2019 Rapid & Blitz (Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire)
The Grand Chess Tour has begun!
Ten of the world’s top players have assembled in Abidjan, the economic capital of Cote d’Ivoire, to launch the first event of the season. World Champion Magnus Carlsen will headline the 2019 Rapid and Blitz field after having had a blistering first half of 2019. This event is also important because never before has a sitting World Champion competed on African soil. A 13-year old Carlsen played in the 2004 FIDE Knockout in Libya and returns to Africa as the face of chess.
Magnus Carlsen with Ivorian chess fans.
Photo by Alessandro Parodi/Chess.com.
The Federation Ivoirienne Des Echecs (FIDEC) will be hosting the event with its President Dr. Essoh Essis as the host. This event is of great importance as it gives the chess world exposure to Africa and provides Africa exposure to elite chess. Such is part of the initiative of making chess appeal to a wider audience. The Grand Chess Tour will also host events in Croatia and India.
The Rapid and Blitz will take place over five days with the first three covering three rapid games (25 minutes with 10-second delay) and the last two covering a nine blitz games (5 minutes with 3-second delay).
2019 Rapid and Blitz participants
Photo by Alessandro Parodi/Chess.com.
May 8th-12th, 2019 (Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire) |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
#
|
Name
|
Title
|
Federation
|
Flag
|
Rapid/Blitz
|
| 1 | Carlsen, Magnus | GM | Norway |
 |
2869, 2954 |
| 2 | Nakamura, Hikaru | GM | USA |
 |
2824, 2934 |
| 3 | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | GM | France |
 |
2800, 2933 |
| 4 | Ding Liren | GM | China |
 |
2760, 2773 |
| 5 | So, Wesley | GM | USA |
|
2801, 2744 |
| 6 | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | GM | Russia |
 |
2785, 2778 |
| 7 | Karjakin, Sergey | GM | Russia |
|
2781, 2816 |
| 8 | Wei Yi | GM | China |
|
2698, 2641 |
| 9 | Topalov, Veselin | GM | Bulgaria |
 |
2781, 2682 |
| 10 | Amin, Bassem | GM | Egypt |
 |
2617, 2662 |
Commentary Broadcast Links
The GCT will stream official commentary broadcasts in both English and French to YouTube and Dailymotion. The following links apply:
YouTube English Commentary (GM Yannick Pelletier, IM Tania Sachdev, GM Alejandro Ramirez & GM Maurice Ashley):
May 8 – Rapid Rounds 1-3: https://youtu.be/1MIr_bAzVDM
May 9 – Rapid Rounds 4-6: https://youtu.be/1l7frbLWSZg
May 10 – Rapid Rounds 7-9: https://youtu.be/XBDCXih6n1k
May 11 – Blitz Rounds 1-9: https://youtu.be/omQQc8Kzl4M
May 12 – Blitz Rounds 10-18 & Playoffs: https://youtu.be/IQm4q90LhxU
YouTube French Commentary (GM Edouard Romain & GM Laurent Fressinet):
May 8 – Rapid Rounds 1-3 https://youtu.be/4yAWe67yYik
May 9 – Rapid Rounds 4-6 https://youtu.be/s09-QGxfi2c
May 10 – Rapid Rounds 7-9 https://youtu.be/LPzfTPqAHis
May 11 – Blitz Rounds 1-9 https://youtu.be/L42hMGTmLIo
May 12 – Blitz Rounds 10-18 & Playoffs: https://youtu.be/BbHnzS3vYbU
Dailymotion (All days and rounds):
English Commentary: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x76z1jy
French Commentary: https://dai.ly/x77byvh
Video by CCSCSL
RAPIDS
Wednesday, 8 May 2019
Round 1
Nakamura Hikaru 1-0 Vachier-Lagrave Maxime
Karjakin Sergey ½-½ Nepomniachtchi Ian
Carlsen Magnus 1-0 So Wesley
Topalov Veselin ½-½ Wei Yi
Amin Bassem 0-1 Ding Liren
Magnus Carlsen started the day with a win over Wesley So, one he achieved by using his bishop to overpower the American’s knight, forcing So to resign on move 40. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave made a positional pawn sacrifice against Hikaru Nakamura, but ended up down a pawn in a rook endgame, which the American converted easily.
Bassem Amin, the wildcard of the tournament, made his debut in the Grand Chess Tour against Ding Liren and achieved a good position out of the opening with his preparation. Unfortunately for the Egyptian GM, the complications in the middlegame favored the Chinese player, who eventually prevailed and joined the leader.
