Chess / Fataliyeva European Champion 2024

Stavroula Tsolakidou tied for 2nd place

It was completed with organizational and competitive success Roseat the “Rodos Palace Conference Hotel”, the 24th European Women’s Individual Championships. They participated 182 chess players from 35 countries – a record number for the event. The first 52 players had an elo (rating) of over 2300!
The 28-year-old started comfortably Ulvija Fatalijeva, from Azerbaijan. He was not among the favorites (with an elo of 2377 he was No. 24 in the initial ranking), but he won the tournament convincingly, scoring 7 wins and 3 draws in 10 games. She was undefeated and – according to www.chess-results.com – achieved a performance of 2564!
In 2nd to 9th place, with 7½ points, 8 chess players tied. Based on the bucholtz criterion (sum of the points of 10 opponents), the silver medal went to the Ukrainian – also 28-year-old Natalya Buksha (performance 2441) and the bronze to the 40-year-old Georgian Lela Yavakhishvili (who had a higher performance, 2509).
The leading Greek chess player, the Stavroula Tsolakidou. Our chess player had a mediocre start, with a draw and a loss, in the 1st and 2nd rounds, but then she achieved 7 points in 8 matches (six wins, two draws). He had a performance of 2431 and got two elo units.

The final score:

1) Fataliyeva (Azerbaijan, IM 2377) 8½ b.
2-9) Buksa (Ukraine, IM 2394), Yavakhishvili (Georgia, IM 2447), Batsiasvili (Georgia, GM 2445), Bulmaga (Romania, IM 2394), Mamazada (Azerbaijan, IM 2436), Toncheva (Bulgaria, FM 2258 , 19 years old), Tsolakidou St. (IM 2424) and Mkrtsian L. (Armenia, IM 2366), from 7½ b.
10-18) Slivicka (Poland, WIM 2315), Beydulageva (Azerbaijan, WGM 2402), Osmak (Ukraine, IM 2459, was No. 1 in the original ranking), Kubicka (Poland, WIM 2292, 25), Krasteva (Bulgaria, WGM 2220), Coulon (Poland, IM 2348), Wagner (Germany, IM 2453), Cimina (Italy, IM 2299) and Velikic (Serbia, WIM 2258) from 7 b. etc.

22 Greek female chess players participated. 5½ points were collected by Haritomeni Markantonaki (WFM, 2167), who had a performance of 2200 (chess-results does not calculate correctly, when one of the opponents has a low elo) and won 11 points. here. 5 points were collected by -former Greek Champion- Katerina Pavlidou (WIM, 2201). From 4½ points they got the 2023 Greek Champion Maria-Anna Stefanidis (WFM, 1944), who had a performance of 2036, with a gain of 22 points. elo and the 13-year-old Dimitra Alexandri (1979), who had a performance of 2020, with a profit of 24 mon. here. In the 4 points we had: Grapsa G. (WFM, 1920) – very good appearance, with a performance of 2115 and a profit of 43 mon. elo-, Androni Kon. (1979), Makka I. (WIM, 1983) -won 9 mon. elo-, Michailidou Magd. (1915), Dereka Kon. (1821, aged 19) -won 21 mon. elo- and Sisko Ev. (1837, aged 11!).
The former World Champions Ant. Stefanova (Bulgaria, GM 2447, 45) and Anna Ushenina (Ukraine, GM 2418, 39) – both did not finish the races. Hotenashvili (Georgia, GM 2454), Gaponenko (Ukraine, IM 2332), Mon. Soczko (Poland, GM 2428), Efroimski (Israel, IM 2457), Hungarian (ex-Vietnamese) Hoang (GM 2382), Ekt. Atalik (Turkey, ex-Russia, GM 2402) et al.
The top 10 in the final ranking qualified for the FIDE World Cup.
The total prize money was 60,000 euros, with the 1st winner winning 10,000 euros.
Website:

Let’s see four beautiful “miniatures” from the matches:

Batsiasvili N. – Garcia Martin M.
(Georgia, 2445) – (Serbia, 2258)
(4th round, April 22)
Gabby Marshall [D31]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Ig3 c6 4.e4 dxe4 5.Ixe4 Ab4+ 6.Ad2 Bxd4 7.Axb4 Bxe4+ 8.Ae2 Ia6 9.Aa5 b6 10.Bd6 Ad7 11.Pd1 0–0–0 12. Ag3 z6 13.Ba3 [Έχει παιχθεί και 13.Ιζ3 γ5 14.Ιδ2 Ββ7 15.Βη3 Αγ6 16.0–0 Ιθ6 … ½ – ½ (23 κιν.), Yakubboev (2630) – Rahman (2448), 29ο Abu Dhabi Open, 2023]

13…Rp7 14.Iz3 Ng7 15.Nd2 Bn6 16.0–0 Rn6 [Λάθος, έπρεπε 16…ε5]

17.c5! Bb5 18.Bb4 Bz5 19.a4 Bxc3 20.bxc3 Rc7 21.cxb6+ axb6 22.Cc4 Rb8 23.Ixb6 Rxd8 [23…Πxβ6 24.Πxδ7+! Ρxδ7 25.Βxβ6 +–]

24.Pv1 Be8 25.Pzd1 Ag8

26.Ia8+! [και αν 26… Πxα8 27.Ββ6#]

1 – 0

Yavakhishvili L. – Garcia Martin M.
(Georgia, 2447) – (Spain, 2349)
(6th round, April 25)
Defense Greenfeld [D85]

1.d4 Iz6 2.c4 h6 3.Ig3 d5 4.gxd5 Ixd5 5.e4 Ixg3 6.bxg3 Ahn7 7.Iz3 g5 8.Ab5+ Ig6 9.d5 Ba5 10.Bb1 Axg3+ 11.Ad2 a6 12.Aa4 b5 13. dxg6 Axd2+ 14.Ixd2 bxa4 15.0–0 Ae6 16.z4 Bd8?! [Ανακρίβεια. Προτιμότερο ήταν το 16…0–0–0]
17.ζ5 ηxζ5 18.exζ5 Αxa2? [Καλύτερο ήταν 18…Αδ5]
19.Rp7 0–0; [Κι’άλλο λάθος, έπρεπε 19…Βγ3]
20.z6! [Τα λευκά ξεκινούν την επίθεση] 20…xz6 21.Bn4+ Qn8 22.Ke4 Nn8 23.Nn4 Nn6 24.Nxz6 n6 25.Nn4 Ne6? [Το τελευταίο λάθος, αλλά έχανε και το 25…Ρη7, μετά από 26.Βε5 Πη5 27.Ιε8++ Ρη8 28.Βε4]

26.Bxn6!! [και αν 26… ζxη6 «αραβικό ματ» με 27.Πθ7#] 1 – 0

Grapsa G. (1920) – Pap S. (2296)
(Greece, 1920) – (Germany, 2296)
(6th round, April 25)
Catalan [E06]

1.d4 Iz6 2.c4 e6 3.Iz3 d5 4.h3 Ae7 5.Ae2 0–0 6.Bg2 Ig6 7.0–0 a5 8.gxd5 Ib4 9.Bb3 a4 10.Bd1 Ibxd5 11.Ie5 c5 12.e4 Ib4 13.a3 Rg6 14.Rxg6 bxg6 15.e5 Rg5 16.Rg3 Ba5 17.Bg2 Bg7 18.dxg5 Bxg5 19.Je4 Bg4 20.Bg5 Bg6 21.Bze1 Bgxb2 22.Pd1 Bg4 23.Rth1 Bxg2

24.Iz6+! Ιxζ6 25.exζ6 ηxζ6? [Μοναδικό ήταν το 25…Αδ4, με πιθανή συνέχεια 26.Αη5 Αxζ6 27.Αxζ6 ηxζ6 28.Βθ6 Βγ5 29.Βxζ6 Βζ5 και αμφίρροπο παιχνίδι]

26.Ae4 Bzd8 27.Bxth7+ Rz8 28.Nx6+ Re7 29.Nh6 Bz8 30.Nxz7 Nxz7 31.Nxe6+! [και αν 31… Ρxe6 32.Βe4#]

1 – 0

Ann Kubicka – Malchevskaya Al.
(Poland, 2292) – (Poland, 2393)
(Round 10, April 29)
Sicilian Rosolimo [B31]

1.e4 c5 2.Iz3 Ig6 3.Ab5 h6 4.Axg6 bxg6 5.0–0 Ah7 6.Pe1 Iz6 7.e5 Id5 8.g4 Ib4 9.d4 gxd4 10.a3 Ia6 11.Bxd4 d6

12.Ath6!! Axth6 13.exd6 Pi8 [13…0–0 14.δxε7 Βxδ4 15.εxζ8=Β+ Ρxζ8 16.Ιxδ4+–]

14.Rxe7+ Rz8 15.Bz6 [Έχει παιχθεί και 15.Ιγ3 γ5 16.Βζ6 Αε6 17.Πε1+– …και… 1 – 0 (22 κιν.), Maximov D (2482) – Shamshin (2264), Πρωτ/μα Ουκρανίας, Alushta 2007]

15…Ne6 16.Nd4 Nxc4 17.Nxz7+! Axz7 18.Ke6+ Re8 19.Ixd8

1 – 0

Timeliness

* In the powerful international tournament “In memory of Ger. Fournarakou”, organized by the Piraikos OS, participated, in order: Jan. Nikolaidis (GM 2508), M. Szpar (Poland, IM 2495), J. Kosakowski (Poland, IM 2482), Vas. Kotronias (GM 2461), Dim. Alexakis jr. (IM 2443), Sp. Kapnisis (GM 2405), Chr. Krallis (FM 2324), Tr. Adarsh ​​(India, FM 2304), P. Rachmanidis (FM 2294) and S. Sahib (India, FM 2290).
https://chess-results.com/tnr885657.aspx?lan=1&art=0&flag=30

* In her Open international tournament Paphos, 78 chess players participated in the A’ group. The first 10 elo were Israeli GMs Postny (2600), Gorstein (2540), Kobo (2530), Boruchovsky (2528), Greek GMs An. Keliris (2498) and Than. Mastrovasilis (2472), the German IMs Baskin (2466) and G. Martin (2417), the Polish IM Barski (2434) and the Turkish FM Agdelen (2410). Alex is also in the top 20. Papasimakopoulos (FM 2402), K. Markidis (FM 2279) and the Cypriot K. Michaelidis (FM 2270).
The Paphos international tournament is a Grand-Prix with the Chania “Mikis Theodorakis” international tournament (6-12/05, www.chaniachess.com).

* The 34th Heraklion International Tournament will be held in the week 7 to 14/05 (https://heraklionchess.com/el/).

* His team OFI won the Interclub Cup of Crete. In the final: S.A. Gaziou – OFI 1½ – 2½: Lyrintzakis Tim. (IM 2091) – Goumas G. (IM 2445) ½ – ½, Stefanatos N. (1911) – Christodoulou Univ. (FM 2376) 0 – 1, Gratseas (1968) – Kouvidis (2026) 0 – 1 and Spyrou Ger. (1805) – Christodoulaki Ant. (WFM 1996) 1 – 0.
3rd is the team of S.O. Heraklion, with Chr. Banika (GM 2562), N. Spyropoulos (IM 2427), Stef. Kazantzoglou (2175), who defeated “Lato” Ag. Nikolaou in the “small final”.

* The 22nd Panhellenic Chess Problem Solving Championship will take place on Sunday, May 12, 10:30 – 15:00 in the hall of the Egaleo Chess Club, at the junction of Iera Street & Soutsou Street (Iroon Polytechneiou Square, opposite Davaki Square), near the metro station Ag. Marina.