Chinese Taipei Chess Association (CTCA) has the honor to invite all national chess federations to participate in the 2019 CTCA International Chess Open to be organized in Kaohsiung, Taiwan from 17th July (arrival) to 25th July (departure) 2019.
Please download prospectus: 2019 CTCA Chess Open英文
Report by Shohreh Bayat
The 17th International Chess Festival “Caspian Cup 2019” and “3rd Chess Stars Cup” was officially opened in Anzali Free Zone in Iran on 11 February 2019 and held from 12-19 February 2019. No less than 20 countries were represented in this annual event organised by the Gilan Chess Association under the auspices of Chess Federation of the Islamic.Republic of Iran and which attracted well over 750 participants.
3rd Chess Stars Cup
With many brilliant young Iran players now making their way up the global rankings, taking centre stage was the third edition of the Stars Cup, a competition between a team of Iran’s best against an experienced group of foreign Grandmasters.
The format was the Scheveningen System which pitted the World Stars comprising GM Eltaj Safarli form Azernaijan, GM Evgeny Alekseev from Russia, GM Marin Bosiocic from Croatia, and GM Sergey Tiviakov from Netherlands against the Iran Stars comprising World Junior Champion GM Parham Maghsoodloo, GM Alireza Firouzja, GM Mohammad Amin Tabatabaei and GM Amirreza Pourramezanali.
After 8 rounds of competition, the Iran Stars convincingly prevailed over the World Stars with a match point score of 10 to 6 and game point score of 17 to 15.
Iranian super talent Alireza Firouzja was the only undefeated player and he gained +17.2 rating points.
Parham Maghsooloo also played well and gained +6.6 rating points.
GM Marin Bosiocic was however the most uncompromising player in the tournament with no draws, with 4 wins and 4 losses and scoring 4 out of 8.
GM Alekseev also played some great games and achieved a performance rating of 2644.
Mohammad Amin Tabatabaei by gaining +5.2 rating points has once again reached a 2600 rating.
17th Caspian Cup
The 17th Caspian Cup was another event that took place in the same time in the same place and is considered to be the most representative open tournament in Iran and where in recent years, has even seen such global chess stars as Anatoly Karpov and Nigel Short as special guests.
The event consisted of five groups according to the rating of the participants – А (2100 and more), B (2099-1800), C (1799 and less) D (Women) and C (Youth- Under 14). Participants of all the groups played in 9 or 11 rounds according to the Swiss system.
This year the winner of the Masters or A Group were Iran GM Masoud Mosadeghpour with Vitaliy Bernadskiy from Ukraine and GM Karen Grigoryan from Armenia in 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
Report by Paul Spiller
The 2019 Zone 3.6 was successfully organised by President Roger Orio and Guam Echecs in Tumon from February 17-23 at the Pacific Star hotel.
It also featured important meetings involving Oceania Presidents and delegates and meetings with FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich and treasurer Zhu Chen.
From these meetings proposals have been drafted for developing chess in Oceania and suggestions to involve more of our Pacific neighbours in Oceania competitions.
The Open tournament was won outright by the highest ranked player, GM Max Illingworth of Australia on 7.5/9 who overcame an upset first round loss to local player Felix Lacno whilst the Women’s event was won with a picket fence by Australian WGM Julia Ryjanova.
Second place in the Open was won somewhat unexpectedly although completely deservedly by FM Shaun Press of Australia who was only seeded 10th at the start.
He was undefeated but had crucial victories over Tony Dowden, Angelito Camer and in the last round against Felix Lacno.
Shaun made his first IM norm with this result. Three players tied for 3rd on 6 points also gaining FM titles: Clive Ng (Australia), Manuel Enofre (Guam) and John Duneas (New Zealand). John was also undefeated.
In the Women’s event, Rebecca Stones ( Australia) took clear second on 7.5 points gaining the WFM title and 3rd place went to 14 year old Vyanla Punsalan from New Zealand on 7 points.
To All Asian National Chess Federations
Asian Chess Federation is pleased to announce that the Asian Chess Summit 2019 is scheduled 27 March (arrival) to 31 March (departure) in the United Arab Emirates including the Asian Chess Symposium, Asian Chess Development Program, Asian Chess Forum and Asian Chess Excellence Awards.
Bilateral meetings and among zone members will be scheduled during the summit. Invitations to follow.
FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich played the ceremonial first moves against Lt. Governor Josh Tenorio of Guam to mark the opening of the 2019 Zone 3.6 Championships being held here between February 18-23.
The previous evening the Guam Chess Federation hosted a wonderful Welcome Dinner at the Star Pacific Hotel in Tumon which is the venue for the tournament. Addresses were given by Guam Chess president Roger Orio, The Honorable Alberto C. Lamorena III, Presiding Judge of Guam, Zhu Chen former Women’s World Champion and Paul Spiller, president of Zone 3.6.
The guests and players were entertained by the Natibu Dance Academy, guest singer Erica Faye S Tubera and the Flag Ceremony and national anthems were undertaken by the George Washington High School Colour Guard.
Report by Paul Spiller
The Memorandum of understanding was made on the 30th of January 2019 between ASEAN CHESS CONFEDERATION (“ACC” – Prospero A. Pichay Jr. – President of the ACC) and EUROPEAN CHESS UNION (“ECU” = Zurab Azmaiparashvili – President of the ECU).
