FIDE Trainers’ Online Seminar scheduled for mid-October 2023
Organized by the Asian Chess Federation under the supervision of the FIDE Trainer’s Commission, the FIDE Trainers’ Online Seminar will stretch from October 13-15, 2023 and cover various topics. SEMINAR PROGRAM & SCHEDULE: DAY & TIME (GMT) TOPIC LECTURER FRIDAY October 13 06:00-08:00 1. Training of Calculation Rustam Kasimdzhanov 09:00 – 11:00 2. Endgame Training.Important Theoretical Positions. Vladimir Malakhov 12:00 – 14:00 3. Introductions, FIDE, TRG and the Trainers System 4. The Roles and Challenges of the Trainers, The Role of the Captains. Artur Jussupow SATURDAY October 14 06:00 – 08:00 5. Positional Play. Recognizing Weaknesses in Pawn Structures. Rustam Kasimdzhanov 09:00 – 11:00 6. Strategy Training. Artur Jussupow 12:00 – 14:00 7. Opening Repertoire/Preparation. Building up an Opening Repertoire. Le Quang Liem SUNDAY October 15 06:00 – 08:00 8.Analyzing Own Games Iossif Dorfman 09:00 – 11:00 9. Dynamic Play in the Opening. Iossif Dorfman 12:00 – 14:00 Written Exam TRG E-Mail Organizer and contacts: FIDE Trainers’ Commission: trainers@fide.com Registration deadline: October 10, 2023 Venue: Zoom Seminar participation fee: €200 Lecturers: GM Artur Jussupow GM Iossif DorfmanGM Rustam KasimdzhanovGM Le Quang LiemGM Vladimir Malakhov Seminar language: English Rules & regulations: trainers.fide.com/trg-online-seminars/
Asian Games: Wei Yi and Zhu Jiner clinch individual titles
Wei Yi and Zhu Jiner emerged as the winners of the 19th Asian Games chess individual competitions on home turf in Hangzhou, China Both events, 9-round Swiss tournaments with rapid time control, took place from September 24-27, 2023. The men’s tournament was a close race, with top-seeded GMs taking turns at the top of the standings. Suffice it to say that neither of the top finishers completed the event unbeaten. Wei Yi started with a draw but then caught up with the leaders, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Javokhir Sindarov (both of Uzbekistan) after Round 4. However, after Wei’s loss to Abdusattorov in Round 5, his gold medal prospects looked bleak. Unfazed by this setback, the Chinese GM reeled off four straight victories (including a very important one over the leader, Vidit Gujarathi, in Round 6) to clinch the title with an excellent score of 7.5/9. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (7/9) and Javokhir Sindarov (6.5/9) pulled off crucial wins in the final ninth round to secure silver and bronze, respectively. Final standings men The women’s individual event saw the triumph of Zhu Jiner, who netted 7/9 and took gold. Low-rated WIM Umida Omova made a real splash in the event by finishing second. The 17-year-old from Uzbekistan confidently navigated through a very strong field, scored 6.5/9 and tied for second place with none other than Hou Yifan. The silver went to Omonova thanks to better tiebreaks, while the four-time Women’s World Champion Hou Yifan had to settle for bronze. Final standings women Photos: Han Chuanhao, Xinhua News Agency Official website: hangzhou2022.cn/
FIDE World Senior Team Championship: Day 8 recap
USA and Italy share first place in the S50 coming into the final round, while Germany Lasker Schachstiftung GK need just a draw in their last match to clinch the title. The penultimate round saw the favourites win their matches, and the derby on board one ended in a draw after a couple of unexpected results. Iceland faced Italy in a direct duel for the leading spot. The first game to finish was the draw on board three between Arnason (2419) and Ortega (2410). Ortega surprised his opponent with the choice of the Cordell Variation in the Ruy Lopez (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5) and easily equalised. Moreover, he continued with confident play and obtained an advantage. The only mistake Ortega made was to accept a draw in an advantageous position. Black accepted a draw here, but it’s a risk-free position for him, and he should have continued the game, for example by 23…Qb7 24.Bb3 Bf5 when it’s clear that Black is more active. This draw could have easily made all the difference as soon enough, Thorallsson (2382) beat Bellia (2388) with the black pieces. In the Classical Sicilian, Bellia chose the Rauzer Attack, but it was Black who sprung the real surprise. In this fairly standard position, Black played the surprising 12…0-0-0!?. The move has been tested in several correspondence games with good results for Black. After the careless 13.h5?! (White had to take some measures against the threat of …d5) d5! Thorallsson already took over the initiative. Soon enough, it was Black who started an attack on the queenside, and he crowned it with a nice sacrifice. Black crashed through with 26…Rxd3! 