The European Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships 2021 finished on Sunday, December 19 in Katowice, Poland, after three days of play.
After 11 double rounds in the Swiss blitz tournament, Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland) came out on top with 18 points. It was not an easy walk for the rating favourite as his compatriot Maciej Klekowski was hard on his heels throughout and scored 17½ points to take silver.
Eight players tied for the third place netting 16½ points each. The tiebreaks favoured the European Champion Anton Demchenko, who claimed bronze.
The total prize fund of the event was €11,000, with €2,000 allocated to the champion. In addition to the regular prizes for the best ranked 20 players, the best juniors, seniors, women, and best players of different rating categories were also awarded.
Final standings blitz:
1 | GM | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | 2792 | POL | 18 |
2 | GM | Klekowski, Maciej | 2444 | POL | 17½ |
3 | GM | Demchenko, Anton | 2531 | RUS | 16½ |
4 | IM | Schneider, Ilja | 2524 | GER | 16½ |
5 | GM | Tazbir, Marcin | 2518 | POL | 16½ |
6 | IM | Teclaf, Pawel | 2431 | POL | 16½ |
7 | GM | Bernadskiy, Vitaliy | 2500 | UKR | 16½ |
8 | IM | Keinanen, Toivo | 2358 | FIN | 16½ |
9 | GM | Dragnev, Valentin | 2396 | AUT | 16½ |
10 | GM | Balog, Imre | 2678 | HUN | 16½ |
The complete results can be found here.
Three GMs, Alexander Motylev (Russia), Alexander Donchenko (Germany) and Paulius Pultinevicius (Lithuania) tied for the first place in the European Rapid Championship scoring 9½ points out of 11 each. The Buchholz criteria gave Motylev gold, with Donchenko and Pultinevicius claiming silver and bronze, respectively.
Final standings rapid:
1 | GM | Motylev, Alexander | 2703 | RUS | 9½ |
2 | GM | Donchenko, Alexander | 2535 | GER | 9½ |
3 | GM | Pultinevicius, Paulius | 2536 | LTU | 9½ |
4 | GM | Krasenkow, Michal | 2430 | POL | 9 |
5 | IM | Brodowski, Piotr | 2414 | POL | 9 |
6 | IM | Janik, Igor | 2462 | POL | 9 |
7 | GM | Bjerre, Jonas Buhl | 2330 | DEN | 9 |
8 | IM | Keinanen, Toivo | 2341 | FIN | 8½ |
9 | GM | Balog, Imre | 2629 | HUN | 8½ |
10 | GM | Bernadskiy, Vitaliy | 2616 | UKR | 8½ |
The complete results can be found here.
The total prize fund of the event amounted €19,000, with $4,000 going to the 2021 European Rapid Chess Champion. Along with the regular prizes, the best juniors, seniors, women players and best ranked players of different rating categories were awarded.
There was a three-way tie in the women’s category as well and again, Buchholz decided the winners: Alicja Sliwicka (Poland) first prize Klaudia Kulon (Poland) – second and Annika Froewis (Austria) – third.
The closing ceremeony held on Sunday and was attended by ECU Vice President Adrian Mikhalchishin and FIDE Vice Presidents Lukasz Turlej and Anastasia Sorokina.
Official website: katowice2021.eu/
Photo: Official website and Facebook page of the event
