GM Aleksandar Matanovic dies at 93
The renowned Yugoslav/Serbian Grandmaster Aleksandar Matanovic passed away in Belgrade on 9th August, two months after celebrating his 93rd birthday. Following the passing of Yuri Averbakh in May of 2022, Matanovic was the world’s oldest living Grandmaster. An eulogy by Milan Dinic Matanovic with his wife, Vesna, in Amsterdam in 1960 The President of FIDE, Arkady Dvorkovich, expressed his condolences to the family and added:“Aleksandar Matanovic made significant contributions to chess both on and off the board. From his remarkable games and tournament successes, to founding the Chess Informant and contributing to FIDE, his impact was profound. I had the privilege of meeting Matanovic in Belgrade at the end of January this year. Despite his age, his energy and passion were still evident. While the chess world mourns the loss of one of its heroes, Matanovic and his legacy will be forever remembered.” A journalist by training and a highly successful player, Matanovic has left an indelible mark on the chess world, both with his games and with his writing. Alongside Svetozar Gligoric, Borislav Ivkov and Milan Matulovic – he formed the backbone of the second superpower in the chess world, marking the golden era of Yugoslav chess from 1950 to 1980. Matanovic was also the vice president of FIDE from 1990 to 1994 and the director and editor of the esteemed Chess Informant (Šahovski Informator) publishing house which he co-founded in 1966. Aleksandar Matanović was born on the 23rd of May 1930 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. He learnt chess at the age of six from his sister. He became the Youth Champion of Serbia in 1947 and then the Youth Champion of Yugoslavia in 1948. He won the title of National Master in 1949, became IM in 1951 and a Grandmaster in 1955. He won the Yugoslav chess championship thrice – in 1962, 1969 and 1978. From a tournament in Australia in 1970 His first appearance in the Yugoslav team was in 1950 when he defeated Albert Pinkus 2:0 in a radio match between Yugoslavia and the US (which ended with an 11,5:8,5 victory for Yugoslavia). From 1954 to 1978 he was a permanent member of the Yugoslav Olympic team winning five silver and four bronze medals, as well as five individual medals (one gold, three silvers and one bronze). Altogether, Matanovic played in 11 chess Olympiads and was undefeated in four of them. In five European championships, between 1957 and 1977, he won four silver and one bronze team medal. In 1980 he was the coach of the national team that won the final Olympic medal for Yugoslavia. After retreating from actively playing chess, Matanovic continued to write and promote the game – with books (aimed at children and chess enthusiasts), articles and public appearances. Matanovic in May 2023 In May this year, to commemorate his 93rd birthday, the oldest newspaper in the Balkans – Serbian daily Politika – asked Matanovic to write a biographical article. He finished it with the following lines: “Chess is a game. Games [are a way to] determine the values of the various factors in sport. Not just human versus human. The chess player is the one side and chess is the other. When a chess player discovers all the secrets of chess, and that is in progress, chess will lose. When a violinist completely masters his instrument, or when a doctor discovers what causes a disease – they will win. The game is a conflict. Conflict, in anything, leads to progress. In chess, for example, the events on the board today are different from those of the previous era – they are on a higher level. When you set out on a journey of no return, who and what you are depends on what you leave behind. When my time comes, I will leave behind my wife, son, three grandchildren, three daughters-in-law, four great-grandchildren, the chess language, and countless games played… And the hope that everything that directed our lives will be better than it was”. Photos: Family archive / Courtesy of the Serbian Chess Federation
FIDE World Cup: Carlsen remains in the race, but Wesley So is out
The world’s highest-rated player won the second game against Vincent Keymer, to clinch the tiebreaks. American Wesley So has been eliminated, while Fabiano Caruana advances to the next round. Goryachkina, Shuvalova and Tan all go to the next round of the Women’s World Cup Magnus Carlsen had a lucky break today surviving his “first serious scare” as he put it. Following a stunning defeat in the first game, he made an error in the first part of the second but wasn’t punished. In the end, he defeated Vincent Keymer with white pieces thanks to a better performance in the endgame. Fabiano Caruana is also through, while Wesley So is out after not being able to achieve more than a draw against Sarana. In the Women’s tournament, among the top favourites, Alexandra Goryachkina and Polina Shuvalova qualified for the next round, while Ju Wenjun and Elisabeth Paehtz will decide the winner on the tiebreaks. Humpy Koneru won her second game against Khotenashvili, reaching the tiebreaks. The Open Tournament Highlights Magnus Carlsen made a comeback today as White after a loss in the previous game