NEWSLETTER 140 (December 17, 2013)

GM RAPPORT WINS EUROPEAN RAPID CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2013 Hungarian Grandmaster Richard Rapport is the new European Champion in Rapid chess for 2013! He won this year's edition of the European Rapid Chess Championship, which was held in Warsaw, Poland 14-15 December, 2013. Rapport scored 9.5 points and with the best tie-break among two more players won the title. Silver medal went to GM Vladimir Malachov from Russia, and bronze went to GM Tigran L. Petrosian from Armenia. Rapport drew with Malachov in the last round to assure the title, while Petrosian defeated GM Markus Ragger and managed to grab the bronze medal.

Final standings can be found here: http://www.poloniachess.pl/amplico2013/rapid/tournament_table_acc_places.html

The Championship was organized by Gen. Kazimierz Sosnkowski Chess Foundation in cooperation with the Polish Chess Federation, under the auspices of the European Chess Union.

747 players from 29 national federations took part in this competition, among whom 125 International title holders and 138 female chess players.

The tournament was played according to the Swiss System in 11 rounds, and the rate of play was 15 minutes + 10 seconds.

For more information you can visit the official website of the Championship: http://www.poloniachess.pl/amplico2013/en/

GM KOROBOV IS THE NEW EUROPEAN CHAMPION IN BLITZ FOR 2013

Grandmaster Anton Korobov from Ukraine won the European Blitz Chess Championship 2013 which was held in Warsaw, Poland on 13th December, 2013.

GM Korobov scored 18.5 points, 1.5 point more than GM Vladislav Tkachiev from

France, who won the silver medal.

Bronze went to Bartosz Socko from Poland with 17 points and worse tie-break than Tkachiev.

The final standings can be found here: http://www.poloniachess.pl/amplico2013/blitz/tournament_table_acc_places.html

437 players from 28 national federations took part in this year’s edition of European Blitz Championship, among whom 72 women and 102 international title holders.

The organizer of the Championship was Gen. Kazimierz Sosnkowski Chess Foundation in cooperation with the Polish Chess Federation, under the auspices of © Ecuonline.net Page 3

the European Chess Union.

The tournament was played according to the Swiss System in 11 rounds, with time control 3 minutes + 2 seconds.

For more information, you can visit the official website of the Championship: http://www.poloniachess.pl/amplico2013/en/

Photo source: http://www.poloniachess.pl/amplico2013/en/gallery/blitz

IDEARTE – OFFICIAL MARKETING AGENCY OF ECU

ECU and IDEARTE have signed a cooperation agreement for 2014, by which IdeArte is empowered to act as official marketing agency of ECU.

IdeArte is a marketing & public relations company from Spain, presently involved, among other things, in developing a plan to promote Chess throughout Europe.

In which concerns our cooperation with ECU, it will be focused in three main targets:

(a) Working with public & private institutions to include chess in the schools official curriculum, convinced as we are that children are the future of chess, and taking into account the previous and present experiences of several countries in that area.

(b) Developing a campaign to promote and enhance the ECU image among general public, professional chessplayers and mass media.

NAKAMURA WINS SUPER SIXTEEN LONDON CHESS CLASSIC 2013 American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura wins the 5th London Chess Classic 'Super Sixteen'. He defeated GM Boris Gelfand from Israel with 1.5-0.5 in the final.

Nakamura won the first game with White in Grunfeld, and drew the seond game with Black, which was enough for the title. The games were broadcast Live with video commentary and analysis. The tournament was held in London, England 11-15 December, 2013 at the Olympiad Conference Centre.

Here are the Group Stage results: Round 01 Group A: Wednesday December 11th, 2.00 pm Luke McShane vs Vishy Anand 0-1 Andrei Istratescu vs Michael Adams 0-1

Round 01 Group B: Wednesday December 11th, 2.00 pm Vladimir Kramnik vs Peter Svidler 1-0 Jonathan Rowson vs Matthew Sadler 1-0 Round 01 Group C: Wednesday December 11th, 3.30 pm Boris Gelfand vs Judit Polgar 1-0 Gawain Jones vs Hikaru Nakamura ½-½ Round 01 Group D: Wednesday December 11th, 3.30 pm Nigel Short vs David Howell ½-½ Fabiano Caruana vs Emil Sutovsky 1-0

