NEWSLETTER 148 (March 18, 2014) EICC 2014 – TITLE FOR MOTYLEV, YEREVAN GREAT HOST The 15th European Individual Chess Championship, which was dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the great Armenian chess player, the World 9th Champion Tigran Petrosian, has come to an end. The Championship started spectacularly, with a beautiful opening ceremony held on 2nd March 17, 2014, at the National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Yerevan/Armenia. A truly great chess atmosphere prevailed in the hall. The President of the Republic of Armenia, who doubles as the President of the Armenian Chess Federation, Serzh Sargsyan, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the President of the European Chess Union Silvio Danailov, a number of state officials, over 260 chess players from 27 participating countries and a great number of chess lovers were present at the ceremony. © Ecuonline.net Page 1 We witnessed many surprises in the first round already, and during the whole tournament there was a lot of excitement and many great games. Many of the players achieved norms, some of them even after 9 rounds. After 11 exciting rounds Russian Grandmaster Alexander Motylev triumphed with 9 points, with 7 wins and 4 draws. He had a lousy start, as he drew with lower rated IM Ali Marandi Cemil Can (ELO 2380) from Turkey in the first round, but he won 5 games in the row and took the lead, which eventually turned into a title. In such a strong and long open tournament, everything was „open“. That's why it was difficult to predict who will win, or who were the favorites for the title. GM Motylev played a very solid tournament, managed to stay focused enough not to lose a single game, and these were some of the reasons why he won the title. As the crown of excellent organization came the closing ceremony of European Individual Chess Championship, which was held on 14th March at Elite Plaza Business Center in Yerevan. Mr. Ashot Vardapetyan, the Chief Arbiter of the Championship, announced the winners, while the trophies were awarded by Mr. Smbat Lputian, Chair of the Organizing Committee of the European Individual Chess Championhip. Yerevan and Armenia are well-known for being a very good host, which was proven once again with the organization of this tournament. © Ecuonline.net Page 2 Final Ranking – first 30 positions Rank Title Name Rtg FED Pts RtgØ 1 GM Motylev Alexander 2656 RUS 9 2633 2 GM Anton Guijarro David 2559 ESP 8 2644 3 GM Fedoseev Vladimir 2641 RUS 8 2642 4 GM Solak Dragan 2610 TUR 8 2632 5 GM Eljanov Pavel 2723 UKR 8 2630 6 GM Lupulescu Constantin 2643 ROU 8 2606 7 GM Navara David 2700 CZE 8 2604 8 GM Saric Ivan 2661 CRO 8 2546 9 GM Lysyj Igor 2655 RUS 8 2539 10 GM Melkumyan Hrant 2613 ARM 7½ 2651 11 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2713 POL 7½ 2625 12 GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2723 RUS 7½ 2623 13 IM Artemiev Vladislav 2621 RUS 7½ 2614 14 GM Smirin Ilia 2644 ISR 7½ 2612 15 GM Fressinet Laurent 2709 FRA 7½ 2612 16 GM Sargissian Gabriel 2676 ARM 7½ 2607 17 GM Areshchenko Alexander 2705 UKR 7½ 2600 18 GM Perunovic Milos 2617 SRB 7½ 2598 19 GM Cheparinov Ivan 2681 BUL 7½ 2597 20 GM Iordachescu Viorel 2583 MDA 7½ 2596 21 GM Zhigalko Sergei 2671 BLR 7½ 2578 22 GM Ter-Sahakyan Samvel 2572 ARM 7½ 2558 23 GM Balogh Csaba 2651 HUN 7½ 2539 24 GM Oparin Grigoriy 2526 RUS 7½ 2508 25 GM Najer Evgeniy 2633 RUS 7 2656 26 GM Pashikian Arman 2612 ARM 7 2629 27 GM Grigoriants Sergey 2574 RUS 7 2616 28 GM Kryvoruchko Yuriy 2706 UKR 7 2608 29 GM Laznicka Viktor 2681 CZE 7 2601 30 GM Riazantsev Alexander 2689 RUS 7 2599 We are proud of the fact that it was dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the great Armenian chess player, the World 9th Champion Tigran Petrosian. We were happy to host all of you in Armenia, in one of the ancient countries of the world, the chess school of which has passed a glorious way. Our warmest congratulations to the winners of the championship. Our dear chess players, we wish you success, good luck, healthy and fair competition in upcoming tournaments chess players. © Ecuonline.net Page 3 © Ecuonline.net Page 4 The European Individual Chess Championship in Yerevan, Armenia had an exceptional organization and a prize fund. The ECU President Silvio Danailov wrote on this occasion in his twitter account: “#eicc2014 was great event, brilliantly organized by the Armenian Chess Fed. ECU is very proud.Thank you, Armenia!” For more information, you can visit the official website of the Championhip http://www.eicc2014.am/ Photos by Arman Karakhanyan Photos from EICC 2014 and Yerevan © Ecuonline.net Page 5 © Ecuonline.net Page 6 NEW EUROPEAN