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POPOV AND MAMEDOV WIN EUROPEAN RAPID & BLITZ CHAMPIONSHIP 2015

European Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship 2015 took place in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, 18-

20 December in Sports Palace, with the participation of more than 700 players from 30 European

federations.

EUROPEAN RAPID &

BLITZ CHAMPIONSHIP

2015

LONDON CHESS

CONFERENCE

2015

EUROPEAN

CHESS

UNIVERSITIES

2016

EUROPEAN

CHAMPIONS 2015

PHOTO GALLERY

E U R O P E A N C H E S S U N I O N

NEWSLETTER

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Blitz championship was first on schedule and was held on 18th December, starting from 11.00 am.

After 22 exciting games, Azeri Grandmaster Rauf Mamedov became the new European Blitz

Champion by defeating Vladimir Belous from Russia with 2-0 in the final round.

Mamedov scored 18 points, the same as the Russian GM Boris Savchenko, who defeated Sergey

Zhigalko with the same result, but thanks to better tie-break gold went to Mamedov. Bronze

medal went to Alexander Riazantsev from Russia with 17 points.

The best female player was GM Valentina Gunina from Russia who finished on 23rd place with

15.5 points in such a strong competition. Final Standings

At the opening ceremony, which was held shortly before the 1st round, the participants were

addressed by Mr. Aleksandr Shamko, Minister of Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Belarus

and Mr. Zurab Azmaiparashvili, President of the European Chess Union.

Russian GM Ivan Popov became the winner of the European Rapid Chess Championship 2015,

which was held after Blitz tournament, 19-20 December.

Popov defeated Ilia Smirin from Israel in the direct encounter of the last round and triumphed

with 10 points out of 11 games.

Silver medal went to Armenian Grandmaster Hrant Melkumyan who came sole second with 9.5

points, by defeating Nigel Short in the final round. Bronze went to the Ukrainian Vadim Rasin

who is probably the biggest surprise in the tournament. He defeated Ernest Inarkiev with Black in

the last round and took the medal thanks to the best tie-break in the group with 9 points.

The best ranked female players were Olga Girya, Anastasia Bodnaruk and Nina Sirotkina who

scored 8 points and shared 27th place. Final Rapid Standings

Official Website

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ECU at London Chess Conference

London Chess Conference, as a part of the London Chess Classic program was held 4-6 December

in London.

The conference started on 4th December with the big attendance in the Hilton Olympia in

Kensington. This year’s theme of the conference was “Chess and Society”, with the various

sessions and a number of academic and chess specialist lecturers.

The Chief Executive of Chess in Schools and Communities, Mr. Malcolm Pein in his opening

speech thanked the European Chess Union for the support to the conference and emphasized this

is the first time that an official International Chess body takes active part in the conference.

The Social Chess Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, supported by the ECU was running parallel to the

conference. Business model analysis, team working and case studies were presented by the key

speakers.

The ECU Secretary General, Mr. Theodoros Tsorbatzoglou opened the bootcamp while the ECU

Chairman of Educational Commission, Mr. Jesper Hall presented the ECU “Chess in Schools

Study”, the strategy and the next goals of the Commission.

Mr. Alexander Kostyev, Mr. John Foley and Ms. Magdalena Zielinska from the ECU Educational

Commission also participated in the thematic panels of the conference.

More information at http://londonchessconference.com/

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UPCOMING IN 2016

European Chess Universities Games in Zagreb-Rijeka 2016

The largest university sport event in Europe, the European Universities Games, also feature chess

tournament next year. European university teams are invited to participate in the 3rd European

Universities Games, which will be organised in Zagreb and Rijeka, Croatia in July 2016.

The Games will be held in two Croatian cities, the capital Zagreb and the coastal city of Rijeka,

encompassing the event slogan Heart Believes – Mind Achieves. European Universities Games

will feature competitions for men and women in 21 sports: Badminton, Basketball, Basketball

3×3, Beach Volleyball, Bridge, Chess, Football, Futsal, Golf, Handball, Judo, Karate, Rowing,

Rugby 7’s, Sport Climbing, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Volleyball and Water

Polo.

Two of the sports – Table Tennis and Swimming – will also include competitions for students

with disabilities. Apart of the sports competitions, the Games will be accompanied by the Rector’s

Conference, educational side-events, cultural program and other activities.

