Tazzioli and Simonini superb in Civitanova Marche
A great performance by the very young Luca Tazzioli and Mattia Simonini (born in 1997 and 1996 respectively) at the recent Italian Championships in Civitanova Marche. For the third consecutive year, the event hosted in Civitanova the semi-final of the Italian absolute individual championship and the Italian category championships, from Candidate Master to unrated. The winner of each Italian category championship is automatically promoted to the category above. The young Luca and Mattia came close to pulling it off: they were always among the very top positions in the standings and remained unbeaten throughout the event, finishing with 6.5 points out of 9. In the final standings Luca Tazzioli finished in 3rd place and Mattia Simonini in 4th out of 35 participants in total. Thanks to a slightly higher Buchholz, Luca Tazzioli had the chance to win the championship by winning the last round against Roberto Giordani from Bologna. After a long battle on the board, unfortunately he could not get beyond a draw, and thus saw the chance of a sensational victory in the first national category tournament slip away. After the first 7 rounds Luca and Mattia were leading the tournament alone with 5.5 points out of 7, ahead of the chasing group on 5. Even though direct promotion to Candidate Master narrowly slipped away, the boys showed they deserve the category, which is now ever closer thanks to the many Elo points gained with this performance. Warmest congratulations from all their friends at Club 64!