Indian Chess League: Nine Companies Show Interest

Jaipur, Sept 23: The Central Council and Special General Body meeting of All India Chess Federation held at Jaipur on Thursday took some major decisions for the development of the game in the country.

Nine companies showed interest for the much anticipated Indian Chess League and AICF formed a five member screening committee for the same.

In another major development, All India Chess Federation provisionally affiliated with the Indian Olympic Association while a National Chess Academy will be established at Odisha to provide exposure and training facilities for the players from across the country.

It is also decided to create a welfare fund for the benefit of players and arbiters. Currently AICF is providing assistance for Covid-19 through the Checkmate Covid program and the surplus fund in this project will be merged to this welfare fund.

Further, AICF decided to train two arbiters, two organizers and four players in each district of the country and Rs. 50 lakh has been allocated for this grass root level project.

The term ‘Open’ has been removed from the national championship and now the events will be called the National Championship.

The house extended its gratitude to the FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich for providing wild cards to Indian players in the World Cup and FIDE Grand Prix.

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FIDE Online Olympiad Final Russia - USA 10 pm IST Today

The final match of the FIDE Online Olympiad between Russia and the USA will be held today, on the 15th of September. The match will begin at 7:30 PM Moscow time (16:30 UTC).

The second FIDE Online Olympiad 2020 is held on Chess.com, one of the biggest playing platforms. One hundred fifty-three countries have been taking part in the event from the start. Each team consists of six players and six reserves, in a mixed format with a minimum of three female players and two junior players. The qualifying events were played till the 10th of September. Team Russia entered the field in the Top Division on the 8th of September.

Representing the Russian team are:

Men: GM Alexander Grischuk, GM Daniil Dubov, GM Vladislav Artemiev, GM Vladimir Fedoseev

Women: GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, GM Kateryna Lagno, GM Valentina Gunina

Juniors: GM Andrey Esipenko and IM Volodar Murzin

Girls: IM Polina Shuvalova and WGM Leya Garifullina.

The team captain is GM Alexander Motylev.

Team Russia took first place in Pool C, having won all the matches. On the way towards the final, the Russian team defeated Ukraine (4.5-1.5), Germany (6-0), Czech Republic (5-1), Paraguay (4.5-1.5), Israel (5-1), Argentina (6-0), Italy (5-1), Spain (4-2), and Latvia (6-0).

Two best teams of each pool advanced to the knock-out stage (Play-off). In the quarterfinals Team Russia defeated Hungary, having won both matches 3.5-2.5. In the semi-final, the Russians won against the Chinese team, one of the rating favourites. Our players won the first match 3.5-2.5 and the second 4-2 to advance to the final.

The second finalist was determined in the India vs USA match. The Americans won on tie-break (1-5, 4-2, 4.5-1.5) to qualify for the final.

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Anish Giri Wins Tolstoy Cup in Yasnaya Polyana

The 12th of September marked the end of the first-ever international tournament held in honor of the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy.

The tournament rating favorite, Anish Giri of Netherlands, has become its winner with a remarkable result of 8 out of 9 points.

Anish Giri, “I enjoyed my performance in Yasnaya Polyana. The result proved somewhat too high because on the second day I definitely did not play at the corresponding level. However, luck sided with me to the extent that nothing could stop. It goes without saying that I am a big fan of Leo Tolstoy’s creative works and I am very happy that this tournament has been organised. I have not been aware that Tolstoy was a chess fan, but my taking part in the sightseeing tour filled this gap. I hope this event will become traditional”.

Final standings:

1. Anish Giri (Netherlands) – 8 out of 9 points
2. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) – 5.5
3. Boris Gelfand (Israel) – 5
4-5. David Paravyan, Dmitry Andreikin (both from Russia) – 4.5
6-8. Anton Korobov (Ukraine), Maxim Matlakov, Evgeny Tomashevsky (all from Russia) – 4
9. Kirill Alekseenko (Russia) – 3.5
10. Nikita Vitiugov (Russia) – 2.

The winner received a cup manufactured at the Imperial Porcelain Factory specifically for this event.

An extensive additional program accompanied the Leo Tolstoy Cup: a 100-board simul with the GMs participating in the tournament, a mass blitz tournament for children, a lecture and a quiz by the curator of the CFR Chess Museum and candidate of historical sciences Dmitry Oleikniov. The Cultural Centre Yasnaya Polyana that hosted the tournament displayed the themed posters and unique chess sets Staunton and Regence.

The games were commented in Russian by GM Sergey Shipov (you could hear him comment in the tent set up in front of the Palace of Culture), and in English by GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko.

The tournament was hosted by the Leo Tolstoy Museum-Estate Yasnaya Polyana and the Chess Federation of Russia with the support of the Elena and Gennady  Timchenko Foundation.

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