NEWSLETTER 125 (August 12, 2013)

HOANG THANH TRANG - THE 14TH EUROPEAN CHAMPION

GM Hoang Thanh Trang (2467) is the new European Champion for 2013! She drew with Viktorija Cmilyte in the last 11th round and won the Championship with 9 points out of maximum 11. The curiosity is that Hoang Trang is the first woman to win both Asian and European Individual Women's Championships.

Although Cmilyte had an advantage almost during the whole game, she still didn't manage to win, and with the unfortunate turn of events, she even stayed without the medal, and came 4th.

Six players with 8 points tied for the second place, but according to tie-break (Average Rating cut-1) silver medal went to IM Salome Melia (2428) from Georgia, and bronze went to IM Lilit Mkrtchian (2454) from Armenia.

Last round brought many exciting games. Monica Socko and Salome Melia played until the last atom of strength was squeezed. Socko was trying to materialize the advantage she had and win the game and the silver medal, but Melia defended well during the whole game and there was nothing more that Socko could do but to finally draw in 150 moves.

With this draw Socko finished 7th with the worst tie-break among the 6 players.

Final Ranking after 11 rounds – first 20 positions Rk. Title Name FED Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 TB4

1 GM Hoang Thanh Trang HUN 9 2421 73 79 7

2 IM Melia Salome GEO 8 2452 73 77 5

3 IM Mkrtchian Lilit ARM 8 2404 71 76 5

4 GM Cmilyte Viktorija LTU 8 2393 69 74 5

5 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra RUS 8 2393 67 72 7

6 IM Khotenashvili Bela GEO 8 2388 69 75 6

7 GM Socko Monika POL 8 2360 65 70 5

8 WGM Kashlinskaya Alina RUS 7.5 2433 70 73 6

9 WGM Arabidze Meri GEO 7.5 2432 74 78 5

10 WGM Pogonina Natalija RUS 7.5 2407 68 73 4

11 WGM Kovanova Baira RUS 7.5 2398 70 75 5

12 GM Muzychuk Anna SLO 7.5 2393 69 74 4

13 WGM Girya Olga RUS 7.5 2391 70 75 5

14 GM Stefanova Antoaneta BUL 7.5 2362 65 70 6

15 WGM Ozturk Kubra TUR 7.5 2360 65 69 6

16 GM Cramling Pia SWE 7.5 2356 65 70 5

17 IM Javakhishvili Lela GEO 7.5 2324 59 64 5

18 IM Atalik Ekaterina TUR 7.5 2319 59 64 6

19 IM Milliet Sophie FRA 7.5 2298 61 65 5 Arakhamia-Grant 20 GM Ketevan SCO 7.5 2280 59 64 7

Lilit Mkrtchian defeated Valentina Gunina in a game full of turnovers. The advantage was first in Valentina's hands, but she made many mistakes which Lilit used to turn the game and eventually win the game, which brought her the bronze medal.

Wins for the tied second place achieved Alexandra Kosteniuk, who came 5th and Bela Khotenashvili who came 6th.

Congratulations to the winners, and to all the participants for the fair play and a great tournament!

For results, standings and more information, you can visit the official website of the Championship http://belgrade2013.org

Official website: http://belgrade2013.org

EIWCC BELGRADE 2013 - EXCELLENT HOST AND THE BEST ORGANIZATION SO FAR The tournament started spectacularly, with a beautiful opening ceremony held on 22nd of July in hotel Metropol Palace. At the very beginning of the Championship, one record was broken - this year's number of participants was amazing 169!

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. Salome Melia gained her second GM norm, nine players achieved IM norms, such as Natalija Pogonina, Olga Girya, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Baira Kovanova etc. Lisa Schut achieved WGM norm, and Lanita Stetsko, Sabina Inrahimova and Julia Novkovic won WIM norms.

In such a strong and long open tournament, everything was „open“. That's why it was difficult to predict who would win, or who the favourites for the title were. GM Hoang played a very solid tournament, managed to stay focused enough not to lose a single game, and these were some of the reasons why she won the title.

One of the things that marked this Championship was the sad news about the illness of Slovenian chess player Vesna Rozic. She was supposed to come to Belgrade, but due to her health condition, she had to cancel her participation in this tournament. For this reason the organizers cancelled the traditional „party“, which was supposed to be held on the night before the rest day, and decided to donate the funds reserved for the party for the purposes of Vesna's treatment. Also, the campaign „Let's help Vesna“was started, with the goal to encourage the participants and all the people who were visiting the tournament to donate the money for Vesna's treatment.

