Mare di Fano – 3rd Summer Chess Festival

Mare di Fano – 3rd Summer Chess Festival

By Diana Mihajlova

We wrote about last year’s edition in part 1 and part 2 of a previous report. This year, the indefatigable and ambitious organiser, Dario Pedini and the Fano Chess Club (est. 1988) added even more sections to the ever growing chess festival. 191 players competed in five tournaments: Major A group (> 1900), B group (<2000), C group (< 1600), U-16 and a Rapid tournament. Alongside, the Italian U-20 Championship and the Italian Women Championship also took place.

The spacious, air conditioned playing hall, the Fano Sport Park, was operating in full capacity

Ten invited GMs and IMs were at hand to make possible achievement of norms. In the middle of the summer, whether hunting for norms or simply enjoying a summer holiday and a chess tournament, the Fano Chess Festival provides an unforgettable chess adventure.

The Ukrainian grandmaster brothers Yuri and Andrey Vovk are frequent participants at European Opens

WGM Anna Iwanov from Poland

Jan Rindlisbacher comes from a family of chess players, from Bern, Switzerland. Last year, his brother Lars participated, making an IM nom, as well as his father, Ernst, who had a special incident to do with bikes. (See towards the middle of this article)

Alessia Santeramo (ITA), winner of the Italian Women Championship

Michel Bifulco, Italy

FM Grandadam Nicolas, Switzerland

Irene Caldi, Italy

Matteo Rovedi, the local boy from the nearby town of Pesaro was
accompanied by his father, who also participated playing in the Major

Riccardo Rago from Senigalia, a nearby town in the region of Marche,
is a regular participant at the Fano Chess Club’s events

Top final standings in Group A

• Standings of all 51 players

First GM Peter Prohaska (HUN), second GM Andrey Vovk (UKR), third IM Daniel Sadzikowski (POL), who missed a GM norm by just a half a point, not managing more than a draw against IM Laketic in the last round.

The Italian women championship winners: Laura Gueci from Palermo, woman champion U-20, Alessia Santeramo from Barletta, the absolute woman champion and Virginia Colantuono from Rome, a woman champion U-18. Laura Gueci’s sister, Tea, the reigning woman champion, was playing at Tromso with the Italian women team.

The U-16 participants with various prizes including tennis rackets, box games, chess books and magazines as well as cups for the winners: from left, Jacopo Serafini from Fano (4th); his cousin Diego Serafini (3rd); Elia Ferretti from Pesaro (2nd) and the winner, Jacopo Smerzini from Senigallia next to Anna Klimentova.

Winners of the Group B: CM Luigi Forlano (8.0/9) and
16-year-old Cristian Machidon (7.5/9) from Moldova

Winners in the Group C: Enrico Fragni, winner; second place:
Francesco Pazzaglia; third place: Giovanni Squadrani

Winners in the Championship U-20: Altini Nicola, Champion U-20, FM Boscolo Federico,
champion U-18, and the third placed CM Santeramo Domenico

Here are two interesting games, annotated by the players themselves:

Fano is a small town and a beach resort on the Adriatic coast between Rimini and Ancona. It is found in the Province of Pesaro and Urbino in the Marche region. Antique and medieval towns (Urbino, the Raphael's birthplace) are within less than an hour drive. The Republic of San Marino is at one and a half hour drive.

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Known as Fanum Fortunae, Fano dates since Roman times, 49 BC, during the Julius Caesar reign. Later on, Augustus established it as his colony.

The residential area of Fano – a railway splits the Old Town with its rich history from the
modern resort on the seaside – a long strand of pebbly beach with a wide promenade.

The Roman gate (Augustus' arch) opens to the cobbled streets of the old town

Fano abounds with well preserved treasures of art and architecture from the Renaissance period. The famous Renaissance master Pietro Perugino (c. 1446 – 1523) was operating in Fano. Among his pupils was Raphael from the nearby town of Urbino.

The ‘Fano Alterpiece’ depicting the Virgin by Perugino in the Church Santa Maria Nuova (1521)

The ‘Predella’ is the small panel, usually horizontal, made of miniature images that goes
underneath, as a ‘decoration’ of the base of a larger work, that can be an altar.

Perugino decorated many churches and palaces, like the Santa Maria Nuova.
The predella (below the main painting) attributed to the young Rafael.

‘Annunciation’ by Perugino, a painting in the church Santa Maria Nuova

An artisanal statue, a replica of the fountain dedicated to the Goddess of Fortune, which stands at the central square. This statue was presented as a trophy to the Italian U-20 Champion.

The town’s marina incorporates a luxurious Yacht Club ‘Marina dei Cesari’

Players Alessia Santeramo, Paolo Formento, Samuele Bisi, Boscolo and
Virginia Colantuono chilling on the Fano’s beach Sassonia

‘Moretta’, the famous coffee and liquor drink, hails from Fano

A cocktail of hot espresso coffee, rum, anise and brandy makes an energising drink invented by Fano’s fishermen in order to keep alert and warm during their fishing expeditions. Today it is drunk after meals as a digestive or as a hot drink on cold afternoons. ‘Moretta’ is usually served in small transparent glasses with clearly visible layers of froth, coffee and liquor.

The ever important sponsors: Trofeo Pedini Cucine, Banca Marche and Artigiana Marmi who provided the trophy for the 3rd Internationa Festival Msare di Fano, the 22nd Italian Championship U-20 and the 41st Italian Women Championship respectively.

The tournament falls during a festive summer season with a rich cultural program including exhibitions, the Fano Jazz by the Sea Festival and the Fanno Summer Carnival. The Carnival has the political satire as its theme. Among the many giant papier-mâché floats, some as high as 18 meters, there was Pinocchio riding on his tricycle, alluding to the ills of society, taxes, lies and politicians’ false promises.

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN You can use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to replay the games in PGN. You can also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.