Sergey Karjakin and Ian Nepomniachtchi played a wild line in the Sicilian, featuring numerous piece sacrifices, but in the end the sharp play only yielded a draw by perpetual. The quiet affair between Veselin Topalov and Wei Yi ended in a draw in 33 moves.
~Grand Chess Tour (WGM Tatev Abrahamyan)
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime ½-½ Ding Liren
Wei Yi 1-0 Amin Bassem
So Wesley ½-½ Topalov Veselin
Nepomniachtchi Ian 0-1 Carlsen Magnus
Nakamura Hikaru ½-½ Karjakin Sergey
Magnus Carlsen won a brilliant game against Ian Nepomniachtchi, thus taking the sole lead in the tournament. The World Champion sacrificed a pawn in order to further advance his connected passed pawns, one of which later became a queen. It is quite an unusual sight to see three queens on the board at such a high level!
Bassem Amin suffered his second loss in a row, this time against Wei Yi, due to his king not being able to find a safe home without suffering material loss. Hikaru Nakamura tried until move 103 to win with his extra pawn in a knight ending, but Sergey Karjakin defended relentlessly. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Wesley So drew Ding Liren and Veselin Topalov respectively in very balanced games.
~Grand Chess Tour (WGM Tatev Abrahamyan)
Karjakin Sergey ½-½ Vachier-Lagrave Maxime
Carlsen Magnus ½-½ Nakamura Hikaru
Topalov Veselin ½-½ Nepomniachtchi Ian
Amin Bassem 0-1 So Wesley
Ding Liren 0-1 Wei Yi
The big match-up of the day was between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura. There was one moment in the game when Nakamura had to calculate a complicated piece sacrifice which would have given him a big advantage. The US Champion opted for a safer choice, which would have lead to trouble for him had Magnus found the precise continuation. The back and forth battle eventually ended in a draw.
In the longest game of the round, Wei Yi was able to defeat Ding Liren in a minor piece endgame, thus joining Carlsen in the lead. Bassem Amin failed to retrieve the pawn he sacrificed against Wesley So, thus ending the day with three losses. Ian Nepomniachtchi had a great opportunity to bounce back from his round 2 loss, but blundered into a perpetual against Veselin Topalov.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave’s pet opening, the Najdorf, once again proved to be a great choice, as he drew Sergey Karjakin without any difficulties.
~Grand Chess Tour (WGM Tatev Abrahamyan)
Video by CCSCSL
Grand Chess Tour meets Didier Drogba!
When one thinks of the Ivory Coast, several things come to mind including their world-famous cocoa, but one unmistakable characterization is that the land of 23 million is a football-crazy nation.
During the lead up of the Grand Chess Tour, there were a lot of promotional content including photos of Grandmaster Maurice Ashley interacting with the local school children. The photos were touching.
GM Maurice Ashley playing local school children under the watchful eye of FIDEC President Dr. Essoh Essis. Photo by Lennart Ootes.
Those who know Ashley will know that he knows how to have a good time and in an impromptu moments decided to “damn the dirt” and play football with some of the boys.
So this article is supposed to be about Ivorian and former Chelsea star Didier Drogba, right? Well… after seeing these promotional photos and clips, a player from Vietnam posted the innocent question on chess.com…
Good question! Perhaps it was a joke or a serious inquiry, but nevertheless, football fans would want to know.
Didier Drogba
The retired Chelsea striker ended a stellar career when he announced his retirement last November, but what was he doing these days? Apart from living the comfortable life of a world-class athlete, how often does he get to relax in his home country?
When I told Babatunde Ogunsiku (Africa Chess Media) about the Drogba question on chess.com, we shared a laugh and headed to the ECOWAS team tournament being held at the Pullman. This is tournament of the 16-country group formally called the Economic Community of West African States. Four nations were competing… Nigeria, Ghana, Togo and the host Ivory Coast.
Babatunde Ogunsiku
After taking photos of the tournament, Babatunde approached me and excitedly said, “Drogba is HERE!!” Of course, this comment can’t be taken seriously as Drogba wouldn’t be at the Pullman, would he? Babatunde pointed to a table, I turned the corner and it certainly looked like him. Could it be? It was!
We shared the news with Essis who had been upstairs handling tournament affairs. “Is he here NOW?” said Essis with a surprised tone. When we confirmed it, he immediately when down to see the national hero. Sure enough… we had found Drogba!
