GMs Srinath Narayanan of India (above left) and Vitaliy Bernadskiy of Ukraine share the lead with 3 points each in as many rounds of the Sheikh Russel International Grand Masters Chess Competition-2021 at the Hotel Purbani in Dhaka. The event marks the occasion of the birth anniversary of Shahid Sheikh Russel, the youngest son of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The Sheikh Russell International Grand Masters Chess Competition is sponsored by Saif Powertech Limited and organized by the Bangladesh Chess Federation. At stake are a total of $55,000 in cash prizes. Watch the video in https://twitter.com/Asianchess/status/1451312566832021518?s=20

Seventeen players follow with 2½ points each. They are: GM Sergey Tiviakov of Netherlands (above left), GM Michal Krasenkow of Poland, GM Asadli Vugar and Iskandarov Misratdin of Azerbaijan, GM Yuri Solodvnichenko Yuri of Ukraine, GM G A Stany, GM Shyam Sundar, GM Debashis Das, GM R R Laxman, IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete, IM Neelash Saha, IM Koustav Chatterjee, IM Mitrobha Guha and IM Sayantan Das of India, GM Mosadeghpour Masoud and IM Mousavi Seyed Khalil of Iran and GM Vadim Malakatko of Belgium.

Third round games were held today (Thursday). Above, GM Masoud (left) drew with GM Asadli Vugar.

Visit chess-results.com for round by round results, standings and to download games.

4^th round games will start on tomorrow (Friday) from 3:00 PM at same venue.

Asian Chess Federation invites all National Federations in Asia to nominate 2 players (Girls – U20) from each Federation, to attend the upcoming Asian Online Chess Camp for Girls Under-20 (In English) which will be organized by ACF during the period from 28th October to 06th November 2021.

The $55,000 Sheikh Russel International Grand Masters Chess Competition-2021 has begun from today (Tuesday) at Hotel Purbani in Dhaka on the occasion of the birthday celebration of Shahid Sheikh Russel, the youngest son of Father of Nation Banghabandu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The Sheikh Russell International Grand Masters Chess Competition is held under the auspices of Saif Powertech Limited and organized by Bangladesh Chess Federation. Visit chess-results.com for round by round pairings and results and to download games.

Total 102 players from 18 countries including 32 Grandmasters, 1 Women’s Grandmaster, 20 International Masters and 4 Women’s International Masters are participating in the 9-round Swiss-League event.

In first round games all three Bangladeshi Grandmasters won their game. GM Ziaur Rahman (above left) won against CM Ikramul Haq Siam, GM Niaz Murshed (above right) beat Afzal Hossain Sachchu and GM Enamul Hossain Razib (photo below) won against Sakline Mostafa Sajid.

FM Md Taibur Rahman drew with GM Debashis Das of India, CM Tahsin Tajwar Zia drew with GM Andrey Sumets of Ukraine, WCM Ahmed Walijah drew with GM P Karthikeyan of India, Md Sajidul Haque drew with IM Srijit Paul of India.

 

Top seeded GM Sergey Tiviakov won against WGM Nandhidhaa of India. GM Asadli Vugar of Ukraine beat IM Mahmood Lodhi Pakistan,

GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy of Ukraine beat WIM Alinasab Mobina of Iran. CM Liyanage Ranindu Dilshan drew with GM Yuri Solodovnichenko of Ukraine.

GM Deepan Chakkravarthy of India beat FM Subrota Biswas. WIM Arpita Mukharjee beat GM Sadikhov Ulvi of Azerbaijan.

GM N R Vikash of India beat FM Sheikh Nasir Ahmed, Sanket Chakravarty of India drew with GM Michal Krasenkow of Poland.

A total of fifty five thousand US dollars is being awarded in the competition. It is the largest chess event in the country in terms of participating Grandmaster and Money Awards. It is a top chess competition not only in Bangladesh but also in Asia.

2^nd round games will start tomorrow (Wednesday) from 3:00 PM at the same venue.

Visit FIDE site: https://edu.fide.com/third-preparation-of-teacher-course-english-fide-school-instructor-title/

by Marlon Bernardino
MANILA—National Master Oshrie Jhames “OJ” Constantino Reyes of Santa Rita, Pampanga,  scored seven straight points to tally 8.5 points and capture the 3rd Leg of the Philippine Academy for Chess Excellence (PACE)  Online Chess Championship. The 9-round event with 3 minutes and 2 seconds increment per move was held at Lichess.org Platform last Sunday, October 17, 2021.

