NEWSLETTER 132 (October 16, 2013)

THE END IN BUDVA: SMILEY FACES AND HANDS FULL OF PRIZES

On 8th of October, the 23rd European Youth Chess Championship was officially closed. After 9 exciting and militant rounds we got 12 new Champions in 12 different categories.

Between 29th of September and 8th of October Budva and Montenegro have been the hosts to 1043 young chess players aged 8-18 from 48 European countries.

Now we have come to the end of this competition where 4.656 games and over 200 000 moves were played.

Special thanks go to the general sponsor, company ''m:tel Montenegro'' which has recognized the extreme importance of this event and provided us with the opportunity to be better organisers, as well as really rich presents for the participants.

We express thanks to the Budva Riviera and staff of the tourist resort ''Slovenska Plaza'' for their great hospitality related to the accommodation and meals for the participants.

Also, we thank the staff of the Mediterranean Sports Centre and elementary school ''Stefan Mitrov Ljubisa'' for providing the playing halls.

And finally, we would like to thank the arbiters and organising team - 70 people in total made efforts to make the organisation of this Championship as good as possible.

This year’s edition of the European Youth Championship was marked by a very attractive prize fund for the best players.

Participants who won the 4th and 5th place in their groups got, apart from trophies, chess books as presents.

Participants who won the third place received the popular ''tablet'' computers.

Participants who won the second place were given away by the organiser notebook computers.

Winners in each one of the 12 groups got as a present laptop computers.

Ms. Jasna Sakotic, International chess arbiter and chief arbiter of this competition announced the most successful participants, and the prizes were awarded to the best players in different categories by: Mr. Lazar Akovic, Vice President of the Montenegro Chess Federation, in the boys' and girls' groups under 8; Ms. Ana Martinovic, PR Manager of the general sponsor, company m:tel Montenegro, in the boys' and girls' groups under 10 and 18 years old; Mr. Georg Mohr from Slovenia, Grandmaster and organiser of the World Championship in Maribor in 2012, in the boys' and girls' groups under 12; Mr. Martin Huba, President of Slovakian Chess Federation and member of the Appeals Committee, in the boys' and girls' groups under 14, and Mr. Akaki Iashvili from Georgia, organiser of the next European Youth Chess Championship in 2014, in the boys' and girls' groups under 16 years old.

The best five players in each category are as follows:

Girls U8:

1. Laura Czernikowska (POL) 7.5 points, 2. Eva Stepanyan (RUS) 7.5 points, 3. Maria Sovina (RUS) 7 points, 4. Karalina Holouchyts (BLR) 7 points, 5. Galina Mironenko © Ecuonline.net Page 3

(RUS) 6.5 points;

Girls U10:

1. Anastasia Vuller (ISR) 7.5 points, 2. Elizaveta Solozhenkina (RUS) 7 points, 3. Nargyul Salimova (BUL) 7 points, 4. Govhar Beydullayeva (AZE) 7 points, 5. Magdalena Harazinska (POL) 7 points;

Girls U12:

1. Polina Shuvalova (RUS) 9 points, 2. Ekatarina Goltseva (RUS) 7.5 points, 3. Gabriela Antova (BUL) 7 points, 4. Akshaya Kalaiyalahan (ENG) 7 points, 5. Anastasia Kozina (RUS) 7 points;

Girls U14:

1. Gunay Mammadzada (AZE) 7.5 points, 2. Veronika Gazikova (SVK) 7 points, 3. Nela Pychova (CZE) 7 points, 4. Anna Vesenina (RUS) 7 points, 5. Anna-Maja Kazarian (NED) 6.6 points;

Girls U16:

1. Anna Styazhkina (RUS) 8.5 points, 2. Mariola Wozniak (POL) 7 points, 3. Irene Nicolas Zapata (ESP) 6.5 points, 4. Zalina Lingur (RUS) 6.5 points, 5. Tijana Blagojevic (MNE) 6.5 points;

