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FIDE MAIN ACTIVITIES IN THE 2ND QUARTER OF 2019
FIDE Grand Prix Series 2019 organized by World Chess (Moscow, May 16-30)
General information
The first leg of the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2019 organized by World Chess (henceforth – Moscow Grand Prix) was held in Moscow on May 16-30, 2019. 16 participants of the GP Series were playing in a knock-out event with 4 rounds.
The venue was the Central Chess Club in Moscow.
The winner is Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia).
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.
Media
The Moscow Grand Prix was very successful in terms of its media organization and coverage in the press and social networks as well as in terms of visitors and journalists’ attendance. The event was daily covered on all world leading chess websites and in all major Russian mass media. The media and broadcasting teams managed to make this event very exciting to see for the spectators all over the world.
Before the beginning of the tournament the representatives of FIDE, the tournament organizers, corporate sponsors and participants took part in the pre-start press conference: Arkady Dvorkovich, FIDE President; Ilya Merenzon, chief executive of World Chess, the organizer of the Grand Prix; Andrey Guryev, head of PhosAgro, one of the principal corporate sponsors, and Vice-President of the Russian Chess Federation; Mikhail Vasin, head of corporate communications, RussiaStan & META of Kaspersky Lab, the official cybersecurity partner; and grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi, one of the tournament’s participants and future winner of the event. Major Russian news agencies (TASS, Ria Novosti), TV channels (Match TV, Russia 24) and other media covered the pre-start press conference and made interviews with officials and sponsors.
The Gala Opening was a secular event which was attended by many Russian celebrities. Many world-known glossy magazines like Harper’s Bazaar, Tattler, GQ and others made online publications on the ceremony, Eurosport made a big video story on the event with many interviews: https://youtu.be/JNkj2I4f6mw
The “first-move ceremonies” were taking place before the start of each playing day. Among those invited people were a world known ice-hockey player Alexander Ovechkin (his participation in the first-move ceremony became a great newsworthy event in the Russian media), FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich together with a young chess player Albina Yismailova, RCF PresidentAndrey Filatov, CEO of Kaspersky Lab Eugene Kaspersky, the 5th Women’s World Champion Nona Gaprindashvili, and others). This kind of activity also attracts interest to chess.
Interviews with players were conducted on an everyday basis: after every game and also interviews with the tournament’s guests (like Alexander Ovechkin) and officials. Daily reports were written by Dylan McClain to be published on the official website and on Fide.com and to be sent as press releases for the English-speaking media. The Press-officer of the tournament - Etery Kublashvili - spread press releases both in English and Russian before the event, after the opening ceremony, in the end of each playing day, and after the tournament was concluded. There were about 100 journalists accredited for the event, including several TV channels (Eurosport, Match TV, NTV, Russia 24). Correspondents made interviews with players after each game was concluded.
Website of the tournament - https://worldchess.com
Video broadcast
The tournament was broadcast in several platforms both in the English and Russian languages. The organizers also sent the video frame to various platforms like Яндекс (Yandex) and Одноклассники (Odnoklassniki).
English:
FIDE YouTube channel, Twitch, World Chess YouTube channel
Russian:
FIDE YouTube channel and Crestbook, Twitch, Яндекс, Одноклассники
Social networks (FIDE Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube)
Posts relating to the Championships were published in FIDE and World Chess social networks (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook) daily.
Additional programme
Various side events were organized by the Russian Chess Federation alongside with the Championships. They were as follows:
- Youth chess solving contest (May 18)
- Simultaneous exhibition in Skolkovo (May 18)
- Museum Night with excursions to the RCF Chess Museum and simuls (May 18)
- Young stars of Moscow, youth blitz tournament (May 26)
- Simultaneous exhibition on Gogolevsky Boulevard (May 26)
- Chess exhibition at the Vorobyovy Gory metro station (May 21 – June 4).
Many spectators visited the venue each day. They were taking part in additional events, listening to the Russian- and English-speaking commentators, watching the world leading grandmasters in the playing area, collecting autographs, and taking photos with the participants.
The tournament was held and covered on a highest level corresponding to the status of the event.
2019 FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament (Kazan, May 29 – June 19)
General information
The first ever FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament was held in Kazan - the capital city of Tatarstan - from May 29 - June 18, 2019. This was the strongest women’s tournament in FIDE history.
The format of the tournament was a double round robin with 8 participants. The time control was 40 moves in 90 minutes followed by all remaining moves on 30 minutes with a 30 second increment per move from move one. Draw offers were not allowed before move 30. Three tie breaks were established to determine first place in the event of equal scores at the top: direct encounter, greatest number of wins followed by Sonneborn Berger. Playoff games would be played if these three filters were inconclusive.
