The German Chess Federation will hold an over-the-board classical tournament on April 5-11. The event will be played at the Maritim Hotel in Magdeburg, the capital and second-largest city of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt.
People with contagious viral infections have always sat down at the board in chess tournaments. If the symptoms were perceived by the — still healthy — opponent, he or she still had no chance of success with any complaints. The topic simply never played a role in tournament regulations and rules. And how should that have been possible? Arbiters want to judge the facts surrounding each game — for example, is the mobile phone on or off? The symptoms of an infection, however, are not so easy to grasp. So, chess players have always had to bite the bullet: risk an illness of their own or simply suffer a defeat.
It is possible, however, that a drastic cultural change is taking place, which is quite banal since Covid-19 test results or — perhaps in the near future — entries in vaccination cards can be clearly grasped and translated into an unambiguous rule. If the prevailing narrative that everything will return to ‘normal’ when everyone is vaccinated ‘in the summer’ crumbles in the next few months, then these measures could indeed be applied in chess tournaments for some time to come. Arbiters would then be able to cope with the issue.
At any rate, the usual Covid-19 tests have arrived at the playing site of the Kader-Challenge. They will be carried out on every single person participating in the tournament. The audience in front of the screens will surely keep their fingers firmly crossed that the results will always come out negative!
[Pictured: Town hall and golden Magdeburg Rider statue, via Wikimedia Commons]
| Name | FED | RtgI | |
| GM | Blübaum Matthias | GER | 2670 |
| GM | Donchenko Alexander | GER | 2659 |
| GM | Svane Rasmus | GER | 2613 |
| GM | Heimann Andreas | GER | 2606 |
| GM | Huschenbeth Niclas | GER | 2604 |
| GM | Fridman Daniel | GER | 2601 |
| GM | Kollars Dmitrij | GER | 2598 |
| GM | Wagner Dennis | GER | 2581 |
| GM | Engel Luis | GER | 2553 |
| FM | Svane Frederik | GER | 2421 |
| Bo. | Name | Result | Name | No. |
| 1 | Svane Rasmus | Fridman Daniel | 10 | |
| 2 | Kollars Dmitrij | Heimann Andreas | 9 | |
| 3 | Svane Frederik | Blübaum Matthias | 8 | |
| 4 | Huschenbeth Niclas | Donchenko Alexander | 7 | |
| 5 | Engel Luis | Wagner Dennis | 6 |
| Name | FED | RtgI | |
| IM | Pähtz Elisabeth | GER | 2467 |
| WGM | Heinemann Josefine | GER | 2296 |
| WIM | Sieber Fiona | GER | 2275 |
| WGM | Lubbe Melanie | GER | 2274 |
| WIM | Schneider Jana | GER | 2272 |
| WIM | Mütsch Annmarie | GER | 2266 |
| WFM | Ziegenfuß Antonia | GER | 2101 |
| WCM | Bashylina Luisa | GER | 1978 |
| Bo. | Name | Result | Name | No. |
| 1 | Bashylina Luisa | Sieber Fiona | 8 | |
| 2 | Schneider Jana | Lubbe Melanie | 7 | |
| 3 | Mütsch Annmarie | Pähtz Elisabeth | 6 | |
| 4 | Heinemann Josefine | Ziegenfuß Antonia | 5 |