SENIOR CHESS CHAMPIONS IN OPORTO, PORTUGAL After intense 9 rounds, we reach the day that we meet the new European Champion in each of the 4 categories. In the Open 65+ category the dutchman Nico Schouten, after being matched in 1st place in the penultimate round, did value his excellent form and won his last match, granting the title of European Champion in a great game and a great tournament where he won more than 50 elo points. With a total sum of 7.5 points in 9 possible, he was joined on the podium by two Russian players Vladimir Beznosikov with 7 points and Alexander Kuyindzhi 6.5. In the Open 50+ category, the english Grand Master Keith Arkell kept the performance demonstrated in this final stage, ensuring a draw in the last game and the title of European Champion. He totaled 7 points from 9 possible in a very strong and competitive level, with a total of 36 players. The russian Evgenij Kalegin won © Ecuonline.net Page 7 2nd place, level on points with georgian Zurab Sturua, both with 6.5 points, which overcome to 4 players with 6 points, a very equilibrium noticed in the first 7. In the category Ladies 65+, russian Valentina Kozlovskaya player, after having isolated on top of the standings in the penultimate round, won again in the last round, securing the title of European Champion with 7.5 points in 9 possible. To complete the final podium, she is followed by a very strong Nona Gaprindashvili (Georgia) and Ludmila Tsifanskaya (Israel) respectively 2nd and 3rd place, both with 7 points from 9 possible. © Ecuonline.net Page 8 In the category Ladies 50+, the estonian Tatyana Fomina, even losing her last match, secured the title with 6.5 points in 9 possible, with the georgian Tsiala Kasoshvili stay in 2nd place, with the same points as the 1st ranked , losing in the tiebreakers. In 3rd place, the russian Galina Strutinskaya kept the place that had, keeping her in the final podium with 6 points. After these decisive conquest of titles and games, Closing Ceremony and Award of Prizes and Medals took place at 18:00, with the presence of the famous chess player Garry Kasparov. After the final closing speeches, all participants were presented to an excellent performance of Fado concert and some a nice goodbye in Oporto Wine. Today is a rest day, returning the games on 19th and 20th March for the European Senior Chess Championship 2014 - Rapid and in the 21th March for the European Senior Chess Championship 2014 - Blitz. © Ecuonline.net Page 9 Official website: http://www.fpx.pt/escc2014/ ECU PRESIDENT SILVIO DANAILOV VISITS ICELAND From 9th to 11th of March the ECU President Silvio Danailov visited Iceland to help and support the realization of the ECU program “Chess in school”. He also officialy opened the 7th round of Reykjavik Open 2014. During his stay in Iceland Mr. Danailov, together with the chess legend Garry Kasparov, had a meetings with different very important persons: Reception and dinner with the Prime Minister of Iceland, Mr. Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson © Ecuonline.net Page 10 Meeting with the Minister of Education and Sport of Iceland, Illugi Gunnarsson Meeting with the former FIDE President Fridrik Olafsson With Gudmundur Thorarinsson, main organizer and promoter of the legendary chess match Fischer-Spassky 1972 © Ecuonline.net Page 11 With Einar S.Einarsson, Chairman of the Committee, which released Fischer from the prison in Japan Silvio Danailov and Garry Kasparov met also with several Presidents of Scandinavian chess federations and visited the Fischer’s grave and museum in Selfoss. Website: www.danailov-for-president.com LI CHAO WINS REYKJAVIK OPEN 2014 Chinese Grandmaster Li Chao (ELO 2700) is the winner of Reykjavik Open 2014, which was held from 4th till 12th March, in the capital of Iceland. Li Chao convincingly triumphed with 8.5 points out of 10. Four players with 8 points tied for the second place: GMs Robin Van Kampen (ELO 2603) from Netherlands, Eric hansen (ELO 2587) from Canada, Eduardas Rozentalis (ELO 2623) from Lithuania and Helgi Olaffson (ELO 2546) from Iceland. Since there were only 2 medals left, tie-breaks decided who was to take them. So thanks to better tie-breaks, Van Kampen won silver, and Hansen won bronze medal. The best ranked woman in the tournament was GM Harika Dronavalli (ELO 2487) from India, with a great score of 7.5 points. She finished 7th in the end, with rating performance of 2923 and won 20 rating points. The tournament was played according to the Swiss System in 10 rounds, witht he time control 90 minutes for 40 moves, floowed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game + 30 seconds increment per move, starting from move one.