European Club Cup- an Inside Look

The European Club Cup took place in Ohrid, Macedonia on the beautiful lake with the same name near the Albanian border between 4-10 October.
I was there as a trainer of the former Women World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova. Eti invited me to work with her at the end of August, and before the Inventi tournament in Antwerpen we had our first camp.
She plays for the team of Spartak Vidnoe, together with sisters Nadezhda and Tatiana Kosintsevi, Ekaterina Lahno and Evgenia Ovod. The team is a real bunch of European champions, but they were the second-seeded team after the last two-time champions from Monte Carlo. The expectations were that these two teams would fight for the title.
The Russian players have great organization. They did not save money for trainers-Yury Dokhoian, the legendary trainer of Garry Kasparov (and current second of Sergey Karjakin) was here to take care about the Kosintsevi sisters. They both scored well, winning individual silver medals on boards 1 and 3 respectively. Dokhoian is a remarkable trainer, who takes to his heart any lost game of his students. However, when the game is over, he becomes a completely new man, with great sense of humour, and exact evaluation of what had happened. Robert Fontaine was also here to support and prepare his wife Katya. Last, but not least, we had our captain- WGM Elmira Mirzoeva- famous chess journalist, and incredibly cheerful person, who was always where the girls needed her.
The tournament went smoothly for our team. It all started more than convincingly with a 4-0 win against the solid team of “Mika”- Erevan. Then two draws followed against “Economist” and the “Samaia”- Tbilisi. The second one was a piece of bad luck, since we managed to repel both our blacks and could not profit from the good positions of the white colours. After this match, the ladies found their rhythm and won three matches in a row. Especially valuable was the one in the sixth round against one of the best teams- “T-com”- Podgoritsa- 3.5-0.5. Before that round, the team was discussing the strong performance of Ekaterina Kovalevskaya- the fourth board of the Montenegrin team. “However, we have another Katya on board four”-remarked Dokhoian. Indeed, our Katya proved stronger, and brought a “black” victory for “Spartak”. The lost of the Montenegrin team forced them to rest in the last round, and at the end, they were only a mere half point short to the bronze medals. Rather weird destiny for a medal contender. As a whole, the format of the event- seven rounds for eleven teams was predisposing some odd situations. For example, the team of Monte Carlo drew their first match, but had the luck to be paired on the next day against the underdogs from” Vandoeuvre”, and after a 4-0 win immediately went back into the lead. While the last round pairings did not oppose the leader “Spartak” against the third in the table Monte Carlo due to the impossible parings of the tournament “tail”. At the same time at the men’s section, it was very strange to me to discover that the team of “Baden-Baden” who lost only 5 points in total in the first five matches does not have even theoretical chances for the title, due to their minimal defeat against “Mika” (the match where Naiditsch blundered a whole rook in a much better position).
Back to the sixth round of the women event- this became in fact the decisive round of the tournament, since it secured the title for the Russian team. By that moment we had the same match points with the Georgian team, and Monte Carlo was a point behind. The expectations were that everything will be decided in the final round, but…First the team from Tbilisi gave rest to their leader Maya Chiburdanidze, and lost their match. Moreover, Monte Carlo could not deal with “Mika” drawing yet another match. “Spartak”- Vidnoe became champions within a spare round!
The success was a result of the convenient play of all the players. Except the silver individual medals for Nadya and Tanya Kosintsevi the team took two golds- for Eti on board two, and Katerina Lahno on board four. Katya also had the best overall performance in the women section with her 5.5/6- 2772.
I did not have a lot of time to observe the men section, since they were playing in another hotel- INEX Goritsa. The general impression was that the young team of Saratov won quite convincingly. Probably the match that they were is most dangerous situation was…the first one. However, the fact that they won all their matches (even though most of them with a minimal margin) speaks for itself. It is hard to point out their best player; they performed excellent as a team. From the individual performances, the play of Levon Aronian looked quite impressive, even though he lost his final encounter against Mamedyarov. Remarkable chess was definitely shown by Peter Svidler. He took silver medal on first board, but showed the best overall performance in the open section- 2920! While the golden medal on first board went to Vladimir Georgiev, the former trainer of Eti. He scored 5/6 for his KSH Llamkos (Kosovo). The most points achieved Michael Adams (Baden-Baden) and Artur Zarka (Roskovec), both 6.5/7.
The organization of the event was on a very good level. Especially delightful was the service, and the attitude towards the players. There were some extraordinary events- like the chess game under the water. The event was richly covered on the national television, and the results of the local Alkaloid closely followed. It is a pity for them that they could not develop they start of five wins. Nevertheless, one of them showed once again great performance, eight years after his first visit in Ohrid. Andrey Volokitin won the third board with convincing 6/7, and what was the surprise- he won some elegant rook endgames instead of his “common” sharp games.
Eti had one free day in which we visited the monastery of St Naum which was established back in 905. Naum- one of the students of Cyril and Methodius (the creators of the Cyrillic alphabet that is now used in Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Serbia) lived some twenty kilometers away from Ohrid. Peacocks are living comfortably in the church area. The monk on the front desk taught us what to do for luck. We just made a wish, while touching the Saint’s grave, and with the right ear, we tried to listen to his heart.
I could not hear it, but I hope that my wish will come true.

