Streamer Team Battle!
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We are pleased to announce another edition to begin on Sunday 7th June at 19:00 UTC.
Lichess Official Blog
Who is GM Konevlad?
Mystery GM takes home the gold in May's Titled Arena
Speculation was rife in this month's Titled Arena as to the identity of GM @Konevlad, only fuelled by their stellar performance. All we can confirm is that they are still not the basketball player, with suggestions in various chats of their identity being Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Morozevich, Vladislav Artemiev and even Magnus Carlsen (which would be impressive given Konevlad and Carlsen have played the same events in the past).
Regardless of who the mystery champ is, they put on a great show and managed to get a commanding lead, with a fierce battle primarily against Alireza Firouzja. The two met 8 times in the arena, with Konevlad leading 5 to 3, extinguishing Alireza's fire several times to secure their lead - including spectacular moves such as the game ending Ne6! here:
FIDE announces "Checkmate Coronavirus" Prize Arenas
Running until 16 June, FIDE initiative raffles 1500 prizes based on participation in official FIDE arenas
“FIDE is pleased to launch the Checkmate Coronavirus project which I hope will attract more people to our game.” FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich commented as the first events began on partner sites, including on Lichess.
Any user playing in these events has a chance to win in a FIDE prize draw, meaning any player, regardless of their performance in the events, has a chance of winning prizes which range from online coaching to 64 one-week invitations to the 2021 Moscow Chess Olympiad. By removing the competitive element to win prizes, the initiative aims to encourage more people in society - whether new to chess, or old veterans - to play more regularly.
Grischuk topples Kramnik to win Play for Russia Charity Tournament
A rollercoaster event with the ultimate winner being charity - 24,670,000 roubles raised to aid the battle with coronavirus
The Play for Russia Charity Tournament, played on lichess.org, ended today with a determined Grischuk overcoming first Kramnik and then Tomashevsky to win the event.
Initially facing Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Grischuk seemed to have his work cut out for him when he lost the first semi-final game with the white pieces. In a must-win situation, Grischuk secured victory against Kramnik in the rematch - ensuring the two played an armageddon decider.
Kramnik on Fire in Day 2
Kramnik, Svidler, Tomashevsky and Grischuk through to semifinals, to be played tomorrow on lichess.org
A hugely eventful day for the Play for Russia charity blitz event where Kramnik overtook Grischuk to win the double round-robin overall with a dominating 10.5 / 14, winning five of his seven encounters in today's leg.
Tomorrow, the four best performers from the double round-robin will play a semi-finals and finals, to find a clear Play for Russia Champion - sticking with the 5 + 2 format they’ve played in so far.
Grischuk leads; Kramnik chases - Day 1 Recap
Grischuk takes the lead on day one, but Kramnik is hot on his heels
The first day of the Play for Russia charity event left chess fans spoilt for choice, with firework matches like Grischuk v Riazantsev, to classic match ups like Kramnik v Svidler.
English commentary for the entire day's play was provided from Lichess' official channels on YouTube and Twitch, by WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni, and GM Evgenij Miroschnichenko. They will be commentating each day from the Lichess channels - starting from 12 UTC.
Play for Russia tournament: 12 - 14 May
Some of the strongest Russian chess players and legends to battle it out on lichess.org over three days of blitz.
Kramnik, Nepomniachtchi, Grischuk, Karjakin, Svidler, Tomashevsky, Inarkiev and Riazantsev will all be playing a charity blitz tournament on lichess.org from 12 - 14 May.
The pairings for the first two days (a double round-robin) has now been released - with a semi-final and final knockout due to be played on the final day.
Berserkers Blast Rivals
Vladimir Fedoseev (@Feokl1995) found victory in the biggest and one of the most ferociously fought Lichess Titled Arenas to date.
1,160 titled players battled it out over three hours of blitz action - at a 3+0 time control.
Many of the world’s top players played the event, with GM Anish Giri streaming the event for the full three hours for Lichess, giving key insights such as “you’ve got to play fast...and silent...like a vacuum cleaner”. GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, also chose to end a relaxing Saturday with three hours of blitz.
A New Streamer Team Battle Champion
Andrew Tang's fan club overthrows the reigning champions Crestbook!
In this fourth edition of the Streamer Team Battle, we saw a few new challengers and a few familiar teams battle it out in the 7,000+ player event. It was hard fought and to start with it seemed that Crestbook would run away with their third victory in a row. But it was not to be! Both Fiona's Fight Club and Andrew Tang's fan club traded podium places throughout the second half of the event, with the latter taking first place in the end by just 17 points!
Thanks to all the streamers leading their teams onto the battlefield, and to all the players! Please join us in congratulating the teams participating in this event.
Super-GM Charity Tournament to be held on lichess.org: 12 - 14 May
The “Play for Russia” Charity Tournament sees some of Russia’s strongest players raise money for hospitals and health workers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eight of Russia's strongest players will compete against each-other in a blitz double round-robin, hosted by lichess.org. The charity event aims to raise funds which will be equally shared and distributed among Russian hospitals and healthcare workers. As of 26 April, 2.5 million roubles (about $33,000 USD) has been raised by the initiative. The stellar line-up battling it out over three days of blitz consists of: Vladimir Kramnik Ian Nepomniactchi Alexander Grischuk Sergey Karjakin Peter Svidler Evgeny Tomashevsky Ernesto Inarkiev Alexander Riazantsev All games will be played at 5 + 2 - each player will start with 5 minutes on their clock, and after each of their moves receive an additional 2 second increment. The highest scoring four players will go into a knockout semi-final and final. The tournament schedule will be: May 12 - first round (7 rounds) May 13 - second round (7 rounds) May 14 - semi-finals and final The games will be played and broadcast live on lichess.org with further details to be announced, and on Match TV, a Russian public sports broadcaster. More details can be found on the Russian Chess Federation’s website (English).