The 2022 European Open and Women’s Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships took place from 16-18 December in Katowice, Poland.
The event gathered 1000 players coming from more than 40 European federations, with more than 800 participants in Blitz, and more than 900 participants in Rapid championship.
The first event on the schedule was the 2022 European Blitz Chess Championship, which was played on Friday, December 16th. After 11 double rounds (22 rounds in total), three players tied for the top with a score of 17.5 points: GM David Navara (CZE), GM Maciej Klekowski (POL), and GM Shant Sargsyan (ARM). Tiebreaks criteria determined David Navara as the new European Blitz Champion, Maciej Klekowski won the silver medal and Shant Sargsyan clinched bronze.
The Women’s Championship was merged with the Open tournament and the best-ranked female players were crowned as the Winners. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (FIDE) claimed the title of European Blitz Women’s Chess Champion for 2022 with a score of 15.5 points. IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (POL) trailed by half a point and won silver with 15 points and GM Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) came third with 14 points and best tiebreaks in a group of five players who tied for bronze.
European Rapid Chess Championship was played on 17-18 December. It was a tense fight until the very last minute of the event as seven players had a joint lead before the start of the last round. GM Jaime Santos Latasa (ESP) was the only one from the group who won the last-round game, and thus emerged as the sole Winner of the Rapid tournament with 9.5 points. As many as 11 players tied for silver with 9 points, each, but tiebreaks criteria favored GM David Navara (CZE) who came second and GM Daniel Fridman (GER) won bronze.
IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (POL) and GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (FIDE) were the best-ranked female players with 8.5 points, each. However, tiebreak criteria favored Aleksandra Maltsevskaya who clinched gold and Alexandra Kosteniuk came second. Five players tied for third place with a score of 8 points (each), but tiebreaks determined IM Jolanta Zawadzka (POL) as the bronze medalist.
The closing ceremony of the event took place yesterday evening at “Spodek” Sport and Entertainment Centre which was the playing venue of the Championships. The Ceremony was attended by ECU Deputy President Mrs. Dana Reizniece-Ozola, ECU Vice President Mr. Gunnar Bjornsson, FIDE Secretary General Lukasz Turlej, and other distinguished guests.
Photos from the Official website and Facebook page of the event
