Chess to make first appearance at European Games

by ChessBase
3/18/2023 – Chess will make its first appearance in the European Games as an accompanying event at the Kraków-Maloposka Games 2023. The European Chess Union regulated a new special competition, the European Pair Blitz Chess Championship 2023, which will take place on 19th of June 2023 in Kraków, Poland. Eight teams (ECU members) are invited according the best combined Pair FIDE Classical rating according to the March 2023 list: Ukraine, Azerbaijan, France, Poland, Romania, Germany, Armenia and the Netherlands.

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Blitz in pairs

Chess will make its first appearance in the European Games as an accompanying event under the aegis of the Organizing Committee of the Kraków-Maloposka Games 2023.

ECU regulated a new special competition, the European Pair Blitz Chess Championship 2023, which will take place on 19th of June 2023 in Kraków, Poland, as an accompanying event at the European Games Krakow-Malopolska 2023. The Championship is organized by the Malopolska and Silesian Chess Association under the auspices of the European Chess Union and the Polish Chess Federation with the support of the International Chess Federation (FIDE).

Eight teams (ECU members) are invited according the best combined Pair FIDE Classical rating according to the March 2023 list: Ukraine, Azerbaijan, France, Poland, Romania, Germany, Armenia and the Netherlands. Each team shall consist of one player over 2650 (classical rating) in the open section and one female player over 2350 (classical rating) in the women’s section, and one representative/captain.

Jan-Krzysztof Duda

Photo from the 2021 European Blitz Chess Championship

Both Women’s and Open events will consist of two phases:

  • Qualification: 8-team round-robin tournament
  • Playoffs: Knockout system with the 4 best-ranked teams of the qualification stage

The rate of play is 3 minutes plus 2-second increments from the first move.

Medals & standings

The individual medals are decided by the playoffs in each section. The gold medal will be awarded to the winner of the final match, and the silver medal will go to the runner-up. The winner of the match for third place wins the bronze medal.

The combined pair medals are decided by the final position of the players of each team after the playoffs in each section (sum of points): 1st - 8 points, 2nd - 7 points, 3rd - 6 points, 4th - 5 points, 5th - 4 points, 6th - 3 points, 7th - 2 points, and 8th - 1 point. In case of a tie between two teams, the tiebreak criteria are the sum of points in the open and women’s sections during the qualification round.

Prizes

The 3 winners of the Open, Women’s and Combined Pair sections will receive gold, silver and bronze medals, the same as European Olympic Games medals. The best European Pair will receive the title of European Pair Chess Blitz Champion 2023.

The application should be sent by Monday, April 10th, 2023, to the e-mail address: iechess2023@gmail.com with a copy to ECU: secretariat@europechess.org

Contact information

Kamila Kałużna- Turcza – president of the Malopolska Chess Association
E- mail: iechess2023@gmail.com
mob.: +48 693 046 440
Official website: https://ie2023.pl/en/


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