FIDE World Rapid & Blitz 2022 Almaty Kazakhstan 25-30 December

[Chris Rice]

The preliminary lists of participants of the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championship and the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championship have been published. The events will be held from December 25-31 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

149 players will compete in the open tournaments, and there will be 93 participants in the women’s event. Ameet Ghasi and Lan Yao are competing for England and Elijah Everett for Wales. You can actually buy tickets to get in to the event if you're in Kazakhstan over Christmas. They will cost you 3000 Tenge a day (£5) and there are some dire warnings from the organisers if you are thinking of attending:

"Entry with telephones and other electrical devices to the podium of the premises is strictly prohibited. Please do not bring it with you!
there will be access control in the flesh to failure Tickets can only be bought in Tikiton!! You will not be able to buy tickets at the entrance!
You cannot pay in cash for tickets!"

The rating favourites of the open event are the current World Champion Magnus Carlsen (representing Norway, rated 2859 in the December list), Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 2768), Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2766), Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE, 2793), Anish Giri (Netherlands, 2764), Alexander Grischuk (FIDE, 2745), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland, 2729), Yu Yangyi (China, 2728), the defending champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France, 2737 – Blitz) alongside many other well-known chess players from all over the world.

The FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championship will feature Aleksandra Goryachkina (FIDE, 2584), Kateryna Lagno (FIDE, 2563), Humpy Koneru (India, 2572), Tan Zhongyi (China, 2518), Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia, 2517), Harika Dronavalli (India, 2507), Zhansaya Abdumalik (Kazakhstan, 2496), Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (Iran, 2490), Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria, 2442), the reigning champions Alexandra Kosteniuk (FIDE, 2520 – Rapid) and Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kazakhstan, 2440) as well as many other chess stars.

Press Conference

Website

[Matt Mackenzie]

Presumably there are no players registered as RUS in this one?

[Roger de Coverly]

Presumably there are no players registered as RUS in this one?

There's a long list of players registered under FIDE headed by Nepo and Grishuck

https://chess-results.com/tnr706381.asp ... ID&flag=30

[Matt Mackenzie]

So the answer to my actual query is "yes" then!

[David Sedgwick]

Some of these players are still registered as RUS, but they have to play under the FIDE flag.

Karjakin refused to play as he was not permitted to do so under the Russian flag.

See Roger Lancaster's post at viewtopic.php?f=31&t=13149.

[Graham Borrowdale]

Is Hans Niemann being excluded or choosing not to play in these events now the new 'normal'?

[Ian Thompson]

Is Hans Niemann being excluded or choosing not to play in these events now the new 'normal'?

Neither by the look of it - https://chess-results.com/tnr706381.asp ... =30&snr=52.

I've seen some comments somewhere wondering what will happen if he gets paired against Carlsen.

[LawrenceCooper]

The commentary options that I'm aware of:

FIDE: Keti Tsatalashvili & Alexander Shabalov.

Chess.com: David Howell & Lawrence Trent

Chess24: Peter Leko & Jan Gustafsson

Hikaru Twitch channel: Fiona Steil-Antoni, Jon Ludvig Hammer & Jeffrey Xiong.

[Mick Norris]

Wales v England on board 81 in round 1

[Leonard Barden]

Kick off in Kazakhstan imminent......England's Ameet Ghasi and Yan Lao are both seeded in the top half, so could meet a big name in round two.

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tourn ... 2022/1/1/1

[Nick Burrows]

Keti Tsatsalashvili: "Magnus plays 1.b3! - Isn't that Bird's opening?"
Alex Shabalov: "No, I believe that is 1.b4"

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Keti Tsatsalashvili: "Magnus plays 1.b3! - Isn't that Bird's opening?"
Alex Shabalov: "No, I believe that is 1.b4" "

That does sound awful, but different countries have different nomenclature.

e.g. 1.b4 = Polish, Sokolsky
1.e4 e5,2.Nf3 Nf6 = Petroff, Russian
1.e4 e5, 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 = Ruy Lopez, Spanish

The Pirc is also called, Antal, Kotov, Robatsch, Modern...

But even if Keti hasn't heard of Larsen, she should have heard of Nimzowitsch!

[IM Jack Rudd]

It's one of those things where if 1.f4, 1.b4 or 1.b3 were frequently played at the top level, the commentators would instantly know what to call it, but because none of them are, it's easy to forget their names. British club players play those moves rather more often, so the inhabitants of this forum are more familiar with their names.

[LawrenceCooper]

Boris Gelfand playing two Iranians in succession has wiped out his minus score.

[Roger de Coverly]

Boris Gelfand playing two Iranians in succession has wiped out his minus score.

I thought FIDE intended to take a hard line on Iranian political defaults. Does it go no further than banning arbiters from fiddling the pairings?