Latest news with #IanNepomniachtchi
The Guardian
04-07-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Russians absent from world chess top 10 for first time since official lists began
It would have been inconceivable in the glory days of the Soviet chess empire. For the first time since 1971 when Fide, the world chess body, began publishing its rating lists – then annually and now monthly – there are no Russians ranked in the classical world top 10. Bobby Fischer was No 1 in the first Fide list, published on the eve of his Reykjavik match with Boris Spassky, but after Fischer gave up active play Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov took over. In 1970, when the USSR team defeated the Rest of the World, or in the decades when Mikhail Botvinnik, Karpov, and Kasparov were the game's supreme masters, it would have been a joke to suggest that Russian supremacy would disappear within half a century and be replaced by a rivalry between India and the United States. The final nail in the coffin came last week when Ian Nepomniachtchi, the double world title challenger, dropped from 10th to 14th after a poor performance at Tashkent, where he finished next to last and appeared uninterested. There are a couple of caveats. Sergey Karjakin, the 2015 world title challenger, would be in the top 10 if he was still an active player, but since the start of the Ukraine war Karjakin has transformed himself into a cheerleader for the Russian armed forces and has played less than a handful of Fide-rated classical games. Karjakin did make a comeback at Blitz last week in a 'Chess Stars 5.0' tournament in which five elite GMs competed against five top women, and showed that he retains his strength. Meanwhile Anish Giri, the Netherlands' No 1 and the current world No 10, was born in St Petersburg. Nepomniachtchi may yet recover his mojo when the serious business of qualifying for the 2026 Candidates returns, but otherwise a Russian classical comeback may have to wait until the 10-year-old prodigy Roman Shogdzhiev, the youngest ever international master, fulfils his promise – if he does. Meanwhile Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, the 19-year-old super-grandmaster, scored his third major victory of 2025 last week when he captured the $20,000 first prize at the UzChess Cup in Tashkent. Just like his previous two successes at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee and Bucharest, he did it the hard way by sharing first and then winning a speed playoff. 'Pragg' is now up to world No 4. He has edged ahead of his Asian rivals, world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, fellow Indian Arjun Erigaisi and Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and more importantly has put himself in a strong position to capture the world title Candidates place which goes to the most successful tournament competitor of 2025. He is behind only Norway's world No 1 Magnus Carlsen, who has retired from world championship competition, and the two Americans Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana. Caruana is already qualified for the Candidates. Praggnanandhaa attributes his 2025 improvement to his coach, RB Ramesh: 'I'm now much more confident and ambitious when I play, and that's something we worked on,' the player said. His achievement came despite losing a brilliancy in mid-tournament where he had prepared the opening in advance. The game has been hailed as one of the great King's Indian masterpieces, with Kasparov, no less, comparing it to his own classic against Jan Timman in 1992. It seems that White's decisive mistake came as late as 23 Bc4? Bc2! , when 23 Nd4! was needed. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion Next weekend, on Sunday 13 July, ChessFest, the popular free family-friendly event, returns to London's Trafalgar Square, with opportunities to test your and your children's skills against England's top masters and grandmasters. World senior champion Michael Adams, reigning British and English champion Gawain Jones, former Russian champion and current England No 1 Nikita Vitiugov, and former world girl champion Harriet Hunt will all be there and ready to take on the public. More than 20,000 attended ChessFest in 2024 and, weather permitting, this year's numbers should be even larger. Other attractions include a living chess game with human pieces, chess puzzle quizzes and free lessons from CSC tutors. ChessFest days are also scheduled for Portishead on 12 July, Hull on 13 July and Liverpool on 20 July. 3979 1 Nf5+! and Black resigned. If 1…gxf5 2 Rg3+ Kh8 3 Rxg8+! (the point) and 4 Qxe7. Black might have tried 1…exf5 2 Rxe7 Nxe7 and White will eventually win as long as he avoids 3 Qxe7?? Rfe8 with a back rank mate trick.
The Guardian
04-07-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Russians absent from world chess top 10 for first time since official lists began
It would have been inconceivable in the glory days of the Soviet chess empire. For the first time since 1971 when Fide, the world chess body, began publishing its rating lists – then annually and now monthly – there are no Russians ranked in the classical world top 10. Bobby Fischer was No 1 in the first Fide list, published on the eve of his Reykjavik match with Boris Spassky, but after Fischer gave up active play Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov took over. In 1970, when the USSR team defeated the Rest of the World, or in the decades when Mikhail Botvinnik, Karpov, and Kasparov were the game's supreme masters, it would have been a joke to suggest that Russian supremacy would disappear within half a century and be replaced by a rivalry between India and the United States. The final nail in the coffin came last week when Ian Nepomniachtchi, the double world title challenger, dropped from 10th to 14th after a poor performance at Tashkent, where he finished next to last and appeared disinterested. There are a couple of caveats. Sergey Karjakin, the 2015 world title challenger, would be in the top 10 if he was still an active player, but since the start of the Ukraine war Karjakin has transformed himself into a cheerleader for the Russian armed forces and has played less than a handful of Fide-rated classical games. Karjakin did make a comeback at Blitz last week in a 'Chess Stars 5.0' tournament in which five elite GMs competed against five top women, and showed that he retains his strength. Meanwhile Anish Giri, the Netherlands' No 1 and the current world No 10, was born in St Petersburg. Nepomniachtchi may yet recover his mojo when the serious business of qualifying for the 2026 Candidates returns, but otherwise a Russian classical comeback may have to wait until the 10-year-old prodigy Roman Shogdzhiev, the youngest ever international master, fulfils his promise – if he does. Meanwhile Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, the 19-year-old super-grandmaster, scored his third major victory of 2025 last week when he captured the $20,000 first prize at the UzChess Cup in Tashkent. Just like his previous two successes at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee and Bucharest, he did it the hard way by sharing first and then winning a speed playoff. 