Final standings
1. Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia) - 9.5, 2. Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine) – 8, 3-4. Kateryna Lagno (Russia), Тan Zhongyi (China) – 7, 5-6. Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia), Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine) - 6.5, 7. Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia) – 6, 8. Valentina Gunina (Russia) - 5.5.
The Principals included Chief Arbiter Hal Bond of Canada, Deputy Chief Arbiter Shohreh Bayat of Iran, Appeals Committee Chair Jeroen van den Berg of Holland and Appeals Committee members Eva Repcova of Slovakia and Alisa Galliamova of Russia. The Press Officers were Anastasia Karlovich of Ukraine and Eteri Kublashvili of Russia.
The playing venue was staged at the Nogai Hotel, which was the official hotel for all players, principals and support personnel. The opening ceremony, banquet and technical meeting were held at the Kazan Palace Hotel.
FIDE Executive Director Victor Bologan was on hand to address the crowd during the opening ceremony. The issue of zero tolerance was raised during the technical meeting because it was not mentioned in the tournament regulations. Since this rule is the default position for official FIDE events, it remained in force after some discussion. In practice, no player ever arrived at the playing hall with less than 3 minutes to spare.
The ceremonial opening move was made by Mintimer Shaimiev - the first President of the Tatarstan Republic. The Closing Ceremonies were held on June 18 at 2:00pm. Mariya Muzychuk was awarded the most beautiful game prize for her final round victory over Alexandra Goryachkina. The selection committee was led by “64 Chess-Review” magazine chief editor Maxim Notkin, joined by GMs Sergei Shipov and Evgeny Miroshnychenko as well as Appeals Committee Chair Jeroen van den Berg.
The Awards Ceremony featured FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, who was joined on stage by the Executive Director of the Russian Chess Federation Mark Glukhovsky and Minister of Sport for Tatarstan Vladimir Leonov. The winner of the tournament - Alexandra Goryachkina, a young player from Russia, who won the event with two rounds to spare. She managed to finish 1.5 points ahead of silver medalist Anna Muzychuk. Third place was shared by Katerina Lagno and Tan Zhongyi. The tournament officials managed to form a cohesive team.
Website of the tournament - https://fwct2019.fide.com/en/
The tournament was broadcast in several platforms both in the English and Russian languages:
FIDE YouTube channel (English and Russian)
FIDE Twitch (English and Russian)
Sergey Shipov (YouTube channel).
Additional programme
Various side events were organized by the Russian Chess Federation, Ministry of Sports of Tatarstan Republic and School of chess and checkers of Tatarstan Republic (named by R. G. Nezhmetdinov). They were as follows:
- Blitz tournament (June 3)
- Chess workshop by GM Sergei Shipov (June 7)
- Children blitz tournament (June 7)
- Chess workshop by GM Evgeniy Miroshnychenko (June 11)
- Chess workshop by GM Iliya Smirin (June 11)
- Simultaneous game (50 tables) with GM Sergei Shipov, GM Evgeniy Miroshnychenko, GM Alisa Gallyamova (June 15)
Every event gathered a great number of spectators. They were taking part in additional events, listening to the Russian- and English-speaking commentators, collecting autographs, and taking photos with the participants.
The sponsors of the events:
Russian Railways is one of the largest railway companies in the world. It ships enormous volumes of freight and passengers and has high financial ratings, qualified specialists in all areas of railway transportation, a large scientific and technical base, design and construction capacities, and considerable experience in cooperating with international partners. The company runs one of the largest transportation systems in the world: the operational length of the tracks is 85,500 km, and the length of electrified lines is 43,700 km. Russian Railways provides over 45% of the total cargo turnover (including pipeline transportation) and about 25% of passenger traffic in the Russian Federation.
PhosAgro is a Russian vertically integrated company and one of the world’s leading producers of phosphate-based fertilizers. Its core line of business is the production of phosphate-based fertilizers, high-grade phosphate rock (P2O5>39%), and also feed phosphates, nitrogen fertilizers and ammonia. PhosAgro’s primary assets include Apatit (Cherepovets, Vologda region), Kirovsk branch of Apatit, Balakovo branch of Apatit, Volkhov branch of Apatit, PhosAgro-Region and NIUIF. The Company is Europe’s largest producer of phosphate-based fertilisers, the world’s largest producer of high-grade phosphate rock and the world’s second largest producer (excluding China) of MAP and DAP (according to Fertecon), Russia’s only producer of feed monocalcium phosphate (MCP), and also the sole producer of nepheline concentrate in Russia.
RussiaStan & META of Kaspersky is an international company operating in the field of information security since 1997. Deep expertise and long-term experience of the company are the basis of the new generation of security solutions and services that ensure the safety of business, infrastructure, government agencies and ordinary users. Kaspersky Lab technologies protect more than 400 million users and 270 thousand corporate clients worldwide.
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