England’s prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan put in a surprisingly impressive performance at the European Women’s Blitz Championship in Monaco on Friday afternoon. He scored 8.5 out of 13, finished 15th in a field of 105, won the best junior award and was named the best British player. Blitz is three minutes per player for the entire game plus a two-second increment per move from move one.
Sivanandan drew with Germany’s No. 1 woman Elizabeth Pähtz, an open-level grandmaster, won or drew against several other elite women, and finished with a win over Bulgaria’s Nurgyul Salimova, a 2023 Women’s World Cup finalist who qualified for the women’s world. Championship candidates are in Toronto.
“I didn’t play well in the beginning but after a few rounds I managed to do better,” Sivanandan told the Guardian. “It was very interesting for me to have the chance to meet so many well-known actors.”
The Harrow primary school pupil was honored with a personal invitation by Monaco organizers following her eye-catching achievement in Zagreb last month when she became the top female scorer in the European open blitz. Sivanandan has also been invited to this weekend’s European Women’s Rapid but is committed to participating in matches for her club in England’s 4NCL League, which has a two-weekend tour in Warwick.
Fide’s blitz rating is already 2107 and he will get 75 more points from Monaco and approach the 2200 mastery level. British grandmasters who played him unofficially after last month’s London Classic rated his power even higher.
Alexandra Kosteniuk, a Russian women’s world champion who now represents Switzerland, won gold in Monaco after finishing second at last month’s World Blitz. Former Iranian and now Spain’s No. 1 Sarasadat Khademalsharieh won silver, while Georgia’s Bella Khotenashvili won bronze.
World champion Ding Liren has confirmed he will play this weekend at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee, where the opening round will be held on Saturday (13.15 GMT start, free and live streaming on chess24.com and other leading chess websites) and will compete until January 28 and has said it will defend its global crown against the winner of April’s eight-person Candidates race in Toronto later this year.
Ding will play with the black pieces on Saturday against India’s Vidit Gujrathi, who recently won the Grand Swiss in the Isle of Man and is one of eight Candidates who will compete for Ding’s world title.
In a candid and fascinating interview with Dutch chess journalist Peter Doggers on chess.com, Ding said he felt “much better” than when he briefly considered retiring during the Asian Games in September. He explained that his illness was “psychological, not physical” and was partly caused by the extra media attention after his victory over Ian Nepomniachtchi in last year’s world championship match.
Relating to: Chess: Forgotten world champion Ding Liren returns to Wijk aan Zee
He is now keen to fight at Tata Steel, where despite being ranked first, he feels Anish Giri is the favorite to repeat last year’s success. Beyond that, he is ready to defend his world title against the Candidates winner in Toronto in April: “Fans don’t need to worry”.
A grandmaster poem in a chess article is something unique. The Doggers interview, in which Ding comes across as modest, unassuming and cultured, includes a translation of lines that Wei Yi, who also competes in Wijk, sent to his friend at the beginning of last year’s world championship match against Nepomniachtchi.
To warm up for Wijk aan Zee, Ding competed in the Chinese Chess Kings, an eight-player knockout in Changsu. It didn’t go well. He lost his semi-final to Wang Hao, then third place to Wei. Tournament winner Yu Yangyi is fresh off a bronze medal at the World Rapid in Samarkand.
With just one win in six matches in Changsu, Ding is pessimistic about his chances at Wjjk: “I’m not that confident in my strength. “Also, I have a crown, so there will be more cameras on me, which creates extra pressure.”
Daniil Dubov’s cavalier dance with Nepomniachtchi at last month’s World Blitz led to a double default for the Russian duo, and was repeated when they were paired again at this week’s online Titled Tuesday. Nepomniachtchi also released a podcast in which they explained that they were protesting the excessive one-hour delay caused by the appeal. While other predetermined rules went unpunished, the appeal committee consisted only of Fide officials with no independent members.
Just like in the World Blitz, Dubov was motivated to perform well and won the Championship on Tuesday in a tiebreak courtesy of Samuel Sevian, who scored a superb goal against Levon Aronian.
From February 2 to 16, a luxury resort on Germany’s Baltic coast will host “Freedom Chess”, also known as Chess 960, Chess 9LX or Fischer Random, a classic time-limited super GM tournament in which the pieces in the back row determine the starting lineup. will host. random beforehand. Elite grandmasters like the 9LX because boot preparation is minimized, but lower-level players who find regular play difficult enough have little interest in it.
Participants in the $200,000 event include Carlsen, Ding, Fabiano Caruana and Aronian, as well as four top young GMs: Alireza Firouzja, Vincent Keymer, Dommaraju Gukesh and Nodirbek Abdusattorov. The format is best-of-two knockout at classic time pace, with ties resolved quickly.
Carlsen has always wanted to play the 9LX at slower classical time speeds rather than fast, and describes this event as “a dream come true.” He’s taking it very seriously, even to the point of missing Wijk aan Zee for the first time in a decade to prepare for 9LX.
3902: 1…Ng3+! 2 hxg3 Qh6+ 3 Kg1 Be3+ 4 Rf2 Bxf2+ 5 Kxf2 Qf6+ 6 Kg1 Qxa1+ 7 Kh2 Re5! and wins with the double threat of Rh5+ and Q or Rxa5.
Sevian – Aronian: 1 Bxh7+! Kxh7 2 Qh5+ Kg8 3 Bf6! He resigns. If 3…gxf6 4 exf6, Qg5+ and Qg7 with mate.