NEWSLETTER 148 (March 18, 2014)
NEWSLETTER 148 (March 18, 2014) EICC 2014 – TITLE FOR MOTYLEV, YEREVAN GREAT HOST The 15th European Individual Chess Championship, which was dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the great Armenian chess player, the World 9th Champion Tigran Petrosian, has come to an end. The Championship started spectacularly, with a beautiful opening ceremony held on 2nd March 17, 2014, at the National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Yerevan/Armenia. A truly great chess atmosphere prevailed in the hall. The President of the Republic of Armenia, who doubles as the President of the Armenian Chess Federation, Serzh Sargsyan, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the President of the European Chess Union Silvio Danailov, a number of state officials, over 260 chess players from 27 participating countries and a great number of chess lovers were present at the ceremony. © Ecuonline.net Page 1 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, some of them even after 9 rounds. After 11 exciting rounds Russian Grandmaster Alexander Motylev triumphed with 9 points, with 7 wins and 4 draws. He had a lousy start, as he drew with lower rated IM Ali Marandi Cemil Can (ELO 2380) from Turkey in the first round, but he won 5 games in the row and took the lead, which eventually turned into a title. In such a strong and long open tournament, everything was „open“. That's why it was difficult to predict who will win, or who were the favorites for the title.
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