Contact The Week in Chess Contents
1) Introduction
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My thanks to Olexandr Prohorov, Holger Lieske, Yair Parkhov, Simon McNamara, J. Oskar Stoeber Blazquez Robert Baskin, Pedro Alberdi, Daniil Yuffa, Mick Norris and everyone else who helped both with this issue.
China deservedly won the FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup. Although draw odds for China in the final over four boards made life for the USA extremely hard this was a reward for being clearly the best side in the preliminary phase. It would however have made for a more exciting final day if there had been blitz after the match was drawn 2-2. This week sees the Play for Russia Charity tournament followed by the Steinitz Memorial next weekend both extremely strong blitz tournaments. It seems that after that other tournaments are already planned. I still would like to see some slow chess too and TWIC has rather too much blitz chess in it but some of the games are bound to be of interest. Chess activity certainly hasn't stopped but if over the board chess is limited for longer than a few more weeks then I think we'll see some standard time control tournaments attempted.
Hope you enjoy this issue.
Mark
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The FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup took place May 5-10, 2020. 6 teams Russia, USA, Europe, China, India, plus a team representing the "Rest of the World" will compete in a rapid (25 minutes + 10 seconds a move) tournament hosted by the chess.com servers. Many of the leading players in the world will compete for their nations and the $180,000 (166,109 euros) prize-fund.
Players include: Caruana, Ding, Nepomniachtchi, MVL, Aronian, So, Radjabov Giri, Wang Hao, Leinier Dominguez, Duda, Anand, Karjakin, Nakamura, Wei Yi, Firouzja etc. Garry Kasparov will captain the European team.
China were the dominant team throughout - they only lost the final preliminary match to the USA who they also met in the final. As China topped the qualification group they got draw odds in the final. The match was indeed drawn 2-2. The decisive games in the final were Caruana beating Wei Yi and Yu Yangyi beating Wesley So.
| Online Nations Cup Prelim chess.com INT Tue 5th May 2020 - Sun 10th May 2020
Leading Final Round 10 Standings: |
||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Team | 1a | 1b | 2a | 2b | 3a | 3b | 4a | 4b | 5a | 5b | 6a | 6b | Mpts | Bpts | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | China | 2½ | 1½ | 3 | 2½ | 2 | 2½ | 2½ | 2½ | 3 | 3½ | 17 | 25.5 | 0 | 473.5 | 61 | ||
| 2 | USA | 1½ | 2½ | 1 | 1½ | 3 | 2½ | 2 | 2½ | 2½ | 3 | 13 | 22 | 0 | 418.8 | 58.5 | ||
| 3 | Europe | 1 | 1½ | 3 | 2½ | 2 | 2½ | 2½ | 2 | 2½ | 2 | 13 | 21.5 | 0 | 414.3 | 53 | ||
| 4 | Russia | 2 | 1½ | 1 | 1½ | 2 | 1½ | 2 | 2½ | 3 | 2 | 8 | 19 | 0 | 370.8 | 45 | ||
| 5 | India | 1½ | 1½ | 2 | 1½ | 1½ | 2 | 2 | 1½ | 1½ | 2½ | 5 | 17.5 | 0 | 353.3 | 43 | ||
| 6 | Rest of the World | 1 | ½ | 1½ | 1 | 1½ | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2½ | 1½ | 4 | 14.5 | 0 | 295.5 | 39.5 | ||
| 6 players | ||||||||||||||||||
| Online Nations Cup Prelim chess.com INT Tue 5th May 2020 - Sun 10th May 2020
Sunday Superfinal - China had the white pieces on boards 1 and 3. China won the trophy after the final match was drawn 2-2 because they won the preliminary stage. |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Final | May 10th 2020 | 3pm BST | |
| Bd | CHN * | 2-2 | USA |
| 1 | Ding, Liren (w) | draw | Nakamura, Hikaru (b) |
| 2 | Wei, Yi (b) | 0-1 | Caruana, Fabiano (w) |
| 3 | Yu, Yangyi (w) | 1-0 | So, Wesley (b) |
| 4 | Hou, Yifan (b) | draw | Krush, Irina (w) |
The Play for Russia tournament is a blitz event that takes place Tue 12th May to Thu 14th May 2020. The charity tournament prize pool will be distributed among regional hospitals and doctors fighting the COVID-19 epidemic. The players nominate precisely the charity they want to help. The tournament is held with the support of the Ramaks Group of Companies. The event will be broadcast live on "Match TV". The event will be held on lichess. Time control 5 minutes + 2 seconds a move. 8 player double round robin followed by a semi-final and final to decide the winner from the top 4 players. Play starts at 3pm Moscow time 1pm BST. Players: Nepomniachtchi, Grischuk, Kramnik, Karjakin, Svidler, Tomashevsky, Inarkiev and Riazantsev.
