Vladislav Artemiev from Kazan won the tournament having scored 7 points out of 9 and edged out Tigran Harutyunian (Armenia) who took the second place. Dmitry Kokarev (Penza) won the bronze medal with 6.5 points.

5 additional nominations were established; the prizewinners are:

Seniors:

1st place – GM Gennady Tunik (Saratov Oblast)
2nd place – IM Evgenij Kalegin (Republic of Bashkortostan)
3rd place – IM Alexander Filipenko (Udmurtia),

Women:

1st place – WFM Thalia Cervantes Landeiro (USA)
2nd place – WFM Lubov Markelova (Republic of Tatarstan)
3rd place – WGM Turkan Mamedjarova (Azerbaijan),

Juniors:

1st place – Tagir Salemgareev (Kurgan Oblast)
2nd place – FM Konstantin Zhitnikov (Mari El)
3rd place – FM Ruslan Murtazin (Republic of Tatarstan),

Chess players of Republic of Tatarstan:

1st place – GM Artyom Timofeev
2nd place – FM Ramil Sadykov
3rd place – GM Ramil Hasangatin,

Chess players with rating below 2450:

1st place – FM Dmitry Tsoi (Moscow Oblast)
2nd place – Sergey Pogorelskikh (Samara Oblast)
3rd place – IM Ramil Faizrakhmanov (Republic of Tatarstan).

The event will start with European Blitz Chess Championship 2018, which will take place on 6th and 7th of December, and will be played according to the Swiss system, in 11 paired rounds, with the time control 3 minutes game + 2 seconds per move starting from the first move.

European Rapid Chess Championship 2018 will be played on 8th and 9th of December, according to the Swiss system, in 11 rounds with the time control 15 minutes game + 10 seconds per move starting from the first move.

Both events are open to all the players who represent Chess federations listed as ECU members, regardless of their title or rating.

Registrations for the events will start on 25th of September and will last until 26th of November 2018, which is the registration deadline. All the registrations shall be done through the Official website of the Championship, by filling the Online registration form.

Players rated over 2600 and women players rated over 2400 from October rating list, respectively in Blitz and Rapid, are released from paying the entry fee.

The total prize fund of the event 30.000 EUR + 4.000 EUR of special prizes. The special prizes will be awarded to the best ranked player rated under 2600, the best ranked player rated under 2300, the best ranked players rated under 2000, the best ranked players rated under 1700, the best female players, the best senior players, the best Junior players and the best Macedonian players.

All the players are invited to stay in one of the Official Hotels of the Championship: 5 * hotel Aleksandar palace (the official venue of the Championship), 4* Royal Hotel, 3* hotel Vergina, 3* Monaco hotel, 3* hotel Skopje and 3* hotel Portal, all located in city of Skopje.

The organizers will also provide transfer from Skopje Airport to the official hotels on 5th December and from the official hotels to Airports on 9th December. Two ways, price is 15 EUR. On a special request, it is possible to organize a transfer from Sofia airport. (Estimated price for taxi is round 100EUR).

Technical Organizer of the Championship is Chess Club Gambit Asseco See and Chess Federation of FYR of Macedonia, supported by European Chess Union.

At the start of the tournament, the Universal Rating System announced plans to begin including Chess 960 events in their rating calculations, making this a rated tournament. “I believe we opened a new chapter in the development of chess. It is a great experiment when top players contribute their creativity and skills in something new, which may become a mainstream game in the future,” explains Garry Kasparov.

At the start of each day, Chess Club Executive Director Tony Rich randomly selected the day’s arrangement of pieces. Players then had one hour to prepare before the start of play. Interestingly enough, many players chose to prepare for that hour with other match participants. Members of the U.S. Chess Olympiad team practiced each day together, giving a special glimpse to the comradery that will be shared at the Olympiad in Batumi later this month. Once games began, players had to test their creativity with this unusual format.

“The Saint Louis Chess Club likes to host matches each year that experiment with the boundaries of chess,” explained Tony Rich. “I think Chess 960 was the perfect way to show that elite players exhibit their mastery with any variant of the game, as well as giving fans a fun show to watch.”

