European variant of chess (国际象棋 in Chinese) has never been as popular in China as xiangqi, the chess-related game derived from ancient chaturanga. Even though Chinese players had international contacts as early as in 1950s (see "Four unknown international matches China-USSR" for details), the game was banned during the first eight years of the Cultural Revolution. The political thaw allowed chess be played freely in late 1970s. China participated in the 1978 Olympiad and finished in impressive 20th. A memorable Chinese immortal was played then, when obscure Chinese player Liu Wenzhe steamrolled over GM Donner in 20 moves. Chess in China became more and more popular since then, a lot of extremely players appeared, and China women's team won gold Olympic medal as much as four times, while men's selection took silver in 2006. Four Chinese became women's World Champions: Xie Jun, Zhu Chen, Xu Yuhua and Hou Yifan. Ye Rongguang became China's first grandmaster in 1990, and Bu Xiangzhi became World's youngest GM at 13 years back in 1999.

The all-China team competition was established in 2005 and is played on yearly basis. It is called the National Chess League (中国国际象棋联赛) administered by Chinese Chess Association. The format is simple yet powerful: 12 (formerly 10) city/province teams compete in the double round robin tournament. Each match is played on five boards, of which two are women's duels. One selected game per match is rapid. The league usually takes off in late March and lasts until December. Teams are usually named after their primary commercial sponsors.

Though little attention is paid to the ChCL in Europe, it is actually extremely strong and fascinating event. It features many 2700+ grandmasters on regular basis including domestic stars Wang Hao, Wang Yue, Ding Liren, Bu Xiangzhi as well as a bunch of foreign players: Ivanchuk, Ponomariov, Malakhov, Short, Jobava, Motylev, Humpy, Yakovenko, Bologan and many, many more. Strongest teams come from Beijing, Shanghai and Shandong. ChCL is broadly covered live by its governing body, unfortunately only in Chinese: http://www.qipai.org.cn. Badly enough, ChCL managers have not yet discovered that putting together PGN files helps the games be saved for future generations, so ca. 45% games are missing, even from recent years.

Please note: We did our best to provide best quality data and struggled to finally recover every game, every match from the very beginning. However, since there are virtually no credible non-Chinese sources, there may be minor discrepancies; some translations may be awkward or even nonsence. If you are familiar with Chinese chess or you are native Chinese speaker please consider supporting our project. Thank you.

Chinese Chess League 2013 results

Chinese Chess League 2005-2013 summary

Chinese Chess League all-time statistics

The Four Nations Chess League is the three-level event and the only all-national chess team championship held in United Kingdom. Established in 1993, it soon became major event in the UK, attracting top British players as well as dozens of European leading grandmasters. Although nominally all-British, the 4NCL is predominantly English, with participation of few Welsh teams. Scotland and N.Ireland have their own (relatively weak) championships.

The 4NCL gained huge popularity in early 2000s and quickly became one of major chess leagues in Europe. Sadly, due to unstable financial conditions and inadequate funding, the league is not as strong as it could be. 4NCL Champions had problems reaching top positions in the European Club Cup, peaking at 20th in 2003 and 2012.

4NCL featured many top players, including Korchnoi, Shirov, Morozevich, Wojtaszek, Gurevich, Tiviakov, Cramling, Lautier (frankly some of these played very few games) and a bunch of domestic stars: Adams, Nunn, Short, Miles and the likes.

Matches in Division 1 are played on 8 boards and there has to be a woman in the line-up. 16 teams are divided onto two groups of 8, with top 4 from each group forming the Championship Pool. Bottom four from the Relegation Poll are relegated to Division 2. The league is usually played over five weekends, from October until May.

It took a lot of time and cost a lot of effort, but we made it possible to recover every detail from all 20 editions and the full history is now available at one mouse click. Please note that most games from seasons 1994-95 and 1995-96 are not available.

Some 4NCL Division 1 trivia:
All 20 seasons in 4NCL Div/1 - IM Andy Ledger
Most points scored - GM Johny Emms (118)
Most games played - IM Simon Ansell (194)
Most game wins - GM Mark Hebden (87)
Most games drawn - GM John Parker (85)
Least games lost - GM Michael Adams (2/59)
Best percentage (min.30 games) - GM Adams (85.6)
Most 4NCL titles - GM Mark Hebden (11)
Every time on 4NCL podium - GM Glenn Flear (16 times)

4NCL Website - http://www.4ncl.co.uk

4NCL summary 1993-2013 (link: http://www.olimpbase.org/leagueUK/4ncl.html)

4NCL all-time statistics

Weeks after conclusion of European Team Championship World's ten leading chess nations met in Antalya, Turkey in the run for World's most prestiguous trophy - The World Team Chess Championship. Eligible to participate were a.o. continental champions and top teams from Istanbul Olympiad. Sadly, Norway, India, Israel and the likes did not qualify so we could not see the magic of Carlsen, Anand, Gelfand, Caruana and others. There were still 18 players rated 2700+.

As Ukraine had a perfect take-off of 5/5, beating USA, China, Azerbaijan on their way, Russia - top seeds - struggled from the very beginning scoring 0.5/2 (Nakamura beat Kramnik and so US beat Russia 3-1). China were no better - 1/3. Newly crowned European Champions Azerbaijan were missing top two boards Radjabov and Mamedyarov, literally reducing their chances to the minimum.

Ukraine's chances broke on day 6 when they unexpectedly lost to the Netherlands. Meanwhile third seeds Armenia lost to Germany to the surprise of many 3-1 and were out of the game. The hit clash occured on penultimate day: Ukraine were in one point lead yet were defeated by the Russians 2.5-1.5 and so the title went to Russia - at last (no gold in Warsaw, no gold at Istanbul Olympiad in 2012, no gold in WTCh in 2011), China spurted to silver reaching sixth consecutive win, while Ukraine won bronze.

Best individual results were achieved by Armenia's top board GM Aronian: 6/8 and the Russian reserve Nepomnyaschy (or Nepomnatchtchi as he is commonly known) 5.5/7.

For more information you can visit the official website of the Championship http://wctc2013.tsf.org.tr/

See results of 2013 World Team Championship

See all-time summary

The Poland-hosted European Team Championship is over, and it is good time for a short statistical review. When it comes to the open section there were 38 teams present out of 56 E.C.U. members, on par with 2009 and 2011 editions, and three under record of 41 from Debrecen, Hungary in 1992. None of 10 European micro-nations arrived (Luxembourg, Faroe Islands, Liechtenstein, Andorra, San Marino, Malta, Cyprus, Monaco, Guernsey and Jersey) as they were set for 4th Small Nations tournament in Monte Carlo. Yet there were some prominent chess nations missing too: Bosnia and Herzegovina (Nikolic, Predojevic), Latvia (Shirov!), Moldova (Bologan), Slovakia who suffer deep structural crisis (Ftacnik, Stohl), Portugal, Estonia, Albania, Ireland. Most of the absentees suffered serious financial constraints and were unable to get enough funds for completing the team.

There were even less teams in the women's section. With 32 teams in the pool the counter may reach its 21st century peak, but it is still far from Debrecen 1992 record of thirty-eight. The following six federations did not send women's team: Sweden (!!), Denmark (!), Scotland, Wales, Montenegro, FYROM. No nation was represented solely by women's selection.



Teams in orange participated in both open and women's competition,
teams in yellow took part only in open event, teams in white were absent in Warsaw.
Note! Northern Ireland (in grey) are not member of E.C.U.

The teams of Azerbaijan in the Open section and Ukraine in Women's section are the new winners of the European Team Chess Championship, which was held in Warsaw/Poland 7-18 November, 2013.
Azerbaijan tied with Armenia in the last round, but Russia defeated the leader France in the last round, thanks to the victory of Andreikin, which helped Azerbaijan to win the gold. Silver went to France, and bronze went to Russia.

In the Women's section the leading Ukraine lost to Russia in the last 9th round, but since they were leading by 3 points, they became the winners afterall. Silver medal went to Russia, and bronze to Poland.

The Championship was held under the under the auspices of Bronisaw Komorowski, the President of the Republic of Poland. The organizer was The Polish Chess Federation under the auspices of the European Chess Union. The tournament was played according to the Swiss system in 9 rounds, with the time control 90 minutes for 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game + 30 seconds increment per move starting from move one.

For more information you can visit the official website of the Championship http://etcc2013.com


/ taken from www.europechess.net /

See results of 2013 European Team Championship: men and women

See all-time summary: men and women



Azerbaijan - the winners of open championship

Shadowed by the World Championship match, yet still important, the 19th European Team Championship commenced on Friday, November 8th in Warsaw, Poland in Novotel Hotel. The biennial event is held under patronage of Polish President Bronisław Komorowski and attracted 38 men's (no Latvia and no Slovakia) and 32 women's teams. As in previous years, the event is nine round Swiss, and the final order is decided by match points.

There is no Carlsen, of course, and Poland, the home side are missing their top board Wojtaszek, Anand's second. Russia have no Kramnik nor Karjakin, but Grischuk and Svidler are there. Ponomariov and Ivanchuk are missing for Ukraine, while Aronian (2801) leads extremely strong Armenian team. Other top rated players to arrive to Warsaw are Caruana (2782), Topalov (2774 - played Aronian in round 1 - these two are the strongest players ever to play a game of chess on Polish soil), Mamedyarov (2757), Adams (2752).

