The last round of the European Individual Chess Championship 2017 in Minsk will decide the Champion, as Maxim Matlakov and Baadur Jobava took over the lead, both with 8 points.
Matlakov defeated the leader David Howell on the top board, while Baadur Jobava was better than Anton Demchenko. In the final decisive round Jobava and Matlakov meet each other to decide the new European Chess Champion.
Standings after 10 rounds:
1-2 Matlakov and Jobava 8 points,
3-7 Cheparinov, Duda, Howell, Navara and Fedoseev 7.5 points,
8-39 Fridman, Rodshtein, Dubov, Demchenko, Jones, Artemiev, Naiditsch, Kovalenko, Mikaelyan, Bacrot, Tomashevsky, S.Zhigalko, Melkumyan, Motylev, Aleksandrov, Kuzubov, Erdos, Riazantsev, Yilmaz, Pashikian, Areshchenko, Sutovsky, Jakovenko, Lenic, Movsesian, Ponomariov, Kravtsiv, Ter-Sahakyan, Bluebaum, Danin, Kunin and Grachev 7 points, etc.
Top pairings of the 11th round:
Jobava vs Matlakov, Cheparinov vs Navara, Howell vs Duda, Fedoseev vs Jakovenko, Sutovsky vs Ponomariov, Bluebaum vs Naiditsch, Rodshtein vs S.Zhigalko, Kuzubov vs Bacrot, Yilmaz vs Tomashevsky, Aleksandrov vs Artemiev, etc.
The best ranked women players are WGM Olga Girya, WGM Aleksandra Goryachkina and IM Elisabeth Paehtz with 5.5 points.
The final round is played at 11.00 am (local time) on Saturday 11th June, 2017. The closing ceremony is planned at 8.oo pm.
The European Individual Championship 2017 is a qualification event for the next World Cup. According to FIDE regulations and the decision of the ECU Board, 22 players will qualify. The total prize fund is 100 000 EUR, including the special prizes.
The Championship takes place from 29th May to 11th June in the Sports Palace in Minsk.
The event is organized by the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus, the Ministry of Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Belarus, Minsk City Executive Committee and Belarus Chess Federation under the auspices of the ECU.
