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 four

Going into round four, five players held impeccable records, but once the smoke had cleared, only one remained with 4.0/4 and that was Russian Evgeny Najer, who overcame Ilya Smirin in an epic game. 16-year-old Vladislav Artemiev fought hard with Alexander Riazantsev but neither was able to best the other, and they drew after 48 moves. The fifth player on 3.0/3 was Igor Kovalenko, who faced the Ukrainian heavyhitter Pavel Eljanov (2723), the tournament’s second-seed, and whom he held to a draw.  Three more players moved into the group with 3.5/4, Bulgarian GM Cheparinov, former aide-de-camp of Vesselin Topalov, Russian Alexander Motylev, and Alexander Shimanov, who won a crazy game against Jobava (2716).

Evgeny Najer is now the sole leader with 4.0/4

Ilya Smirin fought hard and valiantly, but was unable to find
the extraordinary resource hidden in his position

Two women stand at 3.0/4: WGM Daria Charochkina (2374) with a 2673 performance and the irrepressible GM Judit Polgar (2693) with a 2736 performance.

The hidden masterpiece

Although Evgeny Najer’s win over Ilya Smirin was a fantastic struggle from both sides, with both players refusing the easy way out, it was one of those nearly clichéd instances when the brilliancies were hidden in the notes. That said, the sequence missed by Smirin, who might have still saved the game as of move 41, requires the player to first imagine there is such a resource. It is not so much the calculation of the moves that is so hard, but the beautiful and elusive lines, two of which deserve their own individual highlight.

The line is beautiful to behold, and the theme of domination after sacrificing not one, but two pieces to dominate the rook and draw is impressive, but it does not end there. Now that you have seen what happens if the pieces are taken, suppose White decides to stop the pawn with 42.Rf5 instead. What then? This is where the importance of allowing it with 41...f4 is revealed.

Another breathtaking demonstration of domination.

Armenian GM Artur Chibukhchian

GM Athanasios Mastrovasilis from Greece

Hrant Melkumyan

Turkish GM Mustafa Yilmaz (2557)

Standings after four rounds:

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.