Europa House

PRESS-RELEASE

Children’s Chess Tournament

On June 2, the National Chess Club saw the completion of the children’s chess tournament dedicated to the International Children"s Day. The tournament was organized jointly by Europa House (European Commission’s office in Uzbekistan) and the Chess Federation of Uzbekistan. The initiative to organize this tournament came from Europa House. The proposal was met with warm welcom by the Chess Federation, and supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The tournament was attended by children from all over the country, including children from orphanages and special schools. The tournament originally envisaged the participation of 70 children, but the interest in the tournament so far exceeded expectations that the organizers decided to include the maximum number of players that the playing hall could accommodate - 80 young chess players.

Europa House nominated valuable prizes for 12 boys and 12 girls topping the tournament crosstable, but memorable prizes were awarded to all participants without exception.

The first prize in the boys nomination was taken by the talented 13-year-old chess player from Tashkent Oleg Artemenko. In the nomination of girls, the winner was the Under-12 champion of Uzbekistan Gulruhbegim Tahirjanova from the Fergana region. Kosim Aliyev from the city of Bukhara took the second place among the boys, and the Under-14 champion of Uzbekistan Aripov Iskandar took third. Places two and three in the girls’ section went to Muhamadkarimova Feruza and Faziljanova Nargiza respectively.

At the end of the tournament, member of the Uzbek National Team, winner of many international tournaments, three-times Asian champion grandmaster Anton Filippov played a simultaneous exhibition game on 11 boards against the top girls and boys. The tournament winner Oleg Artemenko scored the only victory over the grandmaster. The overall simul score was 9,5 to 1,5 in favor of the grandmaster, with 9 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss.

The tournament turned into a real festivity for all children and their parents. At the closing ceremony, the  head of Europa House Mr. Pierre-Paul Antheunissens personally presented the prizes to all winners, noting that he was greatly pleased to see happy smiles on children’s faces, and expressed hope that the Chess Federation and the Europa House will continue their cooperation in the future.