Vitiugov will earn $445,000 per month 2023/10/03

The world monarch Ding, Liren, of China regained the position of third place in the world, in the official FIDE list, which he maintained from February to June of this year. He appears with 2,780 Elo points, after former champion Magnus Carlsen, Norway, and the American Fabiano Caruana. In the list for the month of October there are seven luminaries under the age of 20 among the first 42 in the world, four are from India: 8) Gukesh, 16) Praggnanadhaa, 29) Erigaisi and 42) Nihal Sarin; the most outstanding is Alireza Firouzja, France, in fourth place; 25) Vincent Keymer, Germany and 27 Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Among some notable changes are Nikita Vitiugov who will play under the flag of Great Britain and GM Vladislav Artemiev who will represent Slovenia. The bar to enter the elite of the best 50 is gradually raised: a minimum of 2,689 Elo is required. A few months ago GMs needed 2,850.

1) Magnus Carlsen, Norway, 2,839; 2) Fabiano Caruana, United States, 2,786; 3) Ding, Liren, China, 2,780; 4) Hikaru Nakamura, United States, 2,780. 5) Alireza Fioruzja, France, 2,777; 6) Ian Nepomniachtchi, Russia, 2,771; 7) Anish Giri, Netherlands, 2,760. 8) Dommaraju Gukesh, India, 2,758. 9) Viswanathan Anand, India, 2,754. 10). Wesley So, United States, 2,753.

11) Richard Rapport, Romania, 2,752; 12) Sergey Karjakin, Russia, 2,750; 13) Leinier Domínguez, United States, 2,745; 14) Teimour Radjabov, Azerbaijan, 2,745. 15) Levon Aronia, United States, 2,742; 16) Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, India, 2,738; 17) Shakhriyarz Mamedyarov, Azerbaijan, 2,734; 18) Le, Quang Liem, Vietnam, 2,733; 19. Alexander Grischuk, Russia, 2,732; 20) Veselin Topalov, Bulgaria, 2,727. 21) Máxime, Vachier-Lagrave, France, 2,727; 22) Jan-Krzystof Duda, Poland, 2,726; 23) Wei, Yi, China, 2,720; 24) Yu, Yangyi, China; 25) Vincent Keymer, Germany, 2,717; 26) Pentala Harikrishna, India, 2,716; 27) Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Uzbekistan, 2,716; 28) Santosh Vidit, India, 2,716; 29) Arjun Erigaisi, India, 2,712. 30) Nikita Vitiugov, Great Britain, officially England's first board, 2,711 Elo points.

The prestigious Russian grandmaster, competitor, theorist, who has collaborated closely as an analyst with Peter Svídler, will receive from the English government, we know from a good source on the island, a contribution of 500,000 pounds sterling during the next two years in which he will work on the preparation of talents. The amount means that Vitiugov will earn the equivalent of $445,130.00 Mexican pesos, monthly.

Nikigta Vitiugov, 36 years old, was born on February 4, 1987 in Leningrad, present-day Saint Petersburg, Russia. He achieved the grandmaster title in 2006, the year he won second place at the FIDE Junior World Championship in Yerevan. He is a two-time world champion, team player with Russia in 2009 and 2013. In 2013 he was champion of the prestigious Tradewise Gibraltar Master Tournament; he broke a tie in real points in rapid chess against the Englishman Nigel Short. He won the Open Grenke in 2017. He was twice third lufar in the Russian Championship in 2009 and in 2013. In 2009 he broke the wall of 2,700 Elo points. He won the LXII Russian National Championship in 2021. He has written two books about the French defense, one on general strategy and one of them with a special focus seen from the battlefield of the black pieces.

31) Daniil Dubov, Russia, 2,710; 32) Jorden Van Foreest, Netherlands, 2,707; 33) Parham Maghsoodloo, Iran, 2,707; 34) Sanan Sjugirov, Hungary, 2,705; 35) Bogdan-Daniel Deac, Romania, 2,701; 36) Ray Robson, United States, 2,699; 37) Samuel Sevián, United States, 2,698; 38) Sam Shankland, United States, 2, 698; 39) Vladislav Artemiev, Russia, 2,697; 40) Haik Martirosyan Armenia, 2,696. 41) Pavel Eljanov, Ukraine, 2,695; 42) Nihal Sarin, India, 2,694; 43) Evebgeny Tomashevsky, Russia, 2,694; 44) Wang, Hao, China, 2,694; 45) Jeffery Xiong, United States, 2,693; 46) Vladimir Fedoseev, Slovenia, 2,691; 47) Bu, Xiangzhi, China, 2,690; 48) David Navara, Czech Republic, 2,689; 49) Nils Grandelius, Sweden, 2,689; 50. Peter Svídler, Russia, 2,689.

The solution

Alain C White, who compiled Sam Loyd's problems, presented a book in 1916 with more than 200 compositions by William Meredith. The key move: 1.Qh4 exd6 2.Bd7++. If 1...e5 2.Qc4++; 1...c5 2.Qe4++; 1...Kc6 2.Qc4++; 1...cxd6 2.Nd4++; 1...Ke5 2.Qd4++.

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