Essoh Essis chatting with Didier Drogba
Photo by Daaim Shabazz
Regardless of what becomes of this meeting, Drogba will now be associated with chess… to the extent of entering “chess” and “Drogba” in a search engine. At this time, what took place in the conversation is being keep under hushed tones, but of course, it would be great if he could make an appearance. Essis was in a serious discussion with who appeared to be a publicity agent.
We could only imagine the expression of Magnus Carlsen if Drogba was to make the first move! Also imagine how many Ivorian children would sign up to play chess if they even imagined Drogba had anything to do with chess!
Friday, 10 May 2019
Round 7
Topalov Veselin 0 – 1 Vachier-Lagrave Maxime
Amin Bassem 0 – 1 Carlsen Magnus
Ding Liren 1 – 0 Karjakin Sergey
Wei Yi ½ – ½ Nakamura Hikaru
So Wesley 1 – 0 Nepomniachtchi Ian
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 1 – 0 Nepomniachtchi Ian
Nakamura Hikaru ½ – ½ So Wesley
Karjakin Sergey ½ – ½ Wei Yi
Carlsen Magnus ½ – ½ Ding Liren
Topalov Veselin 0 – 1 Amin Bassem
Amin Bassem 0 – 1 Vachier-Lagrave Maxime
Ding Liren ½ – ½ Topalov Veselin
Wei Yi 0 – 1 Carlsen Magnus
So Wesley 1 – 0 Karjakin Sergey
Nepomniachtchi Ian 0 – 1 Nakamura Hikaru
Video by CCSCSL
Video by CCSCSL
Philip Ameku (Ghana), Angela Ayiku (Ghana), Christiana Naa Merley Ashley (Ghana), Daaim Shabazz (USA) and Ogunsiku Babatunde (Nigeria)
The enchanting Peace Samson
Peace Samson and Toritsemuwa Ofowino
Daaim Shabazz interviewing Philip Ameku
Nigeria’s Babatunde Ogunsiku (African Chess Media)
Ghanaian Chess Association President Philip Ameku brought a contingent of players from Ghana after successfully hosting the 4.4 zonal event in Accra, Ghana. That event was won by Nigerian FIDE Master Daniel Anwuli. Ameku wanted to expose his players to the professional players competing in the Grand Chess Tour event being held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. This event would feature the World Champion Magnus Carlsen and a cadre of nine other top players. Ameku was milling about when he was approached by The Chess Drum and consented to a short interview session. The venue was the five-star Pullman Hotel and the backdrop was downtown Abidjan with dusk looming.
Video by Daaim Shabazz/The Chess Drum
Saturday, 11 May 2019
Wei Yi 0 – Nakamura Hikaru
Carlsen Magnus 1 – 0 Amin Bassem
So Wesley 1 – 0 Vachier-Lagrave Maxime
Nepomniachtchi Ian 1 – 0 Ding Liren
Karjakin Sergey 1 – 0 Topalov Veselin
Karjakin Sergey 1 – 0 Wei Yi
Topalov Veselin 0 – Nepomniachtchi Ian
Ding Liren 0 – So Wesley
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 1 – 0 Carlsen Magnus
Amin Bassem ½ – ½ Nakamura Hikaru
Wei Yi 1 – 0 Amin Bassem
Nakamura Hikaru 1 – 0 Vachier-Lagrave Maxime
Carlsen Magnus ½ – ½ Ding Liren
So Wesley ½ – ½ Topalov Veselin
Nepomniachtchi Ian ½ – ½ Karjakin Sergey
Nepomniachtchi Ian ½ – ½ Wei Yi
Karjakin Sergey ½ – ½ So Wesley
Topalov Veselin 0 – Carlsen Magnus
Ding Liren ½ – ½ Nakamura Hikaru
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 1 – 0 Amin Bassem
Wei Yi 0 – Vachier-Lagrave Maxime
Amin Bassem 1 – 0 Ding Liren
Nakamura Hikaru 1 – 0 Topalov Veselin
Carlsen Magnus 1 – 0 Karjakin Sergey
So Wesley ½ – ½ Nepomniachtchi Ian
Nepomniachtchi Ian ½ – ½ Carlsen Magnus
Karjakin Sergey ½ – ½ Nakamura Hikaru
Ding Liren ½ – ½ Vachier-Lagrave Maxime
So Wesley ½ – ½ Wei Yi
Topalov Veselin ½ – ½ Amin Bassem
Carlsen Magnus ½ – ½ So Wesley
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 1 – 0 Topalov Veselin
Nakamura Hikaru 1 – 0 Nepomniachtchi Ian
Wei Yi ½ – ½ Ding Liren
Amin Bassem 0 – Karjakin Sergey
So Wesley 0 – Nakamura Hikaru
Carlsen Magnus 1 – 0 Wei Yi
Karjakin Sergey 1 – 0 Vachier-Lagrave Maxime
Nepomniachtchi Ian 1 – 0 Amin Bassem
Topalov Veselin ½ – ½ Ding Liren
Nakamura Hikaru 0 – Carlsen Magnus
Amin Bassem ½ – ½ So Wesley
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 1 – 0 Nepomniachtchi Ian
Wei Yi ½ – ½ Topalov Veselin
Ding Liren 1 – 0 Karjakin Sergey
Video by CCSCSL
Video by Daaim Shabazz/The Chess Drum
Sunday, 12 May 2019
Magnus Carlsen came, saw and conquered. Another tournament, another notch on his belt. This time he vanquished the field in Africa. Days ago Carlsen made a very controversial statement that caused a bit of buzz.
