Σκακιστικά νέα

The 15th annual Chicago Class 2022 took place 15-17 July at the Westin Chicago North Shore Hotel, Wheeling, Illinois., featuring 7 tournaments: Master (for players rated 2100+), Expert (for players rated 1900-2199), Class A (for players rated 1700-1999), Class B (for players rated 1500-1799), Class C (for players rated 1300-1599), Class D (for players rated 1100-1399) and Class E (for players rated U1200).

Within the framework of the 49th International Dortmund Chess Festival, the No-castling World Masters 2022 was to start today, Monday, 18 July, with the game between Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand. Before the start of the event, Kramnik experienced health problems, so he had himself tested for an infection and was found to be COVID-19 positive.

The South African Open Chess Championship 2022 took place from 9-17 July 2022 in Cape Town. The event featured six different tournaments: Championship section, B section, U12 section, U16 section, U20 section and Blitz tournament with a prize pool of R140.000 (~8.000 EUR).

The 30th edition of the Heart of Finland Chess Open / Nordic Open Chess Championship takes place from 18-24 July 2022 in Jyväskylä marking the 100th anniversary of the Finnish Chess Federation. The event features two separate competitions: Open and Seniors, played in 9 rounds, swiss system, with time control: 90 min/40 moves + 30min + 30sec/move. The total prize fund will be 17.000 euros. 

The 2022 Canadian Open Chess Championship took place 11 – 17 July at the Hillfield Strathallan College, Hamilton, Ontario.

America’s newest esports chess star Levon Aronian shrugged off a slow start to the FTX Road to Miami to clinch his first title of the 2022 Meltwater Champions Chess Tour season. The 39-year-old Armenian, the oldest player in the tournament, overpowered China’s former child prodigy Wei Yi on day two of the final.

The Hungarian grandmaster who is in process of transferring to Romanian Chess Federation recently participated in the 2022 Candidates Chess Tournament, German Bundesliga 2022, and then FTX Road to Miami. After a hectic tournaments schedule, Richard Rapport decided to rest from chess and as a result, produced his first painting.

The 15th edition of the Paleochora International Chess Tournament takes place from 17-24 July in Paleochora, a city of the southwest Cretan coast. Paleochora School & Cultural Center of Paleochora hosts the event which will be played in two groups: A and B, with participation of 300 players from 26 countries, including 18 grandmasters and 11 international masters.

The third edition of the Valencia International Chess Open took place July 11-17, 2022, in Torrente, Spain. The event attracted more than 100 entries who fought for a total prize fund of 10.000 euros over 9 swiss rounds, with time control of 90 minutes for the entire game plus a 30-second increment starting on move one. 

The third tournament and the midway point of the Grand Chess Tour starts Wednesday and takes place at the Westin Zagreb from July 19-24. Continuing in the thrilling fashion of rapid and blitz format, exciting displays of chess play and blunders under time pressure will certainly keep fans entertained.