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.

Read more »

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.

Read more »

World-renowned GMs to Play in Leo Tolstoy’s Museum-Estate from Sept 11

Moscow: The first international tournament Tolstoy Cup featuring a stellar line-up will start in the State Leo Tolstoy Museum-Estate “Yasnaya Polyana”, the Tula region, on the great Russian writer’s birthday, the 9th of September. The event will last for four days and will finish on the 12th of September. Photo credit: Press service of the State Leo Tolstoy Museum-Estate “Yasnaya Polyana

The world and Russian chess stars will take part in the round-robin rapid tournament: Anish Giri (Netherlands), Dmitry Andreikin, Nikita Vitiugov, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Kirill Alekseenko, Maxim Matlakov, David Paravyan (all from Russia), Anton Korobov (Ukraine), Boris Gelfand (Israel), and Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan).

The event is organised by the State Leo Tolstoy Museum-Estate “Yasnaya Polyana” and the Chess Federation of Russia and is supported by the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Foundation.

Andrey Filatov, President of the Chess Federation of Russia:
- This tournament is held for the first time, and I hope it will set up a good tradition. Since 2012, the Chess Federation of Russian and the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Foundation have organised the tournaments as part of the Chess in Museums international programme. We are glad to introduce the chess world to Yasnaya Polyana, one of Russia’s most famous and beloved museums

Leo Tolstoy is a brilliant and timeless writer whose books are being read, studied, filmed, and staged. And now the first international event dedicated to him will be held. It is not an accident: Tolstoy loved chess, played a lot, and wrote about it. Obviously, chess was an integral part of his life.

We will be glad to see the guests and journalists at our festival dedicated to Leo Tolstoy’s birthday and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the State Leo Tolstoy Museum-Estate “Yasnaya Polyana”.

Ekaterina Tolstaya, Director of the State Leo Tolstoy Museum-Estate “Yasnaya Polyana”:
- We are glad that the International chess tournament will start in Yasnaya Polayan on Leo Tolstoy’s birthday. Chess has always been in Yasnaya Polayna, and Leo Tolstoy’s devotion to the game is well-known: he played chess with his relatives and friend and often offered to play a game to his guests.

One of the most welcomed guests was Prince Sergey Urusov, one of the best chess players of those times. Today, we are proud that the world-class grandmasters will participate in the tournament in Yasnaya Polyana.

It is also very important that children will take part in the festival. Playing chess is very effective for children’s formation: it changes a thinking process, and develops memory and imagination. We are grateful to the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Foundation for their support in holding this tournament and welcoming young talented players.

Maria Morozova, Managing Director of the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Foundation:
- The Tula region and the Timchenko Foundation have been united by long-term ties of friendship and cooperation in various sports projects: we are developing sledge hockey together, the local educational institutions are running the Chess in Schools projects, whilst the region is taking part in complex research of a cognitive as well as an emotional and personal spheres of the lives of younger schoolchildren of the city and village schools. That’s why our supporting of a chess tournament held in the Tula region is a logical continuation of our sports cooperation and a tribute to the great Russian writer, for whom both Yasnaya Polyana and chess were very important.

We hope that our young chess players, participants of the Chess in Schools project, will be highly motivated by playing in the same venue with the renowned grandmasters and be inspired to increase their level and develop their chess skills.

The opening ceremony will take place on the 9th of September. Leo Tolstoy's descendants, FIDE President Akrady Dvorkovich, and other guests of honour are expected to be present at the event.

A 100-board simultaneous exhibition will be held on the same day. The best participants will get presents from the organisers. Moreover, the Chess Museum’s curator, Cand. Sc. History Dmitry Oleinikov will give a lecture and a quiz.

The additional programme will continue on the 10th of September with a mass tournament for children. At the same time, the participants of the main event will be offered a tour around the estate museum; after it, the drawing of lots will take place. Children will have a chance to take a photo with renowned grandmasters and ask them for an autograph.

The international tournament will be held on the 11th and 12th of September. The participants will compete in 9 rapid rounds in an all-play-all event. The closing ceremony is scheduled for the 12th of September at 7 PM Moscow time.

Considering Leo Tolstoy’s devotion to chess, an exhibition featuring various thematic posters will be organised during the event.

Read more »

Anand to Lead Strongest Team India in Chess Olympiad

New Delhi: Five times world Champion Viswanathan Anand will lead the team of India in the second online chess Olympiad scheduled to be held from 8-15 September.

The Indian team that jointly won the gold medal alongside main competitors Russia, will be looking at repeating the feat and this time, hopefully, as a single winner of the gold medal.