The venue is “Park” hotel (metro station “Krestovsky ostrov”, Severnaya doroga 12, St. Petersburg, Russia).
Prize fund is 1650000 RUR.
Time control: 90 minutes and 30 seconds increment per move from move 1.

Last year 360 players took part in the open and the winner was GM Kirill Alekseenko.

The schedule:

round 1

27.10 at 17:00

round 2

28.10 at 17:00

round 3

29.10 в 17:00

round 4

30.10 at 17:00

round 5

31.10 at 17:00

round 6

01.11 at 17:00

round 7

02.11 at 17:00

round 8

03.11 at 17:00

round 9

04.11 at 12:00

Closing ceremony

04.11 at 19:00

Starting list top 15

1 Kamsky, Gata GM 2666
2 Dreev, Aleksey GM 2649
3 Khismatullin, Denis GM 2634
4 Paravyan, David GM 2629
5 Khalifman, Alexander GM 2617
6 Popov, Ivan GM 2611
7 Kokarev, Dmitry GM 2595
8 Idani, Pouya GM 2589
9 Timofeev, Artyom GM 2588
10 Stupak, Kirill GM 2583
11 Firouzja, Alireza GM 2582
12 Volkov, Sergey GM 2580
13 Vorobiov, Evgeny E. GM 2561
14 Sengupta, Deep GM 2557
15 Tazbir, Marcin GM 2525

In group A 62 players took part.
The winner is IM Radoslav Dimitrov with 7 points out of 9.
Six players have finished with 6,5 points. Second is FM Lucas Ranaldi and third is IM Martin Petrov.

Final standings

1 Dimitrov Radoslav 7
2 Ranaldi Lucas 6,5
3 Petrov Martin 6,5
4 Haug Johannes 6,5
5 Kaasen Tor Fredrik 6,5
6 Jasny Stanislav 6,5
7 Tryggestad Andreas Garberg 6,5
8 Galinsky Timofey 6
9 Yordanov Lachezar 6
10 Rabatin Jakub 6
11 Tilicheev Viacheslav 5,5
12 Daskalov Dimitar 5,5
13 Dimitrov Dejan 5,5
14 Bonev Todor 5,5
15 Ivanov Bogidar 5,5
16 Risting Eivind Olav 5,5
17 Ivelinov Hristo 5,5
18 Pantzar Milton 5
19 Storme Isak 5
20 Mishev Liubomir 5
21 Tashev Aleksandar 5
22 Bochev Krasimir 5
23 Nordquelle Daniel 4,5
24 Miroshnichenko Pavel 4,5
25 Lindbol Aleksander 4,5
26 Georgiev Krum 4,5
27 Friedland Moshe 4,5
28 Todorov Ognjan 4,5
29 Gramb Marius 4,5
30 Dyulgerov Dimitar 4,5
31 Tashkov Rumen 4,5
32 Dolzhikova Olga 4,5
33 Angelov Zvetomir 4,5
34 Glavchev Stanislav 4,5
35 Yakimenko Alexander A. 4,5
36 Bukhteeva Viktoria 4,5
37 Velikov Petar 4
38 Huse Sigurd Kjelsbol 4
39 Van Der Valk Niklas 4
40 Popov Petar 4
41 Zherebtsova Alexandra 4
42 Kantorik Marian 4
43 Nielsen Andre 4
44 Paldus Petr 4
45 Sarmir Milos 3,5
46 Bruaset Eivind 3,5
47 Todorov Kaloyan 3,5
48 Loukopoulos Panagiotis-Athanasi 3,5
49 Wallace Paul 3,5
50 Shoshin Kirill 3,5
51 Cakl Zdenek 3,5
52 Scholzen Wolfgang 3
53 Angelov Angel 3
54 Blum Gernot 3
55 Toncheva Nadya 3
56 Melaa Sondre 3
57 Horsak Jan 3
58 Csiki Endre 2,5
59 Dimitrov Petko 2,5
60 Gochev Mladen 2
61 Hewson Brian W R 2
62 Miedema David 0

Live game with analysis will be provided daily with the best chess software competing in the Top Chess Engine Championship – Komodo, Houdini, and Stockfish.

