Games Festival 2010, Thessaloniki

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The 4th Bridge International Festival of “Balkan Friendship” is part of the program of Games Festival 2010. The competition will take place 7-11 April 2010 in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Download invitation and program

4th Bridge International Festival of “Balkan Friendship” is organized by Oamth Duplicate Bridge Club of Thessaloniki, the Hellenic Bridge Federation, and Event consulting.

The tournament will be held at Mediterranean Palace, on the 8th floor at the Zeus Ballroom, with terrace for smoking and view in Thermaikos Gulf and City Center.

Online Bookings with credit cards for Bridge Packages are possible through www.eventravel.net.

Contact the tournament organizer at teotsorb@otenet.gr

The 4th Bridge tournament is part of the 2010 Games Festival

The venue is Hotel Mediterranean Palace

The White Tower is a famous landmark in Thessaloniki

The 6th Games Festival 2010 will be organized from 4th to 18th April in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece. This annual and extremely popular gathering includes following chess events in the program:

A) European Individual School Championship, on 5th (1st round) - 11th (last round) April 2010

B) World School City Matches, on 12-13th April 2010

C) International Open Tournament “Alexander the Great”, on 5th (1st round) - 11th (last round) April 2010

D) International Open Blitz Tournament, on 11th April 2010 (Continue reading)

E) European Seniors’ Individual Rapid Championship, on 7-9th April 2010

F) European Seniors’ Individual Championship, on 10-18th April 2010

G) Seminars

More details and the invitations/regulation will be available very soon.

Games Festival is a mass event organized annually for the sixth year in Thessaloniki, Greece. The festival includes series of tournaments & exhibitions in prestigious sports like chess, billiards, bridge, darts, and popular table games like scrabble, strategic games, pc games etc

Israeli, Iranian Children Get Acquainted At World Chess Championship

Thessaloniki, Greece — (May 12, 2009)

(lubavitch.com) After the trophies and closing ceremonies at last week’s World School Chess Championship in Thessaloniki, Greece, the Israeli and Iranian teams met with their coaches and local Chabad Rabbi Yoel Kaplan to talk chess and peace.

“I was with the kids all week at our center and cheered them on at the tournament,” said Kaplan. “The coach of the Iranian team approached me toward the end of the competition and asked me to help arrange a meeting for his team and the Israeli team.” (Continue reading…)

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The Sunday evening Blitz tournament was the final event taking place during the this year’s Games Festival. Even though some of the delegation had already departed to catch up with flight schedule, a massive carnival of 160 quick-on-hand players posed for a memorable final cut.

After a tumultuous battle during the seven rounds, Grandmasters Ioannis Nikolaidis and Efstratios Grivas, both from Greece, reached the highest rank with 6.5 points each. Videos, courtesy of our friends from youngchess.com, and several photos are posted bellow.
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In a dramatic last round of the World Amateur Chess Championship, Romanian players kept better concentration and scored wins on top two tables. Stefan Parlog beat Euclides Roberto Ferreira to claim the Championship and earn FM title. Radu-Cristian Toma, constantly present on the top boards, won against the Greek challenger Odyseas Kesidis and kept the second place behind his compatriot. Laszlo Nagy, who started furiously with six points from six rounds but then lost two in succession, returned back to winning path and secured bronze medal, even if only on better tiebreak. (Photo: Women winners) (more…)

GM Giorgi Bagaturov (Georgia) and IM Baris Esen (Turkey) both made quick draws in the final round of the Thessaloniki Open to share the first place with 7.0 points each. Bagaturov was awarded with the winner’s trophy on better additional criteria.

Greek junior Antonios Pavlidis won another game to finish clear third, with 6.5 points. Unfortunately, this was not sufficient for the GM norm, although he has beaten three GMs in this tournament. Pavlidis had an IM norm in his pocket prior to the last round. We will certainly hear more about him in the near future.
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Congratulations to all winners and medalists in the World School Chess Championship, the World Amateur Chess Championship, and the Thessaloniki Open!

Stay tuned for a full detailed report from the last day of the Games Festival. Meanwhile, do not forget to check out the photo album of round 9, the album of the winners, and the hundreds of photos in the gallery (here and here).

Last round results and final standings for all age groups available at the World School Chess Championship index page.