For the first time ever, the Indian team has got an official sponsorship. One of pioneers of Wi-Fi Internet providers in the country, MICROSENSE, will be the key sponsor.

This time the team comprises Anand, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, P Harikrishna, B Adhiban, Nihal Sarin, R Pragganandhaa, Koneru Humpy, D Harika, Tania Sachdev, Bhakti Kulkarni, R Vaishali and B Savitha Shri. Former national champion and British Chess Championship winner Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte has been appointed as non-playing vice captain of the team.

The Indian Chess Federation has ensured the best for the team. All the players will be provided a single room in a five star hotel in Chennai from where all the matches will be played. Contrary to the last Olympiad, a three tier internet connection along with support from two Grand Masters – D Gukesh and N Srinath has been done to make the team achieve another gold medal.

The first leg is scheduled to have ten teams from which two teams qualify and thereafter a knockout format has been decided by FIDE, the apex chess body.
All the games will be available live for the chess buffs.

“To bring the team together in one place is a dream come true in present times. We do not give any pressure, our aim is to have a healthy atmosphere where the team get along well", said AICF President Sanjay Kapoor about providing the extra facility.

“This is only the beginning of many more good things to come for Indian chess. We are working in several departments to bring the benefits of the game and our aim is simple – to make India the number one chess playing nation in the world", said Bharat Singh Chauhan, the honorary secretary of the federation.

Read more »

India Age-Group Online Chess from June 10

The National Age Group Online Chess Championships 2021 will be held from 10 June 21 to 03 July 21. The championships will serves as selection event for the FIDE Online Youth & Cadet World Cup 2021. 

The championships will serves as selection event for the FIDE Online Youth & Cadet World Cup 2021.

The championships will serves as selection event for the FIDE Online Youth & Cadet World Cup 2021.

The categories are: 

Under-18 Open & Girls

Under-16 Open & Girls

Under-14 Open

Under-14 Girls

Under-12 Open

Under-12 Girls

Under-10 Open

Under-10 Girls

You can find all the brochures at the All-India Chess Federation official website.

Read more »

Chess at Age 2? Yes, says Dutch Trainer, Psychologist Karel van Delft

The agony of a chess parent has little relief. The most stressed out people at any kids' tournament are usually the parents!
Common questions go:
- Why is my child losing?
- What is required to become a champion?
- When to introduce my kid to chess?
- How to play, where to play, how to study etc.
Does not a guardian angel exist for chess parents and trainers?
Okay, we found one! In human suit, he goes by the name Karel van Delft.
Location: About an hour's train trip from Amsterdam, in the quaint town of Apeldoorn. 

However, you needn't risk travelling in these pandemic times. New in Chess has just published 2,000 hours of painstaking research, analysis and counselling ideas by this journalist, writer, chess trainer and psychologist.

Our writer, Shilpa Mehra, discusses the book, children's chess and Karel van Delft's online mental training sessions open to players and parents.

 

Chess school Schaakacademie Apeldoorn girls play against boys. As necessary Karel is counted a girl! (c) Karel van Delft

Keeping the Dutch orange ablaze on the cover, the beautifully designed book "Chess for Educators - How to Organize and Promote a Meaningful Chess Teaching Program" serves as quite a guiding light for chess parents and trainers. The book is surely the most comprehensive guide yet for teachers and parents in the chess world.

Karel van Delft and scientist Giovanni Sala at a Japanese restaurant in London. Go on, identify some very strong GMs in the background. (c) Karel van Delft

 

The book begins with a clear premise. "There is a distinction between competitive chess and educational (instructional) chess... Also, the role of parents is often more important." Karel sets out to deal with not which effects chess education can have, but which combination of which chess-teaching methods and which form of didactic coaching can lead to optimal learning effects for certain target groups, and in which circumstances.

"In other words, it’s all about combinations – in the same way that the combination of hydrogen and oxygen produces water," he writes.

Why Chess is Great for Kids?

Chess is a playground for the brain. Children enjoy playing it, and it poses fascinating challenges to their brain. But the game also widens their horizon. Chess teaches us life lessons – for example, the concept of problem-solving. Another example of an insight that children can pick up effortlessly during a chess lesson: at the chessboard, you always have to look first what your opponent can do, and this is just like in traffic – if you don’t look what others are doing, accidents may happen, writes Van Delft.

Karel van Delft says, "I have come to the conclusion, just like many of my colleague psychologists, that chess is a metaphor for life. You can learn to shape your personality, and develop self-knowledge, self-confidence, 

self-management and a ‘growth mindset’: ‘looking, thinking and doing’, judgement and planning etc.

Chess can contribute to the cognitive, social, emotional and meta-cognitive development of children. 

