World Junior Championship: No changes at the top after drawish Round 8
It was all draws in the top nine boards in the 8th round of the FIDE World Junior Championship (open), except for Niemann’s victory over IM Konstantin Peyrer. On the black side of a King’s Indian, Hans didn’t really get anything out of the opening, but a poor move by his opponent, 30.e3, allowed him to penetrate his rival’s camp. Peyrer survived the attack but lost three pawns and resigned 13 moves later. On the top board, the game between Santiago Avila and Marc’Andria Maurizzi was a Scotch where, surprisingly, we had an entirely new position after just eight moves. However, the heavy pieces were exchanged early into the game, and the ensuing endgame with opposite-colour bishops was a dead draw. A very similar script followed the game between Gharibyan and Dudin, which ended in a threefold repetition after 31 moves, the same as Schitko-Budisavljevic, in just 28 moves. The fight between Subelj and Makarian was much longer: after White won a pawn on move 34, Subelj kept striving to convert his advantage for thirty more moves, but to no avail. With all the pawns on the same flank, his 3 vs 2 majority was simply not enough to win, but the game continued to bare kings. Avila, Maurizzi and Dudin keep leading with 6½/8, and the Hungarian IM has almost secured his GM norm, as he will only need a draw in the remaining rounds. Elham Amar of Norway and Diago Saul Flores of Peru also have good chances of leaving Mexico with a GM norm under the belt. The 8th round at the Girls’ competition was much more enjoyable. To begin with, Carissa Yip came out of the opening in a disastrous position after she went for the wrong f-pawn advance: 15.f5 instead of 15.f7+ in a very sharp line. By move 20, she was an exchange down, and the engines indicated a +2.1 advantage for Black. However, both kings were very exposed, and Carissa made the most of her chances to create counterplay. Her resilience was rewarded with a very valuable half a point, allowing her to continue leading, half a point ahead of a disappointed Beloslava Krasteva and Roxangel Obregon. Roxangel moved up to second place after a fine victory over Trisha Kanyamarala of India. The Cuban WIM played the English Attack in the Scheveningen in an exemplary way. The current American continent champion among women, 16-year-old Candela Francisco, also moved up in the standings after beating Ingrid Skaslien of Norway. Candela is one of the four players in the field still undefeated, together with Yip, Krasteva, and Obregon. Yip’s rival for the 9th round will be the young Chinese Miaoyi Lu, one of the revelations of the event, who beat Sarah Djidjeli with apparent ease. Gleb Dudin – Santiago Avila, Marc’AndriaMaurizzi – Ivan Schitco, and Hans Niemann – Mamikon Gharibyan are the main pairings for the 9th round in the open category. In girls, apart from Carissa Yip – Miaoyi Lu, the most exciting clashes will be Beloslava Krasteva – Roxangel Obregon and Candela Francisco – Mariam Mkrtchyan. Standings after Round 8: OPEN GIRLS Written by David Llada Photos: David Llada Official website: juniorchesschampionship.fenamacajedrez.com/
The Isle of Man’s Grand Chess Spectacle
Chess makes a welcome return to the Villa Marina in Douglas, Isle of Man Preview: 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss & Women’s Grand Swiss The Isle of Man plays host once more to the chess world’s crème de la crème, as the 3rd FIDE Grand Swiss and 2nd FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss tournaments are set to launch on 25 October The return of these prestigious world championship qualifying competitions to the Isle of Man marks a momentous occasion. Over the course of 12 days, from 25 October to 5 November, the island in the Irish Sea will emerge as the epicentre of the chess world, hosting an elite assembly of top-tier players fighting for the prizes, prestige and a spot in the 2024 Candidates. Having debuted on the island in 2019, the tournaments are back in the familiar and distinguished setting of the Villa Marina, located along the island’s picturesque seafront in the capital city of Douglas. This venue hosted five editions of the Chess.com Isle of Man Masters tournaments between 2014 and 2018, as well as the 2005 British Chess Championship. Both open and women’s tournaments consist of eleven rounds, with one rest day after the first six rounds (on Tuesday, 31 October) and the final round 11 being played on Sunday 5 November, followed on the same day by the closing ceremony. Once again, the event enjoys the generous patronage of the Scheinberg family, with a prize fund to the tune of US$600,000, part of a seven-figure sponsorship