| Play for Russia Prelim lichess.org INT Tue 12th May 2020 - Thu 14th May 2020
Leading Round (of 14) Standings: |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Name | Ti | FED | Rtg |
| 1 | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | GM | RUS | 2784 |
| 2 | Grischuk, Alexander | GM | RUS | 2777 |
| 3 | Kramnik, Vladimir | GM | RUS | 2753 |
| 4 | Karjakin, Sergey | GM | RUS | 2752 |
| 5 | Svidler, Peter | GM | RUS | 2723 |
| 6 | Tomashevsky, Evgeny | GM | RUS | 2706 |
| 7 | Inarkiev, Ernesto | GM | RUS | 2661 |
| 8 | Riazantsev, Alexander | GM | RUS | 2638 |
| 8 players | ||||
The Titled Tuesday Blitz 5th May on Chess.com was won by Anton Demchenko on tie-break from Tomas Laurusas, Parham Maghsoodloo and Haik Martirosyan all scored 9/10.
| Titled Tuesday 5th May chess.com INT Tue 5th May 2020 - Tue 5th May 2020
Leading Round 9 (of 10) Standings: |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | SNo | Name | Ti | FED | Pts | TB1 |
| 1 | 52 | Anton Demchenko | GM | RUS | 9 | 58.25 |
| 2 | 95 | Tomas Laurusas | IM | LTU | 9 | 58 |
| 3 | 10 | Parham Maghsoodloo | GM | IRN | 9 | 54.5 |
| 4 | 6 | Haik Martirosyan | GM | ARM | 9 | 47 |
| 5 | 42 | Vladislav Kovalev | GM | BLR | 8.5 | 56.25 |
| 6 | 2 | Alexander Grischuk | GM | RUS | 8.5 | 55.5 |
| 7 | 67 | Giga Kuparadze | GM | GEO | 8.5 | 51.75 |
| 8 | 350 | Viacheslav Mikhailov | IM | RUS | 8.5 | 49.75 |
| 9 | 35 | Arjun Erigaisi | GM | IND | 8.5 | 47.5 |
| 10 | 5 | Daniil Dubov | GM | RUS | 8.5 | 44.5 |
| 11 | 4 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | GM | RUS | 8 | 51.5 |
| 12 | 45 | Samvel Ter-Sahakyan | GM | ARM | 8 | 50.75 |
| 13 | 61 | Andrew Tang | GM | USA | 8 | 49.5 |
| 14 | 109 | Levan Pantsulaia | GM | GEO | 8 | 47.25 |
| 15 | 3 | Vladimir Fedoseev | GM | RUS | 8 | 47 |
| 15 | 117 | Alexandr Triapishko | IM | RUS | 8 | 47 |
| 17 | 44 | Maxim Matlakov | GM | RUS | 8 | 45 |
| 17 | 48 | Aleksandar Indjic | GM | SRB | 8 | 45 |
| 19 | 7 | Peter Svidler | GM | RUS | 8 | 44 |
| 19 | 74 | Steven Zierk | GM | USA | 8 | 44 |
| 21 | 34 | Rasmus Svane | GM | DEU | 8 | 42.75 |
| 22 | 371 | Alexei Gubajdullin | FM | RUS | 8 | 42.5 |
| 22 | 33 | Aryan Tari | GM | NOR | 8 | 42.5 |
| 24 | 12 | Oleksandr Bortnyk | GM | UKR | 8 | 42.25 |
| 25 | 303 | Timur Fakhrutdinov | FM | RUS | 8 | 39.5 |
| 26 | 54 | Gawain Jones | GM | GBR | 8 | 39.25 |
| 27 | 20 | Boris Grachev | GM | RUS | 7.5 | 51 |
| 28 | 51 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | GM | UZB | 7.5 | 49.75 |
| 28 | 14 | Liem Le | GM | VNM | 7.5 | 49.75 |
| 30 | 16 | Adam Kozak | GM | HUN | 7.5 | 46.5 |
| 31 | 179 | Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux | FM | CAN | 7.5 | 44.5 |
