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Matthias Bluebaum wins European Individual Championship 2022
GM Matthias Bluebaum (Germany) is a new European Champion. The 24-year-old native of Lemgo (North Rhine-Westphalia) completed the European Individual Championship 2022 undefeated, scored 8½/11 and achieved major success in his career. The European Individual Championship 2022, an 11-round Swiss tournament with classical time control, took place from March 27 to April 6, 2022, in Terme Čatež, Slovenia. The total prize fund of the event amounted to €100,000, with €20,000 reserved for the winner. The event brought together 320 players (257 titled ones) from 40 European federations, including 114 GMs, 53 IM, 3 WGM and 12 WIM. The champion started with a draw but then reeled off six straight victories and grabbed the lead. After making three draws with his main competitors, he slowed down a bit and allowed Gabriel Sargissian (Armenia) to catch up with him coming into the final round. Both leaders played with white pieces, which suggested an exciting fight in the home stretch, but somewhat surprisingly, the Armenian GM made a quick draw with Jaime Santos Latasa. The German GM, who faced Ivan Saric of Croatia, played a much longer game but also split a point. As a result, Matthias Bluebaum and Gabriel Sargissian (pictured above) tied for the top position, but the gold went to the German as the average rating of his opponents (the first tiebreaker) was 16 points higher. A large group of six players shared third place. Ivan Saric (pictured below) had the highest rating average of the opponents and claimed bronze. Govhar Beydullayeva from Azerbaijan got the best score among all women participating in the event. The 18-year-old runner-up of the two last national championships turned in an excellent performance, finished in the top-50 and picked up 76 rating points. According to FIDE regulations for World Cup and the ECU Board decision, 20 best players qualified for the FIDE World Cup 2023. Since Matthias Bluebaum and Mustafa Yilmaz had already qualified from the last year European Championship, Aleksandar Indjic (21st in the final standings) and Haik Martirosyan (22nd) also punched the tickets to the FIDE World Cup 2023. Final standings: 1 Bluebaum, Matthias GER 2642 8½ 2 Sargissian, Gabriel ARM 2681 8½ 3 Saric, Ivan CRO 2687 8 4 Cheparinov, Ivan ECX 2672 8 5 Santos Latasa, Jaime ESP 2648 8 6 Yilmaz, Mustafa TUR 2624 8 7 Ponomariov, Ruslan UKR 2636 8 8 Durarbayli, Vasif AZE 2628 8 9 Gadimbayli, Abdulla AZE 2451 7½ 10 Iskandarov, Misratdin AZE 2577 7½ 11 Guseinov, Gadir AZE 2661 7½ 12 Ter-Sahakyan, Samvel ARM 2632 7½ 13 Sargsyan, Shant ARM 2639 7½ 14 Kobo, Ori ISR 2510 7½ 15 Moussard, Jules FRA 2630 7½ 16 Tari, Aryan NOR 2653 7½ 17 Anton Guijarro, David ESP 2694 7½ 18 Kuzubov, Yuriy UKR 2639 7½ 19 Kozul, Zdenko CRO 2619 7½ 20 Nesterov, Arseniy FID 2522 7½ 21 Indjic Aleksandar SRB 2605 7½ 22 Martirosyan Haik ARM 2633 7½ You can find full results here. Photo: ŠZS/Luka Rifelj Official website: eicc2022.eu/