Germany Won The Gold Medal -Open Section- And Russia Won -The Women's Section- At The European Team Chess Championship 2011 In Greece

The German chess national team (with an average rating 2666 Elo) made a huge surprise by winning the European Team Chess Championship (ETCC) -Open Section- after beating the very strong Armeninan chess team in the last round (2.5-1.5) .The German champions are : GM.Arkadij Naiditsch (2712 Elo) ,GM.Georg Meier (2659 Elo) ,GM\Daniel Fridman (2661 Elo) ,GM.Jan Gustafasson (2633 Elo) and GM.Rainer Buhmann (2612 Elo) .

The Russian Women Chess team dominated the field from the start and desrvely won the gold medal .The Russian champions are : GM.Nadezhda Kosintseva (2546 Elo) ,GM.Tatiana Kosintseva (2526 Elo) ,IM.Valentina Guinena (2514 Elo) ,GM.Alexandra Kosteniuk (2439 Elo) and WGM.Natalija Pogonina (2451 Elo).
The tournament that took place from 3rd – 11th of November was a 9 round swiss event  with one open section and another section for the women’s teams. The time control was 90 min for 40 moves + 30 min for the rest of the game + 30 sec increment for every move played starting from the first move.The games were played in the Olympic Hall Congress Center  within the five-star Porto Carras Grand Resort, which is located in Halkidiki, Greece .
The organizers are : European Chess Union ,Porto Carras SA ;the Tournament Director : IA.Sotiris Logothetis and the Chief Arbiter is : IA.Panagiotis Nikolopoulos .
For more information : http://euro2011.chessdom.com/ and http://chess-results.com/tnr57856.aspx?art=0&lan=1&turdet=YES&flag=NO and http://chess-results.com/tnr57855.aspx?art=0&lan=1&turdet=YES&flag=NO

Impressions From The 2010 World Youth Chess Championships In Porto Carras ,Greece

 More Photos and impressions are here

The Young Chess Kings And Queens Are Crowned In The Closing Ceremony Of The 2010 WYCC In Porto Carras ,Greece

The 2010 World Youth Chess Championships in Porto Carras ,Greece Concluded successfully with a beautiful and elegant closing ceremony in the packed Olympic Hall.The closing ceremony was attended by the members of the Organizing Committee and the General Manager of the Porto Carras resort.

The winners in the open section were :

(U-8) years Gadimbayli Abdulla Azar from Azerbaijan won (over 124 players) with 9.5 points ,(U-10)years Cao Jason from Canada won (over 156 players) with 9 points ;(U-12)years Wei Yi from China won (over 156 players) with 9.5 points ;(U-14)years Izzat Kanan Azar from Azerbaijan won (over 128 players) with 9 points ; (U-16)years Dragun Kamil from Poland won (over 140 players) with 8.5 points ;(U-18)years GM\Zierk Steven C (deservedly earned the grandmaster title during the tournament) from USA won (over 110 players) with 9.5 points.

In the Girls section :(U-8)years Li Yunshan from China won (over 80 players) with 10.5 points ;(U-10)years WFM\Nominerdene Davaademberel from Mongolia won (over 104 players) with 9 points ;(U-12)years Osmak Iulija from Ukraine won (over 119 players) with 9 points ;(U-14) years WFM\Saduakassova Dinara from Kazakhstan won (over 98 players) with 9 points ; (U-16)years WIM\Ziaziulkina Nastassia from Belarus won (over 96 players) with 8.5 points ; (U-18)years WIM\Kazimova Narmin Nizami from Azerbaijan won (over 72 players) with 9 points.

Also a total of 15 young youth have earned the title norms as follows:

GM Norm:Steven Zierk (Open U18);IM Norms:Liu Chang (Open U16),Arribas Lopez Angel, Pouya Idani, Mammadov Ayaz Arzu, Kambez Nuri, Vladimir Belous, Dmitriy Danilenko and Anwesh Upadhyaya (Open U18);WIM Norms:Anja Schulz (Girls U16),Bhakti Kulkarni, Lanita Stetsko, Anastasiya Rakhmangulova, Klaudia Kulon and Zoi Iordanidou (Girls U18).
Source of the photos: http://wycc2010.chessdom.com/wycc-closing-ceremony/

Congratulations to all !

