Vasilios Kotronias ( el, Βασίλειος Κοτρωνιάς; first name sometimes spelled ''Vassilios''; born 25 August 1964) is a Greek

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

player and writer. He is a ten-time Greek champion (1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 2006, 2010, 2014). Kotronias was awarded the titles of

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

in 1986 and Grandmaster in 1990 by

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

. Between 1998 and 2004, he represented

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

, but has since switched federations to become a Greek national player once again.

International tournament record

*1st 1988 Athens ( Acropolis International) *1st 1993 Komotini *1st 1993 Corfu *1st 1994 Gausdal *1st 1995 Gausdal *1st 1996 Rishon le Zion *1st 1998 Panormo * 1st 2003

Gibraltar Chess Festival The Gibraltar International Chess Festival is a chess tournament held annually at the Caleta Hotel in Gibraltar. Its eleven days of competition usually run from late January to early February. The inaugural edition, then known as the ''Gibtelecom ...

(jointly with

Nigel Short Nigel David Short (born 1 June 1965) is an English chess grandmaster, columnist, coach, and commentator, who is the vice-president of FIDE since October 2018. Short earned the Grandmaster title at the age of 19, and was ranked third in the w ...

) * equal 1st 2003/04

Hastings International Chess Congress The Hastings International Chess Congress is an annual chess tournament which takes place in Hastings, England, around the turn of the year. The main event is the Hastings Premier tournament, which was traditionally a 10 to 16 player round-robin t ...

* equal first at 2008

Cappelle-la-Grande Open The Cappelle-la-Grande Open is a chess tournament held every year in Cappelle-la-Grande, France, since 1985. It is usually played in the second half of February with an accelerated Swiss-system format in nine rounds. It is organized by the chess c ...

* 1st 2020 Ikaros Chess Festival

Most played openings

Team events

In team chess, he has participated in many

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and ...

s since 1984, including eight on top board, with an overall score of +63 −29 = 62 (61%). In seven appearances at the

European Team Chess Championship The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more ...

s, all played at board one, he made a score of +19 −13 = 26. At León, in 2001, he earned an individual silver medal for his score of 5½/8. He also earned a bronze medal for his performance on the second board at the Dresden Olympiad 2008 and a gold medal for his performance on the reserve board at the European Team Championship 2013 in Warsaw.

Politics

He was a candidate for the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

with The River, in the elections of 25 May 2014. After leaving the River, Kotronias joined

Syriza The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance ( el, Συνασπισμός Ριζοσπαστικής Αριστεράς – Προοδευτική Συμμαχία, Synaspismós Rizospastikís Aristerás – Proodeftikí Simachía), ...

and was a candidate in the 2019 general elections. He failed to get elected, as he finished last amongst the 18 candidates of his party.

Notable games

Vasilios Kotronias vs Evgeny Tomashevsky, European Individual Championships (2013), Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Steinitz Deferred (C79), 1-0Vasilios Kotronias vs Hikaru NakamuraGibtelecom (2009), Caro-Kann Defense: Classical Variation. Main lines (B18), 1-0Peter Heine Nielsen vs Vasilios Kotronias, Hastings 2004, King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation, Classical System Neo-Classical Line (E98), 0-1Vasilios Kotronias vs Nikolaos Skalkotas, 34th Greek Teams Championship 2005, Spanish Game: Closed Variations, Chigorin Defense (C99), 1-0Laurent Fressinet vs Vasilios Kotronias, 12th European Individual Championship (2011), King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation. Gligoric-Taimanov System (E92), 0-1

Publications

* * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kotronias, Vasilios 1964 births Living people Chess grandmasters Greek chess players Greek non-fiction writers Chess writers Chess Olympiad competitors Politicians from Athens Sportspeople from Athens Writers from Athens 20th-century Greek people