to Vincent Keymer. In the Ruy Lopez, Vincent Keymer held the position well but missed a brilliant chance on move 17…Nxe4!, which left Carlsen “shocked”. After that, Carlsen started to play “hesitantly at times” but was “completely fine”, according to the post-mortem by the winner. But in the endgame, the young German star started to err. First, right before the time control he gave Carlsen an easy and clear plan of pushing the a-pawn. In positional manouvering that occurred, Keymer could not find the best path forward and soon Carlsen’s king invaded and was winning. In the post-game interview world’s number one player was very open about his feelings: “Progressing in the World Cup is one thing… but honestly, since day one I was wondering what am I doing here, why am I spending all this time playing classical chess which I just find stressful and boring. But it’s also not a good state of mind. First of all, you should try to do well. But these were my thoughts. If I lose, that’s gonna be another humiliation in the World Cup.” You can watch the full interview on our YouTube channel. Wesley So has been eliminated from the race after drawing his second game with Sarana (having lost the first one). In the exchange line of the Grünfeld, the position was even throughout without either side managing to gain more chances. Having joined the race from round two, Wesley So’s performance in Baku was not at his own level, going through rounds only after tiebreaks and making lucky saves of significantly weaker positions. On the other hand, Sarana’s skilful victory over So in game one, as well as his performance in the previous games, suggests that he is someone to look out for. Fabiano Caruana qualified after beating compatriot Ray Robson in 27 moves, following an effective attack on the black king. In the post-game interview, Caruana was very enthusiastic but noted that he is starting to feel more tired and has less energy to visit the gym, a habit he is following every day. The other players to qualify today are Vidit, Berkes (who knocked out Ponomariov), Grandelius and Erigaisi (who won after Sindarov blundered in an even rook endgame). Ian Nepomniachtchi, Hikaru Nakamura, Leinier Dominguez and 2021 World Cup winner Jan-Krzysztof Duda all head for the tiebreaks having drawn both of their round four games. Joining them there are heavyweights Svidler, Ivanchuk and Wang Hao. Berkes goes to the Grand Swiss Ferenc Berkes has won one of the three tickets for the FIDE Grand Swiss, reserved for players who reach the Round of 16 at the World Cup! The other two may go to Vahap Sanal and Daniele Vocaturo if they win the tiebreaks tomorrow. The Women’s Tournament Highlights Aleksandra Goryachkina is through to the next stage after she defeated Nino Batsiashvili with white pieces. In the Queen’s Gambit Declined, Goryachkina was having more initiative from the outset and by move 15 was completely dominating. Polina Shuvalova is also through after defeating Serbia’s Teodora Injac who blundered in the opening. Humpy Koneru staged a comeback, defeating Bella Khotenashvili to clinch the tiebreaks. Despite being slightly better in the first part of the game, Khotenashvili allowed Koneru to improve her position and then gave her a huge advantage. Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun had another draw today with Elisabeth Paehtz and the two will face each other in the tiebreaks. In the Berlin line of the Ruy Lopez, the two quickly exchanged pieces in the centre and went for a theoretical draw with a threefold repetition, ending on move 15. It seems that both sides feel they have better chances against one another in the tiebreaks. Among other notable results, Tan Zhongyi qualified after a furious attack against Zhu Jiner. Sisters Marya and Anna Muzychuk drew their second game and will have to decide in the rapid who will move to the next round. The full results of today’s round can be found here: https://worldcup2023.fide.com/pairings Tiebreaks of round four will take place on Friday, 11th of August at 3 PM local time in Baku, Azerbaijan. Here follows a closer look at some of the top games on the second day of round four of the World Cup. Magnus Carlsen defeated Vincent Keymer with white pieces, to stay in the race for the next round of the World Cup. Although the position was even through most of the game, Carlsen had a lucky break after making an error early on. The best move was to play the h1-rook to f1. Instead, Magnus played 16.a3?? Keymer proceeded correctly but missed the key move: 16…Bxc3 17.Qxc3 and now Keymer exchanged the queens. Instead, he should have played 17…Nxe4 and after 18.Qxe5 (If fxe4, then Qxe4) Rxe5 19.Nf4 Rf5 20.Ne2 Ng5 And Black is better. This is how Carlsen summed up what had happened after he made the 16.a3 move: “At first,
Ready to start: everything you need to know about FIDE World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad
A very special event will start in Eindhoven on Sunday 13 August: the FIDE World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad. Around 250 top talents (boys and girls) from all over the world play chess for six days in a row. And at the same time, there is another event: the Open World Dutch Women’s Top 10 Championship. We are ready to start! Below you can read everything you need to know. 1. The FIDE World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad, what’s that? This is an important chess tournament of the international chess federation FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs ) for youth teams of all national chess federations in the world. This is a kind of world championship for youth teams. 2. Who participates? How many participants are there? 67 teams from 50 different countries from all over the world will play in the World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad. Each team has 4 players (at least 1 boy and at least 1 girl). The rule is that the players should not have reached the age of 16 on January 1, 2023. Some federations have additional teams. For example, Kazakhstan plays with 5 teams, the Netherlands with 4 teams, and Canada and Uganda both play with 3 teams. 3. What playing strength do these young players have? The players are very talented. About 80 players have a FIDE rating above 2000. The player with the highest rating is Eray Kilic (Turkey) with 2433. You can see a list of all the players here. 4. Why is the Youth Olympiad in the Netherlands? An event of the FIDE in the Netherlands is very rare! But it is no coincidence that the Youth Olympiad in 2023 has been awarded to the Netherlands. The Royal Dutch Chess Federation (KNSB) exists 150 years and celebrates that with all kinds of activities. The KNSB is the oldest national chess federation in the world. But chess is certainly also very popular among the youth. That is why the KNSB has made an effort to bring in the Youth Olympiad. 5. What is the game schedule? The Youth Olympiad opening ceremony is on Sunday 13 August. 3:00 PM. The 1st round starts at 4:00 PM. There are chess games every day throughout the week. The last chessday is Friday, August 18. There are 9 rounds in total. The time control in the games is 45 minutes with an increment of 10 seconds per move starting from move 1. 6. What side events are there? During the tournament, there are fun events in different locations in the town to promote chess. For example, Mr. X will play chess against anyone who wants to play with him. Mr. X is a very special person. He (or she?) is a very good chess player, but no one knows who he or she is, because this player is in a chess suit so that no one can see him or her. 7. And a very nice tournament to promote chess for women! There is also another top event in Eindhoven: the Open World Dutch Women’s Top 10 Championship. The first round will be played on August 10. The closing ceremony will be held on August 18 together with that of the Youth Olympiad. All rounds start at 2:00 PM (Central European Time), except the last one, which starts at 10:30 AM (CET). With an average rating of 2341 and several IMs and WGMs participating we are very much looking forward to the start of the Women’s Top 10. It’s a very nice tournament to promote chess for women. 8. Where does everything take place? The Youth Olympiad will be played at the smartest square kilometer in Europe: the High Tech Campus Eindhoven. The campus is built around an ecosystem of 260 companies with a range of application fields. Home to over 12.500 innovators, researchers, engineers that create the technologies and business of tomorrow. The special tournament for the women will take place in the Van der Valk Hotel, about 3 kilometers from there. Photo: High Tech Campus Eindhoven official website 9. How can I see the tournament? Of course, you can come and see the games yourself. But you can also see it anywhere in the world via computer or smartphone. All the games will be broadcast live. Also there will be live broadcast with commentators IM Stefan Kuipers and FM Anna-Maja Kazarian. The Content Team will bring interviews, photos, and videos every day. 10. Who made it all possible? We would like to thank the Ministry of VWS, the province of North Brabant, the municipality of Eindhoven, BrabantSport, the High Tech Campus, ASML, DGT, Van der Valk and Thinc ahead. Maes van Lanschot of the municipality thinks it’s great that the Youth Olympiad is taking place in Eindhoven: “We would like to welcome all young chess players to the ‘smartest square kilometer’ in the world, our High Tech Campus.” Bianca Muhren (KNSB): “Incredibly great that in our jubilee year as the oldest chess federation in the world, we managed to bring an international youth championship to the Netherlands, with a new international women top tournament as a bonus. We are going to make it an unforgettable event!” Michel Reinders (BrabantSport): “This international tournament suits our innovation region to attract talents to Brabant. With the Youth Olympiad in Eindhoven, we give the brightest talents the chance to shine on the highest chess stage.” Niels Cannegieter (organization and event agency Thinc ahead): “Thinking ahead is not only in our DNA, but also in our name. We are proud that we were able to organise this event in the Netherlands together with the chess federation.” Official website: youtholympiad2023.fide.com/