The International Schools Chess Festival in the city of Ploiești, Romania, ended in triumph for the Lviv Academic Gymnasium, Ukraine, with a perfect score of 7 wins 7 matches, followed by Otilia Cazimir School from Iasi 6/7, and School no. 10 from Bacau, both from Romania.

Organized by ISCU and Romanian Chess Federation under the auspices of FIDE, the event attracted 75 school teams from Mexico, Israel, Poland, Greece, Moldova, Ukraine and Romania (from 19 different counties).

On a free day, an open-air blitz event was held in the central park of Ploiesti. The organizers also offered sightseeing tours for tours “Footprints of Dracula” and Bucharest tour to all the participants.

The champion, Lviv Academic Gymnasium, received a special award established by FIDE: a travelling grant and accommodation at the World Schools Team Championship, which will take place in Aktau, Kazakhstan, from August 3-8, 2023.

The top-finishing teams were presented with special gifts and electronic devices from the partners Rompetrol and Aqua Carpatica. At the awarding ceremony, Dana Reizniece-Ozola, Deputy-Chair FIDE Management Board, delivered a video message on behalf of FIDE, which was warmly appreciated by the audience.

There was also a separate ranking in the boys’ section, won by “Saint Vasile” school from Ploiesti, Romania. The team received the trophy “Alexander Kostyev”, named after Professor Kostyev, the founder of ISCU and the initiator of World and European School events.

The girls’ section saw the victory of the Academic Gymnasium, Lviv, Ukraine, lifting the “Elisabeta Polihroniade” trophy. Elisabeta Polihroniade, an honorary member of FIDE and vice-president of ISCU was a true chess legend in Romania and a great promoter of chess in schools.

Photos: promarkstudio.com/

Official website: iscu.info/club-activities/

To all FIDE National Federations

FIDE Events Commission is happy to announce that 12 teams from 4 continents (3 teams per the continent) first to enter the 1st edition of International School Festival in Ploiesti, Romania will receive free accommodation (full board is included). The event will take place from July 3-9, 2023.

National Federations should send their requests to the FIDE Events Commission before June 13.

The Events Commission should be emailed at: fideevents@fide.com

Regulations of the International Schools Chess Festival

After drawing his last game Fabiano Caruana won the 2023 Superbet Chess Classic with a score of 5.5/9, taking home a 1st place prize of $100,000.

The current No. 2 American led for most of the event and secured the title after his nearest rivals all drew their final-round games, leaving him half a point ahead of the field. Tied for second place were Alireza Firouzja, Wesley So, Anish Giri, and Richard Rapport, all with 5.0/9.

FIROUZJA VACHIER-LAGRAVE – | ½-½ 32 moves

 Looking to play aggressively in today’stoday’s round, Firouzja was met with the solid Queen’sQueen’s Gambit Accepted from Vachier-Lagrave. He went for a line where White goes into the endgame and can play for two results but wasn’twasn’t able to create any chances against MVL’sMVL’s precise defence, which led to piece simplifications and an eventual draw.

After finishing with +1, Firouzja called his tournament “a good start for the year.” | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes

RAPPORT – CARUANA | ½-½, 30 moves

In a repeat of a highly theoretical line in the English that was seen in the recent World Championship, Caruana was put under some pressure out of the opening. The tournament leader spent a lot of time in the middlegame trying to figure out the position, with his pieces arranged awkwardly on the queenside but eventually found a strong way to create counterplay. After the complications cleared, Rapport reached an endgame with two extra pawns, but Caruana’s rook was simply too active for White to make anything out of his material advantage, resulting in a draw.

Caruana’s 18…f6! created just enough play for Black, looking to open up the e- and f- files.

Rapport tried an ambitious line but was met with stiff resistance. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Bryan Adams

SO – DUDA | ½-½, 44 moves

What started out as a 5.Nc3 Petroff led to an early endgame as So tried to build up some pressure against Duda’s position. However, despite doubling the rooks on the e-file, So couldn’t make much progress, as Duda calmly exchanged pieces and eventually forced a drawn rook and bishop against rook and knight ending.

After starting the event with a big win over Firouzja, So closed things out with eight straight draws. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Bryan Adams

DEAC – DING | 0-1, 48 moves

A sharp line in the Queen’s Indian saw Deac sacrifice a pawn for long-term compensation and pressure. His position was fine, but a mistake allowed Ding to neutralize White’sWhite’s pressure and emerge with a healthy extra pawn. From there, the task for Ding was technical, as he slowly improved his position before eventually taking over and breaking through on the kingside to win.

After 36…Rh2! Black’sBlack’s pieces were simply crashing through.