The ten year old Reyes, a Grade 5 student of EZEE, Guagua, Pampanga topped the 26 player field which attracted all students of Philippine Academy for Chess Excellence under the guidance of Grandmaster Jayson Gonzales and Woman Grandmaster Janelle Mae Frayna.

Ten year old Quarl Maverick Vera Cruz, a Grade 5 student of Balingoan Central School of Balingoan, Misamis Oriental placed second with 7 points while Philip Gregory Pe, 11 years old, a Grade 6 student of Xavier School, San Juan City came third with 6.5 points.

It shall be recalled that Reyes earned the title of the country’s youngest National Master (NM) after winning the 2021 National Age Group Hybrid Chess Championships Grandfinals Under-10 division held online via the Tornelo platform from June 26 to 29, 2021.

OJ’s local and international chess tournament were made possible by the undying support of Pampanga Governor Dennis “Delta Pineda, Pampanga Vice- Governor Lilia “Nanay” Pineda and Pampanga 2nd district Board Member Fritzie David-Dizon.

According to Jubail Kingdom of Saudi Arabia based Mr. Jaime “Jimmy” Reyes, father and coach of OJ, his son’s next tournament will be the Asian Youth Chess Championships on October 29-31, 2021.

OJ is also the top player of PCAP’s Pampanga Checkers squad

Northern Open, North Western Women’s, Southern Open, and Central Women’s events concluded as Sivathanujan, Herath, Chenuka and Chanethma as winners.

 

Sivananthan Sivathanujan (above left) of Kokavil Hindu College was able to win the Northern Open event convincingly with an unbeaten record of 6.5 points out of the 7 rounds played. The game he played in the last round was shared with Jagatheshan Arthigan (above center), the Silver medalist of the event. Arthigan of Jaffna Hindu College won 5.5 points out of 7 rounds and the other two games he shared were played against Vidoosha Jayasinghe and G Thanuharshan in the first and third rounds respectively. Aruthran Arunakirinathan (above right) of Jaffna Hindu College had to satisfy himself with the third-place not because of a difference in points, but due to the disadvantage in tie-breaker. In the second round, he had to respect B Janukshan and his fifth round was shared with Dimuthu Abeywardhana.

 

From the morning all the events looked very interesting as all the top runners were close to each other. Movindi Herath (above left) of Maliyadeva Balika Vidyalaya was able to win the Gold medal of the North-Western Women’s event after winning 6 points out of the 7 games she played. The only game she lost was played against YW Oneli Vihanga Weerawardana in the fourth round. Ranpali Attanayake (above center) of Furguson High School won 5.5 points out of the 7 rounds to win the Silver Medal with the advantage in tie-breaker. The game she lost was played with Herath in the last round while she drew her 1st game with Amadi Vidanapathirana. Prabhodi Methma Wijesinghe (above right) of Sabaragamuwa University was able to win the bronze medal due to a small difference of half a point in tie-braker. In the third round, she had to satisfy with a half a point against Taniya Kumari and she lost her fifth round, to Ranpali.

Chenuka Nethvidu Jayawardena (above left) of Aloysious College who won 6 points out of the 7 games won the Gold medal in Southern Open event with a gap of half a point from the Silver medalist. Until the end, he was able to survive with an unbeaten record, and the games he played in round 1 and round 5 were shared with H Gayaru Fernando and HG Haritha Hansana, respectively. G Haritha Hansana (above center) of Rahula College won second place being unbeaten with the advantage in the tie-breaker. Haritha drew two games with Thisal Manjith Piyumantha, Chenuka and  Pamok Samaranayake  in his 7 games while scoring 4 wins.  The bronze medalist went to M Thisal Manjith Piyumatha (above right) of Dharmasoka College losing one game to Chenuka and a draw with Haritha.

Concluding the Central Women’s event, Chanethma Devangin Marasinghe (above left) of Girls High School won the Gold medal at the end of a tough battle with the advantage in tie-braker. She won 5.5 points out of 7 games played with last two games she played ending up as draws against Rumethma Thennakoon and a loss against H M R M K Herath respectively. The Silver medal was won by Wishwara Mapa (above center) of Girls High School with 5.5 points losing her fifth round game with Chanetma and having a draw in last round with Rumethma Thennakoon. Rashini Herath (above right) of Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology won the bronze medal with the difference in tie-breaker. Even though she lost the initial round against Oshadhi Piyathilaka in the first round, she ended the tournament in top three. She drew her game with Hesara Gunasekara.

