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The Awards Ceremonies for the Asian Oceania University Chess Championship were held 27th December on Zoom. Guests of honor were FIDE Commission on Education Chairman Jerry Nash of the USA, Dr. Ayub Hanafiah, CISCA Chair, AUSF Assessor and Dr. Hadi Bashirian, President of host National University Sports Federation of I. R. Iran.

Chairman Nash spoke about the possibilities for developing education-related courses or even specialty areas for chess within education programs at universities and invited ideas on the challenges and opportunities related to developing chess as an educational tool at the university level.

Asian Chess Federation Executive Director Casto Abundo read the address of ACF General Secretary Hisham Al Taher who thanked the AUSF, organizers and participants and announced interest of federations to host the 2023 over-the-board Asian University Chess Championship.

After the national anthems of Iran and China were played, Dr. Hadi Bashirian, President of host National University Sports Federation of I. R. Iran, declared the tournament closed.

Asian University Sports Federation president Xue Yanqing sent thng letter of appreciation:

The 2022 Asia-Oceania University Chess Champhampionship, showcasing the high level of chess skills as well as fair play spirit. No matter you are winners or not, you are all shining stars and models in our eyes, who could inspire more Asian youth to join this fascinating sport.ionship has wrapped up successfully. On behalf of AUSF, we would like to thank all the student players, coaches for your participation in the C

We would like to thank National University Sports Federation of Iran, Chess Federation of Iran for hosting this event. It is your dedication to university sport that makes this event possible. Following the successful footprint of last two online editions, this is the third online university chess championship held in partnership with the Asian Chess Federation. We highly apricate your consistent technical support and expertise in chess sports, which gives more confidence to further our practical cooperation in the coming years.

As a promoter of university sport, AUSF is very proud to organize three Asian University Chess Championship in a row with the support of our member federations and partners, despite the challenges caused by the pandemic in the past three years. With the evolvement of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are looking forward to staging an over-the-board event in 2023 and seeing you all in person.

Wish you all the best and happy new year!

XUE Yanqing

AUSF President

Reigning national chess champion GM Enamul Hossain Razib of SAIf Sporting Club became champion in the Bangabandhu 47^th National Chess Championship under the financial sponsorship of Abul Khair Group and organised by Bangladesh Chess Federation was held at Bangladesh Chess Federation Hall-Room.

GM Razib secured the title with 11 points in 13 games to keep the national chess title intact. This is GM Razib’s sixth national chess title. Previously he won the national chess title in 1997, 2006, 2016, 2017, 2021.

The final round of the games were held in the Chess Federation Hall-Room, 2^nd floor of the old building of the National Sports Council. GM Enamul Hossain Razib defeated CM Md Shawket Bin Osman Shaon in the last round of the game. GM Razib played with white pieces and chose the Ruy-Lopez Opening system and won against CM Shaon 24^th Moves. GM Ziaur Rahman and IM Mohammad Fahad Rahman of Bangladesh Ansar will take part in the play-off match for runner-up and 3^rd place. GM Zia and IM Fahad earned 9½ points each. The play-off match will be held Friday 30th Dec from 3-30 PM.

The Maasin Chess Club is organizing the January 2023 FIDE-rated Standard Turnament from 14-15 January 2023 in Maasin City, Southern Leyte, Philippines. A total of P25,000 shall be at stake in the 5-round tournament sponsored by Maasin Cafe and Esquina. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

The Hong Kong Chess Federation held the first Hong Kong Youth Chess Asian Bauhinia Invitational Tournament, which opened on 4 days, and 22 chess players from Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand will compete for the championship. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Honorary President of the Hong Kong Chess Association Geoffrey Kao expressed the hope that Hong Kong can host international tournaments one after another.

Watch games live.

Asian Chess Federation will organize an online International Organizers Seminar 5-8 January 2023 by Zoom to educate organizers how to handle an International Event and the regulations necessary for the event to be FIDE certified. Applicants for the FIDE International Organizer title are required to attend a seminar and pass an examination in order to obtain their FIDE IO title. Certificates of Completion will be awarded to successful participants.

Lecturers are

IO Ozgur Solakoglu, Honorary Chairman of the FIDE Events Commission,

IO Casto Abundo, Executive Director of the Asian Chess Federation (ACF),

IO Abdulrahim Mahdi, Chairman of the ACF Arbiters Commission and

IO Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh, Member of the ACF Executive Board and Counsellor of the FIDE Technical Commission.

Interested parties may register at google link.

