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UAE Ministry of Tolerance and Coexistence, the International Chess Federation, and the Asian Chess Federation jointly held the Tolerance Games – Asian Chess Women’s Contest that took place from February 06-07, 2023, in Abu-Dhabi, UAE. The event was a part of the Global Tolerance and Human Fraternity Summit in Etihad Towers.

Girls and ladies from Asia and all around the world participated in various activities, from playing chess to learning about the empowerment chess gives to women and society.

The event started with the “Little Chess Star” Chess Tournament. Eight invited girls played in two qualification tournaments, followed by the final match for the title.

Eisa Bashkardi Ahoud from the UAE and Zakiyabonu Muminova from Tajikistan qualified for the final from their groups. Eisa Bashkardi Ahoud bested her opponent in both games and won the tournament.

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A “Learn to play in one hour” session with a coach started right after the event. WGM and five-time Armenian Champion Mariya Gevorgyan showed many interesting problems and studies and taught girls how to play some basic and more complex rook endings.

Leadership workshop “Women and Chess – Promoting Tolerance & Women Empowerment” featured Anastasia Sorokina, Chair of FIDE Commission for Women in Chess; Dana Reizniece-Ozola, Women chess grandmaster, politician, FIDE Deputy Chair of Management Board; Anastasia Karlovich, WIM, Ukrainian chess journalist and photographer; Irene Kharisma Sukandar, WGM and two-time Asian Women’s Champion; David Smerdon, GM, PhD in Economics, member of FIDE WOM Commission and Tshepiso Lopang, IA and the President of African Chess Confederation.

“Chess can be used as an excellent tool for promoting tolerance and coexistence, connecting us in common humanity,” said Dana Reizniece-Ozola.

“Considering chess sport as a powerful means to consolidate society, establish an atmosphere of love and tolerance and create friendships between youth without social discrimination, leading numerous social projects for many years already, as a woman, as a person with a vast experience, I want more and more girls to play chess,” stressed Anastasia Sorokina.

A simul by Dana Reizniece-Ozola followed the workshop. Dana won all the games, although some players had good chances of reaching a draw.

As many as 89 players participated in the Open Asian Women Blitz Chess Tournament, the 7-round Swiss event with the time control of 3min +2 sec. WGM Geldiyeva from Mahri (Turkmenistan) finished with a perfect score and emerged as the winner. Shakhnoza Sabirova, from Uzbekistan and Ahlam Rashed, from the UAE, tied for second place, netting 6 out of 7 points.

Final standings:

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The closing ceremony of the “Little Chess Stars Tournament” and Open Asian Women Blitz Chess Tournament took place on the 7th of February and was attended by His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan Mabarak Al Nabyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence and His Excellency Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa Bin Shakhbout Al Nahyan, who welcomed participants and awarded the winners.

Dana Reizniece-Ozola took part in the Global Tolerance and Human Fraternity Summit and was a speaker in panel number three, Peace: Promoting Principals of Nonviolence.

From fide.com

Photo: Stev Bonhage and Anastasia Karlovich

Text: Anastasia Karlovich

The Begum Laila Alam 13^th FIDE Rating Women’s Chess Tournament, sponsored by Veteran Former National Woman chess player Begum Laila Alam & organised by Bangladesh Chess Federation began 7th February at Bangladesh Chess Federation Hall-Room, 2^nd Floor, National Sports Council, old building.

The opening ceremony was presided over by General Secretary of Bangladesh Chess Federation and President of World Chess Federation Zone 3.2 Syed Shahab Uddin Shamim. Ninety-one years old veteran chess player Begum Laila Alam inaugurated the competition.

The opening ceremony was attended by WIM Rani Hamid, International Organiser Mahmuda Hoque Chowdhury Moly, Begum Laila Alam’s three sons Dr. Waqi Alam, Wazir Alam and Wasif Alam.

