Features
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Hybrid Chess
The new reality comes with new tournaments – 23 Jun 2020
Chess as a sport will not be the same after the pandemic. Over-the-board and online play will move closer together. Under the rubric hybrid chess we present pioneering organisations, projects and events. The start is made by Jordí Magem from the Catalan Chess Federation on the birth of the hybrid tournament that connects different venues.
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Campaigns
Perpetual check – 16 Jun 2020
Four weeks of online chess around the clock and around the globe are coming to an end this Tuesday night. FIDE used the unprecedented Checkmate Coronavirus campaign to cooperate with all major platforms, activate federations and reach out to general news media, writes Stefan Löffler.
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Digital Divide
Is Pogchamps a good way to promote chess? – 13 Jun 2020
Chess.com runs a chess tournament on Twitch between popular gamers and streamers. For FIDE Chief marketing and communications officer David Llada Pogchamps is the best chess promotion in years. ChessTech editor Stefan Löffler sees it as an embarrassment for the contestants, the world’s biggest chess platform and ultimately our game.
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Call to Action
It’s time to synchronize – 13 Jun 2020
FIDE and the national federations should act together and with the digital platforms to assure the identity of the players, align rankings and titles, provide solutions against cheating and for parental control. If they manage, they and the chess world will come out stronger, writes Carlo Stellati.
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Call to Action
“Cross-platform bans would send a strong signal” – 10 Jun 2020
How can online chess overcome cheating? A ChessTech debate established the legal problems, a professional set-up for serious competitions and three institutional solutions. For starters we heard cautionary tales what happened in other games, writes Conrad Schormann.
Latest News
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Short news
European Corporate Championship to launch online – 06 Jul 2020
While European Individual Championships – open, women and youth – have been postponed to 2021, ECU still works towards holding the European Club Cup and European Rapid Championship over the board later this year according to its newsletter. The first European Corporate Championship that was originally planned to be held in Rotterdam in June will be launched online in September. FIDE has virtually the same project: Its first corporate world championship can probably not take place over the board on 16–18 October in Barcelona.
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Short news
Online Commission liquidated – 06 Jul 2020
FIDE has dismantled its Online Commission since their assigned tasks have become FIDE’s operative core since the pandemic began. Its chairman Ilya Gorodetsky belongs to FIDE’s Moscow staff and remains head of online activities. In line with the empowerment of athletes throughout the sports world, FIDE announced the creation of an Athletes Commission, too. Its members will not be appointed by federations but elected.
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Short news
Carlsen wins Chessable Masters – 05 Jul 2020
The world champion has also won the third event of his chess24-hosted Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour, the Chessable Masters, by clinching two matches in a row against his final opponent Anish Giri who failed to pick his chances. While Carlsen and Daniil Dubov have qualified for the Final Four in August, two places are yet to play for at Legends of Chess that will start on 21 July. Nakamura with 23 tour points and Ding Liren with 21 tour points and another invitation guaranteed, because he reached the semifinal, have the best chances to qualify.
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Short news
FIDE plans online chess titles – 04 Jul 2020
The FIDE Council has in its second quarter meeting decided to hold online events for top juniors, seniors and a world championship in bullet chess, which is usually played with one minute per player and game. The Council called the Qualification Commission to look into online titles. Online Competition Guidelines and the Laws of Chess Apendix E for online chess are still in the works.
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Short news
Stockfish turns the table – 04 Jul 2020
The 18th TCEC season saw another 100 games final between Leela Chess Zero and Stockfish, which the later won by 53,5:46,5, taking revenge for a 47,5:52,5 loss in the previous season. Enterprising opening repertoires lead to a high rate of 39 decided games.
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Short news
Puzzle Duel free for two weeks – 01 Jul 2020
Chesskid has temporarily unlocked its popular feature where learners can match each other online at solving exercises.
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Short news
Online Chess Olympiad mainly in August – 01 Jul 2020
FIDE has announced the regulations of its first Online Chess Olympiad. The national teams will play each other on six boards: there will be four adult boards, two of which are reserved for women, and two junior boards with one reserved for a female junior. Everyone can play from their home as the teams are not required to meet in one place. Each match consists of two rounds played with changing colours. Each player gets 15 minutes per game plus 5 seconds per move. The nations are group by strength and recent results into five divisions. The competition starts on 22 July from the lowest division with the best teams promoting to the higher division. The top teams enter on 19 August. The final k.o.-stages will be played from 27 to 30 August. FIDE has called the platforms to apply for hosting the event. Fair play shall be monitored by the hosting platform, which have to decide on the use of webcams and other measures, and a panel consisting of the chief arbiter, members of the FIDE Fair Play Commission, anti-cheating experts of the hosting platform, statisticians and grandmasters. The Fair Play Panel can pass on extreme and evident cases to the FIDE Ethics Commission which may ban cheaters for up to 15 years.
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Short news
World champion praised for sportmanship – 01 Jul 2020
Magnus Carlsen lost the second game of his first semifinal match against Ding Liren at the Chessable Masters hosted by chess24 on purpose in order to return the point he won in the first game from a drawn position when Ding disconnected. Even though the audience missed out on a game, Carlsen was widely praised for his sportmanship. Disconnections and slow connections often lead to unsatisfying outcomes of online games.