In 2011 the Mitropa Cup is a European team tournament, which is designed to give strong young players a challenging competition opportunity, took place in France and the German team took first place; last year it was in Croatia and the German ladies reached the top spot. This year it is being held in Germany, from 1 to 9 June, in Meissen, Dr.-Eberle-Platz 1 in the fourth floor.

Spectacle of the Mind II

To kick off the event the world's number two player, Armenian GM Levon Aronian, played a clock simul against six German juniors. The time controls were two hours for 40 moves and half an hour for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move. Mind you, each player got this, while Aronian had the playing time for all six games. This is how Aronian, rated 2813, scored:

The venue Museum of the clock simul was the Museum of MEISSEN Art, is the most comprehensive collection of Meissen Porcelains in the world. The museum was opened as a showroom of the manufactory in 1916, and today takes you on an enticing journey through more than 300 years of porcelain history. Numerous pieces from 1710 to the present day are arranged chronologically to illustrate design developments through the ages.

Meissen porcelain or Meissen china is the first European hard-paste porcelain that was developed from 1708 by Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus. The production of porcelain at Meissen, near Dresden, started in 1710 and attracted artists and artisans to establish one of the most famous porcelain manufacturers, still in business today as Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen GmbH. Its signature logo, the crossed swords, was introduced in 1720 to protect its production; the mark of the crossed swords is one of the oldest trademarks in existence. It dominated the style of European porcelain until 1756.

The simul was held in the main hallway of the Museum of MEISSEN Art ...

... with the simul master playing amidst porcelain statues and a pipe organ

A bird's eye-viel of the 6:1 time odds match

Levon Aronian pondering move ten of a Modern Defence against ...

... 18-year-old math student Hanna Marie Klek, rated 2267, who held him to a draw.

Aronian considers what to do after the move 13...b3 in a Slav against 16-year-old IM Matthias Blübaum, who has a GM norm and a 2511 rating. The game was drawn.

The games against Filiz Osmanodja and Rasmus Svane were both won by Aronian

The 17-year-old WFM Filiz Osmanodja won silver in the U12
World Championship five years ago. Her rating today is 2255

16-year-old IM Svane Rasmus, rated 2440, is of Danish extraction

Final score for the world's number two: 4.5/6 (+3 =3 –0)

Replay all games

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• Official Mitropa Cup web site (in German)