12/19/2022 – The 2022 European Rapid & Blitz Championships took place on December 16-18 in Katowice, Poland. All 22 rounds of blitz were played on Friday, while the 11 rounds of rapid took place over the weekend. Jaime Santos (open) and Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (women’s) won in the rapid section, while David Navara (open) and Alexandra Kosteniuk (women’s) got first place in the blitz section. | Photos: Michal Walusza

12/20/2021 – At the European Rapid Championship in Katowice, three grandmasters finished level on points atop the standings: Alexander Motylev (Russia), Alexander Donchenko (Germany) and Paulius Pultinevicius (Lithuania), each with 9½ points after 11 rounds. According to the tiebreak criteria, Motylev was declared European Champion, Donchenko got the silver medal and Pultinevicius took home the bronze. | Photos: Michał Walusza

12/18/2021 – The European Blitz Championship took place on Friday in Katowice. Polish grandmaster and rating favourite Jan-Krzysztof Duda won the event after obtaining an 18/22 score. Duda finished a half point ahead of his compatriot Maciej Klekowski. Eight players scored 16½ points. | Photos: Official site

12/16/2021 – The European Rapid and Blitz Championships will take place on December 17-19 at the Spodek Sport and Entertainment Centre in Katowice, Poland. Local hero Jan-Krzysztof Duda heads the list of participants in the blitz section. The tournament serves as a warm-up for the World Rapid and Blitz Championships which will kick off a week later in Warsaw.

12/7/2019 – In the Estonian capital Tallinn, the European Championships in Rapid and Blitz Chess were held from Thursday to Saturday. The new Rapid European Champion with 10½/13 was Armenian Gabriel Sargissian (pictured) ahead of Rauf Mamedov (Azerbaijan) and Alexander Riazantsev (Russia) on tiebreak. The European Blitz Championship went to Igor Lysyj (Russia) with 17.0/22 on tiebreak ahead of the tied Zaven Adriasian (Armenia) and Andrey Esipenko (Russia). | Photos: ECU / Alon Shulman

12/10/2018 – A two-day 13-round event finished with the 40th seed as the winner. The European Rapid Championship took place on December 8th and 9th in Skopje and was won by Russian GM Valerij Popov. Three other players scored the same 10½ points, but the 44-year-old took gold on tiebreaks. Andrey Esipenko (Russia) finished second, Vahap Sanal (Turkey) third and Luca Moroni (Italy) fourth. IVA VIDENOVA and PATRICIA CLAROS sent us a report with highlights and plenty of images from the capital of Macedonia. | Photos: Patricia Claros Aguilar

12/8/2018 – Macedonia's political, cultural and economic centre, Skopje, is hosting the European Rapid and Blitz Championships. Unlike other events, in this case the blitz section takes place first. After eleven double-rounds, Vladislav Artemiev emerged as the clear winner with an astounding 18½/22 score. Ivan Cheparinov and David Navara finished in clear second and third places, respectively. IVA VIDENOVA sent a complete report, which includes a selection of top-level blunders. | Photos: Patricia Claros Aguilar

12/18/2017 – The European Rapid Chess Championship in Katowice ended with a surprise. The 68th seed IM Maxim Vavulin from Russia won with ten points from eleven games for the gold. Silver goes to Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland) and bronze to Pavel Ponkratov (Russia). In the blitz championship, Grandmaster Sergei Zhigalko was the 24th by rating, but the 28-year-old from Belarus finished first with 18 / 22. Right on his heels were Luke McShane (England) and Peter Michalik (Czech Republic) both with 17½ / 22. | Photo: Official site / Walusza Fotografia