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An unrated player is a puzzle waiting to be solved. On the one hand they are oftenespecially at the scholastic levelbeginners that are just learning the basics of the royal game. But sometimes they are not beginners. They are individualsusually adults that have been essaying games for years with family and friends or with strangers at beaches or public parks. Those wood pushers typically are not weak. Then there are players that are rated in far-off lands that are now competing in tournaments here in the U.S.A. In their first US Chess event they have no rating; they are Unrated. This mix of abilities is the puzzle that needs solving in events that offer prize money. Scholastic unrateds are an entirely different discussion for a future column.

Our rulebook does address the unrated prize fund puzzle. They can only claim top place prizes or designated unrated prizes. Any variations from these regulations needs to be advertised by the organizer.

The rules briefly mention that unrateds can have prizes designated just for themTop Unrated = $50 is one example. The rulebook does mention this idea but also says that it is not advised; however, many organizers do use this plan and advertise it

The upside is that unrated wood pushers, no matter what their score or playing strength, can only take home gold specified just for them. They cant claim any dollars designated for rated wood pushers.

The downside is that if there is only one unrated in an event, they automatically get that prize. It often makes them happy and encourages them to come back again sporting a provisional rating.

The TD can assign a rating to an unrated player. This method addresses the unrated prize puzzle solution without any advanced publicity. There are a series of steps in the rulebook outlining how to make this happen. The procedure involves finding proof of an unrateds ability via foreign rating lists, FIDE rating lists, club won-loss records, etc. A rating for that playertypically higher than what is discovered in that research is then assigned on the wallchart. That assigned rating is good only at that tournament for pairings and prizes. It allows an unrated player to compete for all the money that their assigned rating qualifies them fortop prizes, class prizes, under prizes, etc.

In my humble opinion, it seems risky to assign a rating below 2200 to any unrated player with gray area playing strength credentials.

Limiting the amount of money an unrated can win is yet another method not encouraged by the chess law givers. It is, however, a fairly common advertised practice for solving the unrated prize puzzle.

The upside is that it prevents strong non-rated players, that have no US Chess rating, from claiming prizes aimed at rated chess warriors.

The downside is that it is messy, messy, messy. Especially if the cap on unrated winnings is lower than the rated player prize that their score would otherwise qualify them for?

Check out this example: In a five round event, first place is $100 and second place is $50. The unrated prize cap is $25. The unrated scores a perfect 5-0, the only player to do so. Now, where does the rest of the goldyou know, that extra $75go? The rules tell us where to distribute those fundsnot how to distribute them.

Here is one of many ways to shift that left-over lootdownward. That $75, in this example, could go to the second-place finisher. Since the second-place finisher cant claim both the leftover loot ($75) and second place money ($50), where does that extra money ($50) filter down to? In this instance the organizer can create a new (unadvertised) third-place prize of $50.

Another variationusing this exampleis to give the unrated their $25, the second-place claimant gets their $50, then create two extra unadvertised prizes from that leftover $75. One of many possibilities is to hand out $45 as a new (unadvertised) third place prize plus $30 as a new (unadvertised) fourth place prize.

These two methods of distributing leftover funds are only a couple of many. And lets not even get started on what to do with the leftover money when ties are involved with players that have prize capsthat is even messier.

What have you seen in practice?

Tim Just is a National Tournament Director, FIDE National Arbiter, and editor of the 5th, 6th, and 7th editions of the US Chess Rulebook. He is also the author of My Opponent is Eating a Doughnut & Just Law, which are both available from US Chess Sales and Amazon/Kindle. Additionally, Tim recently revised The Guide To Scholastic Chess, a guide created to help teachers and scholastic organizers who wish to begin, improve, or strengthen their school chess program. Tim is also a member of the US Chess Rules Committee. His new column, exclusive to US Chess, Just the Rules will help clarify potentially confusing regulations.

Originally posted here:
Just the Rules: The Unrated Prize Puzzle | US Chess.org - uschess.org

Queen Elizabeth has reportedly been warned against allowing Prince Harry or Meghan Markle to beat her to the punch when it comes to releasing a photograph with her namesake Lilibet.