How “Vodovod” promoted into first Serbian division and what happens in Serbia

In Vrnjacka Banja took place the 1-st League of Central Serbia between 18-26 Septembers. Practically, this is one of the second divisions of the country, but do not be mislead by that fact. Among the 12 participating teams competed eight GMs, many IMs and FMs, and even at the back fifth and sixth boards players with ratings 2300-2400 could be met. The best team qualified for the Highest Serbian Division, while the last one was relegated from the group.
Twelve teams play each other in a round-robin tournament, each teams contains six boards. The system is match points. Just like in the football, the winner is awarded with 3 points, draw is equal to a point, while losing means zero.
It appeared that two teams competed for the promotion after their powerful starts. Both the elo favourites from “Vodovod”- Kragujevac and “Jelica”-Goracici were leading after seven rounds with only one drawn match each. The former team was impressively effective, winning all its matches by a minimal margin 3.5-2.5. However, their clash in round eight turned into a total triumph for “Vodovod”. Relatively easily they scored four wins, and managed to save the two remaining bad positions to close the match in impressive score- 5-1. After that the discouraged team of “Jelica” switched to a “silver programme”, in which they succeeded easily. Third became the team of “Sloboda”- Uzice. For the champions competed the GMs Dragisa Blagojevic from Montenegro (as a foreigner), Miroslav Tosic, Nenad Ristic (the selector of the national women team), IM Slobo Vratonjic, FM Boroljub Zlatanovic, Dragoljub Lazic and Slavisa Milosevic.
One of the most colourful participants is IM Radovan Govedarica. He is always everywhere, knows all the positions, and immediately after someone ends, he appears to give a competent advice of how he had to play. Although he did not do very well in the tournament (he even lost one game due to a phone ring forfeit), he was showing his potential in blitz games, obviously enjoying every second of chess.
Chess is a magical word in Serbia. Whenever I pass the boarder, I always say, that I am a chess player. This saves me a lot of time, and unnecessary baggage search, since all the chess players are highly respected in Serbia. Sometimes I start a chat with the customers on the past glorious times with Gliga (Gligorich) and Ljuba (Ljuboevic) being the main heroes. A few years ago, due to the great restriction that the Serbians had chess was suffering, since almost all the Serbians had to stay at home. This was the period when they were permitted to play in all the Leagues, and this decision kept their fighting spirit. Lately, our sport is coming back to respect. Those of the players who achieved good results, and won medals from European Competitions and Olympiads, as well as their selectors receive support from the government-salaries that are quite adequate to the economical situation, and that give them the chance to live well.
Vrnjacka Banja is the most famous Serbian spa resort. “Banja” is Serbian means bath, but could also mean a spring. There are altogether seven springs of mineral water in the town, warm in their majority. Their healing effect is known from the ancient Romans, who used the springs very long time ago. Vrnjacka Banja is situated in the foot of the Gosha Mountain, and is an extremely green town, with great clean air. One of the attractions of the town, and its symbol is the sparrow Gochko, and another important sight is the “Bridge of Love”. Its history in short is that the schoolmistress Nada and the officer Relja fell in love for each other, and gave a promise to them in the dawn of the First World War. However, Relja went to war in Greece, felt in love with a Greek woman, married her, and broke the engage with Nada. Nada faded away day after day, and finally died, young and miserable. Since then the girls started to write down the names of their beloved men on padlock, in attempt to lock their love forever. These pads can be seen nowadays on the Nada’s and Relja’s favourite place-a bridge that is now called “The Bridge of Love.”

