NEWSLETTER 123 (July 22, 2013)

SERBIAN PRESIDENT TOMISLAV NIKOLIC RECEIVES ECU PRESIDENT SILVIO DANAILOV

During his stay in Belgrade, in connection with the 14th EIWCC, the President of the European Chess Union Mr. Silvio Danailov has a rich programme of meetings with numerous public persons.

On 23rd July, he was received by Serbian President Mr. Tomislav Nikolic, in the honour of the start of the European Individual Women's Chess Championship.

President Nikolic and President Danailov talked about the importance of youth chess and about the big influence of chess on the development of every young person.

Serbian President Mr. Tomislav Nikolic expressed his willingness to provide full assistance in order to help the popularisation of chess in Serbian schools.

President Danailov underlined the big role and support of Alisa Maric, Minister of Youth and Sport of the Republic of Serbia during the preparations of this Championship, and expressed special thanks to her.

Apart from Mr. Silvio Danailov, President of the ECU, the delegation consisted of Ms. Alisa Maric, Minister of Sport and Youth of the Republic of Serbia, Mr. Vladimir Sakotic, Executive Director of the European Chess Union and Mr. Miodrag Vukotic,

President of Serbian Chess Federation.

Official website: www.ecuonline.net

SPECTACULAR NIGHT TO REMEMBER

On 22nd July, at hotel Metropol Palace, opening ceremony of the 14th European Individual Women's Chess Championship was held.

On this occasion, all present were adressed by Mr. Silvio Danailov, President of the European Chess Union, Mr. Miodrag Vukotic, President of Serbian Chess

Federation, Mr. Dejan Vasovic, Deputy Mayor of Belgrade and Ms. Alisa Maric, Minister of Sport and Youth of the Republic of Serbia.

„Serbia cherishes the tradition of chess. We are proud that almost everyone knows or plays chess. In this beautiful place we are looking forward to a great competition - European Individual Women's Chess Championship, an event that will revive Serbia“- said minister Maric and with these words opened this prestigious competition.

The opening ceremony was attended by the participants and their accompanying persons, numerous guests from the world of chess, sport and public life of Serbia, as well as the guests of honour from abroad.

In the crowded Nikola Tesla hall, the audience cheered to the performers, and the special applause went to the magician, whose tricks caused bursts of laughter.

After such a successful night, which will surely be remebered for a very long time, we are very happy to announce the start of the Championship, where the ladies from all over Europe will compete for the title and qualification for the next World Cup.

The European Individual Women’s Championship officialy started yesterday, July 22nd, and will end on August 4th.

The first seed of the tournament is Anna Muzychuk from Slovenia (ELO 2594), and with the exception of Nadezhda Kosintseva, Marie Sebag and Anna Ushenina, all the best players from FIDE rating list are registered, which confirms the importance and strength of the tournament. Among the participants are two former Women's World Champions - Antoaneta Stefanova and Alexandra Kosteniuk, as well as the current European

Champion Valentina Gunina.

The tournament is running according to the Swiss system in 11 rounds, and with the prize fund of 60 000 Euros.

There is one more interesting fact about this year’s Championship. It has been decided that all the important positions at the Championship (president of the Organising Committee, tournament director, arbiters, Appeals Committee, including even security) are occupied by women! This will make the Championship very special and different from the others and, therefore, we hope that it will draw a great deal of attention of not only ancient game fans.

On 23rd July, by making the first symbolic move in the game Khayala Abdulla - Anna Muzychuk the ECU President, Mr. Silvio Danailov, officially opened the first round of the 14th European Individual Wo- men’s Chess Championship 2013.

Organising Committee decided to help financially medical treatment of Vesna Rozic

During the visit of Minister of Sport and Youth Alisa Maric to the “Metropol Palace” hotel, the meeting of a part of Organising Committee (President, Vice- Presidents and members of the directorate) was held.

It was decided at the meeting to, instead of organising the traditional party for the participants and organisers the night before the free day, donate the funds reserved for this purpose (1000 Euros) as support for the medical treatment of the Slovenian chess player Vesna Rozic. Tournament director Ms. Jasna Sakotic, sent a letter of support to Vesna on behalf of the organiser:

Dear Vesna,

When the cancellation of your participation in the European Individual Women’s Chess Championship arrived, we couldn’t possibly imagine how serious the reasons were. However, if there is anything that chess has taught us, it is that we must always struggle. We are confident that you will convincingly win this most important game of your life.

