VAR and idChess broadcast debut in women’s tournament
The 55th edition of a popular ladies’ tournament in Serbia brought together strong female players from different countries. Video Assistant Referee (VAR) and idChess broadcast were used in the competition for the first time. The round robin with classical time control in Belgrade featured players from five countries: Lu Miaoyi and Xu Yuanyuan from China, Sandra Djukic, Elif Mehmed, Vera Vujovic and Sofia Pogorelskikh from Serbia, Aleksandra Maltsevskaya and Anna Kubicka from Poland, Evgeniya Doluhanova from Ukraine, and Bhakti Kulkarni from India. VAR was used in the competition for the first time. Video Assistant Referee (VAR) is the idChess technology that helps chess arbiters to make the right decisions in controversial situations. Through video recording and artificial intelligence, VAR shows which moves were made, allowing the arbiter to analyze controversial moments quickly. The arbiter can scrutinize the controversial episode using VAR and if necessary pause the video, rewind using the navigation on the timeline with the marks. The game broadcast is suspended until the circumstances are clarified. After the game, organizers and arbiters have a recording of chess notation (also broadcast and saved on the platform live.idchess.com) and a video recording of the game. The game is securely recorded in two ways, making any errors impossible. “I am happy to see VAR, Video Assistant Referee, for the first time in Serbia. This technology brings a guarantee of a fair game to chess. The decisions of arbiters will be objective since they are based on facts and the game records with VAR,” said Vladimir Sakotic, organizer of the tournament. “In addition to VAR, idChess helps us with broadcasting. People can watch games, both in real time and recorded.” The last round and award ceremony were held on March 10. Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (Poland) emerged as the winner with an excellent score of 7.5/9. Elif Mehmed (Serbia) and Lu Miaoyi (China) finished just a half-point behind the champion with the former taking second place thanks a greater number of victories.
American Cup 2024: Round 1 recap
The American Cup 2024, featuring an exciting and rare double elimination format, returned to Saint Louis Chess Club. The tournament brought world-class chess masters to America’s chess capital to compete in a fierce do-or-die struggle for $400,000 in prize money. Fans can expect the American Cup to have a combination of exciting chess play, stunning upsets, and epic comebacks. In this unique double-elimination format, the losers of each match will get relegated to the Elimination Bracket, where they will get a second chance to continue the tournament. Round 1 saw many tense battles, with one major upset in the open section. Fabiano Caruana cruised through his match with Grigoriy Oparin after winning both classical and rapid games on the first day and drawing the classical one on the second day. Oparin is not out but relegated to the elimination bracket, where he will have another chance. Wesley So is also through after winning the classical game on the second day in his match with Sam Shankland. The first upset of the event went to Ray Robson who managed to defeat Lernier Dominguez in their match, winning the second classical game and drawing the second rapid encounter. The match between Levon Aronian and Sam Sevian went the distance to the blitz playoff, won by Levon by the score of 2-0. In the women’s section, Nazi Paikidze, Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova and Alison Lee took the lead in their matches on the first day and needed just a draw in the second classical game to advance to the next round. All three completed this task, relegating Anna Zanonskih, Tatev Abrahamyan and Jennifer Yu to the elimination bracket. After losing the first classical game to Zoey Tang, Irina Krush staged a comeback, winning three straight games and moving to the next round. Day 3 of the American Cup continues on Wednesday, March 14th at 1:20 PM CDT with live commentary from Grandmasters Yasser Seirawan, Cristian Chirila and Woman Grandmaster Anastasia Karlovich. Photo: Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes Official website: uschesschamps.com/2024-american-cup/overview