Afek's Best (5)

Yochanan Afek
2nd Prize Moscow congress ,2003 (V) , 2003
[Afek,Y]

White has four optional captures out of which just one is sound. 1.Nxg6! 1.Kxg7? Nxf8 is obviously wrong while both after 1.Nxh7? b5 2.Kxg7 b4 3.Ng5 b3 4.Ne4 g5 or 1.Kxh7? g5 2.Kg6 g4 3.Kf5 g3 4.Ng6 Kd1 5.Nf4 b5 6.Kg4 b4 7.Kxg3 b3 8.Nd3 Kc2 9.Ne5 Kc3! the black pawns are unstoppable. 1...Nf8! A surprising counter attack forcing the White knight to cope on his own with two remote passed pawns. 2.Nxf8 g5


With a cornered and passive king, how will the limping knight handle the black pawns? well, simply one at the time... 3.Nh7! g4 4.Nf6 g3 5.Nh5! g2 6.Nf4 g1Q! [Since 6...b5 7.Nxg2 Kd2 8.Nf4 b4 9.Nd5 b3 10.Nb6!= draws] 7.Ne2+ Kd2 8.Nxg1 Ke3!


One pawn has been successfully grounded yet chasing the remaining one still requires high precision. 9.Nh3 b5 10.Ng5 b4 11.Nf7! b3 12.Nd6! [Attention! 12.Ne5? Kd4! 13.Nf3+ Kc3 and it's all over] 12...Kd3 13.Nb5 b2 14.Na3=

The White knight has amazingly completed a pawn hunt over the entire board.Both black pawns have nearly committed a full journey from their initial to their promotion square. The problemists call such pawn journey "Excelsior" then it is a double Excelsior alright. 1/2

Eti with a flying start in Belgium

After a week of serious preparation Antoaneta Stefanova started her participation at the very strong round-robin tournament in Belgium more than convincingly, by beating the legendary Jan Timman with the black pieces:
Timman,J - Stefanova,A
InventiChess Antwerpen, 18.09.2009
[Dejan ,Bojkov]


In the diagrammed position Ety did not hesitate too much before sacrificing the knight. 1...Nxg4! this destroys the shelter of the white king, and nets at least a pawn for Black. 2.Qe1 The most stubborn defence probably is: [2.Qg3 Nh6 3.Bxc7 Qxg3 4.Bxg3 f5-/+ although even here the difference in the bishops makes the diffrence in Black's favour.; Accepting the sacrifice leads to devastating attack- 2.fxg4


