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Korobov & Rapport Winners at European Blitz & Rapid Ch

Korobov & Rapport Winners at European Blitz & Rapid Ch

PeterDoggers
| 16 | Chess Event Coverage

The European Blitz and Rapid Championships were held last weekend in Warsaw, Poland. On Friday Anton Korobov of Ukraine won the blitz tournament ahead of local hero Radek Wojtaszek and Vladimir Malakhov of Russia. The rapid event was spread over two days and was won by Richard Rapport of Hungary. Malakhov finished second there, and third came Tigran Petrosian of Armenia.

By IM Stanislaw Zawadzki

Each year hundreds of chess players from all over Europe decide to spend their last weekend before Christmas in Warsaw to take part in the international chess festival composing of the European Rapid and Blitz Championship. Many world class players consider the Warsaw festival as an obligatory point in their sport schedules.

That the Polish capital hosted the European Rapid and Blitz Championship for the 9th time in a row. Both tournaments took place in the Palace of Culture and Science which is situated in the very heart of Warsaw.

Blitz

The blitz tournament was held on Friday, December 13th, 2013 consisted of 11 double rounds and gathered 437 players, among them 39 with the Grandmaster title. The fight for the final victory was very tough and the medals were decided in the last game.

The gold medal went to GM Anton Korobov from the Ukraine who gained 18.5 points out of 22 games. Interestingly, he lost points only in his games against Polish players as he lost 1.5-0.5 to GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek and scored 1-1 draws against GM Bartosz Socko and GM Michał Olszewski.

The silver medal was won by GM Vladislav Tkachiev from France, who won bronze last year. This year the bronze medal went to GM Bartosz Socko from Poland who defeated GM Alexey Dreev in the last round.

Socko's wife, Monika, finised first in the women's competition with 14 points, ahead of WGM Irina Sudakova from Russia and WGM Karina Szzepkowska-Horowska. The championship proved that the game of chess doesn't have any limits and is a game for everyone regardless their culture, nationality or age. As proof, we will just mention that in the 7th round 9-year-old David Ness from Norway defeated 76-year-old Bronislav Jefimow 1.5-0.5!

In the blitz event Korobov could beat Rapport:


European Blitz Championship 2013 | Final Standings

# Title Name Fed FIDE Ranking Pts
1 GM Korobov, Anton UKR B 2753 2713 18,5
2 GM Tkachiev, Vladislav FRA B 2688 2637 17
3 GM Socko, Bartosz POL B 2618 2500 17
4 GM Rapport, Richard HUN B 2598 2676 16,5
5 GM Dubov, Daniil RUS B 2683 2641 16,5
6 GM Sargissian, Gabriel ARM B 2702 2671 16,5
7 GM Andriasian, Zaven ARM B 2679 2621 16,5
8 GM Wojtaszek, Radosław POL 2711 2500 16
9 GM Petrosian, Tigran L. ARM B 2613 2660 16
10 GM Grigoryan, Karen H. ARM B 2543 2604 16
11 GM Cheparinov, Ivan BUL B 2668 2672 16
12 GM Kulaots, Kaido EST B 2564 2567 16
13 GM Mitoń, Kamil POL B 2578 2500 15,5
14 GM Antipov, Mikhail Al. RUS B 2517 2511 15,5
15 GM Azarov, Sergei BLR B 2614 2616 15,5
16 GM Moiseenko, Alexander UKR B 2642 2713 15,5
17 GM Olszewski, Michał POL B 2531 2500 15,5
18 GM Jussupow, Artur GER B 2505 2587 15,5
19 GM Ragger, Markus AUT B 2635 2672 15,5
20 IM Kuźmicz, Krystian POL B 2494 2400 15,5
21 GM Neiksans, Arturs LAT B 2541 2554 15,5
22 GM Tregubov, Pavel V. RUS B 2565 2625 15,5
23 GM Dreev, Aleksey RUS B 2704 2668 15
24 GM Dragun, Kamil POL B 2445 2500 15
25 GM Perunovic, Milos SRB B 2569 2613 15
26 GM Malakhov, Vladimir RUS B 2708 2707 15
27 GM Kovalev, Vladislav BLR B 2535 2583 15
28 GM Lysyj, Igor RUS B 2593 2666 15
29 GM Salgado Lopez, Ivan ESP B 2524 2610 15
30 GM Ivanisevic, Ivan SRB B 2641 2619 15

