Chess Small Nations Cup

Malta Chess Federation players returned to Malta earlier this week, August 23 2011, after an excellent performance at the 2nd. Small Nations Cup in the Faroe Islands, located half-way between Scotland and Iceland. Malta was seeded 9th out of 10 countries, and placed 5th. The tournament was supported by FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs - World Chess Federation).
The Maltese contingent comprised four players, Colin Pace (Capt.) with FIDE rating 2152 on Board 1, Joseph Gauci 2134 Board 2, Alex Pettersson 1972 Board 3, and Clarence Psaila 1939 on Board 4.
Notably, most of the Maltese contingent performed well above their normal rating, with Colin Pace drawing against Grandmaster (GM) Igor Efimov (Monaco), and Alex Petterson drawing against Woman Grand Master (WGM) Elvira Berend (Luxembourg). Clarence Psaila performed exceptionally well achieving an overall tournament rating of 2127, and clinching pole position as top scorer on Board 4. Malta’s average rating for the tournament was 2049.

The tournament was won by Luxembourg, with runner-up Faroe Islands, Monaco in third place, and subsequently Andorra, Malta, Cyprus, Liechtenstein, Guernsey, Jersey, and San Marino.
All results can be found at
http://www.chess-results.com/tnr54681.aspx?ix=1&art=73&lan=1&turdet=YES

All upcoming tournaments organised or to be attended by the Malta Chess Federation, can be viewed on http://www.chessmalta.com with further live updates and commentary on the “Chess in Malta” Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/41142278148.