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The 2022 FIDE World Amateur Championship took place October 20-30 in Malta and was held in four sections: U2300, U2000, U1700 and Women U1700. Women playing in the open sections U2300 and U2000 were eligible to win prizes from both categories. All the competitions were 9-round Swiss tournaments with standard time control.

In the Open U2300 section, it all came down to the final round. Abilmansur Abdilkhair from Kazakhstan (pictured above) scored a very important victory over Colombian Juan David Becerra and claimed gold with 7.5/9. Abilmansur improved his result compared to the 2021 FIDE World Amateur Chess Championships, where he finished second in the same section.

Naranbold Sodbilegt (number 46 on the starting list) (pictured above) was the sole leader in the Open U2000 from start to finish – the 13-year-old Mongolian took gold with a perfect 9 out of 9.

Two players tied for first place in U1700, with Soninbayar Tuguldur of Mongolia (pictured above) claiming gold thanks to better Buchholz over Aleksandr Martynov (FIDE), who had to settle for silver. The 13-year-old winner was number 50 on the starting list.

Meri Grigoryan (England), Julia Gorozhankina (Latvia) and Nino Kordzadze (Austria) scored 3.5 points out of 9 and became the top-rated women in the Open U2300 section. They took gold, silver, and bronze in the Women U2300, respectively.

Margarita Baliuniene of Lithuania finished ninth out of 75 players in the Open U2000 section and secured gold in the Women U2000.

In the Women U1700, Margadgua Erdenebayar from Mongolia (pictured above) won the title with a round to spare, scoring 8.5 points out of 9. Margadgua said she started playing chess by chance while in the hospital. But now she is determined to tie her life with chess: “This year, I want to become a FIDE master, and in the future, my goal is to become a grandmaster.”

Final standings:

Here are the photos of the top three in their respective divisions:

Open U2300

1. Abilmansur Abdilkhair (Kazakhstan)
2. Zhuban Bigabylov (Kazakhstan)
3. Juan David Becerra (Colombia)

Open U2000

1. Naranbold Sodbilegt (Mongolia)
2. Matias Hurtado Bahamonde (Chile)
3. Aasef Alashtar (France)

Open U1700

1. Soninbayar Tuguldur (Mongolia)
2. Aleksandr Martynov (FIDE)
3. Farhaan M (India)

Women U2300

1. Meri Grigoryan (England)
2. Julia Gorozhankina (Latvia)
3. Nino Kordzadze (Austria)

Women U2000

1. Margarita Baliuniene (Lithuania)
2. Helen Montiel Caceres (Paraguay)
3. Anna Andrzejewska (Poland)

Women U1700

1. Margadgua Erdenebayar (Mongolia)
2. Arailym Alipbek (Kazakhstan)
3. Guruprasad Amulya (India)

According to tournament director Nikolaos Kalesis, this year, a record number of foreign players came to Malta to participate in the Championships. In total, the event brought together 197 players from 51 federations, including 27 title-holders.

The FIDE World Amateur Chess Championships were held in the 4-star Conference Hotel “Paradise Bay Resort”, 30 km north of Malta International Airport, on the northern seaside of Malta Island from October 20-30. This year the prize fund was increased to €15,000 – from €10,000 last year.

Photos: Andreas Kontokanis
flickr.com/photos/karpidis/albums/72177720303080598

Official website: malta2022.net/

Complete results:
chess-results.com/tnr669871.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=9&fed=FRA&flag=30

News from FIDE.com

New Delhi (30 Oct 2022) :- After five hours of grueling battle, eleventh seed Woman Grandmaster Priyanka Nuttaki (above left) shocked top seed and former Asian Woman Champion Tania Sachdev to share the lead with three others at 3.5 points each after 4 rounds of the Asian Continental Women’s Chess Championship. Watch live games on chess.com and chess24 and for women.

Saina Salonika (above left) downed fourth seed and 2016 edition winner Bhakti Kulkarni to tie for the lead at 3.5 points each together with WGM Nandhidhaa P V of India and WGM Vo Thi Kim Phung of Vietnam.

The Asian Continental Chess Championship is being organized by the All India Chess Federation under the auspices of the Asian Chess Federation and FIDE at the Leela Ambience Convention Hotel in New Delhi, India. Visit chess-results.com to download games.

In the Open section, top seed Praggnanandhaa R (above left) defeated IM Pranav Anand to join overnight sole leader Leon Luke Mendonca and four others in the leaders board. Pragganandhaa and Mendonca now have the company of compatriot Karthikeyan Murali, Harsha Bharathakoti, Turkmenistan Grandmaster Maksat Atabayev and International Master Koustav Chatterjee with 3.5 points each after 4 rounds.

On top board Mendonca (above left) showed great defensive skill to hold second seed Narayanan S L while Karthikeyan Murali outwitted Aditya Mittal in fine crafted play with a pair of bishops. Harsha Bharthakoti (below right) joined the leaders after capitalizing on crucial errors made by his Indian Grandmaster rival Sandipan Chanda while Koustav Chatterjee had a lucky escape against Kazakh No. 1 Grandmaster Rinat Jumabayev to secure full point from the outing.  The lone non-Indian among the leaders, Atabayev got the better of Grandmaster Aryan Chopra in a long battle that ended after 90 moves.