Round 02 Group A: Wednesday December 11th, 6.00 pm Vishy Anand vs Michael Adams ½-½ Luke McShane vs Andrei Istratescu 1-0 Round 02 Group B: Wednesday December 11th, 6.00 pm Peter Svidler vs Matthew Sadler ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik vs Jonathan Rowson 1-0 Round 02 Group C: Wednesday December 11th, 7.30 pm Judit Polgar vs Hikaru Nakamura 0-1 Boris Gelfand vs Gawain Jones 1-0 Round 02 Group D: Wednesday December 11th, 7.30 pm David Howell vs Emil Sutovsky 1-0 Nigel Short vs Fabiano Caruana 0-1

Round 03 Group C: Thursday December 12th, 2.00 pm Gawain Jones vs Judit Polgar 0-1 Hikaru Nakamura vs Boris Gelfand ½-½ Round 03 Group D: Thursday December 12th, 2.00 pm Fabiano Caruana vs David Howell ½-½ Emil Sutovsky vs Nigel Short 0-1 Round 03 Group A: Thursday December 12th, 3.30 pm Andrei Istratescu vs Vishy Anand 0-1 Michael Adams vs Luke McShane ½-½ Round 03 Group B: Thursday December 12th, 3.30 pm Jonathan Rowson vs Peter Svidler 0-1 Matthew Sadler vs Vladimir Kramnik ½-½

Round 04 Group C: Thursday December 12th, 6.00 pm Judit Polgar vs Boris Gelfand ½-½ Hikaru Nakamura vs Gawain Jones 1-0 Round 04 Group D: Thursday December 12th, 6.00 pm David Howell vs Nigel Short 0-1 Emil Sutovsky vs Fabiano Caruana 0-1 Round 04 Group A: Thursday December 12th, 7.30 pm Vishy Anand vs Luke McShane 1-0 Michael Adams vs Andrei Istratescu 1-0 Round 04 Group B: Thursday December 12th, 7.30 pm Peter Svidler vs Vladimir Kramnik 1-0 Matthew Sadler vs Jonathan Rowson 1-0

Round 05 Group A: Friday December 13th, 2.00 pm Luke McShane vs Michael Adams 0-1 Vishy Anand vs Andrei Istratescu ½-½ Round 05 Group B: Friday December 13th, 2.00 pm Vladimir Kramnik vs Matthew Sadler ½-½ Peter Svidler Jonathan Rowson 1-0 Round 05 Group C: Friday December 13th, 3.30 pm Boris Gelfand vs Hikaru Nakamura ½-½ Judit Polgar vs Gawain Jones 0-1 Round 05 Group D: Friday December 13th, 3.30 pm Nigel Short vs Emil Sutovsky 1-0 David Howell vs Fabiano Caruana 0-1 Round 06 Group A: Friday December 13th, 6.00 pm Michael Adams vs Vishy Anand ½-½ Andrei Istratescu vs Luke McShane 1-0 Round 06 Group B: Friday December 13th, 6.00 pm Matthew Sadler vs Peter Svidler ½-½ Jonathan Rowson vs Vladimir Kramnik ½-½ Round 06 Group C: Friday December 13th, 7.30 pm © Ecuonline.net Page 7

Hikaru Nakamura vs Judit Polgar ½-½ Gawain Jones vs Boris Gelfand 1-0 Round 06 Group D: Friday December 13th, 7.30 pm Emil Sutovsky vs David Howell 1-0 Fabiano Caruana vs Nigel Short 1-0 Quarter Final matches:

Player Rating Game1 Game 2 Points

Vladimir Kramnik 2793 ½ 1 1.5

Vishy Anand 2773 ½ 0 0.5

***

Player Rating Game1 Game 2 TieBreak1 TieBreak2 Points

Michael Adams 2754 1 0 1 1 3

Peter Svidler 2758 0 1 0 0 1

***

Player Rating Game1 Game 2 Points

Nigel Short 2683 0 ½ 0.5

Hikaru Nakamura 2786 1 ½ 1.5

***

Player Rating Game1 Game 2 TieBreak1 TieBreak2 Points

Fabiano Caruana 2777 ½ ½ 0 0 1

Boris Gelfand 2782 ½ ½ 1 1 3

Semi Final matches:

Player Rating Game1 Game 2 Points

Vladimir Kramnik 2793 ½ 0 0.5

Hikaru Nakamura 2786 ½ 1 1.5

***

Player Rating Game1 Game 2 Points

Boris Gelfand 2782 1 ½ 1.5

Michael Adams 2754 0 ½ 0.5 Photos by Ray Morris-Hill For more information you can visit the official website of the tournament http://londonchessclassic.com/