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Some tests are just harder and more nerve-inducing than others. After IM Levy Rozman in January, then GM Magnus Carlsenand GM David Howell in April, this month, it was time to submit GM Hikaru Nakamura to the polygraph. And as if he didn't get enough of it with Levy, IM Danny Rensch became the first person to come back for more "Lie Detector Chess."

The results were just as chaotic as before, with no subject too delicate to discuss: career regrets, cheating in chess, drinking before tournament games... whether you'd ever attributed your flatulence to someone else. Before it all, Hikaru would declare, "For me it's very hard to actually lie, so I'm going to try but probably fail miserably." The statement passed the polygraph, but would Hikaru be better at fooling the contraption than he gave himself credit for?

For me it's very hard to actually lie, so I'm going to try but probably fail miserably.

- Hikaru Nakamura

Examiner Orjan Hesjedal, who also monitored the machine with Carlsen and Howell, suspected Hikaru of manipulating his breathing to trick the test. Sure enough, after he was finally unhooked from the "medieval device," as Danny called it, Hikaru admitted he'd gotten away with a few things. But it took a lot of efforthe allowed Danny to get a draw in the ongoing chess game.

As for Danny's turn hooked up to all the wires and whatnot, well, we got some "TMI" related to undergarments, in addition to more serious insights into his thoughts about the popularization of chess, cheating in Titled Tuesday, whether there is an intimidation factor between himself, Hikaru, and Magnus; and more.

To find out exactly what Hikaru and Danny think about these things, or about Levy's chances at becoming a grandmaster, or the likeability of the world's top 10 chess playerswell, maybe not exactly what they thinkyou'll just have to watch. Don't worry, no one will be wiring you up to measure your vitals.

And we're still looking to make more "Lie Detector Chess" videos. Who else would you like to see? Be honest!

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Hikaru Nakamura and Danny Rensch Face the Polygraph - Chess.com

Sigrun en (1963-2024), a chemical engineer and the mother of 16th World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen, passed away in Oslo on Tuesday at the age of just 61. She died peacefully with her family around her after suffering a long illness.

Sigrun was the mother of the former world chess champion and three daughters, Ingrid, Ellen, and Signe, and the wife of Henrik. Ellen shared the news of her mothers death in a Facebook post that linked to a memorial page: My dear, good mother and the childrens grandmother passed away far too soon. The loss is great.

On the page Henrik writes: Farewell my dear irreplaceable Sigrun. Thank you for everything for more than 41 years.

The sad news explains Carlsens withdrawal from the Grand Chess Tour event in Croatia.

Sigrun was a rock of support for Carlsen during his chess career, with the family taking a European trip together to enable a young Magnus to pursue his chess dreams.

Although it was later Henrik who would usually travel with their son, Sigrun would occasionally travel to events, often with the whole family.

The funeral will take place on July 17, with the family suggesting donations to the Norwegian Cancer Society as an alternative to flowers.

We extend our condolences to all Sigruns family and friends. May she rest in peace.

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Sigrun en, Mother Of Magnus Carlsen, Passes Away At 61 - Chess.com

US Chess 2023-2024 Womens Programming Grant Cycle Highlights

With the generous support of the Saint Louis Chess Club, the US Chess Womens Programming Grant directly supports the growth and retention of women and girls in chess. Grant awardees can engage women and girls in chess in the manner that best reflects the strengths of their organizations.

The 2024-2025 Womens Grant Cycle will be announced very soon. We encourage chess programs engaging women and girls to apply and expand the impact of this amazing initiative! In the meantime, congratulations to this years awardees and here are highlights of how they utilized their grant.

Berkeley Chess School

The Berkeley Chess School used their US Chess Womens Grant to host the very first US Chess Senior Womens Chess Championship. The event featured12 of the top U.S. senior women players who made the trip to Berkeley, California, where their games were live streamed and had commentators describing the action. Congratulations to WGM Angelina Belakovskaia who won the championship in a nail-biting finish! The success of this event led to the United States sending the very FIRST womens team to the 2024 World Senior Womens Team Chess Championship in Lubin, Poland. Congratulations to Berkeley Chess School for a successful event.

Chess in the Schools (New York)

Chess in the Schools (CIS) organized two girls-only tournaments in 2023-2024, including the 2024 All-Girls NYC Chess Championship which took place at P.S. 11M, a public school in Manhattans Chelsea neighborhood.405 students participated. The second event was The Bronx All-Girls Chess Challenge. The tournament took place in P.S. 123X with 101 females participating.

CIS also used their grant to run an afterschool chess program from September 2023 through June 2024, with 24 total sessions. Weekly, young female players were offered two hours of personalized coaching. Congratulations to Chess in the Schools for a successful year of chess programming.

