FIDE ISCF World Schools Team Championship 2026, Asian Continental stage

New competition format for the 2026 World Schools Team Championship

LIVE

The World Schools Team Championship (WSTC) will adopt a new tournament structure for its 2026 edition, featuring four continental qualifying stages followed by a four-team Grand Final in December.

LIVE

The 2026 cycle will consist of four continental stages: Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe, all held throughout 2026.

Each continental championship will produce one champion school team that will directly qualify for the Grand Final, which will take place in December 2026 as a four-team tournament.

The WSTC 2026 will kick off with the Asian Continental stage in Almaty, Kazakhstan in early April.

Only teams representing a single general educational institution (such as a school) may take part in the event. Each team must include at least one boy and at least one girl, with possible exceptions for single-gender schools.

Eligible players must have been born between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2018 (inclusive).

Asian Schools Teams Chess Championship 2026

6 Apr 2026 start-date 11 Apr 2026

Type of event Over-the-Board Tournament

Time control Standard

Almaty, Kazakhstan

Registration

Regulation

Official email: worldschoolteam@fide.com

Official website (coming soon): https://worldschoolteam2026.fide.com/

fide.com

FIDE World Cadet U8, U10, U12 Championships 2025 Open U8

FIDE World Cadet U8, U10, U12 Championships 2025 Girls U8

FIDE World Cadet U8, U10, U12 Championships 2025 Open U10

FIDE World Cadet U8, U10, U12 Championships 2025 Girls U10

FIDE World Cadet U8, U10, U12 Championships 2025 Open U12

FIDE World Cadet U8, U10, U12 Championships 2025 Girls U12

FIDE World Cadet Championships 2025: Registration now open

GUEST HANDBOOK (download)

FIDE, the Kazakhstan Chess Federation and the Department of Sports of the City of Almaty with support of the Ministry of Sport of the Republic of Kazakhstan invite all FIDE member Federations and eligible players to participate in the FIDE World Cadet Chess Championships U8, U10, U12.

Photo tournaments

LIVE

The competitions will take place from September 18 (arrival) to October 01, 2025 (departure) in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The venue of the event is Sports Cultural Complex — “Baluan Sholaq Arena” (44 Abay ave., Almaty)

National Federations can register one official player in each category: under 8, 10, and 12 (Open and Girls). The total of six official players and one head of delegation with a valid FIDE ID from the National Federation are invited by the Organizers. All players must not have reached the age of 8, 10 or 12 in their respective categories before January 1, 2025.

Personal rights also are granted to the top 3 players in each category of the last World Cadet Championships (2024), the Continental Cadet Champions of 2024 (1st ranked) and the players placed 1-3 in the 2025 FIDE World Cup for youngsters.

National federation may register additional players and accompanying persons and being responsible for all related costs.

The registration deadline is July 13, 2025.

As part of the event, the World Cadet Chess Solving Championship will be held on September 25, across the same six age and gender categories as the over-the-board competitions.

Click the link to download the Registration form

Invitation letter, regulations, visa information (PDF)

Local players may participate in accordance with the internal regulations approved by the Kazakhstan
Chess Federation.

E-mail: worldcadet@fide.com

FIDE World Cadet Chess Championships 2025 official website (coming soon): worldcadets2025.fide.com

fide.com

worldcadets2025.kazchess.kz

Отборочный турнир к чемпионату мира 2025 года среди школьных команд U12

Отборочный турнир к чемпионату мира 2025 года среди школьных команд U18

Отборочный командный турнир среди школьных команд Казахстана за право участия в FIDE World Schools Team Championship

С 18 по 20 июня 2025 года в Алматы пройдет отборочный командный турнир, где лучшие школьные команды Казахстана сразятся за право участия в качестве официальных представителей страны на FIDE World Schools Team Championship

Основное место: Александрия, Вирджиния, США
2–7 августа 2025 года

Отборочные: Республиканская физико-математическая школа, г. Алматы
Адрес: ул. Бухар-Жырау, 36

РЕГЛАМЕНТ

Общий призовой фонд — 800 000 тенге

1 место — Путевка на Чемпионат FIDE World Schools Team Championship
2 место — 250 000 тенге
3 место — 150 000 тенге

Формат турнира:

– Командный: 3 юноши + 1 девушка + капитан (обязателен)

Кто участвует:

Школьные команды юношей и девушек в категориях не старше 2013 и 2007 гг.р.