Download IO Seminar 5 – 8 Jan 2023

The Winter Cup Classical Below 1600 FIDE Rating Open Chess Tournament was held from 23^rd to 25^th December, 2022 at Orbit Resort, Udaipur Rajasthan, India. Chess In Lake city organized the event. The tournament attracted a total of 410 players from all over India and 7 players from United States of America, Australia, Canada, England, Nepal, Srilanka, Tunisia,. There were in all 277 FIDE rated players.

 Aman Balana of Rajasthan  won the tournament with 8  points out of possible 9 to clinch the title and cash prize of Rs. 1,11,000 INR & Coveted Trophy. Runner up of the event was Raj Prakhar of Haryana who won Cash prizes of Rs. 71,000 INR & Trophy. Lakshmi Charan Naidu G of Andhra Pradesh  won cash prize of Rs.1,01,000 in rating category (1200 to 1399) &  Dhiraj Patil from Maharashtra  won cash prize of Rs.1,00.000 in rating category (1000 to 1199 ). Total 98 cash prizes with 75 trophies were given to winners in Different  Rating & Age categories.

Inauguration of the tournament was done by Chief Guest Sh.Raj Kumar Fatawat (National General Secretary, BJS), Vinod Fandot (Chairman, Jeeto Chapter Udaipur), Suresh Khatik (Administrative Officer, Urban Development), Raj Kumar Kalal (District Officer Excise Department). Other dignitaries present were Shri Tushar Mehta (Chief Patron, Chess in Lakecity) Shri. Rajeev Bharadwaj , President Chess In Lakecity, Advocate .Manish Mogra Org. Chairman, &  IA Rajendra Teli  Chief Arbiter & IA Vikas Sahu Chess In Lakecity.

Prizes were distributed by the hands of Chief Guest Justice Ram Chandra Singh Jhala, Guest of Honour Smt. Chetna Bhati Dy. SP Smt. Pushpa Mogra. Other dignitaries present were Shri. Tushar Mehta Chief Patron, Shri.Rajeev Bharadwaj, President Chess in Lakecity,   IA Rajendra Teli Chief Arbiter, Advocate Manish Mogra Org Chairman, Sanjay Kothari, Dr. SS Surana & IA Vikas Sahu Chess In Lakecity present in the Closing ceremony.

The team of Arbiters was headed by Chief Arbiter by IA Rajendra Teli and he was ably assisted by IA Deepak Chavan, Dy. Chief Arbiter & IA Varun Kumar Dy. Chief Arbiter, FA Neelesh Kumawat, FA Manish Chandalia, FA Jitendra Kumar, SNA Gayatri Kataria, SNA Pradhumn Kumar Gautam, SNA Daksh Jain, SNA Sudhanshu Gaidhane ,SNA Sharma Vaibhav , SNA Nikunj Kumar Desai,  SNA Vaibhav Shah,SNA Bhawesh Pandiyar. They worked hard to make the event a grand success.

Download Prize List

GM Xu Xiangyu of China finished alone with 8 points out of 9 rounds to win the Asian Oceania University Men’s Chess Championship held 21-23 December 2022 on Tornelo. The tournament was hosted by the Iran University Sports Federation under the auspices of the Asian Chess Federation and Asian University Sports Federation and in cooperation with the International Chess Federation (FIDE), FISU-Oceania and the Iran Chess Federation.

Compatriots Xi Qi and IM Pang Tao won the silver and bronze medals with 7.5 and 7 points, respectively. GM Li Di of China tied at 7 points but had a lower tie break score. Li was leading but lost his penultimate round game blundering away his Queen against Akbar Akmalnaidi of Indonesia.

Visit chess-results.com for round by round results and standings and to download games. Replay games on Tornelo.

The tournament is a combined individual and team event with 9 rounds of the Swiss System. Players from the same team are not be paired with each other. Team results are calculated by the total scores of the top four (4) players of a team. China dominated the team race followed by Indonesia and Iran. Awards ceremonies will be held on 27th December.

IM Ramazan Zhalmakhanov and WIM Meruert Kamalidenova are the new champions of Kazakhstan. The Kazakhstan Chess Championship took place from December 2-11 in Semey, with the open and women’s events (round-robin tournaments with classical time control) running simultaneously.

The 9th-rated Ramazan Zhalmakhanov (pictured below) caused a minor sensation in the open championship scoring 9/13 and finishing a full point ahead of Kazybek Nogerbek and Denis Makhnev, who tied for second place. The 20-year-old from Almaty took a practical approach drawing the games with his main competitors and notching up several victories against the participants from the bottom of the standings, which worked perfectly for him.