Royal expert Daniela Elser made this claim in her latest piece for News.com.au.

She wrote, My point is, in simply going back to the UK together, Harry and Meghans very presence was always going to be something of a distraction so why not use it to Buckingham Palaces advantage?

I reckon courtiers and aides have really missed a trick here, she also pointed out.

Imagine if we had seen this photo of the Queen and Lili it would have been a powerful checkmate on the part of Her Majesty in the PR chess match which the Sussexes seem intent on playing with the Palace.

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Queen urged not to let Meghan Markle win the PR chess match - Geo News

Express News Service

TIRUPATI:Two sisters, aged 10 and seven, from Tirupati are making rapid strides in the world of chess. V Tripurambika and her younger sibling Guruvarshini have dominated many of their opponents and won medals at state-level championships.Tripurambika played under-10 chess tournaments in Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

After winning the event in Visakhapatnam held in April this year, she advanced to the national championship conducted in Jammu from April 26 to May 1, and was placed in the top 16 at the event with 100 players.

Tripurambika secured a FIDE rating of 1,101, which is considered decent and will improve as she plays more matches. The ratings were jointly released by the World Chess Federation and All-India Chess Federation.

The 10-year-old, a Class VI student at Gowtham Public School, developed an interest in chess from her early years.She aspires to win national-level contests and represent India at international events. "I became curious because my grandfather plays chess at home. I honed my skills after playing against him.I look up to chess masters Harika Dronavalli and Viswanathan Anand," he said.

Her father Pratap told The New Indian Express: "My daughter used to attend Bhagavad Gita classes and learn slokas at school. When we saw her singing the slokas without making any mistakes in the pronunciation, we knew that she has a good IQ."

"This prompted us to make her learn something new and since then she has been playing and practising chess at home. She is, currently, being coached by PR Ananad Mohan, who happens to be my school friend and works as a government teacher," said Pratap.

Under Anands guidance, Tripuramabika secured the top spot at the under-10 Star Chess National Championship organised in Vellore in 2021. She also secured the first spot in the under-9 Masthanaiah Fide Rapid Rating Open Chess Tournament in Hyderabad the same year.Tripurambika, who is currently preparing for national-level games, has also started training under coach D Kalyan Chakravarthy from Guntur.

Meanwhile, Guruvarshini, who learnt to play chess from her elder sister, won the under-7 School Games State Championship held in Guntur on January 3 and 4, and even represented Andhra Pradesh at a national-level chess championship held in May in Bhubaneswar.

She also secured a silver at Masthanaiah Chess World national championship.Guruvarshini came second in the under-6 All-India Schoolastic Online Chess Chamionship conducted by South Mumbai Chess Academy.

Sister learnt chess from grandfather

Ten-year-old Tripurambika, a class 6 student at Gowtham Public School, developed an interest in chess in her early formative years. "I became curious because my grandfather plays chess at home. I honed my skills after playing against him," she said.

Under the guidance of coach Anand Mohan, Tripuramabika secured top spots at the under-10 Star Chess National Championship organised in Vellore and under-9 Masthanaiah Fide Rapid Rating Open Chess Tournament in Hyderabad

See original here:
Tirupati siblings rise together in chess world - The New Indian Express

Dull or exciting? That was the question in round two of Norway Chess on Wednesday.

When GM Veselin Topalov exceeded the time limit against GM Viswanathan Anand, the Indian became the sole victor in the classical games of the second round. GM Wesley So took down the World Champion Magnus Carlsen in the armageddon games.

This leaves Anand in first place with 6 points ahead of So with 4.5.

Round three will begin on Thursday, June 2, at 8 a.m. PT / 17:00 Central Europe.

Round two was armageddon day, not because the players had to sit through watching the 1998 movie by Michael Bay featuring Bruce Willis & Ben Afleckalthough encouraging players not to draw their classical games by forcing them to watch that movie each time before playing an armageddon game could be an idea for future editions of Norway Chess. No, it was because we had no less than four armageddon games in today's round, all of these were, in fact, so exciting we choose one of them as our game of the day.

