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The 2023 FIDE World Cup is the biggest over-the-board knockout event of the year, and you can punch your ticket to amazing prizes just by predicting who wins!

GMs Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, and Ian Nepomniachtchi are among the top contenders, as is former world champion GM Magnus Carlsen, who is looking to win the title for the first time.

If you can accurately predict who triumphs in each match, you can win fabulous prizes including up to six months of Chess.com premium membership. Will you go with the favorites, or set your bracket prediction apart by including a shock underdog victory or two?

You have until Sunday, July 30 at 7:00 a.m. ET/13:00 CEST/16:30 IST to submit your entry into this competition. Predictions will be locked after the deadline, so make sure you don't miss your chance!

Click the button above to go to the 2023 FIDE World Cup prediction bracket. You'll see a bracket containing every player and their matchups. Predict who you think will win each match all the way to the final. You get points for every prediction that you get right. You win the bracket contest if you have the most points by the end of the tournament.

Please make sure you submit your Chess.com username as part of your prediction. Doing this means we can ensure you receive your prize!

To learn more about the 2023 FIDE World Cup and get some deeper insights to help with your predictions, check out our Events page.

Note: This contest is void in all areas where prohibited by law.

We will be in touch with winners through Messages on Chess.com or via the e-mail provided in their submission.

Contact will be made within one calendar week after the contest ends.

If prizes are given out continuously throughout an event, contact will be made one week after the event ends.

In contests where winners are picked randomly from chats on Twitch, YouTube, and Chess.com, everyone who gave the correct answer will be raffled using software that will ensure an impartial and random selection of winners.

By participating in the event, you are consenting to Chess.com using your name/image for the purpose of administration, prize fulfillment, use in a publicly available winners list, and related Chess.com event promotion.

Read more about our policy for contests in Giveaways, Games of Chance, and Sweepstakes.

NB: If you have received no contact after a week, you can claim your prize by contacting support@chess.com.

Read more:
Can You Predict The 2023 FIDE World Cup Winner? - Chess.com

The day is finally here. PogChamps 5, one of the most anticipated events of the year, welcomes 16 stars to the 64 squares. As fans barraged chat with emote walls and beautifully crafted copypastas, players fed the audience with hilarious moments and dubious chess.

The action unfolded in the usual PogChamps style everyone has missed: a fine mixture of isolated episodes of good chess, numerous painful blunders, and the ever-present stalemates.

It was Franks-is-heres who won the first match of Pog5 against Youtuber Jarvis. Ghastly and Tyler1 followed, winning their matches against Daily Dose of Internet and Jinnitty, before CDawgVA closed the day off by beating Sykkuno.

PogChamps 5 continues Thursday, July 27, starting at 5 p.m. ET/23:00 CEST.

How to watch PogChamps 5

PogChamps 5 games, schedule, and all the details can be found here as part of our live events platform.

Live commentary provided by IM Levy Rozman and Andrea Botez.

It's hard to imagine a more fitting game as a PogChamps 5 opener. It's not every day that you can enjoy the magic of six blunders in less than 10 moves. It all started with Franks trading his knight for a pawn, followed by a storm of misses that ended with Franks being up a piece (yes, the same player who sacrificed the knight).

Suddenly, Jarvis summoned his inner chess god, came back from the dead, and soon had the chance to get a material advantage. However, he soon went wrong and ended up losing his rook. The players eventually entered an endgame where Frank had three extra pawns. Franks promoted a pawn to a queen and had the game in his pocket, but you have to remember that this is no ordinary chess event we're talking about.

As Levy put it, welcome to PogChamps:

The second game wasn't as messy, but messy it still was. Jarvis played well and won a rook quickly. Franks was still able to keep his composure and create complications for his opponent. With Jarvis' king stuck in the center of the board, Franks found the right moves to deliver the "kiss of death" and win the first match of the day.

