European Individual Chess Championships
The 2012 European Individual Chess Championships will take place in Plovdiv, Bulgaria from 19 March - 1 April.
The championship is an 11-round Swiss competition with a time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves, then 30 minutes to a finish with a 30 second increment from the start.
The total prize fund is €100,000, with the winner receiving €14,000. The first round is on 20 March and the last on 31 March, with the only rest day on 26 March. All rounds start at 15:00 local time (13:00 UTC) except the last round which is 2 hours earlier.
The field of 350 is very strong, headed by the rising Italian star Fabiano Caruana and last year's winner Vladimir Potkin. Nearly 100 players are rated over 2600 Elo and 15 players are 2700+ Elo.
The top 100 entrants are:
| Name | Nat | Elo | Name | Nat | Elo | |||
| 1 | Caruana Fabiano | ITA | 2767 | 51 | Socko Bartosz | POL | 2647 | |
| 2 | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | AZE | 2752 | 52 | Ivanisevic Ivan | SRB | 2645 | |
| 3 | Jakovenko Dmitry | RUS | 2729 | 53 | Safarli Eltaj | AZE | 2645 | |
| 4 | Giri Anish | NED | 2717 | 54 | Iordachescu Viorel | MDA | 2644 | |
| 5 | Riazantsev Alexander | RUS | 2710 | 55 | Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter | ROU | 2643 | |
| 6 | Vitiugov Nikita | RUS | 2709 | 56 | Petrosian Tigran L | ARM | 2643 | |
| 7 | Bacrot Etienne | FRA | 2706 | 57 | Najer Evgeniy | RUS | 2640 | |
| 8 | Jobava Baadur | GEO | 2706 | 58 | Lenic Luka | SLO | 2637 | |
| 9 | Grachev Boris | RUS | 2705 | 59 | Nyback Tomi | FIN | 2636 | |
| 10 | Malakhov Vladimir | RUS | 2705 | 60 | Jones Gawain C B | ENG | 2635 | |
| 11 | Laznicka Viktor | CZE | 2702 | 61 | Istratescu Andrei | FRA | 2633 | |
| 12 | Movsesian Sergei | ARM | 2702 | 62 | Khenkin Igor | GER | 2632 | |
| 13 | Naiditsch Arkadij | GER | 2702 | 63 | Matlakov Maxim | RUS | 2632 | |
| 14 | Navara David | CZE | 2700 | 64 | Erdos Viktor | HUN | 2631 | |
| 15 | Sutovsky Emil | ISR | 2700 | 65 | Mastrovasilis Dimitrios | GRE | 2631 | |
| 16 | Dreev Aleksey | RUS | 2698 | 66 | Beliavsky Alexander G | SLO | 2630 | |
| 17 | Efimenko Zahar | UKR | 2695 | 67 | Melkumyan Hrant | ARM | 2628 | |
| 18 | Inarkiev Ernesto | RUS | 2695 | 68 | Vuckovic Bojan | SRB | 2628 | |
| 19 | Volokitin Andrei | UKR | 2695 | 69 | Hracek Zbynek | CZE | 2627 | |
| 20 | Fressinet Laurent | FRA | 2693 | 70 | Khairullin Ildar | RUS | 2626 | |
| 21 | Vallejo Pons Francisco | ESP | 2693 | 71 | Mchedlishvili Mikheil | GEO | 2626 | |
| 22 | Andreikin Dmitry | RUS | 2689 | 72 | Mamedov Rauf | AZE | 2624 | |
| 23 | Areshchenko Alexander | UKR | 2688 | 73 | Volkov Sergey | RUS | 2623 | |
| 24 | Bologan Viktor | MDA | 2687 | 74 | Delchev Aleksander | BUL | 2622 | |
| 25 | Akopian Vladimir | ARM | 2684 | 75 | Salgado Lopez Ivan | ESP | 2621 | |
| 26 | Berkes Ferenc | HUN | 2682 | 76 | Pashikian Arman | ARM | 2618 | |
| 27 | Vachier-Lagrave Maxime | FRA | 2682 | 77 | Andriasian Zaven | ARM | 2616 | |
| 28 | Korobov Anton | UKR | 2679 | 78 | Guseinov Gadir | AZE | 2616 | |
| 29 | Sargissian Gabriel | ARM | 2674 | 79 | Lupulescu Constantin | ROU | 2616 | |
| 30 | Georgiev Kiril | BUL | 2671 | 80 | Kuzubov Yuriy | UKR | 2615 | |
| 31 | Potkin Vladimir | RUS | 2669 | 81 | Buhmann Rainer | GER | 2614 | |
| 32 | Azarov Sergei | BLR | 2667 | 82 | Howell David W L | ENG | 2614 | |
| 33 | Kobalia Mikhail | RUS | 2666 | 83 | Parligras Mircea-Emilian | ROU | 2614 | |
| 34 | Kryvoruchko Yuriy | UKR | 2666 | 84 | Markowski Tomasz | POL | 2612 | |
| 35 | Bartel Mateusz | POL | 2665 | 85 | L'ami Erwin | NED | 2611 | |
| 36 | Balogh Csaba | HUN | 2664 | 86 | Kempinski Robert | POL | 2610 | |
| 37 | Cheparinov Ivan | BUL | 2664 | 87 | Sjugirov Sanan | RUS | 2610 | |
| 38 | Postny Evgeny | ISR | 2662 | 88 | Smeets Jan | NED | 2610 | |
| 39 | Smirin Ilia | ISR | 2657 | 89 | Edouard Romain | FRA | 2607 | |
| 40 | Khismatullin Denis | RUS | 2656 | 90 | Ponkratov Pavel | RUS | 2607 | |
| 41 | Lysyj Igor | RUS | 2656 | 91 | Stocek Jiri | CZE | 2606 | |
| 42 | Ragger Markus | AUT | 2654 | 92 | Macieja Bartlomiej | POL | 2605 | |
| 43 | Fridman Daniel | GER | 2653 | 93 | Popov Ivan | RUS | 2605 | |
| 44 | Sokolov Ivan | NED | 2653 | 94 | Aleksandrov Aleksej | BLR | 2604 | |
| 45 | Rodshtein Maxim | ISR | 2652 | 95 | Kozul Zdenko | CRO | 2602 | |
| 46 | Roiz Michael | ISR | 2652 | 96 | Rakhmanov Aleksandr | RUS | 2602 | |
| 47 | Timofeev Artyom | RUS | 2650 | 97 | Solak Dragan | TUR | 2602 | |
| 48 | Khalifman Alexander | RUS | 2649 | 98 | Hovhannisyan Robert | ARM | 2600 | |
| 49 | Saric Ivan | CRO | 2649 | 99 | Kotronias Vasilios | GRE | 2597 | |
| 50 | Zhigalko Sergei | BLR | 2649 | 100 | Vajda Levente | ROU | 2597 |
The European Individual Championship 2012 is a qualification event for the next World Cup. According to the regulations a total of 23 players will qualify.
The official website will be providing a live broadcast of many of the top games.