Girs U18:

1. Nastassia Ziaziulkina (BLR) 7 points, 2. Marsel Efroimski (ISR) 7 points, 3. Irina Baraeva (RUS) 6.5 points, 4. Klaudia Wisinowska (POL) 6.5 points, 5. Nato Imnadze (GEO) 6 points;

Open U8:

1. Elshan Aydin Suleymanli (AZE) 8 points, 2. Andrey Tsvetkov (RUS) 7.5 points, 3. Emil Aliyev Sanan (AZE) 7.5 points, 4. Maksim Tsaruk (BLR) 7 points, 5. Isik Can (TUR) 7 points;

Open U10:

1. Kagan Aydincelebi (TUR) 7.5 points, 2. Arseniy Nesterov (RUS) 7 points, 3. David Gavrilescu (ROU) 7 points, 4. Vincent Keymer (GER) 7 points, 5. Albert Tomasi (FRA) 7 points;

Open U12:

1. Viktor Matviishen (UKR) 7.5 points, 2. Andrey Esipenko (RUS) 7.5 points, 3. Nguyen Thai Dai Van (CZE) 7 points, 4. Timur Fakhrutdinov (RUS) 7 points, 5. Aram Hakobyan (ARM) 7 points;

Open U14:

1. Jorden Van Foreest (NED) 7.5 points, 2. Miguel Santos Ruiz (ESP) 7.5 points, 3. Arayan Tari (NOR) 7 points, 4. Benjamin Gledura (HUN) 7 points, 5. Milan Zajic (SRB) 7 points;

Open U16:

1. Kirill Alekseenko (RUS) 7.5 points, 2. Dmitriy Khegay (RUS) 7 points, 3. Ramil Faizrakhmatov (RUS) 7 points, 4. Ori Kobo (ISR) 7 points, 5. Tigran Harutyunian (ARM) 6.5 points;

Open U18:

1. Vladimir Fedoseev (RUS) 7.5 points, 2. Hovhannes Gabuzyan (ARM) 7 points, 3. Maksim Chigaev (RUS) 7 points, 4. Denis Kadric (BIH) 7 points, 5. Karen Grigoryan (ARM) 6.5 points;

We would like to thank all the chess players for coming to Budva and participating in this competition. We sincerely hope that the rainy weather in the last two days did not spoil your impressions and that you will take with you many nice memories.

For more information, you can visit the official website of the Championship http://www.budva2013.org

GM PETER SVIDLER AND GM VALENTINA GUNINA WIN THE RUSSIAN CHAMPIONSHIP SUPERFINAL

GM Peter Svidler (ELO-2740) and GM Valentina Gunina (ELO-2506) won the Russian Championship Superfinal.

This is 7th Russian title for Pete Svidler who won against Ian Nepomniachtchi (ELO-2702) in a rapid play-off with 1.5- 0.5, after they both finished in the final ranking with 6.5 points out of 9.

Third was GM Nikita Vitiugov (ELO-2729) with 5.5/9.

In the women section Valentina Gunina won her second Russian title in her carreer. Second was GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (ELO-2495) with 6 points, third in the final ranking was WGM Natalija Pogonina (ELO-2485), who scored 4.5 points.

Final Ranking after 9 rounds - first 5 positions - MEN

Rk. Title Name Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian 2702 6.5 26.8 5 0 2 GM Svidler Peter 2740 6.5 26.8 4 0 3 GM Vitiugov Nikita 2729 5.5 22 3 0 4 GM Kramnik Vladimir 2796 5.5 19.8 4 0 5 GM Andreikin Dmitry 2706 5 18 4 0

The Russian Championship Superfinals was held on October 05-14, 2013 in Nizhny Novgorod. The average ELO rating of the men’s section was 2696, of the women’s section – 2448. Chief-Arbiter was Anatoly Bykhovsky.