2...Rxd2! clearing the long diagonal. 3.Qxd2 Qxe4+ 4.Kg1 Re8! subtle move that involves the last piece into the assault. 5.Be3 Qh1+ 6.Kf2 Qxh2+ before including a pawn into the attack, Black clears all the pawns on the king's flank. 7.Ke1 Qh3 8.Ke2 Qxg4+ 9.Ke1 Qh3 10.Ke2 Qg2+ 11.Ke1 Qg5 (11...Qg3+ 12.Ke2 f5 is also winning attack) 12.Ke2 (12.Rf4 Qxf4 13.Qd8+ Rxd8 14.Rxd8+ Kxd8 15.Bxf4–+ is four pawns deficit for the white side.) 12...f5


and there is no defense against the f5-f4 thrust. As usual the opposite-coloured bishops strenghten the attack.13.Qd8+ the best deffense according to Rybka- 13...Qxd8 14.Rxd8+ Rxd8 15.Rxf5 Rd7 and Black starts realizing her material advantage.] 2...Nf6 3.Rg1 Qh5 Black kept her positional advantages, and is a solid pawn ahead. With energetical play Eti destroys Timman's defense. 4.Qg3 Ne8 5.Rde1 h6 [5...f5 6.Qg5 Qxg5 7.Bxg5 Rd3 is also great for Black] 6.a3 g5 7.Be5 Rf8 8.Bc3 Rd3 9.Rgf1


9...f5! 10.exf5 Rxf5 11.Kg1 Nd6 12.Re5 Rxe5 13.Qxe5 Bxf3 14.Qe6+ Kb8 15.Rf2 Bc6 16.Be5 Qd1+ 17.Nf1 Kb7 and White resigned. 0–1

Balkan Grand Prix- Pleasure in Cetinje

The idea of the Balkan Grand Prix was in the air from quite a long time. The primary negotiations took place during the EICC in Plovdiv in 2008. However the contract was signed on February this year, while the Topalov versus Kamsky match was in its progress. Five countries take part in the project- Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Romania and Bulgaria. The event is without any doubt profitable for the involved countries. Not only that we create connections between the Balkan countries, we also meet strong players from our neighbours with different stile, and from different chess school.
In each country one tournament has the status of a Grand Prix- Sarajevo in Bosnia that took place in May was the first one from the circuit, Cetinje (MNE) that have just finished was the second one. More to follow are the tournaments in Iasi (ROM), that finished recently, Sunny Beach (BUL) at the beginning of September and Obrenovac (SRB) in October. The top 15 qualified participants in every tournament receive points for the circuit. The cleverly made point is the tournament coefficient for the separate events. It depends on the price fund of the tournament- if it is 10 000 euro, the coefficient is 1 and the points won by the player are multiplied by it, if it is let’s say 9 500 (like in Cetinje) - then the Grand Prix points are multiplied by 0.95.
The five best players from the Grand Prix qualify for the final round robin event, and will be joined by five personally invited participants from each country. This event has minimal requirements-a price fund of 10 000 euro (1000 from each federation, and the other 5000 are charged by the host federation), and should be conducted at the end of the year, or at the beginning of 2010.
I have never been in Montenegro and went there quite curious. I knew that it is a small mountain country, with not many inhabitants (I discovered only here that their number is approximately 650 000). Since I very much enjoy the mountain, and I am very positive about the mountain people, too. My high expectations were pleasantly confirmed. Not only the area was wonderful, the organization was perfect, too.
The first people that I met were the arbiters Jasna Sakotic and Veselin Balshic, whom I already knew from the EICC in Plovdiv. Going a bit forward they did a great job, and there was not a single problem throughout the whole event. The accommodation was in the best hotel in town- Grand, we enjoyed single rooms, excellent food. The venue was spacey, well illuminated, with a special place for the audience on a respectable distance from the players. The seats in the audience were usually occupied at the end of the fourth hour, when the most dramatical events were in progress. The bar waiters appear after the first fifteen minutes, and the players could order refreshments during the game.
What I really liked in Montenegro was the dress code. According to the Montenegrin rules, you cannot appear for a game in slippers, vests and shorts. Respect for us all.
Cetinje is the old capital of Montenegro and was founded in the 15-th century. It is surrounded by the Black mountain from which the country takes its name. Currently, the population of the town is less than 20 000 people, and it is an important historical center for the locals. In the past, the town was under the constant attacks by the Turks and the Venetians, and the architecture is highly influenced by the latter.
Our hotel was situated in a green park, and some meters away from it started the main central street. At the beginning of it you can see a blacksmith, dancing under the sound of rock and roll music, while preparing his horseshoes, and other souvenirs. He is the local attraction. On the left of his souvenirs shop the old monasteries start-with the Court Church, many museums, and the Cetinje Monastery. In the latter you can see the arm of St John the Baptist, with his two finger missing. Brother Yaakov explained to us that there are altogether more than 70 monasteries in Montenegro. The religion is Orthodox Christianity.
On the right of the blacksmith the main road starts. It is relatively empty during the day, and overcrowded in the evening, when the decibels from the bars are on the max, and people enjoy cold drinks on the street, or prefer to walk on it.
I was quite lucky that my compatriot Momchil Nikolov did not let me get too lazy in the hotel. We made some nice walks in the mountains, from where we enjoyed these beautiful views.
These walks were profitable for us both. I started badly, but with an enormous bit of luck won my second game, being a piece down. Later, I did better, and managed to score 7/9. The same result was achieved by the local GM Nikola Djukic. The Bucholz criteria were applied, and there was a half point difference in it…
Solely third, achieving a second GM norm is Momchil Nikolov with 6.5 points. Probably he played the best chess, without blunders, and was never in danger of losing.
Best female is WGM Jozefina Paulet from Romania, best seniour player- GM Dusan Rajkovic from Serbia.
In conclusion, I would like to add that it was a pure pleasure for me to face such legendary players like Miso Cebalo and Bozidar Ivanovic, who are extreme fighters, and by the games of whom I used to study chess in my youth.
Official site of the Balkan Grand Prix- http://balkangrandprix.chessmix.com/