Back in 2010, the two combatants in this game played an intense match in Sofia, Bulgaria for the World Championship match. For those unfamiliar with the stories surrounding it, I can highly recommend Michael Abeln's excellent book "The Anand Files" (Quality Chess 2019). They have, of course, played several times since then, but nowadays both players are rarely seen in top tournaments, especially in the same tournament. So, for chess fans who like more than the games themselves, this was an excellent encounter.

In a trendy line in the Queen's Gambit Accepted where White plays 3.e4 and Black answers 3...b5, Topalov sacrificed a pawn for positional pressure. Although the engines claim that Black was fine, it was clear that it was easier to play as White. As a consequence, Anand returned not just one, but two pawns to get his queenside pieces developed and his position freed up a bit.

That changed the direction of the game considerably, giving Black lots of activity for the sacrificed pawn and when Topalov did not find the critical continuation on move 21, it was clear that Black was okay. This prompted Topalov to take even longer to make up his mind about his moves and soon ended up in time trouble. Anand expressed after the game that around move 26-27 that "as long as I didn't get carried away, he [Topalov] had to 'pay for his time management' at least and steer toward a draw with some difficulty."

Anand stuck with his plan, consistently putting pressure on White while avoiding possible implications. In a still complex, but objectively equal position, Topalov exceeded the time limit.

With his impressive start, Anand re-enters the world's top 10 on the live list:

In a peculiar but topical line in the Queen's Gambit Tarrasch/Semi-Tarrasch, the players, GMs Teimour Radjabov and Aryan Tari, quickly got the queens off the board. The imbalances were that White had sacrificed a pawn to wreck Black's pawns in the center and leave the black king looking for a good place to hide.

This type of position can be tricky to play for Black, but Tari seemed very well-prepared and never seemed to be in any serious danger.

By contrast, the armageddon game was a messy affair. Radjabov played the Catalan, against which Tari captured the c4-pawn and kept it. You usually do not do that unpunished, but when Radjabov missed his best chances to break through in the center, Tari took over and gained a large advantage.

However, Tari had taken too much time calculating everything and missed his chances to attack White's king and instead weakened his own. As the clock continued to tick away, so did his chances and Radjabov swooped in with his queen to deliver the final punch against Black's king.

A crazy game that could have gone either way.

GM Anish Giri drew the envy of Najdorf man GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who in a trip to the confessional booth expressed a wish for him and Giri to switch places so that Giri could try to take advantage of his opponent's isolated pawn while he then could have fun in Giri's Najdorf Sicilian.

Giri did indeed have a sharp Najdorf on the board against GM Wang Hao, with the kings castled in opposite directions. The first 18 moves had been played several times before and then Giri went in a different direction.

Interestingly, through a transposition, the players could have reached a game by Vachier-Lagrave on move 22! However, Giri improved on the Frenchman's play although it did require a massive think on move 26 to avoid disaster and lead the game into drawing territory.

The armageddon was another Najdorf, but this time, White castled kingside, and Black's king went to e7. After imprecise moves by Wang in the early middlegame, Black completely took charge of the game.

However, Wang managed to complicate it as Giri was trying to keep the position under control, and while White had some chances, Giri was doing fine never, more than a little away from equality. In mutual time trouble, Wang blundered, allowing Giri a decisive advantage, which he later returned to get a drawn endgame without any risk of Wang winning the game.

Frequently, when So plays the white pieces against Carlsen in classical games, he takes the approach that Carlsen will have to show how badly he wants to win and thus plays something supersolid that is almost impossible to crack. This was the script for today's game, where the play went via a Slav Defense into a Semi-Slav into an impossibly boring position.

This prompted Carlsen midgame to drop into the confessional booth to deliver the following message:

Apparently, it touched a nerve with GM Peter Heine Nielsen, Carlsen's longtime coach, who responded on Twitter with "Evolved from 'Clown' to 'most stupid'. Feels like progress." Clearly, you cannot always please the World Champion...

That was about as controversial as that game got. The World Champion appeared to aim for a new land speed record, using the least amount of time for the entire game. When a draw was agreed upon on move 38, he had not even used thirteen minutes for the entire affair. Admittedly, some of it was preparation, some of it was forced, and the final phase was simple.