Despite a disappointing performance, Ding won his first game as World Champion today. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes

 GIRI – NEPOMNIACHTCHI | ½-½, 68 moves

The final game of the event had important consequences, as a win by Giri would allow him to reach Caruana and force a playoff. After being surprised by the Sveshnikov Sicilian, Giri opted for a rare variation (10.Nab1), where White aims for a small positional edge. He was a bit better in the middlegame, but patient defence from Nepomniachtchi allowed him to equalize and even start pressing for the win. At one point in the queen and knight endgame, Giri blundered, but Nepo missed his chance to win and instead, the game was eventually drawn.

Here 48…Qg3+ 49.Kh1 Qf4! would have been winning for Black, with a decisive threat of Ng3+

It was a forgetful event for the World Championship challenger as well. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes

The 2023 Grand Chess Tour heads to Poland next for the Superbet Rapid and Blitz starting Sunday, May 21, with tournament action live starting at 7:20 AM CT with Grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Var Akobian, Cristian Chirila and International Master Nazi Paikidze on grandchesstour.org and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels.

Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy

Photos: Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum Studios; Credits available on Flickr.

Further Information:
Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTour
Instagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour
#GrandChessTour
#SuperbetChessClassic

Venue: 
Grand Hotel Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
May 6 – May 15, 2023 

Press Contact:
press@grandchesstour.org 

Livestream:
GrandChessTour.org 

All five games were drawn in Round 6 as Fabiano Caruana let Alireza Firouzja off the hook, missing a chance to increase his lead, while Wesley So stunningly repeated moves against Ding Liren in a nearly winning position. With three rounds left to play Caruana remains in clear first with 4.0/6, while Firouzja, So, and Rapport are all tied for second with 3.5.

DEAC – GIRI | ½-½, 34 moves

A positional line of the Najdorf saw Giri tank for more than 30 minutes out of the opening before uncorking the surprising novelty 11…a5. Deac responded naturally with 12.a4 and stood a bit better for most of the game, but without a clear way to play on he decided to repeat moves shortly before the first time control.

Giri needed some serious time in the opening, but eventually found his footing. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes

VACHIER-LAGRAVE – RAPPORT | ½-½, 34 moves

A Winawer French developed into a heavy strategic battle, as Rapport castled queenside while Vachier-Lagrave put his king on d2. While it was MVL who had the space advantage, he couldn’t make much progress as Rapport’s pieces were placed optimally to create counterplay. Eventually Vachier-Lagrave tried a sharp winning attempt by abandoning his queenside in order to create a passed pawn on the kingside, but precise defense by Rapport allowed him to force a perpetual thanks to his active queen.

After 18.Kd2, the position was tremendously complicated.

Another draw for Rapport, who remains tied for second. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes

CARUANA – FIROUZJA | ½-½, 45 moves

In a symmetrical Grunfeld Caruana emerged with a clear plus in the middlegame, as most of his pieces were more active than their counterparts. As the players traded down into the endgame things didn’t get any easier for Firouzja, who was stuck passively in a rook and knight ending, with Caruana’s rook posted on the 7th rank. But on the 41st move Caruana let his entire advantage slip, allowing Firouzja to challenge White’s rook on the 7th and simply equalize immediately.

Here 39.h4, followed by g3-g4-g5 would have posed serious problems for Black. Instead Caruana played 39.Nf7+ Kg8 40.Nd6 f5 41.Nc4?, which allowed 41…Rf7! helping Black to hold.

A serious missed opportunity for Caruana, who had a chance to take a full-point lead. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes

NEPOMNIACHTCHI – DUDA  | ½-½, 36 moves

Facing his own opening, the Petroff Defense, Nepomniachtchi played quite quickly out of the gate to put pressure on Duda, but couldn’t seem to get more than a symbolic advantage with the slightly more active pieces. Despite having a weak pawn on c6, Duda put pressure on White’s isolated d4-pawn in order to hold the balance, and eventually Nepo had nothing better to do than to repeat the position.

Duda was under some difficulties today, but managed to hold. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes

DING – SO | ½-½, 40 moves

In what was the wildest game of the day, Ding played rather ambitiously in an English Opening, looking to claim a lot of space at the cost of his development. But So reacted quite energetically, blasting open the center while White’s king was still in the middle of the board. A highly tactical battle ensued which saw So sacrifice his queen for a rook and two pieces, but then to the shock of commentators he decided to repeat moves and force a draw in a position where he was clearly better.

A miraculous escape for Ding, who was on the ropes early on. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes

The 2023 Superbet Chess Classic continues Saturday, May 13, with tournament action live starting at 7:20 AM CT with Grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Var Akobian, Cristian Chirila and International Master Nazi Paikidze on grandchesstour.org and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels.

Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy

Photos: Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum Studios; Credits available on Flickr.

