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World Amateur Championships 2022 to be held in Malta

The details of the World Amateur Championships 2022 to be held in Malta have been announced by the World Chess Federation (FIDE).

This official world event will take place October 20 and 30 with six world championship titles in play: U2300, U2000 and U1700, each open and womens.

The top womens category offers particular potential as it allows entry ranked just below the worlds top 25 girls and roughly top 150 women. The event initially planned for April 2021 will have an increased prize fund of 15,000.

The event follows the European Small Nations Team Championship held at the end of last year, part of the official European calendar.

The last official world event to take place in Malta was the 1st World Youth U16 Olympiad in 1994, which included 12-year-old prodigies Ruslan Ponomariov and Francisco Vallejo Pons.

Before that, the 24th World Olympiad was held in the Great Ward of the then newly-inaugurated Mediterranean Conference Centre in 1980, at which event Garry Kasparov (see photo below) made his Olympiad debut as second reserve for the USSR (gold) at the record age of 17, and winning the bronze medal behind Yugoslavias Pedrag Nikoli and Maltas Andrew Borg.

Entries are strictly through the respective chess federations by September 5. More information is available on the FIDE website.

CM Timothy Mifsud returns to First Saturday IM tournaments

The July 1, 2022 FIDE rating list published last week unveiled a new king atop Malta's active hill. Well, newish.

After a long hiatus, 18th Malta champion CM Timothy Mifsud returned to the board at the June edition of the famous First Saturday IM norm tournaments held in Budapest, Hungary.

Mifsud won the national championship six times (1993-98) and the national junior championship thrice (1992-94), and still holds the record of youngest ever champion (14 years).

Facing nine titled players with an average rating of 2248, Mifsud held his own performing only slightly below his last international rating, including wins against FMs Tibor Bodi and Mark Lyell, as well as draws against GM Tibor Fogarasi, IM Sandor Farago and WIM Isha Sharma.

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Chess: Malta and national champion return to world scene - Times of Malta

Chess found a way to beat COVID-19 with online games, says five-time world champion Anand

Chess found a way to beat COVID-19 with online games, says five-time world champion Anand

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand on Tuesday hoped for more womens chess players to break through the ranks in the country.

Anand was in conversation with R. B. Ramesh at Sportstarsfirst-ever South Sports Conclave here. It is very easy to feel very optimistic about Indias youngsters on the boys side but not on the girls side, Anand said during a panel discussion titled Chess and Chennai.

Women like Dronavalli Harika, Koneru Humpy, Bhakti Kulkarni and Tanya Sachdeva are still doing well even though they have been around for a while.

The new ones arent really breaking through. I hope this Olympiad will spark something off.

Globally we need more women taking part in the game. It is a global problem. The India-specific thing is that Humpy and Harika are still very dominant. I wish them well, but it would be good if they had more competition from youngsters.

In 2020, when COVID-19 brought sporting activities to a halt, chess found a way to beat the dreaded virus. Online games featuring players of all standards, from beginners to GMs, were being played across time zones. In late August 2020, India was crowned the joint winner, along with Russia, at the online Chess Olympiad. This was the first time the prestigious event was held virtually.

Anand weighed in on the ease of playing chess online. As long as you use it for learning purposes where you train specific skills it is very healthy. But when you get into an addiction, you want to play one more game because you want to swindle in one time.

You are not trying to improve any more but just trying to score and that is unhealthy. It has to be done more consciously.

The 44th Chess Olympiad will be held in Chennai from July 28 to August 10. The Olympiad, which was moved out of Russia after it invaded Ukraine, was awarded to Chennai recently, making it the second major global event of the sport to be held in India after the 2013 World Championship between Anand and Magnus Carlsen.

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Viswanathan Anand calls for more women chess players - The Hindu

The Tamil Nadu government has sanctioned 92 crore for the 44th Chess Olympiad, the worlds biggest chess event, to be hosted by the State from July 28 to August 10 in Chennai, said Chief Minister MK Stalin. He was speaking at the Sportstars South Sports Conclave in Chennai on Tuesday.

For Tamil Nadu, it is a great pride to be the host in which over 200 countries and nearly 1,000 players will participate. For the first time, India is hosting the event and Tamil Nadu grabbed the opportunity to host the prestigious event, he said.

Originally, Russia was to host the event. However, due to the war in Ukraine, FIDE decided to drop Russia. Many countries tried to host the tournament. However, Tamil Nadu in association with the All India Chess Federation successfully brought the tournament to India We took quick decisions and did all the necessary work expeditiously and we got the rights to host the tournament, he said.

The word 'development' has a broad meaning. One of the most important areas of development is in the field of sports, and Tamil Nadu is moving forward today in sports as well, he said.

