FIDE World Cup 2023 Round 2 Day 1: A lot of draws as top seeds enter the race
The second round of the World Cup saw the world chess elite enter the field. While a lot of the favourites won, many of them – in both the Open and the Women’s tournament – were held to a draw The world’s strongest chess players played their first game in the World Cup today, as the top 50 in the Open and the top 25 in the Women’s group entered the tournament. Despite being the strong favourites based on their rating and achievements, many of the top world players were having a difficult time and had to satisfy with a draw. The world’s highest-rated player (2835) and former World Champion Magnus Carlsen – who had never won the World Cup before – started the tournament with a victory. On the other hand, in the Women’s World Cup, defending World Champion Ju Wenjun started with a 16-move draw with white pieces. The biggest upset of the day is the loss of the US 2018 champion and super GM Sam Shankland to a 200 points lower-rated GM Ivan Schito from Moldova. In the Women’s tournament, Sara Khadem was the only favourite to suffer a defeat. After misplaying in the early stages of the game facing Medina Warda Aulia from Indonesia, Khadem found herself in a lost position and ultimately had to resign. There were two honorary guests of the day making the first move. In the Open event, on board one where Magnus Carlsen was playing against Georgia’s Levan Pantsulaia, the first move was made by Madat Guliyev, the Minister of Defence Industry of the Republic of Azerbaijan, a National Hero of Azerbaijan and a Colonel General. In the Women’s event, the first move was made on the board Bibisara Assaubayeva – Qianyun Gong, by Timur Turlov, the President of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation and the CEO of Freedom Holding Corp, partner of the FIDE World Cup 2023. The Open tournament: US 2018 Champion and super GM Sam Shankland suffered a surprising defeat as White at the hands of GM Ivan Schitco from Moldova. In a slightly better position in a rook endgame, Shankland first dropped the advantage and then blundered and ended up facing checkmate. A heavy blow for Shankland, who will have to win the second game in order to reach the tiebreak. Magnus Carlsen won as Black in 44 moves against Georgia’s Levan Pantsulaia. Despite Pantsulaia’s managing to hold the position steady through the middlegame, Carlsen gradually increased his pressure and as the game simplified, entered a queen and knight endgame where he was a pawn up. Pantsulaia had two chances to make a comeback but failed. A good start for Carlsen, who, despite winning, said he felt ‘a little bit rusty going in’. Other top favourites also started with a victory: Fabiano Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Leinier Dominguez Perez, Gukesh D, Yu Yangyi, Wei Yi, Nikita Vitiugov and Daniil Dubov. The winner of the 2021 World Cup, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, had a lucky break as his opponent went for an unsound sacrifice and was immediately lost. In a game which was played until the bare kings were the only pieces left standing, Hikaru Nakamura split a point with India’s Venkataraman Karthik. Despite Nakamura creating a 2:1 pawn advantage on the kingside, Karthik held out until all the pieces were removed from the board. There were some other notable surprises in the Open: super GM Anish Giri was pressured by the tiebreak qualifier, 221 points lower-rated Arseniy Nesterov, and had to deliver perpetual. Wesley So (2769) allowed Turkey’s Emre Can (2570) to get a slightly better position as Black, but the game ended in a draw. Azerbaijan’s Teimour Radjabov also drew against 200 points lower-rated Viktor Erdos from Hungary. Despite leading the white pieces, Alexander Grischuk could not inch any advantage against Iran’s Bardiya Daneshvar, and the two agreed to split a point. Super GM and Azeri hope Shakhriyar Mamedyarov also drew against Tin Jingyao of Singapore. The former World Champion Candidate, Boris Gelfand, had a tangible advantage against Ferenc Berkes but dropped it in a critical moment, with the game ending in a draw. Super GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2739) drew with white pieces with 2576-rated Valentin Dragnev. The Women’s