European Cities & Towns Chess Championship starts on Sunday

The 1st European Cities & Towns Chess Championship will take place on Sunday, 29th January 2023, in hybrid cities venues. The event consists of four categories: Open, Women, Seniors, and Youth (U12).

24 teams will participate in the Open and Seniors sections which are merged, with separate prizes for the best Senior 50+ Teams. The top seeds are Prague (Czech Republic, Rating average 2562), Thessaloniki (Greece, Rating average 2557), Kallithea – Athens (Greece, Rating average 2449), Prague Seniors (Czech Republic, Rating average 2364) and Niksic (Montenegro, Rating average 2347). 14 teams will compete in Youth U12 section, and the Women’s event features 13 teams.

The events will be played in 9 rounds, Swiss System, with rate of play 10 minutes for a game per player + 3 seconds increment after each move.

Cities that will take part in the tournament are: Durres (Albania), Butrinti (Albania), Prague (Czech Republic), Zagreb (Croatia), Rijeka (Croatia), Nicosia (Cyprus), London (England), Hammersmith – West London (England), Corsica (France), Athens (Greece), Corfu (Greece), Heraklion (Greece), Ioannina (Greece), Thessaloniki (Greece), Trikala (Greece), Kuldiga (Latvia), Monte–Carlo (Monaco), CSM Galati (Romania), Iasi (Romania), Snagov (Romania), Madrid (Spain), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Stockholm (Sweden), Istanbul (Turkey), Ankara (Turkey), Kyiv region (Ukraine), Lviv (Ukraine).

Some of the top rated players representing their cities in the event are: GM Nguyen Thai Dai Van (Prague, 2656), GM Papaioannou Ioannis (Thessaloniki, 2628), GM Rodshtein Maxim (Prague, 2616), GM Movsesian Sergei (Prague, 2615), GM Mastrovasilis Dimitrios (Thessaloniki, 2605), IM Kourkoulos-Arditis Stamatis (Kallithea Athens, 2537), GM Mastrovasilis Athanasios (Thessaloniki, 2520), GM Halkias Stelios (Kallithea Athens, 2516), IM Can Isik (Istanbul, 2488), IM Ihor Samunenkov (Kyiv region, 2485).

The top-seeded Women players are: GM Pia Cramling (Stockholm, 2458), IM Houska Jovanka (London, 2338), FM Avramidou Anastasia (Thessaloniki, 2321), FM Cvitan Ena (Rijeka, 2301), and IM Unik Laura (Ljubljana, 2296).

A complete list of players and registered teams per category can be found on Tornelo – the playing platform of the event: https://tornelo.com/chess/orgs/europechess/events/european-cities-towns-chess-championship/divisions/open-seniors/teams .

All the games will be broadcasted live and can be followed with live commentaries through the ECU Twitch channel or European Chess TV YouTube Channel.

Prizes:

• The Winner of each category will be crowned as the European Chess City/Town Champion 2023 of the respective category, and the best ranked three teams will be awarded with trophies and their players with special e-medals.
• Members of the Winning Team of the Open section will be hosted in the European Individual Chess Championship 2023 (2 double rooms, Full Board) with ECU expenses.
• Four players of Winner Women’s team will be hosted in European Women’s Chess Championship 2023 (2 double rooms, Full Board) with ECU expenses.
• Winner Team in Senior section will be hosted in European Senior Team Championship 2023 with ECU expenses.
• The Winner team in Youth section will be hosted in the European Youth Team Championship 2023 (2 double rooms, full board) with ECU expenses.
• The 4 players of 2nd and 3rd team of the Youth section will be awarded with annual training program (7 months) through the European Chess Academy program with top chess trainers.

The Technical meeting of the event was held yesterday evening, with the attendance of the Arbiters, Team Captains, and ECU representatives.

Detailed regulations and information about he event can be found in the Official regulations: https://www.europechess.org/european-cities-towns-chess-championship-starts-on-sunday/