Indian Girls Begin Campaign at Women's World Team Chess in Astana Today

The Indian team (from left) Soumya Swaminathan, Padmini Rout, Nisha Mohota, Eesha Karavade, Mary Ann Gomes. 

The opening ceremony of the Women's World Team Chess Championship took place at the Duman Hotel in Astana, Kazakhstan on Saturday after a press conference. FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov welcomed all participants and guests and awarded diplomas to players from the team of Kazakhstan - Guliskhan Nakhbayeva and Dinara Saduakassova. Both had recently complete their WGM norms.

The Chief Arbiter of the tournament Takis Nikolopoulos conducted the ceremony of drawing of lots. Each team was invited to the stage and the top player was proposed to choose a flower with the number. The top seed of Ukrainian team Katerina Lahno luckily chose the number one, although Ukrainian team doesn’t leave the first rank. Each of the players got flowers from the organizers. Opening Ceremony Photo Gallery

Indian chess fans can watch the games live from 2.30 pm at the official wesbite with comments by GM Sergey Shipov and WGM Anna Sharevich: http://worldchess.kz/en/online.

The pairings of the first round:Ukraine - India
Romania - Russia
Kazakhstan - USA
Turkey - Georgia
China - France

The board pairings of Round 1 for India are as follows:

Lahno, Kateryna - Karavade, Eesha
Ushenina, Anna - Mohota, Nisha
Muzychuk, Mariya - Padmini, Rout
Gaponenko, Inna - Gomes, Mary Ann

During the press-conference it was announced that Kazakhstan has another ambitious plan - to host the World Chess Olympiad in 2018. Anna Ushenina, reigning women's world champion, spoke about the expectations of the Ukrainian team: “Every team wants to win first place in Astana. Our team - is not an exception. I will try to show the best result. In such tournaments there are no weak opponents.” 

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Cellphone Chess Advert Video from Belarus

WGM Anna Sharevich in cellphone advertisement video from Belarus.

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'Reviving the Spirit of Innovation' Lecture at Oxford by Garry Kasparov Today

Speaker: Garry Kasparov, world chess champion, writer and political activist
Summary: The world we live in now is very different from the one that was imagined 50 years ago. Past decades foresaw a future of flying cars and supersonic jets, but commercial air travel is slower in 2013 than it was in 1976. For years we were assured that we would have abundant clean and cheap energy; instead we have record fossil fuel prices, oil spills, and nuclear meltdowns. From poverty rates to superbugs, one thing is certain: this is not the future we were promised.

How did we get so far off course from the era of radical tech innovation and ambitious exploration? Why did our culture retreat toward risk-aversion and security? And how can we revive the spirit of innovation, and help bring about its promise of positive transformational change and far-reaching societal benefits? 

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Wei Yi Now Current Youngest GM in the World

The official website of the Reykjavik Chess Open 2013 has reported that Chinese Grandmaster Wei Yi has picked up his 3rd GM norm at the event with one round to go for the end of the tournament. Since Wei Yi's rating is already over 2500, the Chinese teenager now is the official current youngest GM of the world. He is the fourth youngest in history behind Sergey Karjakin of Russia, Parimarjan Negi of India and the current world #1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway.

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Disabled Chess Players: Fide Guidelines

Fide has issued the following guidelines on treatment of disabled chess players.

1. These guidelines will be used for all FIDE rated events. 

2. No one has the right to refuse to meet a disabled player against whom he has been correctly paired.
3. All chess venues must either be accessible to all, or an acceptable alternative venue with full supervision shall be available to those who cannot access the nominated venue.
4. A circular shall be sent out when all competitors are known. This circular contains an entry form with the sual points and questions, asking whether any potential competitor has an impairment that will require special circumstances. The competitor has to inform the organisers about the special circumstances at least 20 days before the start of the event.
5. No disabled player shall be “penalised” in accordance with the Articles 6.7d.and 8.1e of the Laws of Chess because of disability.
6. Any impaired competitor who reasonably requests in time the placing of their equipment in a particular seat or orientation, has the right to do so, provided that this does not disadvantage his opponent or other competitors. The event organizer has to ensure that the needs of both players are catered for. 

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Women's World Chess Team Championship March 2-12 in Astana

Astana will host the Women's World Chess Team Championship from 2-12 March. The best teams of the world will participate in the coming championship, among which three teams which were ranked the best at the World Chess Olympiad, five continental champions, the country-organizer and one team elected by the FIDE President according to the rules.

Astana will gather around 50 best chess players out of ten countries: China, Russia, Ukraine, USA, India, France, Turkey, Georgia, Rumania and Kazakhstan. Every team consists of five players and the team-winner will be determined in a round-robin event after 9 games. Time control is 90 minutes per 40 moves and thirty minutes until the end of the game plus 30 seconds increment per move.

Participating teams
The WWTC has been organized since 2007 and Chinese team won all the championships in the past. Hou Yifan and Zhao Xue will not come to Astana and it’s going to be not easy for the team to prove their dominance without the strongest Chinese players.

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