On the final day of the European Online Blitz Championship, both semi-finals went to Armageddon: Gawain Jones (ENG) won over David Navara (CZE) while Alexei Shirov (ESP) beat Matthias Bluebaum (GER).
In the final Jones convincingly defeated Shirov 2½:½. After losing the second game with white pieces (the first encounter was drawn) Alexei opted for a risky line in the third game but fell under a crushing attack.
In the match for third place, Navara missed his chances in a won rook endgame that emerged in the first game and eventually lost. In the next two games, the German player scored 1½ points and took bronze.
The medalists got trophies, medals, and invitations for the upcoming European Rapid & Blitz 2021, which will be held in Katowice, Poland.
All the top-16 qualifiers got prizes. The players ranked from the 5th-8th place received a prize of €500 players from the 9th-16th place – a prize of €300, while the players ranked 17th-20th received the invitations for 2021.
Special prizes were established for the best 3 female players: AntoanetaStefanova (BUL), Anna Sargsyan (ARM), and MonikaSocko (POL) received €200 each.
Three best senior players – AvigdorBykhovsky (RUS), Igor Efimov (MNC), Leon Mazi (SLO) – and three best junior players – Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU), Kanan Garayev (AZE), and Nikolozi Kacharava (GEO) – are invited to the 2021 European Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship.
A large number of spectators followed the live commentary in English by WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili, GM Marcin Tazbir, and WFM Maria Leks at the Polish national channel on Twitch TVP_Sports and the commentary in Polish provided by Infoszach.
The organization of the championship was supported by the city of Katowice, the Ministry of Sport of the Republic of Poland, and Mokate.
About Katowice:
Katowice is one of the fastest-growing Polish cities which passed a deep restructuring in a short time. For the first time, the European Rapid Chess Championship in Katowice took place in 2017 and was certainly one of the greatest events in the history of the European Chess Union. The great organization of the competition back in 2017 made it possible for Katowice to receive the right to host the participants of the European Rapid Chess Championships in 2020 and 2021.
Official website: https://www.katowice2020.eu/
Email: office@katowice2020.eu
