Russia retains the title of European Senior Teams Chess Champion
The ECU and Slovenian Chess Federation organized the 11th European Senior Teams Championship, from March 26th to April 5th, 2012, in Rogaska Slatina, Slovenia.
Entitled to participate were men from the ECU Chess Federations who shall have reached the age of 60 and women who shall have reached the age of 50 years, by December 31st of the year in which the tournament will commence.
Russia 1 defended the gold medal, that they won in the last year’s championship, by defeating Norway in the last round and narrowly edging their compatriots from Russia Saint Petersburg on better tiebreak.
Both teams scored 15 match points each, but Russia 1 had better sum of individual score – 25 to 23. Saint Petersburg takes the silver medal.
The same players won the 2nd consecutive gold medal as the team did not change since last year and Dion Palace in Greece: GM Vasiukov Evgeni 2455, IM Shvedchikov Anatoli 2405, IM Mishuchkov Nikolai 2431, GM Pushkov Nikolai 2390 and GM Chernikov Oleg 2415.
Montenegro won 3-1 against Italy and secured the bronze medal. A curiosity is that Montenegro also repeated the last year’s success (bronze) and with the same lineup, just like the Russians. FM Momcilo Raicevic was once again the best 3rd board, but this time he succeeded in obtaining the IM norm.
Viktor Korchnoi scored 7.5/9 on the top board but his Switzerland couldn’t achieve more than the 4th place. Full standings bellow.
The Championship was played in 9 rounds following the Swiss System. The ranking depended on the number of team points (win = 2 team points, draw = 1 team point, lose = 0 team points).
Photos by IA Nebojsa Baralic
Final standings:
1. RUSSIA 1 – 15
2. RUSSIA – SAINT PETERSBURG – 15
3. MONTENEGRO – 14
4. SWITZERLAND – 12
5. ITALY 1 – 12
6. DENMARK 1 – 12
7. GERMANY – HESSEN – 11
8. SPAIN – CATALONIA – 11
9. RUSSIA 2 – 11
10. FINLAND 1 – 11
11. SWEDEN 1 – 11
12. AUSTRIA – STEIERMARK 1 – 11
13. AUSTRIA – WIEN 1 – 11
14. ENGLAND 1 – 11
15. NORWAY 1 – 11
16. AUSTRIA 1 – 10
17. GERMANY 1 – 10
18. BELGIUM – 10
19. ENGLAND 2 – 10
20. GERMANY – CC OBERURSEL – 10
Why so many teams from the same countries?