The Chess Federation of Sri Lanka is organizing a comprehensive Online Rapid National Chess Championship Cycle for the first time in Sri Lanka which started from the 1st week of June 2021. The 7 Novices Division events and 7 Women’s Novices Division events were finished on the 15th of August 2021 successfully.

This event is the selection for National Chess Championship which is the selection event for the International Online Rapid Chess Championships in the next year. The event will help all Chess players to stay at home at this difficult time with supporting to grow their Chess Strength.

The all events of the National Chess Championship Cycle are being held on the Chess.com platform with all the fair play regulations approved by FIDE.  The Time Control will be 15 minutes + 10-second increment for each move played

The next is Online SL National (Premier Division) Chess Championship 2021 which is the final Swiss System event of 11 rounds. All qualified from Major Division and players having more than 1900 (Women over 1600) rating are eligible to participate in the event. The first 16 players will be qualified for the Online National Chess Championship 2021 – Finals

Online SL National Chess Championship 2021 – Finals

Stage 1

A Round Robin Event of first 16 players of National B Chess Championships 2021

Stage 2

Knocked out Event among first 4 players as Semi-Finals and Finals/ Consolation Finals with

Two games with playing tie breaks.

Awards

Trophies and Medals will be awarded to the winners in all events and the Championship title for

the winner in the age group.

A total of Rs. 180,000/= will be awarded as the cash awards to National Finals stage II and

National Premier Division as given Below:

SL Online National Chess Championship 2021 – Finals

Open                    Women

Champion –        Rs., 40,000/=           Rs. 25,000/=

1st Runner Up – Rs. 25,000/= Rs. 15,000/=

2nd Runner Up – Rs. 12,000/= Rs. 8,000/=

4th Place – Rs. 7,000/= Rs. 4,000/=

SL Online National (Premier Division) Chess Championship 2021 – Finals

Open                   Women

Champion –                 Rs, 15,000/=        Rs. 10,000/=

1st Runner Up –           Rs. 10,000/=       Rs. 5,000/=

2nd Runner Up –          Rs. 5,000/=          Rs. 3,000/=

Shakya Peiris

by Marlon Bernardino
MANILA—Chester Neil Reyes dominated the Mariz Manalo (photo) Online Chess Championship virtually held at lichess.org. platform Sunday night, October 17, 2021.

Reyes scored 118 points to rule the Arena tournament and receive the top prize of P2,000 in this 296 player’s field backed up by Mariz Manalo, niece of International Billiards and Snooker Champion Marlon Manalo.

Narquingel Reyes settled for second with 107 points to romp home with P1,000 while 13-times Philippine Open Champion Grandmaster Rogelio “Joey” Antono Jr. came third with 84 points to pocket P500.

Adjudged category winners to receive P500 each were National Master Jonathan Tan (Top Senior),  Paul Sanchez (Top Mandaluyong) and online Arena Grandmaster Almario Marlon Bernardino Jr. (Top Media).

Mariz Manalo also supported chess for a cause match up last Friday and started giving free rice Sunday to the Tricycle drivers and Senior Citizens of 1st district of Mandaluyong City

Southern Open, Northern Open, North Western, Uva with Rathnapura Women’s and Central  with Kegalle Women’s events

Chenuka, Sivathanujan, Sithumsa, and Mapa conclude day 1 as top performers out of the four rounds played in each respective event.

 Ranpali Attanayake                 Oneli Vihanga Weerawardena,  Sasmi Sithumsa

Concluding day 1 of the North-Western women’s event, H G Sasmi Sithumsa of Lyceum International, Ratnapura clinched the peak of the event with an unbeaten record while Oneli Vihanga Weerawardena also of Lyceum International, Ratnapura is following her with a narrow gap in tie-brakes.  Ranpali Attanayake (Furguson High School) and Prabodi Methma Wijesinghe(Sabaragamuwa University of SL) are following the throne with winning 3.5 points out of the 4 rounds played during the day.

Gayaru Dulsara Fernando,    Thisal Manjith Piyumantha, Chenuka Nethvidu Jayawardena

Meanwhile Chenuka Nethvidu Jayawardena of Richmond College was able to step into day 2 as the leader of the Southern Open event with 3.5 points in his pocket. Thisal Manjith Piyumantha of Dharmasoka College, H Gayaru Dulsara Fernando of Dharmasoka College and H G Haritha Hansana of Rahula College are following him not because of a difference in points but due to the tie-brake system and their position at the end of the day are second, third, and fourth respectively.