27.cxd3 Bxb2 since the bishop cannot be taken in view of …Rb6 and …Qe5, mating, while 28.Kb1 Rb6 only prolonged the agony. At this point, the match seemed to be going in Iceland’s favour. The position on board two was drawn, and on board one, they had an advantage. A drawn position doesn’t always mean that the game will end in such a result. Godena (2429) didn’t get anything out of his favourite Alapin Sicilian against Petursson (2396), and the game slowly but surely was going towards a draw. The endgame should lead to that result with reasonable play by both sides, but something happened, and Petursson started to make strange moves. He allowed White to get the king to c4 and push b4. Suddenly, things were not easy anymore. Here, Black should have started counterplay on the kingside with 32…h4, with the idea to reduce the material there. Instead, he went for the very passive 32…Nd8? and after the natural 33.b4 White was close to winning! After the exchange of pawns on b4 it was a last chance for Black to play …h4, but he missed it, and once the pawn marched b5-b6, White had a winning advantage, which he converted. A victory for Italy almost out of nowhere! With the match tied, everything was to be decided on board one. Hjartarson (2432) seemed more patient than David (2523), who found himself under pressure soon after the opening. He saw no other way out but to sacrifice two minor pieces for a rook and a pawn. However, it was clear that the minor pieces were much stronger. White untangled with 23.Qc4 and started moving forward with Nf4. Both players committed imprecisions as the evaluation swung from better for White to better for Black, but after the time control, it became apparent that White consolidated the position. White went for 43.Nb2-c4, eyeing the d6-square. Black’s problem was that his rooks lacked open files and David tried to do something about it with 43…g5, followed by …Kg8 and …Rg7. White is winning, and the simplest way was to exchange the bishops with 46.Bf3, as White’s bishop is not very active, while Black’s is on a very solid square. White, however, went for 46.e5 but this only helped Black as it opened files for the rooks. After 46…fxe5 47.Ndxe5 gxh4 48.gxh4 Bd1! Both rooks were very active on open files. White was no longer better, but keeping in mind his game from the previous day, when he squeezed a win against Georgiev in more than 100 moves, Hjartarson kept pushing, as he knew that a win would win the match for his team and give them the lead heading to the final round. This time, he went too far with it. After massive exchanges, Black’s remaining rook broke free and started going after White’s weak pawns. The knights are notoriously bad at dealing with passed pawns on a or h files, and here Black was getting a passer on the a-file. It was now White who needed to save the draw. The position was not easy to play for both sides, but more difficult for White, who needed to find a way to deal with the passed a-pawn and also with the threat of losing the h4-pawn. Hjartarson decided to bring the king to the queenside, but here 57.Kd2? was a losing mistake. It was better to take on c6 and engineer counterplay with the passed c6-pawn. After 57…Rh3! Black was winning, but it was not simple. With very little time on the clock, David went for the safety-first move 60…Rc3, eliminating the dangerous pawn on c5. Instead, 60…Rxh4! 61.Nxc6 Ra4 62.Ka1 h4 was winning for Black. As played, White took on a2 and brought the king to b3 to secure a draw. A truly topsy-turvy match that could have gone either way! In the end, perhaps a draw was a fair result, which kept Italy one point ahead of Iceland. The other favourites won relatively easily. USA routed Uruguay 4-0. It was hardly surprising outcome as their rating advantage on all boards was several hundred rating points. Kaidanov (2549) beat Braso (2058) in a technical manner in a Catalan. Ehlvest (2530) executed a mating attack against Escofet (1902) in a French-like position arising from the Modern. Novikov (2513) easily refuted Barandiaran’s (1897) Polish Defence, and Yermolinsky (2419) overtook the initiative in a Sicilian after Barboza’s (1777) passive approach. England 1 beat Montenegro 3-1, thanks to victories on the first two boards. Adams