Closing the 2017 notebook on chess

By Errol Tiwari On In Chess with Errol |
Chinese chess grandmaster Ding Liren, 25, who captured the Best Game Award for 2017 for his fiery encounter against Bai Jinshi in Round 18 of the Chinese Team Champ-ionship. Ding, renowned as a solid positional player, engaged his opponent in a particularly spectacular combination to win the thrilling encounter. A former World Under-10 and a World Under-12  champion and also the winner of the Olympiad gold medal in 2014, Ding will play in the Candidates Tournament in March in Berlin. (Photo: Amruta Mokal)
Chinese chess grandmaster Ding Liren, 25, who captured the Best Game Award for 2017 for his fiery encounter against Bai Jinshi in Round 18 of the Chinese Team Champ-ionship. Ding, renowned as a solid positional player, engaged his opponent in a particularly spectacular combination to win the thrilling encounter. A former World Under-10 and a World Under-12  champion and also the winner of the Olympiad gold medal in 2014, Ding will play in the Candidates Tournament in March in Berlin. (Photo: Amruta Mokal)

2017 was a great year for world chess. The column highlighted whatever was of importance in chess locally and internationally.

But before the column closes the final chapter in the 2017 chess notebook, the editors of the magazine Chess Base had asked its wide readership to name the Players of the Year 2017, Game of the Year, Endgame of the Year and Move of the Year. The nominations were given based on the meritorious aspects of the players’ accomplishments and the results were as follows:

Player of the Year 2017 – Levon Aronian (Armenia)  42% of the votes; Viswanathan Anand placed second with 12%.

Woman Player of the Year 2017 – Hou Yifan (China)