After 11 thrilling rounds at the European Women’s Chess Championship 2023 two players emerged on the top tying for the first place with 8.5 points, each: IM Meri Arabidze (GEO, 2433) and IM Oliwia Kiolbasa (POL, 2406).

Thanks to her 8th round victory in direct encounter against the Polish representative, IM Meri Arabidze clinched the European Women’s Chess Champion title.

IM Oliwia Kiolbasa won silver medal.

Four players scored 8 points (each) to tie for the third place: IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (POL, 2388), IM Stavroula Tsolakidou (GRE, 2358), IM Salome Melia (GEO, 2366) and IM Klaudia Kulon (POL, 2290). Aleksandra Maltsevskaya had the best tiebreaks and claimed bronze.

Final standings

The Closing ceremony of the event took place yesterday evening with attendance of ECU President Mr. Zurab Azmaiparashvili, ECU Vice President Mr. Alojzije Jankovic, ECU Chief Executive Officer Mr. Erald Dervishi, ECU Honorary Vice President and Vice President of the Montenegro Chess Federation Mr. Veselin Draskovic, and the President of the Montenegro Chess Federation Mr. Jovan Milovic.

The European Women’s Chess Championship 2023 took place from 17th-30th March in Petrovac, Montenegro, with participation of more than 130 players from 34 federations. The total prize fund of the event was 60.000 EUR and according to the ECU Board decision and FIDE regulations, 9 players will qualify for the next FIDE Women’s World Cup.

Official website of the event

Only one round is left to be played before the announcement of the 2023 European Women’s Chess Champion and IM Meri Arabidze (GEO, 2433) and IM Oliwia Kiolbasa (POL, 2406) tie for the first place scoring 8 points, each.

The penultimate 10th round saw two decisive results on the top two boards as IM Oliwia Kiolbasa defeated her compatriot IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (POL, 2388), while IM Meri Arabidze clinched the victory against IM Pauline Guichard (FRA, 2379).

IM Stavroula Tsolakidou (GRE, 2358) and IM Salome Melia (GEO, 2366) tie for the third place with 7.5 points, with eight players following them with 7 points each: IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (POL, 2388), GM Elina Danielian (ARM, 2431), IM Lela Javakhishvili (GEO, 2443), IM Nataliya Buksa (UKR, 2405), IM Anna Sargsyan (ARM, 2371), IM Deimante Daulyte-Cornette (FRA, 2344), IM Pauline Guichard (FRA, 2379), and IM Klaudia Kulon (POL, 2290).

The last 11th round starts today at 13:00 CEST with the encounters between the leaders and tiers for the 2nd place. The top 10 pairings can be seen below:

All results, pairings & standings after 10 rounds can be found here.

Live broadcast with commentaries by GM Alojzije Jankovic and Dragana Nikolovska can be followed through the ECU Youtube channel.

The 37th edition of Reykjavik Open kicks off this Wednesday and will be held from March 29 – April 4 in Harpa Conference Center.

The event broke the participation record with 408 entries and the top-seeds are: GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (UKR, 2664), GM Nils Grandelius (SWE, 2658), GM Aryan Tari (NOR, 2656), GM Mustafa Yilmaz (TUR, 2629), GM Abjhijeet Gupta (IND, 2620), GM Banusz Tamas (HUN, 2616), GM Alexandr Fier (BRA, 2606), GM Emre Can (TUR, 2600), and GM Viktor Erdos (HUN, 2587).

Starting list of players can be found here.

The tournament will be played in 9 rounds, swiss system, with time control of 90 min for 40 moves  + 30 minutes after move 40. Increment of 30 sec. for every move starting from move one. The total prize fund of the event is 16.250 EUR, with 5.000 EUR reserved for the tournament Winner.

Tournament schedule:

The Opening party will take place tomorrow in Hnoss Restaurant at Harpa with the start at 17:30 (local time).

Official website of the event

After six played rounds at the European Women’s Chess Championship 2023 in Petrovac, Montenegro, IM Oliwia Kiolbasa (POL, 2406) emerged on the top with 5.5 points.

In the sixth-round direct encounter between the leaders, IM Oliwia Kiolbasa defeated IM Irina Bulmaga (ROU, 2438) to head into the free day as the sole leader of the Championship.