The Organising Committee has decided that the funds reserved for the party on the night before the day-off should be donated for your treatment. Instead of celebrating, we will be with you in our thoughts that night, as well as all the remaining Belgrade nights during the next two weeks.

We believe in you and invite you to play your very next tournament here in Belgrade, and be our dear guest.

Best wishes,

Jasna Sakotic

Official website: http://belgrade2013.org

ALL BIDS SUBMITTED TO THE ECU OFFICE PUBLISHED Within the Bidding procedure for the ECU calendar competitions 2015, bids have been opened in the office of the European Chess Union.

All the bids were sent by email this year. No representatives of interested parties were present at the opening.

In accordance with the ECU Rules & Regulations all the offers are published on the website of the European Chess Union in the section Resources/Bidding procedure. Official website: www.ecuonline.net

GOLD TO POLAND AND HUNGARY IN MARIBOR Teams of Poland in boys section, and Hungary in girls section are the winners of the European Youth Team Chess Championship, which was held in Maribor, Slovenia from 5-13 July, 2013.

In boys section, Poland scored 13 match

points, with 6 victories and only 1 draw. They played very well the whole tournament justifying the role of the main favorite of the tournament. The absolute surprise of the tournament was definitely first board of Poland - GM Kamil Dragun (ELO 2532) who won all the games and scored 7/7, with a rating performance of amazing 3085 points!

Second place and the silver medal went to the team of Switzerland with 11 match points, the same as the third-placed Czech Republic, but due to worse tie-break, the Czechs had to settle with bronze. Both teams won 5 matches, drew one, and lost one - to the Polish winner.

Here are the final standings in Open section:

Rk. Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 TB1 TB2 TB3

1 Poland * 3½ 4 2 3 2½ 3 3 13 21.0 0

2 Switzerland ½ * 2 3 2½ 2½ 3½ 3½ 11 17.5 0

3 Czech Republic 0 2 * 2½ 2½ 2½ 3½ 3½ 11 16.5 0

4 Croatia 2 1 1½ * 2 2½ 3 3 8 15.0 0

5 Hungary 1 1½ 1½ 2 * 2 3½ 4 6 15.5 0

6 Austria 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 2 * 3 3 5 14.0 0

7 Slovenia 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 * 3 2 7.5 0

8 Slovenia 2 1 ½ ½ 1 0 1 1 * 0 5.0 0

In girls section, the team of Hungary scored 11 match points, with 5 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss - to the second-ranked Poland, who scored 9 match points and had to satisfy with silver, as they tied with Slovenia 2, who had worse tie-break and finished third. Hungary was leading for the whole tournament, and despite the heavy loss in the 6th round to Poland, Hungarian girls easily won against young girls from the team Russia 2, and won the title.

Here are the final standings in Girls section:

Rk. Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 TB1 TB2 TB3

1 Hungary * 0 2 2 1½ 1½ 1 1½ 11 9.5 0

2 Poland 2 * 1 2 1 1 2 ½ 9 9.5 0

3 Slovenia 2 0 1 * 1½ 1 1 2 2 9 8.5 0

4 Russia 1 0 0 ½ * 1½ 1½ 2 2 8 7.5 0

5 Slovenia 1 ½ 1 1 ½ * 1 ½ 2 5 6.5 1

6 England ½ 1 1 ½ 1 * ½ 2 5 6.5 1

7 Austria 1 0 0 0 1½ 1½ * 0 5 4.0 0

8 Russia 2 ½ 1½ 0 0 0 0 2 * 4 4.0 0

Both Championships (Open and Girls) were played according to the Swiss System in 7 rounds. The rate of play was 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with 30 seconds increment per move starting from move one.

Closing ceremony was held in a very pleasant atmosphere. Medals and thophies were awarded to the winners by Mr. Vladimir Sakotic, Executive Director of European Chess Union.

Once again, Maribor was a great host, and organized this event at the very high level. It was encouraging to see smiles on the young chess players’ faces and satisfaction that they contributed to the great tournament and promotion of the youth chess. Official website: http://eytc.sahohlacnik.com/

HANS TIKKANEN WINS THE SWEDISH CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2013 Hans Tikkanen won the Swedish Chess Championship after winning the Armageddon in the play off against his clubmate Nils Grandelius.

