The FIDE presidential board meeting on April 10 came and went without much happening as reported by Peter Doggers on Chess.com. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov remains president (his verbal resignation seemly not standing) but without any powers, as all presidential authority rests with the deputy president, Georgios Makropoulos. It would seem that the big issue here for the FIDE board is that the sanctions imposed on Ilyumshinov by the US government are scaring off possible Western sponsors. There were also rumblings of problems with Agon and Ilyumzhinov’s relationship with it. Agon is the company given the promotional rights to the World Championship cycle and it seems that it may owe FIDE a lot of money. After the meeting, it was also hoped that Ilyumzhinov would not run again for president due to the sanctions, but as soon as the meeting was over, he announced his candidacy for the 2018 presidency. There’s never a dull moment with Fédération Internationale des Échecs.
Catching up on some tournament results; Englishman David Howell, in perhaps his first visit to the States, won the “A’’ Group of 2017 St. Louis Winter Invitational at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, earning $5,000. Brandeis grad and Bay Area native Sam Shankland had an off tournament, finishing in fourth place. Southbridge, Mass., resident Sam Sevian had a poor tournament, finishing next to last in ninth place. The “B’’ group was won by yet another European (Ukrainian) college import (Texas Tech) Andrey Baryshpolets who earned $4,000
Speaking of college chess, the super chess juggernaut that is Webster University won for the fifth time in a row the Presidents Cup. In the four-team round-robin held at the Marshall Chess Club, Webster beat the other three teams, St. Louis U., Texas Tech, and U. of Texas-Dallas. Both in match play in games points. The team features Vietnamese GM Liem Le (World’s #29), American Ray Robson and a team average rating of 2732. For now, there seems to be no stopping Webster U.
Coming Events: April 29, Fuller Craft April G/30 d5 Quad, Fuller Craft Chess Club, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton; April 30, Boylston April Scholastic, 40 Norris St., Cambridge.
Recent Results: 2017 Evert Siiskonen Memorial, 1st: Rob King, 4.5-.5, 2nd- 3rd: Brett Kildahl, Paul Godin of Bedford, 4-1; Chess Empire Kids Scholastic, U400, 1st: Noah Haskell, 4-0, U800, 1st: Michelle Zhang, U1200, 1st- 2nd Lucas Kamon, Naor Wiesel, 3.5-.5; WN 2017 Spring Open, U2399, 1st: Chris Chase, 4-0, U1700, 1st: Aidan Burchard, 3.5-.5
Answer to today’s problem: 1.Rg1+ Kh6 2.Bf8+! Rxf8 3.Rd3! and there is no stopping 4.Rh3 mate.
Chris Chase can be reached at BostonGlobeChessNotes@gmail.com.