Success in Montenegro

At the recently finished stage of the Balkan Grand Prix in Cetinje (MNE) I was lucky to claim the first price. I consider as my best effort the game versus GM Miso Cebalo.
Cebalo,Miso (2476) - Bojkov,Dejan (2521) [A68]
Memorijal Danilo - Dajo Batricevic Cetinje (7.2), 15.08.2009
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 0–0 6.Nf3 c5 I decided to deviate from my usual 7...Na6. Cebalo is a very aggressive player, and somehow I expected this line. 7.d5 e6 8.Be2 exd5 9.cxd5 Bg4 10.0–0 Nbd7 11.Re1 Re8 12.h3 Bxf3 13.Bxf3 Qa5 14.Be3 b5 15.a3 Nb6 16.Bf2 Nc4 17.Qc2 Nd7


18.a4 Now it is the term of the Croatian Grandmaster to surprise. My preparation was concentrated on the move: [18.Be2 which Cebalo had used three times according to my base- 18...Rab8 19.a4 b4 20.Nb5 Nxb2 21.Nxd6 b3 22.Qb1 Nxa4 (22...Red8 23.e5 Nxa4 24.Bd1 Rb4 25.Bxb3 Rdb8 26.Qa2 Rxb3 27.Qxa4± and White won in 1–0 Cebalo,M (2465)-Rasic,D (2283)/Pula 2001/CBM 082 ext (40)) 23.Ra3 Red8 (23...c4 24.Nxe8 Bf8 25.d6 Qb4was unclear in 0–1 Cebalo,M (2520)-Balcerak,J (2413)/Biel 2000/CBM 077 ext (51)) 24.Rxb3 Nc3 25.Nc4 leads to sharp position with vast scope for improvement for both sides–Ѕ–Ѕ Cebalo,M (2510)-Mohr,G (2474)/Rabac 2003/CBM 096 ext (43)] 18...b4 This seems like an only move to me. However it seems that Black is now doing more than good. 19.Nb5 a6 20.Qxc4 axb5 21.Qxb5 Later on I dicovered a game in the line- [21.axb5 Qxa1 22.Rxa1 Rxa1+ 23.Kh2 Bxb2 (23...Nb6 might also be tested) 24.b6 Ra5 25.b7 f6 and now the simple- (25...Rb8

seems to give an edge for Black.) 26.Bg4 0–1 Sladkov,A-Makarov,S/Dagomys 2004/EXT 2005 (35)] 21...Qxb5 22.axb5 Bxb2 23.Rxa8 I was planning to meet the move- [23.Ra6 with 23...Rxa6 24.bxa6 Ra8 25.Be2 Nb8 (25...Bc3!? is also interesting)winning the pawn on a6. However now the central breakthrough 26.e5 wins in force, and probably this should have been preferred by White.] 23...Rxa8 24.e5 Bc3! 25.Rb1 [Or- 25.Rd1 b3 26.exd6 b2 27.Rb1 Ra1 28.Be4 and now Rybka suggests the slightly paradoxal retreat- 28...Ra4!? concretely picking up the f4 pawn.] 25...Rb8 I believe this is the main enemy for me-the b passer. The central pawn mass can be stopped by the combined efforts of the black pieces. Alternatively, I was also considering the line- [25...dxe5 26.d6 Ra1 Worse seems to be the line (26...Rd8 27.Bc6 exf4 28.Bxd7 Rxd7 29.Bxc5 with very unclear consequences) 27.Rxa1 Bxa1 The engines highly praise the arising position, but I disliked- 28.Bc6 b3 29.Bd5 b2 30.Ba2 exf4 31.Kf1


where my bishop is excluded from the game.] 26.e6 [26.exd6 Rxb5 is good for Black.] 26...Nf6 27.g4 I was mainly expecting something like: [27.Be2 Nxd5 28.exf7+ Kg7 (28...Kf8) ; 27.exf7+ Kg7 28.Be2 Ne4!?


where the connected passers look rather dangerous. Nevertheless, this might be a better chance for White.] 27...Rxb5 28.g5 Ne8 29.Be2 Rb8 30.Bc4 Kf8 31.f5 I did not seriously expect this. White gives away too much material, and I may afford to give back some part of it later. 31...gxf5 32.Bh4 Rb7 Good profilactical move. e6-e7 idea is now excluded, and an exchange sacrifice is coming up soon. 33.Kg2 Ng7 34.Kf3 Be5 I was already considering the exchange sacrifice- [34...fxe6 35.dxe6 Re7 36.g6 hxg6 37.Bxe7+ Kxe7 38.Rg1 Nxe6 39.Rxg6 Nd4+ 40.Ke3 Black is obviously better, but is he surely winning?! The move in the text keeps all the advantages of the position without forcing anything. Next I am going to use the rook on the open a file. In time trouble Cebalo tried also to improve his bishop:] 35.Bb3 but found an unfortunate square for it, since after: 35...fxe6 36.dxe6 Re7 37.g6 hxg6 38.Bxe7+ Kxe7 39.Rg1 Nxe6


The threat of the knight fork forces White to exchange his bishop, and the resulting position is easily winning for Black. 40.Bxe6 Kxe6 41.Rxg6+ Kf7 42.Rg1 c4 43.Ke2 b3 0–1