Chess competitions feature Open and Women’s tournament, with Blitz as a side event, and will be

held in Zagreb. The tournament starts on July 11 with the General Technical Meeting and finishes

on July 15 with the finals. University teams representing any higher educational institute in

Europe may register through their national university sports bodies in any of the 45 EUSA-

member European countries.

European Universities Games are the largest multi-sport event in the European university sport

and are held under the umbrella of European Universities Sports Association (EUSA). So far,

EUG has been held twice (Cordoba 2012 and Rotterdam 2014).

http://www.eusa.eu/ http://eug2016.com/

Polar Capital International Chess Tournament 2016 Jersey Chess Federation organizes the Polar Capital International Chess Tournament 2016, which

will take place from Sunday 10th to Saturday 16th April 2016 in St Clement Bay in Jersey.

The Open tournament will be played according to the Swiss System in 9 rounds, with time control

90 minutes for the whole game + 30 seconds increment per move.

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The Highest ranked players who are not already qualified will qualify for the 2016 British

Championship. The first prize at the Open tournament is £1500.

Apart from the main event, the FIDE Holiday Tournament and Nautilus Jersey Blitz

Championship will take place as well.

FIDE tournament is for players with an ELO Rating under 1900 (under ECF 160) and will be

played in 7 rounds. The first prize is £400.

The Jersey Open Blitz Tournament is sponsored by Nautilus Trust Limited and will be held on

Wednesday 13th April, starting at 7.00 pm. The first prize is £150.

2015 European winners – Photo Gallery

European Individual winners in Men’s, Women’s and Senior categories

European Team winners in Men’s, Women’s and Senior categories

European Club Cup winners

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European Youth winners

European Youth Team winners

European Amateur winners

European Rapid & Blitz winners

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European Youth Rapid, Blitz & Chess Solving winners

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European Schools winners

European Universities winners

European Small Nations Team winners

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2015 European Champions

European Individual Chess Championship Jerusalem 2015

GM Evgeniy Najer (RUS)

European Individual Women’s Chess Championship Chakvi 2015

GM Natalia Zhukova (UKR)

European Senior Chess Championship Eretria 2015

Open 50+ GM Zurab Sturua (GEO) Women 50+ WGM Svetlana Mednikova (RUS)

Open 65+ IM Jan Rooze (BEL) Women 65+ GM Nona Gaprindashvili (GEO)

European Team Chess Championship Reykjavik 2015

Open Section Russia Women Section Russia

European Senior Team Chess Championship Vienna 2015

Sankt Petersburg (RUS)

European Chess Club Cup Skopje 2015

Open Section Siberia (RUS) Women Section Nona (GEO)

European Youth Chess Championship Porec 2015

Open U18 IM Ali Marandi Cemil Can (TUR) GirlsU18 WFM Khomeriki Nino (GEO)

Open U16 Sawlin Leonid (GER) Girls U16 WFM Kazarian Anna-Maja (NED)

Open U14 Lobanov Sergei (RUS) Girls U14 WFM Kochukova Anna (RUS)

Open U12 Shubin Kirill (RUS) Girls U12 WFM Solozhenkina Elizaveta (RUS)

Open U10 Makoveev Ilya (RUS) Girls U10 WCM Mironenko Galina (RUS)

Open U8 Navumenka Mikhei (BLR) Girls U8 Veremyuk Veronika (UKR

European Youth Team Chess Championship Karpacz 2015

Open Section Germany Girls Section Estonia

European Amateur Chess Championship Kaunas 2015

Open Section Lukas Jonkus (LTU) Women Section Saule Gailiunaite (LTU)

European Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship Minsk 2015

Rapid GM Ivan Popov (RUS) Blitz GM Rauf Mamedov (AZE)

European Women Rapid Chess Championship Kutaisi 2015

GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS)

European Youth Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship Novi Sad 2015

Rapid Individual

Open U8 Stevanovic Jovan (SRB) Girls U8 Tadic Ana (SRB)

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Open U10 Tsaruk Maksim (BLR) Girls U10 Zeliantsova Kseniya (BLR)

Open U12 Persanyi Barnabas (HUN) Girls U12 Srdanovic Jovana (SRB)

Open U14 FM Zarubitski Viachaslau (BLR) Girls U14 Badelka Olga (BLR)

Open U16 IM Gledura Benjamin (HUN) Girls U16 Tishova Svetlana (RUS)

