Opening ceremony of the 16th European Senior Chess Championship was held in Yerevan on June 4. The Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Gabriel Ghazaryan, Vice-president of the Armenian Chess Federation Smbat Lputyan, Nona Gaprindashvili and Rafayel Vaganyan were present at the solemn opening ceremony.
In his speech Minister Ghazaryan particularly mentioned “ It is not surprising that Yerevan hosted the participants of European Senior Chess Championship, who will compete in the most intellectual sport. Our chess players have already proved that the Armenia is one of the strongest chess countries in the world. Armenian national chess team became the winner of Chess Olympiad for three times. Armenian Grandmaster and 9th World Chess Champion Tigran Petrosyan and nowadays talented players whose names I don’t want to mention, in order not to forget anyone, inspire and lead our young players”.
In the development of this sport the role of the President of the Republic of Armenia and President of Armenian Chess Federation Serzh Sargsyan is undisputable. The development of chess is under his control and attention”.
The Championship will be played in two categories: Senior 50+ and Senior 65+. So far, 16 female players are registered in both categories, 8 in each category, but will play in the Open tournaments with separate prizes.
The top seeds in the category Senior 50+ and only two players rated over 2500 are GM Rafael A Vaganian (ARM 2577) and GM Zurab Sturua (GEO 2545), 2014 World Senior Champion and 2015 European Senior Champion in 50+ categories. The top female seed is WGM Galina Strutinskaia (RUS 2237).
The top seed in 65+ category is GM Evgeny Sveshnikov (RUS 2509), the only player with 2500+ rating. Female players are led with former World Champion GM Nona Gaprindashvili (GEO 2299).
The Championship will be played in 9 round according to Swiss System, with time control 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one.
By Armenian Chess Federation