FIDE World Rapid Team Championship: WR Chess continues dominance
In a second day of total domination, WR Chess won all four matches and are the only team with a perfect 100 per cent score With a total of 16 matchpoints, WR Chess maintains a three-matchpoint lead over the second-placed Freedom team. Following closely are three teams tied at 11 matchpoints: MGD1, Ashdod Elit Chess Club, and Six-pack. The current standings suggest that WR Chess, holding a three-matchpoint lead over Freedom and a five-matchpoint lead over the third-placed teams, could potentially secure victory before all rounds are completed. Today’s direct duel between the frontrunners WR Chess and Freedom ended with a crushing 5-1 victory for the squad captained by GM Jan Gustafsson. WR Chess also defeated third-placed Team MGD1 – by 3.5-2.5 in Round 6. Given that Freedom and MGD1 were closest to catching up with WR Chess, the outcome of their direct duels will certainly have an impact on the final standings, even if WR slip on day three. The key performers in the WR Chess team are Ian Nepomniachtchi and Jan-Krzysztof Duda who are on 5.5 out of six games they have played. Additionally, WR Group’s CEO Wadim Rosenstein, who also sponsors the event, contributed significantly to the team’s success, winning five out of eight games as an amateur board. After a crushing loss in round five, team Freedom rebounded, winning the remaining three matches of the day and solidifying their hold on the second place. Daniil Dubov is the top performer in the team, with 5.5 out of eight. Team MGD1 experienced mixed results, finishing the day in shared third place after losing two out of four matches. With other teams closely trailing, MGD1 will need to maintain their momentum to secure a top-three finish. Rounds five to eight: A closer look The frontrunners from day one – WG Chess and Freedom met in round five, at the start of the second day of the championship. In a tense match, the tournament leaders WG Chess dominated the top-rated tournament team captained by Emil Sutovsky. Apart from Anand and Dubov who drew their games, all other Freedom boards lost. This was a significant milestone for WG Chess having scored a confident victory over their main competitor in the event. The Indian team of MGD1 – who started the day in second place – had a narrow victory over ASV AlphaEchecs Linz (3.5-2.5), with Nihal Sarin losing to Alexander Grischuk after ending a piece down. In another slim victory, team Armenia prevailed over Columbus Energy Kings Of Chess from Kraków with 3.5-2.5. While there were no major surprises, among the top players, Fabiano Caruana found himself in serious trouble against Egypt’s Ahmed Adly but managed to win. In Round 6, Team Freedom bounced back, scoring a convincing victory over the team of the Berlin Chess Federation, with 5.5-0.5. In that match, Freedom’s Polina Shuvalova won in great style against the top German women’s player Elisabeth Paehtz, sacrificing the same knight twice. WR Chess continued their winning streak, but this time only with a minimum margin – 3.5-2.5 – beating the very strong majority-Indian squad of Team MGD1, thus eliminating another contender for the top place. The Chess Pensioners suffered a humiliating defeat in the round, losing 5:1 to Kompetenzakademie Allstars. Apart from Dominguez holding compatriot Caruana to a draw, Pensioners’ Peter Svidelr lost to Levon Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik was beaten by Gukesh D. In a huge upset of the round, Egyptian GM Ahmed Adly (rated 2557) lost to more than 200 points lower-rated German FM Bennet Hagner, after misplaying in the middlegame. Following Round 6, the team of Germany and Friends sprung to second place, after winning two rounds – against Ashdod Elit Chess Club (in round five) and the very strong team of Armenia (in round six). In Round 7, Freedom defeated ASV AlphaEchecs Linz while Team MGD1 outplayed the squad of Armenia. Both Freedom and MGD1 had an equal number of points and were sharing second place. WR Chess continued its impressive run, beating Germany and Friends by 4-2, and maintaining their 100% score in match victories. Despite the loss, Germany and Friends were fourth in the rankings. In