European Team Chess Championship in November

3rd – 11th November in Halkidiki, Greece

A total of 38 countries have registered their participation in the European Team Championship 2011, which starts next week. Each national federation affiliated to the European Chess Union (ECU) has the right to enter one team of four players plus one reserve in the open competition, and one team of four female players and one reserve in the women’s competition.

The ETCC is a nine-round Swiss, with one open section and one section for the women’s teams, considered a separate competitions. According to ECU and FIDE rules, the time control will be 90 min for 40 moves + 30 min for the rest of the game + 30 sec increment for every move played starting from the first move.

The games will be played in the Olympic Hall Congress Center (1500 sq. m.), within the five-star Porto Carras Grand Resort, which is located in an enchantingly verdant landscape in Halkidiki, Greece. Also called Chalkidiki the peninsula is one of the peripheral units of Greece, part of the periphery of Central Macedonia.

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Set like a gem in 1763 hectares (17 million sq. m.) of incredibly beautiful grounds, it is a paradise of green, fringed by seemingly endless sandy beaches, in fact nine kilometers of them! The Porto Carras Grand Resort is located 110 km (75 minutes drive) south of the international airport of Thessaloniki, and includes in its 1763 hectares three hotel divisions, each in a different style, a casino, an ultra-modern thalassotherapy centre and spa, an international-standard 18-hole golf course, a private 315-berth marina, a 5,000 seat convention centre and Greece’s largest organic vineyard.

Other chess events that were held in Porto Carras include the 2010 World Youth Chess Championships with almost 1400 participants (the largest FIDE event ever!), the Greek School Championships of 2008, 2009 and 2010 and the International Open “Summer Cup” tournaments of 2008, 2009 and 2010.

In addition to the 38 countries participating in the Open section, there are 28 teams in the women's tournament. As the games start on November 3rd, the FIDE ratings of November 1st 2011 will apply. Below is the first basic lists, sorted according to the average rating of the players:

Top ten teams from both sections (Open, Women)

Schedule

1. November: Arrival of Delegations
2. November: Captain’s Meeting – 22:00
3. November: Opening Ceremony – 14:30
   November: Round 1 – 15:00
4. November: Round 2 – 15:00
5. November: Round 3 – 15:00
6. November: Round 4 – 15:00
7. November: Round 5 – 15:00
8. November: Round 6 – 15:00
9. November: Round 7 – 15:00
10. November: Round 8 – 15:00
11. November: Round 9 – 13:00
    November: Closing Ceremony – 21:00
12. November: Departure of delegations

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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