China Wins FIDE World Youth U16 Olympiad in Eindhoven, Netherlands

China emerged victorious in the FIDE World Youth U16 Olympiad held in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The team dominated the competition, securing an impressive 17 out of 18 match points. Turkey, the last year’s champions, finished second, while Greece claimed the bronze medal.

A record-breaking total of 252 players from 63 teams representing 47 countries participated in the Youth Olympiad, organized to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Royal Dutch Chess Federation.

The Chinese team ruled supreme in Eindhoven. Only Armenia managed to tie the match against the Chinese squad. Out of the 36 games played, China scored a total of 31 board points. Miaoyi Lu became the top scorer of the Chinese team, winning all her games on the fourth board.

She also impressed chess fans and experts with her aggressive playing style. Tong(Qd) Xiao (board 2) and Xiangrui Kong (3rd board) both netted 7.5 out of 9, while Haowen Xue, on the top board, scored 7 points.

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich visited the Youth Olympiad during the 6th and 7th rounds of the tournament. He extended his congratulations to the Royal Dutch Chess Federation on its 150th anniversary, commending it as a strong part of the chess community. The tournament was hosted by Eindhoven’s High Tech Campus. According to Dvorkovich, it is important to bring chess to the University campus and tech business. FIDE President expressed his hope that the participants made lasting friendships during the Youth Olympiad.

Bianca de Jong-Muhren, President of the Royal Dutch Chess Federation, expressed her happiness at the successful conclusion of the tournament. “As part of the 150th anniversary of the Dutch Chess Federation KNSB, our aim was to host a prominent international youth event in the Netherlands. We are delighted with our accomplishment and the hosting of the Youth Olympiad in our country. It is also important that every team comprises both male and female players, aligning with our commitment to promote youth chess for all.”

Final standings (top 10):

1	China	17
2	Turkey	15
3	Greece	13
4	Kazakhstan 1	13
5	Georgia	12
6	Kazakhstan 2	12
7	Armenia	12
8	Israel	12
9	Romania	12
10	Canada 1	12

Complete standings

Board Prizes:
Board 1: Read Samadov (Azerbaijan)
Board 2: Tong(Qd) Xiao (China)
Board 3: Xiangrui Kong (China)
Board 4: Miaoyi Lu (China)

Photos: Lennart Ootes and Frans Peeters

Official website: youtholympiad2023.fide.com/

FIDE World Youth Olympiad 2023: Day 5 Recap

Two more rounds were played at the FIDE World Youth Olympiad 2023. That means a lot of hard work, both for the participants and for the reporters. But hard work is not the same as tedious work. On the contrary: as spectators, we’re getting a lot of value for our money.

Round 7

All eyes were on the leader, China facing Armenia and especially on their star player Miaoyi Lu, who still had a perfect 100% score going into Round 7.

Miaoyi Lu – Nvard Hayrapetyan

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 d5 5. exd5 exd5 6. d4 Bg4 7. O-O Nxd4 8. Qe1+ Ne6?!

The knight is awkwardly placed here. 8…Be7 would have been better, allowing Black to achieve a normal development after moves like 9. Nxd4 cxd4 10. Qe5 Nf6.

9. Ne5 Bf5 10. c4!

White seizes the opportunity and forcefully opens the center.

10… Nf6 11. cxd5 Nxd5 12. g4 Bxb1

This seems to win a tempo since White has to capture back. After

13. Rxb1 Be7

It seems like Black can finally castle. However, she doesn’t get the chance:

14. Qe4 Ndc7

After 14…Nec7, 15. Rd1 follows, winning material.

15. Qa4+ b5 16. Bc6+ Kf8 17. Qe4

Black’s castling is prevented, and the rook on a8 becomes trapped.

17…Rc8 18. Bb7 Bd6 19. Bxc8 Qxc8 20. Le3 f6

21. f4! Nd8 After 21…fxe5 22. fxe5+ Black is in check. White regains the piece with interest and also obtains a dangerously advanced passed pawn.

