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European Youth Chess Championship 2015

The 25th European Youth Chess Championship, the most numerous Championship in the ECU

calendar finished yesterday in Porec/Croatia.

After 10 days of great fights, 12 new European Youth Champions were crowned.

ECU PRESIDENT

AT FIDE

CONGRESS

ABU DHABI 2015

ECU CONGRESS & ECU

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

BAR 2015

FIDE WORLD

CHESS CUP

BAKU 2015

SOCIAL CHESS

ENTREPRENEUR

BOOTCAMP

LONDON 2015

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

NEWSLETTER

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In Open U18 IM Ali Marandi Cemil Can (TUR 2422) with 7 points. Silver and bronze went to IM

Petrosyan Manuel (ARM 2443) and IM Stremavicius Titas (LTU 2466) respectively, with 6.5

points and best tie-breaks.

WFM Khomeriki Nino (GEO 2296) triumphed with 8 points in Girls U18, followed by WFM

Harazinska Ewa (POL 2055) with 7.5 points, and WIM Tijana Blagojevic (MNE 230) with 6.5

points.

The 24th seed German Sawlin Leonid (2258) surprised and took the gold in Open U16 with 7.5

points, while the first seed IM Kelires Andreas (2432) from Cyprus had to be satisfied with silver

with half a point behind. Bronze went to Tuncer Tuna (TUR 2243) with the best tie-break in the

group with 6.5 points.

WFM Kazarian Anna-Maja (NED 2259) won the Championship in Girls group U16 with 7.5

points, ahead of Drogovoz Irina (RUS 2253) and Antolak Julia (POL 1945) who took second and

third place respectively with 6.5 points.

In Open U14 gold went to Lobanov Sergei (RUS 2394) with 7.5 points and better tie-breaks than

his compatriot FM Esipenko Andrey (2384). Bronze went to FM Hakobyan Aram (ARM 2348)

with 7 points.

In group Girls U14 Russians were dominant in battle for all three medals. WFM Kochukova Anna

(2049) won the title with 7.5 points, followed by Maltsevskaya Aleksandra (2107) and WFM

Obolentseva Alexandra (2084) with 7 points.

Shubin Kirill (RUS 2176) triumphed in Open U12 with 7.5 points. Ognean Mihnea-Ionut (ROU

2164) scored the same amount of points, but he had worse tie-break than the Romanian. The

bronze went to the Slovenian Subelj Jan (1964) with 7 points.

In Girls U12 WFM Solozhenkina Elizaveta (RUS 2061) took the title with 7.5 points. WCM

Beydullayeva Govhar (AZE 1828) came second, while Garifullina Leya (RUS 1776) came third,

both with 7 points.

Last year’s Champion from U8 category, talented Russian Makoveev Ilya (1942) triumphed again,

but in older category with convincing 8.5 points. Silver medal went to Antonica Dragos-Andrei

(ROU 1800) and bronze to Stukan Martin (RUS 1804), both with 7 points.

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WCM Mironenko Galina (RUS 1792) became the winner in Girls U10 with 7.5 points, followed by

Allahverdiyeva Ayan (AZE 1613) and Trifoi Mihaela-Ioana (ROU 1547), both with 7 points.

In Open U8 the title went to Navumenka Mikhei from Belarus, who scored 8 points. Silver medal

went to Samadov Read (AZE 1409) with 7.5 points, while Lystsov Leonid (RUS 1633) took bronze

with 7 points.

In the youngest Girls category Veremyuk Veronika from Ukraine became the European Champion

and the only player who managed to score 9 out of 9! Markus Molli Amina (HUN 1330) came

second with 7.5 points, and Gadasi Noam (ISR) came third with 7 points.

Full Standings on Chess-Results

In total medal count, Russia is the absolute winner with 13 medals (6 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze).

Turkey got 1 gold and 1 bronze medal, Azerbaijan got 3 silver medals, Romania 2 silver and 1

bronze, while Poland and Armenia have 1 silver and 1 bronze each.

The ECU Treasurer, Mr. Martin Huba, represented the European Chess Union at the closing

ceremony. He greeted all the present and congratulated the winners for the great games.

The Championship was organized by the Croatian Chess Federation, under the auspices of the

European Chess Union.

Official Website

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Karjakin and Svidler in all-Russian final of FIDE World Chess Cup

Fide World Chess Cup 2015 in Baku is heading towards the end. The Azeri capital hosted

128 players who started the competition on 11th September, and 20 days later, after 6

exciting rounds, only two players are left to fight for the prestigious title.

