Rodos Palace offers luxurious accommodation, exquisite dining facilities and numerous recreational amenities, on a superb location just 2.5 km from the Medieval City of Rhodes!

From each National Club Championship in European countries, one (1) to four (4) clubs qualify to the European Club Cup, depending on the strength of each national event. The European Club Cup will be held in 7 rounds for both categories (open/men teams with 6 boards and women teams with 4 boards), played with the Swiss system.

The time control will be 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. Players may only agree to a draw after the 40th move has been made by black.

According to FIDE regulations, the European Club Cup offers the possibility for players to achieve GM, IM, WGM and WIM norms based on 7 games.

Rodos Palace

The winners of the European Club Cup (currently SOCAR Azerbaijan) and the European Women’s Club Cup (currently Cercle d’Echecs de Monte Carlo) qualify directly to next year’s European Club Cup.

The total amount of 51,000 EUR, provided by travel agency AT Holidays, will be awarded to the winners of the European Club Cup, in both team and individual rewards! The prize distribution is described below in the official regulations of the event.

Do not forget to consider the event’s sponsor AT Holidays when planning your next trip to Greece.

Special prices @ official hotel, the 5-star Rodos Palace

***** 53 euros per person per day in a double room, including breakfast, lunch and dinner (full board).
***** 78 euros per person per day in a single room, including breakfast, lunch and dinner (full board).

All registrations and bookings in Rodos Palace will be made through the Organising Committee and AT Holidays. The deadline for club registrations and bookings is 19 August 2013.

How to reach the island of Rhodes

The international airport of Rhodes (IATA code: RHO) is connected daily with many European capitals. The major airlines serving Rhodes are Olympic Airways and Aegean Airways. The sea port of Rhodes is also connected via ferry boats with Athens (Piraeus) and the nearby Turkish sea ports of Marmaris, Bodrum and Fethiye.

The Organising Committee will provide bus transfer from the airport and the port to Rodos Palace Hotel on the days of arrival and departure, in accordance with the official regulations.

Download full Regulations (PDF)

Contact

The official website of the European Club Cup 2013 is http://www.rhodes2013.org
Tournament Director: IO Nikos Kalesis – Tel.: (+30) 6938326161
Fax: (+30) 2641500112, Email: eccc2013rodos@gmail.com

Replay games with computer analysis / Participants

Sergey Karjakin fulfilled the expectations after his great start and finished the event on sole first place after drawing Veselin Topalov with the white pieces today. This game was the longest one of the round and was not a peaceful GM draw by no means. Topalov finished on -1 after drawing eight games and losing against Anand in the third round.

The game was a Sicilian Najdorf. Topalov chose to leave his king in the center protected by the f6-f7 doubled-pawns formation. With a completely blocked position in the center and kingside, Topalov started looking for chances on the queenside. Karjakin defended correctly and fenced-off the danger. The players made a repetition on move 50 in a position where the Russian is a pawn up.

Sergey Karjakin

The two best rated players in the world faced each other today. Magnus Carlsen needed a win over Levon Aronian to get, at least, a chance to catch Karjakin if he drew with Topalov. However, to look for a win with the black pieces against Aronian is not the easiest thing in the world. The Armenian played solidly and exchanged a lot of pieces out of the opening to get a draw on 30 moves.

The overall result of the event for Carlsen can be evaluated as slightly positive. He recovered from a slow start and finished on shared second place. However, the Norwegian always shoots for first, and especially in the first edition of this super-tournament, in his home soil. On the other hand, Levon Aronian finished on +1, which might also not be enough for his ambitions. He comes from winning the Alekhine Memorial and tiredness might be a big factor at this point.

Magnus Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand got his fifth decisive result in the event. This time, he lost against Wang Hao with the black pieces. The world champion also arrived with a chance to catch the leader but ended up falling against the creative play of the talented Chinese. Anand finished a point behind the leader on 5/9 and Wang Hao left the bottom side of the table to finish with an even score.

The game was a Symmetrical English where white played fearlessly, going for a line with g4 and e4 included. The dynamic position that arose fit the style of the Chinese, who handled the complications better than his opponent. Anand sacrificed a queen for a rook and bishop and tried to defend an inferior position. However, Wang’s passed pawn on the queenside was the decisive factor that forced the Indian to resign on move 38.

