ETCC R4: Germany and Bulgaria triumph, Germany leads

by ChessBase
11/6/2011 – Normally we are scheduled to cover the European Team Championship after every second round. But round four was so interesting that we are slipping it in. The sensations: Russia was soundly defeated by Bulgaria 3-1, and even more sensationally: Germany beat Ukraine 3½-½ to take the overall lead in the event. We bring you the most interesting games in our round four extra report.
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3rd – 11th November in Halkidiki, Greece

The ETCC is a nine-round Swiss, with one open section and one section for the women’s teams. The time control is 90 min for 40 moves + 30 min for the rest of the game + 30 sec increment for every move played starting from the first move. The member countries of the European Chess Union (ECU) have the right to enter one team of four players plus one reserve in the open competition, and one team of four female players and one reserve in the women’s competition. There are 38 teams in the former and 28 in the latter. The games are being played in the Olympic Hall Congress Center (1500 sq.m.), within the five-star Porto Carras Grand Resort, which is located in an enchantingly verdant landscape in Halkidiki, Greece.

Top results of round four

Bo. 3 Azerbaijan Rtg
2:2
 13 Spain Rtg
1.1 GM Radjabov Teimour 2781
½-½
 GM Vallejo Pons Francisco 2705
1.2 GM Gashimov Vugar 2757
½-½
 GM Shirov Alexei 2705
1.3 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2733
1-0
 GM Salgado Lopez Ivan 2621
1.4 GM Guseinov Gadir 2636
0-1
 GM Illescas Cordoba Miguel 2609
Bo. 7 Bulgaria Rtg
3:1
 1 Russia Rtg
2.1 GM Topalov Veselin 2768
1-0
 GM Svidler Peter 2755
2.2 GM Cheparinov Ivan 2650
1-0
 GM Karjakin Sergey 2763
2.3 GM Delchev Aleksander 2629
1-0
 GM Morozevich Alexander 2762
2.4 GM Georgiev Kiril 2666
0-1
 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian 2730
Bo. 2 Ukraine Rtg
½:3½
 10 Germany Rtg
3.1 GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2723
0-1
 GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2712
3.2 GM Eljanov Pavel 2691
0-1
 GM Meier Georg 2659
3.3 GM Moiseenko Alexander 2715
½-½
 GM Fridman Daniel 2661
3.4 GM Efimenko Zahar 2702
0-1
 GM Gustafsson Jan 2633

You can scroll through the full results of round four in the window below

Full results

Click on "Women section" to get their results

Bulgaria vs Russia

In an Anti-Marshall Veselin Topalov played a novelts on move 13 and went on to get a slightly inferior position at move 28. But then Peter Svidler went astray, probably missing a knight move, and Topalov had a comfortable position. At some stage, seeing that his colleagues were winning in two games, he considered repeating moves, but then went on applying pressure and eventually won the rook ending – although he admitted that Svidler had missed some drawing chances.


Bulgaria vs Russia in round four (in the front on board one: Topalov vs Svidler)


On board two Ivan Cheparinov won the black side of a Scheveningen against Sergey Karjakin

Note that in the Javascript board below you can replay all four games, with display of the evaluations on the bottom left (click to jump to the critical postions).

