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 seven
The cathedral under renovation is Holy Etchmiadzin, built in 302 A.D., the first
Christian cathedral in the world, when Armenia adopted Christianity as its official
religion (twelve years before the Byzantine emperor Constantine).
The Catholicos of All Armenians, equivalent to Pope Francis, Garegin II receiving the players, the highest
honor that can be bestowed on visiting dignitaries. (thanks to Dr. Garabed Kassakhian, Henderson, Nevada)
The arbiters hard at work to ready the round
Chief arbiter Ashot Vardapetyan, who was also the chief arbiter
at the last World Championship, and IA and trainer Boris Postovsky
The seventh round of the European Championship came after a welcome rest day on Sunday, when the players had the option of a bit of sightseeing or just recharging their batteries for the fierce second half to come. Sole-leader Motylev drew with Wojtaszek, while Laznicka and Melkumyan also drew. As a result, they were rejoined by three others, leaving Motylev alone with 6.0/7 and a 2871 performance, and Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Poland), Hrant Melkumyan, Vladimir Akopian (both - Armenia), Pavel Eljanov (Ukraine), Dragan Solak (Turkey) and Victor Laznicka (Czech Republic) tied for 2nd-7th with 5.5/7.
Vladimir Malakhov (2717) has been having a lukewarm event
Vladimir Akopian is now in contention with 5.5/7, half a point
behind the leader
A classic shot, but a classy one
New Kids on the Block
New to the standings was the publication of the first list for the Special Prize. The Special Prize is for players who outperform their ratings by the greatest amount. For example, Alexander Motylev, by virtue of his great result so far, performing 215 Elo above is current rating, is doing quite well on the list in 8th place. Of special note however are the two current leaders of the Special Prize list.
17-year-old FM Kirill Alekseenko (2461) has 4.0/7 and is on
course for a GM norm with a 2607 performance. He started
with a surprise win over fourth seed Anton Korobov (2719)
in round one.
19-year-old David Anton Guijarro (2559) from Spain defeated top Austrian player
Markus Ragger (2644) in round seven, and has 5.0/7 and a 2708 performance
At the very top is 11-year-old Shant Sargsyan from Armenia, rated 2027, but with a huge 2457 performance after seven rounds after facing four GMs, two IMs and one FM, not one of whom is rated less than 2353. With four rounds to go, he is a contender for an IM norm.
11-year-old Shant Sargsyan from Armenia was a silver medalist
in the World Youth U10 championship in 2012
In second place is 13-year-old FM Haik Martirosyan, also from Armenia, rated 2234, and a favorite to score a full GM norm(!) with a 2657 performance thus far, including two wins over grandmasters, and only one opponent rated under 2500.
FM Haik Martirosyan (2234) is close to a grandmaster norm
Here is his crushing win over Romanian GM Vladislav Nevednichy (2591):
[Event "15th ch-EUR Indiv 2014"] [Site "Yerevan ARM"] [Date "2014.03.04"] [Round "2.70"] [White "Martirosyan, Haik M"] [Black "Nevednichy, Vladislav"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A48"] [WhiteElo "2234"] [BlackElo "2591"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "2014.03.03"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3 d6 5. h3 {A classic London, remniscent of teen Kamsky.} O-O 6. Be2 b6 7. c4 Bb7 8. Nc3 Ne4 (8... Nbd7 9. O-O {before} Ne4 {is more common.}) 9. Nxe4 Bxe4 10. Qd2 {Usually White reserves this square for the knight, to eject the bishop from e4, but he has a different plan with Ng5 followed by e4.} c5 11. O-O Nc6 $6 {Cutting off the bishop and inviting White to grab space in the center cannot be right.} ({It made more sense to play} 11... Nd7 {and if} 12. d5 {Black had} h6 {with ...g5 and Bg6/h7.}) 12. d5 Na5 13. Ng5 Bf5 14. e4 Bd7 15. Nf3 b5 {Black completely misses the forthcoming refutation of this move.} 16. cxb5 Rb8 {[#]} 17. b4 $3 {Superb and very well judged.} Bxa1 18. Rxa1 Nb7 19. a4 {White's point is simple: once the d4 square is freed, the knight can easily hop to c6 and wreak havoc. If Black does not take on b4, that knight on b7 will remain imprisoned.} cxb4 20. Qxb4 Qa5 21. Qb2 Rfc8 22. Bd2 Qd8 23. e5 Be8 24. Bh6 Nc5 25. exd6 f6 26. dxe7 Qxe7 {One does not need a computer to see that Black is busted here.} 27. Bc4 { Threatening d6+ winning the queen, so...} Qd6 28. Qd4 {[%cal Rh6f4,Rf4b8] Now threatening Bf4.} Rb7 29. Bf4 Qf8 30. Rc1 Kh8 31. Ba2 Bd7 {and now the 13-year-old Armenian finishes his opponent off in style.} 32. Ne5 $1 Kg7 (32... fxe5 33. Bxe5+ Kg8 34. Rxc5 $1 {and the discovered check is fatal.}) 33. Nc6 Nxa4 34. Qxa4 g5 35. Be3 h6 36. Bb1 1-0
Photos by Arman Karakhanyan
Standings after seven rounds
Click for complete standings
