ECC 06: Winners!

2014 European Club Cup This mega swiss tournament brings together the top teams from the top leagues in Europe to compete for the European Club Champion title. Most teams have reinforcementes specifically for this event, while others send their local players that have served them throughout the seasons. Many 2700+ players are participating in the event. The tournament is a seven round swiss system that coincides with the Bilbao Grand Slam Finals, for which we will have separate reports. Tha matches in the Open section will be six-on-six, while on the Women's section will be four-on-four.

Open Section

1		Malakhite (3)	1	5	SOCAR Azerbaijan (1)
1.1	2777	Karjakin, Sergey	0	1	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	2756
1.2	2789	Grischuk, Alexander	½	½	Topalov, Veselin	2784
1.3	2701	Shirov, Alexei	0	1	Adams, Michael	2752
1.4	2696	Malakhov, Vladimir	0	1	Giri, Anish	2758
1.5	2684	Lysyj, Igor	½	½	Radjabov, Teimour	2717
1.6	2648	Bologan, Viktor	0	1	Wang, Hao	2730
2		G-Team Novy Bor (5)	5.5	0.5	Huginn Chessclub (21)
2.1	2736	Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	½	½	Jones, Gawain C B	2664
2.2	2722	Navara, David	1	0	Van Kampen, Robin	2637
2.3	2725	Harikrishna, P.	1	0	Thorhallsson, Throstur	2437
2.4	2675	Laznicka, Viktor	1	0	Jensson, Einar Hjalti	2349
2.5	2680	Sasikiran, Krishnan	1	0	Hreinsson, Hlidar	2229
2.6	2638	Hracek, Zbynek	1	0	Teitsson, Magnus	2197
3		SHSM Nashe Nasledie (6)	4.5	1.5	Minsk (15)
3.1	2710	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	1	0	Zhigalko, Sergei	2677
3.2	2731	Morozevich, Alexander	1	0	Zhigalko, Andrey	2584
3.3	2673	Grachev, Boris	½	½	Kovalev, Vladislav	2532
3.4	2646	Najer, Evgeniy	½	½	Teterev, Vitaly	2501
3.5	2614	Dubov, Daniil	1	0	Meribanov, Vitaly	2395
3.6	2627	Popov, Ivan	½	½	Nikitenko, Mihail	2226
4		KSK47-Eynatten (17)	2	4	Obiettivo Risarcimento (2)
4.1	2493	Swinkels, Robin	0	1	Caruana, Fabiano	2801
4.2	2497	Dambacher, Martijn	0	1	Nakamura, Hikaru	2782
4.3	2447	Hoffmann, Michael	0 F	1 F	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	2768
4.4	2456	Koch, Thomas	½	½	Fressinet, Laurent	2712
4.5	2420	Sielecki, Christof	½	½	Vocaturo, Daniele	2585
4.6	2405	Zelbel, Patrick	1	0	Dvirnyy, Danyyil	2522
5		Beer Sheva (8)	1.5	4.5	SPB (4)
5.1	2579	Roiz, Michael	½	½	Svidler, Peter	2732
5.2	2678	Rodshtein, Maxim	½	½	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	2755
5.3	2641	Postny, Evgeny	0	1	Movsesian, Sergei	2663
5.4	2551	Greenfeld, Alon	0	1	Matlakov, Maxim	2694
5.5	2573	Huzman, Alexander	½	½	Efimenko, Zahar	2641
5.6	2495	Khmelniker, Ilya	0	1	Khairullin, Ildar	2638

Only the top 5 matches are shown

Everything went right today for SOCAR. Karjakin obtained a minimal edge against Mamedyarov in a Petroff, and to neutralize it the Azeri sacrificed an exchange for compensation in an endgame. Karjakin miscalculated badly, took the exchange in the worst possible way and ended up in a much worse position. Mamedyarov converted elegantly.

Topalov was always pushing against Grischuk, but it ultimately was a draw. Adams won a 120 move game against Shirov while Giri crushed Malakhov in yet another endgame. In the last board Wang Hao launched a crazy king maneuver in a major piece endgame from f2 to h5, and instead of getting mated the king was zugzwanging Black! 5-1 SOCAR annihilated Malakhite and clinched the tournament, according to the Bilbao Facebook Page.

Novy Bor also had no problems in their match, easily taking out the Icelandic team. The rating advantage was certainly for the Czech team, but 5.5-0.5 was even better than expected.

SHSM, back from the depths, beat Minsk without any problems, as did Obiettivo Risarcimento against KSK47 with huge rating advantages in the first three boards (aided by the fact that MVL's opponent lost by forfeit!).