The silver medal goes to Kazybek Nogerbek, thanks to better Sonneborn-Berger; Denis Makhnev took the bronze. The champion and the runner-up became the only unbeaten players in the competition.

The fate of the title in the women’s championship was decided in the final eleventh round. Sitting on 8/10, the rating favourite and the leader Meruert Kamalidenova (pictured below) did not play (due to the odd number of participants) and had to wait for the outcome of the game between her main rival Alua Nurmanova vs Elnaz Kaliakhment.

Photo: Niki Riga

Trailing Kamalidenova by a full point, Nurmanova needed a victory to catch up with the leader she beat in the direct encounter. Playing with the white pieces, Alua came very close and had a study-like win at some point but missed her chance and had to settle for a draw to finish a half-point behind the champion (7½/10).

Xeniya Balabayeva and Amina Kairbekova scored 6½/10 each and tied for third place, with the former taking bronze by dint of slightly better Sonneborn-Berger.

From fide.com

Photo: Kazakhstan Chess Federation Facebook page

Official website: kazchess.kz/

CM Taione Sikivou of Narocivo, Rewa, had an unbeaten run of five wins and two draws with siblings Tanvi Prasad and Rudr Prasad to clinch the 2022 Vodafone Fiji National Chess Championship. The champion netted 6/7, the same score as CM Manoj Kumar, who finished second after losing the direct encounter to Sikivou.

20-year-old Yash Maharaj of the University of the South Pacific, CM Goru Arvind and 17-year-old Rudr Prasad of Jai Narayan College finished 3rd, 4th and 5th, respectively, on 5/7.

The championship, with a prize pool of $ 1,000, was officiated by FIDE National Arbiter William Bennion.

After four days of intense chess, the award ceremony graced by Vodafone Fiji Head of Recharge and Distribution, Mr Nilesh Singh, took place. In addition to the trophies and medals, the winners received several mobile phones.

“Fiji Chess Federation and all its players are thankful to Vodafone Fiji for partnering with our team for the 2022 National Chess Championship, which helped us to select our 2023 Oceania Zonal reps in Australia from 23-28 January,” stated General Secretary Goru Arvind.

“The Open and Women’s National Champion have qualified to represent Fiji against some of the best chess players from Australia, New Zealand and smaller Pacific Island Countries.”

Sixteen-year-old Tanvi Prasad of Jai Narayan College won the Women’s National Chess Championship title thanks to superior tiebreaks over Jacquelyn Masilomani. Both scored 4/7.

Anisha Eshal Bari finished 3rd in the Women’s Division with 3.5/7 in her first chess tournament.

Newcomer Zayne Elmond Keshwan impressed in his maiden tournament by winning the Secondary School’s Division (4/7) thanks to better tiebreaks over Ayush Chand of Jai Nayaran College and Ryan Kumar, who scored an equal amount of points. As a result, Zayne Elmond Keshwan was given the Best Beginner Award.

“With our official playing venue at Fiji Olympic House becoming operational this month, we are eager to host the 2022 National Blitz Chess Championship in January 2023,” said Goru Arvind.

“The event is once more sponsored by Vodafone Fiji to support our growing sport,” he added.

The Primary School’s Division saw the victory of Arnav Lal of Deenbandhoo Primary School while Anush Shay Chand of Gospel Primary School and 8-year-old Yash Yuvaan Prasad of Deenbandhoo Primary School secured the 2nd and 3rd positions, respectively.

The Vodafone Fiji National Blitz Chess Championship will be held in January 2023.

From fide.com

GM Li Di, GM Xu Xiangyu, and Xi Qi of China share the lead with 5 points each after 6 rounds of the Asian University Men’s chess championship on Tornelo. The tournament is hosted by the Iran University Sports Federation under the auspices of the Asian Chess Federation and Asian University Sports Federation and in cooperation with the International Chess Federation (FIDE), FISU-Oceania and the Iran Chess Federation.

GM Li Di, 23, GM Xu Xiangyu, 23, and Xi Qi, 19 are Physical Education students at Shenzen University in China.

FM Hafiz Arif Abdul, 23, a Technology student at Gunadarma University of Indonesia, FM Hakemi Arman, 20, of Islamic Azad University West of Iran and Rajesh Zagade Gaurav, 20, an Arts student at SPPU in India, follow with 4.5 points each.

Visit chess-results.com for round by round results and standings and to download games. Watch live games on Tornelo.

Xi

The tournament is a combined individual and team event with 9 rounds of the Swiss System. Players from the same team are not be paired with each other. Team results are calculated by the total scores of the top four (4) players of a team. China leads the team race followed by Indonesia and Iran.