The championship was held from 06-14 July, 2013 in Örebro, Sweden. The tournament was played as ten- player round robin with time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves + 30 minutes to the end of the game + 30 seconds increment per move, starting from move one.

This is the third national title for GM Tikkanen.

Final Ranking after 9 rounds Rk. Name Rtg FED Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 Tikkanen Hans 2528 SWE 6.5 0 0.5 27.3 2 Grandelius Nils 2573 SWE 6.5 0 0.5 26.8 3 Hillarp Persson Tiger 2528 SWE 5 0 0.5 22.3 4 Smith Axel 2461 SWE 5 0 0.5 18.8 5 Cramling Pia 2524 SWE 4.5 0 1 18.3 6 Wiedenkeller Michael 2475 LUX 4.5 0 0 16.8 7 Brynell Stellan 2484 SWE 4 0 0 19 8 Carlsson Pontus 2516 SWE 3 0 1.5 12.3 9 Hector Jonny 2509 SWE 3 0 1 12.8 10 Lindberg Bengt 2410 SWE 3 0 0.5 13 Official website: www.schack.se

GM DIMITRI REINDERMAN WINS THE DUTCH CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP GM Dimitri Reinderman won the Dutch Chess Championship after winning in play off with 2-0 against GM Wouter Spoelman. They both finished the tournament with the final result of 5.5 points out of 7. Third finished Robin van Kampen with 4.5/7.

The Dutch Championship took place from 05-11 July, 2013 as part of the Science Park Amsterdam Chess Tournament.

Final Ranking after 7 rounds Rk. Name Rtg Pts SB 1 Wouter Spoelman 2557 5.5 16.5 2 Dimitri Reinderman 2575 5.5 15 3 Robin van Kampen 2595 4.5 11.25 4 Ivan Sokolov 2650 4 12.75 5 Roeland Pruijssers 2549 3.5 9.25 6 Erwin L'Ami 2640 2.5 6.75 7 Jan Smeets 2643 2 3.75 8 Sipke Ernst 2589 0.5 1.25

In the women section, the winner was WIM Lisa Schut with the final result of 6 points out of 7. Anne Haast finished second with 4 points, while Tea Lanchava was third with the same score. Final Ranking after 7 rounds Rk. Name Rtg Pts SB 1 Lisa Schut 2277 6 19 2 Anne Haast 2277 4 12.5 3 Tea Lanchava 2287 4 11.5 4 Zhaoqin Peng 2389 3.5 10.5 5 Marlies Bensdorp 2263 3 9.75 6 Arlette Van Weersel 2176 3 9.25 7 Iozefina Paulet 2228 2.5 8 8 Martine Middelveld 2130 2 7

Official website: www.schaakbond.nl

ALEXANDRA KOSTENIUK TAKES THE NATIONAL CHESS TITLE OF SWITZERLAND Alexandra Kosteniuk took the national chess title of Switzerland. This is the first time in the 113-year long history of Swiss Championship that a woman has won the absolute national title.

The Swiss Chess Championship was held from 11-19 July, 2013 in Graechen,

Switzerland. Chief Arbiter of the tournament, organized by the Swiss Chess Federation, was Jesse Angst. Tournament director was IA Beat Rueegeseger. Final Ranking after 9 rounds – first 10 positions Rk. Title Name Rtg FED TB1 TB2 TB3 1 GM Miezis Normunds 2548 LAT 7 49 440 2 GM Bauer Christian 2637 FRA 7 48 443 3 GM Sokolov Andrei 2563 FRA 6.5 49 448 4 GM Stojanovic Mihajlo 2564 SRB 6.5 48 436 5 GM Raetsky Alexander 2412 RUS 6.5 46 428 6 IM Buss Ralph 2395 SUI 6.5 45 410 7 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2521 SUI 6.5 44 422 8 GM Gallagher Joseph 2526 SUI 6.5 43 417 9 IM Huss Andreas 2365 SUI 6 48 416 10 GM Cebalo Miso 2438 CRO 6 47 438 Official website: www.swisschess.ch

GM PETER MICHALIK WINS THE SLOVAK NATIONAL CHESS TITLE GM Peter Michalik won the Slovak national chess title after finishing third with 7 points out of 9 in the final ranking of the Open International Championship of Slovakia 2013. GM Jan Markos was second -7/9, whereas Christopher Repka took the third place -7/9.