While Carlsen is riding a wave of success, others seems to be grasping a straws to stop his 2019 onslaught. On the last day, both Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Hikaru Nakamura could not gain any momentum. Carlsen would clinch with a win in the 16th round and would later reclaim his top ranking on the blitz rating list.
Wei Yi 0-1 Nakamura Hikaru
Carlsen Magnus 1-0 Amin Bassem
So Wesley 1-0 Vachier-Lagrave Maxime
Nepomniachtchi Ian 1-0 Ding Liren
Karjakin Sergey 1-0 Topalov Veselin
Karjakin Sergey 1-0 Wei Yi
Topalov Veselin 0-1 Nepomniachtchi Ian
Ding Liren 0-1 So Wesley
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 1-0 Carlsen Magnus
Amin Bassem ½-½ Nakamura Hikaru
Wei Yi 1-0 Amin Bassem
Nakamura Hikaru 1-0 Vachier-Lagrave Maxime
Carlsen Magnus ½-½ Ding Liren
So Wesley ½-½ Topalov Veselin
Nepomniachtchi Ian ½-½ Karjakin Sergey
Nepomniachtchi Ian ½-½ Wei Yi
Karjakin Sergey ½-½ So Wesley
Topalov Veselin 0-1 Carlsen Magnus
Ding Liren ½-½ Nakamura Hikaru
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 1-0 Amin Bassem
Wei Yi 0-1 Vachier-Lagrave Maxime
Amin Bassem 1-0 Ding Liren
Nakamura Hikaru 1-0 Topalov Veselin
Carlsen Magnus 1-0 Karjakin Sergey
So Wesley ½-½ Nepomniachtchi Ian
Nepomniachtchi Ian ½-½ Carlsen Magnus
Karjakin Sergey ½-½ Nakamura Hikaru
Ding Liren ½-½ Vachier-Lagrave Maxime
So Wesley ½-½ Wei Yi
Topalov Veselin ½-½ Amin Bassem
Carlsen Magnus ½-½ So Wesley
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 1-0 Topalov Veselin
Nakamura Hikaru 1-0 Nepomniachtchi Ian
Wei Yi ½-½ Ding Liren
Amin Bassem 0-1 Karjakin Sergey
So Wesley 0-1 Nakamura Hikaru
Carlsen Magnus 1-0 Wei Yi
Karjakin Sergey 1-0 Vachier-Lagrave Maxime
Nepomniachtchi Ian 1-0 Amin Bassem
Topalov Veselin ½-½ Ding Liren
Nakamura Hikaru 0-1 Carlsen Magnus
Amin Bassem ½-½ So Wesley
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 1-0 Nepomniachtchi Ian
Wei Yi ½-½ Topalov Veselin
Ding Liren 1-0 Karjakin Sergey
Video by CCSCSL
Video by Africa Chess Media
Carlsen wins Abidjan Rapid & Blitz!
After the election in the past FIDE election, there was an assertion that the international chess body would be more inclusive. While the Grand Chess Tour is not related to FIDE, the general atmosphere has been spurred by these sentiments. Africa is one region that has been slow in developing an enduring chess culture, but when it was announced that the Grand Chess Tour was moving to Cote d’Ivoire, it set off a sort of celebration.
This buildup of this tournament was epic given that it would be the first such tournament on African soil and also the first time a sitting World Champion had competed on the continent. The event was met with great anticipation and there was even a parallel tournament to ensure the highest level of interaction with the elite chess players.
