World Cadet Rapid & Blitz Championship starts in Durres, Albania
The World Rapid & Blitz Cadet Chess Championship 2024, organized by FIDE and the Albanian Chess Federation, kicked off at the Fafa Resort & Spa Hotel in Durres, Albania, with an opening ceremony. The President of Albania, Mr Bajram Begaj, announced the event officially opened and made the first symbolic move in the game between Amina Hoti (Albania) and Gunesh Bayramova (Turkmenistan) in Girls U-8 section. Hundreds of talented youngsters aged 6 to 12 gathered at the prestigious venue where team “Offerspill” headed by Magnus Carlsen triumphed in the European Club Chess Championship just six months ago. The event running from April 25-29, brought together 375 participants from 43 countries. This is the highest number of participating countries since the inaugural event back in 2017. Competing over three intense days, these young chess talents, aged 6 to 12, from all around the world will vie for the coveted titles of World Champions in Rapid and Blitz, in the U8, U10, and U12 categories. The opening ceremony was attended by the President of Albania Bajram Begaj, FIDE Technical delegate, Honorary Chair and Chief Events lnspection, Ozgur Solakoglu, Renis Mullaj, the Vice MAJOR of Durres, Fidel YLLI, President of the Albanian Olympic Committee, Erald Dervishi, President of the Albanian Chess Federation, President of the Balkan Chess Federation, who welcomed the participants and wished them success. On the first day, five rounds of the Rapid Championship were played. On the second day, we will see the final six rounds of this competition. On the third day, the participants will play 11 rounds of Blitz. Text and photos: Anastasia Karlovich Official website: official website: worldcadetrb2024.fide.com/
FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2024-2025 Qualifiers
The strongest women chess players in the world qualified for the next edition of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix The Women’s Grand Prix is a series of tournaments launched by FIDE in 2009 to promote women’s chess. FIDE is pleased to announce the list of players who have secured their place in the 2024-2025 WGP Series. All 14 qualified players have earned their spot in the Women’s Grand Prix thanks to fulfilling the qualifying conditions. The remaining six players to take part will be nominated by the organizers of each of the six tournaments. Among the players participating in the event, there are as many as three women’s World Champions in classical time control – Tan Zhongyi (2017-2018), Alexandra Kosteniuk (2008-2010) and Mariya Muzychuk (2015-2016). Joining them are former Rapid World Champions Humpy Koneru, Kateryna Lagno and Anna Muzychuk. The reigning champion, Ju Wenjun, will not take part in the series. She was replaced by Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, vice-champion of both Women’s World Rapid and Women’s World Blitz Championships 2018, who was the next in line to qualify by rating according to the April 2024 FIDE Rating List. Qualified players N Player Qualification Path 1 Ju Wenjun* (China) FIDE Women’s World Championship Match 2023 participants 2 Lei Tingjie (China) 3 Kateryna Lagno (FIDE) FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Series 2022-23 4 Aleksandra Goryachkina (FIDE) FIDE Women’s World Cup 2023 5 Nurgyul Salimova (Bulgaria) 6 Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine) 7 Tan Zhongyi (China) 8 Vaishali R (India) FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss 2023 9 Batkhuyag Munguntuul (Mongolia) 10 Humpy Koneru (India) Standard Rating in the April 2024 FIDE Rating List 11 Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine) 12 Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia) 13 Harika Dronavalli (India) 14 Alexandra Kosteniuk (Switzerland) *replaced by Sarasadat Khademalsharieh In October 2023, FIDE announced the overhaul of the WGP regulations. Compared to the previous series, the upcoming WGP Series features several improvements: The number of tournaments has increased from four to six. The number of participants has grown from 16 to 20. The prize money for participants has been increased. Emil Sutovsky, the CEO of FIDE, congratulated the players who have qualified for the competition and emphasized the importance of the WGP for women’s chess. “One of the key focus areas for FIDE is women’s chess. We want more women to play, and we want them to have more events, better events, and better conditions. Our best female players deserve it – and it will also serve as an incentive for the new generation”. “The Women’s Grand Prix is one of the most important events for us in promoting women’s chess, and we are very much looking forward to the 2024-2025 edition, as we expect more interest from both the public and the sponsors. Women’s chess is improving, but we need to, want to and will do more,” Sutovsky added. The regulations for the Women’s Grand Prix series can be found here.