… with a couple of exceptions. Last year you will recall one of the key face-offs was between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana in the penultimate round. This year these two young gentlemen will be meeting elsewhere in the British Isles to decide the little matter of the world chess championship title. That match starts on 9 November, just 12 days after hostilities end in Douglas and precluded their prior appearance on our small but perfectly formed island in the Irish Sea. Caruana had provisionally entered the 2018 Isle of Man event but he must ultimately have realised it would have been too much to take on with less than a fortnight to his date with destiny in London.

But even without Magnus and Fabi the line-up in Douglas will be awesome. Caruana was replaced by another big name, Anish Giri, swiftly followed by the entry of Alexander Grischuk. So let’s take a look at the top ten in rating order: Ding Liren (China), Levon Aronian (Armenia), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Anish Giri (Netherlands), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), Wesley So (USA), Viswanathan Anand (India), Alexander Grischuk (Russia), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Sergey Karjakin (Russia). How does that strike you? Not bad, is it? And it doesn’t stop there as there are a further 11 players rated 2700+ up behind them and many other big names including former world title challengers Boris Gelfand, Peter Leko and Nigel Short, and UK number one and 2018 British champion Mickey Adams.

Of course, as all chess tournament connoisseurs will realise, a long list of big-name players doesn’t necessarily translate into decisive results on the board and spectator appeal, but this is an open tournament so the big names will have to do battle with lower rated opponents who can deliver a surprise or two. Who can forget last year when long-retired GM Jim Tarjan surprised himself as well as the rest of us by downing Vladimir Kramnik? That was just one of many David versus Goliath successes to savour, and you can be sure there will be plenty more such upsets this year.

Given the importance of maximising your score in Swiss events in order to go after the big money – £50,000 is the first prize in 2018 – top players also realise that they have to attack each other with rather more venom than they are accustomed to in closed elite events. No doubt people will recall last year’s innovative random first-round draw when Caruana and Kramnik found themselves facing each other in the first round, and a full-blooded game resulted in favour of the American. Unfortunately, the killjoys at FIDE subsequently decided this innovation was too much like fun and have since changed their regulations so that future tournaments using random pairings can no longer offer norm opportunities, so we will have to wait a few rounds before witnessing super-GM-on-super-GM action this year, I’m afraid. We’ll have to be patient but sooner or later we should get to see some mighty clashes.

YOUNG STARS

One other major feature of this tournament which closed elite tournament can’t deliver is the sight of the stars of the future in action. If the pairings pan out well, we can hope to see them getting their first shot at elite players. Two Indian players, Nihal Sarin and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, were amongst the talented youngsters who caught the eye at last year’s tournament and they are back in 2018 with their shiny new GM titles. Sarin is 52nd in the pecking order, while Pragg is 57th, but you can be fairly sure that they will posing a major challenge to those ranked above them at this year’s tournament.

There are plenty of other young players to look out for this year. Here’s a sample of them. Amongst those already sporting a 2700+ rating is Vladislav Artemiev of Russia, whom we have to remind ourselves has only just turned 20. Jeffery Xiong and Samuel Sevian, both in the vanguard of the USA’s growth in chess strength, are already rated in the mid-2650s and will still be only 17 when they play in the Isle of Man. Aryan Tari, the 2017 world junior champion and the most notable product of the Carlsen boom in Norway, is 19. He ranks 39th on the Isle of Man starting grid. Semyon Lomasov, 16, of Russia is another world champion, having taken the under 14 title in 2016. He doesn’t have his GM title yet but it can only be a matter of time as he is rated well in excess of 2500 and with a first place in February’s very strong Moscow Open under his belt.

German IM Vincent Keymer won’t be 14 until November but two years ago he attracted the notice of Garry Kasparov who referred to him as “exceptional”. This spring he confirmed the legendary world champion’s judgement when he won the Grenke Open ahead of 49 GMs with a score that was 1½ in excess of the GM norm and a performance rated at 2798. Spanish IM Lance Henderson de la Fuente, whose parents are from the USA and Spain, is 15 and he made his mark at the 2018 Gibraltar International, achieving a GM norm with a remarkable 7/10 score, with wins against four GMs.