Final Ranking– first 5 positions - WOMEN

Rk. Title Name Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 GM Gunina Valentina 2506 6.5 22.8 5 0 2 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2495 6 19.5 5 0 3 WGM Pogonina Natalija 2485 4.5 14.3 3 0 4 IM Kovalevskaya Ekaterina 2410 4 15.5 1 0 5 WGM Goryachkina Aleksandra 2436 4 14.5 1 0 Official website: www.russiachess.org

GM KIRIL GEORGIEV WINS THE BULGARIAN INDIVIDUAL RAPID CHAMPIONSHIP

GM Kiril Georgiev (ELO 2683) won the Bulgarian Individual Rapid Championship with final result 6 points out of 7. On a half point distance from the winner finished IM Sasho Nikolov (ELO 2443), third is GM Petar Drenchev (ELO 2483) with the same result.

The Bulgarian Individual Rapid

Championship was held on October Photo by Emilia Dimitrova

11-12, 2013 in Dupnitsa. Chief-Arbiter of the tournament, organized by the Bulgarian Chess Federation, was FA Georgi Bednikov, Tournament Director-Todor Girginov. Fifty-one chess players took part in the competition. The average ELO rating of the tournament was 2017.

Final Ranking after 7 rounds – first 5 positions – RAPID_Men

Rk. Title Name Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 GM Georgiev Kiril 2683 6 25 34 5 2 IM Nikolov Sasho 2443 5.5 23 32 5 3 GM Drenchev Petar 2483 5.5 22 31 4 4 GM Inkiov Ventzislav 2483 5.5 21 29 5 5 Danov Lyubomir 2176 5.5 20 29 5 In the women section winner became WIM Elitsa Raeva with 5 points out of 7, the silver was for WIM Stefi Bednikova with 4 points, bronze was for Ani Krumova, who finished with the same result.

Final Ranking after 7 rounds – first 3 positions – RAPID_Women

Rk. Title Name Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 WIM Raeva Elitsa 2323 5 20 28 5 2 WIM Bednikova Stefi 2150 4 21 29 3 3 Krumova Ani 2109 4 16 22 3 The blitz section of the championship was held on 13th of October at the same venue. Winner became FM Georgi Filev, who scored 8.5 points out of 11 and better tie-break than the second and the third in the final ranking, Petar Savov and Metodi Stoinev, who finished with the same points like the winner.

Final Ranking 11 rounds – first 5 positions – BLITZ_Men

Rk. Title Name Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 FM Filev Georgi 2328 8.5 65 78 7 2 Savov Petar 1969 8.5 61 73 7 3 Stoinev Metodi 2236 8.5 61 74 7 4 Vutov Mario 2338 8 61 75 7 5 IM Nikolov Sasho 2406 7.5 64 77 7 In the women section winner became WIM Stefi Bednikova – 7 points, second was WIM Elitsa Raeva – 5.5 points, third – Emilia Georgieva – 5.5 points.

Final Ranking 11 rounds – first 3 positions – BLITZ_Women

Rk. Title Name Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 WIM Bednikova Stefi 2083 7 49 61 6 2 WIM Raeva Elitsa 2258 5.5 55 68 5 3 Georgieva Emilia 1896 5.5 45 55 5 Forty-eight chess players competed for the Bulgarian blitz title. The average ELO of the tournament was 1985.

Official website: www.chessbg.com

IM ANDREAS DIERMAIR WINS THE AUSTRIAN RAPID CHAMPIONSHIP’2013

IM Andreas Diermair won the Austrian Rapid Championship’ 2013 with 7.5 points out of 9. Second was IM Khaled Mahdy, who scored the same result. Third was IM Robert Kreisl with 7 points.

The Austrian Rapid Championship was held on 13th of October, 2013 in Freistadt. The average ELO rating of the competition was 1921.

Chief-Arbiter of the tournament, organized by Austrian Chess Federation, was IS Günter Mitterhuemer, Tournament Director - Peter Mayerhofer. One hundred and twenty two chess players competed for the title.