| 32 | 68 | Vasif Durarbayli | GM | USA | 7.5 | 44.25 |
| 33 | 1 | Khamrakulov Djurabek | GM | UZB | 7.5 | 43.25 |
| 34 | 94 | Valery Kazakouski | IM | LTU | 7.5 | 41.25 |
| 34 | 171 | Evgeny Postny | GM | ISR | 7.5 | 41.25 |
| 36 | 65 | Tigr V Shlyape | GM | USA | 7.5 | 41 |
| 37 | 127 | Siva Mahadevan | IM | IND | 7.5 | 40.25 |
| 37 | 578 | David Lana | FM | ESP | 7.5 | 40.25 |
| 37 | 24 | Leon Livaic | IM | HRV | 7.5 | 40.25 |
| 40 | 189 | Daniel Chan | FM | SGP | 7.5 | 40 |
| 1055 players | ||||||
The IM Not A GM Speed Chess tournament takes place on chess.com. The event started on April 18th and will most likely run through until late April or early May. Some of the most well known figures in online broadcasting and chess provision compete in long blitz matches consisting of 75 minutes of 5+1 blitz, 45 minutes of 3+1 blitz, and 25 minutes of 1+1 bullet chess. The Semi-Finals take place on the 14th and 16th May.
| IM Not A GM Speed Chess chess.com INT Sat 18th Apr 2020 - Sat 18th Apr 2020
Leading Round 2 (of 4) Standings: |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Name | Ti | FED | Rtg | Pts |
| Semi-Finals | |||||
| 1 | Kashlinskaya, Alina | IM | RUS | 2494 | |
| 1 | Coleman, Teddy | IM | USA | 2333 | |
| 1 | Bartholomew, John | IM | USA | 2446 | |
| 1 | Shahade, Gregory | IM | USA | 2476 | |
| Quarter-Finals | |||||
| 1 | Kashlinskaya, Alina | IM | RUS | 2494 | 13 |
| 2 | Rosen, Eric | IM | USA | 2353 | 8 |
| 1 | Coleman, Teddy | IM | USA | 2333 | 11.5 |
| 2 | Rozman, Levy | IM | USA | 2343 | 9.5 |
| 1 | Bartholomew, John | IM | USA | 2446 | 15.5 |
| 2 | Trent, Lawrence | IM | ENG | 2399 | 7.5 |
| 1 | Shahade, Gregory | IM | USA | 2476 | 12.5 |
| 2 | Yip, Carissa | IM | USA | 2420 | 9.5 |
| Round 1 | |||||
| 1 | Bartholomew, John | IM | USA | 2446 | 20 |
| 2 | Pruess, David | IM | USA | 2336 | 6 |
| 1 | Rozman, Levy | IM | USA | 2343 | 14.5 |
| 2 | Tania, Sachdev | IM | IND | 2392 | 5.5 |
| 1 | Kashlinskaya, Alina | IM | RUS | 2494 | 13 |
| 2 | Sielecki, Christof | IM | GER | 2431 | 11 |
| 1 | Shahade, Gregory | IM | USA | 2476 | 14 |
| 2 | Zatonskih, Anna | IM | USA | 2420 | 9 |
| 1 | Rosen, Eric | IM | USA | 2353 | 17 |
| 2 | Paehtz, Elisabeth | IM | GER | 2473 | 7 |
| 1 | Trent, Lawrence | IM | ENG | 2399 | 15.5 |
| 2 | Kavutskiy, Konstantin | IM | USA | 2391 | 6.5 |
| 1 | Coleman, Teddy | IM | USA | 2333 | 15 |
| 2 | Rensch, Daniel | IM | USA | 2402 | 13 |
| 1 | Yip, Carissa | IM | USA | 2420 | 13.5 |
| 2 | Ippolito, Dean | IM | USA | 2369 | 8.5 |
| 31 players | |||||
The German Internet Championships took place on May 9th on Chessbase' PlayChess server. Daniel Fridman won with 10.5/13.
