History of the European Team Chess Championships

A few weeks before the 18th European Team Championship (ETCC 2011) and it’s a good opportunity to see the past winners of this event:

1957: USSR
1961: USSR
1965: USSR
1970: USSR
1973: USSR
1977: USSR
1980: USSR
1983: USSR
1989: USSR
1992: Russia
1997: England
1999: Armenia
2001: Netherlands
2003: Russia
2005: Netherlands
2007: Russia
2009: Azerbaijan

As seen above, up to 1992 the ETCC was always won by the ex-USSR but from 1997 the title has been won by other European countries as well: Russia, England, Armenia, Netherlands and Azerbaijan had all a “gold” title!

In the women’s event (it started in 1992) only Russia has won the title twice, and both of them in the last 2 events! All the past winners:

1992: Ukraine
1997: Georgia
1999: Slovakia
2001: France
2003: Armenia
2005: Poland
2007: Russia
2009: Russia

Wikipedia has the very interesting history of the ETCC since 1957, including details such as silver and bronze winners and their team compositions:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Team_Chess_Championship

Which European countries will win the titles in 2011? A little more patience and we will see it live from Porto Carras!