Subhagi Kushali Somarathna, Chanethma Marasinghe,    Wishwara Mapa

In the Central Women’s event, M M H Wishwara Mapa of Girls High School, Kandy and Chanethma Devangi Marasinghe also of Girls High School, Kandy was able to take the lead with a huge gap of a point from Subhagi Kushali Somarathna(Swarnamali Girls School, Kandy), Oshadi Ruwanya Priyathilaka(Kegalu BMV), Gehansa Ranumi Dange(GHS, Kandy), Rumethma Thennakoon(GHS, Kandy) and H M H Janandani Abeysinghe(NSBM), Gree University) who won 3 points out the 4 games played and they are currently placed as third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

T M Miul Bandara                    Dimuthu Abewardhana               S Sivathanujan

In the day 1 of the Northern Open event was concluded in the favor of  S Sivathanujan of Kandy YMCA CC while A A B D Dimuthu Abewardhana (SL Army) and T M Miul Bandara (Anuradhapura Central College) are giving a great fight to clinch the peak and willing to see a great battle tomorrow in the top boards of the this event as well as in the other events.

The Chess Federation of Sri Lanka is organizing a comprehensive Online Rapid Chess

Championship Cycle for the first time in Sri Lanka started from the 1st week of June 2021. The 7

Novices Division events and 7 Women’s Novices Division events were finished on the 15th of

August 2021 successfully.

 

This event is the selection National Chess Championship is the selection event for the

International Online Rapid Chess Championships in the future. The event will help all Chess

players to stay at home at this difficult time with supporting to grow their Chess Strength. The

event is being held on the Chess.com flat form with all the fair play regulations approved by

FIDE.

 

The Time Control will be 15 minutes + 10-second increment for each move played

.

The Remaining Major Division events will be held in 2 Weeks ends:

9th & 10th October 2021 – Western I (Open), North Western & Uva with Rathnapura

(Open),

Western II (Women), and Southern (Women)

 

16th & 17th October 2021- Northern (Open), Southern Open Central With Kegalle

(Women),

and North Western & Uva with Ratnapura (Women)

The event is scheduled in 6 stages:

2. SL National Online Majors Division Chess Championships
3. Western 1
4. Western 2
5. Central, Kegalle

4.North Western, Ratnapura

5. Southern
6. Northern

 

Eligibility – Rating Greater than 1199 and less than 1899 and selected players from relevant

Novices Chess Championship for the Open Section.

Rating Greater than 1099 and less than 1599 for Women’s events and qualified players from

Women Novices in the respective region.

 

The Qualification to Online National Premier is that for the first 20 players in the starting rank

list 10 players will qualify and for every subsequent 5 players, an additional 1 player will qualify.

No of Qualifiers = 10 + {(T-20)/5} T-Total Players

If there are 50 players in an event 16 players are qualified.

Online SL National (Premier Division) Chess Championship 2021

The final Swiss System event of 11 rounds. All qualified from Major Division and players

 

having more than 1900 (Women over 1600) rating are eligible to participate in the event. The

first 16 players will be qualified for the Online National Chess Championship 2021 – Finals

Online SL National Chess Championship 2021 – Finals

 

Stage 1

A Round Robin Event of first 16 players of National B Chess Championships 2021

Stage 2

Knocked out Event among first 4 players as Semi-Finals and Finals/ Consolation Finals with

Two games with playing tie breaks.

Awards

Trophies and Medals will be awarded to the winners in all events and the Championship title for

the winner in the age group.

A total of Rs. 180,000/= will be awarded as the cash awards to National Finals stage II and

National Premier Division as given Below:

SL Online National Chess Championship 2021 – Finals

Open Women

Champion – Rs, 40,000/= Rs. 25,000/=

1st Runner Up – Rs. 25,000/= Rs. 15,000/=

 

2nd Runner Up – Rs. 12,000/= Rs. 8,000/=

4th Place – Rs. 7,000/= Rs. 4,000/=

SL Online National (Premier Division) Chess Championship 2021 – Finals

Open Women

Champion – Rs, 15,000/= Rs. 10,000/=

1st Runner Up – Rs. 10,000/= Rs. 5,000/=

2nd Runner Up – Rs. 5,000/= Rs. 3,000/=

 

The event details can be reach from the following links:

http://chess-results.com/tnr584222.aspx?lan=1

http://chess-results.com/tnr584224.aspx?lan=1

http://chess-results.com/tnr584223.aspx?lan=1

http://chess-results.com/tnr584221.aspx?lan=1

 

Stay Safe! Enjoy Chess!