The overarching purpose of this MOU is to provide a framework for cooperation between the Parties that would be mutually beneficial and it is to precede a longer-term contract arrangement in which working documents and deliverables relating to particular projects or undertakings towards cooperation are produced.
The guiding principle behind the MOU is mutual friendship, trust and respect and a common desire to advance the interests of chess in Europe and the ASEAN region.
The scope of the cooperation between the Parties includes the organisation of a periodic chess match between Europe and the ASEAN member nations, technical cooperation including best practices in the organisation of chess events and the sharing of knowledge and experience in developing chess academies and chess in education.
L-R: Howick Chess club patron Paul Heath QC, Timur Gareyev, Brandon Clarke, and NZ Chess Federation patron Jim Benson.
Report by Paul Spiller
The 2019 NZ Open Championships finished in a tie between English FM ( now IM elect) Brandon Clarke and US Open Champion GM Timur Gareyev with Brandon taking the trophy of NZ Open Champion because of a slightly better tiebreak.
In the last round Brandon drew with IM Alex Wohl and GM Gareyev defeated FM Bob Smith to both finish undefeated on 7/9.
This completed a successful month of tournaments for Brandon who also won the Australasian Masters in Melbourne in December and the George Trundle Masters in Auckland in early January so completing all the requirements for his IM title.
In third place were GM’s Vasily Papin, Darryl Johansen, IM’s Alex Wohl, Leonid Sandler, Russell Dive, Anthony Ker and FM Dusan Stojic.
Dive & Ker were crowned co- New Zealand Champions as the highest placed kiwis. This was Ker’s 14th NZ title and Dive’s 6th !
The record for NZ Championship titles is held by IM Ortvin Sarapu who won the title on no fewer than 20 occasions, probably a world record for national chess championships.
Finally, a big thanks to the Kasparov Chess Foundation Asia Pacific for their generous sponsorship of the NZ Open Championship 2019!
Full details at: http://www.newzealandchess.co.nz/results.html
Report by Paul Spiller
The Auckland Chess Centre In cooperation with the NZ Chess Federation organised the inaugural Oceania Youth and Under 20 Championships at the Alexandra Park racecourse in Greenland, Auckland from January 5 – 13.
It was the culmination of nearly two years planning since the awarding of this event to Oceania. 143 players from 5 Oceania countries competed including Fiji and 1i3 strong delegation from New Caledonia.
Dispensation from the Asian Federation allowed this to happen which also helped to fulfill the minimum 3 federation requirements for titles to be awarded.
A large contingent of over 60 players plus 20 accompanying persons from Australia boosted the numbers.
The Chief Organiser was FM Mike Steadman and Chief Arbiter IA Keong Ang.
Karl Zelesco won the Under 20 section and the IM title although he had already just completed his IM qualifications at the Australasian Masters in Melbourne in December. He also picked up his first GM norm.
The under 20 girls section was dominated by the two New Zealand players (and NZ Olympiad team members) WFM’s Jasmine Zhang and Vyanla Punsalan although they are both only aged 14.
Their individual encounter ultimately decided who would come first with Jasmine the victor.
Her score of 8/9 was exceptional. She qualified for the WIM title subject to her reaching a 2000 rating. I am pleased to say that her good form continued on to the NZ Open Championships including a first round draw with IM Leonid Sandler of Australia.
She has now gained enough Elo points from these two tournaments to be awarded the title, New Zealand’s third WIM.
Numerous other titles and norms were awarded in the different age group categories which can be found on the NZ Chess website at www.newzealandchess.co.nz
India’s 12 year old Gukesh D has become the World’s youngest Grandmaster by completing his third and final Grandmaster title norm with one round to go at the Delhi International Open 2019.
His unprecedented journey began 15 months ago when he achieved his first International Master title norm at the inaugural Friday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and within six months he had competed the requirements to become an International Master!
Chart courtesy of ChessBase India (https://chessbase.in/news/Gukesh-becomes-grandmaster?fbclid=IwAR1N5E-eaJ8pO7orbNNAOE_yHmMV-xP9ZbPertg08PPOIDYOp20f3lKMudg).
Then, in amazing run after getting his first Grandmaster title norm at the Bangkok Open, Gukesh, just 10 months later is not only India’s and Asia’s youngest ever Grandmaster but the second youngest in history by just 17 days!
Every month, FIDE (World Chess Federation) publishes its rating list, and it was especially interesting on January 1, which is of course the start of a new year in 2019!
In the top 10, it was still very much China’s superstar Ding Liren in 4th place, at 2813. He is a genuine challenger now for the world championship, being Asia’s first player to break 2800, and in doing so went over a year unbeaten against the very best players in the world in every type of competition.
Former World Champion Viswanathan Anand of India continues to defy age as he reaches his 50th birthday, and is in eighth place at 2773.
The top 10 women list is absolutely dominated by Asians, with China very much on top. Hou Yifan who has stopped playing women events is a class above and holds the No. 1 spot with a rating of 2662.
No. 2 is the current World Champion Ju Wenjun who is rated 2575 and the first to hold the title in both match play and knock out formats and who recently added the Rapid Chess World Champion title to her growing list of accomplishments including anchoring the China team to Gold at last year’s Batumi Olympiad.
Indian superstar Koneru Humpy in her comeback after marriage and a child, is at No. 5 at 2541 and at No. 10 is China’s Tan Zhongyi with a 2502 rating.
