The European School Chess Championship 2017 has started on 10th June in Budva, Montenegro.
The short opening ceremony was held just before the start of the first round where the speech took the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro Dr. Srdjan Darmanovic who declared the Championship opened. The opening ceremony attended the President of European Chess Union, Mr. Zurab Azmaiparashvili who wished to participants good luck and successful championship as well as gaining new friendships.
5 rounds have been played so far on the Championship and yesterday was the rest day. 341 boys and girls coming from 21 federations will continue the struggle for the title of European School Championship today when the 5th round will be started.
In category Open U7 the sole leader is Yonal Timur (RUS 1318) and Zubkovskaya Ekaterina (BLR) leads in Girls U7 section with the same perfect score 5/5.
There are 3 more Russian players in the sole lead, all in Girls section, Zavivaeva Emilia (RUS 1593) in category Girls U11 and Granovskaya Ekaterina (RUS 1819) in category Girls U15 both with score 4.5/5 and Danilova Rada (RUS 1887) in the section Girls U17 with score of 4 points out of 4 games.
In Open U13 category, the sole leader is Stefan Tadic (SRB 2013) with 4.5 points and in the Open U11 category, Levin Guy (ISR 1802), Silich Yahor (BLR 1783) and Caputcuoglu Zeki Berke (TUR 1704) tie for the first place with the same score of 4.5 points.
In Girls U13 section, the first place is shared between Mikhalina Elena (RUS 1672) and Zvereva Margarita (RUS 1781) with score 4/5 while in category for Girls U9 five girls are sharing the position on the top of the list: Zavivaeva Evelina (RUS 1338), Babic Milana (BIH 1529), Yildiz Elif Zeren (TUR 1204), Mikhailina Olga (RUS 1234) and Zhapova Yana (RUS 1328), all with 4 points out of 5 games.
In Open U15 category, three players tie the first place with the score of 4 points, Musial Tomasz (POL 1997), Petriashvili Nikoloz (GEO 2257) and Trubchaninov Artem (RUS 2017). The sole leading position in Open U17 category took Garbowski Jakub (POL 2091).
The championship is being played according to the Swiss system in 9 rounds, with time control 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with increment of 30 seconds per move starting from the move one.
The Championship is organized by Montenegro Chess Federation under the auspices of European Chess Union.