NEWSLETTER 146 (February 27, 2014)

SILVIO DANAILOV AND GARRY KASPAROV MEET WITH THE SPANISH STATE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION, MONTSERRAT GOMENDIO On 25th of February, 2014, the ECU President Silvio Danailov and the candidate for FIDE President, Garry Kasparov, met with the Spanish State Secretary of Education, Montserrat Gomendio in the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, Madrid.

The meeting was held in connection with the joint project of the European Chess Union and Kasparov Chess Foundation, “Chess in school” with purpose to explain the advantages of chess as an educational tool and to present the program.

During the meeting they talked about the current experiences that are taking place in some regions of Spain such as Galicia (Redondela), Catalonia or Canary Islands. The Spanish State Secretary of Education expressed the aim of the Ministry to participate in the CIS program in order to promote and inform the regions about how to implement it.

It was mentioned the example of other countries where chess has proved to be an excellent educational tool to solve children problems like school failure, etc. аnd also to improve a lot of competencies like responsibility of their actions, mathematical reasoning, language comprehension, social integration.

Besides, the ECU President Silvio Danailov and Mr. Manuel Fernández, Chancellor of the University of Vigo singed a general agreement for collaboration in order to develop a plan to train school teachers to become a "chess teachers".

Other participnats in the meeting was: Mr. Javier Bas (Major of Redondela), Mr. Manuel Vila (Deputy Director of Management and Educational Innovation and Teacher Training of Galicia), Ms. Sara Rodríguez (Marketing Manager ECU), Mr. Roberto Páramos (ECU Delegate), Ms. Teresa París (Councilwoman for Education) and Mr. Miguel Ángel Vidal (High School Teacher of Redondela).

Silvio Danailov stressed on the very important place, which chess can have in the modern education. According to him “it is just a matter of time, chess to become part of the educational system of the new Europe”. “Chess has unique qualities - it is unusual combination between sport, education, culture and science.” – said also Mr. Danailov.

The Mayor of Redondela, Mr. Javier Bas said that in their short experience they have proved that children who attend chess classes, improve a lot of their skills in contrast to those who don't attend chess classes.

Mr. Danailov gave a special interview to Salvador Valdes in the TV show "La aventura del saber" of the "La 2" Spanish TV channel. You could watch it on 11th March, 2014 at 10am.

Official website: www.ecuonline.net

EUROPEAN INDIVIDUAL CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP YEREVAN 2014 – GREAT BATTLES TO BEGIN! We are getting closer to one of the biggest and most important tournaments in Europe – European Individual Chess Championship, which will be held in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia and one of the chess capitals of Europe.

The Championship will take part from 2nd (Arrival day) till 15th (Departure day) March, 2014, at Elite Plaza Business Centre.

The Championship is dedicated to the memory of the World 9th Champion Tigran Petrosian whose 85th birthday is celebrated this year.

251 players from 27 national federations are registered so far. The first seed is French Grandmaster Etienne Bacrot (ELO 2739). The participation has been confirmed by the last year’s Champion Alexander Moiseenko (UKR), as well as by the former European Champions Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS), Vladimir Potkin (RUS), Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS), Emil Sutovsky (ISR) and Pavel Tregubov (RUS).

Also, there will be many ladies who will try their luck competing with men. Some of the important names are Judit Polgar (HUN), Nana Dzagnidze (GEO), Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL), Elina Danielian (ARM), Lilit Mkrtchian (ARM) etc.

The organizers have prepared a rich prize fund: 160 000 Euros – 25 main and 15 special prizes are included. The opening ceremony will be held on March 2, at 9.00 pm at the Armenian National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet after A. Spendiaryan. The Tournament Director is GM Smbat Lputian, and the Chief Arbiter is IA Ashot Vardapetyan from Armenia.

Participants can get all the necessary information through the Armenian Chess Federation: E-mail: [email protected] Fax: (374) 10570758 Address: 50, Khandjian Str.,0025, Yerevan, Armenia For more information, you can visit the official website of the Championship http://www.eicc2014.am/

Short history: Each year since 2000, the European Chess Union has organized a European Individual Chess Championship with the goal of determining open and women's champions for Europe. While in practice, the open section is often referred to as the "men's" tournament, women are certainly welcome to participate, and some - notably Judit Polgar - have been quite successful, finishing as high as third place, winning the bronze medal.

The European Championships have, on almost all occasions, been held as Swiss system tournaments. These tournaments have not only been used to give out awards to the top European players, but also to qualify players for various later stages of the World Championship.

European Open Championship The first official European Chess Championship was held in Saint-Vincent, Italy in the year 2000. The tournament drew 120 players for 11 rounds of Swiss system play, and was ultimately won by Russia's Pavel Tregubov.

In the years since then, the tournament has expanded. For a few years, play was increased to 13 rounds; however, since 2006, each tournament has once again been an 11-round Swiss. The tournament field now regularly tops 300 players, with the all-time high coming in 2010, when 408 players participated. Interestingly, no player has yet won two European Championships, though some players have had success at multiple events. For instance, Vassily Ivanchuk won the tournament in 2004, and then finished second in 2006, while Levon Aronian won back-to-back bronze medals in 2004 and 2005. The complete list of European Open

Champions are as follows: 2000: Pavel Tregubov (Russia), 2001: Emil Sutovsky (Israel), 2002: Bartlomiej Macieja (Poland), 2003: Zurab Azmaiparashvili (Georgia), 2004: Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), 2005: Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Romania), 2006: Zdenko Kozul (Croatia), 2007: Vladislav Tkachiev (France), 2008: Sergei Tiviakov (Netherlands), 2009: Evgeny Tomashevsky (Russia), 2010: Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia), 2011: Vladimir Potkin (Russia), 2012: Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia), 2013: Alexander Moiseenko (Ukraine)

ZAKSAITE NEW LITHUANIAN CHAMPION FOR 2014, PILECKIS WINS SEMIFINAL Women International master Salomeja Zaksaite (ELO 2196) became the new Lithuanian National Champion for 2014, while International master Emilis Pileckis (ELO 2457) won National Championship semifinals. Both events were held in Vilnus/Lithuania, 17-23 February, 2014.

