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Mednyi Vsadnik of St. Petersburg has won the 2021 European Club Cup in Struga, North Macedonia. South Ural (also Russia) won the women's tournament. Playing for Norway's Offerspill, GM Magnus Carlsen scored 2.5/3 in his last classical OTB event before the world championship.

Held for the 36th time, the European Club Cup is one of many events that has happily returned to the chess calendar in a period when the coronavirus situation in many European countries is more and more under control. The event, a seven-round Swiss team competition with 38 teams playing on six boards, was held in Struga, North Macedonia this year.

St. Petersburg's Mednyi Vsadnik (Bronze Horseman), the winner of this year's Russian Team Championship, turned out to be the strongest in Europe as well. The team, named after the statue of Peter the Great in St. Petersburg and also after a famous Aleksander Pushkin poem, was the only one to score 13 match points. They won the first prize of 10,000 euros.

The best performer for the team, which also won in 2018, was 2021 FIDE Candidate GM Kirill Alekseenko, who returns well into the 2700 club after scoring a splendid 5.5/6. He got a remarkably quick win against the Austrian grandmaster Markus Ragger using the still quite popular 3.h4 Anti-Grunfeld:

The event attracted more attention during the three days that the world champion participated. Together with his compatriot GM Aryan Tari, Carlsen traveled to Struga last Sunday and ended up playing in three of the seven rounds.

In his first game, his opponent from Belgium, FM Jelle Sarrau, was very, very close to drawing the game after basically having created a fortress:

It is also interesting to see Carlsen employ the King's Indian for his third game, his only encounter with a top grandmaster. After employing a typical, positional pawn sacrifice on the queenside, the champ was suffering quite a bit in the endgame but eventually held the draw:

Carlsen might have played his last OTB games before the match, but you can still see him in action starting from today in the Finals of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. You can follow the games here as part of our live games platform.

2021 European Club Cup | Final Standings (Top 20)

(Full final standings here.)

The European Womens Club Cup was held for the 25th time. The format, in this case, was a round-robin with eight teams consisting of only four boards.

Also there, a Russian team emerged as the winner: South Ural. The team scored a perfect 14/7 to get the trophy and 6,000 euros. Both GM Valentina Gunina and IM Olga Badelka made 5/6.

Here's Gunina's last-round win, where she escaped from a lost position out of the opening:

2021 European Club Cup | Final Standings (Top 20)

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Russian Teams Win At European Club Cup As Carlsen Plays Last OTB Games Before Match - Chess.com

The 73rd Emmy Awards is over, and The Queen's Gambit once more blew chess fans away by winning 11 awards. The show, which even got the trophy for the coveted "Best Limited Series" award, once more put chess under the spotlight.

As the ceremony unfolded, we decided to have some fun and create our own version of this prestigious celebration. On the days leading to the Emmys, we hosted the Chemmysan online ceremony awarding our beloved chess content creators!

The community has cast their votes, and it's now time to reveal the winners who will take home their Chemmys plaques!

Here are the nominees for Outstanding Main Title Design (best YouTube video thumbnail):

And the Outstanding Main Title Design award goes to... Levy Rozman: The Advanced Chess Bots Are Terrifying

Here are the nominees for Outstanding Period Costume (best costume on stream):

And the Outstanding Period Costume award goes to... Anna Rudolf's reindeer costume!

Here are the nominees for Outstanding Cinematography (best chess photography):

And the Outstanding Cinematography award goes to... Eric Rosen!

Here are the nominees for Outstanding Limited Series (best video series):

And the Outstanding Limited Series award goes to... Levy Rozman's Win At Chess!

Here are the nominees for Outstanding Writing For A Limited Series (best chess written piece):

And the Outstanding Writing For A Limited Series award goes to... Jen Shahade for her "Make Way for the Queens of Chess" piece!

Here are the nominees for Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics (best chess lyrics):

And the Original Music And Lyrics award goes to... Samay Raina!

Here are the nominees for Music Composition (best chess-related song):

And the Outstanding Music Composition award goes to... "Rook Volume 1" by Samay Raina!

Here are the nominees for Outstanding Supporting Actor (best male commentator):

And the Outstanding Supporting Actor is... Daniel Naroditsky!

Here are the nominees for Outstanding Lead Actress (best female commentator):

And the Outstanding Lead Actress award goes to... Alexandra and Andrea Botez!

