Malta Chess Federation

Titles for players in Budapest Chess Olympiad



Malta participated in the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest which ended on 22th of September, with a men’s and women’s team. The men’s team, who were seeded 109th ended in joint 102nd place, collecting 5 wins and 6losses from 11 rounds.

Malta beat Guam (3.5-0.5), San Marino (4-0), Ghana (3-1), Bahrain (3-1) and Oman (3-1). Malta lost to Armenia (0-4), Andorra (1.5-2.5), Kyrgyztan (0-4), New Zealand (1-3), Zimbabwe (1-3) and Algeria (1-3).

The team was captained and coached by IM Tadej Sakelsek. In the Olympiad, players are rewarded for personal performances and Robert Novak who played on 3rd board achieved the Candidate Master (CM) Title. Patrick Zerafa, playing on 5th board become Malta’s 4th ever
Fide Master (FM) thanks to his 66% score from 9 games.



The players performed as follows:
Colin Pace on board 1: 3pts from 9 games with a performance on 2135.
Jake Darmanin on board 2: 3.5pts from 8 games – perf: 2071.
Robert Novak on board 3: 3.5pts from 9 games – perf: 2127.
Jack Mizzi on board 4: 5pts from 9 games – perf: 2149.
Patrick Zerafa on board 5: 6pts from 9 games – perf: 2113.



In the women’s section, Malta, who were seeded 112th ended in joint 114th place collecting 4 wins, 1 draw and 6 losses.
Malta beat Mauritania (4-0), Guyana (3.5-0.5), Palau (4-0), Cape Verde (3-1). The drew against Laos (2-2) and lost against Greece (0.5-3.5), Mexico (0-4), Singapore (0.5-3.5), Denmark (0.5-3.5), South Africa (0.5-3.5) and Uruguay (1.5-2.5).

Notwithstanding the rather strong opposition the team faced, Martina Portelli managed to achieve the Woman Candidate Master (WCM) title while Milena Stagno, thanks to her 66% score managed to achieve the Woman Fide Master (WFM) title.

The team was captained by Peter Sammut Briffa.


The players performed as follows:
Board 1: Elena Ghitza – 3.5pts from 9 games – perf: 1796.
Board 2: Filipina Thornton – 4pts from 9 games – perf: 1476.
Board 3: Jamie Farrugia – 3pts from 8 games – perf: 1637.
Board 4: Milena Stagno – 6pts from 9 games – perf: 1691.
Board 5: Martina Portelli – 3.5pts from 9 games – perf:1567.

International Arbiter Noel Grima was an arbiter on Section 1 (top boards) of the Olympiad and refereed matches of several top nations including Spain, Italy, Norway, Armenia and England. Geoffrey Borg was FIDE Delegate while Duncan Vella was Chief of Delegation. Both Borg and Vella represented Malta at the FIDE Congress.