Hikaru Nakamura

Hikaru Nakamura finished yet another event on second place after defeating Jon Ludvig Hammer with black. The American repeated his +2 performance from the Gand Prix in Zug and, thanks to these two results, is now on sixth place in the live ratings list. He will be shooting for first place at the upcoming stage of the Grand Prix in Thessaloniki, which stars on Tuesday.

Teimour Radjabov and Peter Svidler finished the tournament with a draw. The Russian played the Gruefeld with black and faced a not-very-ambitious setup by white. The players signed the peace treaty after 31 moves.

Final Standings:

Live games with computer analysis / Participants

A highly rare event was seen today in Stavanger, Magnus Carlsen lost in a technical drawn endgame. Wang Hao was the responsible in this occasion. The unpredictable Chinese was the only one to lose against Hammer, but he also obtained victories over Svidler and now Carlsen. He stands at -1 in the mid-low part of the standings table.

The game saw the players entering a closed central pawn structure in the opening. All the action that followed took place on the queenside, but there were not any big imbalances to give either player a realistic chance to go for the win. Anyway, on move 35, Wang gained a pawn that did not seem to be enough to claim a winning advantage. As the Chinese himself said in the press conference, the endgame probably was drawn all the time, but Carlsen was not up to the task and signed his resignation on move 79.

Wang Hao

Peter Svidler proved his ability in dynamic positions once again. He defeated Sergey Karjakin following the same opening that he used to beat Carlsen in the Candidates – the Ruy Lopez with d3. This result gives the chasing pack the chance to catch the Russian and the spectators a chance to follow a very exciting final round tomorrow.

A very complicated middlegame position presented itself over the board. Karjakin got a strong passed pawn on the a-file, but had to deal with Svidler’s pair of bishops that were directed against his king. After some exchanges, the computer even gave Karjakin an edge, however, the leader overestimated his chances and ended up falling against his opponent’s initiative. Resignation came on move 57.

Peter Svidler

Viswanathan Anand used these two defeats and closed on the leader with a clear victory over Jon Ludvig Hammer. The Norwegian bravely used the Gruenfeld and had to face Anand’s huge opening preparation. The Indian played actively in a very sharp line but the computer did not show any advantage for him in the opening.

The turning point came on move 20 when Hammer blundered and allowed the world champion to sacrifice his knight for the attack. The Norwegian looked for perpetual checks with desperate sacrifices but this only led to a completely winning endgame for white. Anand is now only half a point behind the leader and has the black pieces against Wang Hao in tomorrow’s final round.

Viswanathan Anand

Another very sharp battle was seen in the game between Hikaru Nakamura and Teimour Radjabov. The American castled kingside in a Sicilian but went for a direct attack against the black king regardless. This strategy worked as he got a victory after 40 moves of what the computer assesses as a blunder-fest.

Veselin Topalov and Levon Aronian signed the peace treaty after 41 moves of a Nimzo-Indian Defense.

The exciting last round starts tomorrow three hours earlier at 12:00 CEST. The attention will be focused on Aronian – Carlsen, Karjakin – Topalov and Wang Hao – Anand.

Standings after 8 rounds:

These Championships will be held at The Boardwalk Hotel, Convention Centre and Spa in the city of Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa from 5th July 2013 to 14th July 2013.

The Commonwealth and South African Open Chess Championships 2013 and the South African Open Blitz Chess Championships 2013 are open to all chess players.

The Commonwealth and South African Open Chess Championships 2013 B-section is restricted to players who have a FIDE or national chess rating in their home country of less than 1800 (or equivalent). However, if a player younger than 12 years of age has a rating in excess of 1800, this player may still compete in the B-section in order to be eligible for the Commonwealth medal within the respective age group category.

Any player that is eligible to play in the B-section may still elect to play in the Championship section should such player wish to do so.

No titled players may play in the B-section of the tournaments. A player with a FIDE title, irrespective of age or rating may not participate in the B-section as it is compulsory for all titled players to play in the Open Championship section of the tournament.

The main event will be 11-round Swiss tournament. The total prize fund for all events is R250 000 (approx 20,000 EUR).

Last year Commonwealth Chess Championship was held in Chennai, India.

Side events include Grandmaster simuls and lectures, FIDE Arbiters Seminar, FIDE Trainers Seminar, Shamwari Safari and a party for players.

