🚨 Join us tomorrow at 5:30 PM in Marina Mall to celebrate the FIDE Centenary and Torch Relay!
🥇 5 times World Champion, Legendary Grandmaster Viswananthan Anand will be our guest.
Simultaneous with a renowned grandmaster and prizes offered to participants. Free entry
📍 Location: Marina Mall Abu Dhabi, main entrance
Elena Bezrukova, Minister of Culture of Altai Krai, made the ceremonial first move in the game K. Lagno – D. Voit game at the start of Round 4 of the Russian Championships Superfinals in Barnaul.
Arseniy Nesterov (photo above) grabbed solo lead in the open section with his second win in a row. In a relatively rare line of the Petrov’s Defence, White grabbed space in the centre. However, it was not for free but at the cost of compromising his pawn structure on the queenside. In the position of a dynamic equilibrium, Pavel Ponkratov overestimated his chances and avoided repeating moves by offering an exchange of the light-squared bishops, which objectively favoured Black. “27.e6 f5 28.g4 Rd6! was the beginning of miracles as everything came Black’s way in all lines,” Arseniy Nesterov said. Black dominated the rest of the game; White found it extremely difficult to defend, and soon after the time control move he committed a blunder.
In a position where the worst seemed to be over already, another heroic defence by Artyom Timofeev was ruined by a mistake. This time the 40th move was fatal: 40…Rc6! (instead of 40…Rf8??) would have allowed Black to bail out.
The games Dubov vs Grischuk, Makarian vs Grebnev, Artemiev vs Esipenko, and Matlakov vs Dreev ended in a draw.
Tournament standings after Round 4:
1. Arseniy Nesterov – 3 points
2-3. Evgeniy Najer, Alexander Grischuk – 2.5
4-10. Vladislav Artemiev, Rudik Makarian, Maxim Matlakov, Daniil Dubov, Aleksey Grebnev, Andrey Esipenko, Aleksey Dreev – 2
11. Pavel Ponkratov – 1.5
12. Artyom Timofeev – 0.5.
Round 5 pairings:
Grebnev – Najer, Esipenko – Makarian, Grischuk – Artemiev, Dreev – Dubov, Nesterov – Matlakov, Timofeev – Ponkratov.
In the women’s race, Leya Garifullina has become the sole leader, defeating Daria Charochkina as White. In the Caro-Kann Defence, Black achieved a full-fledged game but Garifullina kept looking for ways to continue the fight, and her persistence was rewarded. Black’s rook was too optimistic in venturing to the center, where it was trapped. With the help of small tactics, White won the exchange and gradually converted it, repelling all the opponent’s attempts to deliver a perpetual check.
Aleksandra Goryachkina, (photo above) playing Black against Baira Kovanova, solved her opening problems in the Exchange Variation of the French Defence with confidence. After numerous exchanges a draw seemed inevitable, especially with the opposite-coloured bishops on the board. However, on move 37 White made a positional error that weakened the light squares and allowed Goryachkina to grab the initiative. Kovanova’s attempt to counter by activating her king was unsuccessful: Black broke through in the centre and gained a decisive material advantage.
Ekaterina Goltseva (photo above) once again showed excellent opening preparation and got a very promising position as White against Olga Karmanova. The young debutant of the Superfinal tried to untangle her position with the help of tactics but overlooked her opponent’s strong intermediate move, after which she was left a pawn down and her king had to leave the safe haven. Goltseva’s precise attack was decisive and she won on move 36.
The games Girya vs Pogonina, Lagno vs Voit, and Gunina vs Shuvalova were drawn.
Tournament standings after Round 4:
1. Leya Garifullina – 3.5 points
2-3. Aleksandra Goryachkina, Kateryna Lagno – 3
4. Olga Girya – 2.5
5-6. Daria Voit, Natalija Pogonina – 2
7-10. Polina Shuvalova, Valentina Gunina, Ekaterina Goltseva, Daria Charochkina – 1.5
11-12. Baira Kovanova, Olga Karmanova – 1.
