FIDE World Cup R6 Game 1: Goryachkina wins, Caruana makes a lucky escape
Carlsen and Erigaisi win in the open event. Goryachkina scores only victory in the women’s semis Magnus Carlsen and Arjun Erigaisi started with a victory in the quarter-finals. Fabiano Caruana was on the brink of losing to compatriot Dominguez Perez but managed to save a draw. Vidit and Abasov drew after a lengthy endgame. In the Women’s tournament, Aleksandra Goryachkina seized the initiative in the semifinals by defeating former World Champion Tan Zhongyi with the black pieces. Bulgaria’s Nurgyul Salimova managed to hold Anna Muzychuk to a draw as Black after playing precisely following a sharp opening line. The Open Tournament Highlights Magnus Carlsen was the first to finish his game, scoring a victory as Black against India’s Gukesh D. In the Queen Pawn Opening, the player from Chennai maintained an even position for a long time but then misplayed in the endgame. With each side having a rook and three pawns, Gukesh chose the wrong plan, allowing Carlsen to activate his king and pawns. With each check White gave, Carlsen was closer to the first rank. After 48 moves, Black’s placed his pawn on e2 and Gukesh resigned. In an Indian derby, Arjun Erigaisi beat Praggnanandhaa with black pieces. The two sides were even throughout the game, but in the endgame stage – following a piece sacrifice by Erigaisi – Praggnanadhaa blundered, allowing Black to execute an attack on the white king and create conditions to promote his pawn, which was already on d3. The 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa resisted but had to resign in the end. Fabiano Caruana found himself in trouble against compatriot Leinier Dominguez Perez. Following the Italian Game, the two sides were even until Black’s 34th move when – in a knight and rook endgame – Caruana made several imprecisions costing him two pawns. However, Caruana was looking for the best ways to survive in the lost postion hoping for a miracle, and it happened: Dominguez blundered and allowed Black to activate his rook and knight in attacking the white king. A very lucky break for Caruana and a huge miss by Dominguez. Vidit Santos Gujrathi and Nijat Abasov split a point in the Rossolimo Attack of the Sicilian, both sides played precisely. By move 25, the two have reached an endgame where each side had six pawns, a black-squared bishop and a rook. From that move onwards followed a complex and lengthy debate where each side tried to outmanoeuvre the other by moving the rook and the bishop around the board. White managed to get some chances but didn’t use them. The Women’s Tournament Highlights Aleksandra Goryachkina beat the former Women’s World Champion Tan Zhongyi with black pieces in the exchange line of the Queen’s Gambit Declined. After an imprecision by White, Goryachkina managed to get more initiative and press across the board. However, she dropped her advantage, and soon the position was even. Still transitioning to the endgame, Tan made another blunder which allowed Black to penetrate her second rank with a rook, ending up winning. Nurgyul Salimova held Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk to a draw with black pieces, in their first encounter in the semifinals. The two played a sharp line in the Caro-Kann where White had slightly more activity at one point, but Black could counter. White managed to create a passer on the a-file, but Salimova was just in time to hold. On move 32, the two decided to split a point. The full results of today’s games can be found here: worldcup2023.fide.com/pairings. The second game of round six starts on Wednesday, 14th of August, at 3 PM local time in Baku, Azerbaijan. Here follows a closer look at some of the games from today’s round: Gukesh lost to Carlsen after completely misplaying an even rook endgame. White (Gukesh) should have just proceeded with 35.c4, creating a passer on the queenside. Instead, he played 34.Ra2?? allowing Black the time to activate his king and push on. Carlsen didn’t see the best move (34…Kd6) and instead went for 34…Rg5, but Black was still better. Now Gukesh made another blunder – 35.Ra7+ and his position became beyond repair. It was the start of a series of pointless checks which helped the black king and pawns to move towards the first rank. Thirteen moves down the road, the opponents reached the following position: Since Black’s e-pawn will cost Black the rook, Gukesh reigned. 0-1 In another victory for Black, Arjun Erigaisi defeated compatriot Praggnanandhaa after Rameshbabu blundered in responding to a piece sacrifice. 35…Nxg3! 36.fxg3 d3 37.Bg2?? White needed to get his king out of the line of fire from the black queen with 37.Kh1 maintaining balance. 