European Individual Chess Championship
# European Individual Chess Championship

The European Individual Chess Championship is a chess tournament organised by the European Chess Union. It was established in 2000 and has since then taken place on a yearly basis. Apart from determining the European champions (open and women's), another objective of this tournament is to determine a number of players who qualify for the FIDE World Cup and the knockout Women's World Championship.

## Mode of play

The event consists of two separate tournaments; an open event, and a women's event. Female players may participate in the open section. Both are a Swiss system tournament, with a varying number of rounds. Historically, the only exception to this was the first Women's Championship tournament in 2000, which was held as a knockout tournament. In 2002, Judit Polgár narrowly missed out on the bronze medal in the open competition by losing a playoff match against Zurab Azmaiparashvili. In 2011, Polgár won the bronze medal in the open competition at Aix-les-Bains, France.

Apart from the first edition in 2000, where in case of a tie the Buchholz rating was used as a tie-breaker, rapid play playoff matches are used to determine the medal winners as well as the world championship qualifiers.

## Controversy

There have been a number of controversies associated with the tournament:

* At most venues, participants and accompanying persons have been obliged to stay at the "official hotel", appointed by the local organizers. The room rates for participants, however, have been significantly higher than for other hotel guests. This in large part contributed to the founding of the ACP in 2003. Also the standard of the hotels as well as of the food has been a focus of complaints by players and journalists.
* As the European Championships are part of the FIDE World Championship cycle, starting with the 2001 edition, the new, faster FIDE time control was used. This led to many complaints by the participants about increased stress, incessant time trouble and a steep deterioration of the quality of the games.

## Results (open)

| Year | Venue | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Players/rounds |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2000 | Saint-Vincent, Italy | Pavel Tregubov (RUS) | Aleksej Aleksandrov (BLR) | Tomasz Markowski (POL) | 120 / 11 |
| 2001 | Ohrid, Macedonia | Emil Sutovsky (ISR) | Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR) | Zurab Azmaiparashvili (GEO) | 203 / 13 |
| 2002 | Batumi, Georgia | Bartłomiej Macieja (POL) | Mikhail Gurevich (BEL) | Sergey Volkov (RUS) | 101 / 13 |
| 2003 | Silivri, Turkey | Zurab Azmaiparashvili (GEO) | Vladimir Malakhov (RUS) | Alexander Graf (GER) | 207 / 13 |
| 2004 | Antalya, Turkey | Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR) | Predrag Nikolić (BIH) | Levon Aronian (GER) | 74 / 13 |
| 2005 | Zegrze, Poland | Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (ROM) | Teimour Radjabov (AZE) | Levon Aronian (ARM) | 229 / 13 |
| 2006 | Kuşadası, Turkey | Zdenko Kožul (CRO) | Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR) | Kiril Georgiev (BUL) | 138 / 11 |
| 2007 | Dresden, Germany | Vladislav Tkachiev (FRA) | Emil Sutovsky (ISR) | Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS) | 403 / 11 |
| 2008 | Plovdiv, Bulgaria | Sergei Tiviakov (NED) | Sergei Movsesian (SVK) | Sergey Volkov (RUS) | 323 / 11 |
| 2009 | Budva, Montenegro | Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS) | Vladimir Malakhov (RUS) | Baadur Jobava (GEO) | 306 / 11 |
| 2010 | Rijeka, Croatia | Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS) | Baadur Jobava (GEO) | Artyom Timofeev (RUS) | 408 / 11 |
| 2011 | Aix-les-Bains, France | Vladimir Potkin (RUS) | Radosław Wojtaszek (POL) | Judit Polgár (HUN) | 393 / 11 |
| 2012 | Plovdiv, Bulgaria | Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS) | Laurent Fressinet (FRA) | Vladimir Malakhov (RUS) | 348 / 11 |
| 2013 | Legnica, Poland | Alexander Moiseenko (UKR) | Evgeny Alekseev (RUS) | Evgeny Romanov (RUS) | 286 / 11 |
| 2014 | Yerevan, Armenia | Alexander Motylev (RUS) | David Antón Guijarro (ESP) | Vladimir Fedoseev (RUS) | 257 / 11 |
| 2015 | Jerusalem, Israel | Evgeniy Najer (RUS) | David Navara (CZE) | Mateusz Bartel (POL) | 250 / 11 |
| 2016 | Gjakova, Kosovo | Ernesto Inarkiev (RUS) | Igor Kovalenko (LAT) | Baadur Jobava (GEO) | 245 / 11 |
| 2017 | Minsk, Belarus | Maxim Matlakov (RUS) | Baadur Jobava (GEO) | Vladimir Fedoseev (RUS) | 397 / 11 |
| 2018 | Batumi, Georgia | Ivan Šarić (CRO) | Radosław Wojtaszek (POL) | Sanan Sjugirov (RUS) | 302 / 11 |
| 2019 | Skopje, North Macedonia | Vladislav Artemiev (RUS) | Nils Grandelius (SWE) | Kacper Piorun (POL) | 361 / 11 |
| 2021 | Reykjavik, Iceland | Anton Demchenko (RUS) | Vincent Keymer (GER) | Alexey Sarana (RUS) | 180 / 11 |
| 2022 | Brežice, Slovenia | Matthias Blübaum (GER) | Gabriel Sargissian (ARM) | Ivan Šarić (CRO) | 317 / 11 |
| 2023 | Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia | Alexey Sarana (FIDE) | Kirill Shevchenko (ROU) | Daniel Dardha (BEL) | 484 / 11 |
| 2024 | TBA, Israel | | | | |