Регистрация открыта до 13 июня, 12:00 (по времени Астаны).

Регистрируйтесь по ссылке — https://reg.kazchess.kz/1

kazchess.kz

Blitz

Asian Youth Blitz Chess Championships 2024 — U08

Asian Youth Blitz Chess Championships 2024 — U10

Asian Youth Blitz Chess Championships 2024 — U12

Asian Youth Blitz Chess Championships 2024 — U14

Asian Youth Blitz Chess Championships 2024 — U16

Asian Youth Blitz Chess Championships 2024 — U18

Asian Youth Blitz Chess Championships 2024 — G08

Asian Youth Blitz Chess Championships 2024 — G10

Asian Youth Blitz Chess Championships 2024 — G12

Asian Youth Blitz Chess Championships 2024 — G14

Asian Youth Blitz Chess Championships 2024 — G16

Asian Youth Blitz Chess Championships 2024 — G18

Сlassic

Asian Youth Chess Championships 2024 — U08

Asian Youth Chess Championships 2024 — U10

Asian Youth Chess Championships 2024 — U12

Asian Youth Chess Championships 2024 — U14

Asian Youth Chess Championships 2024 — U16

Asian Youth Chess Championships 2024 — U18

Asian Youth Chess Championships 2024 — G08

Asian Youth Chess Championships 2024 — G10

Asian Youth Chess Championships 2024 — G12

Asian Youth Chess Championships 2024 — G14

Asian Youth Chess Championships 2024 — G16

Asian Youth Chess Championships 2024 — G18

The Kazakhstan Chess Federation on behalf of the Asian Chess Federation (ACF) and FIDE has the honor to invite all Asian National Chess Federations

to participate in the 26th Asian Youth Chess Championships which will be held from 9th (arrival) to 21st (departure) June 2024 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Download Asian Youth Chess Championship Regulations 2024 Almaty

asianchess.com

Asian Continental Blitz Chess Championship 2023

Asian Continental Women Blitz Chess Championship 2023

ASIAN CONTINENTAL CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP (OPEN) 3-12 JUNE 2023 ALMATY

ASIAN CONTINENTAL CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP (WOMEN) 3-12 JUNE 2023 ALMATY

Все фотографии турнира можно скачать по ссылке: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/qm3dol3coeqee3bdf8fsd/h?dl=0&rlkey=yzy14br242vad66mbgme19218

При использовании фотографий просьба указывать источник – Казахстанскую федерацию шахмат. Пример: «Фото: Казахстанская федерация шахмат».

Asian Continental Chess Championships (Open and Women’s Championships)

3rd June – 12th June 2023, Almaty, Kazakhstan

Онлайн трансляция на Личесс

Open

Women

Asian Continental Championship Women 2023

Asian Continental Blitz Chess Championship 2023

To All FIDE Affiliated Chess Federations in Asia Zones 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6 & 3.7

All Kazakhstan Chess Federation on behalf of the Asian Chess Federation and FIDE invites your Federation to participate in the Asian Continental Chess Championships (Open and Women’s) from 3rd June (arrival) to 12th June (departure) 2023 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Playing venue is Baluan Sholak Sports Palace, Address: Abay Ave 44 Abai Ave., corner Baitursynuly St., Almaty.

The Championship will be played in accordance with the following rules and regulations:

Each Federation from FIDE Zones 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, and 3.7 can include one official player in the Open and one official player in the Women’s Championships.

In addition, each Federation may add extra players rated 2300 and above for the Open, and 2000 and above for Women based on the 1st May 2023 FIDE Rating List. Extra players will be responsible for the payment of their board and lodging through the Organizing Committee. Exceptions for the rating floor may be made by the Continental President at the request of national federations.

The tournament shall be conducted as a Swiss System competition of 9 rounds and will be played according to FIDE regulations.

The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an addition of 30 seconds per move starting from move one. The games shall be played with DGT clocks. Pairings will be made by the Swiss Manager Program. Players from the same federation with a more than 50% score shall not be paired together in the last round.