We hope you had fun voting for your favorite content creators! If you don't know any of the nominees or winners, make sure you follow them on Twitch and YouTube. Also, make sure to follow us on Twitter to be a part of the chess conversation and on Twitch and YouTube for more chess videos!

What was your favorite award? Let us know in the comments below!

See the article here:
Announcing The Chemmys Winners - Chess.com

As Novembers 14-game, $2m 2021 world championship match in Dubai approaches, Norways title holder, Magnus Carlsen, is continuing his busy tournament and media schedule, while his Russian challenger, Ian Nepomniachtchi, is pulling out of events or playing them in second or third gear.

Nepomniachtchi, the current world No 4, is believed to have assembled a strong team of aides, notably including the 2004 title challenger and popular online commentator Peter Leko, plus the cream of Russian analytical talent. Fide is ostensibly neutral, but there is little doubt that its energetic president, Arkady Dvorkovich, would privately regard the individual crown as a welcome addition to the online Olympiad team gold where Russia defeated the US in the final.

Last week Carlsen fought his way from behind with four successive exhausting hard-fought wins at the end to take first prize at the traditional Stavanger tournament, where Alireza Firouzja, 18, finished second and jumped into the world top 10.

Carlsen called it a really satisfying victory and said: I worked really hard. Every victory I had to grind out. It wasnt sparkling at all, but I came away with everything I could have hoped for.

That should have been more than sufficient reason for the No 1 to take a well-earned rest, but instead the 30-year-old flew straight to Ohrid, North Macedonia, to lead his Oslo hometown team Offerspillen at the European Club Cup.

Carlsens first opponent at Ohrid was an unknown Belgian amateur, 33-year-old Jelle Sarrau from the Zuid-Limburg club, who was rated a massive 481 rating points below the champions stratospheric 2855, but confounded expectations by digging in with the white pieces for a totally blocked position. Carlsen is the supreme endgame grinder, while the time limit was an increasingly popular version where after move 40 the players have only a 30 seconds per move increment. So the champion got to increment, then whirled around with his queen, bishop and king for nearly 50 moves until a confused Sarrau finally blundered and resigned at move 91.

Next round Carlsen had White and his win was faster and smoother, a classic demonstration of hidden pawn weaknesses which Black made easier by recapturing with his bishop at move 23.

The Euroclub Cup ends on Friday, and then it is straight back to Oslo for the week-long final of the $1.5m Meltwater Champions Tour, where Carlsen has to play nine mini-matches against top opposition led by the US champion, Wesley So. Even that is not the end, for on 22 October the champion is scheduled to appear in a live virtual Q+A session by Mastercard, which has just been announced as a partner for the 2022 Champions Tour and which has named Carlsen as one of its global brand ambassadors in the company of Lionel Messi and Naomi Osaka.

Meanwhile, away from the glitz, Nepomniachtchi is quietly continuing his low-key preparations. The Muscovites final pre-match appearance was in Stavanger, where he drew both classical games with Carlsen, lost twice in Armageddon tie-breaks, and ended up fourth out of six, Afterwards Nepomniachtchi described his own performance as disgusting, considering all the chances I spoiled but added cryptically at the same time it was, I believe, quite useful.

The challengers compatriot, Sergey Karjakin, who drew 6-6 for the crown in New York 2016 before losing in speed tie-breaks, said of Carlsen: He is strong, but he made mistakes. If he makes similar mistakes in the match, I think Ian will be ready and will take his chances. To emphasise his priorities, Nepomniachtchi, who had qualified for the valuable Meltwater final, withdrew from it at short notice.

Carlsen easily won his first world championship match, with Indias Vishy Anand in 2013, against limp resistance, but none of his three title defences since has been totally convincing.

In his 2014 Anand rematch with the score 2-2, Carlsen blundered badly in the fifth game, but the Indian failed to notice the winning move and lost the game and, later, the series.

Karjakin also missed a good chance at New York 2016 when, 4.5-3.5 up on Carlsen with four games left, he missed a likely winning queen move on his 39th turn and instead made a bishop sacrifice which only drew. Then in Carlsen v Fabiano Caruana at London 2018, the US challenger had a winning position in game eight (of 12) but spoilt it.

Carlsen is sensitive to his place in chess history, and will be well aware that his track record in title matches lacks victories to compare with Garry Kasparovs convincing wins against Nigel Short in 1993 and Anand in 1995, let alone with Bobby Fischers legendary crushes of 1970-72, although these were only candidates matches as Fischer never defended his Fide world crown.