A total 64 players are participating in this event. Winning their first round were WIM Rani Hamid, WCM Ahmed Walijah, WFM Noshin Anjum, WFM Nazrana Khan Eva, Warsia Khushbu, Nushrat Jahan Alo, WCM Jannatul Ferdous, Israt Jahan Diba, Wadifa Ahmed, Jahanara Haque, Hamida Khan, Afrin Jahan Munia, Omnia Binte Ytusuf Lubaba, Nushrat Jahan Liza, Thakur Janiya Haque, Neelava Choudhury, Jinnat Akhtar Shahnaz, Jannatul Preeti, Sanjida Sakib, Sumi Akhtar, Nazmin Akter, Warisa Haider, Shimon Ahmed, Nazia Jafrin Mohona, Rikta Sarker, Shahinur Khatun, Jarin Tasnim, Sidratul Muntaha & Jakia Akhtar.

The tournament will be played in a 7-round Swiss-league format and the winners will be awarded a total cash prize of one lac take.

The Philippines finished third behind champion Poland and the runner-up combined IPCA (International Physically Disabled Chess Association) team in the first Chess Olympiad for Disabled Players held 29 January to 5 February in Belgrade, Serbia. Text and photos from fide.com.

Poland achieved huge success as the team led by GM Marcin Tazbir confidently won the Olympiad, defeating all of their opponents and scoring 12 match points.

The team of Physically disabled chess players (IPCA) won second place with 10 match points. Four teams: the Philipines, India, Serbia 1 and Uzbekistan, shared fourth to eighth place with eight match points. The cheerful squad of the Philipines came in third after a better tie-break.

Croatia – who had a bad start to the tournament – finished seventh, while second-seed Israel finished eighth and third-seed Hungary took the modest 9th place.

India and the Philipines (right) went head to head in the final round to decide third place!

The owners of bronze medals were decided on the tie-break among the group of teams with eight match points. The first tie-break criteria, the number of board points, was equal for the Asian teams of the Philippines and India (15:15), but the second tie-break, the sum of Sonneborn-Berger points, favored the Philippine squad, one of the most joyful companies in the Belgrade event!

The foundation of future Olympiads for people with disabilities

Grandmaster Thomas Luther had a pivotal role in making the first Chess Olympiad for people with disabilities happen. As the head of the FIDE Commission for people with disabilities, Luther and his team worked hard to get attention and support from across the chess world.

“I’m very happy! We worked on this for such a long time, and finally, we have done it. Successfully! This event is the foundation of future Olympiads for people with disabilities, and I am so proud and happy to have taken part in this”.

FIDE Managing Director Dana Reizniece-Ozola (third from right) comments:

We are extremely proud to have managed to organise this Olympiad! FIDE would like to thank the sponsors – the Serbian Government, the Serbian energy giant NIS, Coca-Cola, Rossety, the Serbian Chess Federation, the arbiters, volunteers and everyone else involved for playing a huge role in making this event happen and for making it a huge success.”

Reizniece-Ozola applauded the FIDE Commission for people with disabilities as well as other organisations and federation members working in this field.

“I am grateful to them for being agile and for providing honest feedback and helpful suggestions on how to make future Olympiads and events for people with disabilities even better.”

She noted that in the future, bidders for chess Olympiads would also have to commit to organising the Olympiad for people with disabilities. “From now on, this Olympiad will be a regular feature”.

The Philippine Disabled Chess Team paid a courtesy call on National Chess Federation of the Philippines Chairman/President Prospero A. Pichay (background, second from right) prior to their departure to Belgrade. The team is led by captain IA James Infiesto (background, third from left).

The first-ever Chess Olympiad for people with disabilities represents a historic event for FIDE and the chess world. Over 100 players from 33 countries will gather in Belgrade, Serbia, making a landmark moment for the chess world as the Chess Olympiad for people with disabilities becomes a part of the Chess Olympiad family.

From the 29th of January to the 5th of February the Serbian capital will host the first chess Olympiad for people with disabilities. This is a watershed moment for the chess world as it inaugurates the biggest chess event dedicated to people with disabilities.

Visit fide.com for full story by Milan Dinic.

With two rounds to go in the Oceania Zone 3.6 Zonal Championship, GM Zong-Yuan Zhao of NSW enjoys a half point lead with 6.5 points out of 7 rounds. Five players are in second slot with 6 points each. Visit chess-results.com for round by round results and standings. See photos in facebook page.

