Eleven GMs finish shared 1st in Budva

At the European Championship in Budva, no less than 11 grandmaster have finished on shared first position with a 8/11 score. On Wednesday, tiebreaks will decide on the medals, and on who will qualify for the FIDE World Cup.

The 10th European Chess Championship, an 11-round Swiss, takes place in Budva, Montenegro from March 5th (day of arrival) until March 19th (day of departure) 2009. It's organized by the Montenegro Chess Federation under the auspices of the City of Budva and the European Chess Union. The European Championship is a qualification event for the next World Cup. According to FIDE regulations and the decision of the ECU Board, 22 players will qualify. The first prize is € 15,000, second is € 12,000 and the third player earns € 10,000.



[TABLE=659] Full standings here.

This is what the regulations say:

Tie-break Matches In the European Individual Chess Championship and European Individual Women’s Chess Championship tie-breaks are organized only in the following cases: a) to establish the Champion; b) to establish the medal winners; c) to establish qualifiers, for the World Chess Championship. In the case of a) and b) the relevant tie-break matches will decide the final ranking and the money prizes connected with these places. In the case of c), the relevant tie-break matches will not influence the final ranking and the money prizes will be shared equally. System of the Tie-break matches: Additional matches of two games will be played with 15 minutes on the clock and addition of 10 seconds before each move. If this match is drawn again, then two games will be played with five minutes plus two seconds per move. If this match is again drawn, then the sudden-death game will be played with white having 5 minutes on the clock and black having 4 minutes, without any addition. White has to win the sudden-death game in order to win the match. In case that more than three tie-break rounds have to be played, the Chief-Arbiter – after confirmation by the ECU President or his representative – may change the playing schedule in such a way that the tie-break matches can be finished within one day. Detailed Tournament Regulations for the tie-break matches and the time schedule will be announced on Friday, 17 March at 22.30 at the Technical Meeting for tie breaks.

Tomorrow the tiebreaks are scheduled at 10:00 CET.

Links:

• Official website
• Games in PGN