The European Women’s Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship 2023 took place from January 11-15, 2024 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco, bringing together 120 players from 26 European federations.

Alexandra Kosteniuk emerged as the winner of both Rapid and Blitz tournaments, taking the historical double gold.

The European Women’s Blitz Championship 2023, a 13-round Swiss event, was played on January 12. Heading into the last round of the competition, Alexandra Kosteniuk had a sole lead, being a whole point ahead of her closest rivals. However, after she suffered a loss at the hands of IM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, three players tied for first place, scoring 10 points each.

Alexandra Kosteniuk (SUI) claimed the gold medal thanks to best tiebreaks, winning her fourth European Women’s Blitz Champion title. IM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (ESP) clinched silver, and GM Bella Khotenashvili (GEO) took bronze.

The European Women’s Rapid Chess Championship 2023 took place from January 13-14, with 116 players from 26 European federations participating.

Three players headed into the final round jointly leading the field, all on 8/10: GMs Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL), Elisabeth Paehtz (GER) and Alexandra Kosteniuk (SUI).

While Antoaneta Stefanova and GM Elisabeth Paehtz drew their last-round game, Alexandra Kosteniuk defeated Anna Ushenina (UKR) and emerged as the sole winner of the European Women’s Rapid Championship 2023.

Three players tied for second place, netting 8.5/11 points each, but Antoaneta Stefanova had the best tiebreaks and clinched silver, Elisabeth Paehtz claimed bronze, and Klaudia Kulon (POL) finished fourth and missed the podium.

The Closing ceremony of the European Women’s Blitz Chess Championship 2023 took place on Friday, January 12, while the Closing ceremony of the European Women’s Rapid Chess Championship was held on January 14.

The ceremonies were attended by ECU President Zurab Azmaiparashvili, the President of the Monaco Chess Federation and ECU Vice President Jean Michel Rapaire, ECU Vice President Gunnar Bjornsson, ECU Chief Executing Officer Erald Dervishi, and other distinguished guests.

The final rankings of the championship can be found here.

Written by europechess.org

Photos: Patricia Claros Aguilar

The photo gallery by Patricia Claros Aguilar can be found on the official Facebook page of the event.

The European Women’s Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship 2023 is about to kick off in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. The competition is be held from January 11-15, 2024 (it was moved from December 2023 to January 2024 due to venue commitment).

The first event on the schedule is the Blitz Championship, taking place on January 12. The competition is a 13-round Swiss tournament with a time control of 3 min + 2 sec increment. 

It will be followed by the European Women’s Rapid Chess Championship 2024, an 11-round Swiss tournament with a time control of 15 min+ 10 sec increment, stretching over January 13-14. The total prize fund of the events is 22,500 EUR.

Over 120 players from 24 European federations registered for the competitions, including former Women’s World Champions GMs Alexandra Kosteniuk (SUI), Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL), Anna Ushenina (UKR) and legendary Nona Gaprindashvili (GEO). 

Among the top seeds, we will see many well-known players such as GMs Paehtz Elisabeth (GER), Pia Cramling (SWE), Bella Khotenashvili (GEO), IMs Nurgyul Salimova (BUL), Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (ESP) and many others.

A complete starting list of players can be found here.

Live broadcast with commentaries by IM Almira Skripchenko and GM Emir Bagheri can be exclusively followed on the ECU YouTube channel.

Official Facebook page of the event

The 2023 European Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships concluded yesterday in Zagreb, Croatia. The event was played from 14-16 December, with nearly 700 players from 41 European federations participating.

The first event on the schedule was the European Rapid Chess Championship 2023, an 11-round Swiss tournament which took place from 14-15 and brought together over 450 players. It was a very tight competition that came down to the wire.

Heading into the final round, as many as four players were on 8.5/10 tied for first place: GM Haik Martirosyan (ARM, 2634), GM Alexey Sarana (SRB, 2649), GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU, 2623), and GM Casper Schoppen (NED, 2553). While Haik Martirosyan and Deac-Bogdan Daniel drew their Round 11 games, Alexey Sarana and Casper Schoppen were the last to finish their encounter.

Sarana had an endgame with a bishop pair, offering practical chances. With perfect endgame technique, Alexey managed to pull off a victory and emerged as the sole winner of the event, scoring 9.5/11.

It is the third European title for Alexey Sarana this year! After winning the European Individual Chess Championship 2023 in Vrnjacka Banja, he took gold at the European Team Championship 2023 with the Serbian team as the best individual 2nd board player!

GMs Haik Martirosyan and Bogdan-Daniel Deac tied for second place, with the former taking silver thanks to better tiebreaks. Bogdan-Daniel Deac won bronze.

Final standings Rapid

The European Blitz Chess Championship 2023, a 13-round Swiss tournament, attracted nearly 600 participants and was played yesterday.

GM David Navara (CZE, 2661) emerged as the sole leader of the event after 12 played rounds with 10.5 points, closely followed by four players with 10 points: GM Denis Kadric (MNE, 2591), GM Etienne Bacrot (FRA, 2640), GM Rauf Mamedov (AZE, 2635), and GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (UKR, 2678). Once again, the final round determined the champion and the medalists.

12-time Czech Chess Champion David Navara had white pieces against Etienne Bacrot and gained a sizable advantage from the opening, as the French Grandmaster missed his chances to equalize the game. Navara eventually won the game and secured the title with an impressive final score of 11.5/13.

