NEWSLETTER 149 (March 26, 2014) ESCC OPORTO 2014 OFFICIALLY FINISHED WITH RAPID AND BLITZ TOURNAMENTS European Senior Chess Championship in Oporto, which consisted of classical, rapid and blitz tournaments is officially finished. Classical tournament, which took place from 9th till 17th March 2014, was followed by rapid and blitz events. Rapid Section: 45 players from 13 European countries, divided in two different categories: 65+ (28 participants) and 50+ (17 participants), with female players included in both absolute categories competed in this championship. The tournament was played according to the Swiss System in 9 rounds - 5 rounds on the first day and 4 rounds on the second day. In the 65+ category Romanian Grandmaster Mihai Suba became the European Champion. He played an excellent tournament, with 8 points out of 9, without giving many chances to the opponents. Lithuanian GM Algimantas Butnorious won second place with 7 points, while the legendary Georgian Grandmaster Nona Gaprindashvili won the 3rd place and the bronze medal with 6.5 points. © Ecuonline.net Page 1 Apart from bronze in the open category, she also won the 1st place in the women’s section. In the female standing she was followed by Georgian WGM Tamar Khmiadashvili and Russian WGM Valentina Kozlovskaya, both with 5 points. Final Ranking – Category 65+ – first 10 positions Rk. Title Name Rtg FED Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 GM ubă Mihai 2379 ROU 8 2240 45 49 2 GM ButnoriusȘ Algimantas 2340 LTU 7 2244 46 51 3 GM Gaprindashvili Nona 2244 GEO 6.5 2224 46 51 4 Malachi Avraham 2097 ISR 6 2234 43 47 5 Beznosikov Vladimir 2356 RUS 6 2184 46 50 6 Grinberg Iosif P. 2161 RUS 5.5 2223 43 46 7 Gorshkov Yury S. 2320 RUS 5.5 2215 48 51 8 FM Gruzmann Boris 2159 RUS 5.5 2171 40 43 9 WGM Khmiadashvili Tamar 2026 GEO 5 2195 40 44 10 WGM Kozlovskaya Valentina 2155 RUS 5 2050 39 42 In the 50+ category, Russian IM Evgenij Kalegin, after winning the 2nd place in the classical tournament won the title of the European Rapid Champion, gaining 7.5 points out of 9, with a very consistent performance. GM Antonio Fernandes, one of the best Portuguese players won the silver medal, with 7 points, the same as GM Zurab Sturua from Georgia, who won the bronze medal with worse tie-break than Fernandes. The best female player was Georgian WIM Tsiala Kasoshvili with 5.5 points. She won the title of the European Champion, after winning the 2nd place in the classical tournament. She was followed by IM Nino Gurieli from Georgia and WFM Tatiana Bogumil from Russia, with 5 and 4.5 points respectively. © Ecuonline.net Page 2 Final Ranking – Category 50+ – first 10 positions Rk. Title Name Rtg FED Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 IM Kalegin Evgenij 2490 RUS 7.5 2312 43 47 2 GM Fernandes Antonio 2419 POR 7 2315 45 48 3 GM Sturua Zurab 2525 GEO 7 2307 44 48 4 WIM Kasoshvili Tsiala 2112 GEO 5.5 2323 45 49 5 GM Arkell Keith C 2404 ENG 5.5 2323 45 46 6 IM Maryasin Boris 2305 ISR 5.5 2262 38 39 7 FM Furman Boris 2225 RUS 5 2305 44 48 8 IM Gurieli Nino 2298 GEO 5 2212 44 47 9 Bebchuk Boris 2126 RUS 5 2085 34 35 10 WFM Bogumil Tatiana 2162 RUS 4.5 2232 41 43 Blitz Section: After fantastic 12 days of chess in this big event, the European Senior Blitz Chess Championships 2014 followed, attended by 35 players from 10 different countries. The players were divided into 2 different categories, 65+ (18 players) and 50+ (17 players). The championship was played in just one afternoon in 9 rounds, with a high rhythm of the games. In the 65+ category Russian Yury Gorshkov won the title, with a full point ahead the Israeli GM Mark Tseitlin and Georgian Nona Gaprindashvili, both with 6.5 points. In the women's section, Nina Gaprindashvili won the tournament, while the 2nd place went to Georgian WGM Tamar Khmiadashvili with 4 points and Russian WGM Valentina Kozlovskaya with 3 points. It is interesting to note that there were the same standings among female players in the rapid tournament, as well. Final Ranking – Category 65+ – first 5 positions Rk. Title Name Rtg FED Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 Gorshkov Yury S. 2286 RUS 7.5 2175 42 45 2 GM Tseitlin Mark D 2341 ISR 6.5 2218 45 50 3 GM Gaprindashvili Nona 2256 GEO 6.5 2154 44 47 4 Grabow Pouelsten Holm 2095 DEN 6 2196 42 44 5 Beznosikov Vladimir 2368 RUS 5.5 2220 46 49 In the 50+ category IM Antonio Fróis from the club AX Gaia made a fantastic result for Portugal by winning the title of the European Champion. Once he took the lead, he hardly allowed