this round, 2641-rated GM Pavel Eljanov lost to 200 points lower-rated Alexander Krastev. In the final round of the day, WR Chess secured another convincing victory, defeated Kompetenzakademie Allstars (featuring superstars such as Caruana, Aronian and Gukesh) by 5.5:0.5 and finishing the second day in a row winning all of their matches. Freedom was better than Germany and Friends (4.5-1.5), managing to clinch second place and pushing the German team out of the top three. Team MGD1 slipped in the final round of the day against Ashdod Elit Chess Club. With all first five boards drawing their games, the balance shifted on the amateur board where Peter Anand (rated 1901) lost to 1600-player Daniel Blonder. The defeat relegated MGD1 from second to third place. Standings after Day 2 (top 10): Here follows a closer look at some of the games from the first day of the FIDE World Rapid Team Championship: Fabiano Caruana (who is playing for the Kompetenzakademie Allstars team, alongside heavyweights Levon Aronian and Gukesh D), had another tricky start. After yesterday’s surprising draw in the first round with a significantly lower-rated player, today he was on the brink of losing with the white pieces to the well-known Egyptian GM Ahmed Adly. The position is complicated but roughly even. Black’s queen is trapped in the centre and the king still hasn’t been moved to his castle. According to the computer, White has several interesting options maintaining the balance – 20.gxh4, Qe3 and Ne3 – to name a few. Caruana decided to take on e4 and immediately entered an inferior position: 21.Bxe4? Bxe4 22.Nd2 Bc2 23.exd5. The best continuation for Black was to castle long with the idea of meeting 24.dxe7 with cold-blooded 24…Rde8! and Black wins an exchange by Bd3. Now, however, Adly misplayed with 23…e5? letting a substantial part of his advantage slip away. 24.Re3 0-0-0 And now another mistake by Caruana 25.Ne4?
Sethuraman wins Indian Championship
Former Asian Champion Grandmaster S P Sethuraman of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board reclaimed the National Champion title after 8 years at the 60th edition of Indian National Championship. The 11-round Swiss tournament was held in Pune from August 16-26, 2023. The third seed Sethuraman scored an unbeaten 9½/11 to clinch the title while Grandmaster Vishnu Prasanna of Tamil Nadu with 9 points finished as runner up. As many as seven players tied for the third position with 8½ points but better Buchholz helped IM Ghosh Aronyak to take bronze. In the glittering closing ceremony, Shri Naresh Sharma, Treasurer All India Chess Federation along with Shri Suhas Patil, Deputy Director of Sports and Youth Services, Pune-Maharashtra presented the trophies and cash prizes to the winners in presence of Shri Siddharth Mayur, Working President of MCA and Shri Niranjan Godbole, Secretary of MCA. Final standings: 1 GM Sethuraman, S.P. 2591 9½ 2 GM Vishnu, Prasanna. V 2411 9 3 IM Aronyak, Ghosh 2538 8½ 4 GM Vignesh, N R 2501 8½ 5 GM Ghosh, Diptayan 2568 8½ 6 GM Mitrabha, Guha 2505 8½ 7 IM Neelash, Saha 2435 8½ 8 GM Ganguly, Surya Shekhar 2583 8½ 9 GM Gupta, Abhijeet 2625 8½ 10 GM Puranik, Abhimanyu 2611 8 Text and photos: All India Chess Federation
Düsseldorf hosts the inaugural World Team Rapid Championship
From August 26-28, 2023, Düsseldorf will host a unique competition — the first World Team Rapid Chess Championship, organized by FIDE in partnership with WR Logistics GmbH. The players will meet on August 26th at the Rheinterrasse, located on the banks of the Rhine in the heart of Düsseldorf. Forty-three teams from all over the world will compete for a €250,000 prize fund, and the best team will receive the first prize of €100,000. Each team consists of at least six players. It must include at least one female and one player who has never achieved a FIDE rating of 2000. Match results depend on all players: 2 match points are given for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. The team with the most match points will become the champion. The World Rapid Team Chess Championship brings together teams with truly stellar lineups. The championship will feature the world chess elite, including former world