tournament The Women’s World Cup saw a series of surprising draws between the favourites and significantly lower-rated players. The reigning Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun – who came to Baku directly after defending her world title in a match in China – joined the tournament today along with 24 other top-seed women players. Ju (rated 2564) was up against more than 200 points lower-rated Slovak IM Eva Repkova (2312). It was an underwhelming performance by the World Champion as she entered a drawish line in the Catalan, and the game ended in threefold repetition after just 16 moves. The biggest upset of the day in the Women’s tournament was Sara Khadem. Playing under the Spanish flag, lost to Medina Warda Aulia of Indonesia. Sara made several errors early on and allowed her opponent to create an advanced passer on the c-file and dominate. One of the longest games of the day was played between former Women’s World Champion Mariya Muzychuk and her Ukrainian compatriot Anastasiya Rakhmangulova. Mariya achieved an advantage in the opening, but in an attempt to organise a deadly attack on the black king, she miscalculated and ended up in an even position. The two transitioned to a drawn opposite-coloured bishops endgame where Black was a pawn up. After playing it for quite some time, the two decided to call it a day and split a point. There were other relatively surprising draws among women: Former World Champion Tan Zhongyi did not manage to make progress against the 250 points lower-rated Julia Ryjanova playing for Australia. Former Women’s World Champion Candidate Aleksandra Goryachkina also drew, as Black, against the more than 200-points lower rated IM Ordaz Valdes from Cuba. Kateryna Lagno dropped a significant advantage in the endgame against Mary Gomez of India and also had to settle for a
Second FIDE Council Meeting of 2023 took place in Baku
The second FIDE Council Meeting of 2023 took place in Baku on August 1, 2023, alongside the World Cup. The meeting adopted a hybrid format, allowing the Council members to attend through Zoom. As usual, the meeting started with the reports of the FIDE President, Treasurer, followed by updates to the chess calendar. Discussions centred on the tournaments for the current year and the bidding process for competitions in 2024 and beyond. While no approvals were granted during the meeting, FIDE has undertaken to conduct the necessary inspections, with decisions expected to be finalized by the end of the year. The Qualification Commission presented an important proposal regarding changes in rating regulations aiming to address rating deflation concerns. We wrote about it here. This proposal, formulated by Mr Sonas and the working group, will be subject to public discussion. We encourage the chess community to send us their comments and suggestions at qualification@fide.com until September 30, 2023. There are exciting developments in FIDE membership. The Council approved the New Caledonia Chess Federation as an Affiliated Organization and welcomed the Tonga Chess Federation as the newest member of FIDE. These additions signify a historic milestone, as FIDE will reach the inspiring mark of 200 member federations by the end of 2023, pending General Assembly approval. For the first time in history, FIDE Council has approved 92 School Instructor titles, putting them on par with other official FIDE titles. The credit for this achievement goes to the FIDE Chess in Education Commission, whose successful “Preparation of Teachers” course, based on a new and revised training program, will soon see its 9th edition. The translation of the program from English to other languages, primarily Arabic, Portuguese, and French, is being actively discussed and is likely to be implemented soon. We congratulate 17 new Grandmasters whose titles have been approved at this meeting! The list includes Zhu Jiner from China, who proudly joins the ranks as the world’s 41st female player to earn a GM title. We are also exceptionally happy for Lukasz Nowak from Poland as he officially becomes an International Master. The remarkable journey of this 25-year-old overcoming a spinal disease serves as a shining example to the chess community. We will publish the complete list of decisions shortly.
