Published on: 7 Aug 2023
At the end of July, 28-30.07.2023, the Shumen Arena hosted the “Open Shumen” international rapid chess and blitz tournament, in memory of the Shumen chess player, coach and activist Stoyan Ivanov.
The competition was conducted in the spirit of fair play and healthy competition, without incident and with surprising twists until the last 11th round.
The prize fund for this year was a record 20,000 BGN, three times larger than last year’s!
For the third year in a row, the games of the first boards in the rapid chess tournament were broadcast live on the Internet. This year, their number was increased from 6 to 10, and they were separated in a VIP area, near the judges’ table.
Twelve grandmasters took part in the accelerated chess tournament – again a record! – as well as many strong international and FIDE masters, state champions and representatives of many chess schools from all over the country – a total of 202 competitors from Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Romania, Croatia, Ukraine, Russia, France, India, Germany, Italy and Canada.
After a many tight games with surprising twists in the final ranking, the winner was the gm Radoslav Dimitrov from CC “Etar” (Veliko Tarnovo), second was the gm Grigor Grigorov from Petrich, and the third was the gm Momchil Nikolov from the CC “Sinite kamani”. The cup, medals and prizes were awarded to the top 15 finishers, as well as a number of additional prizes.
GM Margarita Voiska won the prize for the top-ranked chess player over 60 years old.
Nikola Kanov won the prize for player under 16 years of age.
David-Alexandru Harabor from Romania is the top-ranked under-14 chess player.
Alexander Atanasov is awarded for athlete under 12 years of age.
For a player under 10 years of age, the award goes to Borislav Zhelyazkov.
GM Iva Videnova-Kulašević received the prize for the top-ranked female chess player.
Radostin Rafailov won the prize for a competitor with less than 2000 ELO.
Martin Stoychev received the prize for a player with less than 1500 ELO.
Velin Simeonov took the prize for the top ranked chess player without ELO in the tournament.
A blitz tournament was also held, in which 148 chess players took part.
The victory and the cup was won by GM Martin Petrov from CC “Elit” (Sofia), the second place was for GM Krasimir Rusev from “Sinite kamani” (Sliven), and third – GM Kiril Georgiev from Sofia.
Details of the rankings can be found at:
for the accelerated chess tournament: https://chess-results.com/tnr729685.aspx
for the blitz tournament: https://chess-results.com/tnr793690.aspx
A tournament of this scale becomes possible only with the joint efforts of many people, companies and institutions. We would like to thank to:
– Shumen Municipality – long-term partner and co-organizer, Shumen Municipal Housing and Real Estate, Shumen Military Club, Student Halls and Dormitories EAD Shumen, National Military University “Vasil Levski” Shumen, Sports Club “Kyokushin” Shumen, “Mihnisvet” OOD, “Fikosota” Ltd., “Alcomet” JSC, “Khan Krum” Student’s Sport School, Shumen Television, Eurocom Television and all the media that covered the event;
– all who in different ways helped make the tournament such a success.
– all the participants in the tournament, to our graduates for the courage to play, the parents of the children from SCC “Shumen”.
Благодарим и до нови срещи!