In the women’s division WGM Julia Ryjanova is a shoo in for the title with a perfect 7 points. WGM Zhang Jilin is far behind at 5.5 points. Three other players trail with 5 points each.

Nearly 300 hundred players from Australia,New Zealand,Fiji,Papua New Guinea,Guam,Nauru are competing for titles and places in the World Cup qualifying tournaments for the World Championships.

The Oceania Zonal tournament was officially opened by the Hon. Steve Dimopoulos MP Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events and Minister for Creative Industries.

Organisers are Chess Victoria President Leonid Sandler (left) and Arbiter Peter Tsai.

This year’s Bob Wade Memorial Masters was held in Auckland from January 14 to 20, 2023, to commemorate the significant contribution made by New Zealand’s first truly professional player IM Bob Wade who was born in 1921. He was a three-time NZ Champion and twice British champion.

The main idea of the event was to celebrate the enormous contribution that Bob made to chess globally and at the same time to hold a tournament that would give IM norm opportunities to aspiring NZ players. It was only made possible by the generosity of NZCF patron Jim Benson and support from the NZ Chess Federation along with the Howick-Pakuranga Chess Club and NZCF Vice-president Paul Spiller who was the Chief Organiser. It also created an opportunity for Invercargill chess organiser and arbiter Richie Christie to achieve his final norm for the FA title.

It was won by French/Egyptian Grandmaster Samy Shoker with 7.5/9 — 7 wins, 1 draw (with runner-up Grandmaster Elshan Moradiabadi) and 1 loss to NZ FIDE Master Ben Hague. GM Moradiabadi had 5 wins and 4 draws to finish 2nd on 7 points. In third place were International Master Gary Lane from Australia (who recently won the Asian Seniors 50+ division in Auckland last October) and 14-year-old NZ chess star Felix Xie. For most of the tournament, Felix was on course to make his first qualification towards his IM title (7 points were needed), but a loss in the penultimate round to GM Shoker dashed his hopes.

There were also two Challengers sections, won by Hao Tang and Daniel Wang respectively. Full results can be found on the Results page.

The Open Asian Women Blitz Chess Tournament will be held 6th February 2023 at the Etihad Towers Hotel in Abu Dhabi.

The event is co-organized by UAE Ministry of Tolerance and Coexistence, International Chess Federation and Asian Chess Federation in Abu-Dhabi, UAE in the framework of Global Tolerance and Human Fraternity Summit.

The Global Tolerance and Human Fraternity Summit will be held from 3-5 February 2023 at the Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

H.E. Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan will open the Global Tolerance and Human Fraternity Summit and will announce opening of Tolerance Games – Asian Women Chess Contest that will become a traditional format. 

Download Asian Chess Women’s Weekend

1. Participants
   All Asian female players are welcome to participate in the Open Asian Women Blitz Chess Tournament.

Players may register online at https://chess-results.com/anmeldung.aspx?lan=1&ggid=719754

2. Venue, Date & Schedule
   The playing venue of the event is Etihad Towers, Abu Dhabi.
   The tournament will be held on Monday 6 February 2023 as follows

Technical Meeting      16:00

Round 1                       17:00

Round 2                       17:30

Round 3                       18:00

Round 4                       18:30

Round 5                       19:00

Round 6                       19:30

Round 7                       20:00

3. System & Rate of Play

Up to 100 participants will take part in the tournament, which will be 7 rounds – Swiss System. Only players present at the Technical Meeting shall be paired for round 1.

Time control for each player per game is 3 minutes + 2 seconds for each move, starting with the first one.

The winner is determined by the highest number of points scored.
In case of equality of points, the winner is determined by application of the tie-breaking criteria:
◦ Direct encounter,
◦ Number of games won,
◦ Number of Games won with the Black Pieces,

◦ Buccholz System

5. Awards ceremony.
   The awards ceremony will be held at Etihad Towers, Abu Dhabi.

The winners will receive trophies, and a total of AED21,000 in cash prizes as follows:

In case of ties prizes shall be decided by tie break.