Like the crown of great organization came the closing ceremony of European Individual Women's Chess Championship, which was held on 3rd August, in „Nikola Tesla“ hall of hotel Metropol Palace in Belgrade.

Ms. Sava Stoisavljevic, Chief Arbiter of the Championship, announced the winners, while the trophies were awarded by Mr. Dejan Vasovic, Assistant Mayor of Belgrade, Mr. Miodrag Vukotic, President of Serbian Chess Federation, and Ms. Alisa Maric,

Minister of Youth and Sport of the Republic of Serbia and Chairperson of the Organizing Committee of the Championship. After the anthem of Hungary, Alisa Maric declared the Championship officially closed.

Apart from Alisa Maric, the guests were welcomed by Mr. Vladimir Sakotic, who addressed all those present on behalf of the European Chess Union.

Belgrade is well-known for being a very good host, which was proven once again with the organization of this tournament. Everyone was satisfied with the playing conditions and organization. We got many positive comments and many players even said that this has been the best organized European Women's Championship so far. It is certain that they will remember it for a very long time. We surely will do so.

Congratulations to the winners, and to all who participated in the tournament and contributed to making this tournament a successful and unforgettable event.

SILVIO DANAILOV MEETS WITH THE PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH CHESS FEDERATION, MR. DIEGO SALAZAR On 1st August, 2013 in Paris the President of the European Chess Union, Mr. Silvio Danailov met with the President of the French Chess Federation, Mr. Diego Salazar.

During their meeting, they discussed common projects between ECU and the French Chess

Federation.

Source of the information: www.danailov-for-president.com

“POLITIKA” (BELGRADE): CLASHES AT THE EXPENSE OF BELGRADE AND CHESS The chess column of the most influential Serbian daily newspaper “Politika” published on 6th August an article written by the editor of the column, Marjan Kovacevic, International Solving Grandmaster.

On the same day, the text was quoted in the best-selling sports daily newspaper in the region “Sportski Zurnal”, under the title: “Paying the price of political games”, and just above the title: “Strange attitude of FIDE towards the European Individual Women’s Chess Championship in Belgrade”.

Here is the complete article: Why the European Individual Women’s Championship did not happen for the World Chess Federation and many international chess websites. – Copyrights on games transmission We expected to see at the official website of World Chess Federation (FIDE) some news about the European Women’s Chess Championship in Belgrade, at least after the end of one of the most important and strongest women’s championships in the world this year. But, no, it seems that for FIDE management this European championship did not happen at all. On the other hand, attention was paid to some small tournaments in Asia, America and Africa.

The same goes for one of the most popular chess websites ChessBase, while on the website Chessdom, where Goran Urosevic regularly makes efforts to have some news from Serbia published, there was only the final news and standings. Still, on the same day and in a more extensive article, the latter website published the letter of former President of Turkish Chess Federation Ali Nihat Yazici who declared the final standings from Belgrade invalid!

The reason is of personal and local nature - Ekaterina Atalik (née Polovnikova), the wife of Turkish GM Suat Atalik, didn't play under the flag of Turkey, but as an independent representative of the European Chess Union (ECU). .. By the way, in the final rounds and the final standings there was the name of Turkey writen beside her name; the long-lasting dispute between Mr. Yazici and the Atalik family continues.

These days the question of ignoring the European Individual Women's Chess Championship in Belgrade was also raised by GM Emil Sutovsky, President of the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP), who pointed out that due to the conflict between leaders of the world and European organisations such an attractive tournament as the one in question remained in the background. He also pointed to another reason for the silence of electronic media - copyrights for the transmission of games. Mr. Vladimir Sakotic, Executive Director of the ECU provided us with more details about the whole matter:

„Since 2011, our Statutes stipulate that we are the owners of copyrights on transmission of games during their progress and that we can sign contracts with a third party about granting these rights. Our lawyer from Germany Mr. Rainer Polzin informed electronic media that they can buy broadcast rights for all important tournaments in the current year at the price of 15 000 €. At one moment, ChessBase offered to pay 5 000 €, but we remained consistent regarding this, and we believe that we will find a partner next year. Today, chess is mostly closely connected with politics and every website represents some side. The official website of the European Women’s Championship had a pretty high number of visitors. “

Commercialization and politicization of chess are taking their toll. For those who were in Belgrade, the European Women’s Championship was an extraordinary event. For some other people, the results from this competition are invalid, or the championship did not happen at all. All things considered, everybody losses, chess most of all. Source of the information: www.ecuonline.net

TEAM OF ISRAEL WINS EUROPEAN SENIOR TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP IN DRESDEN With an atmospheric opening ceremony the championship started in Dresden for the 12th time in a row. After a musical prelude by the "Duo Mercurius" 17 children bearing the flags of the participating nations welcomed the players to the sounds of the Euro Vision Anthem. Tournament director Dr. Dirk Jordan welcomed the 325 participants and opened the first round on time. Having succeeded in the first two rounds all the favorite teams now had to expect more resistance in the third round.