Franks was excited about his first PogChamps victory: "I'm a happy duck. I'm a happy man. I was a little bit scared because I'm a scared man. Well, not normally... I was happy. The stalemate was bad, but I recovered. I did recover."

Jarvis, who had glimpses of genius during the match, explained why he was so quiet: "I'm very genuine, I had no game plan," he said. "This is the second game of chess I played against a human in 17 years."

"700s 10 years ago would 'eat' the pieces." That was Levy's reaction to an impressive game that kicked off the match between Daily Dose of Internet and Ghastly. While both players had winning chances, both also missed the opportunity to guarantee the full point, and the game ended in a draw after an accidental threefold repetition.

Surprisingly strong chess for 700s continued into the second game, with great opening and early middlegame play by both sides. In the endgame, Ghastly displayed some powerful technique.

Daily Dose slipped up, and that was all Ghastly needed. Like a mighty ghost Pokemon battling a level five Ratata, Ghastly overwhelmed his opponent to win the game and the match.

With a 199 rating, Tyler1 could still demonstrate that he's stronger than any super-grandmaster on Earth (physically). With big arms and a bigger brain, Tyler also proved to be the stronger contender in his match against Jinnitty.

In the first game, Tyler played strongly out of the gates and pressed his advantage. Tyler then had the opportunity to deliver checkmate twice but unfortunately missed it both timesreally unfortunate, actually, as technical problems prolonged the game for over an hour and a half. Think about this the next time you complain about how long classical games are.

After play resumed, it took a few more moves for Tyler to put an end to Jinnitty's misery. Though he missed checkmate in one yet again, Tyler's hunger for his opponent's queen led to an accidental mate to end the game.

The second game was much quicker than the first (well, duh). Perhaps Jinnitty had her inhibitions down after streaming for 14 hours prior to her match. Perhaps she had cooked up the deepest opening prep in the history of PogChamps. Whatever happened, opening the game with 1...Na6 and 2...f5 did not pay off.

Tyler dominated the game, winning several pieces and even promoting his d-pawn on the a8-square in the early middle game (don't ask how). After that, Jinnitty's destiny was sealed. Tyler won the game and the match, the first player to win by a two-point margin in PogChamps 5.

With CDawgVA eclipsing Sykkuno's rating by more than 1000 points, the last match was supposed to be the most lopsided of the dayand it was.

Though Sykkuno played better than a 104 player should, the experienced ChadDawgVA (as he's named on Chess.com) was just too strong. CDawg displayed precision not only with his chess moves but also with his dance moves:

A knight fork later, there was little Sykkuno could do. CDawgVA quickly promoted one of his pawns and delivered checkmate to open the score.

In the second game, an unfortunate opening mistake started a tough run for Sykkuno. After hanging his bishop in the first few moves, Sykkuno then hung a knight, a rook, and then a queen in the middle game. CDawgVA had a massive material advantage and open lines to attack the enemy king. It didn't take long for him to checkmate and end the match.

"I just woke up, and I thought, 'this is a great day to play some chess,'" CDawgVA said about the match. His long-term strategy? "Continue to not practice, and then when I lose I can blame that I didn't practice, and that I should've practiced more."

Wise advice from one of the highest-rated players in the field.

All Games: Day 1

PogChamps 5 is Chess.com's most popular chess event for creators. Featuring 16 players and a $100,000 prize fund, the event starts on July 26, 2023, and ends August 18, 2023, with live in-person finals happening in Los Angeles, United States. Creators are divided into groups of four and play a single round-robin before moving on to either a Championship or Consolation bracket.

Previous coverage:

Read more:
Stalemate, Blunders, And Dance Moves: Welcome To PogChamps 5 - Chess.com

As of July 27, the 28-year-old Russian-born GM Vladimir Fedoseev's federation transfer is complete and he will represent Slovenia in future chess tournaments. With a 2676 published rating, the "Bigfish" (from his username on Chess.com) is the Slovenian number-one.