A few weeks ago, Stalin released the logo for the 44th Chess Olympiad. A horse was designed and looked like a 'knight' in the game of chess and it looked like a salutation. According to the Tamil tradition, it is wearing a dhoti-shirt and named 'Thambi (brother), he said.

At a time when such a 'countdown' for the Chess Olympiad has begun, it is very fitting that this conclave is taking place. I sincerely congratulate The Hindu group for choosing the right time and would like to express my gratitude for that, he said.

This field of sports is a classy field. The Government of Tamil Nadu is taking a number of initiatives in the field of sports.

Stalin said he hoped that the conclave will encourage all sports and sportspersons in Tamil Nadu and give the government suggestions and ideas on how to encourage school and college students to pursue sports and how to host mega events.

We have a lot of dreams in the field of sports and to realise these dreams, we have to find ways and I hope this conclave will be a good starting point for that as well, Stalin said.

Malini Parthasarathy, Chairperson, THG Publishing Pvt Ltd, said the objective of organising these conversations is to help the widely expressed national goal to make India a front ranking sporting nation by improving the existing sport infrastructure, intensifying opportunities for training and building key skills that enable grassroot sports to flourish in our streets and fields.

We are proud to start our first dialogue here in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, our home state where our Chief Minister is expressing keen interest in developing sports and building youth skills in this regard, she said.

Published onJune 28, 2022

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TN sanctions 92 crore for Chess Olympiad in Chennai - BusinessLine

A MALPAS man has beaten a Scottish master while competing for Wales in an international chess tournament in Italy.

Charles Higgie is competing for Wales Cymru over 50's team in the World Team Championships in Piedmont in the north-west of Italy.

Charles lost his first game to Grandmaster, Alberto David of Italy and then went on to defeat his first master, Andrew Burnett of Scotland.

He said he was pleased to beat his Scottish opponent.

He added: "I have never beaten a master before, it is quite an achievement.

"I have beaten those of higher ratings before but I have never beaten a master.

"It was a very long game, it lasted 60 moves.

"It was very even all the way through.

"I offered a draw at one point which he declined."

Charles went on to lose to opponents from Canada, Sweden and Norway but managed to beat another opponent afterwards leading to him having two victories in the tournament.

The Malpas man said these were strong opponents but added he expected the teams results to improve.

He explained: "Having played strong sides in the first rounds of the tournament, we will be playing weaker teams in our last three matches.

"I expect our results to improve."

Charles said he's played chess from a young age, then stopped after the birth of his daughter in the 1990s and then started again after she went to university.

He added: "I have been playing chess since I was about six or seven.

"I was North Wales champion in 1980 and 1990.

"I gave up chess after when my daughter was born in 1992 to concentrate on looking after her.

"Obviously, I wanted to spend as much time as possible with my daughter and then in 2010 I took it up again when my daughter went to university.

"I have been playing chess seriously for most of my life."

The tournament has an over 50s tournament and the other in the over 65s and Wales has a team in the over 50s section.

As he turns 65 next year Charles says he is looking at competing next year in the over 65 tournament.

He said: "I am 64, so next year I will be 65 and there are some other people becoming 65.

"So next year we might enter one team in the over 65s and one team in the over 50s."

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Scottish chess master falls at the hands of Malpas man - Whitchurch Herald

Chess.com is proud to announce that the Collegiate Chess League is returning for the 2022-2023 academic year in partnership with NACE Starleague, the largest collegiate esports league in North America. The Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 seasons will feature a combined $50,000 prize pool and give college students of all skill levels the opportunity to participate and represent their schools in the ultimate chess competition for college students.

The Fall 2022 Season action kicks off on September 24 with a $20,000 prize fund, while the Spring 2023 Season will have a $30,000 prize fund and a different format.

In the Fall season, players will channel their school spirit and compete in a series of rapid games to defeat rival colleges. Unlike previous editions, this event will feature players competing individually to represent their clubs. In previous editions, fans could enjoy the brilliant chess brought by grandmasters like Awonder Liang, Nicolas Checa, Grigoriy Oparin, Andrew Tang, and more. Competitors will be ready to bring their A-games once more and bust out their best moves to overcome their rivals to take the gold to their clubs.

Fans will also appreciate the live broadcasts on CCL's Twitch channel, with not-so-beautiful but equally enjoyable time scrambles, blunders, throws, and drama that only the Collegiate Chess League can provide:

Registration for the event kicks off on August 1. Fill out the interest form below if you're a college player and would like to get an update when registration opens.

College students will also be able to play in the Spring Season, which features the team format CCL fans and players are used to. The Spring 2023 season will feature a $30,000 prize fund and the best college chess action, so stay tuned for future announcements! Head over to the event's official website for more information and details about how to register for the upcoming CCL seasons. You can also join the official discord server to stay up to date on all future announcements and to connect with other students and clubs in the league.

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Chess.com Announces Collegiate Chess League 2022-2023 Season