10th
European Individual Chess Championship
in Budva, Montenegro, March 5-19th, 2009
This tournament is being organised by the Montenegro Chess Federation, the
City of Budva and the European Chess Union. It is taking place in Budva, Montenegro,
in the Congress Hall of the “Splendid Spa & Resort Hotel”. The
event is an 11-round Swiss, with a playing rate of 90 minutes for 40 moves,
then 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per
move, starting from move one.
The total prize fund of the Individual European Championship is 120,000 Euros.
First prize is € 15,000, second is € 12,000, third € 10,000
up to 25th prize, which is € 1,000. According to Montenegro law all
prizes are taxable (maximum 10%). The first 22 players will in addition qualify
for the World Cup.
Budva,
Montenegro
Budva is a coastal town in Montenegro, well known for its sandy beaches, diverse
nightlife, and beautiful examples of Mediterranean architecture. Budva is 2,500
years old, which makes it one of the oldest settlements on the Adriatic sea
coast. The woodcut on the right shows the old town in 1615. Today its population
is around 15,000.
Budva has become popular amongst European tourists because of its beaches and
its Mediterranean climate, with warm summers and mild winters. The area enjoys
230 sunny days in a year, and Budva claims to be among the warmest Mediterranean
towns with an average temperature of 8°C in January and 27.9°C in July.
The temperature of the sea reaches up to 24.7°C in the summer months, while
it keeps between 18°C and 19°C in the autumn. We assume that the bravest
of the players in the European Championship will be taking dips in the Mediterranean
Sea.

You may be interested to know that the town is located just a few miles from
Sveti Stefan, where Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky played their return match
in 1992.

The venetian walls of Budva as depicted in a 1900 postcard

Budva today [photo Bratislav Tabaš]

The Hotel Splendid Conference & SPA Center, where the Championship is
being held

Is the sea still too cold? The indoor pool area of Hotel Splendid is a fine
alternative
Round seven of the tournament saw an important victory by Andrei Volokitin
over the previous leader Ernesto Inarkiev of Russia. That put the Ukrainian
GM into first place with 6.0/7 points, followed by nine players with 5.5 points
each. Behind them is a group of 23 players with 5.0 points.
Top standings after seven rounds (5.0/7 and higher)
# |
|
Player |
Pts |
Nat. |
Rtng |
Perf |
1 |
GM |
Volokitin Andrei |
UKR |
2671 |
6.0 |
2848 |
2 |
GM |
Inarkiev Ernesto |
RUS |
2656 |
5.5 |
2802 |
3 |
GM |
Sjugirov Sanan |
RUS |
2562 |
5.5 |
2821 |
4 |
GM |
Meier Georg |
GER |
2608 |
5.5 |
2802 |
5 |
GM |
Bocharov Dmitry |
RUS |
2647 |
5.5 |
2768 |
6 |
GM |
Sokolov Ivan |
NED |
2657 |
5.5 |
2790 |
7 |
GM |
Navara David |
CZE |
2638 |
5.5 |
2746 |
8 |
GM |
Jobava Baadur |
GEO |
2669 |
5.5 |
2778 |
9 |
GM |
Grachev Boris |
RUS |
2655 |
5.5 |
2732 |
10 |
GM |
Papaioannou I. |
GRE |
2609 |
5.5 |
2776 |
11 |
GM |
Naiditsch Arkadij |
GER |
2693 |
5.0 |
2722 |
12 |
GM |
Banikas Hristos |
GRE |
2582 |
5.0 |
2742 |
13 |
GM |
Bartel Mateusz |
POL |
2594 |
5.0 |
2711 |
14 |
FM |
Rasulov Vugar |
AZE |
2391 |
5.0 |
2742 |
15 |
GM |
Cheparinov Ivan |
BUL |
2679 |
5.0 |
2696 |
16 |
GM |
Kobalia Mikhail |
RUS |
2634 |
5.0 |
2733 |
|
|
17 |
GM |
Shomoev Anton |
RUS |
2567 |
5.0 |
2715 |
18 |
GM |
Tomashevsky Evgeny |
RUS |
2664 |
5.0 |
2680 |
19 |
GM |
Guseinov Gadir |
AZE |
2661 |
5.0 |
2688 |
20 |
GM |
Areshchenko Alex. |
UKR |
2673 |
5.0 |
2667 |
21 |
GM |
Mamedov Rauf |
AZE |
2638 |
5.0 |
2699 |
22 |
GM |
Mikhalevski Victor |
ISR |
2608 |
5.0 |
2665 |
23 |
GM |
Timofeev Artyom |
RUS |
2671 |
5.0 |
2727 |
24 |
GM |
Iljushin Alexei |
RUS |
2564 |
5.0 |
2712 |
25 |
GM |
Kovacevic Aleksandar |
SRB |
2543 |
5.0 |
2720 |
26 |
GM |
Malakhov Vladimir |
RUS |
2692 |
5.0 |
2698 |
27 |
GM |
Popov Valerij |
RUS |
2561 |
5.0 |
2704 |
28 |
GM |
Riazantsev Alexander |
RUS |
2634 |
5.0 |
2680 |
29 |
GM |
Fressinet Laurent |
FRA |
2666 |
5.0 |
2688 |
30 |
GM |
Wojtaszek Radoslaw |
POL |
2608 |
5.0 |
2624 |
31 |
GM |
Nyback Tomi |
FIN |
2644 |
5.0 |
2682 |
32 |
IM |
Chirila Ioan-Cristian |
ROU |
2485 |
5.0 |
2619 |
33 |
GM |
Lysyj Igor |
RUS |
2620 |
5.0 |
2635 |
|

A scene from the opening ceremony in of the European Championship in Budva

The playing hall in the Splendid Hotel

Historical pictures decorate the walls of the playing venue

An arial view of the action

Can you identify the spectator in this picture?

Did anyone ever claim that chess was a easy game?

Analysis after the game

Andrei Volokitin at the start of his sixth round game

A familiar face and old friend: Dutch chess legend Jan Timman

12-year-old Ukrainian IM Illya Nyzhnyk, rated 2503, one of the stars of the
event.
In April 2008 Nyzhnyk scored his first GM norm, in September, at the age of
12, he won the European Youth Chess Championship for under 16. In December 2008
he finished 12th in the Ukrainian championship, with a performance rating of
2594, barely under the 2600 performance required for another GM norm. Take a
look at what he did, with the black pieces, to a 2621 GM in round four in Budva:
Pashikian,A (2621) - Nyzhnyk,I (2504) [D27]
10th EICC Budva MNE (4), 09.03.2009
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 dxc4 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.0-0 a6 7.dxc5 Qxd1
8.Rxd1 Bxc5 9.Be2 Nbd7 10.Nbd2 b6 11.Nb3 Be7 12.Nfd4 Bb7 13.f3 Rc8 14.Bd2 0-0
15.Rac1 Rfd8 16.Kf2 Bf8 17.e4 Nc5 18.Nxc5 Bxc5 19.Be3 Ne8 20.a3
Rxd4 21.Rxc5 bxc5 22.Bxd4 cxd4 23.Rxd4 Rc6 24.b4 Kf8 25.e5 Ke7 26.b5
axb5 27.Bxb5 Rc2+ 28.Ke3 Bd5 29.Rd2 Rc3+ 30.Rd3 Rc5 31.a4 Nc7 0-1.
Photos by Nebojsa Baralic
Links
Key games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the
chess server Playchess.com.
If you are not a member you can download
the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access.
You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse the PGN games. |
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