Round 5 pairings:
Voit – Gunina, Pogonina – Lagno, Goryachkina – Girya, Karmanova – Kovanova, Charochkina – Goltseva, Shuvalova – Garifullina.
The Russian Championship Superfinals are played separately for men and women in a round robin system in 11 rounds with one rest day. Game days: August 17-22 and 24-28. All rounds start at 3 PM local time (11 AM Moscow time). In case of a tie for the 1st place, an additional competition will be held.
Five best players of the open event will qualify for the FIDE World Cup, while three best players of the women’s tournament will get the right to play in the FIDE Women’s World Cup.
The Superfinals are organised by the Chess Federation of Russia with support of the Russian Ministry of Sport and Timchenko Foundation in cooperation with the Government of the Altai Territory and the Chess Federation of the Altai Territory.
The CFR general partner is PhosAgro. The CFR partners are Aeroflot and Sima-land.
Evgeniy Najer
The Thailand Chess Association, under the auspices of the Asian Chess Federation (ACF) and the International Chess Federation (FIDE), has the honor to invite all Asian National Chess Federations to participate in the 17th Asian Schools Chess Championships to be organized in Bangkok, Thailand from 1st (arrival) to 11th December (departure) 2024.
The event will be held at the Pathumwan Institute of Technoloy in Bangkok.
Download 18th Asian Schools Chess Championships 2024
Download Registration Form Asian Schools 2024
Schedule:
Round 3 of the Russian Championships Superfinals took place 19 August in Barnaul. The participants were welcomed by Sergey Karlov, Deputy General Director of Alttrans, representative of the Board of Trustees of the Altai Krai Chess Federation;
Sergey Karlov, Deputy General Director of Alttrans made a symbolic first move in the P. Ponkratov vs. A. Dreev game.
In the open championship, Arseniy Nesterov (photo above) and Artyom Timofeev created a real thriller. The game opened calmly to a symmetrical line of the Queens Gambit Accepted. However, White went on to grab space in the centre and created dangerous threats to the enemy king. Being in extreme time pressure, Nesterov made an imprecise move, after which Timofeev practically equalised the position with a resourceful defence. The game transposed into a knight ending with a small initiative for White, in which Black committed a blunder. Black ended up down a pawn, and his kingside counterplay came to a deadend. Arseniy Nesterov won the game on move 53.
The games Esipenko – Dubov, Dreev – Ponkratov, Grebnev – Artemiev, Grischuk – Matlakov, and Makarian – Najer ended in a draw.
Tournament standings after Round 3:
1-2. Alexander Grischuk, Arseniy Nesterov – 2 points
3-11. Pavel Ponkratov, Maxim Matlakov, Evgeniy Najer, Vladislav Artemiev, Rudik Makarian, Aleksey Grebnev, Andrey Esipenko, Daniil Dubov, Aleksey Dreev – 1.5
12. Artyom Timofeev – 0.5.
Round 4 pairings:
Najer – Timofeev, Ponkratov – Nesterov, Matlakov – Dreev, Dubov – Grishuk, Artemiev – Esipenko, Makarian – Grebnev.
The women’s round was very competitive with four out of six games decisive. Kateryna Lagno (above, left) defeated Valentina Gunina (above right). In the Caro-Kann Defence, White took space on the queenside, while Black looked for her chances in the middle and on the kingside. Shortly before the time control, sharp tactical complications ensued with Black committing the last mistake. Lagno won the game on move 44.
Leya Garifullina (above) outplayed Olga Karmanova as Black in the rook and knight ending, where she achieved a spatial edge. Leya advanced her central pawns far, gradually pushed her connected passers to the third rank and won.
Aleksandra Goryachkina (above) scored her first tournament victory by defeating Ekaterina Goltseva as White. In a complex, dynamic position shortly before the time control, Black went for a tactical complications and miscalculated, sustaining heavy material losses.