22. Rbd1 Ne8 23. Kh1 Qe6 24. Bxc5 fxe5 25. fxe5+ Kg8 26. Bxd6 Nf7 27. Qd5 Qg6 28. Rf4 h5 29. Rdf1 Nf6 30. exf6 1-0

A textbook example of punishing opening mistakes.

With two draws on the top boards, China seemed to be heading for victory. Xiangrui Kong appeared to be holding well against Benik Agasarov, until it all went terribly wrong towards the end:

Black played the unfortunate 85…Qe4?? (Black could have held with something like 85…f4 ) and then after 86.Nf4+ Kg4 87.Qg6+ White delivered checkmate. 1-0

China suffered their first defeat in a game and conceded their first match point in the tournament after tying the match with Armenia.

China is now at 13 match points after seven rounds; Armenia follows with 11 points. They are joined in the battle for second place by Kazakhstan 1, who won 2½-1½ against Uzbekistan, and Turkey, who defeated Ukraine 3-1. Uzbek player Afruza Khamdamova, along with Miaoyi Lu, was the only player with a 100% score before this round, but she had to settle for a draw after 119 moves against Alua Nurmanova.

The game between Asronjon Omonov and Edgar Mamedov ended in a disaster for the white player.

It might seem like there’s not much going on, but three moves later, it was all over for White:

56.h5?? Rcd8 57.Rf1?? Nf4

Suddenly, it’s Black who delivers checkmate! After 58.Bxf4 Rd1 Asronjon stopped the clock. 0-1

Eray Kilic took advantage of opponent Vladyslav Fishchuk’s overconfidence in the middle game, where Fishchuk moved his central pawns enthusiastically, leaving a few pieces hanging. Eray’s teammate Elifnaz Akat initially had less space after the opening and stood worse, until her opponent Roman Kovalskyi blundered in the following position:

24.Nb6??

The wrong piece. After 24.Bb6 Qd7 25.Rbd1, White stands much better.

24…dxe5! Suddenly, Black takes control.

25.Nxc8 exd4 26.Bxb7 Bxc8 27.Qd5

Black is winning, and on move 53, she delivered checkmate. 0-1

The first Dutch team secured a 2½-1½ victory against the well-performing Bangladesh. Yichen Han sacrificed a piece for two pawns but didn’t get the type of play he was looking for and eventually had to capitulate after defending for a long time. Arthur de Winter won a crucial pawn in the opening and gradually expanded his advantage into a win. In Prajit Sai Kumar’s game, the advantage swung back and forth, but in the end, White’s attack proved stronger than Black’s. Dana Verheij found herself in a difficult position in a queenless middlegame but managed to secure a crucial half-point for her team.

Round 8

China secured victory in the Olympiad with one round to go. They defeated Hungary 4-0, a team that, on paper, wasn’t expected to lag behind China (with only a 49-point difference in average rating). This means that Miaoyi Lu still maintains a perfect score. Congratulations to the Chinese team, who, with 15 match points and 27½ board points, have an insurmountable lead: second-placed Turkey, after a 3½-½ victory against Kazakhstan, is 2 match points and 5 board points behind. Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus achieved a swift win after his opponent Daniyal Sapenov greedily grabbed a central pawn on move 19:

The game continued with the daring 19…Nxe4?! 20.Ba7 Rxf4 21.Rd4, and here Black made a serious mistake with 21…Nxc3?. White’s advantage grew considerably after 22.Qxe6+ Rf7 23.Bxb8 d5 24.Re1, and a few moves later, Black resigned. 1-0

Armenia and Azerbaijan drew 2-2. The game between Khagan Ahmad and Erik R. Gasparyan exemplifies what can go wrong for White in the Novosibirsk Variation of the Sveshnikov Sicilian:

If White now calmly continues with 14.0-0, there would be no issues. However, he made an instructive mistake 14.cxb5? Black responded to this flank action with the classic Sicilian counteraction in the center: 14…d5!. It is a key move in virtually every Sicilian, and this situation is no exception. After 15.bxa6 0-0 16.0-0 fxe4 17.Bb5 Rd8, Black gained a powerful block of central pawns. Black’s advantage remained unchallenged, and it was a matter of time when the Tetris block started moving. Once that happened, White had no chance. 0-1

Netherlands 1 lost 2½-1½ against Austria. Yichen Han played a draw in a game that hasn’t strayed far from equality. In the endgame, Prajit Sai Kumar failed to neutralize Black’s passed pawn while trying to protect his own kingside pawns, leading to the pawn becoming an increasingly troublesome presence on the board. Dana Verheij didn’t find the strongest defence and succumbed to weaknesses around her king. Arthur de Winter won, although it required a fair share of luck:

The position here is evaluated as 0.0 according to the engines. However, in the next five moves, the Lichess engine gives out 11 question marks. This once again demonstrates that positions with opposite-side castling and mutual attacks are incredibly difficult to play. Mistakes are always lurking in such razor-sharp positions, and finding the only correct move is often a challenging task.

33…Qa4?? (33…bxc4) 34.h4 Rh8?? (33…Bxc4) 35.b3?? (35.hxg5) Qb4 36.h5? (36.hxg5) a5 37.Qb7?? (37.Rd6) a4 38.Qf3?? (38.Qe4) bxc4 and Black launched a winning attack. 0-1

Standings:

After 8 rounds in the Olympiad, China secured victory with 15 points. Turkey is second with 13 points, followed by Armenia, Kazakhstan 1, and Austria with 12 points. Medals are out of reach for the Dutch teams. Netherlands 1 has 10 points and is in 10th place. Netherlands 3 has 8 points and is in 35th place; just behind is Netherlands 2 with 7 points, and Netherlands 4 is in 47th place with 6 points.

Complete standings

The final ninth round will be played today.

Text: Michael van Liempt

Photos: Lennart Ootes and Frans Peeters

Official website: youtholympiad2023.fide.com/

Revised Tie-break Regulations come to force on September 1, 2023

FIDE TEC is pleased to announce that the FIDE Council has ratified the updated tie-break regulations effective from September 1, 2023. These newly instituted rules are an enhanced version of those initially approved during the 44th FIDE Congress and later retracted in July 2023.

Our heartfelt gratitude goes to Mr. Roberto Ricca and the entire SPP Department for their meticulous efforts in clarifying the stipulations regarding Play-Offs, Direct Encounters, and Unplayed Games.

Kindly note, Pairing Software Vendors have a deadline until April 1, 2024, to integrate these revised tie-break guidelines into their systems.

Enquiries: Hendrik du Toit – secretary.tec@fide.com

Revised Tie-break Regulations effective from September 1, 2023

FIDE World Cup R6 tiebreaks: Salimova and Praggnanandhaa advance

Salimova eliminates Muzychuk after two rapid tiebreak matches. Praggnanandhaa clinches the last remaining place in the semifinals after a gruelling seven-game tiebreak duel with Erigaisi

Bulgaria’s IM Nurgyul Salimova is having a spectacular run in the World Cup and will be playing in the finals after knocking out Anna Muzychuk, defeating her with 1.5:0.5 in the second tiebreak match. Both played sharp and decisive games in the tiebreaks, with only one ending in a draw. Salimova will compete against Aleksandra Goryachkina in the Women’s World Cup finals, while Anna Muzychuk will face Tan Zhongyi in the battle for third place. Both matches will start on Saturday, 19th August, alongside the semifinal matches in the Open.

The tiebreak in the Open section today lasted notably longer than that in the Women’s: In a sharp duel which saw a heavy exchange of blows in each game, after two rounds of rapid and a round of blitz, everything came down to one, single, blitz game. Playing as White, Praggnanandhaa took the initiative early on, forced a winning rook endgame and ended up victorious, clinching the last free place in the final four.

The Open Tournament Highlights

Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa were the only two participants of the Open to head to the tiebreaks in round six. In the regular part of the round, somewhat unusually, the opponents traded victories with black pieces.

Both games in the first rapid tiebreak today ended in a draw, with neither side achieving a substantial advantage.

In the second tiebreak match, Praggnanandhaa took the lead after winning with Black again. This is even though Erigaisi had a better position from move 12. In a rook and queen endgame, Erigaisi was winning. The critical moment of the game came after Black’s 44th move: White had an overwhelming advantage but untimely went for an exchange of queens which resulted in him losing an advanced passer on the a-file. In an even rook endgame, with both sides having two passers on opposite flanks, Arjunn misplayed, eventually ending with a rook against a queen and capitulated soon after.

However, in the second game, the reverse happened: Praggnanandhaa made a serious opening mistake on the White side of the Queen’s Gambit Declined, allowing Black to save his place in the race by scoring a victory.

Then came the third tiebreak – this time, in the Blitz (with five minutes for each player, plus three seconds of bonification, starting from move one). Praggnanandhaa (playing as Black) took the initiative early on, securing a sizable advantage from the opening and maintaining it throughout. In a topsy-turvy game two that followed, Pragg was clearly better at some point in the transition towards the endgame, he overlooked a rook and ended up losing.

Now, everything was hanging on just one game. Praggnanandhaa was White. In the Reti opening, White emerged slightly better. Erigaisi began to falter, making imprecisions, losing a pawn and gradually handing ever more space to White. Praggnanandhaa finally broke through, entering a completely winning rook endgame. He finished with two pawns and a rook against a rook. On move 72, Erigaisi had to accept the inevitable and resign.

The Women’s Tournament Highlights

Anna Muzychuk’s troubles started early on, in the first rapid tiebreak game. Playing as White, Muzychuk responded well to the Tartakower line of the Caro-Kann played by Nurgyul Salimova. With opposite castles, Black made a premature attempt to advance on White’s queenside and ended in a weaker position, giving up a pawn without much compensation. However, in the proceeding moves, Muzychuk chose the wrong plan and underestimated the threats posed by Black’s bishops. In an unpleasant but still holdable position for White, Muzychuk made her biggest error snatching Black’s rook and was immediately lost.

In game two Muzychuk bounced back. In the Dutch Defence, leading black pieces, Muzychuk managed to get the upper hand in the transition to an endgame, winning a pawn. At one point, Black dropped the advantage but Salimova blundered again, entering a lost rook endgame.

In the second tiebreak, Salimova again started well – defeating Muzychuk with the white pieces, finishing with a nice checkmate combination. In game two Muzychuk tried to push in an even position but ended up overlooking a piece. Salimova promptly traded all White’s active pieces and liquidated into a won endgame where she settled for a draw by repetition which propelled the Bulgarian into the finals.

Friday, the 18th of August is a rest day. The games continue on Saturday, 19th of August.

Here follows a closer look at some of the top games from Round 6 tiebreaks:

In the first game of the second tiebreak match, Arjun Erigaisi had a notably better position as White.

This is the position after just 11 moves. Black just made a mistake by placing the knight on d4 instead of on Nd7 or castling. Erigaisi continued to play natural moves and his advantage gradually increased.

Following an exchange of pieces in the centre, the two reached the following position:

White has the decisive advantage. He has an extra pawn while Black’s pawn on d6 is weak and, overall, White’s pieces are better positioned.

31…Rb5 32.Rd2 Rb3 33.Rd3? The first serious innacuracy by Erigaisi. He should have kept his rook on the second line and activated his queen.

Now, however, Praggnanandhaa made a serious mistake 33…Rb6?. He should have just gone for an exchange of rooks and but understandably he tried to keep as many pieces as possible on the board.

In the moves that followed neither Arjun was more precise. In addition, Pragg dropped another pawn to create some chances but entered completely lost position:

White has an overwhelming position (+13 Stockfish). Indeed after 45.Qc6! Qe1 46.a7 Qa5+ 47.Kb3 Black runs out of checks. Instead, Arjun completely dropped the advantage with 45.Qc4??

Now after the exchange of queens, the position is equal as White loses his a6-passer. A huge gift by Erigaisi which Praggnanandhaa enthusiastically accepted.