Tomorrow is simply a fight for second and third. SOCAR will play SPB, which makes it difficult for the Russian team to try to get into the top tthree. Novy Bor and SHSM fight for second place, the winner of that match takes clear second while a draw puts leaves things up to tiebreaks. Malakhite and Obiettivo Risarcimento battle it out on board three, the winner of the match very likely taking third place, second with a little luck.

Rk	ID	Team	Fed		Games	+	=	-	Pts	MatPnt	TB1	GamePts
1	1	SOCAR Azerbaijan	AZE		6	6	0	0	12	12	205	27.5
2	5	G-Team Novy Bor	CZE		6	5	0	1	10	10	167	27.5
3	6	SHSM Nashe Nasledie	RUS		6	5	0	1	10	10	139	26
4	3	Malakhite	RUS		6	4	1	1	9	9	152	21
5	2	Obiettivo Risarcimento	ITA		6	4	1	1	9	9	140.5	25
6	4	SPB	RUS		6	4	1	1	9	9	136.5	23
7	7	Odlar Yourdu	AZE		6	3	2	1	8	8	136.5	22.5
8	15	Minsk	BLR		6	4	0	2	8	8	128.5	22
9	9	SG Solingen	GER		6	3	2	1	8	8	120	22.5
10	11	Ladya	RUS		6	3	2	1	8	8	119	20.5

Round Six Games

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

Women's Section

1		SHSM Nashe Nasledie (8)	4	0	Herzliya Chess Club (7)
1.1	2540	Gunina, Valentina	1	0	Len, Irina	2133
1.2	2476	Girya, Olga	1	0	Yakovleva, Tatiana	2047
1.3	2433	Kashlinskaya, Alina	1	0	Lian, Marina	1871
1.4	2431	Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina	1	0	Haitovich, Avital	1891
2		Ugra (1)	3	1	SC Bad Konigshofen (6)
2.1	2481	Ushenina, Anna	1	0	Paehtz, Elisabeth	2467
2.2	2482	Pogonina, Natalija	1	0	Mkrtchian, Lilit	2457
2.3	2399	Kovanova, Baira	0	1	Savina, Anastasia	2373
2.4	2327	Shadrina, Tatiana	1	0	Schoene, Maria	2261
3		Ladya (2)	1	3	Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo (5)
3.1	2472	Galliamova, Alisa	0	1	Hou, Yifan	2663
3.2	2469	Zatonskih, Anna	½	½	Muzychuk, Anna	2551
3.3	2421	Atalik, Ekaterina	½	½	Cramling, Pia	2516
3.4	2401	Zaiatz, Elena	0	1	Skripchenko, Almira	2430
4		Rishon Letzion (3)	0	4	Batumi Chess Club "Nona" (4)
4.1	2331	Efroimski, Marsel	0	1	Dzagnidze, Nana	2566
4.2	0	Madivani, Maka	0	1	Khotenashvili, Bela	2507
4.3	1957	Vardi, Shlomit	0	1	Melia, Salome	2464
4.4	1937	Federovski, Adi	0	1	Batsiashvili, Nino	2426

Nona very predictively took a comfortable win against Rishon Letzion and won the tournament outright. Ladya could not hold their own against Cerclec d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo, which is making a very late comeback. Too late in fact.

Ugra beat SC Bad Konigshofen while SHSM continued the Israeli demolition in this tournament with another 4-0. SHSM is currently in second place but will have a tough fight to hold on to it. They face Nona, the tournament leaders and the ones that are clearly in the best shape, and they will need a win to secure second as Monte-Carlo is only one point behind.

Rk	ID	Team	Fed		Games	+	=	-	Pts	MatPnt	TB1
1	4	Batumi Chess Club "Nona"	GEO		6	6	0	0	12	12	70.5
2	8	SHSM Nashe Nasledie	RUS		6	4	1	1	9	9	62
3	5	Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo	MNC		6	4	0	2	8	8	83
4	1	Ugra	RUS		6	3	0	3	6	6	65.5
5	2	Ladya	RUS		6	3	0	3	6	6	64.5
6	6	SC Bad Konigshofen	GER		6	2	1	3	5	5	61
7	3	Rishon Letzion	ISR		6	1	0	5	2	2	5.5
8	7	Herzliya Chess Club	ISR		6	0	0	6	0	0	0

Round Six Games

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games. Some games unavailable.

Photos by Manu de Alba from Bilbao's Facebook site

Links Official tournament site All Games in PGN All Women Games in PGN 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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.