15 November 2017

Cup, Girls and Sea

The European Team Championship in Crete. Closing picture report by Maria Emelianova



The Russian national women’s team heading for the playhall already in the rank of champions with one round to go

 



Boris Gelfand and Maxim Rodshtein, representatives of the Israeli team





The Georgian women are aimed at available maximum: silver




Meanwhile, Azerbaijan is after gold.





Sergei Rublevsky’s last-minute instructions before the game    



Rauf Mamedov is greeting Yuriy Kuzubov




Board one players of Azerbaijan and the Ukraine




Ian Nepomniachtchi’s handshakes with all members of the opponent’s team




The central matchup of the ultimate round is about to start





England - Hungary





Anish Giri is not happy about something already at the start of his game against Slovenia




Yuriy Kuzubov was the Ukraine’s board four





The last round heroic victory of Irina Bulmaga over Monika Socko snatched the match from Poland and landed the team into the fourth place




Not only was Alexandra Kosteniuk’s contribution huge for the team’s gold, but she took first on board one at that!




 

Elina Danielian has played all (!) 9 games for Armenia on board one





Pavel Eljanov’s final touch was a draw against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov






Monika Socko is Poland’s all-time leader




Azerbaijan’s board one was a young Gunay Mammadzada




Valentina Gunina is watching the games of Aleksandra Goryachkina and Olga Girya




Lilit Galojan is Armenia’s board three




Lilit Mkrtchian is Armenia’s board two




Ian Nepomniachtchi’s painful search of a victory in the rook ending against Georg Meier





...Ian’s search of a victory took really long indeed...





...Ian did manage to win the game, but 3:1 against Germany was not enough for the Russians to win the event





Ian Nepomniachtchi and Sergei Rublevsky





The long-awaited closing ceremony...






... Which began, as always, with the official speeches; President of the European Chess Union Zurab Azmaiparashvili presents David Llada’s picture book to the main tournament organizer Nikos Kalesis





A time-honored tradition of dancing





Medal-winners among reserve players Kristina Novosadova (the Czech Republic) with bronze, Marina Gajcin (Serbia) with silver and Salome Melia (Georgia) with gold





Poland’s board four -  Klaudia Kulon





The Ukrainians are applauding Inna Gaponenko, who has won gold on board four.






Lela Javakhishvili (Georgia) - third, Klaudia Kulon (Poland) - second, Inna Gaponenko (the Ukraine) - first




Valentina Gunina with silver on board three!




Valya and Ana Matnadze (Spain) are greeting the gold medalist of their board...




 

... Bela Khotenashvili (Georgia) with a rating-performance 2608!





Natalia Zhukova (the Ukraine, silver) is congratulating the rising Greek star Stavroula Tsolakidou (bronze)





Alexandra Kosteniuk has demonstrated a record performance 2638 and took gold on board one, having overtaken Anna Muzychuk (the Ukraine) and Deimante Cornette (Lithuania)




Boris Kutin, Zoltan Almasi, Rauf Mamedov and Maxim Matlakov - the Russian grandmaster has finished second on board four





Nikita Vitiugov is golden on board three




The Ukrainian women’s team is third on the European Championship



 

The Georgian women are second




The Russians have again topped the pedestal!




The Ukrainian men’s team is also third




The Russians are second





From left to right: Alexander Grischuk, Nikita Vitiugov, Maxim Matlakov, Daniil Dubov, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Vladimir Potkin, Alexander Motylev and the FIDE Vice-President Georgios Makropoulos



Happiness of the Azeri players...





...who have taken the European Cup for their third time!




Zurab Azmaiparashvili is applauding the champions





With a cup in his hands is the team’s main sponsor - Mahir Mamedov, Director General of SOCAR Energy Georgia




 

Journalists and fans are flocking around the champions




 

A mandatory selfie: Salome Melia, Bela Khotenashvili, Lela Javakhishvili, a team’s coach Baskaran Adhiban, Nino Batsiashvili and a captain Elizbar Ubilava




 

Prior to leaving, the Russian team organized a small photo session near the sea. Aleksandra Goryachkina...




...has challenged Olga Girya





 

Valentina Gunina..




...has challenged Olga as well!




Then everything got all mixed up... It turned into a four-handed game when joined by Vladimir Potkin and Maxim Matlakov




Holding the Cup are Olga Girya, Aleksandra Goryachkina and Valentina Gunina    



 

Maxim Matlakov, chess and sea... The tournaments should be held exclusively at the resorts, I believe!



Maxim and Danya were so absorbed in the game that they almost forgot about the bus departing in an hour ... I wish we could stay more! We well be back for more!