Michele Godena (born 30 June 1967) is an Italian

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player. He achieved the

FIDE title FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

s of

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

(IM) in 1988 and Grandmaster (GM) in 1996, following a plus score on board one for Italy at the

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...

in Yerevan. Godena is a five-time Italian champion.

Career

Godena has won five times the

Italian Chess Championship The Italian Chess Federation (Italian: Federazione Scacchistica Italiana (FSI)) was established in 1920. The first Italian Chess Championship took place at Viareggio 1921. The 1998 Championship was held 21–29 November in Saint-Vincent, Italy, Sai ...

, in 1992, 1993, 1995, 2005 and 2006. He was runner-up in 1990 and 1998. His 2006 victory was closely contested with the then 14-year-old Italian-American prodigy, International Master

Fabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an Italian and American chess grandmaster who is the reigning four-time United States Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2844, Caruana is the third-highest-rated player in history. Born in Mia ...

. Both players finished the contest on 8 points from 11 rounds and Godena triumphed narrowly in the rapid and blitz play-off. He tied for 1st–4th with

Andrei Sokolov Andrei Yurievich Sokolov (; born 20 March 1963, in Vorkuta, Komi ASSR, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union) is a chess Grandmaster of Russian origin, now living in France. He was one of the leading players in the world in the late 1980s. Formative yea ...

Dražen Sermek Dražen Sermek (born 30 January 1969) is a Croatian chess player. He holds the title of Grandmaster, which FIDE awarded him in 1994. He previously competed for Slovenia. Sermek won the Slovenian Chess Championship in 1993 and 1998 and was a me ...

and

Xie Jun Xie Jun (born October 30, 1970) is a Chinese chess grandmaster and is the first Asian woman to become a chess grandmaster. She had two separate reigns as Women's World Chess Champion, from 1991 to 1996 and again from 1999 to 2001. Xie is one ...

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

1997. At the

Aeroflot Open The Aeroflot Open is an annual open chess tournament organised through the joint efforts of the Chess Federation of Russia and the Russian Ministry of Sport with the sponsorship from the Russian flag carrier, Aeroflot. It is played in Moscow, ho ...

2006 in Moscow, Godena tied for 1st–12th in the A2 group, finishing 12th on tiebreak with a rating performance of 2628. In June 2007, in Arvier, Godena became the champion of the European Union having tied for 1st–2nd with Serbian Nikola Sedlak, who won the tournament on tie-break, but as a non-European Union citizen, could not be awarded the title. In 2016, Godena won the 4th

Francophonie The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...

Championship in

Menton Menton (; in classical norm or in Mistralian norm, , ; ; or depending on the orthography) is a Commune in France, commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italia ...

, France edging out

Bassem Amin Bassem Amin (; born 9 September 1988) is an Egyptian chess grandmaster and medical doctor. He was awarded the Grandmaster title by FIDE in 2006. Amin is the highest rated Egyptian and African player and the only medical doctor to have a FIDE pea ...

Pablo Almagro Llamas Pablo Almagro Llamas is a Spanish chess player. Chess career He was the 2011 Spanish University Champion, during which he was a student of the National University of Distance Education. In 2011, he tied for 2nd-7th with Julio Granda, Ivan ...

and

Yannick Gozzoli Yannick Gozzoli (born 2 June 1983) is a French chess grandmaster. Chess career Born in 1983 in Marseille, Gozzoli earned his international master title in 2003 and his grandmaster title in 2012. He is the No. 9 ranked French player as of Augus ...

on tiebreak score. He has played many times for his country's Olympiad team and at

Elista Elista (, ;"Большой энциклопедический словарь", под ред. А. М. Прохорова. Москва и Санкт-Петербург, 1997, стр. 1402 , ''Elst'', )The approximate pronunciation of the Cyr ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

posted a score of 66.7% playing board two. For many years Italy's strongest player, he recorded his highest ever

Elo rating The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess or esports. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American chess master and physics professor. The Elo system wa ...

of 2561 in March 2010.

Playing style

While Godena was once nicknamed "The Italian Machine" by

Sergei Shipov Sergei Shipov (born 17 April 1966) is a Russian chess player, trainer, journalist and writer. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1996. Career Shipov founded the chess website Crestbook where, among other services, he provides onlin ...

, other commentators believe that his disproportionate time management might be holding back his further progress. He frequently uses all of his time in the

opening Opening may refer to: Types of openings * Hole * A title sequence or opening credits * Grand opening of a business or other institution * Inauguration * Keynote * Opening sentence * Opening sequence * Opening statement, a beginning statemen ...

and early middle game, relying on positional knowledge, quickfire technique and instinctive reactions to make the remaining moves in incrementally added time. As white, he opens with 1.e4 and as black, prefers the

Ruy Lopez The Ruy Lopez (; ), also called the Spanish Opening or Spanish Game, is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. Bb5 The Ruy Lopez remains one of the most popular chess openings, featuring many variations. In ...

and Slav/Semi-Slav variations of the

Queen's Gambit Declined The Queen's Gambit Declined (or QGD) is a chess opening in which Black declines a pawn offered by White in the Queen's Gambit: :1. d4 d5 :2. c4 e6 This is known as the ''Orthodox Line'' of the Queen's Gambit Declined. When the "Queen's Gambi ...

Personal life

Born in

Valdobbiadene Valdobbiadene (; ) is a town and (municipality) in the province of Treviso, Veneto, Italy. Valdobbiadene is a wine growing area: located below the Dolomites, Alpine-Dolomite areas of Veneto, the climate allows the cultivation of the Glera variety ...

, Godena lives in

Finale Ligure Finale Ligure (, locally ; ) is a ''comune'' on the Gulf of Genoa, in the province of Savona, in Liguria, Italy. It is considered part of the Italian Riviera. Part of its historical center ("Finalborgo") is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("Th ...

Publications

* *

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Godena, Michele 1967 births Living people Chess Grandmasters Italian chess players Italian chess writers Chess Olympiad competitors People from Valdobbiadene Sportspeople from the Province of Treviso