2014 Euro-Ch: Motylev wins with record result

The championship is an eleven-round Swiss system in accordance with the ECU Tournament Rules and FIDE Laws of Chess. and is held in Yerevan, Armenia from March 2 (day of arrival) until March 15 (day of departure) 2014. The tournament is held at the Elite Plaza Business Centre.  The rate of play is 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.

The tournament does not allow players to draw before the 40th move, and the controversial zero-tolerance rule will be in effect. In case of pre-arranged results the Chief Arbiter can decide that the result of the respective game is 0 - 0. If a prize-winner is absent during the closing ceremony, then the money prize will be reduced by 20%.

The total prizefund is 160 thousand Euros, with 20 thousand for first place, 16 thousand for second, down to 1000 for 25th place. There are also prizes for the best overperformer, meaning the player who performs highest over his rating.

The European Individual Championship 2014 is a qualification event for the next World Cup. According to FIDE regulations and the decision of the ECU Board, 23 players will qualify.

Round eleven

The final round of the 2014 European Championship was memorable in many ways, and is certainly one for the record books. With a full point lead, Alexander Motylev was pitted against David Navara, who was there to fight and test the mettle of the unwilting Russian. They played a strong game wherein the Czech player came out of the opening with a solid advantage, but little by little the Russian clawed his way back and the draw was agreed upon.

The draw was no formality

With an amazing 9.0/11 and a 2872 performance, Alexander Motylev signed the most dominant win of the European Championship since its inception. No player has scored 82% before, much less his rating performance in a field in which he was only 33rd in the starting list.

Alexander Motylev receives the gold medal from tournament organizer GM Smbat Lputian

A toast to the champion!

Taking the silver and bronze were two teenagers, another heralding of a new generation elbowing their way into the limelight. 19-year-old Spaniard GM David Anton Guijarro rated a modest 2559 and 99th(!) in the starting list, had a fantastic tournament, showing his superb fighting spirit as he recovered from a loss in round nine, to finish on two wins in the last rounds, over Etienne Bacrot (2739) and Baadur Jobava (2716) no less. As a result, he took silver with 8.0/11 and a 2775 performance.

An astonishing result by David Anton Guijarro, ranked 99th, who came in second
and took the silver medal

In third place, and bronze, was 19-year-old Russian GM Vladimir Fedoseev. Though Fedoseev has been a promising Russian junior for numerous years, he never seemed to live up to his potential, and even as recently as July 2013 was rated just 2515. Since then, he took off the handbrake and has rocketed to 2641, and needless to say has added another 22 Elo thanks to his stratospheric 2790 performance. That’s right: 148 Elo in nine months.

Vladimir Fedoseev, third place and the bronze medal

This brings us to the next teenager, Vladislav Artemiev, who was part of an epic battle in the final round, with everything on the line. Going into the final round with 6.5/10, he faced Maxim Matlakov (2695), who had the same score. As it were, after a few hours of play, there were exactly 23 players with 7.5/11, with only 23 qualifying spots for the World Cup. For these two players still playing, this made it all the clearer that a draw would mean missing the party.

There was no room for error, and only a win for 16-year-old Artemiev would suffice

Artemiev had a strong advantage in a queen endgame, but if there ever was a treacherous type of endgame this is it. His opponent knew it well, and the epic battle lasted hours after the other games had ended, but the 16-year-old was not to be denied, and he forced capitulation after 129 moves.  There was still some nailbiting involved as the arbiters calculated the final standings to see whether his efforts had been in vain or not, but when the results were published, he was in 13th place, with a spot guaranteed in the next World Cup.

Theirs was not the only success story of the tournament, as
many norms were scored, including notably 11-year-old Shant
Sargsyan (2027) who won the Special Prize for the largest
overperformer, and scoring an IM norm…

…and FM Haik Martirosyan, 13 years old (2234) who came second in the Special
Prize, and scored a GM norm no less.

Photos by Arman Karakhanyan

Final standings

Click for complete standings

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.