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The Italian Team Championships are played as a closed tournament. This year 18 teams started in a seven round Swiss in the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Civitanova. Favorite to win the event was the team of Padova, which can boast of having players such as Hikaru Nakamura, Boris Gelfand, Peter Leko and Etienne Bacrot in its ranks.
When the Championships began Nakamura was still busy blitzing against Garry Kasparov, Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So in St. Louis but the three other top players came to Italy to play. However, the regulations prevented Padova from bringing too much power to the tournament because the matches are played on four boards and in each match only one guest player is allowed - three of the four players have to be locals.
Therefore, Bacrot, Gelfand and Leko more often than not had to watch how the others played. Leko played two games, winning both of them, Bacrot played two games and drew both while Gelfand had three draws.
Civitanova is situated at the Italian Adria
The championship was decided in round four in the top encounter between Padova and the team of Circolo Scacchi R. Fischer Chieti. Chieti won by the narrowest of margins. The only player who could win its game was Luca Shytaj - a very crucial win because Chieti only conceded one more point in the six other matches and thus became Italian team Champion 2016.
Chieti also won the title in the Women's Team Championship which gave the Polish couple Bartosz and Monika Socko more than one reason to celebrate as she was playing the women's team and he was playing in the men's team.
Peter Leko (left, with Black) during his game against Darius Swiercz
Peter Leko scored two out of two
Boris Gelfand
Bartosz Socko
Axel Rombadoni helped Chieti to become Italian Team Champion 2016
| Rg. | Snr | Team | Anz | + | = | - | Wtg1 | Wtg2 | Wtg3 | Wtg4 |
| 1 | 3 | Circolo Scacchi R. Fischer Chieti | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 18,0 | 0 | 150,5 |
| 2 | 1 | Obiettivo Risarcimento Padova | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 19,5 | 0 | 164,5 |
| 3 | 2 | WorldTradingLab Club 64 Modena | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 17,5 | 0 | 127,0 |
| 4 | 8 | Fano1988 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 16,0 | 0 | 124,5 |
| 5 | 15 | DLF Steinitz A Roma | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 15,5 | 0 | 66,5 |
| 6 | 4 | Partenopea Westend Napoli | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 15,0 | 0 | 127,5 |
| 7 | 9 | Arrocco Chess Club Roma | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 15,5 | 0 | 74,0 |
| 8 | 6 | Accademia Milano | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 14,5 | 0 | 105,0 |
| 9 | 5 | SST Trieste 1904 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 13,5 | 0 | 91,0 |
| 10 | 10 | Euro Scacchi Perugia | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 11,5 | 0 | 84,0 |
| 11 | 13 | Banca Nuova Palermo | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 15,0 | 0 | 71,5 |
| 12 | 12 | C.S.B. VIP Bologna | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 14,0 | 0 | 80,5 |
| 13 | 7 | Montebelluna Master | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 13,0 | 0 | 80,5 |
| 14 | 17 | Acqui Collino Group Acqui Terme | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 12,0 | 0 | 51,0 |
| 15 | 11 | Il Grifone d'Arzignano | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 13,5 | 1 | 67,5 |
| 16 | 14 | SS Torinese A | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 13,5 | 1 | 62,5 |
| 17 | 16 | S.S. Milanese 1881 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 9,5 | 0 | 59,5 |
| 18 | 18 | DLF Firenze Scacchi A | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 5,0 | 0 | 27,5 |
Two titles for Chieti
Padova finished "only" second
In the women's tournament Lazio won silver
| Pos | Nr.s. | Squadra | Num | + | = | - | Cls1 | Cls2 | Cls3 |
| 1 | 2 | Circolo Scacchi R. Fischer Chieti | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 16,0 | 0 |
| 2 | 1 | Lazio Scacchi A | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 15,0 | 0 |
| 3 | 3 | Frascati Scacchi Club | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 11,0 | 0 |
| 4 | 4 | Lazio Scacchi B | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 10,5 | 0 |
| 5 | 5 | Accademia Scacchi Milano | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7,5 | 0 |
| 6 | 6 | Queen Club Circolo Scacchi Conegliano | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 5,0 | 0 |
| 7 | 7 | Società Scacchistica Milanese | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 4,0 | 0 |
| 8 | 8 | Accademia Scacchi Potenza | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3,0 | 0 |
Photos: Giordano Macellari (Tournament page)
Complete standings at chessresults.com...