Polina Shuvalova, playing Black against Daria Charochkina (playing white above), made a tempting but risky sacrifice of a piece for two pawns and the initiative out of the opening. Daria carefully defended, gradually bringing her forces into the battle and exchanging the opponent’s active pieces. Compensation for the sacrificed piece proved insufficient, and eventually Charochkina gained a big advantage. Nevertheless, the struggle continued (a total of 115 moves were played), with both sides making inaccuracies: sometimes it seemed that White’s victory was just around the corner, and sometimes it seemed that Black would escape. Nevertheless, Daria managed to win in what was a long struggle full of drama.
The games Pogonina – Kovanova and Voit – Girya were drawn.
Tournament standings after Round 3:
1-2. Leya Garifullina, Kateryna Lagno – 2.5 points
3-4. Olga Girya, Aleksandra Goryachkina – 2
5-7. Daria Voit, Daria Charochkina, Natalija Pogonina – 1.5
8-11. Valentina Gunina, Baira Kovanova, Polina Shuvalova, Olga Karmanova – 1
12. Ekaterina Goltseva – 0.5.
Round 4 pairings:
Gunina – Shuvalova, Garifullina – Charochkina, Goltseva – Karmanova, Kovanova – Goryachkina, Girya – Pogonina, Lagno – Voit.
The Russian Championship Superfinals are played separately for men and women in a round robin system in 11 rounds with one rest day. Game days: August 17-22 and 24-28. All rounds start at 3 PM local time (11 AM Moscow time). In case of a tie for the 1st place, an additional competition will be held.
Five best players of the open event will qualify for the FIDE World Cup, while three best players of the women’s tournament will get the right to play in the FIDE Women’s World Cup.
The Superfinals are organised by the Chess Federation of Russia with support of the Russian Ministry of Sport and Timchenko Foundation in cooperation with the Government of the Altai Territory and the Chess Federation of the Altai Territory.
The CFR general partner is PhosAgro. The CFR partners are Aeroflot and Sima-land.
The Olympic Council of Asia has announced cancellation of the 6th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) previously scheduled November 2024 in Bangkok, Thailand. Chess was a medal event in the AIMAG as in the previous AIMAG 2017 in Ashgabat.
The second round of the Russian Championships Superfinals was played 18th August in Barnaul. Yuri Abdullaev, Deputy Governor of the Altai Krai, came to greet the participants and made a symbolic first move in the V. Artemiev (right) vs R. Makarian game.
This encounter happened to be the longest and the most tense one in the open competition. The reigning Russian champion put serious pressure on his opponent’s position and won a pawn but then committed several inaccuracies. Makarian (above left), the national U20 junior champion, was defending stubbornly and managed to save half a point.
Men’s competition
The games Dubov – Grebnev, Timofeev – Dreev, Matlakov – Esipenko, Ponkratov – Grischuk, and Najer – Nesterov also ended in a draw.
Tournament standings after Round 2:
1. Alexander Grischuk – 1.5
2-11. Pavel Ponkratov, Vladislav Artemiev, Rudik Makarian, Aleksey Grebnev, Andrey Esipenko, Arseniy Nesterov, Maxim Matlakov, Daniil Dubov, Evgeniy Najer, Aleksey Dreev – 1
12. Artyom Timofeev – 0.5.
Round 3 pairings:
Makarian – Najer, Grebnev – Artemiev, Esipenko – Dubov, Grischuk – Matlakov, Dreev – Ponkratov, Nesterov – Timofeev.
In the women’s competition (photo above), Valentina Gunina defeated Daria Charochkina in a sharp line of the Sicilian Defence. White sacrificed an exchange for a fair compensation. The dynamic position was fully in keeping with the style of the five-time Russian women’s champion: after her opponent’s mistake, Gunina advanced her pieces into attacking positions and scored a confident victory.
Ekaterina Goltseva, playing White against Natalija Pogonina, spent almost five hours trying to convert her small positional advantage. Black was defending tenaciously, and as the second time control crept up, events began to unfold dramatically: after a mistake by her opponent, Goltseva won two pawns and gained an overwhelming advantage, but soon she did Pogonina a favour in return.
Natalija Pogonina (above): “My only idea was to try to attack her king with my knight. After Ekaterina removed her queen from the eighth rank, I planted my knight on g6. This was my only chance to defend. We were already blitzing, so I don’t think she paid attention to my idea. I don’t think it’s clear what White should do in this position. In fact, I won in one move”.