Fedoseev stopped representing Russia after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and he played under the FIDE flag instead. He first moved to the Valencia region in Spain. He was one of four Russian grandmasters who spoke to Chess.com in 2022 about leaving their native country, and he said last year: "I really do not want to represent them [Russia] anymore, even once in life."

In a brief interview for this article, Fedoseev mentioned that he still has a residence in Spain but also more recently in Slovenia. Although he said he's been in Slovenia for just 10 days this summer, he also stressed that he plans to spend more time there. "It's a life-changing decision... and also a forced decision, as I see in my case because I have no will to represent Russia in any competition anymore."

It's a life-changing decision... and also a forced decision, as I see in my case because I have no will to represent Russia in any competition anymore.

Vladimir Fedoseev

He added: "I hope that, for now, I will not need to change federation in my life. It's basically a life decision and I am serious about playing for Slovenia for many years, that's for sure."

In the conversation, he referenced the FIDE rule change that was also the catalyst for several other strong Russian grandmasters to change federations recently. Normally, a federation transfer can be expensive (for Fedoseev, upward of 30,000); now the fees to the Russian Chess Federation are waived until August 31, 2023.

Chess.com has covered other top Russian grandmasters who have transferred since the rule change, such as former Candidates participant GM Kirill Alekseenko to Austria, former Russian champion GM Alexander Motylev to Romania, reigning European Champion GM Alexey Sarana, and former women's world champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk to Switzerland.

Russia retains its absolute elite players, like former world championship challengerIan Nepomniachtchi, GM Alexander Grischuk, and GM Daniil Dubov. After his six-month ban, GM Sergey Karjakin has been inactive in FIDE-rated tournaments outside of Russia.

There are Russian-born players who are missing from the list who are playing under the FIDE flag and have not transferred federations to another country, the highest-rated one being 2720-rated GM Nikita Vitiugov, who moved to Spain. GM Andrey Esipenko is also currently under a FIDE flag, but last week signed a long-term sponsorship deal with the Russian Chess Federation.

Fedoseev achieved a peak rating of 2733 in the year 2017 when he was the world number-24 at the age of 22. He has remained in the world's top 100 since then. He is a regular participant in Chess.com tournaments such as Titled Tuesday and the Champions Chess Tour, where he recently participated in Division I of the Aimchess Rapid 2023. He qualified for that by winning first place in Division II of the 2023 ChessKid Cup.

Fedoseev thanked the chess club in Maribor, which helped him attain his residence in Slovenia. He also thanked Slovenian chess federation members, Ukrainian-born Slovenian GM Adrian Mikhalchishin who helped him in the process, and his coach IM Roman Vidonyak who had the idea of working with Slovenia.

His first tournament under the Slovenian flag will be the World Cup, starting this Sunday, which he felt was "nice timing."

He also playfully mentioned that his actual first games under the flag will be on Friday, in his Champions Chess Tour Julius Baer Generation Cup 2023 two-game match against GM Oleksandr Bortnyk to place into Division II, although this is a little tongue-in-cheek because it is an online tournament and not FIDE-rated.

Edited on 7/28/2023: The Slovenian Chess Federation provided the following statement, where they added that GM Anton Demchenko will also play for Slovenia (starting on July 29).

We are delighted and proud to announce that GM Vladimir Fedoseev and GM Anton Demchenko have joined the Slovenian Chess Federation. This decision will certainly be beneficial to Slovenian chess as well as both GMs. The Slovenian Chess Federation will do its best to support the newly joined GMs to the greatest possible extent on their chess journey with us. Together, we shall aim to reach new heights and contribute to the progress and excellence of Slovenian chess on the global stage.

Originally posted here:
'Bigfish' Fedoseev To Play For Slovenia: 'I Have No Will To ... - Chess.com

On July 25, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave became the third player to win both ends of a Titled Tuesday, after GM Hikaru Nakamura (who has done it five times) and GM Wesley So. Nakamura himself prevented Vachier-Lagrave from joining him and GM Magnus Carlsen in the perfect 11/11 club by winning their final-round matchup in the late event.

