NEWSLETTER 118 (May 27, 2013) MR. SERZH SARGSYAN RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE ARMENIAN CHESS FEDERATION The President of the Republic of Armenia Mr. Serzh Sargsyan was re-elected as President of the Armenian Chess Federation. The elections of the federation’s governing bodies were held on 18th May, 2013 at the Chess House Tigran Petrosian in Yerevan during Conference of the Armenian Chess Federation. The conference summarized the work of the federation within the previous two years. The ECU President Silvio Danailov congratulated Mr. Sargsyan on his re-election. 20th May, 2013 To: His Excellency Mr. Serzh Sargsyan President of Armenian Chess Federation Dear Mr. Sargsyan, Allow me to extend my warmest and heartfelt congratulations on your re-election as President of the Armenian Chess Federation. © Ecuonline.net Page 1 I believe that your re-election comes as a recognition of the outstanding achievements you have made in popularising and promoting chess in your country, making Armenia one of the chess-leading countries in the world, and a reward for your earnest efforts to assist in numerous ways the development and improvement of the game of chess. It is my hope that your new term will provide an opportunity to further strengthen the cordial and friendly relations between the Armenian Chess Federation and the European Chess Union while continuing to work positively and cooperatively towards the common goals of chess promotion and development in Europe and worldwide. The European Chess Union and myself once more send you our best wishes for continued great success in your duties. Yours respectfully, Silvio Danailov ECU President Official website: www.chessfed.am WEBSITE OF THE OFFICIAL ECU TOURIST AGENCY AVAsa STARTS WORKING WWW.ECUTRAVEL.NET It is our pleasure to inform you that the website of the official tourist agency of the European Chess Union AVAsa has started working. The website www.ECUtravel.net offers plane tickets at excellent price. In addition, the agency provides chess players all over the world with all the other offers related to tourism services. © Ecuonline.net Page 2 Official website: www.ecuonline.net OFFICIAL CLOSING CEREMONY OF THE FIRST SCHOOL CHESS YEAR IN SLIVNITSA The first school chess year in Slivnitsa, Bulgaria officially finished. The official closing ceremony was held on 22nd May, 2013 at the school “St.st. Cyril and Methodius”. Official guests of the event were: the world class grandmaster Kiril Georgiev, the mayor of Slivnitsa municipality Vasko Stoilkov and Boyko Hristov, Press Director of the European Chess Union. © Ecuonline.net Page 3 On the occasion of their successful graduation the young students received diplomas and chess sets, suitable for playing chess during the summer holidays. GM Kiril Georgiev encouraged the young students by telling them some successful moments from his career and told them about the benefits of learning chess as a school subject. The President of the European Chess Union Silvio Danailov greeted students with an official letter on the occasion of the completion of the first school chess year in Slivnitsa. As you have been already informed, the ECU President Silvio Danailov officially opened the first school chess year in the town of Slivnitsa, Bulgaria. The official ceremony was held on 26th October, 2012 at the school “St.st. Cyril and Methodius”. Slivnitsa became the first municipality in the European Union to introduce chess as a subject in its schools according to the ECU program - "Chess in Schools". © Ecuonline.net Page 4 Eighty children out of 240 students of the school "St.st. Cyril and Methodius" chose to study chess as a subject during the school year 2012-2013. 