After winning the European Blitz Championship 2022 in Katowice, Poland, David successfully defended his title in Zagreb.

Vasyl Ivanchuk defeated Rauf Mamedov (AZE, 2635) to win the silver medal, netting 11 points, while Denis Kadric and Ivan Saric (CRO, 2586) tied for third place scoring 10.5 points each. Having better tiebreaks, Denis Kadric got bronze; Ivan Saric finished in fourth place.

Final standings Blitz 

The closing ceremony of the event took place yesterday evening in the playing venue with the attendance of ECU President Zurab Azmaiparashvili, ECU Vice President Alojzije Jankovic, the President of the Croatian Chess Federation Ivica Brkic, Minister of Tourism and Sports of Croatia Nikolina Brnjac, Head of Croatian Prime minister office Zvonimir Frka-Petešić, famous football player Zvonimir Boban, Ambassador of Georgia in Croatia Zaza Gogsadze, FIDE Secretary General Mr. Lukasz Turlej and other distinguished guests.

Text: europechess.org

Photos: Luka Rifelj

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

After five rounds are played at the European Team Chess Championship 2023, Germany emerged as the sole leader of the open section, while France and Azerbaijan are tied for first place in the Women’s Championship.

In a clash for the sole lead, Germany convincingly defeated Armenia yesterday by a score of 3-1. GM Vincent Keymer (GER, 2721) couldn’t get a better present for his 19th birthday than a team win and an excellent victory over GM Haik Martirosyan (ARM, 2708). GM Matthias Bluebaum (GER, 2670) brought the second full point to Germany, stunning GM Hrant Melkumyan (ARM, 2650) with a spectacular queen sacrifice, while the games on the second and the fourth boards were drawn.

Team Romania defeated Poland to join the race for the top position. GM Richard Rapport (ROU, 2748) came victorious against GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek (POL, 2668), while GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU, 2700) prevailed over GM Pawel Teclaf (POL, 2571). The games on the other two boards between GMs Kirill Shevchenko (ROU, 2665) and Mateusz Bartel (POL, 2651) and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (ROU, 2591) vs GM Szymon Gumularz (POL, 2580) were drawn, to set the final score of 3-1.

Lower-rated Moldova surprised Norway by tying the match. GM Magnus Carlsen (NOR, 2829) couldn’t break the resistance of GM Ivan Schitco (MDA, 2503), who played a very solid game. GM Victor Bologan (MDA, 2573) defeated GM Lars Oskar Hauge (NOR, 2498), while IM Tor Fredrik Kaasen (NOR, 2471) beat FM Jegor Lashkin (MDA, 2457). With a draw on the second board between IM Andrei Macovei (MDA, 2446) and GM Aryan Tari (NOR, 2620), the teams equally scored two match points.

After five rounds of play, Germany leads the Open tournament with 9 match points. They are closely followed by Serbia, Romania, England, and Netherlands, tied for second place, sitting on 8 match points.

Today is the free day, and the event will resume at 15:00 CET. The top-board pairings are:

Germany (Rtg average 2676) vs Romania (Rtg average 2676)

Norway* (Rtg average 2633) vs Switzerland (Rtg average 2508)

Belgium (Rtg average 2422) vs Montenegro* (Rtg average 2536)

Netherlands (Rtg average 2632) vs England (Rtg average 2671)

Serbia (Rtg average 2628) vs Armenia (Rtg average 2667)

France and Azerbaijan in the Women’s section won their matches in Round 5 to maintain the lead in the event.

Azerbaijan narrowly defeated Germany, thanks to the victory of IM Gunay Mammadzada (AZE, 2441) against GM Elisabeth Paehtz (GER, 2473). The other three games ended in draws, although WGM Josefine Heinemann (GER, 2318) had a very good chance to score a full point in a position where she signed the scoresheet. WGM Hanna Marie Klek (GER, 2282) missed the opportunity to gain a decisive advantage, and the game eventually transposed into an equal endgame.

The team of France crushed Armenia, scoring a landslide 3.5-0.5 victory. WGM Mitra Hejazipour (FRA, 2323) defeated WIM Mariam Mkrtchyan (ARM, 2347), IM Pauline Guichard (FRA, 2347) was victorious against GM Elina Danielian (ARM, 2413), and IM Anastasia Savina (FRA, 2335) bested WIM Susanna Gaboyan (ARM, 2171). IM Lilit Mkrchian (ARM, 2387) was the only one to score a half-point for the Armenian team, drawing her game against IM Deimante Dulyte-Cornette (FRA, 2369).

With Round 5 victories, France and Azerbaijan share the first place with  9 match points each. Bulgaria is trailing the leaders by a single point.

After today’s free day, Round 6 will bring interesting encounters tomorrow. The top board pairings in the Women’s section are:

Bulgaria (Rtg average 2362) vs Azerbaijan (Rtg average 2392)

France (Rtg average 2357) vs Georgia (Rtg average 2471)

Netherlands (Rtg average 2320) vs Germany (Rtg average 2385)

Greece (Rtg average 2239) vs Armenia (Rtg average 2352)

Switzerland (Rtg average 2314) vs Poland (Rtg average 2347)

Text: europechess.org

Photos: Mark Livshitz

Useful links:

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