Like in 2013, we are facing the all-Russian final between Sergey Karjakin (2762) and

Peter Svidler (2727). Karjakin defeated Ukrainian Pavel Eljanov (2717) in a dramatic

semi-final with 3.5-2.5, while Svidler defeated Anish Giri (NED 2793) with 1.5-0.5,

without going into tie-breaks.

The final match consists of 4 games, and if the result is tied, tie-breaks will decide the

Champion.

The finalists of the FIDE World Chess Cup, Karjakin and Svidler, also qualified for the

2016 FIDE Candidates Tournament.

Photo Gallery

Official Website

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ECU NEWS

Zurab Azmaiparashvili at 86th FIDE Congress in Abu Dhabi

ECU President, Mr. Zurab Azmaiparashvili took part at the 86th FIDE Congress, which was held

in Abu Dhabi/United Arab Emirates, from 1-9 September, 2015.

The Congress consisted of Commissions’, Continental, Presidential Board and Executive Board

meetings, and ended with Blitz tournament and FIDE awards.

Congress was held at Hotel Novotel Abu Dhabi Al Bustan and was organized by the United Arab

Emirates Chess Federation.

Mr. Azmaiparashvili represented the European Chess Union at all the meetings.

86th FIDE Congress

Executive Board decisions

1st ECU Congress and ECU General Assembly in Bar The 1st ECU Congress and the Annual ECU General Assembly will be held in Bar/Montenegro, 7-

11 October, 2015.

The host federation is Montenegro Chess Federation, and the official venue will be Castle of King

Nikola and Hotel Princess Bar.

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Schedule:

10.00-13.00 16:00-20:00

8th October Events Commission Arbiters Council

Women’s

Commission Constitutional Committee

9th October

ECU Board

ECU Board

Educational Commission

10th October 09.30-13.00 & 14.00-18.00

ECU General Assembly

Official Invitation

Social Chess Entrepreneur Bootcamp in London

The European Chess Union and Chess in Schools and Communities, a UK registered charity, are

joining forces to provide the first ever professional program for social entrepreneurs in chess. As

part of the London Chess Classic with its London Chess and Education Conference 2015 on the

theme „Chess and Society“ the best applicants will come together for a professional crash course

in social entrepreneurship and a best project competition. The ECU is offering six stipendia to be

decided after the submission deadline of 23 September.

On Saturday and Sunday, 5 and 6 December, the participants will, along with following the

conference, pitch their project or project idea first to an expert jury and then to the conference

audience at large. The best voted project shall receive an award. On the first day, Friday, 4

December, throughout the afternoon and evening, experts will lecture and give workshops on

these crucial topics:

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Business Plan

Organization and Stakeholders

Pitching and Presenting

Social Media Marketing

The Social Investor´s Perspective

The recipients of the six ECU stipendia, reserved for applicants from European countries apart

from the UK, will be selected by the ECU Educational Commission and decided during the ECU

Board in Bar, Montenegro on 9th of October.In your application you shall demonstrate why you

have the skills and personal resources to be a social innovator in chess and why your participation

will be an asset to this programme and group of participants. Your application must include a CV

and an essay in English of up to 500 words on your expertise and your project or project idea and

make clear what social need it is addressing. Grammar and style won’t be judged beyond that

your English is good enough to participate actively. No cover letter or reference letters are

required. Applications are only accepted by e-mail: conference@londonchessclassic.com, with a

copy to the ECU Educational Commission Chairman Jesper Hall jesper.hall@comhem.se until

Tuesday, 6 October 2015, 18.00 CET.

The stipendia include free participation in the social entrepreneur training, competition and

conference but do not cover travel, accomodation and food. If you don´t have the resources to pay

these costs, please add a brief letter to your application, and we may be able to help.

Successful applicants shall be informed by the mid of October. The programme will start on 4

December 14.00 and end on 6 December 17.30. If you are selected you will receive reading

materials and links for 10-15 hours of preparation. Please keep in mind that you will also need to

be prepared to deliver a ten-minute-presentation of your project or project idea. And be prepared

to network at the conference.

The Chess and Society conference strives to be relevant to federations. A social agenda helps to

tap different resources. Incubating or managing social projects with chess is adding important

stakeholders to the federation and improves its standing in society. Experiences and strategies

will be discussed in the workshop "Social Opportunities for Chess Federations".

