shenyue CHN 8½ 5 Wang Qinxuanyi CHN 8½ 6 Gupta Shubhi IND 8 7 Carreon Melizah Ruth PHI 8 8 Severin Helen D Silva IND 7½ 9 S Pournami IND 7½ 10 WIM Ranasinghe S D SRI 7½ 11 WIM Komiagina Maria FIDE 7½ 12 CM Aparajita Gochhikar IND 7½ 13 Alwis Jenuki SRI 7 14 Romanillos Shaina Magne PHI 7 15 Pattnaik Sherali IND 7 16 Batzaya Yanjav MGL 7 17 Momyn Madina KAZ 7 18 WFM Singgih Diajeng Theresa INA 7 19 Butuzova Tatyana FIDE 6½ 20 Binoj Shybi IND 6½ 21 Katakam Deethya Sai AUS 6½ 22 Sheikh Abdullah Munshee MAS 6½ 23 Meenu Rajendran IND 6½ 24 Natarajan Indusheetala IND 6 25 Cao Youjia CHN 6 164 players from 33 countries representing the Americas competed in another Online Blitz Qualification tournament. WIM Tatiana Brizzi Milagros from Argentina netted 9½/11 and tied for first place with WFM Erin Bian of the USA to become the Queens’ Festival Continental Queen, thanks to better tiebreaks. Paula Sofia Hernandez Diaz from Mexico was third with 9 points. The complete list of 25 qualifiers to advance into the semifinals of the Queens’ Festival from the Americas: Rank Name FED Pts 1 WIM Brizzi Milagros Tatiana ARG 9½ 2 WFM Bian Erin USA 9½ 3 Hernandez Diaz Paula MEX 9 4 GM Krush Irina USA 8½ 5 Hyatt Jessica USA 8 6 Jou Esther USA 8 7 WCM Yellamraju Ambica USA 8 8 WIM Plazaola Maria ARG 8 9 WCM Pang Ashley USA 8 10 WFM Jimenez Salas Maria PER 7½ 11 WFM Velasquez Angie Gabriela COL 7½ 12 Montano Vicente Guadalupe MEX 7½ 13 Rodriguez Rivero Jinela CUB 7½ 14 Ortegon Villacorte Linda COL 7 15 Galeano Solis Mayte ARG 7 16 Wilson Hannah BAR 7 17 Tapia Morocho Alison ECU 7 18 Santos Taina Moura Dos BRA 7 19 WCM Rivera Negron Yanira PUR 7 20 Montiel Marin Micaela ARG 7 21 WFM Torres Hernandez Leslie HON 7 22 WCM Adam Ernestina ARG 7 23 Rozas Lazcano Valeska CHI 7 24 IM Cori T. Deysi PER 7 25 Moscoso Paz Esther BOL 7 In addition to the Semi-finals and Finals of the Queens’ Women Open Tournament, this weekend, the Unrated Princesses’ tournaments will be held. U16 girls without FIDE rating will compete in two age categories – U9 and U16. There are 277 players from 74 countries of the world on the starting list. The finals of both the Queens’ Women Open Tournament and the Unrated Princesses’ tournaments will be streamed live on the FIDE Youtube channel with commentaries by WGM Anastasiya Karlovich and WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni. Link to the broadcast: youtu.be/72vbPHkL1A0
Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux is the new champion of La Francophonie 2023
Led by its dynamic president Eric Bopala, a very strong Quebec delegation made the trip to Côte d’Ivoire to participate in the 2023 Francophonie Championships and won most of the trophies! This year, for the first time in its history, the Rencontres Internationales des Echecs Francophones (RIDEFs) took place in Sub-Saharan Africa. The International Francophone Chess Association (AIDEF) organized this event in partnership with the Ivorian Chess Federation. The two presidents, Patrick Van Hoolandt and Justin Brou, joined forces to make it happen. The International Francophone Chess Meetings (RIDEF), financially supported by FIDE, took place from July 1 to 13 in the prestigious “Félix Houphouët-Boigny Foundation for Peace Research” in Yamoussoukro, the capital of Côte d’Ivoire. A total of 76 players from 17 countries competed for the prize fund of 17,000 euros in the Open, Women, Senior and Veteran categories. There were also separate rapid and blitz tournaments. The games on the first 20 boards were broadcast live on various online platforms. The reigning U18 world champion, Quebec IM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux (pictured above, left), is the new champion of La Francophonie 2023. Shawn tied for first place with GM Bator Sambuev, also from Quebec (both scored 7.5/9) but came out on top by winning the direct encounter. Another Quebecer, IM Olivier-Kenta Chiku-Ratte, netted 6.5/9 and completed the podium. Among the women, a regular at the tournament, WGM Maili-Jade Ouellet (pictured below, left), who is also from Quebec, won the title with 6 points. IM Damir Levacic (Monaco) is Senior Champion Mohamed Lameti (Morocco) Veteran champion IM Loïc Travadon (France) Rapids champion GM Victor Bologan (Moldova) Blitz champion IA Laurent Freyd officiated the competition, assisted by Kpan Deckalet Mario Prosper (deputy arbiter), Esso, Ulrich Wilfried, Okoro, Aderemi Bankole Mubarak, Dzoglo, Ave MariaSename, Melvin, A. Weah and Rakotomaharo, Yves Andre. Complete results But the RIDEF is not only about competition. It is also an opportunity for Francophone chess players to share the moments of conviviality, cultural and festive activities conducive to establishing lasting links and developing North-South mutual aid. In addition to the scheduled sightseeing excursions, the program included several training sessions. Over two days preceding the start of the RIDEFs, IA Laurent Freyd conducted a national arbiter training course of about twelve hours at the headquarters of the Ivorian Chess Federation in Abidjan. Twenty participants attended. This new approach is part of a pilot program with the Planning & Development Commission and the FIDE Referees Commission to support the development of refereeing in countries that still don’t have an established curriculum. FIDE Executive Director GM Victor Bologan, who visited Yamoussoukro as an official representative of FIDE, also organized a master class on the morning of July 2 at the Canaan Hills Hotel for thirty students. Victor also kindly made himself available at the end of the second and fourth rounds to analyze the games with the players who wished. On the morning of July 5, the Minister Governor of the Yamoussoukro district, Dr Augustin Thiam, met with an official chess delegation consisting of Victor Bologan, FIDE Executive Director, Patrick Van Hoolandt, President of AIDEF, Justin Brou, President of the Ivorian Chess Federation and Éric Bopala, President of the Quebec Chess Federation. After a warm welcome, the parties had a constructive discussion. At the end of the meeting, convinced that children who learn chess are better prepared to face academic challenges and develop essential skills for their future, the Minister made a commitment to introduce chess into the school curriculum of 2024 in the entire Yamoussoukro district. It will be a pilot project before extending it to the entire country. Eric Bopala also offered to provide several copies of the book used in Quebec for learning chess. The Minister Governor also expressed his desire to award a special “Félix Houphouët-Boigny” fair play prize to one of the participants. After consultations, the organizers decided to award it to Laurent Freyd for his relentless efforts and commitment to fair play over many years of working in the French Federation and FIDE. The prize was presented to Laurent by the Secretary General of the Foundation during the closing ceremony. In the end, the president of the Quebec Chess Federation, Eric Bopala, announced that the 10th “Rencontres Internationales des Echecs Francophones” would take place in the summer of 2024 in Quebec City. Photos: official website Official website: www.9ridef.net