37….Qb6+ 38.Kh2 Qf2! Now, Back is threatening checkmate and has the time to push his d-pawn further. 39.Rg1 Re2 40.Qe7 d2 41.Qf6+ Qxf6 42.exf6 Kxf6 43.Rf1+ Ke5 and the black king marches down the board to support his passer. White is a piece up but completely paralysed. Pragnanandhaa tried to find options with giving the bishop back, but the pawn endgame was hopeless for White. 0-1, 53 moves. Leinier Dominguez Perez was on the brink of defeating Fabiano Caruana with white pieces after Black made costly mistakes in an even endgame. Caruana here made a serious mistake with seemingly logical 34…Rb6? (34…Ra6 was much better). Now after 35.Nxd4 Ng6 36.Rc6! Black has no option but to avoid trade with 36…Rb7 37.Rxe6 and White emerged two pawns up and clearly better. Dominguez made a few inaccuracies down the line and gave up one of his extra pawns but managed to hold his advantage until the move 54: Here Leinier stumbled with 54.Ne2? White is still in command after 54.Ra6! with the idea of d6+ followed by Rd6. As played, Black got an opportunity to coordinate his pieces and pester Whites’ king. 54…Rh2 55.Ra6 Rh3 56.Kd4 Rd3+! 57.Kc5 Nd7 and now Black holds. Dominguez tried for another 14 moves but eventually had to settle for a draw. 1/2-1/2, 71 moves A lucky save by Caruana. Aleksandra Goryachkina defeated Tan Zhongyi as Black. The former world champion from China made several mistakes in the game. The position is even. A natural move such as
FIDE Chess Olympiad 2028 – Call for bids
International Chess Federation (FIDE) is opening a bidding procedure for organising the major team competition in the chess 2028 calendar, the Chess Olympiad. Held over 15 days (including arrivals and departures), this global team event gathers thousands of players and chess fans. A whopping 186 chess federations were represented by a team in the open and 162 in the women’s section during the last Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India. Two other important events are to be held under the umbrella of this major chess gathering: Olympiad for People with Disabilities 2028 (where the organisers must be ready to host at least 80 teams) and FIDE Congress 2028. The bidder shall be responsible for hosting all three events and providing the proposal that would allow hosting the maximum number of teams. Currently, FIDE encompasses 199 federations and is expanding each year, as does the Olympiad with every new edition. Regulations The complete information about Chess Olympiad 2028 is in the Main Event Regulations. Information about FIDE Congress is here We will add the Regulations for the Competition for Players with Disabilities when they are ready later. Who can bid Any federation member of FIDE or any Organiser approved by a national federation may apply for the organisation of the FIDE Chess Olympiad and compulsory accompanying events. It is important to note that priority will be given to the bidders, who will also suggest hosting other FIDE events. Expression of interest and bidding process As per the decision of the FIDE Council, the first four weeks of the bidding process are allocated for the expression of interest. If no more than one potential bidder expresses their interest within four weeks, the overall bidding process shall last for eight weeks. If several parties express their interest within four weeks, the bidding process shall last 12 weeks. There is no form for expressing interest, and there is no need to fill in the formal bidding form at this stage. Potential bidders can express their interest by sending a formal letter to the FIDE office at office@fide.com by 6pm CET on September 12th, 2023. The letter of interest is not binding. The formal bidding application may be filled out after or instead of the expression of interest. Each application shall be filed per the form provided in Appendix 3 to the Regulations. The Applicant shall attach the following: Letters of support from a national federation and relevant local authorities, Supporting documents (government letters, contracts, bank guarantees, etc.) at the total amount of the bid’s budget. Irrevocable guarantee issued by: a) any of the Top 100 World Banks rated on The Bankers database or another bank which may be agreed with FIDE or b) a verified government guarantee for the amount of three hundred thousand (300,000) Euros to support the bid. Additional documents may be requested by FIDE for further evaluation. The complete requirements from the organiser, including financial obligations, are determined by section 6 of the Regulations. The nearest General Assembly shall award the right to host the events to the Applicant with the highest number of votes received.
