First International Black Sea Tournament in Istanbul

First International Black Sea Tournament in Istanbul

Report by Mikhail Emelianov

The First International Chess Tournament among the economical alliance zone of the Black Sea countries was held on July 1–5 in Istanbul. The goal of this tournament is the extension of cultural and sporting relations between countries of this region. The idea is to make this tournament a tradition in the future.

Because of the European Men's Individual Championship that was arranged in the same time, some of the invited participants did not arrive for the first tournament. Representatives of Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia and Turkey gathered in Istanbul. One single participant from every country played in the male and female sections, and there was also a team championship.

The Georgian team became a leader in the first round, and it had one reserve point before the final match. But in this final round Alina Motoc beat Sopio Gvetadze and brought victory to the Romanian team, with a score of 1.5:0.5 and the first place in the team championship. Alina Motoc became the winner of the female tournament. Sopio Gvetadze (Georgia) took second place, and third went to Kseniya Rybenko (Russia). The winner of the male tournament is Davit Zarkua (Georgia). Razvan Sebe-Vodislav (Romania) took second, and Kilic Sekcuk (Turkey) third.

The very hospitable hosts organized the tournament in great style. The climate was very friendly and pleasant. Participants lived and played at the comfortable Point Hotel, located in the very center of Istanbul. Thanks to organizers all tournament guests had time to visit many interesting places in the splendid town of Istanbul. Special thanks to the tournament director Mr. Ozan Sacir, who accompanied participants everywhere himself. Here is an interview with Ozan Sacir concerning this tournament:

Question: How was the idea of this tournament born?

Sacir: I am a volunteer of Union of Black Sea Region NGOs (KASTOB) and I am responsible for the international events and correspondence. I am also a member in the Chess in Schools committee of FIDE, and studying about chess in universities. So the first thing in my mind for KASTOB was to organize an international chess tournament for Black Sea countries. I offered my proposal and it was accepted.

This tournament is also the first official organization of World University Chess Union (WUCU) which was founded in Istanbul and financed by my friends and me. Now we have some sponsorship for WUCU and we have also got the support of UNESCO.

The technical arrangements were done by WUCU and Turkish Chess Federation. The president of our chess federation, Mr. Ali Nihat Yazici, is supporting WUCU and all kinds of organizations for chess in schools and universities. The financial supporters were KASTOB and Beyoglu Local Municipality and some private companies, like Red Dragon Energy Drink. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC) supported the organization and they donated a special prize to the youngest player of the tournament, Davit Zarkua from Georgia. Some Turkish, Russian and Moldavian parliamentarians participated in the opening and closing ceremonies.

Question: What are the future projects?

Sacir: Now we have the support of PABSEC and the government. Our aim is to organize the Black Sea Countries Youth and Sport Events, which is aiming at developing the cultural interaction between the young people of those countries. We know that Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) will be enlarged by the participation of new countries which are connected to the Black Sea by the Danube River. The last example is also the membership of Serbia and Montenegro. By the way, we believe in that the special place of chess in sports, and that is why we have started our project with a chess tournament.

We will organize traditionally this tournament every year, and I hope some other countries could organize such sportive and cultural organizations. We have invited all 12 countries of BSEC, I think next year all countries will be represented in Istanbul.

Question: What are your next projects?

Sacir: Our president Mr. Ali Nihat Yazici has good projects which will contribute to chess in whole world. I hope we will organize further events. The Universities' Category of the 4th Istanbul International Chess Festival will be the second official event of WUCU. Our next project is starting the Balkan Universities Chess League, and then to organize regional and intercontinental grand prixs.

Men's crosstable

Women's crosstable

Team crosstable

Picture Gallery

Participants of the tournament: Selcuk Kilic, Sopio Gvetadze, Davit Zarkua, Yordan Dimitrov, Albena Georginova, Ozan Cakir, Alina Motoc, Razvan Sebe-Vodislav, Kseniya Rybenko, Mikhail Emelianov.

The opening ceremony

The winners receive congratulations: Alina Motoc and Davit Zarkua

Anatolian side of Bosphorus

Kasimpasa Stadium

Cultural Festival of Municipality with the participation South Korea, Mexico, Greece, Kosovo, Armenia, Cyprus and Turkey on the Istiklal Street