Lots of useful information for the players on the tournament website

Regulations

1. Events regulated by the Dress Code

1.a World Events for Adult Players (over 21 years old)
World Championship Match
Candidates Tournament
Women’s World Championship Match
Chess Olympiad
World Team Championship
Women’s World Team Championship
World Cup
FIDE Grand Prix Series
Women’s FIDE Grand Prix Series
World Amateur Championships
World Rapid and Blitz Championships
Women’s World Rapid and Blitz Championships

1.b World Events for Junior and Youth Players (under 21 years old)
World Junior U20 Chess Championships
World Youth Championships
World Youth U-16 Chess Olympiad
World School Individual Championship

1.c Presidential Board Meetings and FIDE Congresses

1.d. Other Official Events (Regulations only affects FIDE representatives)
SportAccord Convention
IPCA World Individual Chess Championship
FISU University Olympiad
World Congress of Chess Composition
World Chess Solving Championship
World Chess Championship for Disabled
South East Asia (SEA) Games
SportAccord Mind Games

1.e. Continental events are regulated by each continent

1.f. In regard of this Dress Code, other tournaments sanctioned by the FIDE rules and ratings are under the regulations of Nationals Federations.

1.g. Exception can be made on the basis of health and religion.

2. Who are affected by the Code of Dress?

2.a. Players participating in the events, captains, Head of Delegations.
2.b. Tournament Organizer and Staff. This includes arbiters, and other people working at the event.
2.c. FIDE officials and representatives attending the event.

3. Dress Code for players during games in progress

3.a. The following is acceptable for men players, captains, head of delegation.

Suits, ties, dressy pants, trousers, jeans, long-sleeve or shirt-sleeve dress shirt, dress shirt, alternatively T-shirts or polo, dress shoes, loafers or dressy slip-ons, socks, shoes or sneakers, sport coat, blazer, Bermuda shorts, turtleneck, jacket, vest or sweater. Team uniforms and national costumes clothing.

3.b. The following is NOT acceptable for men players, captains, head of delegation

Beach-wear slips, profanity and nude or semi-nude pictures printed on shirts, torn pants or jeans. holes, denim shorts, short-shorts, cut-off shorts, gym shorts, unclean clothing, sun glasses, sport caps.

3.c. The following is acceptable for women players

Women’s suits, dresses. skirts, blouses, turtleneck, T-shirts or poloʼs, trousers, jeans or slacks, footwear (boots, flats, mid-heel or high-heel shoes, sneakers with sock), jacket, vest or sweater, a scarf, as well as jewelry (earrings, necklace, etc.) coordinated to the outfit may be worn. Team uniforms, national costumes clothing.

3.d. The following is NOT acceptable for women players

Beach-wear slips, profanity and nude or semi-nude pictures printed on shirts, torn pants or jeans. holes, noticeable unclean clothing, sun glasses, sport caps. Revealing attire. Clothes such as denim shorts, short-shorts, cut-off shorts, gym shorts, crop tops, tank tops, and clothes made of see-through materials or clothes that expose areas of the body usually covered in the location where the event is taking place.

4. Dress Code for winning teams and players (Includes players, captains, head of delegations) for awards ceremonies

Business casual (European standards), which means long trousers or pants, shirt, jacket, with or without tie (no t-shirts, no polo, no jeans, no sports shoes or sneakers or slippers, no hats or caps (except for religious reasons) and the equivalent style of dress for women players.

National costumes and team uniforms are allowed.

5. Dress Code for arbiters, organizers, FIDE official and representatives at FIDE events including Presidential Board meetings, Executive Meetings and Congresses

Business casual (European standards), which means long trousers or pants, shirt, jacket, with or without tie (no t-shirts, no polo, no jeans, no sports shoes or sneakers or slippers, no hats or caps (except for religious reasons) and the equivalent style of dress for women.

6. Handling Dress Code Violations

The dress code will be enforced at all FIDE events. The following are the people in the position to enforce the dress code:
Chief Arbiter or Tournament Director
Event Organizer
Organizing Committee
Members of the Presidential Board attending the event

A player not in proper dress code will not be allowed to play, until she or he comply with the FIDE Dress Code. Tournament staff and FIDE officials/representatives not in proper dress code will be asked to remove him or herself from the event or meeting until complying with the FIDE Dress Code.

There is no dress code at any function that is away from the playing hall, provided that the host facility for that function does not have a dress code.

The excellent seminar room, transport to and from the hotel and other facilities were courtesy of the Barbados Olympic Association.