| ch-GER Internet 2020 PlayChess INT Sat 9th May 2020 - Sat 9th May 2020
Leading Final Round 13 Standings: |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Name | Rtg | Gms | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Pts | TB1 |
| 1 | Fridman, Daniel | 2615 | 13 | * | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10.5 | |
| 2 | Keymer, Vincent | 2558 | 13 | 0 | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9.5 | |
| 3 | Meier, Georg | 2621 | 13 | ½ | ½ | * | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 9 | |
| 4 | Svane, Rasmus | 2613 | 13 | 0 | ½ | 0 | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8.5 | |
| 5 | Vogel, Roven | 2456 | 13 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | * | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 7.5 | 43.5 |
| 6 | Braun, Christian2 | 2409 | 13 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | * | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7.5 | 38.5 |
| 7 | Lubbe, Nikolas | 2443 | 13 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| 8 | Bluebaum, Matthias | 2647 | 13 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | * | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 6 | 36.75 |
| 9 | Donchenko, Alexander | 2646 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | * | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 32 |
| 10 | Engel, Luis | 2532 | 13 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | * | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 5.5 | |
| 11 | Schneider, Ilja | 2479 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | 5 | |
| 12 | Hausrath, Daniel | 2480 | 13 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | * | 1 | 1 | 4.5 | |
| 13 | Eilenberg, Jonas | 2137 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | * | 1 | 2.5 | |
| 14 | Paehtz, Elisabeth | 2473 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | * | 2 | |
| 14 players | |||||||||||||||||||
| ch-GER Internet 2020 PlayChess INT Sat 9th May 2020 - Sat 9th May 2020. Category: 11. Ave: (2508) | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Name | Title | FED | Elo | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Pts | TPR |
| 1 | Fridman, Daniel | GM | GER | 2615 | # | 1 | = | 1 | = | = | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10.5 | 2751 |
| 2 | Keymer, Vincent | GM | GER | 2558 | 0 | # | = | = | 1 | 1 | = | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9.5 | 2679 |
| 3 | Meier, Georg | GM | GER | 2621 | = | = | # | 1 | 0 | 1 | = | = | 1 | = | 1 | = | 1 | 1 | 9 | 2640 |
| 4 | Svane, Rasmus | GM | GER | 2613 | 0 | = | 0 | # | 1 | = | = | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8.5 | 2610 |
| 5 | Vogel, Roven | IM | GER | 2456 | = | 0 | 1 | 0 | # | 1 | 1 | = | 0 | 0 | 1 | = | 1 | 1 | 7.5 | 2569 |
| 6 | Braun, Christian | IM | GER | 2409 | = | 0 | 0 | = | 0 | # | = | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7.5 | 2572 |
| 7 | Lubbe, Nikolas | IM | GER | 2443 | 0 | = | = | = | 0 | = | # | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2542 |
| 8 | Bluebaum, Matthias | GM | GER | 2647 | 1 | 0 | = | 0 | = | 1 | 0 | # | 0 | = | 0 | 1 | = | 1 | 6 | 2468 |
| 9 | Donchenko, Alexander | GM | GER | 2646 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | # | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2468 |
| 10 | Engel, Luis | GM | GER | 2532 | 0 | 0 | = | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | = | 1 | # | 1 | 0 | 1 | = | 5.5 | 2449 |
| 11 | Schneider, Ilja | IM | GER | 2479 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | # | = | 1 | = | 5 | 2423 |
| 12 | Hausrath, Daniel | GM | GER | 2480 | 0 | 0 | = | 0 | = | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | = | # | 1 | 1 | 4.5 | 2400 |
| 13 | Eilenberg, Jonas | GER | 2137 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | = | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | # | 1 | 2.5 | 2285 | |
| 14 | Paehtz, Elisabeth | IM | GER | 2473 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | = | = | 0 | 0 | # | 2 | 2214 |
There was an Italy Israel match on Lichess on May 3rd. Israel won 43-32.
The Molodezhka Chess Club from Russia vs Poland Match took place on May 11th. The Polish team was called Friends of Alina Kashlinskaya. The Molodezhka super team won 97-89. The course of the match was commented in Russian by Alina Bivol and Alexander Zakharov and in the Polish studio by Alina Kashlinskaya, wife of Radoslaw Wojtaszek.
| Molodezhka vs POL 2020 lichess.org INT Mon 11th May 2020 - Mon 11th May 2020
Leading Final Round 7 Standings: |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Pts |
| 1 | Molodezhka super team | 19 | 19 | 15 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 97 |
| 2 | Alinas Friends | 21 | 18 | 15 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 89 |
| 2 teams | |||||||||
The PNWCC Online Blitz - Jackpot IX took place on May 9th on Chess.com. Aleksandar Indjic won on tie-break from Vladimir Fedoseev after both scored 9/11.