REGULATIONS

Registration form

Континентальный чемпионат Азии по шахматам
(Открытый чемпионат и чемпионат среди женщин)
3 июня – 12 июня 2023 года, Алматы, Казахстан

Регламент на русском (скачать)

kazchess.kz

Official website

2022 FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championship Rapid Open

2022 FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championship Rapid Women

2022 FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championship Blitz Open

2022 FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championship Blitz Women

Almaty to host FIDE Rapid & Blitz Championships 2022 in late December

World Rapid Open Championship 2022

World Blitz Open Championship 2022

World Blitz Women Championship 2022

World Rapid Women Championship 2022

FIDE is happy to confirm the dates and the venue for the World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2022.

The prestigious event will take place between December 25 (arrival and opening) and December 30 (last playing day and closing) in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Official website: worldrapidandblitz2022.fide.com

FIDE is pleased to announce the agreement with Freedom Finance, that becomes a General Sponsor of the event.

More details, including information about hotels, visas etc. will be published by November 15.

There is a large number of countries (over 100) that can benefit either from visa exemption to Kazakhstan, or a simplified procedure to obtain a single-entry electronic visa issued through the Visa and Migration Portal.

fide.com

The 2022 World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships take place in Almaty (Kazakhstan) from December 25-30

Traditionally, this time of year, the chess world comes together to loosen up and decide who the best world players are when facing time pressure.

After ten years, the event is returning to Kazakhstan, the largest land-locked country in the world (with over 2.7 million kilometres square, it is five times the size of France!) and which – if you didn’t know – is the birthplace of the modern apple (not the company)! Unlike in 2012, this time, the host city will not be the capital Astana, but Almaty.

The event will be held at the Baluan Sholak Sports Palace in the city centre. Named after the acclaimed Kazakh composer, singer, poet, dombra player, dzhigit and wrestler Baluan Sholak (1864-1919), the venue seats up to 5,000 people and is home to Almaty’s women’s ice hockey team Aisulu Almaty.

The former capital of Kazakhstan, which is also its largest city with nearly two million residents, is situated in the country’s southeast, close to the border with Kyrgistan, and is not the warmest place to spend the winter. It is easy to understand why given that the last week of December is expected to have temperatures between -4 and -11 degrees!

However, Almaty is about to be hit by a “heatwave” as the world’s hottest chess players gather at the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships to decide who is the best.

Reigning Rapid Champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB). Photo: David Llada

The best of the best

With the conditions for the event stipulating that players have to be rated at least 2550 in the open section, or 2250 in the women’s, or being reigning national champions in order to be eligible to play in Almaty, it’s no surprise that the list of players is made of the best of the best the chess world has to offer.

In the Open section, Nodirbek Abdusattorov is defending the crown from the 2021 Rapid and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave will try and hold on to his world title in the Blitz. In the Women’s division, Alexandra Kosteniuk is defending the gold she won in 2021 Rapid, while Bibisara Assaubayeva is defending her title in the Blitz.

With nearly 300 players taking part from over 50 countries, split between the Open and the Women’s tournament, the chess world is ending 2022 on a high note with a huge spectacle.

In the Open event, the field is led by the reigning world champion in classical chess, Magnus Carlsen (who also won the rapid and blitz world championships in earlier editions). This is the last time Carlsen is taking part in the World Rapid and Blitz as a world champion in classical chess (as he decided not to defend his crown in 2023). He is joined by a score of medal winners and champions, including Nodirbek Abdusattorov (the 2021 winner of the Rapid), Hikaru Nakamura (winner of the silver and bronze medals in the previous world rapid and blitz championships), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (runner-up of the last year’s world blitz), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (current world blitz champion), Ian Nepomniachtchi (the second-time challenger for the title of world champion in classical chess and winner of medals in previous rapid and blitz world championships), to name a few.

Full list of participants for the Open Rapid
Full list of participants for the Open Blitz

Women’s World Blitz Champion Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ). PHOTO: Anna Shtourman.