Open U18 IM Ladva Ottomar (EST) Girls U18 WCM Gajcin Jasmina (SRB)

Rapid Team

U10 Belarus

U14 Serbia

U18 Hungary

Blitz Individual

Open U10 Tsaruk Maksim (BLR) Girls U10 Zeliantsova Kseniya (BLR)

Open U14 Ivannikau Maksim (BLR) Girls U14 Badelka Olga (BLR)

Open U18 Kazakovskiy Valeriy (BLR) Girls U18 WIM Narva Mai (EST)

Solving Chess

Open U10 Tsaruk Maksim (BLR) Girls U10 Felicia Ojog (MDA)

Open U14 Artur Avalyan (RUS) Girls U14 Ana Afanasieva (RUS)

Open U18 Zivojin Perovic (SRB) Girls U18 Ekatarina Diakonova (RUS)

Superfinal – Rapid

Open IM Gledura Benjamin (HUN) Girls WIM Unuk Laura (SLO)

European Schools Chess Championship Konya 2015

Open U7 Svetlen Ivanov (BUL) Girls U7 Olesia Vlasova (RUS)

Open U9 Suleyman Suleymanli (AZE) Girls U9 WCM Olga Melenchuk (RUS)

Open U11 Unat Can Haktan (TUR) Girls U11 Duran Esma Doga (TUR)

Open U13 Sahin Doga Boran (TUR) Girls U13 Citak Tuana Umay (TUR)

Open U15 CM Bahadir Ozen (TUR) Girls U15 WFM Alexandra Obolentseva (RUS)

Open U17 CM Siar Yaran (TUR) Girls U17 Buket Tandogan (TUR)

European Universities Championship Yerevan 2015

Open & Women Section Ural State Mining University (RUS)

Small Nations Team Chess Championship Guernsey 2015

Luxembourg

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FUN ZONE In December Fun Zone we decided to present you nice and easy mate in two combinations,

perfect for time pass during holidays.

In all diagrams White mates in 2. Enjoy!

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Solutions from the NL November 2015:

Carlsen, Magnus (NOR) vs. Aronian, Levon (ARM)

20th European Teams | Reykjavik ISL | Round 3 | 15 Nov 2015 | 0-1

22... Bc4 23. Nxd8 Bxf1 24. Qxf1 Rxf2 25. Qg1 Ra2! 26. Rxa2 Bxg1 27. Kxg1 Qc1 28. Kf2

Qxd1 29. Nxc6 Qb3 30. Rd2 (30. Re2 Qxc3 31. b5 Kh7 is simply winning) 30... Qxc3 31.

Rd6 Qb2+ 32. Ke3 Qa3+ 33. Kf2 Qxa4 34. Nxe5 Qc2+ 35. Kf3 f5 36. Rd3 fxe4+ 37. Kxe4

Qxg2+ 38. Nf3 Qg4+ 39. Ke3 g5 40. Kf2 Qf5 41. Rd8+ Kg7 42. Kg2 g4 43. Nd2 Qe6 44.

Nf1 Qc6+ 0-1

Lagno, Kateryna (RUS) vs. Khotenashvili, Bela (GEO)

20th European Teams Women | Reykjavik ISL | Round 4 | 16 Nov 2015 | 1-0

42. Ng4 Bxd4 43. Re7 Qxe7 44. Rxe7 Kxe7 45. Qxc6 Rbc8 46. Nxh6 Ne6 47. Qb7+ Rc7 48.

Nd5+ Rxd5 49. Ng8+ Ke8 50. Qxd5 Nfd8 51. Nh6 Rd7 52. Qa2 Be5 53. c6 Rd3 54. b5 Bd6

55. Qc2 Rd5 56. Bc3 f3 57. g3 Rxb5 58. Qg6+ Kf8 59. Bf6 1-0

Rapport, Richard (HUN) vs. Fressinet, Laurent (FRA)

20th European Teams | Reykjavik ISL | Round 3 | 15 Nov 2015 | 1-0

29. f5! exf5 30. Rxf5 gxf5 31. Rg4+ fxg4 32. Qxa6 Ne7 33. e6 fxe6 34. Qa4 Rc7 35. Qxg4+

Ng6 36. Qxe6+ Kh8 37. Nf7+ Kg8 38. Nh6+ Kh8 39. Qg8#

Muzychuk, Anna (UKR) vs. Skripchenko, Almira (FRA)

20th European Teams Women | Reykjavik ISL | Round 8 | 21 Nov 2015 | 1-0

16. Qh5 h6 17. Bxf7+ Rxf7 18. Qxf7+ Qxf7 19. Nxf7 Kxf7 20. b4 1-0

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They told about chess…

““A win by an unsound combination, however showy, fills me with

artistic horror”

Wilhelm (later William) Steinitz, Austrian and later American chess

Master player, and the first undisputed World Chess Champion

(1886-1894). He was also a highly influential writer and chess

theoretician.

