World class performance of the unbeaten candidate On 6 April 2016, the Dutch top player and current champion Anish Giri paid a visit to Brussels in the Permanent Representation of the Netherlands to the European Union, which holds the Presidency of the Council in the 1st half of 2016. The Head of Cabinet of the Commission’s First Vice-President Timmermans, Ben Smulders, welcomed the current No. 4 of the world as the ‘pop-star’ of chess,...
In the end of September 2014, our longest serving active member, Ronny Bonne took his retirement. That may, in itself, not be a bad thing, as it frees more time for chess. However, in Ronny’s case this is clearly sad as he will also leave the chess club as a regular player and organiser. Ronny became a member some 33 (!) years ago and served as the longest-standing board member in our history. As...
On 31 August, KSK Rochade Eupen organised a 9-round rapid tournament which also counted as Belgian Championship in rapid chess. Four Europchess members took the occasion to warm up for the season. József Barta got well into the tournament, using in particular the White pieces to his advantage against weaker rated opponents. Also later, he proved hard to beat and finished with a good 6/9, as best Europchess player on rank 13. Martin Müller...
European Woman Champion lectures and outplays Europchess with style On 8th October 2013, the European Woman Champion of 2011, GM Viktorija Cmilyte paid a visit to Brussels upon invitation of our club. The Lithuanian star was born in 1983 and became world champion of girls under 12 at that tender age. She progressed steadily and became a strong youthful appearance also in male competitions. In 2005, she won the national championship of her country,...
Report by Tom Wiley Each year over the Ascension Day long weekend, the Fédération Echiquienne Francophone de Belgique holds its Championnats Individuels. Last year the championship was hosted in Brussels by the CREB. This year the tournament was hosted by the Cercle d’Echecs Fontainois in Fontaine l’Evêque, a small town not far from Charleroi. There are two tournaments; the Elite group is restricted to the 12 strongest players, and there is an Open group...
Pendant les vacances de Pâques, Europchess a reçu la visite de six enfants amérindiens de Guyane française. Le voyage organisé par le professeur et président du club d’échecs local, Daniel Baur, était leur premier voyage en métropole et en Europe. Pour venir, il leur a fallu une heure de pirogue, trois heures de voitures et puis huit heures d’avion transatlantique et enfin 1h25 de Thalys. Ces enfants vivent en Amazonie sur la frontière avec...
The e-mail that I received from my long-time chess friend Antti last October made me to think about my 30 past on-off years as a chess amateur. Antti is a part-time chess journalist living in Paris and we have somehow been able to maintain contact and managed to play blitz during the past decades. He gave me 5 minutes to answer whether I would like to join him for the last weekend for his...
On Saturday, September 29, Europchess played a friendly match against the chess club of the fonctionnaires from Luxembourg, a cercle de loisir at home in the VM2 Foyer of the “eurocrats”. The initiative for the event was taken by Kristian Pade Frederiksen and Leif Winther (European Parliament, Luxembourg). Our colleagues from Luxembourg - who, by the way, represented all major EU institutions located there, i.e. the European Parliament, the Court of Justice and the...
On 9 September 2012, Chess Club Anderlecht organised the 6th edition of the José Tonoli Memorial Rapid Tournament. Also this year it drew a large number of participants: 188 competitors. Six Europchess members took the opportunity to warm up for the new season. Frank Hoffmeister could only be beaten by IM Cemil Gulbas and reached an excellent shared 5th – 12th place with 7/9. Second best Europchess player was József Molnár with 6/9. José...
Europchess Wins Division 3 of FEFB Intercercles! Europchess took 3.5 points out of 4 in the FEFB Intercercles Division 3 on 24 June rounding up a solid performance that saw the team finish 2.5 points ahead of their closest rivals. Apart from a nice trophy, the reward for the efforts of Vladymyr Dedobbeleer (who scored 3.5/4), Luis Carlos Busquets Perez (2.5/4), Georgi Tomov (3/3) and others is promotion to Division 2 for the next...