The 2022 World Junior Chess Championships was a resounding success for Azerbaijan with IM Abdulla Gadimbayli winning the open section and WGM Govhar Beydullayeva grabbing gold in the girls' section. The event, which was for players 20 years old and younger, finished on Saturday in Sardinia, Italy. How.
At the beginning of October the FIDE published its new ranking list. With a rating of 2856 Magnus Carlsen continues to lead the list though he lost 5 points in the Sinquefield Cup. Currently, Carlsen is 44 ratings points away from 2900 but also 45 rating points ahead of Ding Liren, who has a rating of 2811 and is the world's number two. Hou Yifan continues to lead the women's ranking list, five juniors have a rating of 2700 or more, and Zhu Jiner from China is number one on the list of female juniors.
Kateryna Lagno took clear first place at the <a href="https://en.chessbase.com/post/women-gp-astana-2022-r11"> Women’s Grand Prix</a> in Astana, Kazakhstan. A 12-player single round robin, the event featured a number of remarkable confrontations. GM Karsten Müller analysed three of the most interesting endgames and shared his insights with us. Instructive and entertaining! | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman
Kateryna Lagno won the first stage of the Women’s Grand Prix series with an undefeated 8/11 score. Lagno finished a half point ahead of Aleksandra Goryachkina (pictured, left), who scraped a half point in the final round after Vaishali Rameshbabu failed to convert a winning rook endgame. Chinese youngster Zhu Jiner grabbed third place. Zhansaya Abdumalik and Dinara Wagner scored full points on the last day of action. | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman
Going into the final round of the Women’s Grand Prix in Astana, Kateryna Lagno leads Aleksandra Goryachkina by a half point after both contenders for first place drew their games with white on Wednesday. Zhu Jiner (pictured) beat Alina Kashlinskaya to grab sole third place. Unfortunately for the chess world, another scandal made headlines on mainstream media: commentator Ilya Smirin was fired by FIDE after making sexist remarks during round 9’s broadcast. | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman