European Amateur Chess Championship 2018, which took place from 13th-21st June in Niksic, Montenegro, was concluded on the Closing ceremony of the event where the best players of each category were crowned.
In category U2300, Sahin Ozgun (TUR, 2166), 15th on the starting rank list, made a big surprise and became the European Amateur Chess Champion 2018 for section U2300 with score of 8 points. Second place went to top seeded Olcum Ahmet (TUR, 2281), while the third place came to Iskos Alexandros (GRE, 2152) with 6.5 points.
The best women player in the same category was WFM Zherebtsova Alexandra (RUS, 2195) who reached 6 points and 9th place to be crowned as the European Women Amateur Chess Champion 2018. Acarbay Algi (TUR, 1892) took silver medal with 4.5 points and Koljevic Nikolina (MNE, 1832) took bronze with 4 points.
The throne of the category U2000 was conquered by two young women players. 17 years old Krzysztynska Anna (POL, 1752) and 13 years old Ince Safiye Oyku (TUR, 1762) tied for the first place, but according to the tiebreaks, Krzysztynska Anna won the Championship and also was the best ranked women player. Ince Safiye Oyky took the double silver and Bozinovic Boban (AUT, 1930) was third with 6.5 points.
Besides the girls who won the Open event, the best ranked women players were: Fransson Pia (SWE, 1486) with 4 points, Ruzic Pia Marie (SLO. 1737) and Rakic Tijana (MNE, 1554) with 3.5 points each.
In Open section U1700, after tough struggles for the top, the Winner was decided according to the tiebreak criteria. Ruzic Milos (SLO, 1653), Mihciyazgan Can (TUR, 1664) and Kanev Evgeny (RUS, 1618) tied for the first place, each with 7 points. Eventually, gold went to Ruzic Milos, second place to Mihciyazgan Can and the third place came to Kanev Evgeny.
In Women section U1700, Meremyanina Kseniya (RUS, 1581) triumphed the event with 7.5 points. Koc Azra Ece (TUR, 1508) ended second with 7 points and Grishina Zhanna (RUS, 1585) finished the event with bronze medal and 6.5 points.
The European Amateur Chess Championship 2018 participated 180 players, from 18 countries which was a new event record. The Championship was be played in 9 rounds, Swiss system, with time control 90 minutes for 40 moves+ 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from the move one.
The total prize fund of the event was 5.000 EUR. Top three players of the each category were awarded with cups and medals, while Women players were awarded separately.
Official Website of the Championship
