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In a surprising turn of events, the Hungarian Chess Federation has announced that GM Richard Rapport will return to play for his native country just two years after transferring to Romania. GM Peter Leko also confirmed his participation.

Hungary has received a significant boost with the return of Rapport, three months before the Chess Olympiad begins in its capital Budapest and runs September 11-22. The news was presented at a press conference on Monday, with Rapport expressing his happiness to be back. He's quoted by Telex.hu:

"A long-awaited moment has arrived in my life. I am very happy to be here. For a long time I felt that I was not important to my native country. Now it seems that they have discovered value in me, which I am happy about."

For a long time I felt that I was not important to my native country. Now it seems that they have discovered value in me, which I am happy about.

Zoltan Polyanszky, President of the Hungarian Chess Federation, is also thrilled, telling Chess.com: "Richard Rapport has always been a Hungarian chess player. He played under another flag for two years, owing to an understandable decision related to his individual career, but we always took him as our man. It means a lot that we could bring him home, but this is not enough to say."

The 28-year-old became Hungary's biggest prospect when he gained the grandmaster title in 2010 at the age of 13 years and 11 months. Rapport has been among the world's top 30 players since 2018, reaching a peak rating of 2776 and ranking fifth in 2022. Although he has dropped to 29th with a rating of 2715, he remains a fan-favorite due to his creative and unorthodox playing style.

In 2022, Rapport fell out with the Hungarian federation and surprisingly switched to play for Romania. The transfer came after Sacha Dragic, the owner of the Romanian gambling portal Superbet, made an offer that the Rapports "couldn't refuse," according to Hungarian media.

Since then Rapport has been a regular in the Dragic-backed Grand Chess Tour events, but he was absent in this tour's first event, the Superbet Rapid & Blitz Polandin Warsaw, with the "Romanian spot" taken by the Ukrainian-born GM Kirill Shevchenko.

Rapport recently denied a rumor that he had received Romanian citizenship, instead confirming that he had turned down such an offer.

During the GRENKE Chess Classic in March the 28-year-old was already using the Hungarian flag, however the transfer has not yet been confirmed by FIDE. Its Legal Director Aleksandr Martynov tells Chess.com that they have not yet received the official documentation for the transfer, but that it's expected in the next few days.

Hungary will have to pay the transfer fee of 50,000 euros before the grandmaster can play FIDE competitions for Hungary without a two-year waiting period. Polyanszky told Chess.com that this process has started.

"As soon as the Romanian colleagues declare that they let him leave, we are ready to pay the fee instantly," he said.

Polyanszky added that the federation also intends to pay the transfer fee for Rapport's Serbian wife, WGM Jovana Rapport. "She is a decent player who could strengthen Hungarian women's chess if she decides to focus on her tournament play in the coming years."

Rapport will re-unite with former world championship challenger and Chess.com commentator Leko, who also confirmed that he will play for the national team for the first time since 2018. The duo were key members of the team that scored a silver medal in the 2014 Chess Olympiad in Tromso, Norway.

Leko told Chess.com that his only condition for returning was that Rapport would be on board: "I have no intention just to participate, but if given the chance to fight for something, it is a completely different story."

The Hungarian chess legend praised the efforts by Polyanszki and the State Sports Secretary, calling it a miracle. "Despite holding my ground, I have been very impressed and touched by all the efforts they made to try make me return to the Hungarian national team. This is the reason why I have offered that if I am not playing then I would like to contribute as a coach to help preparing the team. We really had a fantastic time together during the training camp when I was acting as the coach of the team. The chemistry had been excellent."

With the addition of GM Sanan Sjugirov, who transferred from Russia last year, Hungary is now expected to fight for medals in Budapest.

Hungary's Secretary of Sports Adam Schmidt told Nemzeti Sport: "Chess is a serious sport, here every step has consequences. Preparing for the Budapest Chess Olympiad, Mr. President and I set the goal of being able to compete with the strongest possible team. In the last thirteen months, we have had a lot of phone conversations and meetings, thanks to which I can report results today."

The Hungarian team could look like this, even if there is great competition for the two remaining spots:

[Updated May 30 with comments from Leko]

Visit link:
Rapport Returns To Play For Hungary In Budapest Olympiad, Teams Up With Leko - Chess.com

A major new international chess event is coming to Spain next month featuring some of the most popular content creators in the game competing for title norms.

The first Madrid Chess Festival will play host to three classical tournaments and a blitz event running between June 10 and 15. According to the organizers, it is part of a new drive to bring big tournaments back to the Spanish capital.

On the bill are IM Levy Rozman, aka GothamChess, and GM Pepe Cuenca, co-organizers of the festival with El Divis IM David Martinez, plus the popular streamers IM Eric Rosen, and WFM Anna Cramling. Together, the line-up has more than 10 million followers on YouTube.

Fans will also be treated to a glimpse of the Argentine wonderkid FM Faustino Oro, the fast-rising 10-year-old who beat world number-one GM Magnus Carlsen in Chess.com's Bullet Brawl in March.

Fausti, as he is known, will be going for a grandmaster norm in one of two ten-player closed events along with Rosen. Cuenca and Rozman will compete in the other.

The closed groups are packed with players from Spanish-speaking countries, with 10 Spanish players, two Cubans, two Argentinians, and two Venezuelans. Four American players, including Rozman and Rosen, complete the line-up.

