Vaznonis and Germany won the Individual and Team Titles

18th Nato Chess Championship is over. The individual category was won by Vytautas Vaznonis(2315) from Lithuania with 6/7. The second place was shared by Mark Helbig (2334) and Phillip Mai (2300) both from Germany with 5.5. Germany won the team event followed by Poland and Netherlands. The best game prize went to Mai from Germany for his performance in round 5 game.

You can see a ChessBase report about the event also showing pictures of top seed Elisabeth Paethz in action (of her non-chess career) from here. You can check the players, results and pictures from the tournament page by clicking here.

Earlier News

After Round 6, Carrascoso and Vaznonis are leading with 5/6. The game between them is going to be the most critical encounter in the event to determine the winner of the event. In the team standings, the top seed of the event, Germany is leading with 17.5 followed by two teams, Netherlands and Poland with 15.5. France is closely following these two teams with 15 points. A blitz tournament is going to take place after the event. Yesterday, organizers and players had an excursion to Atatürk's Mausoleum, Atatürk Chess Centre and AnkaMall which is very close to TCF office in Ankara.

After round 5, Germany is leading with 15.5 followed by Polan with 13.5. Turkish team is currently at the third place with 12.5 points but there is a tight struggle for the third place including France and Holland having 12 points. The individual standings has Vanonis' name at the top of the table with 4.5 points. 2-5. places are shared by Helbig, Drabke, Carrascoso and Schott.

18th Nato Chess Championship is being held in Gendarmerie Schools Command in Beytepe, Ankara. After round 3, 14 players are sharing the first place with 2.5/3. Germany is leading with 10 points after round 3 followed by Poland with 9.5 and France with 9. On the first 3 boards, German and Polish players are facing each other as if playing a Germany-Poland team match.

18th NATO Chess Championship is taking place in Ankara between 2-8 September 2007. 18th Nato Chess Championship started after the official opening ceremony. The ceremony started with the speech of Chief of Staff of Gendermarie Training Command Brigadier General Ergun Koçak who stated that the organizers are glad to host this friendship tournament among NATO nations. President of the International Military Chess Committee Retired Brigaider General Hendrik Steffers. General Staff Office Brigaider General Ergun Koçak International Military Chess Committee Retired Brigaider General Hans Steffers made the official opening ceremony after his speech about the history of the NATO Chess Tournament.

The highest rated players of the tournament are 2005 World Girls U-20 Champion IM Elisabeth Paethz, IM Lorenz Drabke and IM Oystein Hole.