'Pragg' is now up to world No 4. He has edged ahead of his Asian rivals, world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, fellow Indian Arjun Erigaisi and Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and more importantly has put himself in a strong position to capture the world title Candidates place which goes to the most successful tournament competitor of 2025. He is behind only Norway's world No 1 Magnus Carlsen, who has retired from world championship competition, and the two Americans Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana. Caruana is already qualified for the Candidates. Praggnanandhaa attributes his 2025 improvement to his coach, RB Ramesh: 'I'm now much more confident and ambitious when I play, and that's something we worked on,' the player said. His achievement came despite losing a brilliancy in mid-tournament where he had prepared the opening in advance. The game has been hailed as one of the great King's Indian masterpieces, with Kasparov, no less, comparing it to his own classic against Jan Timman in 1992. It seems that White's decisive mistake came as late as 23 Bc4? Bc2! , when 23 Nd4! was needed. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion Next weekend, on Sunday 13 July, ChessFest, the popular free family-friendly event, returns to London's Trafalgar Square, with opportunities to test your and your children's skills against England's top masters and grandmasters. World senior champion Michael Adams, reigning British and English champion Gawain Jones, former Russian champion and current England No 1 Nikita Vitiugov, and former world girl champion Harriet Hunt will all be there and ready to take on the public. More than 20,000 attended ChessFest in 2024 and, weather permitting, this year's numbers should be even larger. Other attractions include a living chess game with human pieces, chess puzzle quizzes and free lessons from CSC tutors. ChessFest days are also scheduled for Portishead on 12 July, Hull on 13 July and Liverpool on 20 July. 3979 1 Nf5+! and Black resigned. If 1…gxf5 2 Rg3+ Kh8 3 Rxg8+! (the point) and 4 Qxe7. Black might have tried 1…exf5 2 Rxe7 Nxe7 and White will eventually win as long as he avoids 3 Qxe7?? Rfe8 with a back rank mate trick.
Time of India
01-07-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
'They have so much bad blood' - Anish Giri takes a fresh dig at Hikaru Nakamura, Ian Nepomniachtchi
Anish Giri was involved in a heated exchange with Ian Nepomniachtchi, Hikaru Nakamura. (Screengrabs) Anish Giri has taken potshots at Hikaru Nakamura and Ian Nepomniachtchi following their feud, which began at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team event earlier this month in London. "I'm getting very disturbed whenever Nepo is brought up. I'm like, how did everybody come on time and you didn't?" Giri told Take Take Take. "I think it was more of a heat-of-the-moment situation. Again, I felt that it was unjust what was happening. Not even what was happening, but the fact that they just finished the match," he added. The controversy began when WR Chess lost the first match of their two-game quarter-final against Germany and Friends. The team protested, arguing they hadn't been officially notified of the start time, causing their players to arrive late. Alireza Firouzja showed up 15 seconds late for his three-minute game, while Ian Nepomniachtchi had only 1 minute and 4 seconds left on his clock, and Hikaru Nakamura just 38 seconds. All three lost their games as a result. After lengthy discussions, the organizers permitted the teams to replay the first match. "They lost. Are they going to play again? And intuitively, I feel that their chances of winning the match are, like, massive. And then I realized, well, that's because, you know, they're taking two shots. And they shouldn't have taken the first shot. "Of course, I understand it all happened in the moment. But I just didn't like the notion of all of them sitting there entitled. "And I'm like, yeah, how did everybody come on time and you didn't? Like, you know? They saw the entitlement, like, yeah, how did it even happen? Like, you know, I didn't really like the way it went. And the fact that nobody was fighting for the other team," he added. Nepo, in response, had thrown comments like: "Big expert in law, Anish. Since when?" and "Next FIDE president" at the Dutch GM. "Anish seems so smart, but whenever he opens his mouth… it's already questionable," said Nepo. "Why does he care so much?" Nakamura had asked. When coaxed about Ian Nepomniachtchi and Nakamura gossiping about him, the World No. 10 said: "If Ian and Hikaru are able to sit alongside each other and gossip about me, you know, then me and Ian will surely be fine as well. Because these two, like, they have so much bad blood. I mean, like, it is so bad for so many years." "And they've had so many incidents that if they managed to overcome it, me and Ian will manage to overcome it as well. I'm not confrontational until I feel that there's been injustice. And when I feel that there's been injustice, it kind of triggers me. "I've had these issues with Magnus as well. Like, I'm ready to be his best friend. "But I felt that he's done something which was not just somehow an unfairness of a situation. It just triggers something in me. I don't know why that is. Otherwise, I'm very peaceful."
Local Norway
21-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Local Norway
Norwegian chess star Magnus Carlsen auctions 'forbidden jeans'
The International Chess Federation (Fide) fined Carlsen $200 and then banned him from taking part in a round nine at the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships, deeming his attire inappropriate. A furious Carlsen left the rapid championship, but after a relaxation of the dress code he returned for the blitz championship and ended up sharing the gold with Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi following a tie in the final. The 34-year-old Norwegian put the now infamous pair of jeans up for auction on Wednesday on Ebay. "The forbidden jeans can now be yours," Carlsen wrote in a post to X, noting they were "game worn". Open until March 1st, the auction had already received a bid of 8,000 dollars, or just under on Thursday. The proceeds of the sale will be donated to the Big Brothers Big Sisters charity, according to Carlsen.