Hampton Roads Chess Association (Virginia Beach, VA)

The Hampton Roads Chess Association used their grant to host a series of engaging chess events, including a weekly girls chess club, a womens beginner chess class, a Winter Chess Club Social at their local library, a chess movie night, a chess championship, mom-only tournament, and much more. The number of girls in their program rose from 100 to 150 members and their chess tournament attracted over 220 scholastic players. Congratulations to Hampton Roads Chess Association for a successful year of chess programming.

Indermaur Chess Foundation (Raleigh, NC)

The Indermaur Chess Foundation hosted a Chess Moms tournament. Participants were prepared for the event with chess lessons from two titled women players. The tournament included mothers and grandmothers, many of which played their very first chess tournament. In the very next room, their children were playing a tournament of their own (but they couldnt resist stealing a peak now and then at their moms and grandmothers games!). Many of the adult participants stated that they are looking forward to playing in another tournamentclearly, the chess bug has taken hold with them. Congratulations to the Indermaur Chess Foundation for a successful and inspirational event.

Royal Oak Initiative (Columbus, OH)

The Royal Oak Initiative (ROI) utilized their grant to serve primarily Black and Latina middle-school-aged children from the Columbus City Preparatory Schools for Girls. Their curriculum, led by women coaches of color, joined chess skill acquisition with culturally competent and social emotional learning informed practices.

The program ran from October 17, 2023, through May 14, 2024, totaling 22 sessions engaging 135 students of whom 53 were first-time chess learners. Using chess as the medium, ROI enforced the importance of positive self-talk and mindfulness. On National Chess Day in October, ROI hosted five chess-related events at various venues around the city. These events included:

ROI also hosted a Girls vs Boys Chess tournament which featured two single-sex middle schools from Columbus and a Kinetic Mindfulness Training program which sought to dispel the myth that young people are either nerds or jocks. It also provided middle and high school participants with mindfulness training to support their growth in intentionality in decision making on and off the board. Congratulations to The Royal Oak Initiative for a successful year of creative and engaging chess programming.

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2023-2024 US Chess Women and Girls Programming Grant Highlights! - uschess.org

GMs Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura won the July 9 editions of Titled Tuesday. It's the fourth time the world's two best blitz chess players have each won one of the Tuesday events, but only the first time this year, last occurring on December 19, 2023.

Carlsen won the early event on 10 points after defeating GM Hans Niemann in the final round. Nakamura then blew away the late field with 10.5 points. Additionally, IM Anna M. Sargsyan swept both women's prizes.

In the field of 706 players, Carlsen and GM Andrey Esipenko both started on 7/7, but would draw their game in the eighth round before Carlsen drew and Esipenko lost in round nine. Now five players shared the lead, but only two of them would win in the 10th round.

Carlsen was one of them, of course, beating 13-year-old GM-elect Ivan Zemlyanskii in 37 moves with the unusual 3.Bc4 in the Sicilian.

The only player to keep up with Carlsen was Niemann, who did so with a win against GM Aleksandar Indjic. It took Niemann a bit longer, 54 moves, but again the result was a White win on time with checkmate imminent.

And so the showdown between these two adversaries was set. Niemann had the advantage of moving first and built up a solid center, but Carlsen found four "only moves" in a stretch of five turns from 19-23, and coasted to victory from there. Niemann played to the bitter end and was checkmated on move 41.

Niemann still finished in third place but was leapfrogged by GM Denis Lazavik who, like Carlsen, won his last two games. A single blunder on move 49 from 12-year-old FM Ethan Vaz dropped a pawn, deciding the game as Lazavik finished an outright second place on 9.5 points.

July 9 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

(Full final standings here.)

Carlsen won $1,000 for his efforts while Lazavik earned $750. Niemann claimed $350 in third place, GM Jose Martinez $200 in fourth, and 12-year-old CM Dau Khuong Duy $100 in fifth, while four other players on nine points missed out on the top five by tiebreaks. Sargsyan won the $100 women's prize by scoring eight points.

For Nakamura, his victory over a field of 520 players was his second straight late event win. After needing tiebreaks last week, this performance was far more dominant, with a sixth-round draw against GM Christopher Yoo the only thing keeping Nakamura from his third perfect score in Titled Tuesday. Instead, he "only" earned his sixth 10.5-point Tuesday.

Because his draw came somewhat early, Nakamura didn't take sole lead of the tournament until his eighth-round win over IM Luke Harmon-Vellotti. Despite having the second move, Nakamura won the game rather easily after Harmon-Vellotti decided not to play the usual 2.exd5 against Nakamura's Scandinavian Defense.

After that, it was smooth sailing for Nakamura. He defeated GM Arjun Erigaisi in round nine and GM David Anton in round 10, ballooning his lead to a full point as the final round began. GM Fabiano Caruana was his opponent, and had a chance to take a share of the lead.

The game was a 61-move battle in which Caruana's ambitious 15th move didn't quite pay off. Still, Nakamura had to win the game three times in a tricky endgame. Caruana's 53.Nf2 was the final blow to his chances.