The European Women’s Champion 2022 GM Monika Socko (POL, 2432) and IM Mai Narva (EST, 2389) tie for the second place scoring 5 points, each. They are followed by 15 players who are in the race for the top with the score of 4.5 points: IM Irina Bulmaga (ROU, 2438), IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (POL, 2388), IM Yuliia Osmak (UKR, 2445), IM Lilit Mkrtchian (ARM, 2379), IM Sabrina Vega Gutierrez (ESP, 2361), GM Elina Danielian (ARM, 2431), GM Bella Khotenashvili (GEO, 2491), WGM Dinara Wagner (GER, 2411), IM Leya Garifullina (FIDE, 2372), WIM Mariam Mkrtchian (ARM, 2343), IM Nataliya Buksa (UKR, 2405), IM Meri Arabidze (GEO, 2433), IM Pauline Guichard (FRA, 2379), IM Laura Unuk (SLO, 2297), and Deimante Daulyte-Cornette (FRA, 2344).

Results, pairings and standings can be found here.

Today is the free day, and the event continues tomorrow with the 7th round which will start at 15:00 CET. The top-10 pairings are:

Live broadcast with commentaries by GM Alojzije Jankovic and Dragana Nikolovska can be followed through the ECU YouTube channel.

Official website of the event

ECU notes that chess is by definition an individual sport, and that all players have the right to participate in FIDE world championships or continental championships under the flag of a new federation, already considering representation of a national team at the highest level.

ECU decides on players formerly belonging to the Chess Federation of Russia (CFR) that move to a European federation under the special resolution of the FIDE Council dated 22.2.2023 (https://fide.com/news/2247), hereinafter the “22.2.2023 resolution”, given the Asian Chess Federation (ACF) accepted the (CFR) as a member of the ACF as of May 1,2023:

For
the ECU Individual Championships:

FIDE resolution defines that all these
players (22.2.2023 resolution) have the right to represent the new
federation in all official individual events of FIDE from the next day of
submitting their application without any restrictions.

ECU clarifies that from 1 May 2023 players who belong to the CFR and the players who have moved to the FIDE flag from the CFR cannot compete in European Individual Chess Championships.

Exceptions

In good faith and in the spirit of sportsmanship, two senior players playing under the FIDE flag who registered for the European Senior Championship in Italy (May 25^th) prior to the Asian Chess Federation’s decision to admit the CFR, can still compete, but they have no right to be awarded any European title or medal.

 For
the European Team Chess Championship 2023:

1. Any player, who moved according to the 22.2.2023 resolution, holding a government-issued document belonging to a country that is a European Chess Union member can play with the respective team of citizenship. The document giving evidence of such citizenship (passport or ID card) must be issued by the submission date of the basic team list, one month before the start of the competition.
2. For other players without citizenship of a European Chess Union member, any Federation can enlist no more than one such player in their open and women’s team, formerly belonging to the CFR (Chess Federation of Russia), who moved under its flag according to the 22.2.2023 resolution. However, this limitation does not apply to players who transfer according to the ordinary procedure described in the FIDE Handbook B.04.

For the year 2025 onwards:

Any Federation can enlist any player who had moved under its flag according to the 22.2.2023 resolution. The ECU notes that according to the current FIDE Handbook B.04, any player formerly belonging to the CFR may play any official FIDE event free from any transfer or compensation fee provided in a term of one to two years depending on residence.   

For
any other ECU Team Competition:

1. For Youth and Seniors’ team events that are open to any number of teams, there is no restriction, and any Federations may decide each team composition according to its internal rules.
2. For the European Club Cup, European clubs have the right to enlist players belonging to any continent, however the following rules will apply according to the ECU GA and Board decisions:
   – There is not any restriction for players move based in the “22.2.2023 resolution.”
   – players formerly belonging to the CFR and transferred to FIDE Flag by 1^st May 2023 (or before) have the right to play. 
   – players who belong to the CFR can’t play for any club, until a further ECU Board or GA decision.

The 9th edition of the London Chess Conference took place from 17-19 March 2023. The theme of the 2023 London Chess Conference was Chess and STEM – exploring the ways in which chess relates to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

The participants and speakers represented 32 countries with the opportunity to form partnerships and collaborations with each other for furthering the use of chess in education.

The first session of the Conference took place on Friday, with the start at 13:00 CEST. The pre-recorded session was hosted by Leontxo Garcia who welcomed the participants and the speakers.

