Royal visit at the opening of the fifth round: The Saxon Wine Princess Anna Bräunig made the first move on board one in section 50+ today. The 25-year old from Meißen representing the Saxon Weinbauverband, who is working as an office manager of an insurance broker when she’s not on princess duty. The affinity for wine is quite common in her family: her brother-in-law is a winemaker in one of the leading wineries of Saxony and her brother is learning the trade of the winemaker as well. After the opening move the chess pieces were once again in the spotlight. In the section 50+ two teams have broken away from the rest of the teams. After their victories, Armenia and Germany 1 are leading the ranking with 10 points each. Behind them are England 1, Emanuel-Lasker-Gesellschaft and Iceland.

In the women’s section Russia Women defeated Germany 1 with 3: 1 and now holds place 10 in the overall ranking. After today’s win Germany 1 Women holds place 21 in the ranking. Tomorrowthere will be another ladies encounter: Russia Women meets Latvia Women.

The favorites of section 65+ were able to obtain another win. Russia 65+ is still unbeaten and leads the ranking with 10 points, followed by St. Petersburg and Belgium 1 who will be facing Russia 65+ tomorrow.

ELO-ranked Blitz tournament

On Wednesday afternoon, an outstanding Single Blitz Tournament, both quantitative and qualitative, took place. 83 players, including 10 Grand masters and a total of 30 title holders, found their way into the tournament hall. The winner was GM Rafael Vaganian.