In the armageddon, we had a much more eventful game on our hands where both sides had a share of the chances, but with the clocking ticking down, the mistakes started sneaking in, mainly on Carlsen's side, and then So struck in a combinational fashion.

This prompted Topalov to enter the confessional booth to express his admiration for So's talent:

Above, we heard about Vachier-Lagrave's wishes about playing Giri's position rather than his own against GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

He did indeed play the line in the Semi-Tarrasch that was also used in Radjabov-Tari but opted for a different seventh move. However, he did not get anything out of the opening and soon the players were heading for a draw.

For the armageddon game, the French grandmaster wheeled a peculiar line against Mamedyarov's Petroff, a line he had also used a couple of weeks ago in Bucharest where both players took part. Here, the variation worked like a charm and gave White an advantage, but a less-than-accurate follow-up allowed Black back in the game and even gave him an advantage in the middlegame.

However, as we saw in the other armageddon games, things can get crazy when the time control is skewed and the odds are big. One slip-up by Mamedyarov tilted the game in Vachier-Lagrave's favor and this time, he did not let go and systematically improved his position and eventually converted his advantage into a winning endgame.

Round 2 Standings

All Games Round 2

The 2022 Norway Chess runs May 31-June 10, 2022. The event consists of a 10-player single round-robin in a classical time control of 120 minutes for the game with a 10-second increment after move 40. The scoring system is three points for a win instead of the usual one. If the game is drawn, competitors play an armageddon game with the winner scoring 1.5 points and the loser 1 point. The prize fund is 2.5 million Norwegian kroner (NOK).

Previous coverage:

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Anand Wins Again, Takes Sole Lead: Norway Chess, Day 2 - Chess.com

Magnus Carlsen has made a poor start this week with two lacklustre draws at Stavanger, the Norway tournament which the world champion has won on its last three renewals.

The No 1s games are screened live and free daily from 4pm BST to a global internet audience, with grandmaster commentaries and a board sidebar which enables non-chess players to see who is winning. Draws are immediately replayed as Armageddons, where White has 10 minutes to Blacks seven but a halved result on the board counts as a black win for the score table.

That rule cost Carlsen in his second round Armageddon against Wesley So, as the US grandmaster scored with a queen-rook mating attack. Earlier, Carlsen had opted for another bizarre first move in the pre-tournament blitz, following his use of 1 f2-f3 and 1 h2-h4 in the previous weeks online Chessable Masters. This time it was 1 a2-a4, known as the Meadow Hay because its originator in the 1870s, Preston Ware, was a farmer who also played, as Black, the Corn Stalk Defence 1a7-a5.

Such eccentricities fit uneasily with the world crown, and Carlsen is now under some pressure to find his true form quickly. He needs to win Stavanger convincingly to avoid falling behind in his quest to achieve a 2900 rating, a chess Everest that he approached in 2014 when he reached 2889.

Vishy Anand, Indias five-time world champion, has been in superb form of late and belied his 52 years by taking the early Stavanger lead with wins in both his classical games. Anand declined selection for Indias Olympiad team to give more chances to younger players, but there have already been calls for him to reverse his decision, and these will increase if his great start continues into the later rounds.

The biennial chess Olympiad, which starts in Chennai in late July, has already attracted a record 189 teams in the Open section and 154 in the Womens. England has just announced its team as Michael Adams, Luke McShane, Gawain Jones, David Howell and Ravi Haria, with a womens squad of Jovanka Houska, Katarzyna Toma, Lan Yao, Akshaya Kalaiyalahan and Zoe Varney. The open team will aim for the top six, and even top 10 would count as a success. The US will be clear favourites for gold, with China and the two Indian teams contenders for silver and bronze.

Englands youngest chess hope Kushal Jakhria, who was London under-eight champion at five, shared first in the Blackpool Intermediate at six, and won the world under-eight blitz at seven, managed another success last weekend.