champions Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Hou Yifan, Alexandra Kosteniuk, and Mariya Muzychuk. Contenders for the world chess crown, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Fabiano Caruana, and Boris Gelfand, World Cup winners Levon Aronian, Peter Svidler, and Jan-Krzysztof Duda will participate in the event. Former world champions in rapid chess Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Daniil Dubov, will also come to Düsseldorf. The reigning world blitz champion, Bibisara Assaubayeva, former world blitz champions Kateryna Lagno and Leinier Dominguez, will take part in the championship. And finally, more than 15 winners of the Chess Olympiad registered. In total, about 300 participants are expected to fight for the world rapid team champion title. According to the team average rating, clear favourites are: WR Chess (Ian Nepomniachtchi, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Wesley So, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Vincent Keymer, Praggnanandhaa R , Hou Yifan, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Wadim Rosenstein); Freedom (Richard Rapport, Viswanathan Anand, Daniil Dubov, Evgeniy Najer, Polina Shuvalova, Alexander Shapiro), Kompetenzakademie Allstars (Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian,Gukesh D, Keti Tsatsalashvili, Rainer Becker, Manfred Schneider). Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik will lead the team with the funny name “Chess Pensioners“. Peter Svidler, Leinier Dominguez, Darmen Sadvakasov, Jovanka Houska, Christoph Barati, Dennis Koenig, Miron Ananiev, and Yaroslav Ananiev are the members of one of the strongest squads in the championship. Let’s remember that in team competitions, the average rating is often not as important as team spirit and determination! With this in mind, several lower-rated teams also have a shot for the title. Given the long tournament distance of 12 rounds, all the top teams will definitely play against each other, so we are in for an exciting chess spectacle in Düsseldorf! All info and media accreditation is available on the official website: worldrapidteams2023.fide.com For additional media enquires please contact us at press@fide.com FIDE World Rapid Team Championship PROMO
FIDE World Rapid Team Championship: WR Chess on top after four rounds
WR Chess took the lead in the inaugural FIDE World Rapid Team Championship after winning all of their matches After four rounds of play, the team made up of top-world GMs such as Ian Nepomniachtchi, Wesley So, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, as well as two former Women World Champions, Hou Yifan and Alexandra Kosteniuk, are in the lead having triumphed in all of their matches and have eight matchpoints. Notably, Wadim Rosenstein, the amateur board and CEO of event sponsor WR Group, significantly boosted team WR Chess’s performance by winning three out of four games. In close pursuit are two teams, MGD1 and rating favourites Freedom, each with seven matchpoints after winning three matches and drawing one. The top three are chased by Armenia, ASV AlphaEchecs Linz and Columbus Energy KingsOfChess from Krakówall garnering six points with three victories and one loss. How the first four rounds unfolded Round One saw favourites secure confident wins, including Freedom and ASV Alpha Chess Linz with perfect scores. Notably, several top grandmasters faced unexpectedly strong resistance, resulting in draws against lower-rated opponents. In a dramatic upset, former World Champion Candidate Fabiano Caruana drew against FIDE Master Siem Van Dael, rated more than 500 points below him. But there were other notable surprises in round one: In the match between the exceptionally strong squad of Team MGD1 (which has an average rating of 2453) and the youth team of Deutsche Schachjugend 1, the 2320-eated IM Yevhenii Yelisieiev drew with the Indian super-GM Nihal Sarin who is rated 350 points higher. Team Armenia’s top player and very strong GM Gabriel Sargissian also surprised, drawing a 300-points lower rated MariusFrommof Doppelbauer Kiel. Things started to get tougher in round two. Team Freedom had a tense match against Chessbrah OFM. Despite winning with 4:2, Freedom’s Polina