NEWSLETTER 98 (November 19, 2012)

THE FAMOUS GERMAN TV CHANNEL ZDF MADE A BIG REPORT ABOUT THE ECU’S CHESS IN SCHOOL PROGRAM IN SLIVNITSA The Famous German TV Channel ZDF made a big report about the ECU’s Chess in School program in the town of Slivnitsa, Bulgaria.

Impressed by the introduction of chess as a subject in the Slivnitsa school "St.st. Cyril and Methodius" the influential media sent a special team to provide the Interview with the children story about this innovative and exciting initiative.

The German journalists attended the chess lessons of the students from first to fourth grade and were very impressed by the fact that besides being a subject that strongly develops the logic and character of the young children, the game of chess is successfully used in Slivnitsa as a tool for integration in the learning process of children with autism, the Roma pupils and others.

As we have already informed you on October 26, 2012, the President of the European Chess Union Silvio Danailov and the Mayor Vasko Stoilkov officially opened the first chess school year in the town of Slivnitsa.

Eighty children out of 240 graduates of the Slivnitsa school "St.st. Cyril and Methodius" chose to study chess as a school subject during the school year 2012-2013. Thus Slivnitsa became the first municipality in the European Union which introduced chess as a school subject according to the program of the European Chess Union “Chess in School".

The news about the joint initiative of the European Chess Union and the municipality of Slivnitsa received wide international response and was reported by many media, even by European political newspapers like the Brussels based edition New Europe (www.neurope.eu/article/first-eu-municipality-introduces-chess-school-subject) and others.

Official website: www.ecuonline.net

GM ALBERTO DAVID WON THE 72ND ITALIAN CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP GM Alberto David won the 72nd Italian Chess Championship with final result of 8.5 points from possible 11. Second finished IM Guido Caprio with 7 points, third is IM Daniyyl Dvirnyy with the same score.

The 72nd Italian Chess Championship th th Photos by Gabriele Sabbadini was held from 30 of October to 10 of November, 2012 in Torino.

Twelve chess player competed for the title Italian Chess Champion.

Final Ranking after 11 rounds – first 5 positions

Rk. Title Name Pts. S-B

1. GM David Alberto 8.5 42.00

2. IM Caprio Guido 7.0 32.75

3. IM Dvirnyy Daniyyl 7.0 32.00

4. GM Brunello Sabino 6.5 33.75

5. GM Garcia Palermo Carlo 6.5 32.25

Official website: www.federscacchi.it

SESTAO NATURGAS ENERGIA WON THE SPANISH TEAM CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

Sestao Naturgas Energia won the Spanish Team Chess Championship with final result of 13 match points. The silver medal is for C.A. Solvay with final result of 10 match points, third finished C.A. Reverte Albox with 8 match points.

Source of the photo: www.feda.org

The Spanish Team Chess Championship was held on November 05-11, 2012 in León, Spain. Eight teams competed for the title. Chief-Arbiter of the championship, organized by the Spanish Chess Federation, was IA Javier Pérez Llera.

The rate of play of the tournament was 90 minutes for 40 moves + 30 minutes for the rest of the game + 30 seconds increment per move, starting from move one.

Final Ranking after 7 rounds

Rk. Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 TB1 TB2 TB3 1 Sestao Naturgas Energia * 3 4½ 5 4 4 4 4 13 29 0 2 C.A. Solvay 3 * 2½ 4½ 3 4½ 4½ 4 10 26 0 3 C.A. Reverté Albox 1½ 3½ * 2½ 2½ 3½ 4 5 8 23 0 4 Linex-Magic Extremadura 1 1½ 3½ * 4 3 3 3½ 8 20 0 5 Equigoma Casa Social Catolica 2 3 3½ 2 * 4 3 2½ 6 20 0 6 Gros Xake-Taldea 2 1½ 2½ 3 2 * 4 3½ 5 19 0 7 C.E. Foment Martinenc 2 1½ 2 3 3 2 * 3 3 17 1 8 C.E. Barcelona Uga 2 2 1 2½ 3½ 2½ 3 * 3 17 1

The team composition of the winners was: GMs Leinier Dominguez Perez (CUB), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA), Anish Giri (NED), Laurent Fressinet (FRA), Romain Edouard (FRA), Salvador Del Rio De Angelis (ESP), Alfonso Romero Holmes (ESP), Juan Mario Gomez Esteban (ESP) and Sergio Trigo Urquijo (ESP), Enrique Tamayo Aguirre (ESP), Juan Viqueira Fernandez (ESP), Luis Alberto Guerrero Tamayo (ESP).

Official website: www.advancedchessleon.com

GM OSCAR DE LA RIVA AGUADO WON THE CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP OF ANDORRA

GM Oscar De La Riva Aguado won the Chess Championship of Andorra with final result of 8 points from possible 8. Second finished Daniel Jose Queralto with 6.5 points, third is Peter Fassnacht (GER) with 6 points.

The Chess Championship of Andorra was held on November 10-11, 2012 in Grup d'Escacs Valls d'Andorra.

Chief-Arbiter of the tournament, organized by the Chess Federation of Andorra, was Oscar De la Riva. Thirty three chess players competed for the title.