GM Praggnanandhaa R thrilled spectators with his sacrificial attack against Pranav Anand (see diagram below after White’s 26. g5) when Pragg unleashed 26 … Na2!

Pragg forced resignation on the 44th move (diagram below). Replay the game in chess.com

In other important encounters in the Women’s section, Nandhidhaa P V beat Vantika Agrawal while Vietnamese Women Grandmaster Vo Thi Kim Phung defeated Liya Kurmangaliyeva to be at joint leaders position along with Priyanka, Nandhidhaa and Soumya Swaminathan, who beat Thi Mai Hung Nguyen of Vietnam in the fourth round encounter.

New Delhi (29 Oct) :- Grandmaster Leon Luke Mendonca of India (above right) defeated Mongolian Grandmaster Batchuluun Tsegmed to emerge as the solo leader with a perfect score after the end of the third round of the Asian Continental Chess Championship now underway at the Leela Ambience in New Delhi, India.

The tournament is organized by the All India Chess Federation under the auspices of the Asian Chess Federation and FIDE. Visit chess-results.com.

On what turned out to be a tough day for the Mongolian, Mendonca capitalized on most of the opportunities offered by his rival and took the point home.

In other important encounters, two-time Indian national champion Karthikeyan Murali missed the opportunity to garner full point and satisfied himself with half a point against Koustav Chatterjee on top board while top seed Praggnanandhaa and second seed Narayanan S L got the better of Pranesh M and Urazayev Arystanbek of Kazakhstan, respectively.

In the women’s section, continuing her impressive show Kazakh girl Liya Kurmangaliyeva held International Master Soumya Swaminathan to a creditable draw.

Woman International Master Saina Salonika (above right) shocked second seed Nomin Erdene Davaademberel of Mongolia. It is the second defeat for the second seeded Mongolian in three matches as she suffered a setback in the opening round against Kurmangaliyeva.

Ten players including top seed Tanaia Sachdev (above left), who defeated Kiran Manisha Mohanty, are now sharing the lead with two and a half points.

Indian Sub-Junior champion International Master Pranesh M (photo above) scored an upset victory over two time national champion and sixth seed Aravindh Chithambaram while third seed and member of Uzbekistan team which won Olympiad Gold Grandamster Nodirbek Yakubboev suffered a major setback to his title hopes and suffered shock defeat by the hands of Saparmyrat Atabayev of Turkmenistan in the second round of ongoing Asian Continental Chess Championship, 27th October here at Leela Ambience Convention Hotel in New Delhi, India.

After a creditable draw against the top seed Praggnanandhaa in the opening round, Atabayev (above right) showed his class again to defeat his fancied rival in 57 moves of a transposed English Opening while playing with dark pieces in Kalashnikov variation of Sicilian defence, Aravindh faced time pressure towards first time control and failed to recover from a cramped position to handover full point to his younger rival.

Meanwhile in the Women’s section also there was no dearth for excitement as opting for classical variation of Scotch Game, Rakshitta Ravi (above left) defeated former Asian Women’s Champion Bhakti Kulkarni on top board while Sakshi Chitlange (below right) who held top seed Tania Sachdev in the opening round held Padmini Rout to a creditable draw.

Vietnamese Women Grandmaster Thi Mai Hung Nguyen defeated Indian women champion Divya Deshmukh while FIDE Master Liya Kurmangaliyeva of Kazakhstan outwitted Women Grandmaster Mary Ann Gomes.

Here are results of top matches:

New Delhi (27 Oct 2022) :- The Asian Continental Chess Championship 2022 got off to a rousing start here at Leela Ambience Convention Hotel on Wednesday. Participating are 140 players from 13 Asian countries including 31 Grandmasters, 46 International Masters, 14 Women Grandmasters and 17 Women International Masters. Visit chess-results.com.

Apart from Asian supremacy, the event serves as qualification for the next year’s World Cup as the top four players in the Open and two players in the women’s category will secure their berth in the cycle.

On the opening day, top seeds and favourites Praggnandhaa and Tania Sachdev started their championship campaign with draws while ninth seed Abhijeet Gupta and women’s second seed Nomin Erdene Davaademberel of Mongolia suffered shock defeats to be the biggest casualties.

Turkmenistan’s Saparmyrat Atabayev (above left) forced Pragganandhaa to sign the peace treaty after 47 moves.

Tania Sachdev (above right) settled for half point against Sakshi Chitlange after 26 moves that ended with three-fold repetition of moves.

Gupta suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Amartuvshin Ganzorig of Mongolia while Liya Kurmangaliyeva got the better of Davaademberel.

In other upsets of the day, untitled Sanket Chakravarthy (above) outwitted Grandmaster Arjun Kalyan while Sharan Rao (be;pw) outwitted Grandmaster Deep Sengupta.