Men played a Swiss tournament, as a qualifications for the main tournament. After 8 interesting rounds the title went to Pileckis. He scored 6.5 points, with 5 wins and 3 draws. Silver medal went to IM Tomas Laurusas (ELO 2405) with 6 points, and the bronze went to FM Sigitas Kalvaitis (ELO 2242) with 5.5 points, and the best tie- break among six other participants.

Final Ranking after 8 rounds – first 10 positions - MEN

Rk. Title Name RtgI Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 TB5 1 IM Pileckis Emilis 2457 6.5 34 38 30 2472 2 IM Laurusas Tomas 2405 6 37 41 28 2400 3 FM Kalvaitis Sigitas 2242 5.5 37 41 27 2335 4 IM Labeckas Kestutis 2348 5.5 37 40 28 2308 5 Setkauskas Vaidas 2193 5.5 37 41 26 2245 6 Bastys Robertas 2236 5.5 36 40 27 2296 7 IM Sakalauskas Vaidas 2399 5.5 34 37 26 2236 8 Juknis Paulius 2141 5.5 33 36 23 2129 9 Stremavicius Titas 2269 5 35 39 26 2248 10 Brazdzionis Andrius 2049 5 33 35 23 2174

In Women's Championship it was very exciting. They also played a Swiss tournament, but in 7 rounds. After 4 rounds Gintare Paulauskaite (ELO 2048) was in the sole lead with the maximum score. And in the next round she drew with Zaksaite, and still was in the lead. But unfortunately, she lost the remaining two games, of which zaksaite took advantage and won the title.

Zaksaite scored 5.5 points, the same as WFM Laima Domarkaite (ELO 2139), but thanks to better tie-break Zaksaite became the champion. The third place went to Dominyka Batkovskyte (ELO 2110) with 5 points.

Final Ranking after 7 rounds – first 10 positions – WOMEN

Rk. Title Name RtgI Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 TB5 1 WIM Zaksaite Salomeja 2196 5.5 27 30 24 2254 2 WFM Domarkaite Laima 2139 5.5 27 30 23 2241 3 Batkovskyte Dominyka 2110 5 27 29 21 2043 4 Jakaityte Ruta 1980 5 24 27 19 2009 5 Vanagaite Giedre 2014 5 22 25 17 1984 6 Paulauskaite Gintare 2048 4.5 25 27 24 1985 7 Zykiene Rita 1960 4.5 18 20 14 1713 8 WFM Batyte Daiva 2154 4 29 31 21 2044 9 Ramanauskaite Giedre 1981 4 25 27 16 1818 10 Urbonaviciute Zivile 1831 4 24 25 17 1860 Both Championships were organized by the Lithuanian Chess Federation. Tournament director was IO Baltrunas Arvydas, and the Chief Arbiter was IA Paliulionis Raimondas. Photos by A. Baltrunas Official website: www.chessfed.lt JOBAVA WINS BRONSTEIN MEMORIAL 2014

Georgian Grandmaster Baadur Jobava (ELO 2706) became a winner of David Bronstein Memorial 2014 A- tournament, which was held in Minsk/Belarus 11-19 February, 2014. The tournament was organized as a dedication to the 90th anniversary of famous Soviet chess player and master of tactics - David Ionovich Bronstein.

2099). Jobava justified the role of the first seed in the tournament, and convincingly won the tournament with 7 points out of 9. He scored 5 wins and 4 draws, and although he tied for the first place, he secured the victory by very good games in the middle of the tournament. Eventually two draws in the last two games were enough for the title.

Second place went to GM Sergey Fedorchuk (ELO 2641) from Ukraine, and the third place went to GM Mikhailo Oleksienko (ELO 2630) also from Ukraine, with 7 points.

Final Ranking after 9 rounds – first 10 positions

Rk. Title Name FED RtgI Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 TB4 1 GM Jobava Baadur GEO 2706 7 2578 5 0 50 2 GM Fedorchuk Sergey A UKR 2641 7 2504 5 0 47 3 GM Oleksienko Mikhailo UKR 2630 7 2492 5 0 45 4 GM Zhigalko Sergei BLR 2661 6.5 2574 4 0 47 5 GM Shimanov Aleksandr RUS 2658 6.5 2560 4 0 48 6 GM Safarli Eltaj AZE 2649 6.5 2546 5 0 48 7 GM Sargissian Gabriel ARM 2671 6.5 2540 5 0 47 8 GM Khairullin Ildar RUS 2651 6.5 2487 4 0 45 9 GM Jumabayev Rinat KAZ 2564 6.5 2436 5 0 45 10 GM Tiviakov Sergei NED 2639 6 2580 4 0 50 Totally 139 players from 21 countries participated in this tournament, among whom 113 International title holders.

The tournament was player accorind to the Swiss System in 9 rounds, with the time control 90 minutes for the whole game + 30 seconds increment per move, starting from move one.

The winner of the B tournament was Mikhail Sadovski (ELO 2093) from Belarus, who scored 7.5 points out of 9.

Official website: http://www.openchess.by/