The women’s event is headlined by the defending world champion in rapid and the runner-up at the 2021 blitz Alexandra Kosteniuk. A former women’s world champion in classical chess, Kosteniuk just won gold in the European rapid and silver in the European blitz, so she will be looking for a double crown! She is followed by Kateryna Lagno (who also has gold medals from the world rapid and blitz events), as well as a plethora of strong world players such as Tan Zhongyi, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Nana Dzagnidze, Antoaneta Stefanova and others.

Bibisara Assaubayeva, a Kazakh native, will be the focus of much attention in the women’s competition. She had an outstanding performance in the 2021 edition, taking first place in the blitz and coming second in the rapid.

Full list of participants for the Women’s Rapid
Full list of participants for the Women’s Blitz

Both the Open and the Women’s will be played under the Swiss system format. Full details of the regulations for the events can be found here for the Open and here for the Women’s competitions.

The total prize fund is one million USD dollars, with 700,000 USD going to the open championships and 300,000 USD to the women’s championships. Prizes in USD Open Women Rapid 350,000 150,000 Blitz 350,000 150,000.

One million dollars in prizes

Prizes in USD Open Women
Rapid $350,000 $150,000
Blitz $350,000 $150,000

Basic schedule:

First of all, please note that Almaty’s time zone is GMT+6

December 25 — Opening Ceremony
December 26, 13:30 — Opening press conference
December 26-28 — Rapid competitions
December 29-30 — Blitz competitions and Closing Ceremony

You can find the detailed schedule on the official website.

Side events:

During the World Rapid and Blitz Championships there will be several additional chess events for the public held at the Baluan Sholak Sports Palace:

December 27, 10.00-13.00
Women’s master class about “The role of women in chess”, followed by a simul with woman GM Dana Reizniece-Ozola

December 27, 10.00-13.00
Open blitz tournament for amateurs

December 29, 10.00-13.00
Blitz tournament for children

By Press Officer Milan Dinic

This is the official website where you can find up-to-date information about the event:

https://worldrapidandblitz.fide.com

Asian seniors championship 50+

Asian seniors championship 65+

10th Asian Seniors 50+ Chess Championship 2019 rapid

10th Asian Seniors 65+ Chess Championship 2019 rapid

10th Asian Seniors 50+ Chess Championship 2019 blitz

10th Asian Seniors Chess Championships 2019
8-18 September 2019, Almaty, Kazakhstan

1. Invitation

Kazakhstan Chess Federation have the honor to invite all National Chess Federations to participate in the 10th Asian Seniors Chess Championships for Men over-50 and over-65 years old and for Women over-50, from 8 (arrival) to 18 September (departure), which will be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

2. Participation

The Asian Seniors Championship is open to all players, regardless of rating and title, who reach their age of 50 and 65 by 31st December 2019 and represent National Chess Federations (FIDE Zones 3.1 to 3.7.) which are members of FIDE. There is no limit in the number of participants per federation.

3. Registrations

The entries must be submitted by the respective National Chess Federation on the attached registration form to kamilya.a@kazchess.kz to be received not later than 8 August 2019 together with one ID photo and scanned copy of the passport.
Players should confirm their participation one day before the Event on Sunday 8th September, before 19.50 by sending e-mail to kamilya.a@kazchess.kz 
Players who do not confirm their participation will not be included in the published pairings for Round 1.
Players should be present at the Technical meeting (September 8th, 20.00, «Kazakhstan» hotel).

4. Entry fees and registration fees

Entry fee: Each player has to pay 25 USD as entry fee to Asian Chess Federation.
Registration fee: Each player has to pay 100 USD as registration fee for the event. It includes registration and accreditation. Entry fee and registration fee together with the payment for the hotel booking must be paid simultaneously with the application. The payment must be made by bank transfer.

The registration period ends on 1 August 2019, After 1 August 2019, a late registration fee of 50 USD shall be charged. Deadline for late registration is 9 August 2019. Players whose payment has not been received shall not be paired.