The International Chess Championship of Slovakia was held from 06-14 July, 2013 in Banska Stiavnica. Chief Arbiter of the tournament, organized by the Slovak Chess Federation, was IA

Ivan Syrovy, while tournament director was IO Milan Maros. One hundred and fifty chess players took part in the competition.

Winner of the International Chess Championship of Slovakia was IM Tomas Krnan from Canada. GM Tamas Banusz from Hungary won the second place. Final Ranking after 9 rounds – first 5 positions Rk. Title Name FED Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3

1 IM Krnan Tomas CAN 7.5 50 2644 55

2 GM Banusz Tamas HUN 7 53 2640 58

3 GM Michalik Peter SVK 7 50 2585 55

4 GM Markos Jan SVK 7 50 2580 54

5 Repka Christopher SVK 7 47 2442 51

Women Chess Champion of Slovakia is IM Eva Repkova, who finished in the 20th place in the final ranking with score of 6 points.

Official website: www.chess.sk

GM VLATKO BOGDANOVSKI IS THE NEW CHESS CHAMPION OF FYR OF MACEDONIA GM Vlatko Bogdanovski is the new chess champion of FYR of Macedonia after winnig the Open Championship of FYR of Macedonia 2013 with the final result of 7 points out of 9. The silver went to GM Zvonko Stanojoski – 6.5/9, while bronze was won by GM Dragoljub Jacimovic – 6.5/9.

The Open Championship of FYR of Macedonia was held from 13-21 July, 2013 in Struga. Chief Arbiter of the tournament was Kocovski Ivan, IA. Thirty-six chess players took part in the competition, among whom were players from Bulgaria, Serbia and Albania.

Final Ranking after 9 rounds – first 10 positions Rk. Title Name Rtg FED Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 TB4

1 GM BOGDANOVSKI Vlatko 2435 MKD 7 45 49 6 36

2 GM STANOJOSKI Zvonko 2411 MKD 6.5 47 51 5 34

3 GM JACIMOVIC Dragoljub 2429 MKD 6.5 42 45 5 31

4 IM PANCEVSKI Filip 2506 MKD 6 47 51 5 35

5 FM ORGANDZIEV Oliver 2291 MKD 6 45 48 4 32

6 FM ILIC Zoran 2270 MKD 6 41 45 4 31

7 IM NIKOLOV Sasho 2402 BUL 5.5 48 51 3 34

8 KRSTEV Emil 2130 MKD 5.5 47 50 4 30

9 FM VELESKI Robert 2262 MKD 5.5 45 49 4 30

10 PETROV Georgi 2227 SRB 5.5 43 45 5 29 Official website: http://chess.com.mk

CORINTH 'ARGONAFTIS' WINS 41ST GREEK TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP 2013 – PREMIER LEAGUE Corinth ‘Argonaftis’ won the 41st Greek Team Championship 2013 – Premier League with the final result of 13 match points. the team of Peristeriou finished second with 11 match points, while the bronze was taken by Kavalas which scored 11 match points. The championship was held from 02-07 July,

2013 in Porto Rio Hotel.

Chief Arbiter of the tournament, organized by the Greek Chess Federation, was Tsorbatzoglou Viron. Tournament director was Georgopoulos Georgios.

Thirty-four teams took part in the competition.

Team composition of the winners was: GMs Kotronias Vasilios (GRE), Macieja Bartlomiej (POL), Nikolaidis Ioannis (GRE), Socko Monika (POL), Georgiev Krum (BUL), IM Gavrilakis Nikolaos (GRE), Sandalakis Angelos (GRE), Tzouganakis Panteleimon (GRE), Iordanidou Zoi (GRE), Anagnostopoulos Konstantinos (GRE), Kelires Andreas (CYP), Fragkou Eleni (GRE), Anthopoulos Hristos (GRE), Salahidi Reveka (GRE), Kokossis Danae (GRE), Kokkota Fotini (GRE), Hatzinikolaou Andreas (GRE), Psarros Nikolaos (GRE), Eleftheriou Georgios (GRE) and Gkeli Foteini (GRE).