The open tournament will feature 50 players including another well-known content creator, Swedish WFM Anna Cramling. The 22-year-old is one of the most popular chess influencers and recently joined YouTube's exclusive One Million Subscribers' Club.

The festival will finish with a blitz tournament featuring the mysterious man-in-the-mask Rey Enigma, who has more than five million followers.

IM Martinez said: Despite hosting the FIDE Candidates in 2022, Madrid has been slowly losing its prominence in the world of chess, with the disappearance of the major open tournaments that used to be regularly held.

We hope that this first edition of the Madrid Chess Festival will mark a turning point, bringing Madrid back to the forefront of Spanish and international chess.

The Madrid Chess Festival will take place at the citys Ajedrez con Cabeza and Canal Isabel II starting on June 10 at 11:00 a.m. ET / 17:00 CEST / 8.30 p.m. IST.

You can catch all the action of the 2024 Madrid Chess Festival on Chess.com/TV or on Chess24's Twitch and YouTube channels.

Read more:
GothamChess, Oro, Cramling And Rosen In Madrid Chess Festival - Chess.com

Chess.com is back at TwitchCon this year, with 2024's European TwitchCon event kicking off in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on June 29.

There are plenty of amazing activities planned for chess fans, and we look forward to meeting many of you there, whether you're a seasoned TwitchCon veteran or a first-time visitor!

TwitchCon tickets are still on sale! One-day tickets are priced at 75, while two-day tickets cost 125. These tickets give you access to the full convention, including many other booths (though clearly none are as cool as the Chess.com one).

TwitchCon is always a wonderful time for the chess community to meet and bond over our shared love of the game and introduce others to the magic of chess for the first time. Whether you're there to set new records in our puzzle challenges or show your friends how the pieces move, we'd love to see you there.

Originally posted here:
Chess.com Returns To TwitchCon In Rotterdam - Chess.com

Bullet Brawl is Chess.com's two-hour arena with a 1+0 time control where titled players compete for a piece of the $1,000 prize fund. Events take place every Saturday at 12 p.m. ET/18:00 CEST.

The Bullet Brawl consists of a two-hour bullet arena with a 1+0 time control for titled players. This event is a score-based arena where players get paired based on their scores instead of their rating. The player who stacks up the most points by the end of the arena wins.

The event takes place every Saturday starting at 12 p.m. ET/18:00 CEST.

The event features a weekly $1,000 prize fund, distributed as follows:

Bullet Brawl is open to all titled players. To participate in the event, head over to our Tournaments page and join the tournament within an hour before it starts.

While only titled players can play in Bullet Brawl, untitled members of our community who are looking for high-speed competition can play in the Community Bullet Brawl! Join our official Community Club and play in the Community Bullet Brawl every Saturday starting at 1 p.m. ET/19:00 CEST.

Excerpt from:
Bullet Brawl - All The Information - Chess.com

May 29 is a landmark date for R Praggnanandhaa. Besides it being the birthday of his friend and fellow prodigy D Gukesh and, coincidentally, that of Tan Zhongyi it marks the date in which the youngster obtained his International Master title (2016) and the date in which he collected his first-ever classical win over Magnus Carlsen (2024).

Pragg defeated Carlsen with white in round 3 of the Norway Chess tournament to collect 3 points and grab the sole lead in the standings. The Indian GM saw his famed opponent playing a risky Sicilian and losing the thread in the early middlegame. Precise play by the youngster in the ensuing struggle allowed him to emerge victorious in the 37-move encounter.

Hikaru Nakamura, who grabbed 1 points on Wednesday after beating Alireza Firouzja in Armageddon, reflected on the fact that Carlsen apparently plays more riskily when facing younger opponents. The 5-time US champion had this to say in the confessional booth:

When Magnus is playing the younger kids specifically, he wants to sort of prove a point he wants to go after them and try to beat them, and he takes far more risks than he does against us old folks.

Carlsen, who came from winning two Armageddon tiebreakers in the first two rounds, fell from the sole lead to fifth place. On the other hand, Fabiano Caruana, who suffered a painful loss on Tuesday, bounced back with a classical win over Ding Liren, which allowed him to climb to sole second place in the standings. Caruana surprised the world champion in the opening, got a major time advantage and swiftly converted his edge into a 31-move victory.

Thursdays fourth round, the last one before the first rest day, will see the following clashes: Caruana v. Carlsen, Nakamura v. Pragg and Firouzja v. Ding.

Fabiano Caruana climbed to second place after beating Ding Liren in their classical encounter | Photo: Stev Bonhage

It was a tough day at the office for Magnus Carlsen | Photo: Stev Bonhage

Calculation Training - Sharpen Your Game!

In Calculation Training Sharpen Your Game! a total of 73 examples have been selected, the vast majority containing multiple questions, and more than 160 questions of varying difficulty.

Navigating the Ruy Lopez Vol.1-3

The Ruy Lopez is one of the oldest openings which continues to enjoy high popularity from club level to the absolute world top. In this video series, American super GM Fabiano Caruana, talking to IM Oliver Reeh, presents a complete repertoire for White.

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Norway Chess: Pragg obtains first-ever classical win over Carlsen - Chess News | ChessBase