The 2020 Speed Chess Championship (SCC) runner-up continues to live up to his username in blitz chess: he is the LyonBeast.

In the early field of 570 players, Vachier-Lagrave didn't lose a single game, but he still needed tiebreaks to win. Aimchess Rapid star GM Eduardo Iturrizaga, and Indonesian GM Susanto Megaranto, matched Vachier-Lagrave on 9.5 points.

For a while, it seemed like GM Daniil Dubov might outlast them all. But Dubov's 7/7 start to the tournament ran into Vachier-Lagrave in round eight. Dubov wasn't overwhelmingly worse in the final position, but he was out of time while Vachier-Lagrave still had 45 seconds left to play.

That win gave Vachier-Lagrave the sole tournament lead, which he retained in the next round by defeating GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Duda had Black and played the Najdorf Sicilian, Vachier-Lagrave's favorite opening against 1.e4, but any psychology that may have been involved in that choice did not pay off.

A draw was next for Vachier-Lagrave, which allowed Iturrizaga to catch up into a share of first place by defeating GM Jose Martinez.

Vachier-Lagrave and Iturrizaga finally faced each other in the last round and drew quickly in 18 moves. This in turn allowed a third player to tie for the lead in Megaranto, who beat Wesley So to get there.

Ultimately, the top three finished in the order in which they had entered the tournament lead: Vachier-Lagrave first, Iturrizaga second, and Megaranto (who will be playing his third straight World Cup in a few days) third.

July 25 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

(Full final standings here.)

Vachier-Lagrave won $1,000 for his efforts, with more to come. Iturrizaga won $750 and Megaranto $350. GM Vladimir Kramnik came in fourth place for $200 and IM Renato Terry in fifth place for $100. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk won the $100 women's prize with a score of 7.5/11.

A slightly smaller field of 472 greeted Vachier-Lagrave in the late tournament, but he won it all the same, this time in even more dominant fashion. Vachier-Lagrave was a perfect 10/10 with one round to go, already clinching the outright victory.

He got there with wins over the likes of GM Gata Kamsky (round five), Martinez (round six), GM Vladimir Fedoseev (round nine), and Duda for the second time in the day (round 10).

Oh, and Carlsen in round eight. It was also Carlsen who Vachier-Lagrave defeated in the semifinals of the SCC back in 2020.

The repeat performance against Duda clinched just the fifth sweep in Titled Tuesday history for Vachier-Lagrave, who was also now one win away from joining Nakamura and Carlsen in perfection.

Perfection was not to be, however. Nakamura needed only 32 moves to defeat Vachier-Lagrave and take over second place.

July 25 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

(Full final standings here.)

Vachier-Lagrave won another $1,000 for a total of $2,000 on the day. Nakamura took home the $750 prize, while GM Daniel Dardha finished third for $350. Martinez won $200 in fourth place, GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son $100 in fifth, and IM Le Thao Nguyen Pham $100 as the highest-scoring woman.

Chess.com hosts Titled Tuesday as two 11-round Swiss tournaments for titled players every Tuesday. There is an early tournament at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time, with the late tournament following at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time/23:00 Central European/2:30 Indian Standard Time (next day).

More here:
Vachier-Lagrave Sweeps Into Titled Tuesday, Wins Both Events - Chess.com

With a nod to the Bard, we will once again look at games that involve attacks against the king. In response to last months column, I was sent our first game, with notes, by the winner. Patrick Walsh, also known as Konchog, describes himself as, a deaf-blind chess player whose first tournament was the 1972 Texas Open the tournament where Ken Smith introduced the Smith-Morra Gambit, and the tournament that also produced one of the finest endgames ever played, a masterpiece by Botvinnik against Reshevsky. I also just happened to have celebrated the 25th anniversary of my ordination as a Tibetan Buddhist monk.* I have crossed swords with Konchog, and his chess is not peaceful or serene.