At the two top tables it came to the games Sweden I against Belarus and Germany B against Russia. The Swedes fought the favorite and earned a well-deserved draw. In the 6th round the duel of the giants Russia and Belarus took place at last.

With the exception of the Hungarian version of the Sicilian on board 1 with Evgeni Vasiukov between GM and GM Viacheslav Dydyshko, which ended in a draw, no prisoners were taken. With 2.5:1.5 it was game, set and match for Belarus.

After three more rounds the top match between Israel and Saint Petersburg came to a relatively unexcited end in the 9th Round.

At the end of the final with a convincing 3:1 victory, Israel secured the team title of the European Senior Team Master with 16:2 points. Belarus, with just one point behind, was hoping in vain for an Israeli mistake. The Russian team secured 3rd place with 14:4 points, with a 2.5:1.5 final against Italy. The team of Norresundby unexpectedly secured 4th place with 13:5 points. Out of 9 teams with 12:6 team points, Italy is ranked 5 in the best-break points. The best-placed German team, Hessen I, is ranked No. 6 Germany A is in 8th place and the sport friends Katernberg are in 12th place (all 12:6). The Russian women's team reached the 14th place with 11:7 and is the highest-ranked women's team and therefore gains the title: Senior European Women's Team Champion. The German women's team became the Vice Senior European Women’s Team Champion.

During the successful closing and awards ceremony the "Duo Mercurius" presented all winners with their national anthems at the presentation of trophies and certificates.

The senior officer of the German Chess Federation Helmut Escher thanked the referees and the organization office on behalf of all participants.

Gerhard Meiwald, Senior Press Officer of the Commission of the DSB Yvonne Ledfuss, Spokeswoman, ZMDI Schachfestival e.V. Official website: www.schachfestival.de

DAVID HOWELL WINS THE 100TH BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP GM David Howell won the 100th British Championship with the final result of 9.5 points out of 11. GM Gawain Jones won the silver medal scoring 8/11, while the bronze went to GM Mark Hebden, who finished with the same result.

th The 100 Championships of the British Isles were held from 28th July to 10th August, 2013 at the Riviera International Centre in Torquay. The tournament was played in 11 rounds, according to the Swiss system. One hundred and six chess players took part in it. The first British Championship took place in 1904 in Hastings.

Final Ranking after 11 rounds – first 10 positions Rk. Name Rtg Pts.

1 GM David Howell 2639 9.5

2 GM Gawain Jones 2643 8.0

3 GM Mark Hebden 2555 8.0

4 GM Stephen Gordon 2521 8.0

5 GM Daniel Gormally 2496 7.5

6 GM Bogdan Lalic 2489 7.5

7 GM Peter Wells 2479 7.5

8 IM Yang-Fan Zhou 2469 7.5

9 GM Glenn Flear 2456 7.5

10 GM Keith Arkell 2444 7.5 Official website: www.britishchesschampionships.co.uk

ALKALOID WINS THE XXII TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP OF FYR OF MACEDONIA Alkaloid won the XXII Team Chess Championship of FYR of Macedonia with the final result of 14 match points; Gambit Aseko- See finished second with 11 match points, while the third place was won by BM Kisela Voda – 9.

The championship was held from 29th July to 4th August, 2013 in Struga. Chief Arbiter of the competition was Kocovski Ivan, IA.

