Hyderabad: Devnar School for the Blind is turning heads by organising a five-day ‘chess tournament’ for visually impaired students for the tenth year in a row.
Supported by VST Industries in Association with the All India Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB), the astonishing tournament had a well-organised sitting arrangement where the blind people were seen quietly indulging in the game while they played against each other and also with normal people.
Denvar School is situated at Mayur Marg in Begumpet, catering to nearly 400 students, making it one of the biggest schools for the blind in India.
The tournament that began on April 30 saw the participation of more than 200 players, coming from Maharashtra, Delhi, Chandigarh, etc and will continue till May 4.
Deputy chief arbiter, Praveen P while speaking to The Siasat Daily said that this is the 10th edition of the tournament and this year it has received a huge response after it was held back for two years owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Treasurer of the AICFB, Swapnil Shah said that the competition is one of the biggest and one of its kind in the world to have been conducted exclusively in the country for blind players so far since it saw the participation of players hailing from 18 Indian states.
Expressing gratitude to the Denvar school for organising the event, Shah said, “The number of student participants each year has increased and every year, the federation carries out five to six such tournaments under various categories to get the rating for the blind players.”
AICFB, vice president, Bhagatkar, who is a national chess champion himself, and the first to have won a bronze medal for India in the blind category, said that the visually impaired obtained a boost to play in the well-organised time-tabled atmosphere with food and stay facilities in place for the players.
To add to the spirit of the championship, a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh will be distributed among the top ten players under various categories along with trophies.
A visually impaired player, Prasad from Andhra Pradesh said that he has been playing the game for seven years now and managed to win three out of the five rounds on day 3 of the tournament.
Hyderabad: Devnar School for the Blind is turning heads by organising a five-day ‘chess tournament’ for visually impaired students for the tenth year in a row.
Supported by VST Industries in Association with the All India Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB), the astonishing tournament had a well-organised sitting arrangement where the blind people were seen quietly indulging in the game while they played against each other and also with normal people.
Devnar School is situated at Mayur Marg in Begumpet, catering to nearly 400 students, making it one of the biggest schools for the blind in India.
The tournament that began on April 30 saw the participation of more than 200 players, coming from Maharashtra, Delhi, Chandigarh, etc and will continue till May 4.
Deputy chief arbiter, Praveen P while speaking to The Siasat Daily said that this is the 10th edition of the tournament and this year it has received a huge response after it was held back for two years owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Treasurer of the AICFB, Swapnil Shah said that the competition is one of the biggest and one of its kind in the world to have been conducted exclusively in the country for blind players so far since it saw the participation of players hailing from 18 Indian states.
Expressing gratitude to the Devnar school for organising the event, Shah said, “The number of student participants each year has increased and every year, the federation carries out five to six such tournaments under various categories to get the rating for the blind players.”
AICFB, vice president, Bhagatkar, who is a national chess champion himself, and the first to have won a bronze medal for India in the blind category, said that the visually impaired obtained a boost to play in the well-organised time-tabled atmosphere with food and stay facilities in place for the players.
To add to the spirit of the championship, a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh will be distributed among the top ten players under various categories along with trophies.
A visually impaired player, Prasad from Andhra Pradesh said that he has been playing the game for seven years now and managed to win three out of the five rounds on day 3 of the tournament.
Astana: China’s Ding Liren made history by becoming the 17th FIDE World Champion in chess, defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the final game of the tiebreak here on Sunday.
Both Ding and Nepomniachtchi finished 7-7 after exhilarating 14 classical games, taking the match into the tie-breaker.
In the tie-break, Ding Liren defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi 2.5-1.5 in the 2023 FIDE World Championship final, becoming the first Chinese male player to win the chess world championship.
This marks a historic moment as both the men’s and women’s world champions in chess are now from China.
After three draws in the tiebreaks, Ding emerged victorious in the fourth and final game, clinching the title. In a tense and even position, with just a minute on his clock, Ding declined a threefold repetition and decided to play for a win. In a nail-biting finish, with both players under enormous pressure, the Chinese Grandmaster (GM) emerged victorious after 68 moves.
It was a great win for Ding as he had to fight back thrice to negate Nepomniachtchi’s lead three times in the first (classical) part of the match, Ding Liren showed tremendous skill and resilience to emerge victorious in the tiebreaks. In contrast, Ian Nepomniachtchi’s nerves and luck faltered, resulting in his second defeat in the quest for the chess crown.
