Σκακιστικά νέα

The sixteen-year-old Diana Mirza from Limerick, Ireland was victorious in the World Schools Under-17 Chess Championship that was held from 21-30th April in Iasi, Romania.

This is the first world chess title for Ireland and definitely a huge encouragement for the many talented young players emerging from chess schools across the country.

Chess Federation of the City of Nis, in association with the Serbian Chess Federation and under the auspices of the European Chess Union organizes the European Amateur Chess Championship 2017, which will take place in Nis, Serbia, from June 9 (day of arrival) to June 17 (day of departure) 2017.

The International Chess Festival Nakhchivan Open 2017, dedicated to the memory of Heydar Aliyev, is scheduled to take place from 2-12th May at the Nakhchivan Chess Center in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan.

The Festival is organized by the Azerbaijan Youth & Sport Ministry, Azerbaijan Chess Federation and Nakhchivan AR Chess Federation.

The World Senior Games 2017 will take place from 9-11th June in the Athens Riviera in Greece.

Among the 15 sports competition, the organizers have scheduled a Rapid Chess Open for all chess players aged over 50, irrespective of elo or level.

ORGANISERS: Vari Voula Vouliagmeni Municipality, European Sports for All Federation (UESpT), Lefkippos Chess Club.

VENUE: Vouliagmeni Lake, Vouliagmeni

TOURNAMENT SYSTEM: Swiss 9 rounds

The 11th Tashkent International Open – Memorial of Georgy Agzamov, the first grandmaster of Uzbekistan, will be held on 2-11th May in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The tournament is a 9-round Swiss with the time control 90 min + 30 sec increment from move one. The total prize fund is 20,000 US dollars.

The tournament is organized by the Uzbekistan Chess Federation, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Uzbekistan.

The Magistral Memorial Jorge Szmetan was held from 16-27th April at the Néstor Kirchner Cultural Centre in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The 12-player round robin tournament had the average elo of 2516, for the 11th FIDE category. The event was organized by Dr. Ricardo Costianosky and the tournament director was legendary GM Oscar Panno.

Grandmaster Diego Flores emerged clear winner with 7,5/11 points, leaving the group of followers half a point behind.

The Russian Higher League 2017 is taking place 1-10 May in Sochi, Russia. Scroll down for the full team composition.

The 2017 Russian Women Team Chess Championship aka Russian Premier League is taking place 1-10 May in Sochi, Russia. It will be a race between nine teams with top players such as Alexandra Kosteniuk, Valentina Gunina, Anna Ushenina, Olga Giriya, Alina Kashlinskaya, etc. See the full team composition below.

Azeri star Shakhriyar Mamedyarov repeated the last year’s success and took another trophy at the Vugar Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir.

The ten-player round robin event was held from 20-30th April in Shamkir, Azerbaijan. In the final round Vladimir Kramnik defeated Pavel Eljanov, while the remaining games were drawn.

The #1 seed Anish Giri lived up to the expectation and emerged clear winner of the 2017 GAMMA Reykjavik Open.

It wasn’t easy with two rounds to go when Anish was half a point behind the leaders and had two blacks coming up. He however showed his class beyond doubt and managed to take the lead with half a point before the last round with two consecutive wins. A win in the last round against his countryman Erwin l’Ami secured the win and the top spot.