| PNWCC Online Blitz JP 9 chess.com INT Sat 9th May 2020 - Sat 9th May 2020
Leading Final Round 11 Standings: |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | SNo | Name | Ti | FED | Pts | TB1 |
| 1 | 14 | Indjic, Aleksandar | GM | SRB | 9 | 60 |
| 2 | 1 | Fedoseev, Vladimir | GM | RUS | 9 | 57.5 |
| 3 | 3 | Sarin, Nihal | GM | IND | 8 | 54.25 |
| 4 | 6 | Sevian, Sam | GM | USA | 8 | 51.75 |
| 5 | 36 | Bosiocic, Marin | GM | HRV | 8 | 43.5 |
| 6 | 9 | Karjakin, Sergey | GM | RUS | 7.5 | 51.25 |
| 7 | 2 | Sarana, Aleksey | GM | RUS | 7.5 | 50.75 |
| 8 | 8 | Le, Tuan Minh | IM | VNM | 7.5 | 47 |
| 9 | 7 | Oparin, Grigoriy | GM | RUS | 7.5 | 46.75 |
| 10 | 5 | Xiong, Jeffery | GM | USA | 7.5 | 46 |
| 11 | 32 | Khanin, Semen | IM | RUS | 7.5 | 44 |
| 12 | 20 | Chigaev, Maksim | GM | RUS | 7.5 | 43.25 |
| 13 | 12 | Erigaisi, Arjun | GM | IND | 7.5 | 39.75 |
| 14 | 12 | Quesada, Yuniesky | GM | USA | 7 | 45.75 |
| 15 | 24 | Triapishko, Alexandr | IM | RUS | 7 | 41.25 |
| 16 | 17 | Demchenko, Anton | GM | RUS | 7 | 39 |
| 17 | 22 | Jumabayev, Rinat | GM | KAZ | 7 | 37.5 |
| 18 | 33 | Mikhalevski, Victor | GM | ISR | 7 | 37 |
| 19 | 13 | Smirin, Ilya | GM | ISR | 7 | 35.75 |
| 20 | 25 | Kobalia, Mikhail | GM | RUS | 7 | 35.5 |
| 21 | 37 | He, Anthony | FM | USA | 7 | 31 |
| 22 | 23 | Predojevic, Borki | GM | BIH | 6.5 | 41.5 |
| 23 | 29 | Lenderman, Aleksandr | GM | USA | 6.5 | 35.5 |
| 24 | 42 | Gabrielian, Artur | GM | RUS | 6.5 | 34.25 |
| 25 | 31 | Alexey, Maly | IM | UKR | 6.5 | 32.5 |
| 26 | 46 | Rychagov, Andrey | GM | RUS | 6.5 | 31.5 |
| 27 | 26 | Drygalov, Andrey | IM | RUS | 6 | 35.75 |
| 28 | 21 | Gordievsky, Dmitry | GM | RUS | 6 | 31.25 |
| 29 | 34 | Huzman, Alex | GM | ISR | 6 | 29 |
| 30 | 54 | Kantholi, Rathnakaran | IM | IND | 6 | 28.75 |
| 30 | 71 | Penagalapati, Abhinav | USA | 6 | 28.75 | |
| 32 | 39 | Postny, Evgeny | GM | ISR | 6 | 28.5 |
| 33 | 61 | Deshmukh, Divya | WIM | IND | 6 | 28 |
| 34 | 67 | Vidyarthi, Vyom | CM | USA | 6 | 27.75 |
| 35 | 53 | Haoxiang, Jia | IM | CHN | 6 | 26.5 |
| 35 | 51 | Turgut, Aydin | FM | USA | 6 | 26.5 |
| 37 | 45 | Mittal, Aditya | IM | IND | 6 | 25 |
| 38 | 70 | Turgut, Tansel | FM | USA | 6 | 23.5 |
| 39 | 57 | Anatoliy, Polivanov | IM | UKR | 5.5 | 28.5 |
| 40 | 58 | P, Saravana Krishnan | IM | IND | 5.5 | 27.25 |
| 114 players | ||||||
The Sunway Sitges Online Open tournament finally got underway on 19th April 2020 after a few teething problems, the event ran until the 28th April on the chess.com server. What made this tournament interesting to me is that it's an attempt to play a fully fledged open online, with standard time controls. I don't believe it will be possible to organise large international opens for a long time because of the conornavirus crisis. Inessential international travel and rooms with large numbers of people sat in close proximity to each other don't sound like things we will want to be doing for quite some time. This will leave a huge hole to be filled. Playing such events online, with all the well known problems they have, seems like the only alternative. Leading players: Vitaliy Bernadskiy, Ahmed Adly, Axel Bachmann, Kirill Shevchenko, Jesper Sondergaard Thybo, Alexandr Fier etc. Ahmed Adly won the tournament after winning the 16 player blitz tie-break beating Liam Vrolijk. Rodrigo Vasquez Schroeder finished 3rd. There are more games from the preliminary section final two rounds now available and also those of Robert Baskin.