Fourteen persons took the examination at the end of the seminar and all achieved the seminar norm. They were Roderick Noel and Russell Smith from Trinidad & Tobago, Ricardo dos Ramos and Vishay Hardwarsing from Surinam, Andre White from Bahamas, Ryan Singh from Guyana and Peter Sandiford, Allan Herbert, RohanWaithe, Kelvin Daniel, Trevor Griffith, Anne-Marie Cumberbatch, Hetty Wilson and Calderon Walrond from Barbados.

A certificate was presented to each of the successful participants.

David Jarrett
Lecturer

Photo by Andre White

No less than 286 players registered to participate, even though some left early as they had no chance to get one of the coveted 23 spots for the upcoming World Cup in Norway. 143 GMs and 63 IMs were among these players.

Ukrainian GM Alexander Moiseenko stood out from the very strong field from the “early middlegame” of the event. Already after 6 rounds, he was the sole leader with 5.5 points. It seemed unlikely that he would be able to keep this level throughout the event, but he almost did. He arrived as the sole leader to the last round, where he lost to Ian Nepomniachtchi. This allowed other nine players to join the leader on 8/11, however, Moiseenko took first place on tiebreaks.

Alexander Moiseenko and David Navara

Francisco Vallejo Pons and Aleksey Dreev both finished among the 23rd first qualified, but already had tickets for the World Cup, so the list of players that got a spot in the prestigious event goes down to the 25th place, thus including Russian GM Vadim Zvjaginsev and French GM Andrei Istratescu.

It is worth noting that none of the three highest rated players finished among the 23: Dmitry Jakovenko, Evgeny Tomashevsky and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

The special prize given to the player that achieved the biggest difference between his Rating Performance and his Elo rating was won by Polish Jakub Szostko, who performed 364 points above his rating.

Full standings below.

Ian Nepomniachtchi

Final Standings:

Granda obtained 9.5 out of 11 points and finished a whole point ahead of his nearest follower, Cuban GM Isán Ortiz, who achieved 8.5 points. With 8 points, Argentine GM Diego Flores took clear third place. The big surprise of the event was given by the young Peruvian siblings GM Jorge Cori and WGM Daysi Cori, as they both got important victories in the last round to qualify to the upcoming World Cup.

Full report in Spanish

GM Julio Granda Zuniga

The final round was filled with suspense, given that the players were fighting to get one of the four qualifying spots. Given that Granda already qualified last year with his first place in Mar del Plata, the biggest struggle was seen on boards.

Two main favorites, Cuban Lázaro Bruzón and Venezuelan Eduardo Iturrizaga, faced the young Peruvian siblings, Jorge and Deysi Cori. The strong Caribbean GMs knew that a win would get them in the desired spots, so they pushed hard to get it. Evidently, the Coris were more relaxed and handled the situation correctly; this attitude helped them get historic victories for their chess careers.

It is worth mentioning the fact that Argentine champion Diego Flores got a revenge from the last edition, when he was left out of the World Cup on tiebreaks.

Federación Boliviana de Ajedrez

Final Standings:

Bela Khotenashvili

In the last round, Georgian player Bela Khotenashvili managed to make a draw against Anna Ushenina and won the tournament. Her nearest rival, Anna Muzychuk, needed to win her game in order to catch the leader, but the Slovenian player did not get anything out of the opening and drew against Alexandra Kosteniuk.

“I’m very happy to win this tournament and consider this result as the best one in my career so far. I would like to thank the Georgian chess federation, the President of GCF Giya Giorgadze and our coach Davit Jojua, for their help”, said  Bela Khotenashvili at the final press conference.

It became clear how tired all players were in the final round as they were making mistakes that do not appear in their games normally.  The Ukrainian player Kateryna Lahno overlooked the piece blunder of her opponent Batchimeg Tuvshintugs; Hou Yifan missed winning chances in the endgame and lost the game against Nana Dzagnidze; and Tatiana Kosintseva had a very good position after the opening but spent a lot of time and lost against Ju Wenjun. Viktorija Cmilyte outplayed Olga Girya. As a result, Nana Dzagnidze tied for third place with Tatiana Kosintseva.