anyone to threaten it, and with a constant and powerful performance managed to ensure this important title, finishing eventually with 8 points out of 9. Georgian GM Zurab Sturua came second with 6.5 points and Russian WGM Galina © Ecuonline.net Page 3 Strutinskaia came third with 6 points, who was also the female winner. Silver medal in the female competition went to Georgian WIM Tsiala Kasoshvili with 5 points, and bronze went to IM Nino Gurieli with 4 points, also from Georgia. Final Ranking – Category 50+ – first 5 positions Rk. Title Name FED Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 IM Fróis António POR 2352 8 2305 42 46 2 GM Sturua Zurab GEO 2525 6.5 2359 43 47 3 WGM Strutinskaia Galina RUS 2286 6 2318 45 48 4 GM Glek Igor GER 2547 6 2306 44 47 5 GM Arkell Keith C ENG 2433 5.5 2336 45 49 The European Senior Chess Championship 2014, held in Oporto, was the first organization of an official championship of the European Chess Union and FIDE (World Chess Federation) calendar on the Portuguese soil, in the year when the Portuguese Chess Federation celebrates its 87th birthday. We had 12 intense days of chess, almost non-stop, with the organization of three different European Senior Chess Championships, after which we got 12 new European Champions. The total number of participants was 195, from 24 European countries. This is a tremendous success, brightened by the presence of Garry Kasparov at the closing ceremony. For more information, you can visit the official website of the championship http://www.fpx.pt/escc2014/ © Ecuonline.net Page 4 VIKINGAKLUBBURINN WINS THE ICELANDIC TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP 2013-2014 – 1ST DIVISION Víkingaklúbburinn won the Icelandic Team Championship 2013-2014 – 1st Division with the final result of 17 matchpoints. GM Hellir finished second with 16 matchpoints, while third place went to Taflfélag Vestmannaeyja with 13 points. The championship was held from 10th October, 2013 to 1st of March, 2014 in Reykjavík. Ten teams took part in the competition. Tournament Director of the championship, organized by the Icelandic Chess Federation, was Ásdís Bragadóttir, whereas IA Omar Salama performed the role of the Chief Arbiter. The average ELO rating was 2191. Final Ranking after 9 rounds Rk. Team TB1 TB2 TB3 1 Víkingaklúbburinn a-sveit 55 17 0 2 GM Hellir - a-sveit 51 16 0 3 Taflfélag Vestmannaeyja a-sveit 50 13 0 4 Taflfélag Bolungarvíkur a-sveit 45 11 0 5 Taflfélag Reykjavíkur a-sveit 44 11 0 6 Skákfélag Akureyrar a-sveit 37 10 0 7 Skákdeild Fjölnis a-sveit 34 6 0 8 GM Hellir - b-sveit 26 4 0 9 Vinaskákfélagið 10 2 0 10 Taflfélag Reykjavíkur b-sveit 10 0 0 Team composition of the winners was: GMs Gajewski Grzegorz (POL, ELO-2631), Dziuba Marcin (POL, ELO-2576), Stefánsson Hannes H (ISL, ELO-2560), Kristjánsson Stefán (ISL, ELO-2491), Galego Luis (POR, ELO-2465), IMs Grétarsson Hjörvar Steinn (ISL, ELO-2511), Þorfinnsson Björn (ISL, ELO-2387), FMs Úlfarsson Magnús Örn (ISL, ELO-2382), Kjartansson Davíð (ISL, ELO-2336) and Thorsson Olafur (ISL, ELO-2210). Official website: www.skaksamband.is © Ecuonline.net Page 5 NM AIVARS STASANS IS THE NEW LATVIAN SENIOR CHESS CHAMPION NM Aivars Stasans (ELO-2133) won the Latvian Senior Chess Championship 2014 with the final result of 5.5 points out of 7 and better tie-break than the second in the ranking NM Janis Daudzvardis (ELO-2271). FM Vitalijs Levcenkovs (ELO-2282) finished third with 5 points. The Latvian Senior Chess Championship was held from 21-23 March, 2014 in Rīga. Tournament Director of the championship, organized by the Latvian Chess Federation, was Lelis Jānis, while IA Cimiņš Alberts was the Chief Arbiter. The average ELO rating was 1940. Final Ranking after 7 rounds – first 10 positions Rk. Title Name Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 NM Stasans Aivars 2133 5.5 22 31 24 2 NM Daudzvardis Janis 2271 5.5 22 29 24 3 FM Levcenkovs Vitalijs 2282 5 24 33 22 4 MK Batakovs Olegs 2091 5 23 31 22 5 MK Visockis Janis 2181 5 23 31 21 6 MK Matvieks Nikolajs 2104 5 22 30 22 7 I Vaicuks Jazeps 1845 4.5 24 33 22 8 MK Nevickis Nikolajs 2051 4.5 21 28 20 9 I Zujevs Valerijs 1987 4.5 19 26 17 10 I Pcolkins Nikolajs 1800 4.5 19 26 16 Official website: www.sahafederacija.lv © Ecuonline.net Page 6 IM ERVIN MOZES WINS THE ROMANIAN SENIOR CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP IM Ervin Mozes won the Romanian Senior Chess Championship with the final result of 5.5 points and better tie-break than the second in the ranking NM Victor Mihail Gabriel Tacu.