LEADING WOMEN CONTENDERS

The women’s prize fund is also generous, with the first prize set at £7,000, guaranteeing a strong line-up. However, as with the open world championship, this year there is a calendar clash with the women’s world championship knock-out competition starting in Khanty-Mansiysk, Siberia, on 2 November, less than a week after the Isle of Man tournament ends. Even so the line-up of female names is impressive: Former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk leads the list, followed by Elisabeth Paehtz (Germany) and Nino Batsiashvili (Georgia), who gave Hou Yifan a good for her money in 2017. Pia Cramling may be a little further back these days in terms of rating but she remains a formidable contender and as strong as ever, recording an excellent unbeaten 6½/10 to take the prestigious top women’s prize in Gibraltar earlier this year. Alina Kashlinskaya of Russia is another top woman player to look out for. Her husband Radoslaw Wojtaszek will be playing alongside her, guaranteeing some top-class pre-game preparation. Jovanka Houska and Tania Sachdev, of England and India respectively, are part of the commentary and broadcasting team in Gibraltar, but they will be playing in this year’s Isle of Man International.

Hopefully that will have whetted your appetite for what is going to be another great tournament to watch online. I should add that it is too late to enter yourself as entries have long since closed at 174 names. Another 70 or so players take part in the Major and Minor events held alongside.

John Saunders reports

After 10 rounds, the Iranian chess phenom GM Parham Maghsoodloo was nearly perfect! He only lost half point to GM Firouzja. With 1 round to go, he already won the 2018 World Junior Chess Championship by 2 points with 9,5 points.

Despite beating GM Maghsoodloo in the final round, GM Esipenko only finished 4th in tiebreaks as the Silver went to GM Puranik of India, and Bronze to IM Lobanov of Russia, all with 8,5 points out of 11.

Replay the games here

​More dramatic was the final round of the World Girls Championship.
The leader WGM Tokhirjonova only managed to draw against WIM Dordzhieva with white. This opened the door for Maltsevskaya to catch her and win gold with better tiebreaks with a win over WFM Potapova. This gives Russia the 2018 World Girls Chess Championship title!

