European Team Chess Championship
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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 or less accords with the wider definition of Europe used in other events such as the
Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...
and includes Israel, Russia and the former Soviet States. The competition is run under the auspices of the
European Chess Union The European Chess Union (ECU) is an independent association for the interests of European chess. Board members * Zurab Azmaiparashvili – President * Ion-Serban Dobronauteanu – Deputy President * Finnbjorn Vang – Vice President * Theodor ...
(ECU).


Championship history

The idea was conceived in the early 1950s, when chess organisers became aware of the need for another international team event. Consequently, a men-only Championship was devised and held every four years, with the intention of filling in the gaps between
Olympiads An olympiad ( el, Ὀλυμπιάς, ''Olympiás'') is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the ancient and modern Olympic Games. Although the ancient Olympics were established during Greece's Archaic Era, it was not unti ...
. More recently, the Championship has grown in importance and popularity and is regarded as a prestigious tournament in its own right, providing for male and female participants. The first Championship Final was held in
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and Baden bei Wien in 1957 (August 22–28). It was a double round robin and notable for the surprise victory of the Yugoslav team over the mighty Soviet team in their second encounter. For the next twenty years, Championships occurred at four-year intervals, although the Kapfenberg event was delayed by a year. Since 1977, successive tournaments have mainly been held on a three and then a two-year cycle. A Women's Championship, following the same cycle and venues as the men's, was established at
Debrecen Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and ...
in 1992.


Championship format

Over the early years, the formula altered incrementally, to allow the participation of a growing number of teams. At the inaugural event, only four places were made available for the Finals and some teams expected to do well, simply failed to qualify from the preliminary rounds. By 1973, the competition had expanded to roughly double the size and there were twenty-four nations in the preliminaries, competing for eight places in the Finals, held in Bath. Conversely, over the same period, the number of boards played in a match was reduced from ten to eight, presumably to reduce costs for organisers and participatory federations. Into the new millennium, the format has changed radically and is now based on a Swiss system in nine rounds, on the model of the Olympiad, with one section for the men's teams and one section for the women's teams, considered as separate competitions. At
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in 2005, the men's competition comprised 40 teams (including Sweden B and Sweden C) and the women's competition, 26 teams (including Sweden B). Each round was contested over four boards and squads included a reserve. Historically, teams played for the pleasure of winning the Europa Cup, but nowadays this has been overshadowed by the popular medal-winning format of the 'Olympics' and Chess Olympiad. Gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded to the top three teams and also as board prizes for outstanding individual performances. Plovdiv 2003 heralded a major change in the scoring methodology. Both the men's and women's events were, for the first time, scored by total of match points, rather than game points as had previously been the case. Game points are still recorded for purposes of tie-breaking.


Summary of results


Open section


Women section


Total team ranking


Open section

The table contains the men's teams ranked by the medals won at the European Team Championship.


Women section

The table contains the women's teams ranked by the medals won at the European Team Championship.


See also

*
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 an ...
*
Women's Chess Olympiad The Women's Chess Olympiad is an event held by FIDE (the International Chess Federation) since 1957 (every two years since 1972), where national women's teams compete at chess for gold, silver and bronze medals. Since 1976 the Women's Chess Olympia ...
*
World Team Chess Championship The World Team Chess Championship is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of 10 countries whose chess federations dominate their continent. It is played every two years. In chess, this tournament and the Chess Olympiads ...
*
Chess at the African Games Chess has been contested at the African Games since the 2003 All-Africa Games, 2003 Games in Abuja, except for the 2015 African Games, 2015 Games in Brazzaville. The chess events have included individual and team events for men and women. The o ...
*
Pan American Team Chess Championship The Pan American Team Chess Championship is an international team chess tournament open to national federations affiliated to FIDE in the Americas. It is organized by the Confederation of Chess for America (CCA), and the winner qualifies to partic ...
* Asian Team Chess Championship *
Russia (USSR) vs Rest of the World Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...
*
European Chess Club Cup The European Chess Club Cup is an annual chess tournament for club teams from Europe. It is organised by the European Chess Union. The competition is held with the Swiss system over seven rounds. It consists of two sections, open and women's, with e ...
*
Correspondence Chess Olympiad The Correspondence Chess Olympiad is a correspondence chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete. International Correspondence Chess Federation organises the tournament. Correspondence Chess Olympiads Ladies Correspondence C ...


References


Olimpbase - Olympiads and other Team event informationRules of ETC - FIDE Handbook
* *


External links


2017 ChampionshipVideostream: 2015 European Team Chess Championship2015 Championship, Reykjavík, Iceland

2013 Championship, Warsaw, Poland2011 Championship, Porto Carras, Greece2007 Championship, Crete, Greece2005 Championship, Goteborg, Sweden2003 Championship, Plovdiv - and link to historical ETC games archive
{{Chess international championships Supranational chess championships Women's chess competitions 1957 in chess Recurring sporting events established in 1957 Chess in Europe