The speakers were:

• Author & Educator Victoria Winifred (USA) – Using Chess to Promote Literacy in Preschoolers
• Marianna Amiraghyan (Armenia) – Pre-school Chess Project in Armenia
• Miriam Monreal Aladren and Jordi Prio Burgues (Spain) – Creative pre-chess
• Founder and president of the educational initiative Schach fur Kids e.V (chess for kids) Ralf Schreiber (Germany) – Chess pedagogy for children from the age of 3
• Tatiana Ogneva – Chess as a tool for developing the logical-spatial structure in preschool children
• Chess Teacher Elvia Zarina Monreal Reyna (Mexico) – ADEZ Chess Pieces with Caborca arrows
• High school teacher/Chess Trainer Kostas Giouvantsioudis (Greece) & Eirini Mousiadou (Greece) Kindergarten teacher/Chess Trainer I Greek Chess Federation – Different Chess Playful activities

The second session of the first day started at 15:00 CEST with the following programme:

• Anzel Laubscher (South Africa) – Think like a child, teach like an adult
• Alessandro Dominici (Italy) Councilor of the ECU EDU Commission & CEO I Alfiere Bianco SRL – Erasmus CGS Project for Early Years Skills
• Teacher and author|Thinkers Publishing Christel Minne (Belgium) – Someday I’ll Be a Queen
• Coordinator Chess Academy Apeldoorn & Science Project Manager Early years chess – Karel van Delft (The Netherlands) – Early years chess
• Chessable Audience discussion
• Q & A with the presenters

Sessions 3 & 4 were held on Saturday, 18th of March with the following topics and speakers:

• How Chess Develops Critical Thinking – Jerry Nash (USA) – Chairman of FIDE Chess in Education Commission
• Chessable Research Awards – Alexey Root (USA), Chessable Chief Science Officer
• Chess and STEM – How chess has had an impact on attainment and enrichment for Primary aged children – Allen Tsui (STEM UK), Head of Computing and STEM Enrichment | Willow Brook Primary School Academy
• Audience discussion, Q & A with the presenters
• ChessKid for STEM – Mike Klein (USA) aka FunMasterMike, CCO and Carey Fan (USA), CEO | ChessKid
• ChessForEDU, Mini Game for education in primary schools – Pep Suárez (Spain), CEO | ChessForEdu SL
• Technology to support Teaching Chess – Boris Bruhn (Germany) , Member of the FIDE Education Commission
• Chess on TikTok – Michał Kanarkiewicz (Poland), CEO & Founder of the Kanarkiewicz Chess Academy
• Audience discussion, Q & A with the presenters

Sessions 5 & 6 were held on Saturday afternoon with further discussions on Chess and STEM:

• Chess and Robotics: Controlling a robot on a chess board – Rolf Niemann (Sweden), Education Coordinator at the Vattenhallen Science Center Lunds University
• Chess and Artificial Intelligence – Paolo Sartorelli (Italy)
• Bringing Chess Diagrams to Life – Paweł Kacprzak (Poland), Founder of Chessvision.ai
• Audience discussion, Q & A with the presenters
• Learning mathematics through play – Monika Musilek (Austria), Professor at the University of Education Vienna & Tiago Hirth (Portugal) Researcher at the University of Lisbon, CIUHCT, Ludus
• Chess as a Bridge to Mathematical Thinking – Vince Negri (UK), Founder and UX Consultant | GameAhead Consulting
• Chess and Mathematics in Primary School – Hari Neocleous (UK), Maths Teacher | The Maths Nuts
• Chess in Secondary School Mathematics – Rita Atkins (Hungary), Secretary of the FIDE Education Commission
• Audience discussion, Q & A with the presenters

The final day of the Conference started with the Chess Teacher Training and Accreditation with Alison Sharp (CSC) as the moderator of the round table discussion. ECU Educational Commission members Philippe Vukojevic (Belgium) and Pep Suárez (Spain), and FIDE Educational Commission members Boris Bruhn (Germany) and Anzel Laubscher (South Africa) were the main speakers.

Session 8 followed with the following programme:

• The benefits of chess for children who struggle at school – Marion Schöttelndreier (Sweden), Assistant Principal at the Hedda Andersson High School, Lund
• Chess as a playground for creativity – Beatrice Rapaccini (Italy), Mathematics Teacher in the I.I.S P. Cuppari High School
• The Brain on the Curriculum: chess for mental health in special education – Mikkel Nørgaard (Denmark), Chief Learning Officer in the Danish Scholastic Chess Federation
• Infinite chess, Chess for kids with autism spectrum disorder – Anastasia Sorokina (Australia), FIDE Social Project Leader | WOM Chairperson | Chairperson of ACF Social Commission
• Audience discussion, Q & A with the presenters

The final two sessions took place Sunday afternoon featuring discussions on the following topics:

