All posts tagged: Chess development

‘Removing women-only events would kill Women’s Chess’: FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky

‘Removing women-only events would kill Women’s Chess’: FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky

Published by Webster

The debate over the relevance of women-only titles and tournaments in chess has been ongoing for several months, with various grandmasters voicing their opinions. Most recently, FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky defended the continuation of such events, claiming that removing them would deprive women players of critical development opportunities. “If we were to remove all the possibilities to compete in women-only events, if we were to remove the possibility to support travel and so on, I think we would deprive many of these talents of opportunity under a false pretence that we will try to prove that women can grow in open tournaments better than they can by competing in women-only events,” Sutovsky said in an interview on FIDE’s official YouTube channel. According to Sutovsky, while top women players previously reached a rating of 2500 at ages 15-17, today only a few are rated above 2400 by that age. Currently, no female player apart from Hou Yifan has crossed the 2600 mark in recent years. “It is also important to rely on real data and not …

INTERVIEW with AICF president Nitin Narang on India’s grand chess plan

Published by Webster

The historic double gold for India’s Open and Women’s teams at the Olympiad shifted the power equation in world chess and put the country’s GenNext players in the limelight. All India Chess Federation president Nitin Narang spoke to The Indian Express on the road ahead — India’s own player rating system, contracts for top players and the challenges of generating sponsorships. Excerpts: India has a bunch of very talented players. Do you see this as a big responsibility? Nitin Narang: The achievements of these golden boys and girls are because of their efforts and the sacrifices of their parents. When I was in Budapest for the Olympiad I saw how much parents were sacrificing. The federation’s role is to support players. Yes, there is a huge responsibility on my shoulders; one to continue the momentum, and second to make sure these players, who have outperformed everyone in the world, get the best of the facilities and support. How was the reaction of other players and fans during the Olympiad? Nitin Narang: India’s chess players were …