5. Accommodation

As per FIDE regulations, all players, except local players are obliged to be accommodated in the official hotel through the organizer.
Access to playing areas, venues and the hotel will be allowed only to people accredited by the organizer.
The official hotel and venue of the event is the 5-star «Kazakhstan» hotel, 52/2 Dostyk Ave., Almaty.
Hotel Rates
a) single room:95 USD per person per day, full board included
b) double room:75 USD per person per day, full board included

6. Tournament System and Rate of Play

The tournament will be played as a 9 round Swiss System. The FIDE Laws of Chess shall apply. Time control for Standard chess is 90 minutes each for the whole game, with 30 seconds increment per move from the first move. Default time is 30 minutes after starting time. Time control for Rapid chess is 15 minutes each plus 10 seconds increment per move. Time control for Blitz chess is 3 minutes each plus 2 seconds increment per move

7. Tie-Break System

The order of the players that finish with the same number of points shall be determined by the application of the following tie-break procedures in sequence, proceeding from (a) to (b) to (c) to (d) and to (e).

a- Direct Encounter
b- Buccholz
c- Buccholz Cut 1
d- Buccholz Cut 2
e- Sonnenborn Berger
In case the tie is still not broken, one sudden death blitz game between the top two shall decide.

8. Tournament schedule

The Championship will be held from 8-18 September 2019 as follows:

Date Time Event
Sunday 8 September All day Arrival
20:00 Technical Meeting
Monday 9 September 11:00 Opening Ceremony
12:00 Rapid Chess Championship

Tuesday 10 September 15:00 Round 1
Wednesday 11 September 15:00 Round 2
Thursday 12 September 10:00 Round 3
16:00 Round 4
Friday 13 September 15:00 Round 5
Saturday 14 September 10:00 Round 6
16:00 Round 7
Sunday 15 September 15:00 Round 8
Monday 16 September 15:00 Round 9
Tuesday 17 September 10:00 Blitz Championship
17:00 Closing Ceremony
Wednesday 18 September 11:00 Departure

9. Chief Arbiter and Appeals Committee

The Asian Chess Federation President shall appoint the Chief Arbiter and Chairman of Appeals. The Appeals Committee shall consist of three members and two reserves representing five different federations.

10. Appeals

A protest against a decision of an Arbiter must be submitted in writing to the Chief Arbiter within 15 minutes after the end of the relevant playing session. In submitting a protest, a protest fee of USD 200.00 (Two Hundred US Dollars) shall be paid to the Appeals Committee, which is refundable if the protest is upheld. The Appeals Committee, however, may decide to refund the fee if it considers that the appeal was not frivolous. The decision of the Appeals Committee shall be final and binding immediately. No Appeals are possible in Rapid and Blitz. The Chief Arbiter’s decision is final.

11. Prizes

Top three winners of each category (Standard, Rapid, Blitz) will receive Gold, Silver and Bronze medals and Certificate. A total of $3,000 for standard chess in this Asian Chess Federation event shall be awarded as follows:

Over 50

First US$500
Second US$400
Third US$300
Fourth US$200
Fifth US$150
Sixth US$150

Over 65

First US$350
Second US$200
Third US$150
Fourth US$100
Fifth US$100

Best Women

Over 50 US$300

Over 65 US$100

Money prizes are not shared.

12. Direct Titles

Gold medalists (first after tiebreak) in Standard chess open category shall receive a GM norm. 1st equal (first three after tie break) will receive the IM title. Silver and bronze medalists shall receive IM norms and FM titles. For a direct title to be awarded immediately an applicant has to have achieved at some time or other a minimum rating as follows: IM 2200, WIM 2000, FM 2100, WFM 1900.

13. Payments

Requisites:
Republican Public Association
Kazakhstan Chess Federation
BIN 911240001354
Beneficiary Code: 18
Account in USD (for foreign players)
KZ62826A1USDD2007147
«ATF Bank » SWIFT ALMNKZKA

Requisites:
Republican Public Association
Kazakhstan Chess Federation
BIN 911240001354
Beneficiary Code: 18
Account in KZT (for Kazakhstan citizens)
KZ06826A1KZTD2022470
«ATF Bank » BIK ALMNKZKA
PPC 119

Payments should be made upon registration. Foreign players should settle the full payment (Fees + Hotel) to the organizer.