A historic success for Ding who wouldn’t have even taken part in the match had Magnus Carlsen not decided to abandon his crown.
“I’m quite relieved. The moment Ian resigned from the game it was very emotional. I could not control my mood and feelings. I know myself – I will cry and burst into tears” said the emotional Ding Liren in his first comments.
Ian Nepomniachtchi congratulated his opponent. Reflecting on himself, he said: “I guess I had every chance [to win]. So many promising positions It’s always a lottery after 14 games of the match, so that’s it”.
This is the first time in history that a Chinese player has become a world champion in the open category. China now holds the world championship title in both the open and the women’s category.
The two players in the match will split a prize fund of two million euros, with 60% going to the new World Champion.
Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi drew the 13th and penultimate round of their world championship match in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Thursday as the prospect of another draw on Saturday and a speed shootout for the crown on Sunday loomed closer. Nepomniachtchi, 32, again opened with the Ruy Lopez but stood worse in the middle game until Ding, 30, spoiled his advantage and opted to halve by threefold repetition of position, saying later: “It was still some kind of dark ocean position, so I didn’t go further into it.”
The final outcome now depends on Saturday’s 14th and final classical game. If the score is then 7-7, they go to rapid and blitz tie-break games, the chess equivalent of a penalty shootout, on Sunday. Play begins at 10am BST, and the official website with grandmaster commentary is worldchampionship.fide.com. The games can also be watched on chess.com, chess24.com and chessgames.com.
The speed tie-break, if needed, will consist of four 25-minute games, with a 10-second increment from move one. If they are still tied, up to two pairs of 5+3 games will be played. If tied again, they go to single 3+2 games, with colours reversed each game, until there is a winner.
Deciding the crown by rapid and blitz games has happened four times previously, following a change in title rules which used to allow the champion to keep his title after a drawn match. Vlad Kramnik v Veselin Topalov in 2006, Vishy Anand v Boris Gelfand in 2012, Magnus Carlsen v Sergey Karjakin in 2016, and Carlsen v Fabiano Caruana in 2018 were all decided by speed tiebreaks.
Anand and Carlsen were renowned for their skills at fast chess, This time Ding, who ranks No 2 to Carlsen in rapid, has a slight edge in the ratings, but the outcome may be determined more by who has the better nerves under extreme pressure.
Ding dramatically levelled the scores at 6-6 when he recovered from a lost position in Wednesday’s error-strewn game 12, where a computer analysis showed 21 inaccuracies, mistakes, missed opportunities or blunders and which culminated in Nepomniachtchi’s massive error at move 34.
The howler, which brought gasps of disbelief from the online commentators, gave away a free pawn and opened up his defences to an invasion by Ding’s army. Nepomniachtchi spent all but two minutes of his remaining time seeking a way out, and slumped in his chair as he realised his position was hopeless.
3865: Jiri Stocek v Milo Tomic,Golden Sands, Bulgaria 2012. White to move and win. In the game, White lost after the poor move 1 Rc7. Can you do better?
The Russian’s greatest strength, his speed of thought in sharp tactical positions, became a weakness as he blitzed out errors and the final blunder. Fabiano Caruana, the 2018 title challenger, was scathing in his chess.com commentary. “I don’t understand this decision to rush every move. It’s a world championship,” he said. “You have one or two chances in your lifetime – how can you play every move like it’s a Titled Tuesday game? These are responsible decisions to make.”
The drama of game 12 was a total contrast not only to game 13, but also to the 10th and 11th games, which were drawn on Sunday and Monday after relatively calm play.
Carlsen, Norway’s world No 1, who has abdicated his world champion crown after a 10-year reign, never had such drama and reversals of fortune in his five title matches. There were long stretches of draws in 2016 and 2018, and even in 2021 there were five draws before the marathon 136-move sixth game and Nepomniachtchi’s subsequent collapse.
The gap between Carlsen and his rivals was not fully translated into overwhelming match results. Instead, his clear superiority on tie-breaks at faster time rates became a kind of goal difference, a potential threat which tempted opponents to overpress in the classical section.
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The combative approach by both players in Astana, a clear contrast to Carlsen’s matches, has split chess fans, with some delighted by the increased fighting spirit but others displeased by the higher percentage of errors.
