The first leg of the FIDE Grand Prix organized by World Chess is over, and Ian Nepomniachtchi has taken a significant step toward trying to become the challenger for next year's World Chess Championship match. But there is a long way to go before Nepomniachtchi, or someone else, will earn the right to play for the title.
The match was decided by two rapid tie-breaker games after the regular games were both drawn.
The first symbolic move in the game A. Grischuk - I. Nepomniachtchi was made by Alexander Ovechkin, a Russian professional hockey player, three-time winner of the World Championship as a member of the Russian national team, ice hockey winger of the Washington Capitals, the 2018 Stanley Cup owner.
The first rapid tie-breaker game, which had a time control of 25 minutes per player with 10 seconds added after each move, and in which Nepomniachtchi was Black, was drawn in 37 moves.
In the second game, Grischuk misplaced a knight on the side of the board, allowing Nepomaniachtchi to build up an overwhelming advantage. He eventually won a pawn as Grischuk ran short on time. After several errors by Grischuk, Nepomniachtchi was able to force an easily winning endgame.
The win netted Nepomniachtchi 24,000 euros as well as vaulting him into first place in the series of four Grand Prix tournaments to select two players for next year's Candidates Tournament. The winner of that tournament will become the challenger for the 2020 World Championship match to be held in November.
Grischuk earned 14,000 euros and is also in good shape in the Grand Prix as he is in second place in the series.
GP points after the first leg:
1. Ian Nepomniachtchi - 9,
2. Alexander Grischuk - 7,
3. Radoslaw Wojtaszek - 5,
4. Hikaru Nakamura - 3,
5-7. Peter Svidler, Wei Yi, Daniil Dubov - 2,
8. Wesley So - 1,
9-16. Anish Giri, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Levon Aronian, Teimour Radjabov, Sergey Karjakin, Nikita Vitiugov, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Dmitry Jakovenko - 0.
The Closing Ceremony took place on May 29 and was attended by FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, Vice-President of the Russian Chess Federation and head of PhosAgro Andrey Guryev, CEO of World Chess Ilya Merenzon, the 12th World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov and Executive Director of the Russian Chess Federation Mark Glukhovsky.
Arkady Dvorkovich, FIDE President: "First of all, I would like to thank all our partners for their support in organizing this exciting event and all those people who were involved in making it happen. FIDE Grand Prix Series organized by World Chess is being held by the knock-out system for the first time and it seems to me that this competition was even more interesting and fascinating. Our participants displayed their best qualities both in standard and tie-break games. We will take into consideration all the lessons learned from this event and implement the best ideas from what we saw here".
Andrey Guryev, Vice-President of the Russian Chess Federation and head of PhosAgro: "The FIDE World Chess Grand Prix in Moscow has become one of the most interesting tournaments in the history of such events. For my part, I've been anchoring great hopes on Russian grandmasters and the Russian chess school. I think we can look to the future with confidence and work together on the long-awaited return of the chess crown to Russia".
Ilya Merenzon, CEO of World Chess: "In 2016 and 2018, the World Chess Championship cycle sparked somewhat of a chess mania in many countries and we are excited to see that it's happening again. Exciting chess means more exciting chess fans and players!"
Grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi thanked all his near and dear ones for their support as well as the organizers and Andrey Guryev personally as PhosAgro will make a sponsorship contract with the Russian player or two Russian players who will qualify for the Candidates Tournament from the FIDE Grand Prix Series organized by World Chess.
The Grand Prix is being organized by World Chess, under the auspices of FIDE.
Report by Dylan Loeb McClain
Photos from the event are available on Dropbox.
Making the Grand Prix possible, and putting up the bulk of the total prize fund of 800,000 euros, are the main sponsors:
PhosAgro, a leading chemical company as the Official Strategic Partner
Kaspersky Lab, as the Official Cybersecurity Partner
Russian Post, as the Official Logistics Partner
PRYTEK, as the Technology Transfer Partner
BMW, as the Official Auto Partner
About FIDE
The International Chess Federation or Fédération Internationale des Echecs, (FIDE), is recognized by its members and the International Olympic Committee as the international federation in the domain of chess, the supreme body responsible for the sport of chess and its Championships. FIDE has the sole rights to organize the World Chess Championships and the Chess Olympiads. www.fide.com
About World Chess
World Chess is a London-based media company. It's an official broadcaster of the World Chess Federation events and a commercial partner of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). World Chess organized the World Championship Matches in Russia, USA, and the UK. It revolutionized chess by signing the biggest media partnerships in the history of chess. World Chess is also developing Armageddon, the chess league designed for television. It operates worldchess.com.
About PhosAgro
PhosAgro is one of the world's leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers in terms of production volumes of phosphate-based fertilizers and high-grade phosphate rock with a P2O5 content of 39% and higher. The Company is the largest phosphate-based fertilizer producer in Europe (by total combined capacity for DAP/MAP/NP/NPK/NPS), the largest producer of high-grade phosphate rock with a P2O5 content of 39%, a top-three producer of MAP/DAP globally, one of the leading producers of feed phosphates (MCP) in Europe, and the only producer in Russia, and Russia's only producer of nepheline concentrate (according to the RAFP).
PhosAgro's main products include phosphate rock, 39 grades of fertilizers, feed phosphates, ammonia, and sodium tripolyphosphate, which are used by customers in 100 countries spanning all of the world's inhabited continents. The Company's priority markets outside of Russia and the CIS are Latin America, Europe and Asia. PhosAgro's shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange, and Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) for shares trade on the London Stock Exchange (under the ticker PHOR). Since 1 June 2016, the Company's GDRs have been included in the MSCI Russia and MSCI Emerging Markets indexes
About Kaspersky Lab
Kaspersky Lab is a global cybersecurity company, which has been operating in the market for over 21 years. Kaspersky Lab's deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into next-generation security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company's comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialized security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky Lab technologies and we help 270,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.
About Russian Post
Russian Post is a federal post operator, is included in the Russian Federation strategic companies list. It includes 42,000 offices across the country and has one of the biggest staff – about 335,000 post workers. Operational revenue of Russian Post in 2018 grew by 7% up to 190.4 bln rubles (178.1 bln rubles in 2017). Actual net profit of Russian Post was 3.5 times higher than in 2017 and amounted to 2.7 billion rubles. In 2018, Russian Post processed 433.3 million parcels. Every year, Russian Post delivers over 2.5 billion letters and bills (of them, 1 billion letters are from state authorities). Russian Post services about 20 million subscribers in Russia by delivering 1 billion copies of print publications per year. The annual volume of transactions processed by Russian Post is 3.2 trillion rubles (pensions, payments and transfers).
About BMW Group
The BMW Group is the world's leading manufacturer of premium automobiles and motorcycles, and provider of premium financial and mobility services. The special fascination of the BMW Group not only lies in its products and technology, but also in the company's history, written by inventors, pioneers and brilliant designers. The BMW Group sets trends in production technology and sustainability as an innovation leader with an intelligent material mix, a technological shift towards digitalisation and resource-efficient production. At the same time, flexibility and continuous optimisation of value chains ensure competitiveness.
About PRYTEK
PRYTEK corporation is a global VC integrator that invests in Fintech, HRtech, Cybersecurity, Mediatech, AI and Education, and transfer disruptive technologies to emerging markets. PRYTEK established a unique ecosystem where technologies enter new markets, investors are not charged for assets management and corporates get "one-stop-shop" access to best global innovations which enable them to be ahead of the competitors. PRYTEK corporation operates in 4 countries, with over 30 cutting edge technologies worth $1,8 bln and more than 2500 corporate customers.
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