Final Ranking after 9 rounds – first 5 positions – MEN

Rk. Title Name Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 IM Diermair Andreas 2386 7.5 55 43 44.3 2 IM Mahdy Khaled 2372 7.5 54 43 44.3 3 IM Kreisl Robert 2390 7 56 43 41.8 4 FM Handler Lukas 2320 7 54 42 39.3 5 GM Shengelia David 2501 7 51 40 38.8 In the women section winner became IM Eva Moser – 7 points, second was WFM Veronika Exler – 6 points, third - WFM Katharina Newrkla – 5.5 points.

Final Ranking after 9 rounds – first 3 positions – WOMEN

Rk. Title Name Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 IM Moser Eva 2397 7 53 41 39 2 WFM Exler Veronika 2107 6 40 31 24 3 WFM Newrkla Katharina 2120 5.5 45 36 26 The Austrian Blitz Championship was held on 12th of October at the same venue. Austrian blitz champion became IM Robert Kreisl who scored 10 points out of 13 and better tie-break than the second and the third in the final ranking IM Manfred Freitag and IM Alexander Fauland.

Final Ranking after 13 rounds – first 5 positions - MEN

Rk. Title Name Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 IM Kreisl Robert 2407 10 109 93 83.3 2 IM Freitag Manfred 2363 10 107 91 81.5 3 IM Fauland Alexander 2420 10 107 91 80 4 GM Shengelia David 2538 9.5 110 93 76.8 5 IM Alvir Aco 2362 9.5 109 92 76.3 IM Eva Moser is the new rapid women chess champion of Austria with final result 9 points out of 13. Second in the final ranking is WIM Anna-Christina Kopinits with 8 points, third is WFM Katharina Newrkla with 7.5 points.

Final Ranking after 13 rounds – first 3 positions - WOMEN

Rk. Title Name Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 IM Moser Eva 2403 9 102 86 67.3 2 WIM Kopinits Anna-Christina 2248 8 93.5 79 53 3 WFM Newrkla Katharina 2157 7.5 83 72 44.8 One hundred and nineteen were the participants in the blitz championship. The average ELO rating was 1966.

Official website: www.chess.at

NM FRIEDRICH WOEBER WINS THE AUSTRIAN SENIOR CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

NM Friedrich Woeber won the Austrian Senior Chess Championship scoring 5 points out of 7. The silver medal was for Alfred Enzendorfer – 5 points, the bronze medal was for Lambert Danner – 4.5 points.

The Austrian Senior Chess Championship was held on October

07-13, 2013 in Spitz in der Wachau. Chief-Arbiter of the tournamnent, organized by the Austrian Chess Federation, was Ing. Manfred Günther, Tournament Director - Herbert Gruszka. Twenty chess players took part in the competition. The average ELO rating was 1916.

Final Ranking after 7 rounds – first 5 positions Rk. Title Name Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 NM Woeber Friedrich Di. 2143 5 30 21 21 2 Enzendorfer Alfred 2049 5 27 19 17.3 3 Danner Lambert 2073 4.5 30 21 18.5 4 Hauthaler Mario 1980 4.5 28 20 17 5 Fasser Walter 1915 4 29 21 15.3 Official website: www.chess.at

PANEVEZIO ŠK – BABILONAS WINS THE LITHUANIAN TEAM RAPID CHAMPIONSHIP

Panevezio SK-Babilonas is the new Lithuanian Team Rapid Chess Champion with final score 14 matchpoints. Second was the team of MRU (Vilnius)- 12 matchpoints, third - Milsa (Kaunas) – 9 matchpoints.

The Lithuanian Team Rapid Chess Championship was held on October 05-06, 2013 in Panevėžys. Chief-Arbiter of the competition, organized by the Lithuanian Chess Federation, was Paliulionis Raimondas, Tournament-Director - Baltrūnas Arvydas.

Fourteen teams took part in the competition. The average ELO rating was 1888.