FIDE World Youth Olympiad 2023: Day 2 Recap
After three rounds at the FIDE World Youth Olympiad 2023, China and Netherlands 1 jointly lead with 3/3. On the second day of the Olympiad, two rounds were played. Round 2 was held in the morning, right on the schedule. Just outside the “top boards,” there were many draws. The high seed teams 6 (Uzbekistan), 7 (Azerbaijan), 8 (France), and 9 (Israel) drew against lower-rated teams Bulgaria, Kazakhstan 2, Greece, and Italy, respectively. The top team, Turkey, whitewashed the 3rd team of the Netherlands, and their opponent from Round 1, Georgia, showed that their 2-2 draw was not a one-time success. They convincingly beat Slovakia by 3-1. Now back to the top boards. Kazakhstan 1 defeated India 3-1. It wasn’t easy, as only the black boards of Kazakhstan managed to win in the endgame. FM Sepenov relentlessly held onto a slight advantage in an endgame with heavy pieces, and eventually, the exposed white king (CM Adireddy) turned out to be a significant problem. WIM Nurmanova scored her second point for the team Kazakhstan. China continued its dominance by winning again with a score of 3.5-0.5, this time against Switzerland. Except for the draw between WFM Manko (Switzerland) and Kong Xiangrui, the Chinese players demonstrated sharper play than their Swiss opponents. The Dutch first team scored a narrow 2.5-1.5 win against Latvia, but it could have been different. On the first board, Arsenijs Savicevs played an excellent game against FM Yichen Han. The position emerging of Caro-Kann, Advance Variation, had strong similarities with the French Advance. In this line, black should be cautious of the move dxc5 followed by b4. Han underestimated this idea and ended up in a worse position by move 7. Move 13.c4 exposed Black’s weakness: White was developed and ready for action, while Black’s king was stuck in the center. Black seemed to solve some of his problems but with 22.Nf6 Savicevs showed that it was indeed White playing for a win. He preserved his advantage deep into the endgame but winning was still not straightforward. With 39…Rd7??, black blundered and allowed a beautiful skewer! White found the tactics and won the game. See the exciting battle on lichess On board 2, Arthur de Winter defeated Aleksejs Adamovics by handling the middlegame and endgame in the Maroczy structure better than his opponent. On board 3, Mikelis Vingris and Prajit Kumar didn’t upset the balance, resulting in a 1.5-1.5 draw. It all came down to the game on board 4 between the ladies Ter-Avetisjana and Verheij. Ter-Avetisjana pressed for a win but miscalculated a pawn sacrifice, giving Verheij a significant advantage that she duly converted into a full point, securing the win for the Netherlands. Hungary, seeded 5th, also won their second match. They defeated the 2nd team of the Netherlands by a score of 3.5-0.5, although it wasn’t as smooth as it might seem. Boards 1 (Kobe Smeets) and 2 (Roger Labruyere) played excellent games for the Dutch team. Nevertheless, WIM Gaal (board 1) and FM Palczert (board 2) from Hungary proved stronger in the endgame. The 4th team of the Netherlands narrowly lost to Cyprus (2.5-1.5). Boyd Leenen was inspired after his game yesterday (a beautiful attacking game against his Chinese opponent). This time, Leenen initiated the attack and broke through his opponent’s position with a rook lift along the h-file. See the game on lichess In Round 3, which was held in the afternoon, the two top teams faced each other. Top-seeded Kazakhstan 1 played against 5th-seed Hungary. It was an intense battle between these two strong squads, resulting in a 2-2 tie. On the first board, WIM Zsoka Gaal had significant chances to defeat IM Ansat, who had previously made two draws. Unfortunately for Zsoka, her advantage evaporated in a complex endgame. On board 2, Kazakhstan secured a full point, as FM Sapenov (Kazakhstan) ultimately capitalized on an earlier missed opportunity. FM Kolimar played an instructive game against FM Mamedov and scored the victory for Hungary. On move 25, Mamedov allowed the white rook on c7, which then extended white’s control over the 7th rank with a second rook. The final position doesn’t feature two white rooks on the 7th rank, but two pawns! A beautiful win, see below. On the 4th board, there was a fierce battle with chances for advantage for both sides, but FM Giang and WIM Nurmanova ultimately agreed to a draw. As a result, Kazakhstan dropped the lead as China and Netherlands 1 scored three match victories. The Chinese squad has been performing exceptionally well. In Round 3 trounced Romania 4-0! China has not suffered any losses yet and has the most board points of all teams, making just two draws. The team has been playing very consistently; none of the players has had a difficult position in three rounds. The only exception happened on board 3 in this match, where Xiangrui Kong was building a brilliant attack. Everything was going well for him until moves 33 and 34, where he slipped up. His opponent, FM Cnejev, missed the opportunity, and on move 36, Kong executed a decisive combination to win material. Netherlands 1 is the only team joining China with 3 wins. They once again triumphed over Canada 1 by a score of 2.5-1.5. On board 1, FM Yichen Han is still to find his footing in the tournament. This time, Han had a winning position for most of his game, but under severe pressure, he turned it into a theoretical rook and bishop versus rook (without pawns) draw. He tried to push for more, but FM Atanasov didn’t yield. On board 2, another FM Johnathan Han from the Canadian team, faced FM Arthur de Winter. Han stood well in the Najdorf Sicilian, building up his advantage, although the position remained complex. After a misstep by his opponent, FM de Winter patiently seized control and secured a point for the Netherlands. CM Max Chen of Canada might regret not capitalizing in his game. Facing Prajit Kumar, he achieved a