The Legendary German GM\ Artur Yusupov Is In Greece

Artur Mayakovich Yusupov (de: Jussupow; born February 13, 1960 in Moscow, Soviet Union) is a German International Grandmaster of chess, and a chess writer.

He learned to play chess at the age of six and trained at the Young Pioneers' Palace in Moscow. He was a winner of the World Junior Chess Championship in 1977. This was also the year that he gained the International Master title, qualification as a grandmaster following in 1980. Second place at his first USSR Championship in 1979 (behind Geller). International tournament results in the next decade included first place at Esbjerg 1980, first at Yerevan 1982, equal fourth at Linares 1983, first at the Tunis Interzonal 1985, equal first at Montpellier Candidates 1985, and third at Linares 1988. He also won the 1986 Canadian Open Chess Championship.By this time Yusupov was also chasing World Championship qualification, reaching the semi-final of the Candidates Tournament on three occasions in 1986 ,1989 and 1992.

In the early nineties, he returned to his Moscow apartment one day and disturbed some burglars. During the struggle that broke out, he was shot and considers himself lucky to have survived. Soon after, he decided to move to Germany, which has remained his home ever since...(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artur_Yusupov)

The legendary GM\Artur Yusupov is now in Greece successfully coaching and training the Swiss youth national teams participating in the 2010 World Youth Championships.

A Huge Success For The 2010 World Youth Chess ChampionShips In The Beautiful PortoCarras Resort ,Greece

Under the auspice of FIDE, Greek Chess Federation, Athens Chess Club, Technical Olympic (1381) youth chess players from all over the world participated in the 2010 World Youth Chess Championships which takes place at the 5 star luxury Porto Carras Grand Resort which is situated in an enchantingly verdant landscape in Halkidiki in the beautiful country of Greece from 19th -31st of October.

After 6 rounds in the boys section :(U-8) years Shevchenko Kirill from Ukraine leads (over 124 players) with 6 points (U-10)years Sevian Samuel from USA leads (over 154 players) with 5.5 points ;(U-12)years FM\Duda Jan-Krzysztof from Poland leads (over 156 players) with 5.5 points ;(U-14)years Laurusas Tomas from Lithuania leads (over 128 players) with 6 points (U-16)years Dragun Kamil from Poland leads (over 140 players) with 5.5 points ;(U-18)years GM\Ter-Sahakyan Samvel from Armenia leads (over 110 players) with 5.5 points.

In the Girls section :(U-8)years Li Yunshan from China leads (over 80 players) with 6 points ;(U-10)years Obolentseva Alexandra from Russia leads (over 104 players) with 6 points ;(U-12)years Malatsilava Volha from Belarus leads (over 119 players) with 5.5 points ;(U-14) years Lei Ting Jie from China leads (over 98 players) with 6 points ; (U-16)years WIM\Ziaziulkina Nastassia from Belarus leads (over 96 players) with 5.5 points ; (U-18)years WIM\Kazimova Narmin Nizami from Azerbaijan leads (over 72 players) with 5.5 points.

The Organizing Committee has done a huge effort to guarantee the success of the tournament.Special thanks to Mr.Georgios Makropoulos -the Fide deputy president

and the president of the Greek Chess Federation- and Chief Organizers Mr.George Mastrokoukos and Mr.Aggelos Tsermedianos;and Tournament director\IA SIotiris Logothetis and Chief-Arbiter \IA Panagiotis Nikolopoulos and Deputy Chief Arbiters IA\Mihalis Prevenios and IA\Argyris Kitharidis.

The Egyptian chess delegation are :Mr.Adel Saad -head of the delegation- FM\Saad Atteia main coach and the players : in the girl's section Salma Wagdy in her first international tournament (U-10) years accompanied by her mother Eng.Dalia Tag Eldin;WGM\Mona Khaled (U-16) accompanied by her father Dr.Khaled Zaher and in the boy's section Abd El-Rahman Yasser Allam (U-10) in his first international tournament accompanied by Eng.Medhat Moheb and Allaa Elhares (U-14);Mohamed Nader (U-16)and FM\Abd El-Rahman Hesham.

Source of the photo: http://photo.chessdom.com/displayimage.php?pid=6158&fullsize=1
Official Web Site : http://wycc2010.chessdom.com/