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Lichess Official Blog

Thrilling final sends Savchenko flying to Aktobe for the $50,000 Kazakhstan Cup

@G-Lorenz, @Lichess Chess

Winning the Lichess qualifiers he will play with full expenses covered in the $50,000 Aktobe Open tournament in Kazakhstan

As mentioned in our previous blog, the Aktobe Open (part of the Kazakhstan Cup) decided to grant an invitation to the winner of a series of events held on Lichess. The first stage was staggered over 24 hours into three blitz arenas, to allow for participation across the world. Participation in each arena had excellent turnout, with over 15,000 total players entering. Among them, several strong titled players joined the event, which led to many high-level games already in the first stage of the qualifiers! 

The Swiss portion of the event featured 41 players among qualified and wild cards, while putting up for grabs seven spots of the KO section. For the eighth spot, Lichess invited Pavel Eljanov as a wildcard, the current world #33 and consistently FIDE-rated 2700+ for several years. Savchenko concluded the Swiss in 10th place, but clinched a qualification spot to the final Knockout bracket after a last minute withdrawal. To aid Lichess’s stringent Fair Play requirements, the knockout tournament – which was the 3rd and final stage of the qualifiers – required not just live monitoring of the games by moderators, but also connecting to a Zoom call with arbiters for all players. In the Swiss stage, this had been required from untitled or lesser known players.

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Your chance to qualify to the Kazakhstan Cup, costs covered – with a $50,000 prize fund!

@lichess Chess

A $2,000 prize fund event - with the winner qualifying to the Vladimir Dvorkovich Memorial, Aktobe Open

Starting 17 June, the riverside city of Aktobe in western Kazakhstan will host a nine-round classical open tournament with a whopping $50,000 prize fund up for grabs.

One lucky player can qualify through a series of tournaments held only on Lichess. They will have their flights, full board, and accommodation in Aktobe covered for them – as well as a share of a $2,000 prize fund for the online qualifier.

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World Chess Championship 2023: Reactions, Statistics, and Impressions

@Cynosure Chess

A look back at the 2023 Chess World Championship

It’s been just under a week since Liren Ding became the (undisputed) 17th Chess World Champion, in a spectacular victory over Ian Nepomniachtchi. In the fourth and final rapid tiebreak, Ding, playing with the black pieces, declined a repetition and instead played the iconic 46… Rg6!?, dubbed by Magnus Carlsen as a “self-pin for immortality”. 

The move took much of the chess community by surprise – seemingly including Nepomniachtchi – who widely assumed Ding would repeat the position. There was some speculation that Nepomniachtchi had not even considered Ding would play the move. 

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Titled Arena Announcement(s)

Lichess Team Announcements

Announcing our schedule for upcoming Titled Arenas!

We're pleased to announce the schedule for our upcoming Titled Arenas!

All events will be preceded by a warm-up arena open to all players with a minimum of 20 rated games in the relevant time control (excluding 960 warm-up, where the minimum rated games are 10).

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World Chess Championship: Game 14 and Tiebreaks

@Harikrishnapentala @Cynosure Chess

Ding Liren is the 17th Chess World Champion: “this match was the deepest reflection of my soul”

Ding Liren prevailed over Ian Nepomniachtchi after a slightly lucky escape in Game 14, and four thrilling tiebreaks. GM Harikrishna Pentala – one of the strongest players in the world (FIDE rating 2704, world ranking 34th) and former top 10 player with a 2770 peak rating – provided Lichess with annotations of Game 14 and impressions of each tiebreak - all text in italics is from him.

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World Chess Championship: Games 12 and 13 - Ding's Third Comeback: Chaos in the Colle!

Cynosure Chess

A recap of Games 12 and 13 of the World Championship between Nepomniachtchi and Ding, and with annotations by GM Harikrishna Pentala

Games 12 and 13 of the 14-game match between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren have just been played in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. The winner will be crowned as the new World Champion in classical chess, following Magnus Carlsen’s abdication of the title. 

The schedule of games can be found here, with Lichess providing a live broadcast transmission of all games. Read below for detailed thoughts and annotations on the games from GM Harikrishna Pentala – one of the strongest players in the world (FIDE Rating: 2704, World Rank: 34) and a former world top 10 player with a peak rating of 2770, along with more general impressions on the tournament so far.

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World Chess Championship: Games 10 and 11 - Business as Usual?

Cynosure Chess

A recap of Games 10 and 11  of the World Championship between Nepomniachtchi and Ding, and with annotations by GM Harikrishna Pentala

Games 10 and 11 of the 14-game match between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren have just been played in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. The winner will be crowned as the new World Champion in classical chess, following Magnus Carlsen’s abdication of the title.

The schedule of games can be found here, with Lichess providing a live broadcast transmission of all games. Read below for detailed thoughts and annotations on the games from GM Harikrishna Pentala – one of the strongest players in the world (FIDE Rating: 2704, World Rank: 34) and a former world top 10 player with a peak rating of 2770, along with more general impressions on the tournament so far.

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World Chess Championship: Games 7, 8 and 9 - Ding’s Prep Discovered?

Cynosure Chess

A recap of Games 7, 8 and 9 of the World Championship between Nepomniachtchi and Ding, and with annotations by GM Harikrishna Pentala

Games 7, 8, and 9 of the 14-game match between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren have just been played in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. The winner will be crowned as the new World Champion in classical chess, following Magnus Carlsen’s abdication of the title. Given the change of tournament schedule at Game 7, this recap is slightly longer than the others.

The schedule of games can be found here, with Lichess providing a live broadcast transmission of all games. Read below for detailed thoughts and annotations on the games from GM Harikrishna Pentala – one of the strongest players in the world (FIDE Rating: 2704, World Rank: 34) and a former world top 10 player with a peak rating of 2770, along with more general impressions on the tournament so far.

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World Chess Championship: Games 5 and 6 - A Slugfest

Cynosure Chess

A recap of Games 5 and 6 of the World Championship between Nepomniachtchi and Ding by the Lichess team and with annotations by GM Harikrishna Pentala

Games 5 and 6 of the 14-game match between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren have just been played in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. The winner will be crowned as the new World Champion in classical chess, following Magnus Carlsen’s abdication of the title. 

The schedule of games can be found here, with Lichess providing a live broadcast transmission of all games. Read below for detailed thoughts and annotations on the games from GM Harikrishna Pentala – one of the strongest players in the world (FIDE Rating: 2704, World Rank: 34) and a former world top 10 player with a peak rating of 2770, along with more general impressions on the tournament so far.

Continue reading this post