More on the conference Chess and Society: www.londonchessconference.com

Any queries should be directed to the Programme Director Stefan Löffler at

conference@londonchessclassic.com

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FUN ZONE

For September Fun Zone we prepared nice mate combinations with sacrifices. Try your

luck and find out how good you are with these brain teasers!

Black to play Black to play

White to play Black to play

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Solutions from the NL August 2015:

The "Caterpillar Theme"

G. Bridgewater, Chess 1936

1. Bb1 b2 2.Ra2 b3 3.Ra3 b4 4.Ra4 b5 5.Ra5 b6 6.Be4#

W. A. Shinkman, 1887

1.0-0-0 Kxa7 2.Rd8 Kxa6 3.Rd7 Kxa5 4.Rd6 Kxa4 5.Rd5 Kxa3 6.Rd4 Kxa2 7.Rd3 Ka1

8.Ra3#

Unknown Author

According to chess legend, a composer stipulated "White mates in one move." It appears

to be impossible, but formerly the color of the promoted piece was not specified, and the

'solution' was for White to promote to a black knight on b8, thus depriving the black king

of his only escape square.

M. Kirtley, 1st Prize, The Problemist 1986

The "back home task"

A more interesting example occurs in the problem at the right, where the final position

echoes a familiar pattern. Krabbé calls this problem the "back home task", as all eight

white pieces retreat to their initial positions. He writes that "Strategy and deep themes

are absent, Black only has forced moves, but it's one of the funniest chess problems I ever

saw". White must selfmate in eight moves, which means he must force Black to

checkmate White against Black's will.

The solution is 1. Nb1+ Kb3 2.Qd1+ Rc2 3.Bc1 axb6 4.Ra1 b5 5.Rh1 bxc4 6.Ke1 c3 7.Ng1 f3

8.Bf1 f2#

Did you know?

The word “Checkmate” in chess comes from the Persian

phrase “shāh māt”, which means “the king is helpless”.

Source: Barnhart Etymological Dictionary

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UPCOMING EVENTS IN OCTOBER

ECU EVENTS

EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2015

The 1st European Chess Universities Championship will be held in Yerevan, Armenia from 6th to

11th October 2015.

The Championship is organized by the European

University Sports Association, in cooperation with the

Republic of Armenia Ministry of Education and Science,

Armenian Student Sports Federation and Armenian

Chess Federation. The event is included in the Official

Calendar of the European Chess Union.

All players must be older than 17 and younger than 30 (born in the years 1985-1998). All the

participants can represent only one (own) university, where they are registered as students.

There will be Open and Women's competition, while the prizes will be counted for the best teams

in the Open section, best teams in Women's section, best individual players-men and best

individual players-women. (only two best results of delegation (men and women separate) count

for team competition).

A memorandum between the European Universities Sports Association (EUSA) and the European

Chess Union was signed on Saturday 28th March, in Zagreb/Croatia, during the EUSA annual

Gala. The memorandum represents the inclusion of chess in the official sports program of the

EUSA annual events. Chess is the 19th sport included in EUSA competitions.

Official Website

EUROPEAN CHESS CLUB CUP 2015

The 31st European Club Cup and the 20th European Club Cup for

Women will take place in Skopje/FYR Macedonia, from 17th

October (arrival and opening) to 25th October 2015 (departure).

The official venue will be the 5* hotel Aleksandar Palace.

The championships will be held in 7 rounds, played in the Swiss

system in accordance with the ECU Tournament Rules.

Thanks to the decision of the ECU Board to waive the number of restrictions for the European

Women's Club Cup, 14 teams have registered so far, while in the Open section the number of

registered teams is 49.

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The event will be held in the 5* hotel Aleksandar Palace in Skopje. The total prize fund is EUR

45.000 (Open 30.000 EUR and Women 14.000 EUR + 1.000 EUR for the best performance

player from the Small Nations club).

Official Website

EUROPEAN EVENTS

CHIGORIN MEMORIAL 2015

3 - 11 October

St. Petersburg/Russia Official Website

ISLE OF MAN INTERNATIONAL

2015

3 - 11 October

Douglas/Isle of Man Official Website

3RD OLIVER GONZALEZ MEMORIAL

10 - 18 October

Madrid/Spain Official Website

KRK GOLDEN ISLAND OPEN 2015

16 - 23 October

Krk/Croatia Official Website

GUERNSEY CHESS FESTIVAL 2015

18-24 October

Guernsey Official Website

BILBAO CHESS 2015 26 October

- 3 November

Bilbao/Spain Official Website