Replay the games here

Final standings World Junior Championship

1 Maghsoodloo Parham 9,5
2 Puranik Abhimanyu 8,5
3 Lobanov Sergei 8,5
4 Esipenko Andrey 8,5
5 Tabatabaei M.Amin 8
6 Bai Jinshi 8
7 Christiansen Johan-Sebastian 7,5
8 Hakobyan Aram 7,5
9 Harsha Bharathakoti 7,5
10 Firouzja Alireza 7,5
11 Donchenko Alexander 7,5
12 Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan 7,5
13 Van Foreest Jorden 7,5
14 Karthikeyan Murali 7,5
15 Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 7,5
16 Martirosyan Haik M. 7,5
17 Yakubboev Nodirbek 7,5
18 Lomasov Semyon 7,5
19 Sindarov Javokhir 7
20 Karthik Venkataraman 7
21 Vavulin Maksim 7
22 Kollars Dmitrij 7
23 Pichot Alan 7
24 Lee Jun Hyeok 7
25 Schekachikhin Maksim 7
26 Xu Xiangyu 7
27 Sanal Vahap 7
28 Liang Awonder 6,5
29 Santos Ruiz Miguel 6,5
30 Bellahcene Bilel 6,5
31 Batsuren Dambasuren 6,5
32 Petrosyan Manuel 6,5
33 Muradli Mahammad 6,5
34 Thybo Jesper Sondergaard 6,5
35 Zou Chen 6,5
36 Gavrilescu David 6,5
37 Can Isik 6,5
38 Lodici Lorenzo 6,5
39 Nikitenko Mihail 6,5
40 Sadikhov Ulvi 6,5
41 Barseghyan Harutyun 6,5
42 Haldorsen Benjamin 6,5
43 Lagunow Raphael 6,5
44 Lorparizangeneh Shahin 6,5
45 Raja Harshit 6,5
46 Gorshtein Ido 6,5
47 Martinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo 6,5
48 Gokerkan Cem Kaan 6,5
49 Haria Ravi 6,5
50 Zarubitski Viachaslau 6,5
Zhao Chenxi 6,5
52 Sawlin Leonid 6,5
53 Janik Igor 6
54 Percivaldi Martin 6
55 Escalante Ramirez Brian Sebasti 6
56 Garayev Kanan 6
57 Schitco Ivan 6
58 Amartuvshin Ganzorig 6
59 Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh 6
60 Pang Tao 6
61 Tuncer Tuna 6
62 Nogerbek Kazybek 6
63 Priasmoro Novendra 6
64 Macovei Andrei 6
65 Baenziger Fabian 6
66 Suleymenov Alisher 6
67 Sibashvili Giorgi 6
68 Shailesh Dravid 6
69 Secheres Adrian-Simion 6
70 Petkov Momchil 6
71 Rodrigue-Lemieux Shawn 6
72 Arcuti Davide 6
73 Jarmula Lukasz 5,5
74 Makhnev Denis 5,5
75 Ozen Bahadir 5,5
76 Sargsyan Shant 5,5
77 Agibileg Uurtsaikh 5,5
78 Agmanov Zhandos 5,5
79 Kalogeris Ioannis 5,5
80 Repka Christopher 5,5
81 Philippe Guillaume 5,5
82 Murzin Volodar 5,5
83 Garidmagnai Byambasuren 5,5
84 Ozen Deniz 5,5
85 Murphy Conor E 5,5
86 Tutisani Noe 5,5
87 Nyambileg Erdene-Ochir 5,5
88 Wadsworth Matthew J 5,5
89 Liyanage Ranindu Dilshan 5,5
90 Dobrovoljc Vid 5,5
91 Morozov Nichita 5,5
92 Urazayev Arystanbek 5,5
93 Milosevic Milos 5,5
94 Wong Yinn Long 5,5
95 Tasdogen Dincer 5,5
96 Aydincelebi Kagan 5,5
97 Noboa Kevin 5,5
98 Tang Andrew 5
99 Kevlishvili Robby 5
100 Kamer Kayra 5
101 Galperin Platon 5
Nastase Robert-Paul 5
103 Pigeat Alexandre 5
104 Hollan Martin 5
105 Ozer Omer Faruk 5
106 Tarlabasi Emirhan 5
107 Nikolovski Nikola 5
108 Krishna Teja N 5
109 Gunduz Umut Erdem 5
110 Agdelen Huseyin Can 5
111 Bashirli Nail 5
112 Ozenir Ekin Baris 5
113 Cadilhac Igor Tokuichi Kikuchi 5
114 Kilic Efe Mert 5
115 Kara Yanki 5
Sezdbekov Ruslan 5
117 Dedebas Emre Emin 5
118 Sevgi Volkan 4,5
119 Miciano John Marvin 4,5
120 Can Melih Kaan 4,5
121 Samani Yamac 4,5
122 Thilakarathne G M H 4,5
123 Cirovic Miroljub 4,5
124 Jogstad Martin 4,5
125 Eren Ataberk 4,5
126 Ozsakallioglu Okan 4,5
127 Akin Kadir 4,5
128 Ismayilov Muhammad 4,5
129 Vanczak Tamas 4,5
130 Silva David 4,5
131 Tifferet Shaked 4,5
132 Yilmaz Goktan 4,5
133 Erdogan Anil Berk 4,5
134 Cansun Can Alp 4,5
135 Gulbeyaz Emir 4,5
136 Tuna Alp 4,5
137 Asadli Vugar 4
138 Gulden Egemen 4
139 Ongut Tamas Gunes 4
140 Huber Martin Christian 4
141 Zlatin Alexander 4
142 Piyumantha M Sasith Nipun 4
143 Karaoglan Doruk 4
144 De Block Yordi 4
145 Ozturk Efe Hakan 4
146 Caglar Ahmet Ata 4
147 Daghan Devran 4
148 Akdogan Alperen 4
149 Yaran Siar 4
150 Maltezeanu Stefan 4

