The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has announced an online 2021 Chess Olympiad from August 13 to September 15 at which Guyana would be represented. The national participating teams will compete in rapid chess matches played on six boards, similar to the format which was followed last year.
National federations are requested to field their best players and top juniors since their competition would be the finest chess players worldwide. Each team will consist of six players including two women, at least one U-20 player (born in 2001 or later), and at least one girl U-20 (born in 2001 or later). The time control will be 15 minutes plus 5-second increments per move starting from move 1.
In last year’s Olympiad, more than 1,500 participants represented 163 countries making it an international chess phenomenon. Similar to the format used in the 2020 edition, the Olympiad will operate in two sequences: the Divisions and Playoffs. Eight teams will qualify from the Divisions stage to battle in the knockout format. Federations have until July 31, 2021 to confirm their participation.
Meanwhile, the FIDE Cadet and Youth Online Rapid World Cup Tournament begins on August 1 and ends August 31. A local chess tournament was held recently to identify players under the age of 18 to participate in the tournament, 22 participants were selected to play in the U-10 to the U-18 categories. This World Cup will attract the most exceptional youth chess players including masters, international masters and grandmasters.
Internationally, Indian grandmaster and former world champion Viswanathan Anand won the experimental four-game, No Castling chess match against Russia’s Vladimir Kramnik 2½ to 1½ points. Anand won the first game and held on to the lead throughout the match.
July 20 was World Chess Day.
Chess game
White: Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa
Black: Veselin Topalov
Tournament: Gibraltar Masters, Catalan Bay, January 26, 2020
Type of Game: French Defence, Steinitz Variation
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Be7 7.Be3 b6 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Be2 O-O 10.O-O cxd4 11.Nxd4 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 Nb8 13.Bf2 Ba6 14.Bxa6 Nxa6 15.f5 exf5 16.Nxd5 Nb4 17.c4 Rc8 18.a3 Nc6 19.Rfe1 Bc5 20.b4 Bxf2+ 21.Qxf2 Qd7 22.Qh4 Qd8 23.Nf6+ gxf6 24.Rad1 Nxe5 25.Rxd8 Rfxd8 26.Qxf6 Ng6 27.h4 h5 28.Rf1 f4 29.g4 Rd3 30.gxh5 Rg3+ 31.Kf2 Nxh4 32.Qxh4 Rxc4 33.Re11-0. Black resigns.