Further Information:
Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTour
Instagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour
#GrandChessTour
#SuperbetChessClassic

Venue: 
Grand Hotel Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
May 6 – May 15, 2023 

Press Contact:
press@grandchesstour.org 

Livestream:
GrandChessTour.org 

ISCU and FIDE, together with the Romanian Chess Federation, Ploiesti municipality and Prahova County Council, Prahova Chess County Association and Romanian Education Ministry, invite schools to participate in the 1st edition of the International Schools Chess Festival.

The event will take place from July 3-9 in the Culture Palace in the city of Ploiesti, Romania.

Any FIDE member federation and any FIDE continental federation can register school teams for the competition. In addition, schools can directly register teams to participate.

Each team representing a school shall consist of four players – 2 boys and 2 girls. Players must have FIDE ID and shall not have reached the age of 12 before January 1, 2023.

The event schedule:

FIDE established a special award for the competition winner: 1st ranked team will be eligible for a travelling grant and accommodation at the World Schools Team Championship in Kazakhstan, 3-8 August 2023.

Regulations for 1st International Schools Chess Festival

Official website: https://iscu.info/

Photo: cjph.ro/

Fabiano Caruana retained his half-point lead after Round 5 of the 2023 Superbet Chess Classic, as Alireza Firouzja inflicted the first loss to World Champion Ding Liren while Maxime Vachier-Lagrave scored a victory over Ian Nepommniachtchi. Going into the rest day, Caruana remains in first with 3.5/5, while Firouzja, So, and Rapport are tied for second with 3.0/5.

DUDA – CARUANA | 1/2-1/2, 31 moves

A well-prepared Caruana had few issues equalizing in the Arkhangelsk Ruy Lopez, as he forced a series of trades in the center before sacrificing a knight on the kingside to secure a perpetual.

23…Nxh3+! forced a draw after 24.gxh3 Qg5+ 25.Kh1 Rxe5 26.f4 Qf5 27.Rxe5 Qxh3+=, with a perpetual.

Caruana showed great preparation today. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Bryan Adams

FIROUZJA – DING | 1-0, 52 moves

In a double-edged middlegame arising from a 4.d3 Berlin, Firouzja suddenly took on a lot of risks, sacrificing the e4-pawn in order to create pressure on the kingside. Things looked good for Black, but at the critical moment, Ding blundered, allowing Firouzja a combination to win a queen in exchange for a rook and bishop. The resulting endgame wasn’t immediately lost but quite difficult, as Ding quickly went wrong, and the French No. 1 scored the full point.

Here 30…Nde4 would have kept a large advantage for Black. Instead 30…Nfe4? was played, allowing Firouzja to win material with 31.Bxd6 Nxd6 32.Bxf7

The World No. 2 was the first to defeat the new world champion. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes

NEPOMNIACHTCHI – VACHIER-LAGRAVE | 0-1, 58 moves

After surprising MVL with the 2.c3 Sicilian, Nepomniachtchi managed to get a slightly better position as the players exchanged queens early on. Nepo’s advantage was starting to grow while Black looked for counterplay along the h-file. After a few nonchalant moves, Nepo was suddenly in serious trouble and then simply lost as MVL’s rooks and knight became decisively active.

After 58…a3, Black was winning in view of 59.Rxb3 Rh3+

MVL was worse out of the opening but managed to fully turn things around. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes

GIRI – RAPPORT | 1/2-1/2, 49 moves

Once again, Rapport opted for the French Defense but didn’t seem to face difficulties out of the opening in the 3.Nd2 Tarrasch Variation. Giri tried to create some initiative on the kingside in a roughly equal middlegame but misplayed the position, soon giving Black a clear advantage in the endgame. At the key moment, Rapport missed his chance to break through, allowing Giri just enough counterplay to survive.

A solid 3.0/5 for Rapport so far, who’s tied for second. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes

SO – DEAC | 1/2-1/2, 62 moves

Coming out of an Italian Game, So was able to gradually build up a space advantage in the center of the board as Deac’s position became quite passive. However, in the endgame Wesley slipped, allowing Black counterplay with the f5 pawn-break, which saved Deac the game.

Wesley So had some chances against Deac, but couldn’t fully capitalize. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Bryan Adams

The 2023 Superbet Chess Classic continues Friday, May 12, with tournament action live starting at 7:20 AM CT with Grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Var Akobian, Cristian Chirila and International Master Nazi Paikidze on grandchesstour.org and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels.

Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy

Photos: Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum Studios; Credits available on Flickr.

Further Information:
Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTour
Instagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour
#GrandChessTour
#SuperbetChessClassic

Venue: 
Grand Hotel Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
May 6 – May 15, 2023 

Press Contact:
press@grandchesstour.org 

Livestream:
GrandChessTour.org