4th International Chess Festival "Terre degli Elimi" in Erice
Report by Alessandro Monaco
The third edition of last year ended with the victory of the Russian grandmaster
Vladimir Epishin, Georgian IM Sopiko Guramishvili placing second and IM
Tapani Sammalvuo from Finland third. This year the participation of foreign
players has been remarkable: 35 players from 14 countries! At the start
82 players in the Open A and 18 in the Open B! For the Sicily an absolute
record! 100 players in total.
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Again the wonderful city of Erice hosted our Festival! Erice which is situated
in western Sicily (Italy) is only 15 km away from 'airport "Vincenzo Florio"
in Trapani (Ryanair Hub) and is a true and proper tourist pearl of Sicily.
Panorama of Erice – scroll to the right
[picture from Wikipedia]

Trapani and Egadi island sunset
Located about 700 meters above sea level it is overlooking the Mediterranean
sea and from almost every corner you can enjoy breathtaking views and even
see Mount Etna in the distance.

The Egadi islands and Trapani from Erice cableway

San Vito Lo Capo beach

Van Assendelft and Duijkers at Trapani Airport
with me
The list of invited foreign chessmasters includes the Macedonian GM Vladimir
Georgiev, trainer of the woman chess world champion Antoaneta Stefanova;
the Bulgarian IM Petar Arnaudov; the Polish WGM Katarzyna Toma and Marta
Przezdziecka; the Dutch WIM Anne Haast and Arlette Van Weersel; the Argentine
U20 Champion WIM Ayelen Martinez; the three times Hungarian champion Anna
Rudolf all for the first time in Sicily; the Slovenian WFM Ksenija Novak
and the IM Zivojin Z Ljubisavljevic from Serbia and finally two smart Italian
young players: CM Daniela Movileanu and FM Miragha Aghayev.
The festival started at 4 pm on July 24, 2013 after a short and dynamic
open ceremony with a multimedia presentation of the masters and the greetings
of our President Salvatore Oddo. The competition itself was held at Palazzo
Sales in Erice and was attended by some of the best players of Sicily, such
as Andrea Amato, Fabrizio Ganci and Girolamo Valguarnera, as well as many
young chess players like Morello, Bifulco, Corsino, Marzaduri, Savalla,
Piazza and the Iannello brothers. Moreover, our chess masters have also
had time though to visit the beautiful places near Erice as Trapani, San
Vito lo Capo, Segesta, Scopello and Favignana.

Arlette Van Weersel (left) and friends at Segesta
Greek Temple

Arlette eating delicious "pasta col pesto
alla trapanese" at Salvo house

Katarzyna Toma on Mount Cofano, overlooking
the sea

Ksenija Novak, Marta Przedziecka and Katarzyna
Toma, in front of the "Castle of Venus"

Ksenija and Katarzyna in Corso Vittorio Emanuele,
in the center of Trapani

Katarzyna bathing in the sea at Cala Rossa
on the wonderful island of Favignana
At the end of the seven rounds, FIDE master Andrea Amato of the "Circolo
Palermitano Scacchi" won deservedly but also unexpectedly with 6.0/7, not
losing a single games. GM Vladimir Georgiev took the second place with 5.5/7,
and third, with the same score, was the talented Polish WGM Marta Przezdziecka.
Four other players: the Bulgarian IM Petar Arnaudov, the strong Dutch players
Cor van Dongen and Floris Van Assendelft and Anna Rudolf also scored 5.5/7.
The joy over the victory of Andrea Amato was very great! Everyone in the
room applauded for a long time winner of the "Terre degli Elimi", and the
present writer carried him in triumph as long as he could. Andrea is not
a professional player but a pure amateur! He started to play chess again
last year, just at "Terre degli Elimi", and after a few tournaments played
in 2013 very successfully (Gibraltar and Lucca), got here in Erice his consecration
as FIDE master and great player.

The Italian FM Andrea Amato (middle), winner
of the Open A

I (Alessandro Monaco) lift him up in triumph
The French IM Claude Adrian has played a great tournament finishing seventh
overall and first in the range elo 2000/2299. Hungarian WGM Anna Rudolf
got first prize among the women, and Polish WGM Katarzyna Toma was second.
Final standing (top 10)
# |
Title |
Player |
Rating |
Pts |
Perf. |
1 |
|
Amato Andrea |
2291 |
6.0 |
2511 |
2 |
GM |
Georgiev Vladimir |
2544 |
5.5 |
2444 |
3 |
WGM |
Przezdziecka Marta |
2297 |
5.5 |
2443 |
4 |
IM |
Arnaudov G. Petar |
2487 |
5.5 |
2456 |
5 |
-- |
Van Dongen Cor |
2357 |
5.5 |
2336 |
6 |
IM |
Van Assendelft Floris |
2381 |
5.5 |
2411 |
7 |
IM |
Adrian Claude |
2221 |
5.5 |
2332 |
8 |
WGM |
Rudolf Anna |
2301 |
5.5 |
2429 |
9 |
FM |
Lammens Tim |
2316 |
4.5 |
2299 |
10 |
IM |
Masternak Grzegorz |
2339 |
4.5 |
2271 |
The participation of the Dutch players was very good, and the large contingent
of twelve strong players almost all concluded the even in high positions:
Van Dongen fifth, Van Assendelft sixth, Lammens ninth, Bart Konijn eleventh
(and second in the 2000/2299 group) Arlette Van Weersel 13th (and third
amongst the women players); Jan Joris Groenewold 14th and Rick Duijker 15th.
Very good performances were produced by the young Sicilians player: Gianluca
Corsino got the prizefor the first of the Italians players, before Tiziano
Ravagnani and Miragha Aghayev; Riccardo Marzaduri was the first of the Sicilian
players, before Andrea Spinella and Guido Morello.
The B Open was won by the Louise Adrian of France, with 6.5/7 points. Second
was the German Hanne Schneider and third the Sicilian player Michele Colicchia
of Marsala.
The prizes in books (more than 400€) were provided by Yuri Garrett
of “Caissa Italia”.

The decisive match between GM Georgiev and
FM Amato ended in victory of italian player

Andrea Amato drew Anna Rudolf in the last round
to win the event

Polish WGM Marta Przedziecka finished third

At the end the organization provided an official
lunch at the restaurant "La Pineta" in Erice

An opportunity to greet each other in joy!
See you next year in Erice!
Official web site