European Team Championships Open in Batumi

Drawing of colours was held.

The European Team Championships was officially opened in Batumi on October 23. The ECU President Zurab Azmaiparashvili, FIDE Vice-President Akaki Iashvili, President of the Georgian Chess Federation Giorgi Giorgadze, and Minister of Education, Culture and Sport of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara Maia Khajishvili gave speeches at the ceremony. 

The artists showed a great performance with traditional dances and songs. 

The drawing of colours was conducted with the help of the main Georgian national drink of two different sorts. The Russian men's team got White for the first round, while the women's team has Black. 

In the first round, the Russian men's team will play against Denmark. The women's national team's rival will be Israel. 

40 teams will take part in the open event, and 32 teams will be fighting for prizes in the women’s section. Russian national teams are the top seeds in both tournaments. Other rating favourites in the open event are England, Poland, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, in the women's section Georgia, Ukraine, and Poland. 

Russian men's team: 

Dmitry Andreikin (2741), Nikita Vitiugov (2732), Maxim Matlakov (2716), Daniil Dubov (2699), and Kirill Alekseenko (2674). Captain – Alexander Motylev.

Russian women's team:

Aleksandra Goryachkina (2575), Kateryna Lagno (2549), Valentina Gunina (2509), Alina Kashlinskaya (2481), and Olga Girya (2476). Captain, Head coach of the Russian national women’s chess team is Sergei Rublevsky. 

General sponsor of the Russian national chess teams is FGC UES (Rosseti Group). General partner of the Chess Federation of Russia is PhosAgro. 

Tournament on Chess-Results

Турнирная страница

Official website

Photos by Artem Pugachev and Vladimir Potkin