Riga, November 7, LETA. Latvian chess player Normunds Miezis won the tenth round match of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) tournament “Grand Swiss” in Riga on Saturday, but Nikita Meškovs and Laura Rogule finished their draws.
In the “Open” tournament, Normunds Miezis (rating – 2467) forced the Serbian grandmaster Luka Budisavljevic (2511) to give up with the whites in the 54th move.
Nikita Meškov (2550), who fought with white figures, played a draw. In the 49th march, he signed a peace treaty with the Indian chess player Baskaran Adhiban (2672) at the top of the towers.
Arturs Neikšāns (2570), who, playing with black figures, acknowledged the superiority of Alexander Gorjachkin (2604), a representative of the Russian Chess Federation (FSR), in the face of the threat of hair in the 38th move.
At the first table, French chess player Maxim Vaster-Lagrav (2763) agreed to a draw with the American Fabian Karuan (2791), and at the seventh table, Alexei Shirov (2673) from Riga, who represents Spain, played a draw with the Chinese Janji Yu (2704).
7.5-year-old Alirez Firuzzda (2770), an 18-year-old French chess player of Iranian origin, took the lead with 7.5 points, forcing the English chess player David Hauel (2648) to surrender in the tenth round at the top of the runners. Karuan and FSR representative Grigory Oparin (2659) have seven points, but Shirov is in sixth place with 6.5 points. 6.5 points for ten more chess players.
All three chess players representing Latvia have accumulated 3.5 points each. The highest is Neikšāns, who ranks 95th. Barley ranks 100th and Meškovs 104th in 108 chess competitions.
In the women’s tournament Laura Rogule (2289) played with white figures.
Madara Golsta (2003) suffered a loss to the blacks, who surrendered to Vietnamese-born Hungarian chess player Than Trang Hoang (2385) on his 37th run due to unavoidable hair.
In the women’s competition, the first place and participation in the 2022 World Championship contenders tournament with 8.5 points was provided by the Chinese Tindzje Lei (2505), followed by compatriot Jener Ji (2455) with seven points, and 6.5 points for five athletes.
Rogule ranks 38th with four points and Golsta ranks 48th with 2.5 points.
FIDE “Grand Swiss” tournaments will take place until November 7 in the cultural space “Hanzas perons”. Two tournaments are held in parallel – the “Open” competition and the women’s tournament, in which a total of 158 chess players from 42 countries participate.
Latvia is represented by five players – Artūrs Neikšāns, Ņikita Meškovs, Normunds Miezis, Laura Rogule and Madara Golsta.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the competition takes place without the presence of spectators. Players who have arrived in Riga are only allowed to visit the tournament venue and hotel.
The games start at 2 pm, with each player giving about three hours per game, so one game can last about six hours. All parties can be watched online on the Chess.com website.
Fabiano Caruana from the USA, Levon Aronjan from Armenia, who is the fifth in the ranking, and other strong chess players take part in the tournament.
The prize pool for the tournament is $ 550,000 (€ 472,000), of which the first place winner will receive $ 70,000 and $ 125,000 (€ 107,747) from the total prize pool will go to the women’s tournament.
Initially, it was planned that the competition would take place in the British Isle of Man city of Douglas, but due to strict Covid-19 regulations, it was moved to the capital of Latvia, where players do not have to spend two weeks in solitary confinement.
This is the first time such a tournament has been held for women.
The first Grand Swiss tournament in 2019 took place on the Isle of Man, winning Chinese Van Hao. A year later, the Covid-19 tournament was canceled due to a pandemic.
Both the “Open” and women’s competitions in Riga are part of the 2021-2023 World Championship cycle. The top two in the “Open” tournament will qualify for the 2022 contestants’ tournament, but six more chess players will secure a place in the “Grand Prix” series. In the women’s tournament, the winner will enter the contestants’ tournament, but the four closest followers will secure a place in the women’s “Grand Prix”.
Two years ago, one FIDE level tournament took place in Riga – the “Grand Prix” stage with a prize fund of 130,000 euros. It was won by Azerbaijani chess player Shakrijar Mamedjarov.
In 2017, the European Women’s Championship took place in the capital of Latvia, with the best Georgian chess player Nana Dzagnidze.
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