Σκακιστικά νέα

The 14th Annual SPICE Cup Open is currently ongoing at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Chesterfield, Missouri, USA.

The event is a single-section 9-round Swiss with the possibility of obtaining FIDE title norms and concludes on 25th October.

The Higher League of the 73rd Russian Championship and 70th Russian Women’s Championship took place from 7-18 October 2020 in Grand Hotel Zhemchuzhina in Sochi, Russia.

The events were played in 9 rounds, Swiss system, with participation of top Russian players, fighting for a total prize fund of around 50.000 euros and 5 qualifying spots for 2020 Russian Championship Superfinals.

The U.S. Chess Championships for 2020 are being organised online for the first time ever featuring five national events: Junior, Senior and Elite National Championship.

US Junior Chess Championships concluded on 15th October and the winners are GM John Burke in the Open section and IM Carissa Yip in the Girls Section.

Altibox Norway Chess concluded yesterday in Stavanger and although the Winner was known before the last round, the games were contested for the second and third place.

Firouzja Alireza won Duda-Jan Krzysztof and took the second place, lagging behind the Winner of the event for only one point. The things got more dramatic for Firouzja after Magnus lost in the last round against Aronian, which certainly didn’t help him to get over the loss from the 9th round and direct encounter for the 1st place.

Would FIDE announce the reschedule, postponement or venue movement anytime soon altogether with explanations or we need to wait for player’s private social media announcements?
Not much time left to be seen, the clock is ticking out and the event is supposed to be continued on 1st of November.

Chessdom asked this on Wednesday. FIDE answered two days later, with a lengthy 7-paragraph announcement of which the only relevant part is:

After a direct encounter between Magnus Carlsen and Firouzja Alireza in the penultimate 9th round of Altibox Norway Chess, Carlsen claimed the top and became the Winner with a round to spare!

The dramatic game ended as Carlsen’s victory after Firouzja’s huge blunder in basic drawn pawn endgame 69.Kc3??

Play Magnus Group has entered into an agreement with NRK and TV 2 for the Norwegian broadcasting rights for the new digital chess tour The Champions Chess Tour in 2021.

“Our vision is to develop chess into an international TV sport,” Arne Horvei, Tour Director in Play Magnus Group, said.

“Due to the practical difficulties of organising an OTB London Chess Classic this December amid the Covid-19 crisis, we have taken the unavoidable decision to cancel this year’s event. However, we’re planning an outdoor London Chess Festival in Summer 2021!”

London Chess Classic website

FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships 2020 initially scheduled for the end of December 2020 are postponed to 2021.

Due to present circumstances and covid-19 pandemic situation, health and logistic challenges for organisation of such event couldn’t be resolved.

In view of the situation FIDE has decided to postpone the event aiming to organise it in spring 2021.

Official announcement

Chess in Schools Programs are growing all over the Globe. ECU and FIDE have created a project which includes a survey, with aim to get an overview of statistics, methods and structure for Chess in Schools in different parts of the World.

The Survey can be completed through the Chess in Schools Survey Website by the persons involved in Chess in Schools programs in the federations affiliated to FIDE.