• National Education Projects – Round Table Discussion, Host: Stefan Löffler (Germany)
• Chess at School; programme in Catalonia – Marta Amigó Vilalta – Vice-president of the Catalan Chess Federation & Coordinator of the Chess School Program in Catalonia | Educational Department of the Government of Catalonia
• CiE in Pakistan – Hanif Qureshi (Pakistan) – President of the Chess Federation of Pakistan & member of the FIDE Education Commission
• Education Through Chess – Romania’s National Educational Project – Mădălina-Maria Lejean-Anușca (Romania), Secretary of the ECU Education Comission & Manager of National Project “Education Through Chess” within the Romanian Chess Federation
• Invitation to Research: Post-COVID Global 50 – Mark Nowacki (Singapore), Head of Research of the FIDE EDU CHESS Research Workgroup
• How to teach chess effectively – Tamara Sargsyan (Armenia), Researcher at the Chess Scientific Research Institute (CSRI), Republic of Armenia
• Chess for Freedom: Quantitative study of the impact of chess program on the incarcerated males, Cook County Case – Mikhail Korenman (USA), Chess Project Manager | Cook County (Chicago) Sheriff’s Organization
• Audience discussion, Q & A with the presenters

The London Chess Conference was broadcasted live through the FIDE YouTube Channel and all session records can be replayed here.

The Conference was organised by ChessPlus Limited working in partnership with the core sponsors the International Chess Federation (FIDE), the European Chess Union (ECU), and Chess in Schools and Communities (CSC).

The European Women’s Chess Championship 2023 kicked off in Petrovac, Montenegro, with participation of 134 players coming from 34 European federations.

The Opening ceremony of the event took place on Friday evening with the attendance of the ECU President Mr. Zurab Azmaiparashvili, the ECU Honorary Vice President and the Vice President of Montenegro Chess Federation Mr. Veselin Draskovic, the Minister of Youth and Sports of Montenegro Mr. Vasilije Lalosevic, and other distinguished guests.

Mr. Veselin Draskovic addressed the attendees emphasizing the long and rich chess history of Montenegro. “The organisation of the European Women’s Chess Championship 2023 is just the crown for the committed and responsible work of the Montenegro Chess Federation”, concluded Draskovic.

The ECU President Mr. Zurab Azmiaparshvili thanked the Montenegro Chess Federation for their work to promote chess and organisation of the high-level European events.

Mr. Vasilije Lalosevic, the Minister of Youth and Sports of Montenegro, welcomed all the players and distinguished guests, wishing them a nice stay and a successful tournament in Petrovac.

The first round of the event started yesterday at 15:00 CEST, after the first ceremonial move was made by the ECU President Mr. Zurab Azmaiparashvili in the game between the top-seeded GM Bela Khotenashvili (GEO, 2491) and WIM Miruna-Daria Lehaci (ROU, 2202).

After almost 6 hours of fights, the first round concluded with 14 draws and several major upsets among the 53 decisive results.

GM Bela Khotenashvili (GEO, 2491) drew against WIM Miruna-Daria Lehaci (ROU, 2202) after a very intense game where both players had their chances for the better score. On the second board, GM Valentina Gunina (FIDE, 2478) missed the winning move in the endgame and eventually signed a draw with 17-year-old FM Nadya Toncheva (BUL, 2192).

WIM Salomeja Zaksaite (LTU, 2185) defeated the fourth-seeded IM Marsel Efroimski (ISR, 2451), while WGM Jolanta Zawadzka (POL, 2391) suffered a loss against WIM Irina Petrova (UKR, 2123).

The second round starts today at 15:00 CEST with interesting encounters on the top boards. The top 10 pairings are:

All the results, pairings, and standings can be found here.

Subscribe to the European Chess Union YouTube channel and follow the live broadcast with commentaries by GM Alojzije Jankovic and Dragana Nikolovska.

Official website of the event

The 9th edition of the London Chess Conference will take place from 17-19 March 2023. The theme of the 2023 London Chess Conference is Chess and STEM – exploring the ways in which chess relates to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

The conference covers the education needed to lay the intellectual foundations for life and work in the 21st Century. The public associate chess with higher-order thinking but do not always see the relevance to education. The conference seeks to set out the unique contributions that chess can make to developing children’s thinking skills. According to the UK Commission for Employment & Skills, 43% of science, technology, engineering and mathematics vacancies are hard to fill due to a shortage of applicants with the required skills and experience.