Will Carlsen be tempted into a comeback against whoever wins in Astana? It seems highly unlikely. The 32-year-old played only 40 classical games in 2022, the smallest number of his career apart from the pandemic-affected 2020. His current schedule for 2023 also plans for only around 40, starting next month with his home tournament of Stavanger. It is possible that he will add the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis, from which he withdrew in controversial circumstances last year following his loss to Hans Niemann, where the fallout included a still unresolved lawsuit.
Instead, Carlsen is giving priority to the online Champions Tour of rapid and blitz games, although he will be absent from the next Tour event, the ChessKid Cup, a five-day knockout starting on 22 May. The No 1 has a growing interest in poker. He has always said that he plans to retire from chess by his 40s, so 2023 could be viewed as the early stages of a winding down.
3865: 1 Rd6! Qxd6 2 f3+ Kh5 3 Kh3 (threat 4 g4 mate) g5 4 Rg7! with 5 g4 mate or 4…g4 5 fxg4 mate or 4…Nf6 5 g4+ Nxg4 6 fxg4 mate. Black can avoid mate by 1…Nc5 2 Rxd3 Nxd3 or by 1…Qe4 2 f3+ Qxf3, but then has a hopeless ending.
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
Hyderabad: Sports Authority of Telangana State (SATS) chairman Anjaneya Goud on Friday honoured the winners of the National Women’s Chess Championship – 2023.
The championship was held at Pollach, Tamil Nadu, and the Telangana women’s chess team won three bronze medals.
Speaking on the occasion, Goud congratulated the state team for excelling beyond its capacity and winning the medals.
Telangana State Women’s Chess Team led by Kirti Ganta (Captain), alongside teammates Sarayu Natura Beti, Sneha Bharathi, Yashvi Jain, and Shirisha won three bronze medals and placed fourth overall in the tournament.
He expressed jubilation that the athletes have achieved excellent results with the support of SATS.
He also informed that the Telangana State Women’s Chess Championship was also organized by ‘SATS’ to encourage women in chess.
Riyadh: A Saudi women’s chess team with hearing disabilities is participating for the first time in the major continental tournament, local media reported.
The first Asia-Pacific Deaf Sprint and Blitz Championship for Women 2023 tournament, being held in the Jordanian capital Amman until February 28, is organized by the Jordanian Deaf Sports Federation and the Asia Pacific Deaf Sports Confederation.
100 male and female players representing more than 20 countries are competing for the title.
Arabic daily Al-Watan quoted the head of the mission and a member of the board of directors of the Saudi Federation for Deaf Sports, Faiza Netto, as saying, “the Saudi Imkan team will participate in the tournament with four players, who have been trained over the past months by a professional coach.”
She also mentioned that “the team’s players were officially registered with the Saudi Federation for Deaf Sports, and they participated in several official events and local championships, and this is the first international participation for the team.”
The Iranian authorities have issued an arrest warrant for one of Iran’s top-ranked female chess players, Sara Khadem, who competed in an international tournament without wearing a headscarf in December 2022, local media reported.
25-year-old Sara Khadem, also known as Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, made headlines around the world when she appeared to play for a second day— Wednesday, December 28, at the Fide World Rapid and Blitz Chess championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan, without a headscarf.
Sarah is currently unable to return to Iran as an arrest warrant awaits her, reported BBC.
She is now living in exile in Southern Spain with her husband and one-year-old son.
Khadim has asked the media not to reveal her location for security reasons.
As per the media reports, Khadem received several phone calls after she appeared without a headscarf, in which people warned her not to return to Iran after the tournament, while others said she should return while promising to “solve her problem.”
Khadem’s relatives and parents, who are in Iran, had also received threats.
Protests in Iran continues
Iran has been rocked by sweeping protests since September 16, over the death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, in the custody of Iran’s morality police.
Her death has since ignited anger over several issues, including the restrictions imposed on personal freedoms and strict rules regarding women’s clothing, as well as the living and economic crisis that Iranians suffer from, not to mention the strict laws imposed by the regime and its political and religious composition in general.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency (Hrana) announced that 529 protesters had been killed in the unrest as of Tuesday, February 14, including 71 children.
At least 19,763 people, including 720 students, were arrested in those protests that took place in 164 cities and towns and 144 universities.
