Following the success of its Online Cup for People with Disabilities, FIDE staged a similar event, the Online Junior Cup for Players U20 with Disabilities. The five-round Swiss tournament with time control 10 + 5 took place on a popular platform playchess.com on June 21, 2020. The event was officiated by Marco Biagioli (Chief Arbiter). The games were streamed live on the official site https://disabledchess.org/.
The tournament brought together 38 junior players with various disabilities from 17 national federations, representing three continents. The participants and organizers were greeted by FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich: “We are doing our best to provide access to chess at the top level and for amateurs all around the world these days by organizing tournaments online. I am very happy that you will take part in this event today… Of course, we are all hopeful that the pandemic will end and we will be back to over-the-board events, but we have to explore all the options, all the possibilities to play chess.”
Ilya Lipilin (Russia), Max Dave Tellor (USA), and Jarno Scheffner topped the starting list, but none of them made it to a virtual podium. Loo Pin Xie from Malaysia (rated just seventh) won all five games and deservedly took the title. Rozas Lazcano Valeska from Chile finished a half-point behind the champion and became the winner in the girl section. Another Chilean, Tapia Loncon Andres Saul lost a key last-round game to the eventual champion and tied for third place with four players but ended in the top-3 thanks to better tiebreaks.
Final standings:
|
Rank |
Name |
Rating |
FED |
Points |
|
1 |
Loo Pin Xie |
1570 |
MAS |
5 |
|
2 |
Rozas Lazcano Valeska |
1339 |
CHI |
4.5 |
|
3 |
Tapia Loncon Andres Saul |
1612 |
CHI |
4 |
|
4 |
Kimsanboyev Axadxon |
1638 |
UZB |
4 |
|
5 |
Kieselbach Jannik |
1379 |
GER |
4 |
|
6 |
Rahatbekov Tilegen |
1295 |
KGZ |
4 |
|
7 |
Scheffner Jarno |
1733 |
GER |
4 |
|
8 |
Kieselbach Marvin |
1447 |
GER |
3.5 |
|
9 |
Lipilin Ilia |
1983 |
RUS |
3.5 |
|
10 |
Kartik Girish Nair |
1283 |
IND |
3.0 |
All the participants received souvenirs from FIDE, whereas the winners were awarded packages of goods, including a t-shirt, cap, and backpack with the logo of the event. The two top finishers were also presented with a 3-hour master-class by German Grandmaster Thomas Luther.
Rozas Lazcano Valeska, the winner in the girl section and the second-place finisher in the open section shared her impressions of the event: “I am very happy to have participated in this tournament because it gives opportunities to people with different disabilities.”
FIDE DIS has already started preparing its next online event for the players with disabilities which is scheduled for July 21, 2020. More details are coming soon.
Live games:
http://live.chessbase.com/games/1st-FIDE-Online-Cup-for-U20-with-Disabil?isCordova=False
All the results: http://chess-results.com/tnr529007.aspx?lan=1&art=4&turdet=YES&flag=30
Video report with comments of GM Thomas Luther, FIDE DIS Chairman: https://dis.fide.com/LIVE_COMMENTS/m344