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. The Famous German TV Channel ZDF made a big report about the ECU’s Chess in School program in the town of Slivnitsa, Bulgaria. Official website: www.ecuonline.net GM MIKHAIL PANARIN WINS THE RUSSIAN RAPID CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2013 GM Mikhail Panarin won the Russian Rapid Chess Championship with the final result of 6.5 points out of maximum 9 and better tie- break than the second and the third in the final ranking – GM Aleksey Dreev and GM Vladimir Fedoseev. The Championship was held on May 21-22, 2013 in Saint Petersburg. © Ecuonline.net Page 5 Fourty-three chess players took part in the competition. Chief Arbiter of the tournament was IA Viatcheslav Ivanov. Final ranking after 9 rounds – first 10 positions – MEN Rk. Title Name Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 GM Panarin Mikhail 2577 6.5 51 33 5 2 GM Dreev Aleksey 2726 6.5 49 34 5 3 GM Fedoseev Vladimir 2614 6.5 43 32 6 4 GM Shomoev Anton 2557 6.5 40 28 6 5 GM Sjugirov Sanan 2668 6 54 34 5 6 GM Lysyj Igor 2658 6 47 34 3 7 GM Khairullin Ildar 2661 6 47 33 3 8 GM Tomashevsky Evgeny 2722 6 45 28 4 9 GM Inarkiev Ernesto 2688 5.5 53 35 4 10 GM Matlakov Maxim 2669 5.5 43 28 4 In the women section, the winner was GM Valentina Gunina with the final result of 7.5 points out of maximum 9. FM Daria Pustovoitova finished second on a half point distance from the winner. IM Anastasia Bodnaruk finished in the third place with 6 points. Twenty-eight chess players took part in the competition. Final Ranking after 9 rounds – first 10 positions - WOMEN Rk. Title Name Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 GM Gunina Valentina 2531 7.5 48 37 6 2 FM Pustovoitova Daria 2398 7 49 36 6 3 IM Bodnaruk Anastasia 2443 6 48 33 5 4 WGM Sudakova Irina 2264 6 45 29 5 5 WGM Girya Olga 2365 5.5 50 33 4 6 WIM Ubiennykh Ekaterina 2325 5.5 50 32 5 7 WGM Charochkina Daria 2384 5.5 46 30 5 8 WGM Pogonina Natalija 2420 5.5 45 29 5 9 IM Ovod Evgenija 2323 5.5 42 26 4 10 WGM Kashlinskaya Alina 2383 5 46 29 4 Official website: http://russiachess.org © Ecuonline.net Page 6 CLUBUL DE SAH AL MUNICIPIULUI BAIA MARE WINS THE CUP OF ROMANIA FOR TEAMS – RAPID Clubul de Sah al Municipiului Baia Mare won the Cup of Romania for teams – rapid with the final result of 16 matchpoints. CS Politehnica Iasi finished second with 15 matchpoints, while CS AEM Luxten Timisoara was third with the same result. The Cup of Romania was held on May 25-26, 2013 in Snagov. Chief Arbiter of the tournament was IA Dinu-Ioan Nicula. Twenty-two male teams and six female teams took part in the competition. In the women section, the winner was the team of CS Politehnica Iasi with the final result of 17 matchpoints. The silver medal was taken by ACS Sah Apa Nova Bucuresti with 15 matchpoints, whereas the bronze went to CSM Bucuresti – 14 pts. Final Ranking after 9 rounds – first 5 positions – MEN Rk. Team TB1 TB2 TB3 TB4 1 Clubul de Sah al Municipiului Baia Mare 16 0 28 554 2 CS Politehnica Iasi 15 2 26 531 3 CS AEM Luxten Timisoara 15 0 26 527 4 Clubul Central de Sah Bucuresti 11 0 22 386 5 CSM Lugoj 10 0 24 438 Team composition of Clubul de Sah al Municipiului Baia Mare was: GMs Liviu- Dieter Nisipeanu (ELO 2625), Levente Vajda (ELO 2550), Gergely-Andras-Gyula Szabo (ELO 2555), George-Gabriel Grigore (ELO 2491) and FMs Robert Hajbok (ELO 2365), Attila Szabo (ELO 2290). Final Ranking after 10 rounds - Women Rk. Team TB1 TB2 TB3 TB4 1 CS Politehnica Iasi 17 0 25 299 2 ACS Sah Apa Nova Bucuresti 15 0 22 234 3 CSM Bucuresti 14 0 20 212 4 Clubul Central de Sah Bucuresti 8 0 13 114 5 CS Otopeni 6 0 12 91.3 6 CS Snagov 0 0 0 0 Team composition of CS Politehnica Iasi was: WGMs Irina Bulmaga (ELO 2363), Alina L'ami (ELO 2405), WIM Ioana-Smaranda Padurariu (ELO 2208) and WCM Ioana Gelip (ELO 2047). Official website: www.frsah.ro © Ecuonline.net Page 7 IM GABRIEL MIULESCU WINS ROMANIAN NATIONAL SENIOR BLITZ CHAMPIONSHIP IM Gabriel Miulescu won the Romanian National Senior Blitz Championship with the final result of 6.5 points out of maximum 7. FM Adrian-Florian Sasu-Ducsoara finished second with 6 points, while CM Stefan Leustian was third with 4.5 points. The Championship was held on 18th May, 2013. Chief Arbiter was FA Radu Sofran. Twenty-four chess players took part in the competition. Final Ranking after 7 rounds – first 5 positions Rk. Title Name Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 IM Miulescu Gabriel 2102 6.5 30 21 27.3 2 FM Sasu-Ducsoara Adrian-Florian 2144 6 31 21 24.5 3 CM Leustian Stefan 2055 4.5 32 23 18.3 4 NM Tacu Victor-Mihail-Gabriel 2090 4.5 29 20 15.3 5 CM Cernea Radu-Gheorghe 1973 4.5 28 19 15.3 Official website: www.frsah.ro © Ecuonline.net Page 8 SERGEY KARJAKIN WINS THE NORWAY CHESS TOURNAMENT Sergey Karjakin won the Norway Chess Tournament with the final result of 6 points out of maximum 9. Magnus Carlsen finished second on a half point distance from the winner. He had a better tie-break than the third in the ranking Hikaru Nakamura.