Final Ranking after 7 rounds – first 10 positions Rk. Team TB1 TB2 TB3 TB4 TB5 1 ΣΑ ΚΟΡΙΝΘΙΑΣ 'ΑΡΓΟΝΑΥΤΗΣ' 13 359 49 54 273 2 ΠΣ ΠΕΡΙΣΤΕΡΙΟΥ 11 411 53 58 275 3 ΣΟ ΚΑΒΑΛΑΣ 11 342 46 57 277 4 ΕΟΑΟ 'ΦΥΣΙΟΛΑΤΡΗΣ' ΝΙΚΑΙΑΣ 10 321 49 48 244 5 ΠΑΝΙΩΝΙΟΣ ΓΣΣ 9 285 39 57 282 6 ΕΣ ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗΣ 9 276 39 57 282 7 ΣΟ ΠΑΤΡΩΝ 9 274 44 46 225 8 ΑΟ 'ΚΥΔΩΝ' ΧΑΝΙΩΝ 9 253 37 52 260 9 ΟΦΣ ΚΑΒΑΛΑΣ 9 189 33 43 248 10 ΣΑ ΧΑΝΙΩΝ 8 235 39 42 223 Official website: www.essp.gr

GM VESELIN TOPALOV WINS FIDE GRAND PRIX SERIES OVERALL GM Veselin Topalov (BUL) won the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2012-2013 after finishing in the shared third place in FIDE Grand Prix – Beijing 2013, which took place in China from 03-17 July.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov finished first in

Beijing with the score of 7 out of 11.

Alexander Grischuk was second with 6.5/11.

Veselin Topalov is on the top of the ranking with 410 points and nobody can beat him in the last Grand Prix event in Paris. Final Ranking after 11 rounds – Grand Prix Beijing 2013 Rk. Name Rtg Pts. SB 1 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2761 7 37 2 Alexander Grischuk 2780 6.5 35.25 3 Peter Leko 2737 6 32.75 4 Veselin Topalov 2767 6 31.75 5 Alexander Morozevich 2736 5.5 29.75 6 Sergey Karjakin 2776 5.5 28.75 7 Anish Giri 2734 5.5 28.75 8 Wang Yue 2705 5.5 28.75 9 Vassily Ivanchuk 2733 5 28.25 10 Boris Gelfand 2773 5 27.75 11 Wang Hao 2752 5 26 12 Gata Kamsky 2763 3.5 19.75 Official website: http://beijing2013.fide.com

GREAT POPULARITY OF DRESDEN - 71 TEAMS TO PARTICIPATE IN EUROPEAN SENIOR TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP The 15th European Senior Team Championship started on 20th July 2013 in Dresden / Germany. 71 teams from 16 nations are proof of the great popularity Dresden has as the venue of the European Team Championships, especially in the Northern European countries. Not only the number of teams but also their levels of skill promise an exciting and outstanding championship.

The favorites among the men are likely to be Belarus and Russia, who is defending the title, both teams with an ELO average above 2400. But the other five teams do have a skill level over 2300 ELO, making a march through to victory for the highest ranked teams more unlikely. However, the first three teams in the evaluation provide all title holders with more than 2400 ELO (Dydyshko, Viacheslav GM 2512, Kupreichik, Viktor GM 2443 Mochalov, Evgeny IN 2411 all Belarus, Vasiukov, Evgeni GM 2461, Pushkov, Nikolai GM 2396 Zhelnin, Vladimir V IN 2459, Chernikov, Oleg GM 2406, all Russia, Gofshtein, GM Leonid 2460, Israel). This year there are also two women's teams (from Russia and Germany)

participating. The favorite here is likely to be Russia, viewing the ratings of the two teams (2236 to 2018), which, thanks to the strength of the first boards from Russia (Strutinskaya, Galina WGM 2300 and Fatalibekova, Elena WGM 2272), also earned the team 12th place in the startup seating order. Teams and Lineups can be found here:http://www.schachfestival.de/www_festival/c50052e56093469d15d7ca0ed7c8 5e43.php

After 9 rounds the winners will be honored on Sunday July 28th 2013. Awarded are the winners in the categories: Team ranking men and women, biggest improvement of the team, and best results at the individual boards. The first boards will be streamed live on the internet at the following website: http://www.schachfestival.de/www_festival/dc11b1836ecb818fffa3e8045eb95a61.p hp

The organizer provides the participants and accompanying persons in both cultural and chess related matters an attractive program. This is to be viewed below: http://www.schachfestival.de/www_festival/2202cd8f3d1cd174f6675fb138f652e3.p hp