Anton Korobov

Rapid

The European Rapid Championship started in Warsaw on Saturday, December 14th, 2013 with 747 players (603 men, 144 women) from from 29 countries. There were 42 Grandmasters and 602 players with a FIDE rating.

After the first day and seven rounds, the sole leader was the 17-year-old grandmaster Richard Rapport from Hungary, who was the only one who still had a 100% score! The key game for him was played in 7th round, when he crushed the winner of the blitz, Anton Korobov. Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria, Markus Ragger of Austria and Bartosz Socko of Poland were tied for second place.

Rapport won the gold medal as he managed to finish the tournament without losing a single game. Besides Korobov, he also outplayed Wojtaszek with Black. 

The silver medal was won by Vladimir Malakhov from Russia, who also gained 9.5 points, but was classified on second place due to lower average rating of his opponents. The bronze medal was taken by Tigran Petrosian from Armenia, who also scored 9.5 points after winning his last 5 games. He faced much weaker opponents than Rapport and Malakhov but his third place was still a fantastic result.

In the rapid event it was Rapport who beat Korobov:

European Rapid Championship 2013 | Final Standings

# Title Name Fed R FIDE Ranking Pts
1 GM Rapport, Richard HUN R 2661 2687 9,5
2 GM Malakhov, Vladimir RUS R 2756 2716 9,5
3 GM Petrosian, Tigran L. ARM R 2637 2648 9,5
4 GM Moiseenko, Alexander UKR R 2678 2713 9
5 GM Korobov, Anton UKR R 2752 2713 9
6 GM Jobava, Baadur GEO R 2678 2705 9
7 GM Socko, Bartosz POL R 2661 2500 9
8 GM Salgado Lopez, Ivan ESP R 2620 2597 9
9 GM Lysyj, Igor RUS R 2640 2666 9
10 GM Krasenkow, Michal POL R 2609 2500 9
11 GM Cheparinov, Ivan BUL R 2710 2672 8,5
12 GM Sargissian, Gabriel ARM R 2647 2675 8,5
13 GM Ragger, Markus AUT R 2689 2646 8,5
14 GM Dubov, Daniil RUS R 2602 2629 8,5
15 GM Wojtaszek, Radoslaw POL R 2713 2711 8,5
16 GM Tkachiev, Vladislav FRA R 2675 2637 8,5
17 IM Pakleza, Zbigniew POL R 2471 2400 8,5
18 GM Ivanisevic, Ivan SRB R 2638 2626 8,5
19 GM Tregubov, Pavel V. RUS R 2570 2625 8,5
20 GM Bryzgalin, Kirill RUS R 2584 2460 8,5
21 GM Neiksans, Arturs LAT R 2591 2560 8,5
22 GM Dragun, Kamil POL R 2497 2500 8,5
23 GM Azarov, Sergei BLR R 2666 2616 8,5
24 GM Stupak, Kirill BLR R 2542 2505 8,5
25 IM Kuźmicz, Krystian POL R 2446 2400 8,5
26 GM Andriasian, Zaven ARM R 2592 2610 8,5
27 IM Plat, Vojtech CZE R 2560 2470 8,5
28 FM Minko, Vladimir RUS R 2180 2327 8,5
29 GM Olszewski, Michał POL R 2542 2500 8
30 GM Grigoryan, Karen H. ARM R 2548 2604 8

Richard Rapport

This year's edition of the European Blitz and Rapid Chess Championship was the last one taking place in Warsaw. The next one will be played 19-21 December 2014 in Wroclaw and should be as good as the ones in Warsaw.

Report thanks to IM Stanislaw Zawadzki

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