FIDE Council meeting 2024 8, 13 April List of Decisions published
FIDE Council meeting 2024 8, 13 April List of Decisions CM1-2024/01 To note President’s report. CM1-2024/02To approve Treasurer’s report and support the suggested 2024 expenditure ceilings. CM1-2024/03To note the Global Strategy Commission’s report. CM1-2024/04To note the Arbiters’ Commission’s report. CM1-2024/05To approve the recommendations of the Arbiters’ Commission on Seminars, Classification upgrades, Amendments to the lecturer list, FA norms and titles. CM1-2024/06To note the Qualification Commission’s report. CM1-2024/07To approve recommendations of the Qualification Commission on titles. CM1-2024/8To approve the Qualification Commission’s decision not to rate the First Saturday Nadassy 2024 February. CM1-2024/9To approve the Qualification Commission’s proposal to introduce aTournament investigation guidelines and the form. CM1-2024/10To approve the recommendations of the Trainers’ Commission on titles and Academies. CM1-2024/11To approve the recommendations of the Events Commission on titles. CM1-2024/12To note that the Prahova County Chess Association has withdrawn from organising the FIDE World Schools Team Championships 2024 CM1-2024/13To decide on the venues regarding the FIDE WorldCadet U8, U10, U12 Championships 2024 and FIDE World Senior Championship 2024 by the end of April 2024. CM1-2024/14To note the Fair Play Commission’s report. CM1-2024/15To approve the recommendations of the Fair Play Commission on titles. CM1-2024/16To refer the proposals of the Fair Play Commission related toFIDE Fair Play Definitions, FPL Title Regulations, FPL Appointment Regulations, FPL Financial Regulations, Fair Play protection measures and Fair Play Regulationsto the relevant FIDE Commissions’ review and comments and to examine final updated versions of the proposals. CM1-2024/17To note the FPL Commission’s appeal against the FIDE Arbiters Disciplinary Subcommittee (DSC) decision regarding Mr.Biagioli and request the President to communicate to Mr.Biagioli, the FPL Commission and the ARB Commission the opinion of the Council. CM1-2024/18To note the Technical Commission’s report. CM1-2024/19To recognise Chess Online Pairing Programme (COPP)as a FIDE Endorsed product. CM1-2024/20To approve the Technical Commission’s proposal regarding Basic Rules for Swiss System.Table of changes. CM1-2024/21To approve the Technical Commission’s proposal regarding FIDE (Dutch) System.Table of changes. CM1-2024/22To approve the Technical Commission’s proposal regarding References for General Handling Rules for Swiss Tournaments, Dubov System, Burstein System, other FIDE-approved pairings systems, FIDE-approved accelerated systems. CM1-2024/23To note the Rules Commission’s report. CM1-2024/24To note the Commission’s for Women’s Chess report. CM1-2024/25To note the Chess in Multi Sports Games Committee’s report. CM1-2024/26To note the Planning and Development Commission’s report. CM1-2024/27To note the Chess in Education Commission’s report. CM1-2024/28To approve the recommendations of the Chess in Education Commission on titles. CM1-2024/29To note Continental Presidents’ reports. CM1-2024/30To appoint FIDE Executive Director Mr. V. Bologan as a FIDE Council’s representative for discussions with the relevant authorities of the country and Chess Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mr.Bologan shall come back to the Council with specific proposals on how to improve the situation related to the Chess Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina by June 3, 2024. CM1-2024/31To note the FIDE100 Awards structure and timeline. CM1-2024/32To confirm Ms. Elena Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya, Ms. Nana Alexandria, Ms. Zhu Chen, Mr.Efim Geller, Mr. Robert Hübner, Mr. Vladimir Kramnik, Ms. Irina Levitina, Mr.Fredrik Olafsson, Mr. Oscar Panno, and Mr.Lev Polugaevsky, as FIDE inductees to the World Chess Hall of Fame for the year 2024. CM1-2024/33 To hold the 2024 2ndFIDE Council meeting in July 2024.