European Senior Championship: Mrva and Renman claim titles
Martin Mrva (Slovakia) and Nils-Gustaf Renman (Sweden) emerged as the winners of the European Senior Chess Championship 2022. The competition held in two age categories, 50+ and 65+ (with separate prizes for female players), took place from 5-14 July in Lublin, Poland. Two 9-round Swiss tournaments with classical time control attracted 61 players from 15 European countries. The only GM in the 50+ section field, Martin Mrva, entered the competition as a clear favourite and did not disappoint. Despite losing to Povilas Lasinskas from Lithuania in Round 3, he finished clear first on 7/9, a half point ahead of Dariusz Klimaszewski of Poland, whom he beat in the direct encounter. Povilas Lasinskas, the only player to defeat the champion, came out third. The best-ranked female player in the 50+ section WIM SopikoTeraladze from Georgia scored 5½/9 and became European Women Senior 50+ Champion. WIM Liliana Leszner of Poland was second with 5 points, and Margarita Baliuniene from Lithuania took the last place on the podium, scoring 4½/9. Final standings 50+ 1 GM Mrva Martin SVK 2385 7 2 CM Klimaszewski Dariusz POL 2096 6½ 3 FM Lasinskas Povilas LTU 2096 6 4 WIM Tereladze Sopiko GEO 2141 5½ 5 Garabetyan Arno TUR 2056 5½ 6 Lilja Richard DEN 2131 5½ 7 Wielosz Jaroslaw POL 1891 5½ 8 Zielinski Olgierd POL 1816 5½ 9 FM Druckenthaner Andreas AUT 2272 5 10 WIM Leszner Liliana POL 1872 5 The complete results can be found here. IM Nils-Gustaf Renman of Sweden even more convincingly won the title in the 65+ category, scoring 7½/9 points, finishing a full point ahead of FM Terry Chapman from England, who took silver. Four players tied for third place, netting 6 points each, with FM Anthony Stebbings (England) claiming bronze thanks to better tiebreaks. WIM Annett Wagner-Michel of Germany became European Women Senior 65+ Champion after notching up 4½ points. WFM Irena Kasprzyk from Poland was second with 4 points and her compatriot WFM Elzbieta Sosnowska took bronze. Final standings 65+ 1 IM Renman Nils-Gustaf SWE 2311 7½ 2 FM Chapman Terry P D ENG 2207 6½ 3 FM Stebbings Anthony J ENG 2283 6 4 IM Petran Peter SVK 2234 6 5 Sokolowski Ryszard POL 2050 6 6 Praszak Michal POL 2048 6 7 IM Lederman Leon ISR 2209 5½ 8 IM Bogdanov Valentin UKR 2333 5½ 9 FM Schulz Michael GER 2217 5½ 10 FM Syre Christian GER 2243 5½ The complete results can be found here. The top 3 players from each category of the European Senior Championship 2022 qualified for the World Senior Championship 2023. Photo: europechess.org/
Most stylish teams to be awarded at 44th Chess Olympiad
The 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India, set to start on the 29th of July, will be the most prominent chess gathering of the year. The historical participation records are updated with 189 teams registered for the Open and 162 in the Women’s section. With your help, we’re looking forward to making this Olympiad not only the biggest in numbers but also the most elegant. We are happy to announce that the most stylish teams wearing the best uniforms will get special awards. With hundreds of players from all over the Globe, Chess Olympiads are a celebration of diversity and friendship, putting FIDE’s motto “Gens Una Sumus” (“We are one family”) in the spotlight. Every Olympiad has plenty of media attention, with photographers’ shutters heavy at work every day – the perfect setup to showcase your national colours and cultural features. At the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, the athletes’ uniforms have long become an eye-catcher, with state-of-the-art outfits for teams created by the likes of Ralph Lauren and Armani, along with sportswear giants. Recent Chess Olympiads have also boasted of attention-grabbing team uniforms and individual outfits, and we hope that Chennai will reinforce this forming tradition. We are also glad to announce that we will install a special photocall in Playing Hall 1, near the entrance to the VIP zone. We expect all teams and players to pass by it and have a professional headshot taken. These headshots will be used for the FIDE ID profiles, so we recommend not to miss this opportunity! Photo: David Llada and Alina L’Ami