Teams of Germany in Open section and Poland in Girl’s section are the winners of European Youth Team U18 Chess Championship for 2017 which was held in Rymanow Zdroj, Poland, from 16th-24th August. The Championship participated 40 teams coming from 16 countries which is a new participation record.
Closing Ceremony was held on Wednesday 23rd August at 7pm (local time) where several artists performed: Dance Studio GRACJA Krosno, MultiVisual and Patrycja Kotarba. Closing Ceremony attended the President of Polish Chess Federation Mr. Adam Dzwonkowski and Mr. Petr Pisk, tournament director and member of the ECU board.
The first place in both sections was under the question until the end of the last round of the Championship. Germany shared the first place with Serbia. Both teams scored 11 match points, but thanks to the better tie-breaks, Germans finished with gold in their hands while Serbia took silver. Third place went to Croatia with 10 match points.
Girls fighting for the top of the list were tied even after the last round. Teams Poland I, Slovenia II and Estonia finished the Championship with the same number of match points- 10, but according to the tie-breaks system, Poland I became the European Youth Team Champion for 2017, Slovenia II ended second and Estonia took bronze.
The event was organized by PST “Stomil” Rymanow Zdroj and Polish Chess Federation, under the auspices of European Chess Union. Organizers provided very nice conditions for playing to participants and to observers very impressive live coverage. All the games were live transmitted, and some of them live commented by GM Bartlomiej Heberla and GM Marcin Tazbir. Beside that, live video during the games showed the real spirit from the playing hall.
The Championship was played according to the Swiss system in 7 rounds, with boys and girls playing separately in Open and Girl’s section. The time control was 90 min for 40 moves + 30 min for the rest of the game + 30 seconds increment for every move played starting from the first move.