package. The first three prizes in the open tournament are $80,000, $60,000 and $40,000 and, in the women’s tournament, $25,000, $17,500 and $15,000, respectively, with further prizes for those finishing below the top three places. Alan Ormsby (Isle of Man) is the tournament director, IA Alex Holowczak (England) is the chief arbiter of the Grand Swiss and IA Ana Srebrnič (Slovenia) will serve as the chief arbiter of the Women’s Grand Swiss. The biggest prize The primary function of both tournaments is as world championship qualifiers, with the two highest-placed players from each going forward to the two 2024 FIDE World Candidates’ tournaments. As in previous editions this is made a little complicated by the inclusion in the field of players who are already qualified for next year’s eight-player Candidates’ event who still wish to take part in the Grand Swiss. The Isle of Man line-up features a handful of players who have already qualified for the Candidates via the recent FIDE World Cup competitions: Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (India), Fabiano Caruana (USA) who were the runner-up and third-place finisher, respectively, in the month-long Baku knock-out competition. If they were to figure in the top two places in the Grand Swiss, the next player down from them on the final score table would qualify for the Candidates. Similarly, in the women’s competition, there are three players competing in the Isle of Man who have already qualified for the 2024 FIDE Women’s Candidates’ tournament, namely Aleksandra Goryachkina (competing under the FIDE flag), Nurgyul Salimova (Bulgaria) and Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine), so the same scenario applies if they also finish in the top two in the Women’s Grand Swiss. A tournament for the world’s best Only the world’s best can take part in the Grand Swiss, having had to compete within a rigorous set of requirements. This is all to ensure that the great majority of the competitors have a realistic chance of going further in the world championship cycle, plus a handful of continental and local nominees. The Grand Swiss features 21 players rated 2700+ and a further 73 rated 2600+. That leaves a further 15 to complete the field, of whom two are rated below 2400, being representatives of the host country. Very few Swiss tournaments in chess history have approached this level of strength in depth, with notable exceptions being the two previous Grand Swiss competitions, plus the 2017 Chess.com Isle of Man Masters won by Magnus Carlsen. 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss: The top ten contenders The two highest-rated contenders are both Americans: Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura. There is a sense that neither is under pressure to succeed, for different reasons. Caruana is already through to the Candidates, so he will be in the Isle of Man for the money and the prestige. Having narrowly failed to become world champion in 2018 – he became the only losing finalist in world championship history not to lose a classical game to the eventual winner – he went through a relatively fallow period of recovery but now seems to be flexing his muscles once again. Good results in the Superbet Bucharest Classic in May and the FIDE World Cup in August bode well for the renewal of his assault on the world championship. A victory in the Grand Swiss – which would be a second straight success in the Isle of Man, where he finished 1st= in 2019 – would be another morale booster going into next year’s Candidates showdown. Hikaru Nakamura (left) meeting Fabiano Caruana in the last round of the 2019 Grand Swiss. They are the top seeds in the 2023 event (photo Maria Emelianova/chess.com) Hikaru Nakamura’s reason for being relatively relaxed about his performance in the Grand Swiss is different. Two or three years ago his burgeoning career as a chess streamer seemed to indicate a dwindling interest in over the board play, or at least classical chess, but a strong showing in the 2022 FIDE Grand Prix saw him regain his status in the longer form of the game. His victory in Norway Chess 2023, ahead of both Carlsen and Caruana, took him to second place in the FIDE ratings for the first time since 2015. Nakamura’s experience and success in strong Swiss events – he has four Gibraltar Masters titles under his belt, including three consecutive wins from 2015 to 2017 – make him a strong contender in the 2023 Grand Swiss. Alireza Firouzja, now of France and rated third in the tournament line-up, will be playing in the Isle of Man for the first time. At the time of the 2019 Grand Swiss, he was a star on the horizon. During that