14. Visa

Those who need visas should apply at the Kazakhstan consulate nearest them. Invitation letters will be issued upon payment of fees before the deadline. To issue an invitation for visa to enter the Kazakhstan participants should send a clear passport copy and provide visa form to the e-mail: raushan.k@kazchess.kz
18.08.2019 is the deadline when invitation for visa could be issued. After the deadline visa invitations are not issued.

15. Airport Transfers

The organizer shall provide participants with airport transfers from Almaty International Airport to the Official Hotel and back. All participants are required to send by 28th August 2019 their flight details of arrivals and departures to the organizer. The organizer shall not be responsible for airport transfers for those who do not send their flight details on time.

16. Other Matters

Any matters not mentioned in the Regulations above shall be decided upon, if necessary, after consultation with the Asian Chess Federation President.

17. Contact Information

Organizing Committee

Address:

36 Al-Farabi Str, BC “AFD”, Block B, 3 fl,
050040, city of Almaty, Kazakhstan
Internet: www.kazchess.kz
E-mail: office@kazchess.kz
Tel.: + 7 727 346 85 64

Executive Director
Irina Grischenko
Mob.: +7-771 775 18 15
E-mail: director@kazchess.kz

Tournament Director
Gulmira Dauletova
Mob.: +7 777 832 22 88
E-mail: deputy@kazchess.kz

Accommodation and accreditation
Kamilya Abdrakhmanova
Mob.: +7 771 781 71 79
E-mail: kamilya.a@kazchess.kz

Visa support
Raushan Kulakhmetova
Mob.: +7 702 469 46 65
E-mail: raushan.k@kazchess.kz

Arrival and departure
Sabyr Buirayev
Mob.: +7 777 688 88 76
E-mail: sabyr.b@kazchess.kz

Vice-president for Senior chess development Mob.:+7 707 882 23 79
Biket Zharokov E-mail: Biket.zharokov@mail.ru 

Regulations 10th Asian Seniors Chess Championships 2019 (PDF)

Registration Form

Регламент чемпионата Азии среди сеньоров 2019 (на русском)

Регистрационная форма

Шахматтан сеньорлар арасындағы 10-шы Азия чемпионаты

ТІРКЕУ ФОРМАСЫ

Интервью Сергея Кима с Гульмирой Даулетовой.

Интервью Сергея Кима с Мехдад Пахлеванзаде. Переводчик Гульмира Даулетова.

I had the pleasure of having a chat with Hou Yifan, the current Women’s World Champion in Almaty, Kazakhstan after the Eurasian Blitz. This is her answers to my questions.

Jamie Kenmure: Thank you for taking the time to have this interview before catching a flight back to China. I understand you learned chess at the age of 3, a very young age.

Yifan Hou: Actually, I started when I was 5 years old, not 3. There were many people talking about me starting at 3 but this is some sort of urban legend. I am not sure how this came about but I started chess in 1999.

JK: Who was the person that got you into chess?

YH: My father and grandfather can play Chinese chess (Xiangqi). I got inspired because I was playing chinese checkers with a small ball. I played with my friends who were older than me and who taught me how to play but I simply crushed them easily. Later on, my parents thought I probably should learn some mind games and they took me to the children’s palace and let me choose and I simply chose chess.

JK: Chess has obviously proven to be the sport for you Hou. In regards to your chess achievements, you have accomplished just about everything possible in women’s chess. You are the current Women’s World Champion, won Grand Prix tournaments, the highest rated player and even top 100 player.

YH: I am not now in the top 100 players of the world. I dropped 10-20 points and that makes a huge difference in the open section. Luckily, I might step back into the August list.

JK: You have been a top 50 and top 100 player before. What more is there for you to achieve now?

YH: I hope to be more stable. I should keep level or slowly increase and improve my rating to become more stronger. I want to be more stronger to compete for the invitational events or open tournaments. Here in Almaty it is strong event but if it was a standard event there should be more participants to fight for the places to make the tournament into a different situation. I also hope my rapid and blitz could be more higher. It is supposed to be not so bad but you know it contains luck and form. Many things can happen compared to the standard form of the sport. It might be more interesting so I am open for all three formats of chess.

JK: You mentioned how you wanted to improve your rapid and blitz, did you feel that you were playing good chess here in Almaty?

