Teams Serbia and Bulgaria emerged as the winners of the 2023 European Team Chess Championship in the open and women’s section, respectively. Both countries won their maiden European champion titles.

In the open competition, things came down to the wire as tenth-seed Serbia and third-seed Germany headed to the final round as co-leaders on 13 match points. Germany beat Croatia thanks to the victory by Dmitrij Kollars over Marin Bosiocic on board 4, while all other games were drawn. Serbia, reinforced by Alexey Sarana and Alexandr Predke (who recently changed federation), convincingly defeated Greece by 3-1, winning the games on the second, third and fourth boards.

As a result, Serbia and Germany scored equal match points (15/18), and it boiled down to Olympiad-Sonneborn-Berger-Tie-Break. Only one tiebreak point separated the teams, favouring Serbia, who claimed the title. It was a heartbreaking outcome for Germany, who beat their main rival in a direct encounter but had to settle for silver.

Team Armenia scored 13/18 and took bronze. Magnus Carlsen, who played on the first board for Norway, won his first individual gold medal in the European Team Championship.

Final standings open:

The women’s event was also a close race to the very end. Coming to the final round one matchpoint ahead of Azerbaijan, fifth seed Bulgaria did not leave it to chance and prevailed over the top seed Georgia to clinch the title. After a slow start, Bulgarians won six straight matches, including victories over their main rivals Azerbaijan and France. Azerbaijani women beat Serbia and finished second.

As many as four teams tied for third place, scoring 12/18. Despite losing their final round match to Ukraine, team France won bronze thanks to a superior Olympiad-Sonneborn-Berger-Tie-Break.

Final standings women:

Photos: Mark Livshitz

Useful links:

Pairings, results & rankings
Official website of the event
Photo gallery