The European Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship

Last weekend, from the 16th to the 18th of December, the European Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship was held in a polish town called Katowice. There was one tournament but separated prizes for the Open and Women. The total prize fund was €44000.

The European Blitz Chess Championship

The European Blitz Chess Championship was on the 16th of December, with 11 double rounds with a time control of 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment. A huge amount of players attended. 830 players from 38 countries of which 168 were women.

There were a lot of changes in the leader’s position, almost after every round. In the end, after many hard games, GM David Navara from the Czech Republic became the winner with 17,5 out of 22 points. To reach this result, some luck helped him in the last game, in which his opponent blundered mate in 1 in a drawish rook endgame.

GM Maciej Klekowski from Poland took the second place and behind him was GM Sargsyan from Armenia, both with 17,5 points, but a worse tiebreak than Navara had. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk became the European Women’s Blitz Champion with 15,5 points. Followed by IM Aleksandra Matsevskaya with 15 points and GM Antoaneta Stefanova with 14 points.

The European Rapid Chess Championship

The European Rapid Championship was from the 17th to the 18th of December, with 11 round swiss system with a time control of 15 minutes + 10 seconds increment.

The tournament was again very tense and unclear. After the 10th round, there were seven people with 8,5 points and any of them could have become the winner. After all, GM Jaime Santos Latasa from Spain was the only one of these players who won, which secured him the title of the European Rapid Champion. In second place was GM David Navara and in third place was GM Daniel Fridman from Germany, both with 9 points.

IM Aleksandra Matsevskaya won the Women’s first prize with 8,5 points which was the 22nd place in the Open tournament. Followed by GM Alexandra Kosteniuk with 8,5 points and WGM Jolanta Zawadzka with 8 points.

Now some questions for Ema Walter, who also took part in this tournament:

What did you like about Katowice?

What I enjoyed most about Katowice was the Christmas market full of tasty food and drinks, cheerful music and the Ferris wheel. The atmosphere was amazing; it snowed all the time, so everything was white.

Which game from this tournament are you most proud of?

My performance was very average. But if I had to choose one, it would be the seventh round of the rapid section against Polish FM, which I lost, but at least I fought well.

Did you meet there any of your chess idols, there were many excellent chess players?

Yes, it’s the best feeling seeing all the strongest European players. For the first time, I met my idol GM Pia Cramling from Sweden, one of the best female chess players of all time.

Do you plan to play in this tournament next year?

I would love to, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to because next year will be my first year at university, where I will study abroad. But if there would be a possibility, I would gladly take it.

Author

LUCIA ŠEVČÍKOVÁ