| Sunway Sitges Online Open chess.com INT Fri 17th Apr 2020 - Mon 27th Apr 2020
Leading Final Round 9 Standings: |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | SNo | Name | Ti | FED | Rtg | Pts | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | 4 | Shevchenko Kirill | GM | UKR | 2592 | 7.0 | 50.0 | 55.0 | 41.75 |
| 2 | 3 | Bachmann Axel | GM | PAR | 2599 | 7.0 | 49.5 | 53.5 | 39.75 |
| 3 | 37 | Mehar Chinna Reddy C.H. | IM | IND | 2422 | 7.0 | 49.0 | 52.5 | 39.00 |
| 4 | 2 | Adly Ahmed | GM | EGY | 2615 | 7.0 | 48.5 | 52.5 | 39.50 |
| 5 | 22 | Sattarov Bobir | UZB | 2459 | 7.0 | 45.5 | 49.5 | 37.00 | |
| 6 | 33 | Das Sayantan | IM | IND | 2431 | 7.0 | 44.5 | 48.0 | 34.75 |
| 7 | 28 | Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo | GM | CHI | 2441 | 7.0 | 44.0 | 48.0 | 36.25 |
| 8 | 43 | Kopylov Michael | IM | UKR | 2407 | 7.0 | 44.0 | 47.0 | 34.25 |
| 9 | 23 | Yoo Christopher Woojin | IM | USA | 2455 | 7.0 | 43.0 | 46.5 | 36.25 |
| 10 | 7 | Nasuta Grzegorz | GM | POL | 2558 | 6.5 | 48.5 | 53.0 | 37.00 |
| 11 | 13 | Vrolijk Liam | IM | NED | 2502 | 6.5 | 46.5 | 50.5 | 34.00 |
| 12 | 5 | Thybo Jesper Sondergaard | GM | DEN | 2590 | 6.5 | 45.5 | 50.0 | 35.25 |
| 13 | 56 | Kopylov Daniel | GER | 2348 | 6.5 | 45.5 | 47.0 | 31.75 | |
| 14 | 39 | Reimanis Ritvars | FM | LAT | 2421 | 6.5 | 43.5 | 48.0 | 32.50 |
| 15 | 41 | Srihari L R | FM | IND | 2414 | 6.5 | 39.5 | 43.0 | 29.50 |
| 16 | 34 | Vlasenko Miroslav | IM | RUS | 2431 | 6.5 | 39.5 | 43.0 | 29.25 |
| 17 | 47 | Espinoza Palomino Willyam | IM | PER | 2400 | 6.0 | 45.5 | 49.0 | 29.50 |
| 18 | 100 | Rudovskii Filipp | RUS | 2158 | 6.0 | 45.0 | 49.5 | 31.75 | |
| 19 | 48 | Baskin Robert | IM | GER | 2390 | 6.0 | 43.5 | 46.5 | 27.75 |
| 20 | 157 | Nguyen Thanh Thuy Tien | WIM | VIE | 1971 | 6.0 | 43.0 | 45.0 | 27.00 |
| 21 | 104 | Samunenkov Ihor | UKR | 2142 | 6.0 | 42.5 | 45.5 | 26.50 | |
| 22 | 11 | Anisimov Pavel | GM | RUS | 2527 | 6.0 | 42.0 | 46.5 | 29.75 |
| 23 | 118 | Ansh M Shah | IND | 2095 | 6.0 | 42.0 | 45.0 | 28.25 | |
| 24 | 49 | Dudin Gleb | FM | RUS | 2387 | 6.0 | 40.0 | 43.5 | 27.25 |
| 25 | 65 | Ohanyan Emin | FM | ARM | 2291 | 6.0 | 39.0 | 40.5 | 24.25 |
| 26 | 76 | Matthiesen Martin | FM | DEN | 2260 | 6.0 | 38.0 | 40.5 | 23.50 |
| 27 | 31 | Bharath Subramaniyam H | IM | IND | 2437 | 6.0 | 37.0 | 40.0 | 25.75 |
| 28 | 25 | Polivanov Anatoliy | IM | UKR | 2452 | 6.0 | 34.5 | 38.0 | 25.50 |
| 29 | 9 | Sindarov Javokhir | GM | UZB | 2557 | 5.5 | 50.0 | 54.5 | 31.00 |
| 30 | 14 | Caspi Israel | IM | ISR | 2489 | 5.5 | 46.0 | 50.0 | 28.75 |
