First World Online Championship of IPCA Held on June 16-17

The winner is Sander Severino.

The World Online Championship of IPCA (the International physically disabled chess association affiliated to FIDE) was held on June 16-17 in collaboration with the Israeli Chess Federation. The tournament was open to players with at least 50 percent disability and attracted 124 participants from 25 countries. 

The games were played on Lichess.org and zoomed as well. Chief organizer and director was Lior Aizenberg assisted by the deputy director of the ICF Assi Philosoph and International arbiters Olexaner Prohorov (Ukraine) and Yuriy Borsuk (Belarus). The playing format consisted of 9 Rapid rounds with 10 minutes per player and 10 minutes break between the rounds. 

The 34-year-old Philippine FM Sander Severino emerged winner with 8.5 (2602 performance!),1.5 points ahead of deputy champion IM Andrei Gurbanov (Israel), IM Andrei Obodchuk and  FM Ilia Liplin (both Russia) 7 points each. The 5th to 11th places were shared by Lukasz  Nowak (Poland), Jasper Rom (Philippines), IM Igor Yarmonov (Ukraine), Henry Lopez ( Philippines), IM Dmitry Scerbin (Russia), Alexandra Alexandrova (Israel), and Bakytzhan Maikenov (Kazakhstan) with 6.5 points each. 

Alexandrova, who finished in the respectable tenth place, was announced the event’s best female player.

Young Israeli grandmasters Nitzan Steinberg and Ori Kobo and IM Omer Reshef provided English commentary throughout the entire event via Twitch on the ICF official website. 
The closing ceremony, naturally conducted by Zoom, saw ICF chairman Dr. Zvika Barkai greeting all participants and the winners in particular. Special thanks are due to the IPCA President Svetlana Gerasimova as well as its Honorary President Zbigniew Philimon for their contribution to the success of the event. 

The IPCA annual world championship was initially scheduled to be held these days in the Israeli coastal city of Ashdod, however, due to the Covid-19 pandemic it had been postponed and hoped to take place in October in the same place. At the same time, it plans to carry on this new initiative of the online championship in the coming years regardless of the Covid-19 in view of the apparent opportunities it provides for physically limited players logistically and financially.
                                                                                                             

Information by Yochanan Afek