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Navara, Sarana Score Stunning European Rapid & Blitz Triples
The European Blitz Championship podium with GMs Vasyl Ivanchuk (silver), David Navara (gold), & Denis Kadric (bronze). Photo: Luka Rifelj, European Chess Union.

Navara, Sarana Score Stunning European Rapid & Blitz Triples

Colin_McGourty
| 6 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Alexey Sarana's sole first place in the European Rapid Chess Championship 2023 in Zagreb means he's achieved a remarkable triple—winning the European Individual, Team, and Rapid events in the same year. GM David Navara prevented a quadruple as he defended the European Blitz Chess Championship he won in 2022, making him a three-time champion after he first picked up the title in 2014. Chess legend GM Vasyl Ivanchuk took silver.


When we first reported on the European Rapid and Blitz Championships that took place December 14-16 in Zagreb, Croatia, it was to highlight one of the most impressive performances ever seen by an eight-year-old player. British girl WCM Bodhana Sivanandan won the women’s prize in the blitz and is threatening to be a real-life Beth Harmon.

Check out more on Sivanandan here. 

The European speed chess championships are mass-participation events, however, and while it’s impossible to summarize the action—435 players took part in the rapid, and 555 in the blitz—let’s at least take a look at the winners.

72-year-old former world number-four GM Ulf Anderssen was one of the participants. Photo: Luka Rifelj, European Chess Union.

Alexey Sarana Claims Triple Crown

23-year-old Sarana earlier this year scored an unbeaten 8.5/11 to win the European Championship in Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia, then scored an unbeaten 6/8 as his adopted team Serbia were surprise winners of the European Team Championship in Budva, Montenegro.

Sarana is congratulated on his win. Photo: Luka Rifelj, European Chess Union.

That was why, perhaps, there was an air of inevitability about how he went on to win the 11-round European Rapid Championship. Once again, he was undefeated. 

Sarana’s grinding style is perfect for rapid and blitz, and when he missed some wins in a 99-move game against GM Markus Ragger in the penultimate round he shrugged that off and came back to beat 21-year-old Dutch GM Casper Schoppen in 119 moves. Sarana's two bishops defeated Schoppen's two knights, with one knight suddenly trapped and eliminated.

GMs Haik Martirosyan and Bogdan-Daniel Deac were the only players to make a draw against Sarana, and they also finished unbeaten as they claimed silver and bronze respectively. 

Deac (bronze), Sarana (gold), and Martirosyan (silver) claimed the medals. Photo: Luka Rifelj, European Chess Union.

IM Laura Unuk won the women’s prize after scoring 7.5/11, putting her in 47th place, ahead of the likes of GMs Ivanchuk and Laurent Fressinet

Unuk was the top woman in the Rapid, while 8-year-old Sivanandan was the best in the Blitz. Photo: Luka Rifelj, European Chess Union.

In an interview before the event the Slovenian women's number-one explained that she was planning to take a break from chess while completing her studies in biochemistry but, "It was like some kind of addiction—at first I told myself that I would only go to one competition, but I quickly started attending more of them."

The final standings at the top looked as follows: (full standings)

2023 European Rapid Championship Final Standings

Rk. SNo Name Typ FED Rtg Pts. TB2 TB3 TB4 TB5 Rp K rtg+/-
1 7 GM Sarana, Alexey 2649 9.5 79 84.5 5 8 2779 10 18.4
2 8 GM Martirosyan, Haik M. 2634 9 80 86.5 6 7 2745 10 17.2
3 10 GM Deac, Bogdan-Daniel 2623 9 77.5 83 5 7 2728 10 16.5
4 20 GM Schoppen, Casper 2553 8.5 77 83 6 7 2677 10 20.7
5 2 GM Bacrot, Etienne 2674 8.5 77 83 5 6 2659 10 2.1
6 30 GM Gavrilescu, David U20 2522 8.5 76.5 81 5 6 2625 10 18.5
7 4 GM Jobava, Baadur 2671 8.5 76 82 5 7 2612 10 -3.2
8 31 IM Maksimovic, Bojan 2519 8.5 76 80.5 5 7 2581 10 17.2
9 27 GM Stevic, Hrvoje 2535 8.5 75 80.5 5 7 2545 10 4.8
10 62 GM Maurizzi, Marc`andria U16 2411 8.5 75 80 5 8 2632 10 33.7
11 19 GM Pultinevicius, Paulius 2557 8.5 75 79 5 7 2595 10 8.1
12 9 GM Safarli, Eltaj 2630 8.5 74.5 80 5 7 2519 10 -6.9
13 13 GM Ragger, Markus 2621 8.5 72.5 78.5 5 6 2605 10 2
14 22 GM Fedorchuk, Sergey A. 2545 8.5 71.5 77 6 8 2547 10 3.5
15 1 GM Navara, David 2708 8.5 71.5 77 5 8 2601 10 -8
16 21 GM Indjic, Aleksandar 2552 8.5 70.5 75.5 5 8 2561 10 3.9
17 29 GM Kozul, Zdenko 2524 8.5 69.5 74 5 7 2551 10 8.2
18 93 IM Aizenberg, Benny U18 2335 8.5 67.5 71.5 6 7 2501 20 54.6

