RECORD participation for the Vignola!

RECORD participation for the 2nd edition of the Vignola Città degli Scacchi International tournament: with 293 entrants across the four scheduled tournaments, the event rightfully takes first place in Italy for a weekend tournament in the history of the Italian Chess Federation.

Organised by the chess club Club 64 Asd of Modena (www.club64.it), which gave all participants, accompanying persons and simply curious onlookers the chance to immerse themselves for 3 days in a giant chessboard.

In fact, in addition to the tournament there were numerous side activities, from the game on a giant chessboard where children impersonated the various pieces, to grandmaster Djuric Stefan, who made himself available to play friendly games with passers-by, offering an ice cream to anyone who managed to hold out for 30 moves. Not to mention the conference on the use of chess in the medical field, one of a kind at a global level, which was held not in New York but in the much closer Vignola.

All this while strolling through the historic centre of Vignola looking at the various chess-themed shop windows, or enjoying a coffee in the town's bars with the tournament's sugar sachets, or shopping at the numerous stalls that turned up for the occasion.

Thanks to the numerous sponsors, every player received a jar of Vignola jam, a voucher for a coffee and a voucher for a tasting of mulled wine, and the various prizes of the generous 4500 euro prize fund up for grabs were fought over with checkmates.

And now the thanks that are due. We thank:

The start-up Certabo for providing us with 2 digital boards with their new system, which made it possible to watch live and replay the top 2 boards of tournament A.

The various clubs that collaborated by lending equipment, since no club has the resources needed to field 150 digital clocks and boards, certainly not us; so thanks to Circolo Scacchistico Bolognese, to Circolo Scacchistico Estense of Ferrara, to the twinned Florence Move tournament for the equipment lent, to the Scuola Popolare di Scacchi of Rome and to Circolo Mantova Scacchi.

Thanks to Luigi Di Trapani who, for all the months before the tournament, spent his evenings matching the online payments received with the list of entrants on Vesus, gathering the various inputs from the many people who collected entries on behalf of the club.

Thanks to the team of arbiters made up of Antonio Sfera, Massimo Maione, Graziano Ballista, Lucchi Sauro, Fabrizio Ballotti, Andrea Vezzelli and Luciano Panini who, led by our chief arbiter Angelo Mancini, ensured that the rules were respected and provided assistance to all players in the playing venue.

We thank all the many volunteers of the town of Vignola, led by Mrs Tamara Grassi and Mrs Pina Ricci, who took care of cleaning the halls, moving tables and all that series of small but necessary operations that are essential when more than 500 people are concentrated in 500 square metres. If the players had tablecloths under their boards, pens to write down their games, or could go to a decent bathroom, it is thanks to these people who made it possible.

We certainly were not perfect and many things could have been done better, but on behalf of all the Club 64 board members I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart. This tournament turned out very well above all thanks to the many players who chose to place their trust in us; without the players and their families none of this would have happened.

Thank you very much and a thousand times thank you to everyone. GENS UNA SUMUS

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