Club 64 Italian vice-champions at the 2015 Master finals
The long-awaited 2015 Master finals, played in Civitanova Marche (MC) from 29 April to 3 May, concluded on Sunday 3 May. The Master finals are the pinnacle of the Italian Team Championship and certainly represent the highest competitive moment on the national territory. In recent years the event has taken on considerable international interest and considerably raised its technical level, featuring numerous Grandmasters of the very highest level. WorldTradingLab Club 64 arrived as a leading contender, number two in the starting ranking, fielding the strong Grandmasters Sabino Brunello, Dariusz Swiercz and Lexy Ortega and International Masters Carlo D'Amore and Guido Caprio. Putting together such a competitive team was made possible thanks to the constant commitment of the main sponsor, who believed in the project once again: WorldTradingLab. Only the untouchable powerhouse from Padua had a higher average Elo than Modena. Number three in the initial ranking was Fischer Chieti, which arrived at the 2015 finals with a team of the very highest level and an average Elo only a few points below that of Club 64. Unlike the 2014 championship, Club 64 showed great confidence and solidity, winning convincingly in all the matches against lower-ranked opponents. The clash with Padua came in the third round and ended in a 3-1 win for the title holders. The other direct encounter, against Chieti in the fourth round, ended in a tie. A few slips by Chieti and Padua against lower-ranked line-ups, Club 64's matches going according to form and the extraordinary tournament of the Palermo line-up contributed to a thrilling finish, with 4 teams level on points before the last round. The final round featured the cross matches between Padua and Chieti and between Modena and Palermo. It was essential for Modena to win the match by a wide margin and hope for a simultaneous tie between Padua and Chieti or a narrow win by one team over the other. The title dreams were shattered by Padua's convincing win over Chieti (3.5 to 0.5) and by the narrow win over Palermo, which proved to be a very difficult team to face. The final second place behind Padua, level on points with the winners, represents a historic result for Club 64 and for the city of Modena, never so high in Italian chess. With second place Club 64 earned qualification for the Champions League in October (Skopje, Macedonia), which the home line-up will try to honour as best it can. Sincere thanks to those who made this achievement possible: our friends and team-mates Sabino, Dariusz, Lexy, Carlo and Guido, sponsor Gabriele Franchini and captain Fabrizio Frigieri. Many were cheering for Club 64, and this result certainly represents one of the high points of the long-standing Modena association.
Photos: CIS Master series 2015
268 photos