With the final result, Caruana fell to sixth place, while Nakamura put together his 15th Titled Tuesday win of the year and 60th of the two-a-day era.

July 9 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

(Full final standings here.)

Nakamura won the $1,000 first-place prize while Harmon-Vellotti claimed second place and $750. Arjun finished third for $350 and GM Maksim Chigaev fourth for $200. In a relative rarity, 8.5 points was good enough for fifth place, which went to GM Javokhir Sindarov for $100. With 7.5 points, Sargsyan won another $100 women's prize, for $200 on the day.

Nakamura is three more 10.5-point performances from an unthinkable 200 points in the Titled Cup standings, and given he has five already, he is actually on pace to pull it off. Meanwhile we are down to five points of separation between first and fifth in the women's standings, with only one point different between first-place GM Alexandra Kosteniuk and second-place GM Aleksandra Goryachkina. Despite her sweep this week, Sargsyan has only played 18 events so far and currently ranks 15th.

Juniors: GM Denis Lazavik (180.0 points)

Seniors: GM Gata Kamsky (167.5 points)

Girls: WCM Veronika Shubenkova (113.5 points)

The Titled Cup fantasy game Chess Prophet continues as well. Current standings can be found here. (Login required.)

Titled Tuesday is Chess.com's weekly tournament for titled players, with two tournaments held each Tuesday. The first tournament begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time, and the second at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time/23:00 Central European/2:30 Indian Standard Time (next day).

See the article here:
Titled Tuesday July 9, 2024 - Chess.com

GM Daniel Naroditsky has moved one step closer to seizing the top spot on the all-time Bullet Brawlleaderboard after winning the latest edition ahead of GMs Arjun Erigaisi, Hikaru Nakamura, and 132 other titled players.

Now sitting on 21 victories, Naroditsky has won over $10,000 in prize money from Bullet Brawl tournaments since its inception and is just four wins shy of Nakamura's record of 25.

The $100 top women's prize was won by the prolific IM Meri Arabidze, who outpaced regulars FM Anastasia Avramidou and WGM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya, while the community brawl was won by AiriChesslol.

The next Bullet Brawl will commence on Saturday, July 20, 2024, at noon ET/18:00 CEST.

Standings

Naroditky's mastery of the arena format has never been in doubt but in 2024, the U.S.-based content creator has stepped it up a notch and learned how to frequently usurp the previously indomitable Nakamura.

The aura stemming from Naroditsky's recent performances has transcended the Twittersphere and one chess fan (Steve Leibrock) has called for Bullet Brawl to be renamed "DanyaBrawl," though it has to be said that the best pun involving the eventual winner is still the self-titled "Danya Naroblitzky."

Naroditsky kicked off the event with a punchy, 19-move win over the world number-four Arjun on the white side of the Caro-Kann Defense, Fantasy Variation. Opting for a move-six pawn gambit, Naroditsky confused Arjun and capitalized on several consecutive mistakes.

GMs Emin Ohanyan, Tuan Minh Le, Andrew Tang, and IM-elect Faustino Oro were all opponents that Naroditsky had to face in his first 10 games, and he scored 8/10 against them, allowing him to stay just in front of Nakamura, who scored 7/10 against similar opposition.

The quality that seems to separate Naroditsky from his GM colleagues is his ability to procure more miniatures, and this is what allowed him to surge further ahead of his chasers.

In the first half of the event, he was able to produce six miniatures; two lasted just 13 moves (one was also finished in 11 but this was the result of a catastrophic blunder). The first of these, against French FM Tristan Breuil, features an aesthetically pleasing knight sacrifice.

In the second game, against Spanish CM Javier Ruiz Vasquez, Naroditsky showed that aggressive moves that would be considered suboptimal in classical chess can turn into wrecking balls in quicker time controls.

Before Bullet Brawl began, Naroditsky showed off just how quick he is in a match against NM James Chirilov while streaming on Twitch.

Arjun's second-placed finish was also impressive as he played nine fewer games than the winner. Earlier in the day, Arjun was announced as the board one for team India at the 45th Chess Olympiad alongside GMs Gukesh Dommaraju, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi, and Pentala Harikrishna.

With three of the world's top 10 on this team, expect it to contest the podium come September.

Because the Olympiad will see many of the world's top players unavailable for two of September's Bullet Brawls, we may see the emergence of new winners.

How to review games? The games from this week's Bullet Brawl can be found here.

Bullet Brawl is an exciting titled arena that features Chess.com's top bullet specialists and takes place weekly on Saturdays. The format is a two-hour arena with a 1+0 time control; the prize fund is $1,000.

Much like Titled Tuesday and Arena Kings, Bullet Brawl often features top GMs, including Hikaru Nakamura, Daniel Naroditsky, Andrew Tang, Tuan Minh Le, and many more!

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Bullet Brawl July 13, 2024: Naroditsky Wins 21st Brawl, Closes In On Nakamura's All-Time Record - Chess.com