David Navara Does It Again

Navara on the way to a remarkable title defense. Photo: Luka Rifelj, European Chess Union.

Twelve-time Czech Champion Navara first won the European Blitz Championship in Warsaw in 2014, before winning the title again in another Polish city, Katowice, in 2022. The 38-year-old has now won back-to-back titles after being an (almost) unstoppable force in Zagreb.

IM Gabriel Gaehwiler caught Navara in the opening in round four, but around that loss the Czech star won 10 games, including becoming the first player to take down Sarana.

When an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. Photo: Luka Rifelj, European Chess Union.

The blunder 23.Rc1? ran into the deadly 23…Qe8!.  

The only other person to beat Sarana in an official European event in 2023 had been a certain GM Magnus Carlsen, in the European Club Chess Championship, and Sarana didn’t handle this new loss well—he blundered and lost to eventual Montenegrin bronze medalist GM Denis Kadric in the next round.

Ivanchuk watches the Navara-Bacrot showdown. Photo: Luka Rifelj, European Chess Union.

Navara paused for one quiet draw against Ivanchuk, then won a French-defense thriller against French GM Etienne Bacrot. It wasn’t flawless chess, but Navara’s fighting spirit was fittingly rewarded.

Always the gentleman, Navara immediately began resetting the pieces after the final move. 

It was also thrilling to see 54-year-old Ivanchuk in full flow. The Ukrainian former world number-two won 10 games, drew two, and only missed out on gold because he lost on time in a position that had been winning a move earlier in round two.

The traditional European speed chess event is also a warm up for the World Rapid and Blitz Championship later this month in Samarkand. Photo: Luka Rifelj, European Chess Union.

The final standings at the top looked as follows: (full standings

2023 European Blitz Championship Final Standings

Rk. SNo Name FED Rtg Pts. TB2 TB3 TB4 TB5
1 4 GM Navara, David 2661 11.5 112.5 118.5 6 11
2 3 GM Ivanchuk, Vasyl 2678 11 104.5 111 7 10
3 13 GM Kadric, Denis 2591 10.5 109.5 115.5 7 9
4 15 GM Saric, Ivan 2586 10.5 108 114.5 7 9
5 2 GM Sarana, Alexey 2707 10 109.5 117.5 6 9
6 1 GM Martirosyan, Haik M. 2770 10 109.5 116 6 10
7 7 GM Bacrot, Etienne 2640 10 108.5 115 7 10
8 9 GM Mamedov, Rauf 2635 10 108 112.5 7 8
9 11 GM Jobava, Baadur 2599 10 107.5 113.5 7 9
10 21 GM Plat, Vojtech 2554 10 105.5 111.5 7 10
11 5 GM Safarli, Eltaj 2653 10 104.5 110 6 8
12 50 IM Stankovic, Milos 2445 10 100 106 6 10
13 35 IM Baidetskyi, Valentin 2507 10 98.5 104 7 9
14 27 GM Grigoriants, Sergey 2532 10 96.5 102.5 6 9

The next big rapid and blitz event on the horizon is the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2023 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, that runs December 26-30. Carlsen will be attempting to defend his two remaining world championship titles, while a great result might mean Candidates qualification for one of the other players. 

Colin_McGourty
Colin McGourty

Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.

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