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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 Re8 10.a3 h6 Relevant: 10...Bc5 11.Nc3 d6 12.Nd5 h6 13.c3 Ba7 14.Be3 Bxe3 15.Rxe3 Nd7 16.Ba2 Ne7 17.Nxe7+ Qxe7 18.Nh2 Nf6 19.Ng4 1/2-1/2 (19) Kramnik,V (2770)-Anand,V (2782)/Dortmund 2004/CBM 103 11.Nbd2 Bc5 12.c3 Bb6 13.Ba2N Predecessor (2): 13.Nf1 d5 14.exd5 Nxd5 15.d4 e4 16.N3h2 Na5 17.Bc2 f5 18.Ng3 Rf8 19.Qh5 Qe8 20.Qxe8 Raxe8 21.Nhf1 Nc4 22.Nd2 Nxd2 23.Bxd2 c5 24.dxc5 Bxc5 25.Bb3 Kh7 26.Bxd5 Bxd5 27.Be3 Be7 28.Bd4 Bb3 29.Nf1 Bg5 30.g3 Rd8 31.Re2 Bc4 32.Ree1 Bb3 33.Re2 Bf6 34.Rd2 Bg5 35.Be3 a5 36.h4 Bxe3 37.fxe3 a4 38.Kf2 g5 39.Rc1 Rxd2+ 40.Nxd2 Bc4 41.Nxc4 bxc4 42.Rd1 Rb8 Anand,V (2762)-Khalifman,A (2667)/New Delhi/Teheran 2000/CBM 080/1/2-1/2 (64) 13...d6 14.Nf1 d5 15.exd5 Nxd5 16.Qb3 Na5 17.Qc2 Qd6 18.b4 Nc6 19.Ng3 Rad8 20.Ne4 Qg6 21.g4 Nf6 22.Nh4 Qh7 23.Nf5 Qg6 24.Nh4 Qh7 25.Qe2 Ne7 26.Qf3 Nxe4 27.dxe4 g6 28.g5 Rd6? 28...hxg5 29.Bxg5 Rd6 29.gxh6 Nf5 30.Bg5 Of course 30.exf5 Bxf3 30...Nxh4 31.Bxh4 Bc8 32.Red1 Be6 33.Rxd6 cxd6 34.Bg5 Bxa2 35.Rxa2 Rf8 36.a4 f6 37.Be3 Bxe3 38.Qxe3 bxa4 39.Rxa4 Qb7 40.Qd3 Qb5 41.Qxb5 axb5 42.Ra7 Rc8 43.Rg7+ Kh8 44.Rxg6 Rxc3 45.Rxf6 Rc4 46.f3 d5 47.exd5 Rxb4 48.Re6 Rd4 49.Rxe5 b4 50.Kf2 b3 51.Re3 Rxd5 52.Rxb3 Kh7 53.Rb6 Rd2+ 54.Kg3 Rd1 55.f4 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Topalov,V2768Svidler,P27551–02011C8818th European Teams4.1
Karjakin,S2763Cheparinov,I26500–12011B9018th European Teams4.2
Delchev,A2629Morozevich,A27621–02011B5218th European Teams4.3
Nepomniachtchi,I2730Georgiev,K26661–02011A2918th European Teams4.4

Interview with Veselin Topalov


Indian TV journalist Vijay Kumar who is recording the video interviews

Ukraine vs Germany

The Ukrainians decided to rest their top player, Vassily Ivanchuk, against the "weak" German team – as it turned out a decision that "backfired horribly as the Ukrainian team was demolished by 0.5-3.5" (tournament bulletin). German GM Arkadij Naiditsch played a Sicilian Najdorf against former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov, winning in 55 moves; Georg Meier used a backrank weakness of Pavel Eljanov to secure the full point in 36 moves; and Jan Gustafsson ruthlessly punished an error by Zahar Efimenko on move 25. Only Alexander Moiseenko was able to secure half a point against Daniel Fridman.


