World Chess Championship for Disabled 2015 has come to an end. On 24 October there was the final round of the tournament. Lakhdar Mazouz of Algeria, FIDE Advisor to the FIDE President in chess development in Africa was an official guest of the Round. He has made the first ceremonial move on Board 1 Smirnov vs. Gurbanov. Also, Mr. Mazouz gave an interview having shared with us his opinion on the organization of the World Championship for Disabled.

Click further to see the Final Ranking of the championship and see Photos of the championship

Alexey Smirnov of Russia has become the World Chess Champion for Disabled 2015. Silver medal goes to Babarykin Stanislav of Russia and Stanislav Mikheev of Russia became the bronze medalist of the championship.

The best female player was declared Aleksandra Aleksandrova, WFM from Israel, followed by Natalya Myronenko (Ukraine) and Olga Gerasimova (Russia).

The best IBCA player is Alexey Smirnov of Russia. The second and third places go to Stanislav Babarykin (Russia) and Yuri Meshkov (Russia).

The best IPCA player was announced Stanislav Mikheev of Russia. Silver and bronze in IPCA section are given to Andrei Gurbanov of Israel and Igor Yarmonov of Ukraine.

The best ICCD player became Vladimir Kovalenko of Ukraine. Tomasz Miozga of Poland and Balazs Mate of Hungary have got the second and third places respectively.

The best team of the championship was IBCA Team from Russia. The Ukrainian combined team got the Silver medal. The IPCA Russian team finished the third in the team competition.

At 16.00 the same day the Closing Ceremony and Award Ceremony were held in Wyndham Garden Dresden hotel. It was started with the Anthem of the World Chess Federation FIDE. Dr. Dirk Jordan, the Chairman of the ZMDI Schachfestival opened the ceremony and thanked all the participants for their interesting battles on chess boards. He also expressed his sincere gratitude to the team of arbiters, volunteers and partners.

Chairman of the FIDE Chess for Disabled Commission Thomas Luther also congratulated all the chess players with successful end of the championship. He announced the next World Championship for Disabled will be held in 2017 in Dresden again. Mr. Lakhdar Mazouz took a floor and pointed out that the organization of such championships for disabled players is an immense step forward in development of chess not only for disabled players but for all other chess fans in general.

The Chief Arbiter of the championship Egmont Poenisch announced the results. The medals and dimplomas were awarded to the winners of the Championship. The national anthem of the Russian Federation was played in honor of Individual and team winners. The Championship was announced closed.

The round was opened by the President of IPCA Zbigniew Pilimon. The game on the Board 1 has seen a boring draw. Thus Alexey Smirnov of Russia keeps half a point lead to a group of three runner ups. These four players will play against each other in the final round tomorrow. The spectators can expect an exiting finish of the tournament.

Local Champion Katharina Kohnen won her first game against Andrija Misic. Olga Gerasimova of Russia is keeping the position of the best female player after six rounds with 3.5 out of 6 rounds.

Today was the last day of the FIDE Arbiters’ Seminar. After the end of the seminar, all the participants had an examination test and they are desperately waiting for the results tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow is the last round of the World Chess Championship for Disabled.

Here are the Results of Round 6

Round 5 of the championship started in time at 9.30. Two leading chess players with 4 out 4 played Board 1. The defending Champion of 2013 Stanislav Babarykin lost to his opponent Alexey Smirnov. Smirnov is now the sole leader with 100% score. His closest rival is Stanislav Mikheev who is the only player with 4.5 out of 5.

Jamal Messalla, the only player from Morocco, won his game today against a local player Krabbe Wolfgang, a deaf player from Germany who is also an organizer of many chess competitions for deaf. Jamal plays the championship for the second time.

The leading female player Myronenko Natalia drew today against Alexander Gerasimov and has 3 points. Many rivals follow her closely.

The second day of the FIDE Arbiters’ Seminar gathered many arbiters who prepare for the examination test and also have an opportunity to see the arbiter’s work on real.

Tomorrow, on 23 October is Round 6 of the Championship.

Here you can see the Results of Round 5

Round 4: Women’s day at the Championship

World Chess Championship for Disabled 2015 Round 4 has finished today, on 21 October 2015 in Wyndham Garden Dresden Hotel.

The Chief Executive Officer of the All India Chess Federation, the Chaiman of Commonwealth Chess Association, the Deputy President of the Asian Chess Federation and the FIDE Technical Commission Chairman Bharat Singh was a distinguished guest of Round 4. He has made a first ceremonial move at Board 2: Egor Yamanov vs. Jerzy Strzekecki.

With nearly 400 elo point difference Miozga Tomasz (1995) of Poland could outplay his opponent Dmitrij Scerbin (2368) of Russia. Wirth Adam (1964) of Hungary won against his higher rated opponent Rustam Kasimov of Russia (2159). Flock Daniel of Germany (1867) could convert it to a win against Checiak Krzysztof from Poland (2102). Kaydanovich Marina of Russia outplayed her male opponent Rainer Hoffmann of Germany (2048). Mikhalionak Alena of Belarus, having 1617 elo rating, managed to make another draw against higher rated opponent – Viktor Strekalovski of Russia. An unrated Sookruus Heiki of Estonia won against a FIDE International Master Ferenc Frink of Hungary.

Generally female chess players had a successful round either winning or making a draw against stronger opponents.