The games Kovanova – Voit, Shuvalova – Karmanova, Girya – Lagno, and Garifullina – Goryachkina were drawn.
Tournament standings after Round 2:
1-3. Olga Girya, Leya Garifullina, Kateryna Lagno – 1.5
4-9. Aleksandra Goryachkina, Polina Shuvalova, Olga Karmanova, Natalija Pogonina, Valentina Gunina, Daria Voit – 1
10-12. Daria Charochkina, Ekaterina Goltseva, Baira Kovanova – 0.5.
Round 3 pairings:
Lagno – Gunina, Voit – Girya, Pogonina – Kovanova, Goryachkina – Goltseva, Karmanova – Garifullina, Charochkina – Shuvalova
The Russian Championship Superfinals are played separately for men and women in a round robin system in 11 rounds with one rest day. Game days: August 17-22 and 24-28. All rounds start at 3 PM local time (11 AM Moscow time). In case of a tie for the 1st place, an additional competition will be held.
Five best players of the open event will qualify for the FIDE World Cup, while three best players of the women’s tournament will get the right to play in the FIDE Women’s World Cup.
The Superfinals are organised by the Chess Federation of Russia with support of the Russian Ministry of Sport and Timchenko Foundation in cooperation with the Government of the Altai Territory and the Chess Federation of the Altai Territory.
The CFR general partner is PhosAgro. The CFR partners are Aeroflot and Sima-land.
GM Bazar Khatanbaatar of Mongolia (center) topped the Asian Seniors 50+ Chess Championship held 9-19 August 2024 in Terelj, Mongolia. Participating in the Asian Seniors were 43 players over 65 and 37 players over 50 from nine countries, namely India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Philippines and Russia playing under neutral FIDE flag.
The event was organized by the Mongolian Chess Federation under the auspices of the Asian Chess Federation and FIDE. Visit chess-results.com for round by round results and standings and to download games. Live games are broadcast on lichess. Photos by Mongolian Chess Federation. Visit facebook 
page.
WIM Alfiya Turebayeva of Kazakhstan emerged top woman with 5.5 points and the better tie break.
IM Evgenij Kalegin (third from left in front row) won the Asian Seniors 65+ Chess Championship, finishing alone with 7.5 points out of 9 rounds.
WGM Galina Strutinskaia (center) won the Women’s 65+ category with 6 points and the better tie break.
The 30th Abu Dhabi Chess Festival is going on 14-25 August 2024 with a top prize of 27,664 Euros from a total of 95,947 Euros at stake in cash prizes. The tournament is a 9 round Swiss for players above 2300 Elo.
H.H Sheikh Nahyan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Sports Council
The tournament is split into several categories:
* Masters Tournament: Open to all FIDE-rated players with a standard rating of 2300 ELO and above “Exception for Abu Dhabi Chess Club players” (as of 1st July 2024).
* Open Tournament A: FIDE Rated Open for players with ELO 2299 and below (as of 1st July 2024).
* Open ournament B: FIDE Rated Open for players with ELO 2000 and below (as of 1st July 2024).
* Juniors Tournament (under 16 years).
* Blitz tournament: FIDE Rated, Swiss system, 11 rounds, 3 min + 2 sec increment.
* Juniors Blitz Tournament (under 16): FIDE Rated for players born in 2008 or later; Swiss system, 11 rounds, 3 min + 2 sec increment.
* Ladies Chess Tournament: Open for ladies; Swiss system, 9 rounds, with the time control of 3 minutes + 2 seconds.
* Simultaneous exhibition: Held by a renowned international GM. Open for Abu Dhabi Chess Club players only.
* Family Team Tournament: Open for teams of 2 players.
* People of Determination Chess tournament: Open to People of Determination.
* Senior Chess Tournament: Open for players aged 50 years and above. Swiss system, 7 rounds, with the time control of 3 minutes + 3 seconds increment.
* Abu Dhabi Chess Academy Tournament: Open for Under 18 (born 2006 and after) members of Abu Dhabi Chess Club only.