Team composition of the winners was: GMs Tomashevsky Evgeny (RUS), Eljanov Pavel (UKR), Kryvoruchko Yuriy (UKR), Nedev Trajko (MKD), Colovic Aleksandar (MKD), Bogdanovski Vlatko (MKD), Jacimovic Dragoljub (MKD), Stanojoski Zvonko (MKD) and IMs Pancevski Filip (MKD) and Stojanovski Dejan (MKD). Final Ranking after 7 rounds Rk. Team TB1 TB2 TB3 1 Alkaloid, Skopje 14 38 0 2 Gambit Aseko-See, Skopje 11 28 0 3 BM Kisela Voda, Skopje 9 23 0 4 Stevo Patako, Bitola 8 18 0 5 GSK Kochani 7 20 0 6 GSK Kumanovo 4 18 0 7 Prilep 3 14 0 8 Karpos, Skopje 0 11 0 Official website: www.chess.com.mk

EXLER AND SCHREINER ARE THE NEW AUSTRIAN CHAMPIONS From 20th to 28th July Austrian Chess Championships in classical chess were held in Feldkirch, a city in the region Vorarlberg in the west of our country. In the women’s competition Veronika Exler was dominating the tournament and leading from the beginning on. In absence of Eva Moser and Anna Christina Kopinits she won her first title with 7.5 points out of 9. Austrian youth hope Anna-Lena Schnegg won second place with better tie-break. Katharina Newrkla won the bronze medal. 19 players took part in this section.

The favourite in the men’s competition was the title holder David Shengelia. He started well and was playing the tournament on the top. However, some players managed to follow him. In the last round Peter Schreiner managed to win his game against Siegfried Baumegger. Shengelia drew with Georg Fröwis, so Schreiner managed to win his first title with 7.5 out of 9. Shengelia took second place, whereas Andreas Diermair was third thanks to better tie-break. Joachim Wallner was the unlucky player in the fourth place but won another norm for IM. In total, 49 players participated in this section.

Austrian TV station ORF visited the last round and made a report. Furthermore, all games were broadcast on the internet and followed by about 4.000 visitors each day. IA Albert Baumberger was Chief Arbiter and organiser. Official website: www.chess.at

11TH EUROPEAN UNION YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP–U15, 13, 11, 09 The 11th European Union Youth Championship – U15, 13, 11, 09 was held from 31st July to 8th August, 2013 at the Kulturzentrum in Mureck, Austria.

Chief Arbiter was IA Manfred Mussnig, while the tournament director was IO FM Erich Gigerl.

Seventy-six young players from 16 countries took part in the competition, which was played in 9 rounds, according to the Swiss system. Final Rankings – Boys and Girls – first 3 positions Boys-U15 Girls-U15 Rk. Name Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 Rk. Name Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3

1 Dragnev Valentin 7.5 45 35 37.5 1 Ramadani Sarah 4.5 47 36 22.8

2 Peczely Sebastian 6.5 42 35 27.3 2 Gucagaite Gabriele 4 42 34 14

3 Petrov Vladimir 6 46 36 27.3 3 Roklicer Heike 3.5 40 31 14

Boys-U13 Girls-U13 Rk. Name Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 Rk. Name Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3

1 Muha Miljenko 7.5 46 36 36 1 Mirza Diana 7 47 36 35

2 Petrov Martin 7 48 37 35 2 Polterauer Chiara 5 44 34 20.8

3 Ly Dominik 6 48 37 27 3 Gailiunaite Saule 5 44 35 22

Boys-U11 Girls-U11 Rk. Name Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 Rk. Name Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3

1 Maetzkow Max. 7 43 36 31.5 1 Urh Zala 5.5 49 38 27.5

2 Lazaravicius Aras 6 48 37 30.5 2 Gömböcz Zsofia 5 48 38 25

3 Baenziger Fabian 6 46 37 28.5 3 Persanyi Nora 4.5 38 31 15.3

Boys-U09 Girls-U09 Rk. Name Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 Rk. Name Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3

1 Persanyi Barnabas 8 48 37 40.8 1 Majoros Rozsa 6.5 42 33 26.5

2 Morgunov Marc 7 49 37 35.3 2 Cebron Asja 4.5 49 38 21.3

3 Subelj Jan 7 47 37 32.5 3 Schmidtmann Sam. 4.5 47 36 17.5

Official website: www.jugendschach.at

MICHAEL ADAMS WINS THE 41ST SPARKASSEN CHESS- MEETING IN DORTMUND GM Michael Adams won the 41st Sparkassen Chess-Meeting in Dortmund with the final result of 7 points out of 9. GM Vladimir Kramnik came second with 6.5/9, whereas GM Peter Leko was third with 4.5/9.

The tournament was held from 26th July to 4th August, 2013.

