FIDE - World Chess Federation

The Round 3 tiebreaks were played on September 18.

Three matches were decided in rapid games. Peter Svidler (Russia) proved his strength by stopping Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Germany). In the first game, the Russian GM had no particular problems equalizing with black, whereas in the second encounter he seamlessly carried out a pawn-roller on the queenside.

"I can't say that this World Cup goes that smooth for me, but I am still participating in it, which can’t be considered anything but positive," commented Svidler... Читать дальше...

The return games of round 3 of the FIDE World Cup were played on September 17. None of the players who had lost in the first game managed to level the score today.

The tournament’s sensation Kirill Alekseenko (Russia) defeated the higher-rated Pentala Harikrishna (India) for the second time in a row. The Indian GM sacrificed the knight for two black central paws transposing into an unbalanced position that very well suited his aggressive agenda. However, in the ensuing complications, Kirill was up to the challenge. Читать дальше...

The game between Ju Wenjun (2576) Alina Kashlinskaya (2487) was a French Winawer with 7. Qg4 Kf8. The World Champion wasted no time on launching the attack on the kingside, as it is the standard plan in this variation. Alina looked for counterplay on the queenside, grabbed two pawns, and tried to create some threats, but in the end, she had to sacrifice her queen for minor pieces. It was an ingenious try, but the main problem for the Russian player was that her h8 rook was trapped for most of the... Читать дальше...

The starting games of the Round 3 of FIDE World Cup were played in the Ugra Chess Academy on September 16. Seven encounters resulted in victories.

The biggest upset of the day was Kirill Alekseenko's (Russia) beating the higher-rated Pentala Harikrishna (India). The Russian GM broke through on the queenside and despite Black’s counterplay in the center infiltrated with his rooks into the opponent’s camp and took total control over the position.

Alexander Grischuk (Russia)... Читать дальше...

FIDE World Youth Rapid and Blitz Championships (under 14, 16 and 18 years old categories) finished in Salobrena, Spain. 178 players from 22 countries, including 1 GM, 5 IMs, 12 FMs, 1 WIM, 12 WFMs participated in the chess forum in Granada. After three days of intense battles, we have all twelve champions.

Final results of the World Junior rapid championships in Salobrena (11 – 12 September 2019):

Winner U-14 Girls: Thien Ngan Nguyen (Vietnam)

Winner U-14 Open: Aspet Tadevosyan (Spain)

Winner U-16 Open... Читать дальше...

The first game to come to an end was the clash between Elisabeth Paethz (2479) and the tournament co-leader Ju Wenjun (2576). The World Champion went for a Petrov defence, and some early exchanges quickly lead to a dull position, in which the players found no better option than a threefold repetition on move 23. The German IM seemed to be particularly unsatisfied with the outcome of the game (her fifth consecutive draw in the tournament), while Ju Wenjun took it as a good result: the top-seeded is playing quite solid... Читать дальше...

Fifteen tie-breaks were played on September 15 in the second round of the FIDE World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk.

The overwhelming majority of matches ended after rapid games.

Eltaj Safarli (Azerbaijan) defeated Nihal Sarin (India), Lenier Dominguez (USA) beat Nijat Abasov (Azerbaijan), Jeffrey Xiong (USA) proved stronger than Amin Tabatabaei (Iran), Yu Yangyi (China) outplayed Baskaran Adhiban (India), Maxim Matlakov (Russia) downed Boris Gelfand (Israel), Peter Svidler (Russia) knocked out his compatriot Andrey Esipenko... Читать дальше...

The tournament leader Valentina Gunina (2502) was very close to biting the dust in her game against the veteran Pia Cramling (2487). Loyal to her style, the Russian jumped into some sharp tactical skirmishes as soon as she had the chance, but the complications didn't yield her any gain. Quite the opposite, when the dust settled it was the Swede who had a clear advantage, and she appeared headed for her first victory in the tournament. However, short of time, Cramling didn't manage to crack Black defences and... Читать дальше...

The new FIDE Charter was the main point in the agenda of the 2019 third quarter Presidential Board meeting, held in Budapest last weekend. The Hungarian Chess Federation took the opportunity to announce during the gala dinner that their country will bid to organize the Chess Olympiad in 2024.

Second games of the Second Round of the World Cup were played on September 14 in Khanty-Mansiysk.

Three players won their matches with two wins: Sergey Karjakin (Russia), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland), and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France).

Many more matches ended with a 1.5-0.5 score. In arguably the most sensational one, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Germany) made a draw from the position of strength with Hikaru Nakamura (USA) and proceeded to the next round.

Ian Nepomniachtchi... Читать дальше...