Kyrgyzstan Youth chess championship was held in the capital of Kyrgyzstan Bishkek from 2^nd to 10^th January 2023 organized by the Kyrgyz Chess Union. The event attracted 500 players from all seven regions of the country.

The event is made possible thanks to the «Mbulak» company which became a General Sponsor of the event. The official sponsor was the professional chess school ABchess.

The tournament was held at the Bilimkana American School with comfortable conditions for both children and parents.

The championship was monitored by the arbiters` team under the supervision of the Chief Arbiter Umarbekov Aziz (IA).

As part of the championship awards ceremony the results of 2022 were summed up. The awards were presented by the President of the Kyrgyz Chess Union Babyrzhan Tolbaev and honorary invited guests.

Team standings:

⠀1^st place – Tilenbaeva Children’s Chess Center: gold – 5, silver – 2, bronze -5 (Total: 12 medals)

⠀2^nd place – Chess school «GARDE»: gold – 2, silver – 5, bronze -1 (Total: 8 medals)

⠀3^rd place – Issyk-Kul region team: gold – 2, silver – 1, bronze – 6 (Total: 9 medals)

⠀4^th place – Children’s and Youth Sports School:  gold – 2, silver – 1, bronze -2 (Total: 5 medals)

⠀5^th place – chess school «Altyn-Tuyun»: gold – 1, silver – 1 (Total: 2 medals)

The best national chess awards 2022

The list of winners:

• The best chess player – Markov Mikhail
• The best female chess player – Sovetbekova Nurai
• The best junior and girl chess players – Sezdbekov Ruslan, Zhakshylykov Erzhan, Orozbaev Eldiiar, Abaeva Aiana
• The best chess players Under-12 – Sharshenbekov Emir, Sezdbekova Aizhan
• The best regional chess players – Keneshbekov Elim, Tursunalieva Nurelina
• The best chess players among people with disabilities – Rakhatbekov Tilegen, Kudainazarova Dariia
• The best chess coach – Damir Talapker
• The best female chess coach – Tilenbaeva Baktygul
• The best regional chess coach – Zhaparov Medet
• The best coach among people with disabilities – Kudaibergenov Beksultan
• The best arbiter – Umarbekov Aziz
• The best organizer – Toktokozhoev Azamat
• The best senior chess players – Takyrbashev Tilek, Vendrova Rosalia
• Chess legend – Mamatov Dair
• For patriotism to the Motherland – Toktaaliev Namys
• For devotion and love to chess – Zhakypova Nurayym
• Best chess school – Tilenbaeva Chess Center
• Best regional school – Karakol Central Academy
• Best chess journalist – Tolkaneva Ksenia

The winners in the nominations received trips to the recreation center “Solemar”.

Chess clocks were donated to help all regional federations.

Tolerance Games – Asian Chess Women’s Contest

Co-organized by UAE Ministry of Tolerance and Coexistence, International Chess Federation and Asian Chess Federation, 6-7 February 2023 in Abu-Dhabi, UAE in the framework of Global Tolerance and Human Fraternity Summit.

The Global Tolerance and Human Fraternity Summit will be held from 3-5 February 2023 at the Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

H.E. Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan will open the Global Tolerance and Human Fraternity Summit and will announce opening of Tolerance Games – Asian Women Chess Contest that will become a traditional format; after the opening of the Summit H.E. heads to the chess venue for the first move ceremony of “Little Chess Star” for Girls-10 and below.

“Little Chess Star” Chess Tournament

At 11:30 on 6th February, eight invited girls play two qualification tournaments, followed by the final-match for the first and second place.

This will be followed by the Leadership workshop “Women and Chess – Promoting Tolerance & Women Empowerment” at 12nn.

Invited speakers deliver inspirational speeches on women empowerment and tolerance & co-existence through chess.

Moderator: A.Sorokina – Chair of FIDE Commission for Women in Chess

Speakers: D.Reizniece-Ozola – Women chess grandmaster, politician, FIDE Deputy Chair of Management Board;

A.Karlovich – Women chess international master, Ukrainian chess journalist and photographer.