World Junior Championship: Leaders prevail in Round 7
Round 7 at the FIDE World Junior Championship in Mexico has been the most intense and exciting so far. In the open section, the day started with no less than six players tied in the first place, a number that was reduced to just three co-leaders after four out of the five top boards reached a decisive result: Maurizzi, Dudin and Avila are in command with 6/7. It appears that fatigue is taking its toll on the players after the first week of competition, as critical tactical miscalculations decided some of the key games. In the game between Maurizzi and Anand Pranav (pictured below), the French GM outplayed his opponent by tactical means in a rare line of the Giuoco Piano, winning a pawn and then advancing with his majority on the Queenside. It was a fine game by Maurizzi, who so far is looking like a very solid candidate to win the event. On board two, Gleb Dudin and Ruben Koellner went for a sideline of the King’s Indian Attack, where Koellner strangely lost a central pawn right in the opening. That was too much of a gift at this level, and Dudin gave him no chance at all. The game between Dushyant Sharma (white) and Santiago Avila (pictured at the top) was also decided by a blunder early into the game, as Sharma missed a tactical trick, 17.Nxe4. The young Colombian, a favourite player among local fans, demonstrated great tactical prowess. Of the three players currently leading, he is the one with a better provisional tie-break. Being on top form, he has a very good chance to win the title: in Round 8, he will have White against Marc Andria Maurizzi in a crucial game. The top seed Hans Niemman had to settle for a draw, with Black, against the World Champion U18 2022, the Canadian Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux. In the Short variation of the Advance Caro-Kann, Shawn played dynamically and obtained a dangerous initiative, although he was a pawn dawn. Niemman defended correctly and made use of his material advantage to equalize, and he even had some chances towards the end of the game. In the Girls’ section, Carissa Yip won again, this time with White against Sofiia Hryzlova of Switzerland. The young American prodigy seems to be in a class of her own: the way she traded a small strategic advantage for a dangerous attack at the cost of a pawn is highly instructive. After seven rounds, it is not clear who will be able to challenge Carissa’s dominance. The next one to try her luck against the leader will be Beloslava Krasteva of Bulgaria (pictured above), who defeated Mariam Mkrtchyan and moves to second place on 6/7. In her Round 7 game, Krasteva demonstrated excellent opening preparation and came up with a very interesting move in the Nimzo-Indian, 10.Qd3, which has only been played once before. Her neat victory resembles a classical game in which White straightforwardly follows a simple and logical plan. The main pairings for the 8th round are in the open section are Santiago Avila – Marc Andria Maurizzi, and Mamikon Gharibyan – Gleb Dudin. In the Girls competition, Carissa Yip will take on Beloslava Krasteva, while Roxangel Obregon will face Trisha Kanyamarala. Standings after Round 7: OPEN GIRLS Written by David Llada Photos: David Llada Official website: juniorchesschampionship.fenamacajedrez.com/
FIDE WSTC 2023: USA and Germany Lasker Schachstiftung GK win gold
USA and Germany Lasker Schachstiftung GK clinched the titles in S50 and S65, respectively, at the 2023 FIDE World Senior Team Championship. Drama and excitement were dominating the final round of the Championship. At first sight, none of it should have happened, but chess is a sport, and what seemed certain was anything but. The favourites were playing outsiders in the last round, and two of the four leading teams did confirm their status. USA beat Poland 4-0, though not without some luck. Their win was never in question, but the Polish team should have scored at least a draw on board one. Black (Shabalov (2465)) sacrificed an exchange for sufficient compensation. The position is dynamically balanced, and in view of the threat …h4 White should have taken on a6 and then returned the exchange by taking on d6, with a likely draw. Instead, Gdanski (2484) panicked and played 33.Rxf5?? gxf5 34.Kh3 Bc5, losing the bishop on d5. On the other boards, the difference in class was too big in favour of the Americans. Kaidanov (2549) beat Sapis (2375), Novikov (2513) beat Sielicki (1956), and Yermolinsky (2419) beat Flis (1948), none of them experiencing major problems. The drama unfolded on board two in the match between Italy and Montenegro. Italy were co-leaders with USA prior to the final round and, with a win in the match, were guaranteed a silver medal, with gold a possibility depending on the tie-break. Things started well for Italy. David (2523) displayed exemplary technique to win a favourable double-rook endgame against Pajkovic (2412). His win was followed by a win by Godena (2429), who pounced on a big blunder by Podlesnik (2289). The game was balanced throughout, but here, White missed Black’s threat. He played 35.Qe3?? (better was 35.Qe1) Rf1 36.Kh2 Rf2 and the g2-pawn was lost, and with it, the game. On board three Ortega (2410) was winning quickly after the opening. In a King’s Indian, he prepared well and obtained a decisive advantage by move 20 against Miljanic (2331). White had to switch the attack to the f-file with 26.Rf1 Nf7 27.Qf2, winning a piece in view of the tactic 27…Qd8 28.Qxf6! Qxf6 29.Ne8. Instead of that, he played a move dissonant with the dynamic nature of the position: 26.a3?? and after the simple 26…Nf7 Black regrouped and was unexpectedly already winning. White no longer had a breakthrough, while Black was up in material. Miljanic went on to pick up the pawns on e4 and d6 and won the game. This dramatic turnaround proved decisive for the Italian team. Instead of a comfortable victory, they were facing the prospect of not winning the match. At first, it didn’t seem so. Borgo (2333) obtained a winning advantage against Nikac (2275). Here 27…Nxe4 28.Rxe4 Qc5 with the threats of …d3 and …Rf8 was decisive: Black is a pawn up, and White’s king is weak. Black missed this chance, and after 27…a4 28.Bd3 Nxd3 29.cxd3 was only marginally better. In fact, here, he could have forced a draw by giving checks on e1 and d2. That would have won the match for Italy… Completely unnecessary, Borgo transposed the game to a rook endgame where only he could be worse. It was a critical moment in the game. Black had to find the only move 35…Rd5! with the idea of 36.Rxb6 Rf5! cutting off the white king and threatening …Rf2xb2 if the white rook leaves the b-file. Unfortunately for Italy, he missed it, and after a few further mutual inaccuracies, White converted his advantage into a full point. Italy’s draw meant that USA were clear first, winning gold. Now Italy could only hope on their competitors not winning their matches, but they were merciless. England whitewashed the Chinese women’s team China ShenZhen W50 (4-0). It was a dominating performance, as on all four boards, the English grandmasters didn’t give a single chance to the Chinese ladies. In the Exchange Ruy Lopez, Adams (2662) as Black outplayed Liu Shilan (2083). Emms (2448) beat Chunhong Ning (2266) by breaking down Fort Knox in the French Defence. Flear (2405) won a brilliant miniature against Yun Guo (2244), and Davies (2354) strangulated Yanfeng An (2259) on the white side of a Fianchetto King’s Indian Defence. Iceland beat England 2, but it was a tight affair. On board one, a sensation was brewing as Dishman (2304) sacrificed a piece against Olafsson (2491). White played the thematic 10.Nd5! and after 10…exd5 11.exd5 Ne7 12.d4! was already winning, similar to some variations in the Sicilian Defence. Olafsson defended to the best of his abilities, but that would not have saved him had White found the crushing blow in this position. After 28.d6! Nxd6 29.Qe5 White is winning as Black is too disorganized; his king is weak, while White’s rooks dominate after Rad1. White missed this chance, and after the preparatory 28.Rad1? allowed Black to establish a dark-square blockade with 28…Nd6, which helped him save the draw. Neither Hjartarson (2432) against Lewis (2238) on board two nor Arnason (2419) against Clark (2278) on board three could achieve much. The win for Iceland came on board four, but not without luck. Thorallsson (2382) started building up an attack on the kingside against Stebbings (2257). Black’s position was resilient enough, and in the critical moment, he could even have taken over the initiative. White’s last move was 22.Re3, and here Black could have played 22…Nxe5! 23.Rxe5 Qd8! regaining the pinned knight and eliminating any danger. In fact, the position would have transposed to a drawn double-rook endgame after 24.Rh5 Qxf6 25.Qxf6 gxf6 26.Rxh6 Kg7. Black missed this chance and soon came under a strong attack after 22…Rd8? 23.Qe4 (23.Rh3 or 23.Nh5 were even stronger). The position was impossible to defend in a practical game, and White went on to deliver checkmate. This meant that Iceland won 2.5-1.5, but as it turned out, this wasn’t enough – by winning 4-0, England overtook Iceland on a tie-break (board points) and finished second, with Iceland third. On the other hand, it was just enough to edge out Italy by half a point (on tie-break) to secure bronze, as all three teams had