Fide’s clock was ticking, and their position looked difficult. But at last they have made their move, announcing that the next world championship match will take place in Astana, Kazakhstan with a €2 million prize fund, beginning on 7 April.
Two factors explain the delay. One was Magnus Carlsen’s abdication, announced in July last year. Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi, who qualified to contest the match, are first-rate players, but obviously less marketable than the Norwegian. The second snag was that Nepomniachtchi is Russian. Notwithstanding his explicit opposition to the war in Ukraine, his nationality narrows the field of potential sponsors, especially since Fide renounced sponsorship agreements with sanctioned or state-controlled Russian companies soon after the war began. (Historically, such companies played a significant role in funding Fide, and it is no coincidence that Fide’s president, Arkady Dvorkovich, is a former deputy prime minister of Russia).
Given this geopolitical baggage, Kazakhstan is a plausible host nation, though Fide’s director-general Emil Sutovsky noted that Argentina also put forward a strong bid. Still, Chinese and Russian fans who wish to watch the games in real time can be satisfied that Astana’s timezone is neatly sandwiched between Moscow and Beijing. As it happens, both Putin and Xi have visited the city in recent months. The prize fund (to be split 60-40) looks as healthy as could be expected, equalling that of the Carlsen-Nepomniachtchi match in Dubai 2021. The ‘General Partner’ of the event will be Freedom Holding Corp, a financial services company headquartered in Kazakhstan and listed on the Nasdaq. Timur Turlov, the company’s billionaire CEO, is a Kazakh citizen who was born in Russia and was elected president of the Kazakh chess federation earlier this month.
In recent years, Kazakhstan has hosted plenty of top international events – most recently, the world rapid and blitz championships, held in Almaty (the ‘southern capital’) in the days after Christmas. (Freedom Broker, a subsidiary of Freedom Holding Corp, was the sponsor of that event.) Currently, it boasts an exceptional group of female players, including the reigning women’s world blitz champion, 18-year-old Bibisara Assaubayeva, who took first place in Almaty. (The final game which secured her the gold medal is shown below.) It was her second consecutive gold medal in that event. Another Kazakh woman, Dinara Saduakassova, took the silver medal in the women’s world rapid championship, while the country’s top-ranked woman is Zhansaya Abdumalik, a grandmaster who was awarded a bronze medal on top board at last year’s Chennai Olympiad.
Dronavalli Harika-Bibisara Assaubayeva
Women’s World Blitz Championship, Almaty 2022
Harika’s pawns on a2 and soon, f2, are under attack, so her next move correctly pursues a perpetual check. 33 Qh1 Nd3 34 Qh7+ Passive defence with 34 Qf1 loses to 34…Ne1+. Kd6 Now the f2 pawn is sure to fall, but White can still hope to salvage a draw. 35 Qxa7 This loses, but 35 Bg4! Qxf2+ 36 Kh3 would have drawn. The threat of Qd7 mate obliges 36…Qf1+ 37 Kh2 Qf2+ and so on, with a draw. In fact, even 35 Qf7 suffices, since 35…Qxf2+ 36 Kh3 Qxf3 37 Qf8+ draws: a future Kb7-a6 will be met by Qd7-a4+. Qxf2+ 36 Kh3 Qxf3 37 Qxb6+ Ke7 38 Qc7+ Ke6 39 Qc6+ Kf7 40 Qd7+ Kg8 Black’s king can shelter on h6/g5. Or 41 Qxd3 Qh1+ 42 Kg4 Qh5 is mate. 41 Kh2 Ne1 42 Qd2 Qh5+ White resigns as 43 Kg1 Nf3+ wins the queen.
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