European Team Chess Championship

This more or less accords with the wider definition of Europe used in other events such as the Eurovision Song Contest and includes Israel, Russia and the former Soviet States.

More recently, the Championship has grown in importance and popularity and is regarded as a prestigious tournament in its own right, providing for male and female participants.

By 1973, the competition had expanded to roughly double the size and there were twenty-four nations in the preliminaries, competing for eight places in the Finals, held in Bath.

Historically, teams played for the pleasure of winning the Europa Cup, but nowadays this has been overshadowed by the popular medal-winning format of the 'Olympics' and Chess Olympiad.

Gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded to the top three teams and also as board prizes for outstanding individual performances.