Korobov & Rapport Winners at European Blitz & Rapid Ch
The European Blitz and Rapid Championships were held last weekend in Warsaw, Poland. On Friday Anton Korobov of Ukraine won the blitz tournament ahead of local hero Radek Wojtaszek and Vladimir Malakhov of Russia. The rapid event was spread over two days and was won by Richard Rapport of Hungary. Malakhov finished second there, and third came Tigran Petrosian of Armenia.
By IM Stanislaw Zawadzki
Each year hundreds of chess players from all over Europe decide to spend their last weekend before Christmas in Warsaw to take part in the international chess festival composing of the European Rapid and Blitz Championship. Many world class players consider the Warsaw festival as an obligatory point in their sport schedules.
That the Polish capital hosted the European Rapid and Blitz Championship for the 9th time in a row. Both tournaments took place in the Palace of Culture and Science which is situated in the very heart of Warsaw.
Blitz
The blitz tournament was held on Friday, December 13th, 2013 consisted of 11 double rounds and gathered 437 players, among them 39 with the Grandmaster title. The fight for the final victory was very tough and the medals were decided in the last game.
The gold medal went to GM Anton Korobov from the Ukraine who gained 18.5 points out of 22 games. Interestingly, he lost points only in his games against Polish players as he lost 1.5-0.5 to GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek and scored 1-1 draws against GM Bartosz Socko and GM Michał Olszewski.
The silver medal was won by GM Vladislav Tkachiev from France, who won bronze last year. This year the bronze medal went to GM Bartosz Socko from Poland who defeated GM Alexey Dreev in the last round.
Socko's wife, Monika, finised first in the women's competition with 14 points, ahead of WGM Irina Sudakova from Russia and WGM Karina Szzepkowska-Horowska. The championship proved that the game of chess doesn't have any limits and is a game for everyone regardless their culture, nationality or age. As proof, we will just mention that in the 7th round 9-year-old David Ness from Norway defeated 76-year-old Bronislav Jefimow 1.5-0.5!
In the blitz event Korobov could beat Rapport:
European Blitz Championship 2013 | Final Standings
| # | Title | Name | Fed | FIDE | Ranking | Pts |
| 1 | GM | Korobov, Anton | UKR | B 2753 | 2713 | 18,5 |
| 2 | GM | Tkachiev, Vladislav | FRA | B 2688 | 2637 | 17 |
| 3 | GM | Socko, Bartosz | POL | B 2618 | 2500 | 17 |
| 4 | GM | Rapport, Richard | HUN | B 2598 | 2676 | 16,5 |
| 5 | GM | Dubov, Daniil | RUS | B 2683 | 2641 | 16,5 |
| 6 | GM | Sargissian, Gabriel | ARM | B 2702 | 2671 | 16,5 |
| 7 | GM | Andriasian, Zaven | ARM | B 2679 | 2621 | 16,5 |
| 8 | GM | Wojtaszek, Radosław | POL | 2711 | 2500 | 16 |
| 9 | GM | Petrosian, Tigran L. | ARM | B 2613 | 2660 | 16 |
| 10 | GM | Grigoryan, Karen H. | ARM | B 2543 | 2604 | 16 |
| 11 | GM | Cheparinov, Ivan | BUL | B 2668 | 2672 | 16 |
| 12 | GM | Kulaots, Kaido | EST | B 2564 | 2567 | 16 |
| 13 | GM | Mitoń, Kamil | POL | B 2578 | 2500 | 15,5 |
| 14 | GM | Antipov, Mikhail Al. | RUS | B 2517 | 2511 | 15,5 |
| 15 | GM | Azarov, Sergei | BLR | B 2614 | 2616 | 15,5 |
| 16 | GM | Moiseenko, Alexander | UKR | B 2642 | 2713 | 15,5 |
| 17 | GM | Olszewski, Michał | POL | B 2531 | 2500 | 15,5 |
| 18 | GM | Jussupow, Artur | GER | B 2505 | 2587 | 15,5 |
| 19 | GM | Ragger, Markus | AUT | B 2635 | 2672 | 15,5 |
| 20 | IM | Kuźmicz, Krystian | POL | B 2494 | 2400 | 15,5 |
| 21 | GM | Neiksans, Arturs | LAT | B 2541 | 2554 | 15,5 |
| 22 | GM | Tregubov, Pavel V. | RUS | B 2565 | 2625 | 15,5 |
| 23 | GM | Dreev, Aleksey | RUS | B 2704 | 2668 | 15 |
| 24 | GM | Dragun, Kamil | POL | B 2445 | 2500 | 15 |
| 25 | GM | Perunovic, Milos | SRB | B 2569 | 2613 | 15 |
| 26 | GM | Malakhov, Vladimir | RUS | B 2708 | 2707 | 15 |
| 27 | GM | Kovalev, Vladislav | BLR | B 2535 | 2583 | 15 |
| 28 | GM | Lysyj, Igor | RUS | B 2593 | 2666 | 15 |
| 29 | GM | Salgado Lopez, Ivan | ESP | B 2524 | 2610 | 15 |
| 30 | GM | Ivanisevic, Ivan | SRB | B 2641 | 2619 | 15 |
Rapid
The European Rapid Championship started in Warsaw on Saturday, December 14th, 2013 with 747 players (603 men, 144 women) from from 29 countries. There were 42 Grandmasters and 602 players with a FIDE rating.
After the first day and seven rounds, the sole leader was the 17-year-old grandmaster Richard Rapport from Hungary, who was the only one who still had a 100% score! The key game for him was played in 7th round, when he crushed the winner of the blitz, Anton Korobov. Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria, Markus Ragger of Austria and Bartosz Socko of Poland were tied for second place.
Rapport won the gold medal as he managed to finish the tournament without losing a single game. Besides Korobov, he also outplayed Wojtaszek with Black.
The silver medal was won by Vladimir Malakhov from Russia, who also gained 9.5 points, but was classified on second place due to lower average rating of his opponents. The bronze medal was taken by Tigran Petrosian from Armenia, who also scored 9.5 points after winning his last 5 games. He faced much weaker opponents than Rapport and Malakhov but his third place was still a fantastic result.
In the rapid event it was Rapport who beat Korobov:
European Rapid Championship 2013 | Final Standings
| # | Title | Name | Fed | R FIDE | Ranking | Pts |
| 1 | GM | Rapport, Richard | HUN | R 2661 | 2687 | 9,5 |
| 2 | GM | Malakhov, Vladimir | RUS | R 2756 | 2716 | 9,5 |
| 3 | GM | Petrosian, Tigran L. | ARM | R 2637 | 2648 | 9,5 |
| 4 | GM | Moiseenko, Alexander | UKR | R 2678 | 2713 | 9 |
| 5 | GM | Korobov, Anton | UKR | R 2752 | 2713 | 9 |
| 6 | GM | Jobava, Baadur | GEO | R 2678 | 2705 | 9 |
| 7 | GM | Socko, Bartosz | POL | R 2661 | 2500 | 9 |
| 8 | GM | Salgado Lopez, Ivan | ESP | R 2620 | 2597 | 9 |
| 9 | GM | Lysyj, Igor | RUS | R 2640 | 2666 | 9 |
| 10 | GM | Krasenkow, Michal | POL | R 2609 | 2500 | 9 |
| 11 | GM | Cheparinov, Ivan | BUL | R 2710 | 2672 | 8,5 |
| 12 | GM | Sargissian, Gabriel | ARM | R 2647 | 2675 | 8,5 |
| 13 | GM | Ragger, Markus | AUT | R 2689 | 2646 | 8,5 |
| 14 | GM | Dubov, Daniil | RUS | R 2602 | 2629 | 8,5 |
| 15 | GM | Wojtaszek, Radoslaw | POL | R 2713 | 2711 | 8,5 |
| 16 | GM | Tkachiev, Vladislav | FRA | R 2675 | 2637 | 8,5 |
| 17 | IM | Pakleza, Zbigniew | POL | R 2471 | 2400 | 8,5 |
| 18 | GM | Ivanisevic, Ivan | SRB | R 2638 | 2626 | 8,5 |
| 19 | GM | Tregubov, Pavel V. | RUS | R 2570 | 2625 | 8,5 |
| 20 | GM | Bryzgalin, Kirill | RUS | R 2584 | 2460 | 8,5 |
| 21 | GM | Neiksans, Arturs | LAT | R 2591 | 2560 | 8,5 |
| 22 | GM | Dragun, Kamil | POL | R 2497 | 2500 | 8,5 |
| 23 | GM | Azarov, Sergei | BLR | R 2666 | 2616 | 8,5 |
| 24 | GM | Stupak, Kirill | BLR | R 2542 | 2505 | 8,5 |
| 25 | IM | Kuźmicz, Krystian | POL | R 2446 | 2400 | 8,5 |
| 26 | GM | Andriasian, Zaven | ARM | R 2592 | 2610 | 8,5 |
| 27 | IM | Plat, Vojtech | CZE | R 2560 | 2470 | 8,5 |
| 28 | FM | Minko, Vladimir | RUS | R 2180 | 2327 | 8,5 |
| 29 | GM | Olszewski, Michał | POL | R 2542 | 2500 | 8 |
| 30 | GM | Grigoryan, Karen H. | ARM | R 2548 | 2604 | 8 |
This year's edition of the European Blitz and Rapid Chess Championship was the last one taking place in Warsaw. The next one will be played 19-21 December 2014 in Wroclaw and should be as good as the ones in Warsaw.
Report thanks to IM Stanislaw Zawadzki
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
Peter's first book The Chess Revolution is out now!
Company Contact and News Accreditation:
Email: [email protected] FOR SUPPORT PLEASE USE chess.com/support!
Phone: 1 (800) 318-2827
Address: 877 E 1200 S #970397, Orem, UT 84097