Preview / Live games with analysis

Ushenina-Khotenashvili 1/2-1/2

Bela Khotenashvili got a position with an isolated pawn in the Queen’s Gambit. Anna Ushenina chose an interesting plan and tried to maintain the pressure. The World champion could have gotten an advantage by playing 17.b5 ab 18. Rc6!, but did not consider this opportunity. After that, Black managed to exchange a few pieces and the game ended in a draw. Bela Khotenashvili became the winner of the first stage of the Women Grand Prix.

Muzychuk-Kosteniuk 1/2-1/2

It was an important game for Anna Muzychuk, as a victory would have given her a chance to catch Bela Khotenashvili. “If I managed to get a better position, I would have definitely played for win”, said Anna Muzychuk. However, it seems that White did not get this opportunity during the game. The Slovenian player did not expect Alexandra Kosteniuk to play the Caro-Kann and the Russian player managed to equalize the position quite easily. There was no way to improve the position for either side and the game finished in a draw after 29 moves. Anna Muzychuk finished the tournament without losing any game.

Alexandra Kosteniuk

Ju-Kosintseva 1-0

Ju Wenjun decided to play the Dutch and Tatiana Kosintseva managed to get quite a comfortable position with black, but spent a lot of time in the opening.  After 20 moves, the Russian player only had 2 minutes until the end of time control and started to make inaccurate decisions. According to Tatiana Kosintseva, black could have kept the bishop instead of exchanging it. Under the time pressure, she lost a pawn and had to fight for a draw in the endgame. Post-game analyses showed that Black could hold the balance, but during the game, White managed to exchange the queens and won.

Lahno–Batchimeg 1/2-1/2

Once again, the Mongolian player showed good opening preparation and did not get any problems with nlack. Both players started to play unpredictably after 25 moves and for some time, we had doubts in the press-center regarding whether there were problems with the transmission or not. As it was proved at the press conference, the Mongolian player simply blundered a piece by playing Ba4 but, surprisingly, Kateryna Lahno did not take the bishop. As both players pointed out, they simply missed Na4!. Kateryna Lahno simply followed her plan with Nc1-Ne2 and did not imagine that Black had blundered a bishop. Black had the advantage in the endgame, but Lahno managed to transfer the position into an endgame with opposite-colored bishops.

Nana Dzagnidze

Hou-Dzagnidze 0-1

Nana Dzagnidze used to play 9…0-0, but feeling sleepy, mixed moves in the opening. White had a slightly better position after the opening and Nana decided to sacrifice the exchange to complicate the game. “I think Black is just worse if I don’t do anything”, said the Georgian player at the press conference. However, Hou Yifan managed to get an absolutely winning position. but had to play precisely as Nana was creating threats all the time. Black used his last chance – brought the king to the center and tried to advance the e-pawn. Under time pressure, the former world champion started to play inaccurately and even lost the game.

The awarding ceremony took place after the last game was finished and was attended by Under Secretary-General, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Mr. Tokayev, the founder of Neva Fondation Elena Timtchenko, FIDE President Kirsan Iljumzhinov, and FIDE CEO Geoffrey Borg.

Final Standings:

Live games with computer analysis / Participants

Sergey Karjakin played with white against Hikaru Nakamura. His victory over the number one player in the United States is his fifth in this strong tournament. The live ratings list already sees him rise to the 5th place with 2787 Elo points, amazingly gaining 20 points in just seven games.

A Najdorf Sicilian was seen on the board. It looked like the position was going towards a positional battle, but suddenly, things started to get interesting on the kingside. Karjakin created enough threats to force Nakamura to sacrifice his queen for a knight and rook on move 31, but the Russian needed no less than 29 more moves to seal the deal. In the final position, Nakamura is about to lose his only pawn left, giving free-way for Karjakin’s three connected passers.

Anand and Karjakin

Magnus Carlsen needed 40 moves to take down his compatriot Jon Ludvig Hammer with the black pieces. The best-rated player in the world is gaining 3.8 Elo points in this tournament, creating an even bigger gap with his competitors. With 2871, the 2900-mark does not seem to be astoundingly out of reach.

Viswanathan Anand also used the black pieces to beat Teimour Radjabov. The Indian used a direct expansive attack on the queenside and forced the Azerbaijani to resign on move 34. Anand is sharing third and fourth places with Levon Aronian, who drew his game against Wang Hao yesterday.

Magnus Carlsen

Today is a rest day in Stavanger. Two very exciting round are still ahead on Friday and Saturday.

Standings after 7 rounds: