WSCC 2023: Hou, Harika, Lagno and Kosteniuk advance to semis
Chess.com’s top event for women, the $70,000 Julius Baer Women’s Speed Chess Championship, is back in November 2023, bringing together eight of the strongest female players on the planet. This year’s Julius Baer Women’s Speed Chess Championship is the fifth edition of the event, which has seen a series of thrilling finals since it first burst onto the scene four years ago. After qualifying from the 14-round Swiss tournament on day one, followed by a top-8 double elimination bracket on the second day, IM Polina Shuvalova and WGM Priyanka Nutakki joined the defending champion Kateryna Lagno, the near-legendary Hou Yifan, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Valentina Gunina, Harika Dronavalli alongside her fellow countrywoman Vaishali Rameshbabu. The main event started on November 13 and saw an eight-player single elimination bracket, with seedings determined by a Chess.com panel. All matches are played over 5+1, 3+1 and 1+1 time controls. In the quarterfinal matches, Hou Yifan convincingly defeated Polina Shuvalova, Harika Dronavalli toppled Valentina Gunina, Kateryna Lagno crashed Priyanka Nutakki and Alexandra “Chess Queen” Kosteniuk prevailed over the Women’s Grand Swiss 2023 winner Rameshbabu Vaishali. Hou Yifan, the favourite in her match with Polina Shuvalova, was actually at a two-point deficit in the 3+1 portion — but went on a seven-game winning streak and finished with a 13.5-7.5 final score. Harika’s match was severely one-sided as she dominated all three segments of her match with Valentina Gunia to comfortably win by the score of 17.5-6.5. Kateryna Lagno moves on to the Julius Baer Women’s Speed Chess Championship 2023 Semifinals after defeating WGM Priyanka Nutakki by a two-digit margin of 17.5-4.5. Priyanka got off to a fantastic start by winning the first two games of the match. Lagno responded with an eight-game winning streak and never let go of her ever-expanding lead. Alexandra “Chess Queen” Kosteniuk, who’s also participating in the European Women’s Team Chess Championship over the board in Montenegro, won all three segments of the match vs. Rameshbabu Vaishali. As the time control got faster, her lead ballooned further. The semifinal matches start on Tuesday, with Kosteniuk facing Hou and Lagno taking on Harika one day later. Text and photos: chess.com Official website: chess.com/events/info/2023-womens-speed-chess-championship
Chess4Peace, a project for women from Ukraine, launched in Poland
Chess4Peace, a special project set up by FIDE and its Commission for Women’s Chess, with the support of the International Olympic Committee and Polish Chess Federation, was launched in Warsaw, Poland, this fall. It is aimed at helping young women from Ukraine, aged 18-23, who have left their home country because of war. The first leg of this unique project, designed to open the door to the world of chess and show new ways for personal growth, job opportunities, and self-discovery, took place from November 9-13 in Warsaw at Chess Corner Club (Sarmacka 6). The chess camp program for young Ukrainian girls included motivational meetings with outstanding chess personalities, master classes, simuls, visits to a stylist, photography classes and many other events. Over four days, young refugee women from Ukraine studied chess with GM Volodymyr Baklan, met with outstanding personalities like GM Natalia Zhukova and Deputy Chair of FIDE Management Board, WGM Dana Reizniece-Ozola, and learned new chess-related professions from project leader WIM Anastasia Sorokina, chess journalist, WGM Anastasiia Karlovich, and FIDE arbiter, WIM Natalija Popova. They also met a stylist, Natalia Ryzhenko and spent an educational chess & art evening with Dmitry Salodky. “Being a member of the chess family, you learn what solidarity is. We feel that we need to use chess as an excellent instrument in our hands to help,” said Deputy Chair of the FIDE Management Board Dana Reizniece-Ozola, whose motivational speech about chess in career inspired many participants. “The main goal of the project is to show the girls that in chess, there are a lot of professions and all borders that you build, you build yourself. Be brave, be smart, be proactive, and you can achieve in your life whatever you want,” added the project leader, Anastasia Sorokina. The first camp was a real success. After the offline leg this November, participants of the Chess4Peace project will continue meeting offline until May 2024. “The project opened the world of chess for me and showed me all the possibilities of being involved in chess without playing professionally. All the organizers and lecturers were inspiring, interesting and full of insights. I’ve never met such people and felt like I found my perfect community. Although it was a chess project, we talked about style, self-presentation, and even made jewellery. We talked and learned and really had a super combination of learning and having fun,” said Anna from Kyiv. “I am grateful for the Chess4Peace project because it motivated me to do something new. We had many interesting lectures and learned that chess could be useful not only as a game. The project gave me a lot of knowledge, new friends, useful contacts and a new understanding of what I can do. Thanks to all organizations for this wonderful experience!” added another participant, Polina. The project serves as a testament to the power of solidarity and the human spirit. It’s a vivid reminder that every move counts, every decision matters, and even during tough times, there’s a community ready to support, uplift, and advocate for a better tomorrow.
Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2023: Day 1 Recap
The 2023 Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz kicked off on Novermber 14 with the first three rounds of rapid action, as the Grand Chess Tour makes its fourth stop of the year. Both events feature a 10-player round-robin format, with a time control of 25 minutes plus 10 seconds increment for the rapid, and five minutes with a 2 second increment for the blitz. The rapid scoring is doubled, with 2 points earned for each win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 for a loss. After the first day of play, wildcard GM Le Quang Liem leads the field with 5.0/6, with GMs Alireza Firouzja and Ray Robson tied for second with 4.0/6. The opening of the event coincided with the World Chess Hall of Fame inductions of grandmasters Bent Larsen, Lajos Portisch, and former Women’s World Champion Susan Polgar, hosted at Webster University. Susan Polgar gives her induction speech. | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Crystal Fuller RAPID | ROUNDS 1-3 Liem’s campaign started off strong with a win over GM Wesley So, as a nice tactic allowed Liem to win the exchange along with the game: Liem-So: 40.Nf6+! followed By d6-d7 would soon force resignation. Another big win was scored by Firouzja, who took down Caruana thanks to a powerful exchange sacrifice as Black: Caruana-Firouzja: 29…Rxf3! 30.gxf3 Rg3! left White dead lost to the kingside attack. Reigning champion Firouzja started off with a huge win over Caruana. | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes Meanwhile GM Sam Sevian stunned GM Ian Nepomniachtchi with a fantastic rook sacrifice that left Nepo’s king wide exposed: Sevian-Nepomniachtchi: After 18.Bxh6! gxh6 was answered with 19.Rxe6!, upgrading to a full rook sacrifice in order to mate Black’s king. After all games were drawn in the second round, with Liem spoiling a winning position against Robson, the number one player from Vietnam scored another victory in Round 3 against GM Jeffery Xiong, taking the lead thanks to some fine technical play in the endgame. A surprise leader, but Liem is a former World Blitz Champion. | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes The only other winner in the last round of the day was Robson, who got the better of some serious complications against Sevian to find himself tied for second place: Sevian-Robson: 18…Nxe4! lead to some very unclear tactics after 19.Bxa5 Bxh3!?, which eventually turned in Robson’s favor. A Saint Louis local, Robson started the event with two draws and a win. | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Crystal Fuller The 2023 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz continues tomorrow, November 15th, starting at 1:00 PM CDT. Catch all the action live with grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Peter Svidler, and Tania Sachdev on uschesschamps.com and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels. Written by IM Kostya Kavutskiy Photos: Lennart Ootes and Crystal Fuller Official website: grandchesstour.org/2023-grand-chess-tour/2023-saint-louis-rapid-blitz