Teams of Azerbaijan and Russia became the European Team Chess Champions for 2017 in Open and Women’s section respectively.
The rush for gold in Open section was very intense until the end of the last game of the Championship. Azerbaijanis needed a victory in the last round to secure the title, but no decisive result happened in their match against Ukraine, and the match ended in a tie 2-2. At the same time, Russian team defeated Germany with 3-1, and the determination of the top came to the tie-breaks.
Azerbaijan won the 3rd gold at the European Team Chess Championship as they had better tie-breaks than Russia.
The European Team Champions for 2015, Russia, finished the race for the crown with the silver medal in their hands.
Third place of this prestigious European event went to Ukraine since they had better tiebreak criteria than Croatia who had the same match points, but finished fourth.
In Women’s section the Winner wasn’t questioned in the last round. Russian ladies secured the first place already by the 8th round with a round more to spare. Nevertheless, Russia affirmed the domination by taking a victory in the last round against Armenia and triumphed the Championship with three match points ahead of the runner-up.
Georgia finished the Championship as sole second with 14 match points.
Bronze went to Ukraine who took 12 match points.
Final Standings Women’s Section
The Organizer rewarded the individual prizes to the three best players on each board. The list is below:
Board 1: Aronian Levon (ARM, 2801) Rtg Performance: 2810
Board 2: Bosiocic Marin (CRO, 2619) Rtg Performance: 2824
Board 3: Vitiugov Nikita (RUS, 2728) Rtg Performance: 2817
Board 4: Mamedov Rauf (AZE, 2678) Rtg Performance: 2920
Board 5: Svane Rasmus (GER, 2595) Rtg Performance: 2762
Board 1: Kosteniuk Alexandra (RUS, 2552) Rtg Performance: 2632
Board 2: Lagno Kateryna (RUS, 2541) Rtg Performance: 2605
Board 3: Khotenashvili Bela (GEO, 2459) Rtg Performance: 2608
Board 4: Gaponenko Inna (UKR, 2433) Rtg Performance: 2552
Board 5: Melia Salome (GEO, 2412) Rtg Performance: 2622
The Closing Ceremony of the Championship took place yesterday in Creta Maris Conference center with attendance of the President of European Chess Union- Mr. Zurab Azmaiparashvili, Secretary General of European Chess Union- Mr. Theodoros Tzorbatsoglou, Deputy President of FIDE- Mr. Georgios Makropoulos, Continental President of Americas- Mr. Jorge Vega, FIDE Vice President Mr. Boris Kutin, Tournament Director- Mr. Nikos Kalesis, Region Governor of Crete Mr. Arnaoutakis Stavros, Vice region Governor of Crete Mr. Koukiadakis Evripidis, Mayor of Hersonissos- Mr. Mastorakis Giannis, Consulant advisor of athletic department Mr. Sirigonakis, Mrs. Plevraki Despina.
The President of the ECU Mr. Zurab Azmaiparashvili has been awarded with a ECU plaque and the book “The Thinkers”. He also granted the ECU plaques to dignitaries of Crete region and Hersonissos municipality.
The Closing Ceremony was enriched with traditional danced by the local dancing group, short video presentations of Cretan culture and organization video as review of the Championship.