Please see the results here: Round 4 results

The FIDE Arbiters’ Seminar started on 21 October in the Windham Garden Dresden. The Chief lecturer of the Seminar is Jurgen Kohlstadt, assistant lecturers were the Chief Arbiter of the championship Egmont Poenisch, Jamie Kenmure. There were 15 arbiters present at the Seminar. The seminar will last for three days with the examination test at the end of it with a possibility to obtain a FIDE Arbiters’ Norm.

Tomorrow, on 22 October, Round 5 of the championship will be played.

Round 3 of the World Chess Championship for Disabled

World Chess Championship for Disabled in Dresden is under way. Round 3 started in time and brought positive emotions to all players. The President of ICCD Philip Gardner was present at the beginning of the round and made a first ceremonial move at board 1.

The results of Round 3 cannot be called unexpected. Though it might be a bit of a dissapointment for Dmitry Scherbin who made a draw against lower rated Sponheum Marko from Germany. Meshkov Yuri could not also convert it to a win against Polish chess player Chojnowski Marcin.

Zimmer Raphael of Germany won his opponent Malyuga Valentin of Russia, despite of having 200 rating points less. Bolat Kabyzhanov of Kazakhstan (not rated player) has brought it to a victory against Hoffman Rainer of Germany (2048). A Ukrainian female chess player Myronenko Natalya (1901) outplayed her male opponent from Poland Checiak Krzysztof and got one point. Another unrated player Sookruus Heiki from Estonia got one point against Chomu Clement from Kenya.

Championship will continue tomorrow, at 9.30 with round 4.

Here are Results of all rounds

Round 2 and ICCD meeting

Today another great round was played with a few upset on some of the boards. Some players with lower ratings had surprise win against higher rated players. But the one result that put a very positive note on the whole day happened on Board 23: Shailesh Nerlikar (IND), playing white, won his game against Viktor Strekalovski (RUS). Shailesh is one of the more severe cases of the physically disabled players. He fought his match lying down on a mattress and saying his moves to his assitant.

During the course of the day the ICCD held their meeting. Attendants were Thomas Luther (DIS CM), Jamie Kenmure (DIS Counsellor), Phillip Gardner (ICCD President), Holger Mende (ICCD Treasurer), Jaroslav Schmid (ICCD Board Member). Ivan Kulakov (GS ICCD) sent his regards and apologies for not being able to attend and presented Thomas Luther with a small token and his promise of further cooperation. ICCD Meeting in Dresden 2015

The main discussion point was sign language translation during FIDE events. President Gardner pointed out that this is an important step towards the inclusion of deaf people. All participants agreed that there is a long tradition of including players with disablities into FIDE events. It is great that the ICCD can already nominate a womens and an open team for the Olympiads.

The highest recognition the Championship received was the announcement in the Newsletter of the United Nations: Newsletter September 2015

Tomorrow is Round 3, and you can follow the results at Round results of the championships

Round 1: A great start into a promising tournament

Round 1 of the World Chess Championship for Disabled 2015 started on 18 October at 9:30 as per the schedule. The first ceremonial move was made by Herbert Bastian, the President of the German Chess Federation.

It is remarkable to have 63 players from three continents and 13 national federations participating in the tournament.

All was off to a smooth start, the organisers did a great job in accommodating all needs of the players. No surprises happened in the first round, all the favourites won. However, there was one remarkable game: Alena Mikhalionak (Belarus), who played black, drew with Miheso Chomu Clement (Kenya) despite having a rating difference of 500 elo with her opponent.

The state TV company was present to cover the start of the World Chess Championship for Disabled. Over the course of the tournament they will be conducting interviews with players and volunteers which will then feature in a program about the event. It is a great achievement to have the German TV dedicating their time and programmes to Chess for the Disabled as this will provide great publicity on all levels.

World Chess Championship 2015 for the Disabled has started in Dresden, Germany

The World Chess Championship 2015 for the Disabled started with the Opening Ceremony in the Philarmonie Hall of the Windham Garden Dresden Hotel at 19:00 on 17th October 2015.

This year’s edition has gathered 67 participants from 14 federations. The competition will have two separate ratings. The primary one will be an individual competition as well as a team competition. The 2nd World Chess Championship for the Disabled is being organized by ZMDI Schachfestival Dresden e.V. who were also the organisers behind the tournaments 2011 and 2013.

The Opening Ceremony started with the greetings of the President of the ZMDI Schachfestival Dresden e.V. Dr. Dirk Jordan who welcomed the participants to Dresden and wished them good games and victories.

The guests of honour who were present at the Opening Ceremony were: the Mayor of Dresden Dr. Peter Lames, the President of the German Chess Federation Mr. Herbert Bastian, the Chairman of the FIDE Chess for the Disabled Commission Mr. Thomas Luther and the FIDE Executive Director Mr. Nigel Freeman. All of them addressed the audience highlighting the importance of having such an internationally important tournament showing that inclusion is possible on all levels. The Mayor emphasized that Dresden is very excited to have such a variety of nationalities enjoying the cities hospitality.

A group of local children presented the flags of all participating nations and the attendees witnessed a performance of two talented local dancers.

Tomorrow, on 18th October at 9:30am the 1st Round of the World Chess Championship for Disabled will start.

Official website: http://worldchess-disabled.com/en/