Shakya Peiris

 

by Marlon Bernardino
MANILA, Philippines—The Laguna Heroes pulled a 12-9 escape over Penang, Malaysia in the third conference of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) virtually held at Chess.com Platform on Saturday, October 16, 2021.

Backed up by Greatech Philippines, Inc., SDC Global Choice, Jolly Smile Dental Clinic, KALARO and Rotary Club of Nuvali,  Grandmaster Rogelio “Banjo” Barcenilla Jr., FiDE Master Austin Jacob Literatus and Michella Concio delivered the victories for Laguna in the rapid competition by pulling off contrasting wins over Loo Xin Hao, NM Evan Timothy Capel and WCM Chua Jia-Tien.

Barcenilla outclassed Hao in 30 moves of an English Opening, Literatus beat Capel in 78 moves of a Polish Opening while Concio subdued Jia-Tien in 57 moves of a Sicilian defense.

Grandmaster John Paul Gomez drew with Poh Yu Tian in 54 moves of a Gruenfeld defense to hold Penang to a 7-7 stand-off in the rapid competition.

Eric Cheah,  CM Tan Jun Ying and NM Tse Han carried the good fight for the Penang squad after beating FIDE Master Jose Efren Bagamasbad,  Vince Angelo Medina and Kimuel Aaron Lorenzo.

Cheah trounced Bagamasbad in 34 moves of a French defense, Jun Ying nipped Medina in 77 moves of a Caro-Kann defense while Han crushed Lorenzo in 57 moves of a Modern defense.

Earlier, the Laguna Heroes defeated Penang, Malaysia, 5-2, in the blitz game.

“We really admire our players for showing great determination to stay undefeated. Hoping to continue having fine games in the coming matches.” said Arena Grandmaster Dr. Fred Paez, one of the four co-team owners of the Laguna Heroes that include Mr. David Nithyananthan of KALARO, Engr. Benjamin Dy of SDC Global Choice and Engr. Jonathan Mamaril of Oregon, USA.

“It was a tough match,” said Barcenilla, a two-time Asian Junior champion who is currently based in Chandler, Arizona, USA.

The Laguna Heroes also dealt Mindoro Tamaraws an 18-3 thrashing.

With the back-to back wins, the Laguna Heroes remain on top alongside San Juan Predators and Pasig City King Pirates with 7-0 clean slate in the Northern division. The Paralympics, meantime lord over the Southern division with 7-0 record

The All India Chess Federation (AICF) signed a historic agreement with MPL Foundation for a sponsorship amount of One Crore (around US$132,800) towards the sponsorships for Indian National Championships for the next five years with a 20% increase every year.

The agreement comes soon after Indian women’s first ever  Silver Medal in the World Team Championship and the Bronze medal for the online Chess Olympiad.

MPL, largely associated with gaming, will hold the rights to be the title sponsors for various National championships across all formats starting from Under-7. age groups.

This is the first time ever that a Corporate sponsor has got in to a long term agreement with the AICF and the
credit goes to the new team that has been getting a lot of praise from all corners.

The new team took over AICF in January this year and since then the most prominent works are as under:
1. Organization of Online Arbiter (Referee) refresher Courses and development of 500+ arbiters equipped to organize online and over the board events.

2. Training and certification of more than 1200 trainers for Chess in Schools program, program was conducted by Grandmaster and International Masters.

3. Organization of 28 national level chamionships online with participation of more than 15000 players.

4. AICF awarded prize money of 40 Lacs in the national Championships.

5. Creating a Covid-relief fund for chess fraternity along with top players from the country like Anand, Koneru Humpy, D.Harika, Vidit Gujarati etc, and more than Rs. 1300000 released to 50+ beneficiaries.

6. Created a welfare fund of Rs 5000000 (fifty lac) for Players and Arbiters for emergency assistance.

7. Indian team participated in online Asian School championships & Western Asian Championships winning 51 medals.

8. Indian team participated in online world youth championships winning 4 medals.

9. Indian team of 12 members under the captainship of V.Anand participated in Online chess Olympiad and won the Bronze medal.

10. Indian women team created history by winning the silver medal for country in World Team Chess championships

“This is a new era for chess in India and we are committed to keep working for the betterment of the game and also to make India the number one Chess playing nation in the world”, said Dr. Sanjay Kapoor.

AICF Secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan attributed the success to a selfless approach. “I am proud to say that
today we have people who are very committed towards upliftment of the game, the game has grown many folds in the last one year and this is only the beginning”, said Chauhan.

–EOM
Email : indianchessfed@gmail.com
Hony Secretary, All India Chess Federation
Bharat Singh Chauhan
Mobile : 9810000007