German GM Arkadij Naiditsch won with a Najdorf on board one

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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f4 e5 7.Nf3 Qc7 8.a4 Nbd7 9.Bd3 Be7 10.0-0 exf4 11.Kh1 Ne5 12.Bxf4 Be6 13.Nd4 0-0 14.Qd2 Rac8 15.a5 Rfe8 16.Bg5 Nfg4 17.h3 Bxg5 18.Qxg5 Qc5 19.Nxe6 fxe6 20.hxg4 Nxd3 21.Qxc5 Nxc5 22.Rad1 Rc6 23.Rd4 b5 24.axb6 Rb8 25.Ne2 Rcxb6 26.b3 e5 27.Rc4 Rb4 28.Rxb4 Rxb4 29.Nc3 Nxe4 30.Nd5 Rb7 31.Kg1 a5 32.Ne3 Rc7 33.Nc4 a4 34.Re1 Nc3 35.Re3 d5 36.Rxc3 a3 37.b4 Rxc4 38.Rxa3 Rxb4 39.Ra5 Rd4 40.c3 Rd2 41.c4 dxc4 42.Rc5 Rd4 43.g5 Re4 44.Kf2 Kf7 45.Kf3 Rf4+ 46.Ke3 Ke6 47.Rc7 g6 48.Rxh7 Kf5 49.Rf7+ Kxg5 50.Re7 Kf6 51.Re8 Rd4 52.Rf8+ Ke6 53.Rg8 Kd5 54.Rxg6 c3 55.Rg8 c2 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ponomariov,R2723Naiditsch,A27120–12011B9318th European Teams4
Meier,G2659Eljanov,P26911–02011D1118th European Teams4.2
Moiseenko,A2715Fridman,D2661½–½2011D3718th European Teams4
Gustafsson,J2633Efimenko,Z27021–02011D3718th European Teams4.4

Top standings after four rounds

Rk.
SNo
 Team
Gms
  + 
  = 
 – 
 TB1 
 TB2 
 TB3 
1
10
 Germany
4
3
1
0
7
11.0
32.5
2
3
 Azerbaijan
4
3
1
0
7
10.5
39.0
3
6
 France
4
3
1
0
7
10.5
33.5
4
13
 Spain
4
3
1
0
7
10.0
40.0
5
7
 Bulgaria
4
3
1
0
7
10.0
36.0
6
17
 Romania
4
3
0
1
6
10.5
22.5
7
19
 Greece
4
3
0
1
6
10.0
30.0
8
9
 Netherlands
4
2
2
0
6
9.0
32.5
9
4
 Armenia
4
2
1
1
5
9.5
33.0
10
22
 Italy
4
2
1
1
5
9.5
26.0
11
11
 Israel
4
2
1
1
5
9.0
38.0
12
1
 Russia
4
2
1
1
5
9.0
37.0
13
2
 Ukraine
4
2
1
1
5
9.0
35.5
14
24
 Denmark
4
2
1
1
5
9.0
27.0

In round five Germany plays Bulgaria, and Russia faces Ukraine. Should be very interesting...

Women's section

Here Russia continuted their triumphal march wint a 2½-1½ win over Ukrain, scored in spite of a loss by Nadezhda Kosintseva against her GM colleague Kateryna Lahno. Georgia beat Armenia 3-1 to take second place, previously occupied by Ukraine.

Top standings after four rounds

Rk.
SNo
 Team
Gms
  + 
  = 
 – 
 TB1 
 TB2 
 TB3 
1
1
 Russia
4
4
0
0
8
12.5
33.0
2
3
 Georgia
4
4
0
0
8
10.5
37.0
3
5
 Poland
4
3
0
1
6
11.0
30.0
4
2
 Ukraine
4
3
0
1
6
10.5
36.0
5
12
 France
4
3
0
1
6
10.5
29.5
6
14
 Serbia
4
2
1
1
5
11.0
24.0
7
11
 Slovenia
4
2
1
1
5
10.5
20.5
8
7
 Germany
4
2
1
1
5
10.0
25.5
9
18
 Czech Rep.
4
1
3
0
5
8.5
35.0
10
6
 Hungary
4
2
1
1
5
8.0
37.0
11
4
 Armenia
4
2
1
1
5
8.0
35.0
12
9
 Romania
4
2
1
1
5
7.5
41.5
13
10
 Spain
4
2
0
2
4
9.0
33.0
14
16
 Greece
4
1
2
1
4
8.5
30.0
15
8
 Bulgaria
4
2
0
2
4
8.0
34.5
16
13
 Netherlands
4
1
2
1
4
7.0
36.5

Pictures on the official ETCC website are provided by Anastasiya Karlovich,
Tzveta Karavelova and Goran Urosevic.

Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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