YH: Not really. Of course I am satisfied with the way it started. I was winning some games and I didn’t make many mistakes but later on I lost twice to the players who showed a very good performance here, but it could have been better for me. There were some chances missed so the quality could be improved but we know in blitz the quality cannot be perfect as classical chess. Even in the last rounds there were chances for me to improve which would have lead to a better result. We can see from my rating performance that I performed a bit lower than my original rating. The first day was kind of ok but the second day was not so good.

JK: What did you think of the organisation and the event itself?

YH: The tournament itself was good. The tournament situation regarding the venue and conditions was good. With only two days blitz it was a really fast routine and makes the tournament really exciting, probably more attractive for the spectators, to watch and follow, unlike a long tournament. This is not like a serious, serious tournament.

JK: Speaking of strong tournaments and performances, the tournament that comes to mind is 2012 Reykjavik Open where you won against many strong 2700 rated players. Did you feel this was the next step up in your playing career?

YH: In this tournament I played GM Fabiano Caruana and drew, but I did get a few winning positions. I did win against some other talented players in this tournament. Talking about this I remember playing in the Aeroflot Open in 2007 when I was rated around 2500. I felt I was improving but I was also stagnating at certain periods too. For example I was hasty at 2550 for a while, then 2600 and 2650. Now I am still stuck on 2650 and I now need to slowly, slowly increase. I hope to be going to a better and faster depth. This is why you need to be more stable.

JK: Women’s chess you have spoken about a lot recently in your interviews that you have done and about the women’s cycle. What do you think needs to be done to improve women’s chess?

YH: I think the interviews I have done show pretty clear my position on this. If you do events like this it is reasonable but if you continue to do this as a cycle for more than five or six years, I think it could be generated to a better way. Not only after six or seven months there is the knock out system. For example, the highest rated player won the match and is called the Women’s World Champion and it is very obvious advantage and then still FIDE gives no privilege to the World Champion and still put them to the knockout system. The knockout system is a very interesting format but you also need luck to win the tournament. I think the way the Men’s system is with the World Cup would be a better way. It would show the players strength, the psychological part and the technical part. If it is to find a World Champion, it has to be thought about. The men’s system is pretty good. They have the knockout as World Cup, the Candidates and then the Match which is quite reasonable.

JK: So do you think the Women’s cycle needs to be changed to the Men’s cycle?

YH: Of course. That is what we thought because most sports that are currently popular around the world have the same format for men and women, so I don’t see why chess has to be an exception. This is what I don’t understand. First, I started talking with FIDE officials and other people from the chess world many years ago. FIDE thought it was quite reasonable and the only thing they were worried about was the financial part. The financial part is not the first priority for players I think from what I understand. That’s why in my letter I reserved a few options so the budget could be more reasonable. It is true so far that men and women cannot be on the same level from an economic situation, but there can always be a more reasonable way to combine the financial part and the players’ situation.

JK: Do you see more women playing chess these days or less?

YH: I see more women playing chess and especially in some developing countries. For example, I did some promotion all over the world for different activities. In some places I remember there were more girls than boys. Of course, most places there are more boys playing but there are few girls who are more energetic/active and are fully concentrated. I think this is a phenomenon to see that women’s chess has a big potential in the future and it is the part that I want to work on in the future. I would not only just do this for chess, but for all sports to encourage more girls because girls can be sensitive. Sport can make girls feel more stronger, more stable and you can fight in the future when you enter the society. It is a really good quality for a girl and I think sports are a good way to generate your personality which is really important.

JK: Finally, do you see yourself opening up a chess school in China and perhaps a chess academy around the world to reach your goals and to get more women to play chess?

YH: Currently, I am not really ready to run my own chess academy but my parents run a chess club with our friends. Right now though what we are doing is focusing on the beginners, very young boys and girls. When they get developed we also are thinking of doing something for them with a focus on the girls. As a woman player and my future blueprint, I also hope to do something like encourage girls to combine chess studies and normal studies. All of this is connected and you don’t really need to have an academy or club and since this is a universal world it all can be connected through the internet.

JK: Thank you so much for time Hou Yifan and I wish you all the best for achieving all your goals.

YH: Thank you and you are welcome.

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