For children with special needs and other groups, chess can also be a means for empowerment. It helps them develop self-respect, and to get a grip on themselves and their environment.

In other words, especially for children, chess has many benefits. What are these exactly, and how can chess have a positive influence on the education of children? That is what we examine in this book, says Karel van Delft.

Chess school Schaakacademie Apeldoorn. (c) Karel van Delft

Grandchildren Hidde and Lois Weller with IM Merijn van Delft and Karel van Delft playing Hands and Brains. (c) Karel van Delft

Sunshine chess: Grandson Hidde takes on Karel van Delft in the Park de Vlindertuin. Photo: Harry Weller

For Karel, this is not pure theory. He backs it up with more than thirty years of practical experience.

The book is surely the most comprehensive guide yet for teachers and parents in the chess world.

First, he has two very worthy chess opponents and research subjects in-house. His son, International Master Merijn van Delft, and grandson, Hidde, 9. The young Mr Hidde is known to train four and more hours a day when required! Hidde's sisters also play chess. 

Hertog van Gelre primary
school chess lesson. (c) Karel van Delft

Merijn, on his part, became the under-16 Dutch champion in 1995, five years after Karel and he "entered the world of chess starting from scratch."

Second, Karel also coordinates the Schaakacademie Apeldoorn. The academy organises classes in schools (individual plus group training courses for older, younger talented players) and groups with special needs (e.g. autism). The Chess Academy publishes a free and weekly online newsletter with many photos that give an idea of the local chess culture. In addition, there is a lot of attention to psychology and teaching. To get an idea, we recommend that you visit the newsletter link. They have been organising daily online chess activities throughout the pandemic.

Based on his experience, some of the specific topics Karel deals with in his book include:
- School chess worldwide
- Pre-school chess
- Organisation of a school chess club, youth tournament
- The role of parents
- Chess, intelligence, and teaching highly-gifted children
- Chess for the blind, partially sighted, the deaf, those with autism and dyslexia
- Girls’ and women’s chess
- Social and therapeutic chess
- Methods and teaching tips for chess educators
- Scientific research (quantitative and qualitative)
- Alphabet (with more than 300 small articles about psychological and didactical insights)

Chess Can Start at Age Two

For parents themselves new to chess, the chapter on pre-school chess is of special interest. Karel writes, "Two-year-old children can already show interest in the chessboard. This interest can be stimulated. You can give a chessboard and (coloured) pieces to infants. You can use the pieces to build small towers with the child, or place pieces neatly in the middle of a square. While doing this, you can mention the names of the pieces repeatedly. You can also put the pieces in the starting position and take turns putting the pieces somewhere – at random: a rook moves from h8 to c5 just like that. As soon as all the pieces are standing in the middle of the board, the game is ‘over’. If you use a chess clock, it’s almost like the real thing."

Tata Steel Chess 2017: Karel van Delft with GM Sipke Ernst (left). (c) Karel van Delft

Delft’s key guideline is: The basis of all training and stimulating is always Variation (methods), Fascination (intrinsic motivation) and Participation (child is actively involved).

Karel and Merijn earlier have written "Developing Chess Talent." The book covers the definition of talent in chess and the method to promote the development of this talent in those young people who have it. The book also elaborates a protocol on how to set up the teaching of chess and how to involve, each one of them in his own specific role, the various components: instructors, coaches, parents and of course the young chess players themselves.

New in Chess has just published 2,000 hours of painstaking research, analysis and counselling ideas by Karel van Delft.

But let's not do all the talking.
Karel van Delft himself is available for compact online training about chess psychology and mental training to chess educators, trainers and parents. He works with players of all levels as well. Themes to discuss are based on personal questions of the participants for example training, learning, self-management.

The training consists of two hours Zoom contact and/or e-mail about chess psychological questions (based on personal experiences and/or documentation which comes with the training).

You may contact Karel van Delft via karel@kvdc.nl.

You can purchase his book in India from www.mychessdreams.com or, internationally from New In Chess.

Once a journalist, always a journalist: NK Dutch championship journalists during Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2016. Alexander Münninghoff (left) with Karel van Delft. (c) Karel van Delft

-------- Games ----------

Game 1: Loek van wely - Karel van Delft MEC Kloksimultaan 2013 Game 2: Ruud Janssen - Karel van Delft July 2012 Game 3: SV Keep it Simply Lucas van Foreest - Karel van Delft

  

Karel van Delft Vs Lucas van Foreest (right) during the simul festival held at the Max Euwe Centre in Amsterdam. Photo: Merijn van Delft. See game above.

Note: The game comments have been auto translated from Dutch to English via Google Translate.

Read more »