* Community Teams Tournament: Open for teams of 3 players (2 playing + 1 substitute), UAE Residents with the same nationality.
* Government Department Teams Chess Tournament: open for Government departments in the UAE.
* Embassies Chess Tournament: Open for Ambassadors and Embassies employees – limited to invited players only.
Visit chess-results.com for round by round results and standings.
Visit 
Abu Dhabi Chess Festival (@adchessfestival) • Instagram photos and videos
The Superfinals of the 77th Russian Championship 2024 (open) and the 74th Russian Women’s Championship are going on 16-29 August 2024 in the city of Barnaul, Altai Krai, Russia. The championships have been announced as qualification tournaments for the FIDE World Cup 2025.
Visit chess-results.com for round by round results and standings. See previous story in asianchess.com.
Live games will be broadcast on
https://chessopen.ru/live/superfinal-chempionata-rossii-sredi-muzhchin/?round=1XUV8s3q
https://chessopen.ru/live/superfinal-chempionata-rossii-sredi-zhenshchin/?round=ky1i6IyY
Twelve finalists in the Men’s led by GM Alexandeer Grischuk (drawing lots in above photo) are competing in a single round robin.
GM Alexander Grischuk (left) vs. GM Artion Timofeev
Twelve women’s finalists led by GM Alexandra Goryachkina are competing in a single round robin below.
Alexander Tkachev, Executive Director of the Chess Federation of Russia
Governor Viktor Tomenko of Altai Krai
Jhulo Goloran emerged as the champion in the Pozorrubio Invitational Chess Tournament last Saturday, August 17, 2024, at the 3rd floor Executive Building in Pozorrubio, Pangasinan, Philippines. In photo are, from left, NM Romeo Alcodia, NM Almario Marlon Bernardino Jr., Sherwin Tiu (2nd), Jhulo Goloran (Champion), Romy Torres Fagon (3rd), Pozorrubio Vice Mayor Engr. Ernesto “Snooky” Salcedo III (Tournament Director), Eduardo Suarez (Chief Arbiter) and Fidel Labuanan (Deputy Chief Arbiter).
Goloran, who plays for the Manila Indios Bravos in the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP), pocketed the P7,000 purse and the trophy for winning the tournament which saw over 75 players in this 1-day rapid chess tournament jointly organized by the Sangguniang Bayan and Sangguniang Kabataan, in line with its grassroots chess development program.
Goloran, an employee of Datamatics, collected a total of 6.5 points, conceding only a draw with Romy Torres Fagon of Urdaneta City in the fourth round.
.
Sherwin Tiu of Manila finished second followed by Fagon, Abraham Bayron of Manila and Paul Tabago of Tarlac at third, fourth and fifth places, respectively.
Tiu tallied 6 points while Fagon, Bayron and Tabago each scored 5.5 points, but they were ranked according to their tie-break points. Tiu received P5,000, Fagon got P3,000, Bayron won P2,000 while Tabago earned P1,500.
Tournament Director Engr. Ernesto “Snooky” Salcedo III said in his address that the sport “provides people with logic. It provides people with a great order of process. It provides people the strategically meaningful processes of life,” said Salcedo, the Vice Mayor of this 1st class Municipality.
“Encouraging our children to play Chess may be our solution to developo critical thinking. Chess will expose them to an environment that facilitates creativity, strategic thinking and innovation.” said Salcedo.
“We believe in the Filipino chess players. We know we can really excel on the international stage.” Salcedo said.
A simultaneous game was also done by National Master Almario Marlon Bernardino Jr. of Binalonan, Pangasinan, In the 10 simultaneous games Bernardino won 7 games and drew three.
Bernardino, who is also a certified US Chess Master and an online Arena Grandmaster was held to a draw by the following players, Ericka Ordizo of Alaminos, Kim Andrea Mamaril of Binmaley and Jenric Kurt Aquino of Calasiao.
Meanwhile, Gansib Apilada (Pozorrubio only) and Joash Fritz Aquino (Kiddies category) topped their respective divisions.-Marlon Bernardino-