The Pointer School, Blackheath, pupil, who learned his early skills at Charlton chess club, shared first prize on 4/5 in the East Anglian Major at Newmarket. Jakhria met three of the top seeds, all rated above ECF 1900, strong amateur standard, and scored 3-0 against weak resistance in an average of under 24 moves.

The No 2 seed chose the Tarrasch, found his black king trapped in the centre and was overrun by the white army.

Kushal Jakhria (1764) v Jason Long (1967), Tarrasch Defence

1 d4 e6 2 c4 d5 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 g3 c5 5 cxd5 exd5 6 Bg2 Nc6 7 0-0 Bf5 8 Nc3 Ne4 9 dxc5 Nxc3 10 bxc3 Bxc5 11 Nd4 Nxd4? 12 cxd4 Bb6? 13 Ba3! f6 14 Qb3 Be6 15 e4 Qd7 16 exd5 Bh3 17 Rhe1+ Kd8 18 Be7+ Kc8 19 Rac1+ Kb8 20 Bxh3 1-0

The No 1 seed opted for the Albin Counter, stayed a pawn down, then missed a chance to equalise and fell for a back rank trap.

Kushal Jakhria (1764) v Mervyn Hughes (1970), Albin Counter Gambit

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 Nf3 Nc6 5 g3 Nge7 6 Bg2 Ng6 7 0-0 Ngxe5 8 Nxe5 Nxe5 9 a3 a5 10 Nd2 Be7 11 Nf3 Bf6? 12 Nxd4 0-0 13 c5 Qe7 14 c6 b6 15 Qc2 Ba6 16 Nf3? (16 Nf5!) Ng6 17 Be3 a4 18 Rfd1 Rad8 19 Rxd8 Rxd8 20 Qxa4 Bxe2 21 Re1 Bxf3 22 Bxf3 Ne5? (Bxb2!) 23 Be2 Nd3 24 Bxd3 Rxd3 25 Kf1 Bxb2? 26 Bd4 1-0

Jakhrias ECF rating is now up to 1843 in the newly published June 2022 list, and since March he has performed at around 1925 over 21 games.

Round numbers are significant for all ambitious players, starting with 2000, which is officially Expert in the US, then 2200 (Master), 2300 (Fide Master), 2400 (International Master), 2500 (Grandmaster), 2600 (strong GM), 2700 (world top 50), 2800 (world title candidate level) and finally 2900 (Carlsens Everest). Computers clock in at 3300 upwards

For teenagers and sub-teens, the lower round numbers matter most, and the junior who currently has a monopoly of them is Abhimanyu Mishra of Englishtown, New Jersey. Mishra became the youngest ever 2000 US Expert at seven years, six months, then went on to become the youngest ever US Master at nine, the youngest ever IM at 10, and the youngest ever GM at 12. Now, at 13 and rated 2535, he still has a year to become the youngest ever 2600.

Mishras Expert and Master titles are effectively world as well as US records. Last month at the online Chessable Masters the US teenager finished last of 16 in the all-grandmaster field, but his 3/15 total still included a win against the then world No 7, Shak Mamedyarov.

Could Kushal Jakhria break Abhimanyu Mishras remarkable monopoly by becoming the youngest ever 2000-rated player? He has four and a half months to bridge a gap which is still at least 75-150 points away from his current strength.

One action that would boost his chances of a world record would be for someone or some organisation to sponsor a grandmaster coach to teach him several days a week. This is normal practice for the best talents in major chess nations, but is difficult to finance in England due to zero official support for chess.

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Even with daily grandmaster support, reaching 2000 from 1850-1925 in four months would be problematic. Improvement becomes progressively harder as a player advances and as opponents make a special effort against rising talents. At some moment, too, even fast improvers find that they hit an invisible wall when a further advance suddenly becomes slow and tedious.

But its a possible world record, the opportunity is ephemeral and will not recur, so the conclusion is to go for it.

3818 1Re8! 2 Qxh5 (if 2 Bxh5 Qe4+ wins) Re4+! 3 Bxe4 Qxh5 wins the queen and the game.

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Chess: Carlsen starts badly in Stavanger while seven-year-old eyes Expert record - The Guardian