JONES GAWAIN WINS EUROPEAN ONLINE BLITZ CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2020

European Online Blitz Chess Championship 2020 concluded yesterday after three days of play within three stages: Qualification, Top16 and Top4 Final stage.

British Chess Champion (2012, 2017) Jones C B Gawain (ENG, 2670) won the event after he convincingly defeated Shirov Alexei (ESP, 2662) in the Final match, with result 2.5-0.5.

The match for the third place was played between Bluebaum Matthias (GER, 2670) and Navara David (CZE, 2697) and concluded after three games in favour for Top German Grandmaster with result 2.5-0.5.

After Qualification stage, following 16 players proceeded to the Top16 knock-out phase and won money prizes according to the Top16 Final standings:

14GMJones Gawain C BENG267010,01
25GMShirov AlexeiESP266210,02
33GMBluebaum MatthiasGER267010,03
42GMNavara DavidCZE26977,00
59GMPetrosyan ManuelARM26284,00
12GMIndjic AleksandarSRB26044,00
78GMMeier GeorgGER26283,50
87GMYilmaz MustafaTUR26302,50
96GMHovhannisyan RobertARM26422,00
13GMSafarli EltajAZE25982,00
14GMPantsulaia LevanGEO25532,00
15GMDemidov MikhailRUS25232,00
131GMWojtaszek RadoslawPOL27051,50
10GMDeac Bogdan-DanielROU26251,50
1511GMOnischuk VladimirUKR26220,50
1616IMOzen DenizTUR23970,00

Players ranked on 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th place were awarded with invitation for European Blitz and Rapid Chess Championship in Katowice, December 2021 (free of charge for 4* B&B and entry fee): Steinberg Nitzan (ISR, 2553), Theodorou Nikolas (GRE, 2554), Hakobyan Aram (ARM, 2598) and Sanal Vahap (TUR, 2563).

Top three Women players of the event were: Stefanova Antoaneta (BUL, 2466) with a score of 7/11 points in the Swiss stage, Sargsyan Anna M. (ARM, 2402) with 6.5/11 points and Socko Monika (POL, 2421) with 6 points.

The best ranked Senior players are awarded with an invitation for European Blitz and Rapid Chess Championship in Katowice 2021: Bykhovsky Avigdor (RUS, 2400) with 5.5 points, Efimov Igor (MNC, 2416) and Mazi Leon (SLO, 2340), each with 5 points.

Sarana Alexey (RUS, 2640) was the best-ranked U20 player with 7.5 points, while Mammadzada Gunay (AZE, 2443) was the best ranked Girl U20 with 6.5 points. Garayev Kanan (AZE, 2331) was the best ranked U18 player with 8 points, and Kacharava Nikolozi (GEO, 2443) was the best ranked U16 player. All of them will be awarded an invitation for European Blitz and Rapid Chess Championship 2021.

All the results can be found here.

The event was hosted by the city of #Katowice and LIVE broadcasted in ECU Live Studio, with commentaries by WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili, GM Marcin Tazo and WFM Maria Leks.

Official Website of the event