By Syndicated Content
Apr 27, 2021 2:53 AM
MOSCOW (Reuters) â Russian chess grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi clinched victory at the Candidates Tournament on Monday, earning him the chance to challenge Norwayâs Magnus Carlsen for the world title later this year.
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) had suspended the tournament at its halfway point in March 2020 when Russia grounded international flights to slow COVID-19 transmission, raising concerns that foreign players would have trouble returning home.
The eight-player tournament resumed earlier this month in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, 1,400 kilometres (870 miles) east of Moscow, with security measures in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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When tiebreak criteria matter
Russia’s highest-ranked player Ian Nepomniachtchi will be Magnus Carlsen’s challenger in the upcoming World Championship match, scheduled to take place at the end of this year in Dubai. Nepomniachtchi was sharing first place with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave when the sanitary crisis prompted FIDE to postpone the Candidates after round 7. In the second half, the Russian made the most of his chances while keeping a cool head, collecting two wins and four draws to secure tournament victory with a round to spare.
In the penultimate round, only two games were relevant in the fight to win the event. Anish Giri, who was a half point behind Nepo, faced Alexander Grischuk with black, while the leader also had the black pieces against MVL, who in fact still had a tiny chance of winning the event. By the time Vachier-Lagrave had definitely no winning chances, Grischuk had a clearly superior position against Giri. It did not take long befo
Three-way tie for the lead after Day 1
The Polgar Challenge, the first event of the new $100,000 Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour, got underway today with a series of fighting games that ended in a three-way tie for the lead.
Top seed
Nodirbek Abdusattorov grabbed the first win of the five-month tour with a convincing victory over Bulgarian teen Nurgyul Salimova. Abdusattorov, from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, famously beat two Grandmasters in a tournament when aged only nine.
The ambitious 16-year-old aims to be World Champion one day and showed his class by finishing joint-top of the table on day one of four after scoring an unbeaten 4/5. Abdusattorov shares the lead with India s exciting prodigy
Polgar Challenge Day 1: Praggnanandhaa storms back to lead
15-year-old Praggnanandhaa stormed back from a 1st round loss to Volodar Murzin to win his next four games and lead after Day 1 of the Polgar Challenge, the 1st event on the $100,000 Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour. He’s joined on 4/5 by the only unbeaten players, 14-year-old Christopher Yoo and 16-year-old Nodirbek Abdusattorov. All play for Team Kramnik, but the team scores are tied 25:25. Lei Tingjie is the top performing female player and had a great chance to take the sole lead on 4.5/5, while Awonder Liang won with an incredible smothered mate.
Praggnanandhaa took the lead, but only after Lei Tingjie missed a chance to move to 4.5/5
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