Final Ranking after 8 Rounds – first 10 positions

Rk. Name FED Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 GM De La Riva Aguado Oscar AND 2522 8 40 30 36 2 CM Jose Queralto Daniel AND 2181 6.5 40 29 31 3 Fassnacht Peter GER 2172 6 39 28 26 4 FM Garcia Raul AND 2200 5.5 43 31 29 5 Gras Travesset Ferran AND 1643 5.5 31 25 23 6 Casanovas Cantarero Eric AND 1716 5 35 25 23 7 Torrent Casado Marc AND 1738 5 34 26 23 8 Moscoso Rodriguez Joan AND 1728 5 32 23 21 9 Onna Amargant Josep AND 1980 4.5 40 29 25 10 Gorgues Mateu David AND 1726 4.5 37 28 21

Official website: www.escacsandorra.com

NATIONAL TEAM CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP OF ROMANIA FOR JUNIORS – MIXED

The National Team Chess Championship of Romania for Juniors-Mixed was held on November 09-11, 2012.

It was played in two categories – U 14 and U8-12.

Final Ranking after 6 rounds – U14

Rk. Team TB1 TB2 TB3 1 CSS ODOHEIU SECUIESC 18 11 0 2 CSM FOCSANI 2007 12 7 0 3 CSM CRAIOVA 1 11 5 0 4 CSM CRAIOVA 2 7 1 0

Final Ranking after 6 rounds – U 8-12

Rk. Team TB1 TB2 TB3 1 CSU BRASOV-SAH CLUB BRASOV 11 19 0 2 CSS TARGU MURES 7 12 0 3 CSM FOCSANI 2007 6 12 0 4 CSSIG-MAR SIGHETU MARMATIEI 0 5 0

Official website: www.frsah.ro

VASSILY IVANCHUK WON THE KING’S TOURNAMENT’2012

GM Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR) won the King’s Tournament’2012 after a two-game rapid match against GM Veselin Topalov (BUL).

The 6th edition of the King’s Tournament was held on November 07-14, 2012 in Bucharest, Romania. King’s Tournament is part of the Grand Slam chain, founded by Silvio Danailov in Sofia in 2006.

The tournament belongs to the super category 20, according to the rating system of FIDE. It was played like 4-player double round robin with rate of play 120 minutes for 40 moves+60 minutes for 20 moves+15 minutes for the rest of the game+30 seconds increment per move, starting from move 61.

Final Ranking

Rk. Title Name Rtg FED 1 2 3 4 Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 TB4 ½ ½ 1 1 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2763 UKR *** ½ ½ ½ 3.5 1 1 9.5 1 ½ ½ ½ 2 GM Topalov Veselin 2769 BUL ½ *** ½ 1 3.5 1 1 9.5 2 ½ ½ ½ 3 GM Caruana Fabiano 2786 ITA ½ ½ *** ½ 3 0 0 9 0 0 ½ ½ 4 GM Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter 2668 ROU ½ 0 ½ *** 2 0 0 6.5 0

Winners in the previous editions were: Alexander Khalifman (2007), Nigel Short (2008), Vassily Ivanchuk (2009) and Magnus Carlsen (2010 and 2011).

The ECU President Silvio Danailov officially opened the King’s Tournament, which was held under the patronage of the Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta.

Official website: www.turneulregilor.com

MAGNUS CARLSEN WON THE CHESS OSCAR FOR 2011

The Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen won the Chess Oscar for 2011.

The prize is awarded by the Russian chess magazine 64 after voting by international journalists.

Second in that ranking finished GM Boris

Source of the photo: ChessVibes Gelfand from Israel, third is GM Levon Aronian from Armenia.

The Top 10 Ranking after these three players is as follows: 4. Peter Svidler, 5. Vladimir Kramnik, 6. Alexander Grischuk, 7. Vassily Ivanchuk, 8. Viswanathan Anand, 9. Alexander Morozevich and 10. Hikaru Nakamura.

The Chess Oscar was first awarded in 1967 to the Scandinavian legend Bent Larsen. Magnus Carlsen is the first player who won the prize three times in a row. Garry Kasparov holds the record for winning the Oscar 11 times; Anatoly Karpov won it 9 times. Source of information: www.chessvibes.com

GM ZURAB AZMAIPARASHVILI BECAME DEPUTY MINISTER OF SPORT AND YOUTH AFFAIRS OF GEORGIA

GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili became Deputy Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs of Georgia.

He became a Grandmaster in 1988. Among his great achievements are a 2810 performance rating at the 1998 Chess Olympiad and first place finishes at Pavlodar 1982, Moscow 1986, Albena 1986, Tbilisi 1986, London (Lloyds Bank Open) 1989, and

in the 2003 European Individual Chess Championship in Istanbul. Source of the photo: Wikipedia

In 2010 he tied for 1st-2nd with IM Oliver Barbosa in the 1st ASEAN Chess Championship in Singapore, and won the event on tie-break.

Zurab Azmaiparashvili is also FIDE Senior Trainer (2004), who has worked with now retired world champion Garry Kasparov, against whom he also lost a match of rapid and blitz games 0.5-5.5 (2003).

Azmaiparashvili was President of the Georgian Chess Federation, a Board Member of the European Chess Union and Vice-President of the International Chess Federation FIDE. In August 2009, he appointed as captain of Azerbaijani chess team and won the European Team Chess Championship in Novi Sad.

Source of information: www.wikipedia.org