* Editor's note: While a large International tournament did take place in Texas (San Antonio) in 1972, neither Botvinnik nor Reshevsky competed there, and there is no record of any other meeting between the two during that year. There is anecdotal evidence that Botvinnik retired in 1970 (my database has no competitive games after 1970). Ken Smith was there, and he did play his gambit there, but that apparently was the International debut of the gambit, as Ken had essayed it in local tournament many times prior.

In our second game, Richard Ralls goes after Benjamin Hobacks Stonewall formation right from the start. Once the center is settled, he switches his attention to the kingside. Black lets up his guard for just one move, and White blows the kingside wide open. It only takes six more moves for Black to resign.

If you read my column with any regularity, you know that I am not a fan of system openings shortcuts to theory and so I revel when I see one taken down. Yes, I am that petty. Our third game, Rowe Baerg, sees the London System suffer defeat after White overplays his hand. After a somewhat unsteady opening, Chandra Baerg shows patience and decent technique, missing only one small tactic, and forcing checkmate in the ending.

In our fourth game, Scott Beaver plays to occupy the center while Zachary Bazan attacks from the flank, but otherwise limits his control to pieces. Black falls for what appears to be a small material gain, but White quickly rebounds with a kingside assault. Black commits an error under fire, and the end comes mercifully quick.

In our fifth and final game for this month, Benjamin Hoback shows solid technique in starting the middlegame with a queenside pawn majority yet finishing off his opponent with a kingside attack. Impressive play!

My next column on the elements of chess analysis will not be ready for another month or two, as I am currently completing a book that will be published in late 2023 or early 2024, which I will discuss in a later column. The next element to be discussed will be time, or a lead in development. If anyone has a relatively recent game that shows the impact of a lead in development, please send it to me, with or without notes, at correspondence_chess@yahoo.com.

Good skill in your games!

Robert

2016 Golden Knights Final Standings

The 2016 Golden Knights tournament has concluded. Congratulations to our winner Rick Johnson of Fremont, California. This is Johnsons first Golden Knights championship. 119 players entered the competition which consisted of 17 preliminary sections, followed by six semifinal sections, culminating in two final sections.

Name

Overall Weighted Score

Place

Prize

Rick Johnson

39.60

1

$480

Ferdinand Burmeister

36.15

2

$300

Gary Adams

34.55

3

$180

Ferdinand Burmeister

34.00

4

$60

Michael Buss

32.80

5

$60

James Ellis

32.75

6

$60

Abe Wilson

28.40

7

$60

Bradley Rogers

26.15

8

$60

Paul Ott

25.15

9

$60

Michael OKeefe

18.90

10

$60

2022 46th Annual Absolute Championship

The tournament concluded on July 8, 2023, having started March 1, 2022. As previously reported, Tim Corkum of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin and John Walton of Pullman, Washington scored 7/12. They split the point in their game, and each boasted three wins and zero losses. Corkum wins his first Absolute Championship on tie-breaks

The completed cross table can be found here.Cross Table (iccf.com)

Former CC players Richard E. Patchett of Duarte, California, Roy Greenburg of Fort Lee, New Jersey, Ivan Kaplan of Sinai, New York, and Ed P. Hernandez of Placentia, California have recently passed away.

On July 9, 2023, USPS increased the first-class postage rate to $.66 for letters and $.51 for postcards.

Walter Muir E-Quad

22W24, Kevin Buswell & Josh Pruett 41

23W02, Robert Angres 4 1

Victor Palciauskas

23VP01, Donald Tirrell 51

23VP04, Fernando Puerto Mendoza 5

23VP05, Timothy Oltman & Patrick Walsh 5

John W. Collins Memorial

21C10, Louis Biasotti 60

Read more from the original source:
Check is in the Mail: Once More Unto the Breach! - uschess.org