With one round to go in Budva, Germany and Serbia are sharing the lead in the open section of the European Team Championship. On the penultimate day of play, Germany beat France thanks to a win by Rasmus Svane, while Serbia defeated England thanks to a win by Velimir Ivic. In the women’s championship, Bulgaria kept the sole lead by beating Poland by a 2½-1½ score. Azerbaijan defeated Greece to go into the last round a match point behind the leaders. | Photo: Paul Meyer-Dunker
Whatever your idea of a traditional chess event is, it’s probably nothing like London’s ChessFest. While in most tournaments, the action takes place behind closed doors, accessible only to knowledgeable insiders and connoisseurs of the game, ChessFest turns all that upside down. This is chess writ large in the open air, performed in full public view, with mass participation the central goal. If you are in or anywhere near London, you should definitely pay ChessFest a visit. | Photos by Andrew Moss
The second day of the Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland, the second event of the 2022 Grand Chess Tour, continued today with outstanding results by GM Viswanathan Anand and GM Richard Rapport. The pair surged ahead of the field after they scored 2.5/3 and 3/3, respectively, during Friday's three games. Anand.
The final round (ten) of the Battle of the Sexes match-tournament, held at Gibraltar, saw the men’s team win by 6½-3½ to finish overall winners by 53-47. The winners on the final day were Bobby Cheng, who beat Jovi Houska; Ravi Haria, who beat Olga Girya; and Bilel Bellahcene, who defeated Marie Sebag (her only loss of the event). Balazs Csonka drew his game with Marsel Efroimski and this was enough to secure his second grandmaster norm.
Round nine of the #GibChess Battle of Sexes, held at Gibraltar’s Garrison Library saw a turnaround in fortunes as the women’s team ran out 6-4 winners on the day. This still leaves them three points behind the men’s team going into the final round (in which they will have the black pieces) requiring a 6½-3½ score to force a tie-break or a 7-3 score to win the match outright. Report and photos by John Saunders.