With good preparation, great concentration and proper management of his stress, he conquered another lifelong dream. The Greek chess player from Thessaloniki, Evgenios Ioannidis, won the third and final norm for the title of Grand Master, in his first summer tournament for 2023 in the city of Teplice, Czech Republic.

This particular tournament lasted nine days from June 10 to 18 and is one of the oldest chess tournaments in Europe.

Evgenios Ioannidis, after drawing with Slovakian GM Pechac Jergus, collected seven points in nine matches and scored his third Grand Maître norm.

“I felt ready to give my best in one more effort for a specific goal. To obtain the third and last norm for the title of Grand Master”, Evgenios Ioannidis confides, speaking to the Athenian/Macedonian News Agency, explaining that the tournament did not start with the best conditions. After victories in the first two rounds, an unexpected defeat followed in the third, after a difficult and complicated game.

“The defeat had a negative effect on my psychology”

“The result had a negative effect on my psychology, as I thought that I had moved too far from my goal. I was discouraged by the fact that in the past, with better conditions to achieve the norm, I lost it because something went wrong in the last laps. And now with one loss so early I felt like I would have no hope. I was pretty upset, but I tried to pick myself up and continue the tournament as if nothing had happened. After all, there were six more games left,” he explains.

After losing in the third round, he went on a four-match winning streak and got closer to his primary goal again, he explains. In the eighth and penultimate round, he was drawn to play against the German GM who was leading the tournament by half a point over the rest. In this particular match he wanted to claim one more victory, to raise his performance rate and ensure the norm. Having the white pieces, he admits he knew he could push for victory without risking losing. From the game between them he understood that his opponent preferred the safety of a draw in order to maintain his first place one round before the end of the tournament.

In the final against the Slovakian GM he had faced when he was 10 years old

“After the eighth round draw it was the ninth and final round, where I was drawn with Slovakian GM Pechac Jergus. I had faced the same chess player when we were competing 12 years ago, to win the European under-10 chess title. Then I won my first pan-European title in 2011, seven years before my second title in the category up to 18 years old” he notes and underlines that “the game, after some ups and downs, ended in a draw. After the game ended I anxiously asked the tournament officials if my draw was the norm and the head umpire assured me that I met the conditions.”

Fifth place among 218 participating chess players

With great relief, Evgenios Ioannidis secured the 5th place among 218 participating chess players in the final ranking. “My emotions, my relief, my joy, all magnified. I also felt very good after a few days, when the Hellenic Chess Federation notified me of its application to the World Federation, for the award of the Grand Master title along with a congratulatory letter,” he says.

Evgenios Ioannidis, at the age of 22, becomes the 17th Grand Master of Greece. Having “reached” about a year ago the limit of 2500 ELO points (a unit of measurement of chess potential), last year when he won the OPEN Serbia 2022, he automatically and formally secures the title of GM, which will be awarded to him by World Chess Federation (FIDE). Evgenios has previously been a two-time European Youth Champion and continues to be active in chess events as a member of the AMO Galaxias Thessaloniki team.