| 31 | 8 | Tsydypov Zhamsaran | GM | RUS | 2558 | 5.5 | 44.5 | 48.0 | 25.50 |
| 32 | 35 | Borsuk Konstantin | FM | UKR | 2431 | 5.5 | 44.5 | 47.5 | 27.00 |
| 33 | 73 | Gluhovsky Mark | RUS | 2271 | 5.5 | 43.0 | 46.5 | 23.75 | |
| 34 | 80 | Mahitosh Dey | FM | IND | 2254 | 5.5 | 43.0 | 46.0 | 24.50 |
| 35 | 70 | Gavilan Diaz Mario | FM | ESP | 2278 | 5.5 | 41.5 | 43.0 | 22.50 |
| 36 | 32 | Molina Roberto Junio Brito | IM | BRA | 2434 | 5.5 | 41.0 | 44.5 | 26.25 |
| 37 | 74 | Papadiamandis Elliot | FRA | 2269 | 5.5 | 41.0 | 44.0 | 25.00 | |
| 38 | 102 | Albu George | ROU | 2142 | 5.5 | 40.5 | 44.0 | 26.00 | |
| 39 | 66 | Navalgund Niranjan | FM | IND | 2289 | 5.5 | 40.5 | 43.5 | 23.50 |
| 40 | 89 | Tsaknakis Zisis | GRE | 2217 | 5.5 | 39.5 | 42.0 | 21.25 | |
| 41 | 67 | Kakabayev Mergen | FM | TKM | 2285 | 5.5 | 39.5 | 40.0 | 19.75 |
| 42 | 58 | Talukdar Rohan | FM | CAN | 2341 | 5.5 | 38.5 | 41.5 | 22.75 |
| 43 | 148 | Lopez Idarraga Daniel Eduardo | FM | COL | 2009 | 5.5 | 38.5 | 41.5 | 22.25 |
| 44 | 61 | Miciano John Marvin | IM | PHI | 2332 | 5.5 | 38.5 | 40.5 | 20.25 |
| 45 | 77 | Sterck Arno | FM | BEL | 2259 | 5.5 | 36.5 | 40.0 | 24.00 |
| 46 | 63 | Haring Viktor | FM | SVK | 2298 | 5.5 | 36.5 | 38.0 | 22.00 |
| 47 | 103 | Marinskii Yurii | RUS | 2142 | 5.5 | 35.0 | 37.5 | 20.25 | |
| 48 | 82 | Gajwa Ankit | FM | IND | 2245 | 5.5 | 34.5 | 36.0 | 19.50 |
| 49 | 185 | Daakshin Arun | IND | 1758 | 5.5 | 33.0 | 34.5 | 19.50 | |
| 50 | 88 | Kugler Florian | GER | 2223 | 5.0 | 48.0 | 50.5 | 25.50 | |
| 224 players | |||||||||
The 4NCL Online League takes place Tue 7th Apr to Sat 6th Jun 2020. The league replaces the regular season that has been halted due to the coronavirus. The time control is 45 minutes + 10 seconds a move. Games are played a 7:30pm on a Tuesday on Lichess. There is a 32 team top league - 10 rounds will be played followed by an 8 team knockout final phase to decide the winner. There are 5 divisions of varying strengths - who knows - I may turn up playing in one of the lower sections. Anti-cheating measures are in place.
Note that most of these events will not take place now. The big news is the online Magnus Carlsen Invitational. Many of the events left in the calendar for the next months will surely be cancelled. Some European events such as the men's and women's championship have been moved towards the end of the year, still no guarantee they will take place. As an amateur player I think it likely I won't play over the board chess again this year.