UPCOMING EVENTS IN JANUARY

25th KERES MEMORIAL - ACP OPEN

January 7, 2016 will be the 100th birth anniversary of the legendary chess

player Paul Keres who was elected the Estonian Sportsman of the 20th

century. To mark the event, FIDE has named year 2016 “the year of Paul

Keres”.

The Estonian Sports Association Kalev in cooperation with the Estonian

Chess Federation organizes the 25th “Remembering Paul Keres” rapid

tournament /ACP Open in honor of 100 years Keres Jubilee.

The tournament will be held in Tallinn, 7-10 January and will be a major

International event, currently, over 30 Grandmasters have registered for

the competition. The prize fund of the tournament will be 15 000 euros.

Official Website List of participants

TATA STEEL CHESS TOURNAMENT 2016

The 78th Tata Steel Chess Tournament will take place on 15 - 31 January 2016 in Wijk aan Zee.

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is one of the most prestigious events in the international chess

calendar. The "Wimbledon of Chess" attracts the very best chess grandmasters in the world, along

with thousands of amateur players, live event visitors and online visitors from around the world.

The tournament has two main player groups, each with 14 players. They are known as the Tata

Steel Masters and the Tata Steel Challengers.

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The Tata Steel Chess Tournament traditionally takes place in the coastal village of Wijk aan Zee,

North Holland. Since 2014 we also host two Tata Steel Chess On Tour events at other exciting

locations in the Netherlands.

Masters tournament 2016 is of 20th category with average rating 2750. The tournament features

five players from Top 10 (November 2015 list): World Champion Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano

Caruana, Anish Giri, Liren Ding and Wesley So.

Aditionally, the 2015 World Cup winner and finalist Sergey Karjakin and Pavel Eljanov

willparticipate, as well as Azerbaijan #1 Shakhryar Mamedyarov, Russia #5 Evgeny Tomashevsky,

England #1 Michael Adams, Czech #1 David Navara, Chinese prodigy Wei Yi, top world female

player Hou Yifan and Dutch representative Loek Van Wely will participate in the main event.

Official Website Players

TRADEWISE GIBRALTAR CHESS FESTIVAL 2015

This traditional event takes place from 25th January until 4th February, 2015 at Caleta Hotel in

Gibraltar. Like every year, the tournament consists of several events, including side events such as

the Battle of the Sexes. The Prize Money is 175.000£ including female, amateur, prizes for best

relative rating achievement, best game prize, etc.

Leading entrants already include former World Champion Viswanathan Anand, Hikaru

Nakamura, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Li Chao, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Harikrishna Pentala, Yangyi

Yu, Laurent Fressinet, Hua Ni, David Howell, Richard Rapport, Markus Ragger, Etienne Bacrot,

etc.

Official Website list of participants

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MOSCOW OPEN 2015

International RSSU Chess Cup Moscow Open 2016 will be held in Moscow from January 28 to

February 8, 2016.

The Cup hosts are Russian State Social University (RSSU), a non-profit organization Moscow

Chess Federation (MCF), the Management of Sport and Entertainment Activities of Moscow

Department for Physical Culture and Sport, with the support of the Russian Chess Federation, the

International School Chess Union, FIDE and European Chess Union.

The Cup comprises eight separate tournaments:

A Tournament - RSSU Cup, Men’s Cup of Russia Stage

B Tournament - RSSU Cup, Women’s Cup of Russia Stage

C Tournament - RSSU Amateur Cup – selection to World Amateur Championship 2016

D Tournament - RSSU Veteran Cup – selection to World Senior Championship 2016

E Tournament - RSSU University Student Cup - selection to World Amateur Championship 2016

F Tournament - RSSU School Winner Cup – selection to World School Championship 2016

G Tournament - RSSU Blitz Chess Cup

H Tournament - Youth World Championship in Composing

Official Website