Final Ranking after 7 rounds

TB TB Rk. Team TB3 TB4 TB5 1 2 1 Panevėžio ŠK - Babilonas 14 20 118 118 110 2 MRU (Vilnius) 12 23 108 88 99 3 Milsa (Kaunas) 9 17 116 65.5 106 4 VŠK "Bokštas“ (Plungė) 9 17 113 62.5 104 5 "Drakonas" (Šiauliai) 8 18 100 41 91.5 6 KKSC 1 (Panevėžys) 8 18 96 37 87.5 7 "Vilniaus fortas" 8 18 93 39.5 84.5 8 "Valdovė" (Rokiškis) 6 12 98.5 28.5 90 9 "Fortūna" (Šiauliai) 6 10 103 28.5 94.5 10 KKSC 2 (Panevėžys) 5 11 83 21.8 74.5 11 Alytaus SRC 5 8.5 90 23 81.5 12 Panevėžio ŠK 2 4 8.5 93.5 17.3 85 13 "Širvinta" (Vilkaviškis) 3 9 75 12.8 66.5 14 LASF (Vilnius) 1 8.5 85.5 4.25 77 Team composition of the winners was: Tomas Laurušas (ELO-2452), IM Kęstutis Labeckas (ELO-2391), IM Virginijus Dambrauskas (ELO-2342), Rūta Jakaitytė (ELO- 1918) and Arvydas Baltrunas (ELO-1920).

Official website: www.chessfed.lt

GM MIHAI SUBA WINS THE XI SPANISH SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP

GM Mihai Suba (ROU) won the XI Spanish Senior Championship with final result of 7.5 points. Second was GM Juan Manuel Bellon Lopez (AND) with 7 points, third was IM Jorge A. Gonzalez Rodriguez (COL) with 7 points.

The XI Spanish Senior Championship was held on October 05-13 in Alicante.

Chief-Arbiter of the tournament was AI Miguel Ramos Vizuete, Tournament- Director - OI Alfonso Pedraza Mancilla. Seventy chess players took part in the competition. The average ELO rating was 1958.

Final Ranking after 9 rounds – first 10 positions

Rk. Title Name Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 GM Suba Mihai 7.5 48 52 41 2 GM Bellon Lopez Juan Manuel 7 49 53 41 3 IM Gonzalez Rodriguez Jorge A. 7 47 51 40 4 FM Pablo Mari Alejandro 6.5 45 49 38 5 Lloret Ramis Juan Jose 6 47 51 39 6 Grigoriev Ivan 6 47 51 39 7 Pastor Alonso De Prado Albert 6 47 50 39 8 NM Anguera Maestro Jaime 6 44 47 37 9 FM Simon Padros Emili 6 43 47 36 10 IM Kovacevic Slobodan 6 42 46 35 Official website: www.feda.org

WGM ALEXANDRA NICOLAU PASSED AWAY

The Romanian chess is in mourning: one of its greatest players, WGM Alexandra Van der Mije (born Nicolau) passed away on 14th of October, at the age of 73 years.

Daughter of the academician Stefan Nicolau (founder of virology in Romania), herself with a high education (expert in Chinese language), Alexandra Nicolau has become 6 times

Romanian National Champion, between 1960 and 1973.

In this period, she was a main member of the Romanian Women Olympic team, two times silver gaining (1966, 1972). Personally, under the Romanian flag she won three medals at the Olympiads: silver in 1963 and 1966 (both at 1st board) and bronze in 1972 (at 2nd board). At the individual World Women Championships, her highest performances were the participations at the Candidate Tournaments in Vrnajcka Banja (1961) and Subotica (1967).

From 1974, she played for Netherlands, becoming 5 times champion of her new country, between 1974 and 1979. At the Olympiad of Haifa (1976) she gained the bronze medal, playing at the first board of the Dutch team. Her last appearance as professional chessplayer was in 1980 (when she won the international tournament Cala Galdana), but she continued to play at the Olympiads until 1988, remaining forever a live legend of the chess.