NICK BARNETT CHESS

RUSSIA WAS THE ultimate winner of the 2021 FIDE Online Olympiad but Leonard Barden of the Guardian newspaper comments that “the US silver medal team could argue that they were moral victors. Playing without all their top stars, the Americans were defeated by only a narrow 7-5 margin in a final match.” In an interesting segue, he speaks of a ‘historic resonance dating right back to 1945”. It is worth a read.

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GM MAGNUS CARLSEN had a rather slow start in Stavanger (Norway Chess), losing to Sergey Karjakin and lagging well behind GM Richard Rapport but he finally found his mojo and won the tournament.

Just in case one doubted his priorities he tweeted: “Won both 3v3 footy games today. Fantastic feeling. Also won the chess. Was ok.”

Another chess player who indulges in a little machismo talk is Hikaru Nakamura, who commented on his YouTube channel that he’s ready to agree to a chessboxing match against Magnus Carlsen if a $10-million prize fund can be guaranteed!

Can you imagine any chess player before 1980 being this physically fit?

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FOR GM ALIREZA FIROUZJA, Norway Chess 2021 provided exactly the vehicle to propel him into the top 10. Finishing 1.5 points behind Carlsen he had participated with luminaries included Ian Nepomniachtchi, Richard Rapport, Sergey Karjakin and Aryan Tari, he moved into the world’s top 10 for the first time. The 18-year old (now playing for France) is six years younger than anyone else in the top 10, so the chess world is going to be watching his every move – literally.

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The last leg of the Meltwater Champions Tour starts on 25 September. Carlsen is to play. ***

REMEMBER to check facebook.com/ SACHESSPLAYERS for news and tournaments in South Africa.

There is another Facebook page entitled: SA

Chess players which may be interesting if you want to keep up-to-date with SA chess.

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