31 December 2021

Happy New Year's Greetings from CFR President Andrey Filatov


Dear friends, 

The year of 2021 was quite a difficult one as 2020. However, we have almost managed to come to a pre-pandemic level, hold the majority of our scheduled events, and to organise the FIDE World Cup in Sochi. In general, we can see that chess has returned to normal life.  

Our chess players achieved important victories in 2021. The Russian national team won the second FIDE Online Olympiad; the women's team gained gold medals of both the World and European championships; the Russian team became triumphant at the IBCA Chess Olympiad; Ian Nepomniachtchi won the FIDE Candidates Tournament to qualify for the World Championship Match, where he, unfortunately, lost to Magnus Carlsen; Alexandra Kosteniuk won the FIDE Women's World Cup and FIDE World Rapid Women's Championship; Anton Demchenko became the European champion, while Alexander Motylev came first at the European Rapid Championship; our young players keep showing high results in the World and European championships.

Next year, we will have the 44th World Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk and Moscow as well as many other exciting events.  

I wish you robust health, new achievements, and well-being!  
 
Andrey Filatov, 
CFR President