As the games took off, Russia sensationally lost to Turkey by 2.5-1.5 while second seeds Armenia went to a disappointing draw vs Bulgaria. Mighty France seem to be the strongest in the pool. In round 3 they scored thumping 3-1 win over Ukraine. England lost badly to Greece 3-1 on day two, but held Russia on the consecutive day. Czech Republic are in the lead, but this seems rather be lucky pairing so far, and challenges are yet to come.

In the women's section Armenia and Poland are in joint lead at 6 points, both to play each other on Monday. 15th seeds Israel step from one surprise to another: on day two the beat 2nd seeds Russia and then held 3rd seeds Georgia to a draw. Today they must face top seeded Ukraine - what a demanding roll!

Tournament website :: http://etcc2013.com
European Team Championship 1957-2011 summary :: men and women




Wojciech Bartelski, Mayor of Warszawa-Śródmieście district, member of honorary committee,
(and yes! - owner of olimpbase.org) starts game GM Svidler-GM Ivanisević,
Russia-Serbia, round 1, board 1.

G-Team Novy Bor from Czech Republic defeated Minsk 4,5-1,5 in the final round in the Open section of the European Club Cup to take a clear first place and win the prestigious trophy.

G-Team Novy Bor won six matches, including the clash with the previous champion and top-seeded SOCAR, and tied only Malachite to conclude the event with 13 match points, one point ahead of the chasing pack.

Malachite took the silver medal thanks to the 4-2 win against PGMB-Rostov. Top two players Alexander Grischuk and Sergey Karjakin decided the match.

SOCAR split the points with Saint-Petersburg (six draws) which was enough for the bronze medal on best tie-break: Olympiad-Sonneborn-Berger.

Also on 11 points but with weaker tie-break are Clichy Echecs 92 and Saint-Petersburg.


*   *   *

Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo won all matches in the first six rounds in Women section of the European Club Cup to secure the title of European Champion with one round to spare.

Monte-Carlo proceeded to beat Fischer Chieti 4-0 in the final round. Chess Club BAS and Ugra played 2-2 in the match of many missed chances on both sides. Ugra confirmed their second place and silver medal. On the shared third place are SHSM Nashe Nasledie and Mika Chess Club with 9 points each. SHSM Nashe Nasledie claimed the bronze thanks to the superior tie-break.

This is the fifth title for CE Monte Carlo, after previously winning in 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2012.

The club is represented by the reigning World Champion GM Hou Yifan 2609 CHN, former World Championship challenger GM Koneru Humpy 2607 IND, GM Muzychuk Anna 2585 SLO, GM Cramling Pia 2515 SWE and IM Skripchenko Almira 2441 FRA.

/ taken from www.fide.com /

See detailed results of 2013 European Club Cup: men and women

See all-time statistics: men and women

Tagaytay-Philippines whipped Shah Alam, Malaysia 2.5-1.5 in the ninth and final round to capture the title of the 2013 Asian Cities Chess Team Championship also known as Dubai Cup on Saturday.

Grandmaster Oliver Barbosa downed FM Nicolas Chan after 39 moves of Slav defense on Board 1 while GM Darwin Laylo crushed Mohd Nabi Azman Hisham after 28 moves of Gruenfeld defense on Board 4. GM John Paul Gomez drew with Fong Yit San after 60 moves of Queen's Gambit Declined on board 3 to lead his team to victory.

Li Tian Yeoh upset GM Mark Paragua after 55 moves of Caro-Kann defense on Board 2 to provided full point for Shah Alam, Malaysia.

The win gave Tagaytay finished 17 total match points in the event hosted by NCFP secretary-general Rep. Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino, the Fide Asian Zone 3.3 president in close cooperation with the Tagaytay City government, headed by his wife and mayor, Dr. Agnes Tolentino.

Tagaytay pocketed top prize $3,000 plus Dubai Cup trophy.
Shanghai and Wuxi, China came second to third place with 15 points apiece.
Shanghai crushed Sharjah, UAE, 2.5-1.5, while Wuxi nipped Singapore, 4-0.
Both, Shanghai and Wuxi split the combined prizes of $3,000 for 2nd and 3rd placers.
Tournament director is IA Casto Abundo, while supervising arbiter is IA Gene Poliarco.

See detailed results :: 2013 Asian Cities - Dubai Cup ::

Read more at www.fide.com

/ Taken from National Chess Federation of The Philippines /