Alireza Firouzja to play for France

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Alireza Firouzja to play for France

    Alireza Firouzja to play for France

    July 9, 2021

    From Chessbase:

    https://en.chessbase.com/post/alirez...lay-for-france

    Excerpts from the article by Andre Schulz

    The French Chess Federation has announced that Alireza Firouzja will be naturalized in France. The current number 1 player in the junior rating list will represent the French Federation in the future. It will take some time for the change of federation to be completed.

    Alireza Firouzja, born on 18 June 2003 in Babol, Iran, is the world’s best U-20 chess player. The 18-year-old leads the junior ranking by some distance, with a 2759 rating.

    Firouzja has virtually taught himself chess by playing on the internet. At the age of 12, he already won the Iranian National Championship in 2016 and was called up to the Iranian national team. In 2016, he played in the Asian Team Championships and was the best player on board 4. In 2016 and 2018, he also represented his country at the Chess Olympiads. In March 2018, Firouzja received the grandmaster title. In August 2019, he became the second-youngest player after Wei Yi to surpass the 2700 rating mark. Simultaneously, Firouzja was frequently invited to play in supertournaments.

    Currently, Alireza Firouzja lives with his family in Chartres and is apparently well looked after by members of the C'Chartres Échecs club, with their president Francois Gilles.

    As has been suspected for some time, Alireza Firouzja will join the French Chess Federation. The federation announced yesterday that Firouzja will be naturalized in France. The national authorities thanked Francois Gilles and the mayor of Chartres, Jean-Pierre Gorges, for their efforts.

    Announcement by the French Chess Federation

    The 12th player in the world, No. 1 among juniors, the young chess prodigy Alireza Firouzja playing for the Chartres club is now French. We are very honored to welcome one of the world's greatest hopes, and we welcome him!

    The French Chess Federation would like to thank the C'Chartres Échecs club, its president François Gilles, the mayor of Chartres Jean-Pierre Gorges for their action in favor of the naturalization of Alireza, and Bachar Kouatly, who made this rapprochement possible.

    His naturalization does not yet allow him to represent France with regard to the International Chess Federation, because the procedure for changing the Code is still necessary.

    http://www.echecs.asso.fr

  • #2
    That should secure France in the top 10 in the world. Nice that he is staying in France - easier on visas and invitations.

    Comment


    • #3
      Yes, with MVL and Alireza, France is in the top 10 of nations. Alireza has the talent to possibly be the future of chess. If MVL get more of a killer instinct and not play the Grunfeld all the time, he might still have something to say.

      Comment


      • #4
        We havent heard the last from MVL. He will make a comeback. (I mean to 2800)

        When I was at Webster U in St Louis Susan Polgar arranged a match between MVL and Ding Liren. MVL by virtue of score demolished Ding Liren but I watched it closely. I knew then that both would become top ten and would stay there. MVL just needs to make some adjustments.
        Last edited by Hans Jung; Saturday, 10th July, 2021, 04:55 PM.

        Comment


        • #5
          Top 5 (10 best players / country):

          1. Russia
          2. USA
          3. China
          4. India
          5. Ukraine

          France without Firoujza was 9, with Firouzja becomes 8.. It will be on the FIDE Website on Aug. 1st.

          Soon Aronian will play for USA, when? Then, Top 5 will not change but Armenia will loose a lot of points:

          6. Azerbeijan
          7. France
          8. Hungary
          9. Armenia
          10 Spain or Netherlands

          Comment

          Working...
          X