Alberto Reigns in Kavala

The Open Greek Championship took place traditionally- at the end of July/ beginning of August (31.07-01.08). By that time in Kavala the weather is extremely hot, like everywhere in Greece in fact, at least for my measures. However, the tournament is always respected by many chess players. This year was no exception- 160 players competed only in the A tournament. Among them were 48 GMs and 25 IMs from 23 different federations! Together with approximately the same number of participants in the “B” section, and around 60 players in the children “C” tournament Kavala is the largest chess festival in Greece. The tournament is fashionable for many reasons.
First of all it has the status of an open Greek Championship. This means that the best Greek player in the tournament will qualify directly for the round-robin Greek Individual Championship. Last year the lucky winner was Panos Dagkakis from the local club, with rating around 2250- democracy in its pure form. The best female player also qualifies for the national women championship.
Secondly- the wonderful conditions. Except for the price fund that is not bad at all- 15 000 Euro in total for both the A and B tournaments and 3000 for the winner of the main event, there are strictly fixed starting conditions for the titled participants. On the announcement of the tournament there is a scale by which any player can calculate what conditions he will receive- will he/she receive a double or a single room, how many days shall he/she spend in the hotel, will there be a travelling expenses coverage for him/her or not. This is very a simple and very effective system. When the organizers finish their resource of conditions, they simply close the registration, thus no player can claim that he was misjudged in his expectations, and the organizers can correctly distribute the financial funds they have.
Speaking about the organization-there are two men that have to be mentioned first. Vasilis Theodoris, and Vasilis Liogkas are the personalities mainly responsible for this event to take place, even at the times of financial crisis. The first one is a vice-president of the Greek Chess Federation, president of East Macedonia-Thrace Chess Union, and chief in the club. Architect by occupation, this chess devotee spends his evenings in the chess club, making sure that all the things will go smoothly. Vasilis Liogkas on his turn is a politician with strong connections, the leader of the communist party in the town, and president of the Kavala Chess Club. The efforts and the connections of these two men give the fruits of the financial funds of the tournament. However, this is a long and hard process that starts often immediately after the Kavala open has once finished.
We should not underestimate the efforts of the other helpers from the club. It is one big family, in which everyone gives whatever they can- translations, internet support, tournament site, live transmission of the game, photos, organizations-all of these are done also by other members of the Kavala Chess Club.
Third- this is the wonderful hospitality of the locals, and the excellent touristic sides to be seen. Kavala itself, the fourth largest town in Greece is famous touristic destination. Picturesquely situated on the see shore, the town has a harbour, old part of the town-with taverns, live music, excellent food, and many places to be seen. Among them is the fortress, the ancient aqueduct, the house of Mehmed Ali Pasha (Egyptian, founder of a dynasty later in his native Egypt, who did many good deeds for the town), tobacco museum, etc.
The Thasos Island can be seen from the town’s fortress and is still famous for its great wines. It is a historical fact that Kavala was founded by the Thasos people at around 6 century B. C. The initial name of the town was Neapol (new city).
Fourteen kilometers next to Kavala is Philippi-important town in the ancient times, founded by Philip Second, the father of Alexander the Great. You can still visit there the Ancient Theater, the Temple of St Lidia-the first European that took Christianity by St Paul.
Last, but not least-these are the remarkable beaches. In Kavala there are a few excellent, but my most preferable is the one in Nea Peramos-some 15 km away from the town. It is situated in vineyards, surrounded by green plants- clean sand, warm water, and superb abilities welcome the visitors.
The “A” tournament was rather tense, with the Luxembourg GM Alberto David storming the first five rounds. Later on, he slowed down the speed, and was first caught by the Indian Sandipan Chanda in round six, and furthermore by Vlad Nevednichy (ROM) and Abhijeet Gupta (IND) in the penultimate round. There was also a large group of players half a point behind them. Chanda and Nevednichy quickly signed the peace pact in the final round, while Gupta was torturing David in a rook endgame three versus two on one flank for a while. The defense proved perfect, and the Luxembourg claimed the title due to his better tie-break. Three more players jumped from the back to tie for the first- Hrant Melkhumian (ARM), Sergey Volkov (RUS), and Nidjat Mamedov (AZE). Thus, except for the two Indian players the podium became totally international.
In addition, I would like to show you a game of my ex-student George Ketzetzis, who managed to completely outplay the second-seeded Russian GM Vladimir Belov, but the heavy time-trouble took away the deserved win.
Official site of the tournament with games, and photos- http://www.chesskavala.gr/