Shuvalova misplayed against Sara Khadem. The WR Chess team won its second match with 4:2 but saw its top board Wesley So losing a game as Black against 236 points lower-rated Chithambaram Vr. Aravindh. In the third round, the margin of victory became even thinner as the top teams started to clash: Freedom scored a narrow victory over team Armenia 3,5:2,5. The Indian squad Team MGD1 defeated the very strong Kompetenzakademie Allstars (who have Caruana and Aronian playing on the top two boards) with 4:2. ASV AlphaEchecs Linz (with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Alexander Grischuk as the top two boards) suffer a narrow defeat to Columbus Energy Kings Of Chess from Kraków who were led by Baadur Jobava. The outliers were the WR Chess team who had a comfortable 5,5:0,5 win against Ashdod Elit Chess Club (featuring some strong players, including Eljanov, Volokitin and Mariya Muzychuk). Round four saw a first draw on the top boards: Freedom had a difficult battle with the Indian squad of Team MGD1 with the top three boards drawing (Anand – Harikrishna, Dubov – Sarin, Vidit – Erigaisi). Raunak Sadhwani scored a victory as Black against Richard Rapport but the victory on the amateur board saved Freedom from defeat. WR Chess, ASV AlphaEchecs Linz and team Armenia scored comfortable victories. A curiously named team of Chess Pensioners – featuring former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik (on board three!) – and heavyweights Leinier Dominguez Perez (who is definitely not a chess pensioner as he most recently had a deep run in the World Cup in Baku) and Peter Svidler – had an interesting journey in the first day. They started slowly with two draws and then in round three had a convincing 5:1 victory against the team of Ukrainian amateurs, but in round four again drew their match. While Vladimir Kramnik finished the day with 3.5/4, their board one – Leinier Dominguez is only on 50% having lost two games. Joining the buzz of the event, even FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich took part in the games, showing his chess skills. In round four, playing with FIDE’s Management Team on board six, as an amateur player, Dvorkovich won against Iga Jasinska from team Sharks. Despite achieving a better position, Dvorkovich blundered and allowed Black to equalise, but luckily for him, the opponent passed on the opportunity. Round five will start with a direct clash of tournament leaders – WR Chess and Freedom. The complete pairings of round five can be found here. The games continue on Sunday, 27th August from 1.30 PM CET. Here follows a closer look at some of the games from the first day of the FIDE World Rapid Team Championship: The biggest surprise of round one was Fabiano Caruana’s draw with a more than 500 points lower-rated Dutch player Siem Van Dael. Even with the black pieces, the game should have been a walk in the park for the former World Champion Candidate and the recent World Cup bronze medallist. However… In the Sicilian defence Caruana was better throughout and achieved a winning position twice, but both times he misplayed badly and allowed the Dutch player to equalise. Caruana just pushed his pawn to h3 to attack the white king. White had only one good place to put the king – on f2. Instead, he played 33.Kf1 after which Black was completely winning. The most obvious line ended with White having to give up his queen: 33…Rxa6 34.bxa6 Rb1+ 35.Ke2 Qb5+ 36.Kd2 Rb2+ 37.Rc2 Rb3 38.Qxb3 Qxb3 39.f4. Instead of this, Caruana played 33…Rxb5 giving White an important respite in the position. 34.Bxb5 Qxb5 35.Kf2 Caruana again played a weak move – 35…Ra6 Qb3 36.Qxb3? Rxb3 and now the position is even. Luckily for Caruana, in the proceeding moves White misplayed his position and Black was again on the verge of victory. Caruana completely misplayed with 49…Bc7 allowing White to capture the e4 pawn and save his skin. 50.Nxe4 Ra6 51.Rc8 Be5 and now 52.Ng5+ and collecting the h3 pawn as well. If anything, it seemed that White ended with more activity than Black. Caruana pushed on a bit more but in the end, had to settle for a draw. Wesley So (rated 2789) lost in round two to the young Indian GM Chithambaram VR.Aravindh rated 2553. In an