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Polgar Challenge winner
Anish Giri, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are playing in the Candidates Tournament and therefore couldn’t accept their automatic qualifying spots for those in the top 8 of the tour standings, but Wesley So, Magnus Carlsen, Teimour Radjabov, Levon Aronian and Hikaru Nakamura all play.
17-year-old superstar Alireza Firouzja was voted back in by chess24 premium members, who also voted for Daniil Dubov, but the Russian was unable to play as he’s commentating on the Candidates from Yekaterinburg.
15-year-old Praggnanandhaa now has the chance to face off against the very best in the world after dominating the first event on the Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour. He’s going to have some help preparing from the very best.
Reports Apr 11, 2021 | 9:55 PMby Colin McGourty
Praggnanandhaa powers into Champions Chess Tour
15-year-old Indian prodigy Praggnanandhaa has won the Polgar Challenge with a round to spare to earn $3,000 and a place in the 5th leg of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, where he’s likely to face World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen in less than two weeks’ time. In the end Pragg’s 3.5/4 on the final day was enough for him to finish a full 1.5 points ahead of the chasing pack of Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Gukesh, Nihal Sarin and Volodar Murzin. Team Polgar clinched team victory with 96.5 points to Team Kramnik’s 88.
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Chess might be a great way to while away those hours at home amid the pandemic, but few could have predicted how wildly popular it would become after
The Queen’s Gambit– a Netflix miniseries about a female prodigy taking on the Russian masters as she simultaneously battles her personal demons – aired on screens across the world.
Mohamed Tissir, an International Master, and founder of the Bahrain Chess Academy, has seen a huge spike in interest in the game on the Gulf island since the series 2020 release, especially among women inspired by the main character Beth Harmon.
“We’ve always had a lot of players, but recently there have been a lot more, Tissir tells
It s fair to say that chess is having a bit of a moment in the limelight.
Carlsen has become a celebrity even outside the game, and the Netflix series The Queen s Gambit about a young, glamorous woman who rises to the top of the ranks in chess was the perfect underdog story to get people through a lengthy period of lockdown.
For chess players in Sligo, the move to online games has meant that people from anywhere, whether they have connections to Sligo or not, can join in with weekly tournaments.
It has opened up new opportunities for new members and new tournaments, without the pressure of having to find a venue to suit all players.