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 European Championship in Podčetrtek, Slovenia was postponed to 2022.

## Results (women)

| Year | Venue | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Players/rounds |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2000 | Batumi, Georgia | Natalia Zhukova (UKR) | Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (RUS) | Maia Chiburdanidze (GEO) Tatiana Stepovaya (RUS) | 32 / K.O. |
| 2001 | Warsaw, Poland | Almira Skripchenko (MDA) | Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (RUS) | Ketevan Arakhamia (GEO) | 157 / 11 |
| 2002 | Varna, Bulgaria | Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) | Lilit Mkrtchian (ARM) | Alisa Galliamova (RUS) | 114 / 11 |
| 2003 | Silivri, Turkey | Pia Cramling (SWE) | Viktorija Čmilytė (LTU) | Tatiana Kosintseva (RUS) | 113 / 11 |
| 2004 | Dresden, Germany | Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) | Zhaoqin Peng (NED) | Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) | 108 / 12 |
| 2005 | Chișinău, Moldova | Kateryna Lahno (UKR) | Nadezhda Kosintseva (RUS) | Yelena Dembo (GRE) | 164 / 12 |
| 2006 | Kuşadası, Turkey | Ekaterina Atalik (TUR) | Tea Bosboom-Lanchava (NED) | Lilit Mkrtchian (ARM) | 96 / 11 |
| 2007 | Dresden, Germany | Tatiana Kosintseva (RUS) | Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) | Nadezhda Kosintseva (RUS) | 150 / 11 |
| 2008 | Plovdiv, Bulgaria | Kateryna Lahno (UKR) | Viktorija Čmilytė (LTU) | Anna Ushenina (UKR) | 157 / 11 |
| 2009 | Saint Petersburg, Russia | Tatiana Kosintseva (RUS) | Lilit Mkrtchian (ARM) | Natalia Pogonina (RUS) | 168 / 11 |
| 2010 | Rijeka, Croatia | Pia Cramling (SWE) | Viktorija Čmilytė (LTU) | Monika Soćko (POL) | 158 / 11 |
| 2011 | Tbilisi, Georgia | Viktorija Čmilytė (LTU) | Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) | Elina Danielian (ARM) | 158 / 11 |
| 2012 | Gaziantep, Turkey | Valentina Gunina (RUS) | Tatiana Kosintseva (RUS) | Anna Muzychuk (SLO) | 103 / 11 |
| 2013 | Belgrade, Serbia | Hoang Thanh Trang (HUN) | Salome Melia (GEO) | Lilit Mkrtchian (ARM) | 169 / 11 |
| 2014 | Plovdiv, Bulgaria | Valentina Gunina (RUS) | Tatiana Kosintseva (RUS) | Salome Melia (GEO) | 116 / 11 |
| 2015 | Chakvi, Georgia | Natalia Zhukova (UKR) | Nino Batsiashvili (GEO) | Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS) | 98 / 11 |
| 2016 | Mamaia, Romania | Anna Ushenina (UKR) | Sabrina Vega (ESP) | Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) | 112 / 11 |
| 2017 | Riga, Latvia | Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) | Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS) | Alisa Galliamova (RUS) | 144 / 11 |
| 2018 | Vysoké Tatry, Slovakia | Valentina Gunina (RUS) | Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) | Anna Ushenina (UKR) | 144 / 11 |
| 2019 | Antalya, Turkey | Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS) | Marie Sebag (FRA) | Elisabeth Paehtz (GER) | 130 / 11 |
| 2021 | Iași, Romania | Elina Danielian (ARM) | Iulija Osmak (UKR) | Oliwia Kiolbasa (POL) | 117 / 11 |
| 2022 | Prague, Czech Republic | Monika Socko (POL) | Gunay Mammadzada (AZE) | Ulviyya Fataliyeva (AZE) | 123 / 11 |
| 2023 | Petrovac, Montenegro | Meri Arabidze (GEO) | Oliwia Kiolbasa (POL) | Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (POL) | 136 / 11 |
