Mitropa Cup: German teams lead both sections

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
2/20/2024 – The Mitropa Cup is taking place on February 15-23 in Apolda, Germany. Ten teams from Central Europe (also including Italy) are playing single round-robins in the open and the women’s categories. After five rounds, the German squads are leading both competitions. In the open, Germany has a perfect 10/10 score, while in the women’s, Germany has drawn twice so far, with Switzerland and Slovakia. | Photo: Frank Hoppe

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The rating favourites playing on home soil

The 2024 edition of the Mitropa Cup is being played on February 15-23 in Apolda, Germany. Apolda is a town in central Thuringia, the capital of the Weimarer Land district. It is situated in the centre of the triangle Weimar–Jena–Naumburg near the river Ilm.

Open and women’s tournaments are taking place separately, with the participation of ten federations: Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland. The tournaments are single round-robins with a time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes to finish the game, with 30-second increments from move one.

Each team consists of four players, plus one reserve player. The top-seeded team in the open section is Germany (rating average: 2636), with Matthias Bluebaum, Alexander Donchenko, Rasmus Svane, Dmitrij Kollars and Frederik Svane in the lineup. The Italian team is second on the starting list with an average rating of 2511, while Austria and Switzerland have teams with an average rating of 2479.

The German team is also the top seed in the women’s championship (rating average: 2309), with Josefine Heinemann, Jana Schneider, Hanna Marie Klek, Lare Schulze and WIM Kateryna Dolzhykova in the lineup. The Hungarian team is seeded second with an average rating of 2241, while Italy stand as the third seed with a rating average of 2216.

Mitropa Chess Cup 2024

Frederik Svane (Germany) facing Lukas Dotzer (Austria) in round 2 | Photo: Frank Hoppe

Both local teams are leading the standings after five rounds. In the open, Germany won all five matches so far, including a first-round victory over Italy.

Switzerland stand in second place with 8/10 match points, while the Czech squad has collected 7/10 match points to stand in third place.

Standings after round 5 - Open

Rk. Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10  TB1   TB2   TB3 
1 Germany 10
2 Switzerland 8
3 Czech Republic 7
4 Slovenia 5
5 Italy 5
6 Hungary 4
7 Slovakia 4
8 France 4
9 Austria 2
10 Croatia 1

Full information on Chess-Results...

In the women’s section, the favourites playing on home soil drew two matches but are leading the standings on the first tiebreak criterion nonetheless (game points). Germany drew Switzerland and Slovakia, but still have to face the second seeds from Hungary.

France and Switzerland stand in second and third place, respectively, as both teams have collected as many match points as Germany.

Standings after round 5 - Women’s

Rk. Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10  TB1   TB2   TB3 
1 Germany 8
2 France 8
3 Switzerland 8
4 Slovenia 7
5 Italy 6
6 Hungary 5
7 Czech Republic 3
8 Croatia 2
9 Austria 2
10 Slovakia 1

Full information on Chess-Results...

Josefine Heinemann

The symbolic first move on the board of Josefine Heinemann, performed by Christine Lieberknecht, Minister President of Thuringia from 2009 to 2014 | Photo: Frank Hoppe

Bluebaum 1 - 0 Georgiadis

Analysis by Klaus Besenthal

Matthias Bluebaum

Matthias Bluebaum | Photo: Frank Hoppe

All games - Open

All games - Women’s

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.