45…Qxc4 46.Rxc4 Ra8 47.b4 Rxa6+ 48.Kb3 h3 49.b5 Rh6 50.Rc8+ Kh7 51.Rc1 g5 52.fxg5 fxg5

Over the last several moves things changed drastically. Here White could have maintained equality with the only move 54.e5 but Erigaisi didn’t play this. Instead: 54.b6? but after precise 54…g5! Black’s connected passers are much stronger and faster than White’s isolated paws.

55.Rc7+ Kg8 56.Rc8+ Kf7 57.Rc7+ Ke8 58.b7 Rb6+ 59.Kc4 g6 60.Rh7

60…Rxb7! Sacrificing the rook but promoting a queen.

After 61.Rxb7 h2 62.Rh7 g3 63.Kd5 g2 64.Rxh2 g1=Q Black is completely winning.

Erigaisi resisted for a few more moves but had to resign. 0-1, 78 moves

In the second game of the second tiebreak, Erigaisi won, after Praggnanandhaa made several imprecise moves in an even position.

15.a4? (15.Rfb1! with a roughly equal position) Immediately allowing 15…b4. 16.Nd2 b3 17.Nxc4 Qb4 18.Qd3? And White’s pieces are hanging across the board.

18…Nxf4 19.exf4 Ba6 20.Qd2? Rb8 21.Qxb4 Rxb4 22.Nd6+ Ke7 23.Nb5 b2 24.Rab1 Bxb5 25.axb5 and Black is dominating. 0-1, 28 moves

The tiebreaker between Praggnanandhaa and Erigaisi was decided in the seventh game of the tiebreaks. After ending tied in two rapid matches and one blitz match, it all came down to the last blitz game.

Praggnanandhaa was playing as White. In the Reti opening Erigaisi allowed his opponent to take the initiative early on and reach a better position. By move 30, Praggnanandhaa was winning:

After the queens are removed from the board all White needs is patience and solid technique.

31.Qxa4 Rxa4 32.Rxb6 Kh7 33.Rbb1 Ra1+ 34.Kg2 Rc1 35.Rc6 Re5 36.Rc8 Bf5 37.Nxf5 Rxf5 38.f4 Rd5

Black has a weak pawn on c5 that will soon fall. At the same time, White’s pawns are well-connected and supported. Praggnanandhaa soon forced an exchange of pawns and a pair of rooks and ended up with two extra runners and completely winning.

A great success for the Indian GM who just turned 18 a few days ago.

The breaking point in the Women’s tiebreaks today happened in the first game of the second rapid, where Anna Muzychuk lost as Black to Nurgyul Salimova. In the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, Anna opted for the line that is considered to be difficult for Black:

White is already better Muzychuk a series of inaccurate moves that quickly turned her position into hopeless one: 13…Na5 14.Bf4 Rc8 15.Qe2 Bd6 16.Bh6 Nb3 17.Rd1 Qa5

18.d5! After this break in the center White is completely winning, and Nurgyul has done so in style! Bxd5 19.Bxa6 Rc5 20.Bb5 Kd8 21.Be3 Rc7 22.Rxd5!! exd5 23.Bb6!!

Muzychuk resigned. 1-0

Text: Milan Dinic

Photo: Stev Bonhage, Anna Shtourman , and Maria Emelianova (chess.com)

About the event

The FIDE World Cup 2023 is taking place from 29 July to 25 August 2023 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

In the Open tournament, 206 players were eligible to take part and 103 in the Women’s event.

There will be eight rounds in the Open and seven in the Women’s tournament. Each round will be played under a knock-out system, consisting of a 2-game match. In the case of a tie, the players will play a rapid and, if necessary, a blitz tiebreak until the winner is determined.

The winners of the top three places in both sections will qualify for the 2024 Candidates tournament.

In both events, the time control for each game is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1.

The prize fund for the entire event is 2.5 million US Dollars, with $1,834,000 in the Open and $676,250 in the Women’s tournament. The 2023 FIDE World Cup has the largest prize fund for any chess tournament ever played.

More information about the event: worldcup2023.fide.com/

Regulations:

Open tournament: handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/WorldCup2023Regulations.pdf

Women’s event: handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/WWorldCup2023Regulations.pdf

Schedule: worldcup2023.fide.com/schedule