Maltese Chess Championship Explained

The Maltese Chess Championship is the yearly chess championship organised by the Malta Chess Federation in Malta which determines the national champion. Initially it consisted of an Open Championship.

Now the National championships also include the Junior Championships, the Rapid Championships and the Blitz Championships.

The current open National Champion is David Cilia Vincenti. Jack Mizzi holds the other 3 National titles: National Junior Champion, National Rapid Champion and National Blitz Champion.

Malta Open Championships

The first recorded open championship was held in 1923 and was won by Oscar Serracino-Inglott. Harry Camilleri won the championship a record eighteen times, first in 1965 and last in 2005, at the age of 72.

The current Malta Open Chess Champion is David Cilia Vincenti.

Candidates phase

To qualify for the Final phase of the Open Championship a player needs to have either placed first or second in the previous year or have placed in the top N of the Candidates phase of that year. N is determined by the number of participants.

Preliminaries Phase

To qualify for the Candidates, a player must have reached an established Elo rating, currently 1700, or have placed in the top N of the Preliminaries.[1] The youngest player to have won the Preliminaries in Malta is Jack Mizzi.[2]

Past Winners of Final Stage

Year Winner[3]
1 1923
2 1925
3 1926
4 1927
5 1928
6 1930
7 1934
8 1935
9 1936
10 1937
11 1938
12 1939
13 1940
14 1946
15 1948
16 1949
17 1950
18 1953
19 1954
20 1955
21 1956
22 1957
23 1958
24 1959
25 1960
26 1961
27 1962
28 1963
29 1964
30 1965
31 1966
32 1967
33 1968
34 1969
35 1970
36 1971
37 1972
38 1973
39 1974
40 1975
41 1976
42 1977
43 1978
44 1979
45 1980
46 1981
47 1982
48 1983
49 1984
50 1985
51 1986
52 1987
53 1988
54 1989
55 1990
56 1991
57 1992
58 1993
59 1994
60 1995
61 1996
62 1997
63 1998
64 1999
65 2000
66 2001
67 2002
68 2003
69 2004
70 2005
71 2006
72 2007
73 2008
74 2009
75 2010
76 2011
77 2012
78 2013
79 2014
80 2015
81 2016
82 2017
83 2018
84 2019
85 2020
86 2021
87 2022

Malta Rapid Championships

Since 2017, the Malta Chess Federation started organising the Malta National Rapid Championship.

In 2021 an online Rapid Gran Prix was held and this was won by Jack Mizzi.[4] The 2022 Malta Rapid champion was Jack Mizzi.[5] [6]

Year Winner
1 2017
2 2018
3 2019
4 2021 Jack Mizzi
5 2022

Malta Blitz Championships

Since 2017, the Malta Chess Federation started organising the Malta National Blitz Championship.

In 2021, an online Blitz Gran Prix was held and this was won by Jack Mizzi. The 2022 and 2023 Malta Blitz champion was Jack Mizzi. Jack Mizzi set a new Malta Chess record when he won the 2023 Blitz championship with a perfect 9-0 score.[7]

Year Winner
1 2017
2 2018
3 2019
4 2021
5 2022
6 2023 Jack Mizzi

Malta Junior championships

The first Malta Junior Championship was held in 1946 but the Malta Chess Federation only has records since 1987.[8]

The current Malta junior champion is Jack Mizzi.[9] [10]

Year Winner
1 1987 Duncan Vella
2 1988 Joseph Stafrace
3 1989 Joseph Stafrace
4 1990 Joseph Stafrace
5 1991 Duncan Vella
6 1992 Timothy Mifsud
7 1993 Timothy Mifsud
8 1994 Timothy Mifsud
9 1995 Peter Pullicino
10 1996 David Cilia Vincenti
11 1997 Colin Pace
12 1998 Timothy Mifsud
13 1999 Colin Pace
14 2000 Daniel Abela
15 2001 Daniel Abela
16 2002 Daniel Abela
17 2003 Charles Sinn
18 2004 Mark Cardona
19 2005 Mark Cardona
20 2006 Mark Cardona
21 2007 Robert Zerafa
22 2008 Robert Zerafa
23 2009 Robert Zerafa
24 2010 Andre Xuereb
25 2011 Jake Darmanin
26 2012 Jake Darmanin
27 2013 Jake Darmanin
28 2014 Jake Darmanin
29 2015 Jurgen Grima
30 2016 Jamie Farrugia
31 2017 Steve Mizzi
32 2018 Matthew Fleri
33 2019 Cosmin Alexa
34 2021 Matthew Fleri
35 2022 Jack Mizzi
36 2023 Jack Mizzi[11]
372024Jack Mizzi[12]

References

  1. Web site: Malta Chess Federation . 22 January 2022 . MCF Statute . 29 December 2022 . Malta Chess Federation.
  2. Web site: Weenink . Steffie . 2019-03-15 . WATCH: This 12-Year-Old Boy Might Be Well On His Way To Becoming Malta's Youngest Chess Champion . 2022-12-29 . Lovin Malta . en-GB.
  3. Web site: 2021-01-08 . Past Malta Champions - Malta Chess Federation . 2022-11-12 . en-US.
  4. Web site: 2021-05-30 . Jack Mizzi wins Blitz and Rapid Online Grand Prix - Malta Chess Federation . 2022-12-04 . en-US.
  5. Web site: 2022-12-10 . Chess: Jack Mizzi jirbaħ żewġ titli nazzjonali f'ġurnata waħda - ONE . 2022-12-29 . en-US.
  6. Web site: 2022-12-05 . Jack Mizzi inkurunat Champion nazzjonali taċ-Chess . 2022-12-29 . NETnews . mt-MT.
  7. Web site: SportsDesk . 2023-10-06 . Jack Mizzi in record run at the Malta Blitz Chess Championship . 2023-10-06 . SportsDesk . en-US.
  8. Web site: 2021-01-25 . Past Malta Junior Champions - Malta Chess Federation . 2022-11-12 . en-US.
  9. Web site: 16-year-old Jack Mizzi makes waves at international chess tournament . 2022-11-12 . www.guidememalta.com . en.
  10. Web site: Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - Malta Junior Championship 2022 . 2022-11-12 . chess-results.com.
  11. Web site: Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - Malta Junior Chess Championships 2023 . 2023-03-18 . chess-results.com.
  12. Web site: Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - Junior Championships U14-U20s 2024 . 2024-03-18 . chess-results.com.

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