2019 ECOWAS Team Championship
See coverage by Africa Chess Media
The first event of the Grand Chess Tour was in very different venue, but the result was the same… Magnus Carlsen won. In what has been a dominating year for the World Champion, Carlsen was coming off of a list of wins aptly documented by Norwegian journalist Tarjei Svensen.
While there was little interaction between the players and the locals before and during the event, there were always the impromptu autographs, selfies and happenstance encounters. Carlsen meant business disappeared soon after his games were over. The rapid segment gave Carlsen a comfortable cushion going into the blitz segment. Fortunately for him, both Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Hikaru Nakamura were having problems closing the gap. In the end, Carlsen clinched the tournament with two rounds left.
With the title already decided, Carlsen watches Nakamura and Vachier-Lagrave fight for second. Photo by Daaim Shabazz.
Several players will be competing in the FIDE Grand Prix event beginning the 17th in Moscow and others will be competing in the next Grand Chess Tour event in Zagreb, Croatia. The Abidjan edition was an organization success. FIDEC President Dr. Essoh Essis and his team deserves credit for making the historic event memorable.
Magnus Carlsen receives the beautiful trophy from
the Minister of Sports Paulin Danho
Photo by Daaim Shabazz
Video by Africa Chess Media
Commentary Broadcast Links
The GCT will stream official commentary broadcasts in both English and French to YouTube and Dailymotion. The following links apply:
YouTube English Commentary (GM Yannick Pelletier, IM Tania Sachdev, GM Alejandro Ramirez & GM Maurice Ashley):
May 8 – Rapid Rounds 1-3: https://youtu.be/1MIr_bAzVDM
May 9 – Rapid Rounds 4-6: https://youtu.be/1l7frbLWSZg
May 10 – Rapid Rounds 7-9: https://youtu.be/XBDCXih6n1k
May 11 – Blitz Rounds 1-9: https://youtu.be/omQQc8Kzl4M
May 12 – Blitz Rounds 10-18 & Playoffs: https://youtu.be/IQm4q90LhxU
YouTube French Commentary (GM Edouard Romain & GM Laurent Fressinet):
May 8 – Rapid Rounds 1-3 https://youtu.be/4yAWe67yYik
May 9 – Rapid Rounds 4-6 https://youtu.be/s09-QGxfi2c
May 10 – Rapid Rounds 7-9 https://youtu.be/LPzfTPqAHis
May 11 – Blitz Rounds 1-9 https://youtu.be/L42hMGTmLIo
May 12 – Blitz Rounds 10-18 & Playoffs: https://youtu.be/BbHnzS3vYbU
Dailymotion (All days and rounds):
English Commentary: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x76z1jy
French Commentary: https://dai.ly/x77byvh
Coverage also at africachessmedia.com
20 years after GM title, Ashley discusses African path
GM Maurice Ashley
Photo by Daaim Shabazz
Côte d’Ivoire was Maurice Ashley’s 7th African country, all in a relatively short period of time. This would be the first visit to a Francophone African country and the Jamaican-born GM would put his French skills to use. Ashley took up French in high school with a desire to travel to France where his father is an artist. His fluency was good enough to land coaching positions with the Ivorian and Madagascar Olympiad teams in 2016 and 2018, respectively.
After being a guest at the 4.4 subzonal tournament in Ghana, Ashley headed to Abidjan for the highly-anticipated Grand Chess Tour. It would feature World Champion Magnus Carlsen and nine other top-level players. The brevity of the tournament did not deprive fans of immense excitement, and of course Ashley was up to the task of calling the games. Carlsen was in form once again as he won his 5th tournament in a row reasserting the dominance that had eluded him in 2018. This victory serves to sent a message to those who may have thought he was losing his edge at age 28.
Magnus Carlsen greeting Nigerian International Master Oladapo Adu (winner of ECOWAS blitz) at the closing ceremony while Maurice Ashley, Graham Jurgensen (Technical Director), François Cernejeski (Managing Director-Pullman Hotel), Claude Paulin Danho (Côte d’Ivoire Minster of Sport) and Dr. Essoh Essis (President, Fédération Ivoirienne Des Echecs) look on. Photo by Daaim Shabazz
Ashley interviewed Carlsen who noted the enthusiasm and stated that there was a bright future in West Africa. After Ashley got with all his interviewing for the tournament, he sat down with The Chess Drum’s Daaim Shabazz to give his impressions of the event, its impact on the continent and initiatives to keep the momentum going in Africa. This interview took place after the Grand Chess Tour Rapid & Blitz event at the Pullman Hotel in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
Video by Daaim Shabazz/The Chess Drum
Video by GMHikaru/Twitch