Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners: Registration deadline extended
A record number of participants – 88 teams representing 41 countries have already registered for the third Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners, scheduled for October 11-13, 2023. Teams wanting to join the tournament can register via the following link until September 29, 2023. 57 male, 18 female and 11 youth teams made of amateur chess players, for whom the game became not just a hobby but a strong motivation to change for the better, will be representing correctional facilities from Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, England, Ghana, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Grenada, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Jersey, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Malawi, Mexico, Mongolia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Paraguay, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, El Salvador, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, UAE, USA, and Zimbabwe. For most of them, this international tournament is an opportunity to test their chess skills acquired in the classes within the prison walls and while playing the game with the inmates. The number of countries and correctional facilities implementing the Chess in Prisons program is constantly growing. The English Chess Federation has been running a program supporting chess in prisons since 2014. A chess player, author, and columnist, Carl Portman, who volunteers for the Chess in Prisons program in the country, has visited a number of prisons across the country. Carl provides valuable support to prison communities, where it is recognised as a purposeful activity for inmates, supporting the development of critical analysis and reasoning skills and helping to reduce reoffending rates. “As the chess columnist for the prison newspaper ‘Inside Time’, I receive a large amount of posts from inmates, and I use that feedback to measure how chess features in prisons. As one inmate wrote, ‘It has taught me to think ahead and not make rash decisions.’ My motto for life has always been ‘Don’t complain about the darkness, light a few candles’,” says Carl Portman. The reigning champions of the Championship for Prisoners, who won the event in October 2022, are the Philippines in the male section, Mongolia in the women’s category, and Serbia in the youth tournament. Jail officer 1 Cedrix B Cabangal, representing the General Santos City Jail in South Cotabato, Philippines, winners of the 2022 event, has served as a team coach since 2021, when the first tournament took place. “In 2021, I saw a post on FIDE’s website about the international tournament among prisons, and I immediately signed up. This year, we are joining again and are determined to retain our champions’ title,” he says. Participation in the tournament is free of charge. It is open for teams made of 4 players representing any correctional facility (jail or prison). Winners will be determined in male, female and youth categories. Tournament regulations More info about the program can be found here: chessforfreedom.fide.com
FIDE celebrates its centenary anniversary with a series of key events
In 2024, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) celebrates its centenary anniversary. FIDE was formed on July 20, 1924, in Paris, France, at the Town Hall of the IX Arrondissement of Paris (6 Rue Drouot) during the first unofficial Chess Olympiad. Fifteen delegates from all over the world signed the Proclamation Act, and our organization was born. “A beginning has been made, the foundation laid, and the prospects are fairly good that we shall soon have a working organization, the aim of which will be, in a measure, to bring order out of chaos and to have a central authority, one of the chief aims of which will be the bringing together in international congresses lovers of the game from far distant points of the earth,” wrote the American Chess Bulletin in November 1924. As part of the celebrations throughout the year 2024, FIDE is planning numerous activities, including chess festivals, exhibitions displaying historical archives, documents and chess memorabilia, FIDE 100-year Jubilee Book by Willy Iclicki, Chair of the FIDE Historical Committee, tournaments organized all around the world, online chess museum with rare chess photos, unique publications about FIDE, posters from major events of the past, and many others. In February 2024, the Chess Torch Relay will start with the grand opening in India, the birth country of chess and the host of the 44th Chess Olympiad. It will cross the continents and finish in Budapest, Hungary, the city of the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad. On July 20, 2024, the International Chess Day, FIDE will also attempt to set a World Guinness Record with the biggest number of chess games played in a day. The events organized to celebrate FIDE Centenary Year will culminate with a special gala in Paris, the city of FIDE’s birth. “Founded in 1924 under the motto “Gens una Sumus”, FIDE is one of the very first International Sports Federations. It is a consequence and driving force of the worldwide popularity of chess, and we want to share the brightest moments of our history and the history of our beloved game with people all around the world. The Chess Torch Relay will start in India, the country where chess was born and from where it has spread around the world and become a global game the whole world plays with enthusiasm. Chess Olympiad in Budapest that will bring together all the chess nations will also be used as the highlight spot for celebrations with anniversary awards, seminars and exhibitions,” says FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich. The first of a series of events to mark this historic occasion will start on September 23. The countdown will begin 100 days before 1924 on FIDE social media. One hundred posts, one per day, will be published. Each post, marked with the #FIDE100 hashtag, will tell about a significant event in the history of FIDE that happened that year, starting from 1924. Our social media followers will learn when the first Chess Olympiad was organized (1927), FIDE started overseeing the World Chess Championship (1948), the first Grandmaster titles were awarded (1950), the official FIDE rating list came out (1971), FIDE was recognized by the International Olympic Committee (1999), and many other major milestones in the organization’s history. “The International Chess Federation has come a long way since its first steps a century ago. Throughout its history, FIDE has been instrumental in shaping the world of chess, and we never stop aiming for new heights, serving the game and chess community,” says Dana Reizniece-Ozola, Deputy Chair of the FIDE Management Board. We encourage all the organizers and federations to plan their regular and special events under the umbrella of #FIDE100. We are also seeking support from the chess community to rebuild the FIDE historical archive by sending us photographs, documents, videos, memorabilia, bulletins, and other chess items related to the history of FIDE and the development of chess. Please feel free to contact Willy Iclicki and send photos of your chess memorabilia to centenary@fide.com. All contributors will receive proper recognition, while FIDE would also consider offering retribution for especially valuable items. Let us make the FIDE centenary celebrations really big! The game is just beginning!