A wide margin win against Nepomniachtchi would strengthen Carlsens legacy, and arguably he has decided that the best chance of achieving it is to shorten his preparation time and instead gear his approach towards a fast start in the actual match and then keeping up his momentum. We shall see.

Over-the-board tournament appearances by Englands top grandmasters have been very rare since the start of the pandemic, but this week three of them are in action, and all three have begun well.

Luke McShane is leading the Manx Liberty Masters in Douglas, Isle of Man, with 4.5/6, while at Malm, Sweden, in Thursdays opening round of the traditional Sigeman & Co tournament, Nigel Short defeated Frances No 3, tienne Bacrot, and Gawain Jones won against Denmarks Jonas Bjerre.

3782: 1...Nb4+! 2 Qxd8 Nc4+ 3 Ke1 Nc2 mate.

Read more here:
Chess: Carlsen wins in Norway and grinds in 91 moves before $2m match - The Guardian

The Main Event of the 2021 Speed Chess Championship runs from November 12 until the finals on December 19, 2021. The $100,000 prize fund and the 2021 Chess.com speed chess championship title are up for grabs.

All the information you need to know about this fast-paced event can be found below.

The field of 16 players will include:

The bracket will appear here once the field is complete.

The 2021 Speed Chess Championship Main Event begins November 12. Once the 2021 World Chess Championship begins on November 24, the Speed Chess Championship schedule is built around off-days in the World Championship.

The finals of the 2021 Speed Chess Championship Main Event will be on December 19, after the World Championship has concluded.

The Main Event is a single-elimination knockout tournament bracket.

The time controls will be:

There will be breaks between each section.

If a match is tied after the 30-minute bullet round, four additional games at the same 1+1 time control will be played. If the score remains tied, there will be a single armageddon tiebreaker game, where White gets five minutes and Black gets four minutes with draw odds (i.e., Black advances if the game is drawn). There is no increment in the armageddon game, and the player with the higher Chess.com blitz rating chooses what color to play in it.

Each match winner at each given stage earns:

Additionally, the following amounts are allocated based on winning percentage at the conclusion of the round.

For example, if a player wins in the semifinals by a score of 15-10 (60%), they receive $6,000 for winning the semifinal match and an additional $3,600 (60% of $6,000) based on win percentage. The loser receives the remaining $2,400.

Total Prize Fund By Round

Chess.com will be broadcasting the Main Event of the 2021 Speed Chess Championship on all its platforms, including Twitch, YouTube, ChessTV, and Chess.com/Events.

Details of contests for the community will appear here.

2017: GM Magnus Carlsen

2018: GM Hikaru Nakamura

2019: GM Hikaru Nakamura

2020: GM Hikaru Nakamura

Go here to read the rest:
2021 Speed Chess Championship Main Event: All The Information - Chess.com

Norway Chess is a classical chess tournament held every year since 2013 in Stavanger, Norway. Up until 2019 it was accompanied by a blitz tournament, which was put on hold during the coronavirus pandemic.

Norway Chess 2021 ran from September 7-17. It was won by GM Magnus Carlsen.

The 2021 tournament is a six-player, 10-round double round-robin.

Norway Chess uses an unusual scoring system. If the classical game in a round is decisive, the winner gets three points and the loser none. If the game is drawn, however, the competitors play an armageddon game. The winner of the armageddon game scores 1.5 points for the round and the loser one point.

The time control in standard games is 120 minutes for the game with a 10-second increment after move 40. In the armageddon game, White gets 10 minutes and Black gets 7, with a 1-second increment after move 41.

This year's field includes both the world champion and the world championship challenger, just weeks ahead of their match. The full list:

The opening ceremony and the first round are played on September 7. There is a slate of games every day except September 11 and the tournament concludes on September 17, including any necessary playoffs.

Due to a visa issue, Nepomniachtchi will play his round one game against Karjakin on the rest day.

Norway Chess is held in Stavanger every year. In 2021, it will occur at the Clarion Hotel in Stavanger.

Norway Chess have not announced the prize fund for 2021.

The 2020 prize fund totaled 1.81 million Norwegian kroner (NOK).

1st NOK 700.0002nd NOK 370.0003rd NOK 230.0004th NOK 180.0005th NOK 170.0006th NOK 160.000

The exchange rate as of July 7, 2021 is 8.67 kroner per U.S. dollar and 10.27 kroner per Euro.

2020 regulations link: https://norwaychess.no/en/regulations-2020/

2021 program link: https://norwaychess.no/en/players-2021/

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Norway Chess 2021: All The Information - Chess.com