Final standings World Girl’s Chess Championship

1 Maltsevskaya Aleksandra 8,5
2 Tokhirjonova Gulrukhbegim 8,5
3 Khomeriki Nino 8
4 Nurgali Nazerke 8
5 Dordzhieva Dinara 8
6 Tsolakidou Stavroula 8
7 Zhu Jiner 8
8 Assaubayeva Bibisara 7,5
9 Antova Gabriela 7,5
10 Bai Xue 7,5
11 Caglar Sila 7,5
12 Paramzina Anastasya 7
13 Varshini V 7
14 Gorti Akshita 7
15 Ghukasyan Siranush 7
16 Potapova Margarita 7
17 Nomin-Erdene Davaademberel 7
18 Sliwicka Alicja 6,5
19 Kanakova Natalie 6,5
20 Unuk Laura 6,5
21 Diakonova Ekaterina 6,5
22 Isha Sharma 6,5
23 Chitlange Sakshi 6,5
24 Beydullayeva Govhar 6,5
25 Serikbay Assel 6,5
26 Sieber Fiona 6,5
27 Lingur Zalina 6,5
28 Hilario Aleyla 6
29 Hojjatova Aydan 6
30 Gomez Barrera Javiera Belen 6
31 Schneider Jana 6
32 Altantuya Boldbaatar 6
33 Mahalakshmi M 6
34 Ozbay Ece 6
35 Wafa Shahenda 6
36 Kubicka Anna 6
37 Urh Zala 6
Li Xinyu 6
39 Li Yunshan 6
40 Kocyigit Buse Naz 6
41 Celik Eylul 6
42 Auvray Honorine 6
43 Chu Ruotong 5,5
44 Song Yuxin 5,5
45 Haussernot Cecile 5,5
46 Ivana Maria Furtado 5,5
47 Georgescu Lena 5,5
48 Yang Yijing 5,5
49 Zairbek Kyzy Begimay 5,5
50 De Silva Tenara 5,5
51 Pychova Nela 5,5
52 Sankova Stella 5,5
53 Malatsilava Volha 5,5
54 Cramling Bellon Anna 5,5
55 Doroy Allaney Jia G 5,5
56 Anacoglu Cisel 5,5
57 Salah Nadezhda 5
58 Meenal Gupta 5
59 Alinasab Mobina 5
60 Hu Yu A. 5
61 Dwilewicz Katarzyna 5
62 Kamalidenova Meruert 5
63 Nass Sara 5
64 Stanciu Ioana-Georgiana 5
65 Caballero Quijano Mitzy Mishell 5
66 Duran Esma Doga 5
67 Koo Wei Xin Rosamund 5
68 Celik Eda 5
69 Sade Defne 5
70 Nemcova Karin 5
71 Ince Safiye Oyku 4,5
72 Nassr Lina 4,5
73 Hereklioglu Sude 4,5
74 Aubert Laurane 4,5
75 Du Yuxin 4,5
76 Santeramo Alessia 4,5
Catal Uktenur 4,5
78 Yorgun Yaren Naz 4,5
79 Vujcic Milena 4,5
80 Ayan Bengu Sena 4,5
81 Aydin Gulenay 4,5
82 Aksoy Ayca 4
83 Nastase Andreea-Cristina 4
84 Can Isil 4
85 Kyrkjebo Hanna B. 4
86 Incecik Seyma Zeynep 4
87 Heydarova Aytaj 4
88 Huttl Sofie 4
89 Tian Shi Yuan 3,5
90 Kyrkjebo Marte B. 3,5
91 Koljevic Nikolina 3,5
92 Caxita Esperanca 3,5
93 Esti Kubra Selenay 3,5
94 Gur Tuba 3,5
95 Bail Ellen Larissa 3,5
96 Rousseau Christilla 3,5
97 Gusic Jelena 1,5
98 Anandpara Jayendra Saloni 1

Players receive 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes to the end of the game, plus a 30-second increment starting from move one.

Live game with analysis will be provided daily with the best chess software competing in the Top Chess Engine Championship – Komodo, Houdini, and Stockfish.

Live game with analysis will be provided daily with the best chess software competing in the Top Chess Engine Championship – Komodo, Houdini, and Stockfish.