S Nitin (above) and Moksh Amit Doshi (below) held Kazakh Grandmaster Rinat Jumabayev and fifth seed Aryan Chopra respectively in the first round.

Photos by Shahid Ahmed & Aditya Sur Roy

The Asian Continental Chess Championship Open and Women’s started today, 26 October, in New Delhi, India, organized by the All India Chess Federation under the auspices of the Asian Chess Federation and FIDE. Visit chess-results.com.

The $60,000 Manny Pacquiao International Open Chess Festival reels off 13-17 December 2022 at the hometown of the world famous boxer in General Santos City, Philippines. Download MPCL Tournament Primer_Dec._13-17_2022. The event is organized by the Maharlika Pilipinas Chess League (MPCL) under the auspices of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines and FIDE.

Bangladesh has achieved the honor of becoming the undefeated champion in the six-nation Sheikh Russell Cup Invitational Team Chess Championship 2022 sponsored by Saif Powertech Limited 13-20 October 2022 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Bangladesh team won the title by getting 3 match points and 6 game points in two games in the Super League. Visit chess-results.com for Preliminaries and for Super League Final.

The tournament was organized to commemorate the birth anniversary of Sheikh Russell, the youngest son of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Sheikh Russell Day,

Sri Lanka are runners-up with 3 match points and 5 game points.

Nepal are third with 1 game point without getting any match points. Pakistan finished fourth, Maldives fifth and Bhutan sixth in the six-nation event.

Bangladesh team was composed of GM Enamul Hossain Razib, GM Ziaur Rahman, GM Niaz Murshed, International Master Mohammad Fahad Rahman and IM Mohammad Minhaz Uddin. FIDE Instructor Masudur Rahman Mallick served as the captain of the Bangladesh team.

Representing the runner-up Sri Lankan team were Senevirathane  S D B K, IMaster De Silva L M S T, FM Liyanane Ranindu Dilshan, Kaluarachchi Achinthya Shamen and Tennakooe Lisara Samadith and team captain is: W M Kanishka Welipitiya.

Representing the Nepal team were: FM Rajbhandari Rijendra, FM Bilam Lal Shrestha (Captani) , Singhesor Das, Rajendra Bajracharya and Shrestha Rajendra Prasad.

Prize distribution was held 20th October at Hotel 71’s Banquet Hall. President of Bangladesh Chess Federation and South Asian Chess Council Dr. Benazir Ahmed, BPM (Bar) was present as Chief Guest and distributed the prizes among the winners.

Honorable Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh Mr. Mejbah Uddin was present as a special guest.

Vice President of Bangladesh Chess Federation K M Shahidulla presided over the ceremony.

Syed Shahab Uddin Shamim, General Secretary of Bangladesh Chess Federation and President FIDE Zone 3.2 gave a welcome speech.

Mohammad Hanif Qureshi, President of Pakistan Chess Federation, Wnagchuk Ugyen Wangchuk, General Secretary of Bangladesh Chess Federation, Bangladesh Chess Federation Joint Secretary Mr. Masudur Rahman Mallick, Chief Arbiter IA Md Haroon Or Rashid, Executive Member Moniruzzaman Palash, Executive Member Mr. Zakir Ahmed and Executive Member Mr. Sajal Mahmud were also present in the ceremony.

A total of 10,000 (ten thousand) US dollars was awarded in the competition. Champion team Bangladesh won 4,000 (four thousand) US dollars, runner’s up team Sri Lanka 3,000 (three thousand) US dollars, third place Nepal 2,000 (two thousand) US dollars, fourth place Pakistan 1,000 (one thousand) US dollars prize is awarded.

Earlier Honorable Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh Mr. Mejbah Uddin inaugurated the event on 13th October and was present as a chief guest.

Vietnam won five gold medals followed by India with 3 golds and Iran with 1 each of gold and silver, to top the Asian Youth Chess Championship in standard time control 15th-20th October 2022 in Bali, Indonesia. Close to 500 children competed in the 9-round Swiss tournament organized by the Indonesian Chess Federation (PERCASI) on behalf of the Asian Chess Federation and FIDE. Visit chess-results.com.

Ninety six players from 15 countries are competing in the Asian Continental Chess Championship while 53 women from 11 countries are in the women’s division, both scheduled 25 October to 4 November in New Delhi, India. The premier Asian championship is organized by the All India Chess Federation under the auspices of FIDE and the Asian Chess Federation.

Top seed in the Open is GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (born 10 August 2005). “Pragg” earned the international master title at the age of 10, the youngest at the time to do so, and the grandmaster title at age 12, the second-youngest at the time to do so. On 22 February 2022, at the age of 16, he became the youngest player till then to defeat current world champion Magnus Carlsen, when he beat Carlsen in a rapid game at the Airthings Masters Rapid Chess Tournament.

Top seed in the Women’s division is IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul, a Mongolian international master and the top-ranked woman in her country. She won the 2010 Women’s World University Chess Championship and took silver next year at the 2011 Summer Universiade event. Munguntuul has represented her home country in several team events.

Visit chess-results.com for full list of registered players

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