Final Ranking after 9 rounds Rk. Name Rtg Pts SB 1 Michael Adams 2740 7 29 2 Vladimir Kramnik 2784 6.5 27 3 Peter Leko 2737 4.5 19.25 4 Arkadij Naiditsch 2710 4.5 18.25 5 Dmitry Andreikin 2727 4 17.75 6 Georg Meier 2610 4 17.5 7 Fabiano Caruana 2796 4 15.25 8 Wang Hao 2752 4 15.25 9 Igor Khenkin 2605 3.5 15 10 Daniel Fridman 2629 3 13.75 Official website: www.sparkassen-chess-meeting.de MAXIME VACHIER-LAGRAVE WINS THE 46TH BIEL INTERNATIONAL CHESS FESTIVAL GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won the 46th Biel International Chess Festival in memoriam of Olivier Breisacher with 3.5 points in the playoff. Alexander Moiseenko, who gained 2.5 points, was second. Liren Ding and Etienne Bacrot finished with 0 points.

This is the second victory of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in Biel, after winning the 37th edition in 2009. The following chess players took part in the tournament: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Alexander Moiseenko, Liren Ding, Etienne Bacrot, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Richard Rapport.

Playoff results Rk. Name Rtg Pts SB 1 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2719 3.5 3.75 2 Alexander Moiseenko 2699 2.5 1.75 3 Liren Ding 2714 0 0 4 Etienne Bacrot 2714 0 0 Official website: www.bielchessfestival.ch

INVITATION FOR SEMINARS IN BUDVA PUBLISHED (FOR TRAINERS, ARBITERS, ORGANIZERS) Budva, a coastal town in Montenegro, will once again host the best young European chess players, from September 24th to October 9th.

The organizers have prepared rich

programme of events for the participants. From 24-29 September, five separate events will be held: 13th Individual European Championship - Rapid, 12th European Rapid Cup - Rapid Super Final, 13th Team European Championships - Rapid, 13th Individual European Championships - Blitz and 12th European Championship in solving chess problems.

From September 29th to August 9th 2013, the main tournament, 23rd European Youth Chess Championship will take place.

Apart from the rich program of competitions, Montenegro Chess Federation will host 3 seminars during the Championship:

1. Arbiter’s Seminar - September 30th- October 3rd, 2013. Lecturers IA Vladimir Sakotic (MNE) and IA Sava Stoisavljevic (SRB); 2. Organizer’s Seminar- October 4-6, 2013. Lecturer Mr. Horst Metzing (GER), IO; 3. Trainer’s Seminar - October 5-7, 2013. Lecturers FST & GM Efstratios Grivas (English language - Group A’) and FST & GM Georg Mohr (Montenegrian language - Group B’).

This is a great opportunity for all the participants, accompanying persons and the visitors of the tournament to invest in their education through these three seminars that organizer provided.

The interested parties can apply for the seminars at contact person: Mr. Dejan Milosevic e-mail: [email protected] phone: +382 67 546 646

Budva is well-known for being a great host of important chess events. A big interest in this tournament is once again proving the great popularity Budva and

Montenegro have in organizing such a competition.

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

NEW OPPORTUNITY FOR YOUNG IN MALENOVICE (CZE) Malenovice, a beautiful cozy town in the East of Czech Republic, will host the 11th European Union Youth Chess Championship 8-14, from August 27th till September 5th, 2013.

The Championship is organized by Czech Chess Federation, under the patronage of European Chess Union. Each Federation can register one player, boy or girl, in each of the categories - under 8, 10, 12 and 14years old by January 1st, 2013. Boys and girls will play in the same tournament, but with two separate scores. Additional players can also be registered.

The tournament will be played according to the Swiss System in 9 rounds. The rate of play will be 90 minutes for the whole game + 30 seconds increment per move, starting from move one.

The organizer has prepared a rich prize fund (at least 6000 EUR).The first three players from each category will receive championship trophies, medals and diplomas. All players of all categories will receive a championship medal and a diploma. Furthermore, players will receive prizes. The winners of each tournament receive a laptop, other medalists will receive a digital clock. At least the first six players of each category will receive prizes. Girls in each category will be evaluated separately.

Also, the organizers provided live transmission of the games. The first 20 boards of each tournament will be broadcast online. On-line transmissions include at least 80 games. Webcast will be screened in the hall of the hotel.

The organizer will ensure the rich chess and non-chess entertainment, from which all participants can select (simultaneous exhibition, chess competitions, football

tournaments, social evenings, trips, excursions, etc.).

Malenovice is waiting for you. Come to play chess, to enjoy the beautiful landscape and nature, and to make new friends and unforgettable memories.

Official website: www.chess-svetla.cz