This skills gap must be addressed within the education system starting in schools. Chess brings many of the analytical skills required for STEM and can be part of any educational plan to make STEM subjects more attractive.

Attendees can expect to learn about the latest developments in the teaching of chess and games at school to support educational objectives. Experts from around the world will share best practice on the didactics and pedagogy of games. These valuable insights can be explored further during in-depth seminars and discussions. Some of the leading software and technology projects will be demonstrated. The networking opportunities will allow attendees to meet with new colleagues and develop collaborative projects. 

The Conference is organised by ChessPlus Limited working in partnership with the core sponsors the International Chess Federation (FIDE), the European Chess Union (ECU), and Chess in Schools and Communities (CSC).

The Conference can be followed live through the FIDE YouTube Channel.

The detailed programme of the event can be found on the Official website.
Registrations for the 2023 London Chess Conference: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/chessplus/821209

The 23^rd edition of the European Women’s Individual Chess Championship 2023 takes place from 17th-30th March in Hotel “Palas” Petrovac, Montenegro.

The Championship will be played in 11 rounds, swiss system, with the time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves + 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds for every move starting from move 1.

The event gathers more than 140 players from 34 European federations and the top-seeds are: GM Bella Khotenashvili (GEO, 2491), GM Valentina Gunina (FIDE, 2478), IM Gunay Mammadzada (AZE, 2472), IM Marsel Efroimski (ISR, 2451), IM Yuliia Osmak (UKR, 2445), IM Lela Javakhishvili (GEO, 2443), IM Irina Bulmaga (ROU, 2438), GM Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL, 2433), IM Meri Arabidze (GEO, 2433), and GM Monika Socko (POL, 2432).

The complete starting list of players can be found here.

The Opening ceremony of the event is scheduled for Friday, 17th of March, with the start at 20:00 CEST, while the first round kicks off on Saturday, 18th of March at 15:00 CEST.

The 23^rd European Women’s Championship implies qualification for the next World Women’s Cup. According to FIDE regulations and the decision of the ECU Board, 9 players will qualify. The total prize fund of the event is 60.000 EUR, with 10.000 EUR reserved for the Winner of the event. List of prizes can be seen below:

Detailed information about the event can be found on the Official website of the championship.

Chess will make its first step in the European Games – European Olympic Committees as an accompanying event under the aegis of the Organising Committee of Krakow-Maloposka 2023.

ECU regulated a new special competition the European Pair Blitz Chess Championship 2023 which will take place on 19th of June 2023 in Krakow, Poland, as the accompanying event and part of the European Games Krakow-Malopolska 2023. The Championship is organised by Malopolska and Silesian Chess Association under the auspices of the European Chess Union and Polish Chess Federation with the support of International Chess Federation (FIDE).

Eight teams (ECU members) are invited according the best combined Pair FIDE Classical rating – 1^st March 2023 list: Ukraine, Azerbaijan, France, Poland, Romania, Germany, Armenia and the Netherlands. Each team shall consist of one player over 2650 (classical rating) in the open section, one female player over 2350 (classical rating) in the women’s section, and one representative/captain.

Both Women’s and Open events will consist of two phases:

1. Qualification: 8 teams round-robin tournament
2. Playoffs with the knockout system for the best-ranked 4 teams of the Qualification stage

The rate of play is 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment for each move, starting from the move one.

Medals & Standings:

The individual medals are decided by the playoffs in each section. The gold medal is for the winner of the final match and the silver medal goes to the runner-up. The winner of the match for positions 3-4 will win the bronze medal.

The combined Pair medals are decided by the final position of the players of each team after the play offs in each section (sum of points): 1^st 8-points, 2^nd 7^–points, 3^rd 6-points, 4^th 5-points, 5^th 4-points, 6^th 3 points, 7^th 2-points, and 8^th 1-point. In case of a tie between two teams, the tiebreak criteria are the sum of points in open and women’s sections in the qualification round.

Prizes

The 3 winners of the Open, Women’s and Combine Pair sections will receive gold, silver and bronze medals, the same as European Olympic Games medals. The best European Pair will receive the title of European Pair Chess Blitz Champion 2023.

The application should be sent by Monday April 10^th , 2023, to the e-mail address: iechess2023@gmail.com with a copy to ECU: secretariat@europechess.org .

The European Pairs Championships will b held in Krakow Opera

Contact information:

Kamila Kałużna- Turcza – president of the Malopolska Chess Association
E- mail: iechess2023@gmail.com
mob.: +48 693 046 440
Official website: https://ie2023.pl/en/