3rd Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners: Registration continues
FIDE will host the third Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners, scheduled for October 11-13, 2023. The project, aimed at introducing chess as a tool for education and social inclusion in prisons of different countries, is open for teams made of 4 players. The competition is held in three categories – men’s, women’s and juvenile correctional facilities. Fifteen teams from 9 countries – Argentina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Philippines, Portugal, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the USA – have already confirmed their participation. Among them, two teams represent Kansas, USA. Topeka Correctional Facility, a Kansas Department of Corrections state prison for women, is going to compete in the women’s event, while the chess squad from the Ellsworth Correctional Facility will be fighting for medals in the males’ section. Only recently, the Chess in Prisons project has been launched in Kansas. Less than a year ago, the Kansas Department of Corrections partnered with the Gift of Chess, a nonprofit organization transforming the lives of people, including those currently and formerly incarcerated, through the universal language of chess. For the past months, the game of chess has been instrumental in helping residents of Kansas prisons to see the benefits of using critical thinking skills attained through learning chess strategies. The partnership with the Kansas Department of Corrections was steered under Secretary of Corrections Jeff Zmuda and organized by Statewide Gift of Chess coordinator Captain Kevin Oneth. The State of Kansas has 16 Adult Correctional facilities and one Juvenile facility. Fourteen of them were already visited by Oneth. “I went to most facilities and brought a resident, Tony Ballard, with me. He discussed his story on the benefits of chess and how it changed his life for the better. All the residents that participated became members of the United States Chess Federation. Residents were pleased when we came and actively participated in the lessons that were provided,” he says. In June 2023, the KDOC Online Chess Championship was held, featuring the top four players from each facility. Besides, GM Timur Gareyev attended two correctional facilities, where he spoke to the prisoners, played simuls with them and took time to answer questions and sign autographs. According to prison officials, keeping residents busy playing chess and competing in a non-contact sport is a brilliant idea to curb prison violence, gang activity and drug usage. The registration deadline for the third Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners is September 22, 2023. Participation in the event is free and open via an online registration form: forms.office.com/g/xPqGaWbR4Q Tournament regulations (pdf) More info about the event can be found on chessforfreedom.fide.com Photo: thegiftofchess.org
FIDE August 2023 rating list: Gukesh, Le Quang Liem and Praggnanandhaa reach career-high
The top 10 saw no significant changes this past month, but there were shifts in the women’s top 10 due to the FIDE Women’s World Championship match. Ironically, the winner of the 2023 Dutch Championship, Anish Giri, dropped six points, but it did not affect his position in the top 10 Open. Gukesh D keeps climbing in the rankings, steadily increasing his rating since March 2023. Following his solid performance in the Isbank of Turkiye Chess Super League, he became the youngest player ever to cross a 2750 mark – the distinction previously achieved by world #1 Magnus Carlsen. The 17-year-old of India is knocking on the top 10 Open door, currently sitting in the 11th position. Photo: Lennart Ootes Biggest gains in top 100 Open and Women Wagner, Dinara WGM GER 2468 (+21) Vaishali R IM IND 2452 (+21) Praggnanandhaa R GM IND 2707 (+17) Donchenko, Alexander GM GER 2684 (+16) Bu, Xiangzhi GM CHN 2690 (+14) Sukandar, Irine Kharisma IM INA 2371 (+13) Le, Quang Liem GM VIE 2740 (+12) Keymer, Vincent GM GER 2701 (+11) Robson, Ray GM USA 2699 (+10) Dinara Wagner and Vaishali Rameshbabu shared the top position in this nomination, both improving their rating by 21 points. Dinara triumphed in the Sparkassen Chess Trophy 2023 Sportland NRW Cup, while Vaishali R did a great job in the Isbank of Turkiye Chess Super League and Torneo Internacional Orillas de Mar. In addition to Gukesh D, three more players – Le Quang Liem, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, and Alexander Donchenko – reached their career high in August. Photo: bielchessfestival.ch/ Le Quang Liem successfully defended his title in Biel Triathlon and moved up to 15th place in the rating list while his rating peaked at 2740. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu gained 17 points following his victory in the 5th Dr Hetenyi Geza Super GM Memorial and cleared a 2700 rating bar for the first time in his career. It also means that the young Indian is making his debut in the top 30 Open. Photo: Lennart Ootes Alexander Donchenko emerged as the winner of the Sparkassen Chess Trophy 2023 A-Open, which translates into 16 rating points and 52nd place, his highest-ever position in the top 100 Open. Vincent Keymer might feel disappointed after stumbling in the final round of Biel Triathlon and letting the overall victory slip away, but he may find some comfort in an 11 rating point hike. Bu Xiangzhi and Irine Kharisma Sukandar also performed very well in Biel side events picking 14 and 13 rating points, respectively. The winner of the Prague International Chess Festival 2023 Masters Ray Robson picked up 10 rating points and is about to return to the 2700+ elite group.