FIDE World Senior Team Championship: Day 1 recap
The first round of the FIDE World Senior Team Championship saw the favourites play weaker teams, as it is usually the case in Swiss events. However, this didn’t mean there weren’t certain surprises on several boards. In the S50 section, the number one seed team, USA, won 3.5-0.5 against Canada, but they were on the verge of defeat on board one. Victor Plotkin (2193) was winning in the endgame against Alexander Shabalov (2465), but did not manage to convert the Fischer-esque endgame of rook and bishop vs. rook and knight. On the other boards, Kaidanov (2549), Ehlvest (2530) and Novikov (2513) didn’t have problems overcoming Barron (2108), Findlay (2123) and Dougherty (2062), respectively. In the game Findlay-Ehlvest Black played a pretty two-move combination. Black startded with 23…Bb4, freeing the eighth rank, and after 24.Qc1 Nxg3! led to immediate resignation in view of …Rg8 next, when mate on the g-file would follow shortly 0-1 In the duel between the English teams (England 1 and England 3) the stronger one prevailed. Yet even here on board one, Michael Adams (2662) couldn’t overcome Granat (2171) with the white pieces. It was a tough fight on board two and three, where Emms (2448) won a long rook endgame against Crocker (2161) with Black and Arkell weaved his magic in his favourite Carlsbad structure to suffocate Frostick (2112). Only on board four, Davies (2354) won easily against Hewson (2023), partly because of a successful opening surprise. Playing the Benoni with Black, he obtained an advantageous position early in the game, which he converted in a convincing fashion. Italy beat England W50 4-0, and in this match, we saw a spectacular game between Ortega (2410) and Jackson (2034). White (Ortega) reached a winning position and here 27.e5! (freeing the e4-square for the knight) would have been decisive. Instead, after 27.b3? Ne5 Black was suddenly not worse at all! Several moves later, with both sides trading imprecisions, White was winning again. Here 33.Qf5 was decisive, as the king can hide on f4 in case of checks. Instead, Ortega went for the overambitious queen sacrifice 33.Qxg4? Rg1 34.Kxf3 Rxg4 35.Kxg4 Bxc3, which landed him in a lost position! With only a rook for a queen, White perhaps was counting on 36.Rxb7, with the idea of Rb8, creating the threats against the black king and also planning b7. In order to prevent Rb8, Black now should have played 36…Qe8!, but instead he erred with 36…Qb5? after which 37.Kf5 was the best continuation. However, following his plan, White played 37.Rb8? and now after 37…Qe2 Black was winning again! Ortega went boldly ahead with 38.Kg5, but 38…Bd2 would have led to a forced mate. 38…Bf6, played by Black, was also sufficient to win the game. White sent his king all the way to h7, creating a mating threat of Rf8, and Jackson correctly sacrificed the bishop with Bg7. However, instead of winning with 41…Qxc2 or 41…Qe1, Black made a fatal mistake by grabbing the f2-pawn. Suddenly after 41…Qxf2?? 42.Nf5 White was winning! White hides from the checks with Nh6, and the b-pawn will promote. 1-0 An incredible game! The host team of North Macedonia Alkaloid whitewashed USA 5 Brothers, and in many other matches, the favourites were also rather ruthless. In the S65 section, the resistance of the underdogs was tougher. The top three favourites all won 3-1, allowing two draws in their matches. In the match on board one Switzerland-Germany Lasker Schachstiftung GK, the German Grandmaster Kalintschew (2377) won a high-tempo game against Kradolfer (1912). The final position deserves a diagram. White resigned as 26.Bg1 Re1! leads to mate. 0-1 The English team led by John Nunn (2569) won by the same score, making draws on board one, where Nunn played the currently out-of-fashion Velimirovic attack. True to his style, John obtained a nice attacking position, but then, instead of continuing in the same vein, he switched to a positional route. Here, a typical Velimirovic sacrifice 15.Nf5! was very strong, but Nunn chose the second-best 15.b4, which gave him an extra pawn after mutual imprecisions, but in an endgame with rooks and opposite-coloured bishops, he couldn’t convert his advantage. The Slovak number one, Lubomir Ftacnik (2452), had a similar fate, as he couldn’t achieve more than a draw from an inferior position against Burchardt (2153) from the Germany W65 team. The close matches at the start of the S65 section indicate that this will be a very closely fought event. A good example of underdogs’ resilience is the victory by the host team of North Macedonia over Italy (2.5-1.5), with a draw on board one between Ilic (2044) and Garcia Palermo (2410) wins for Kralevski (2054) and Stosevski (1968) against Messa (2289) and Cocozza (2226) and a loss for Hadzi-Manev (1865) against Trabattoni (2232). Standings after Round 1 S50 Standings after Round 1 S65 Round 2 starts tomorrow at 3 pm local time. Written by GM Alex Colovic Photos: Mark Livshitz Official website: seniorteam2023.fide.com/