11/11/2013 – After three rounds of play Czech Republic and France are the only teams with all of their matches won as they vanquished Ukraine and Turkey respectively. In the women's section Armenia swept Poland 3 and now shares the lead with Ukraine and Poland 1. The Russian women took vengeance from yesterday and won 4-0 The Russian men's team did not fare so well.
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You might remember that there was a similar sounding event that happened only recently, the European Club Championship, but the events are certainly different as the Club Championship allows players from outside Europe to compete while the European Team Championship is a battle between different nations. The ETCC will be held in Warsaw, Poland from November 7th - November 18th. The event is a team swiss played in 11 rounds.
Open Section
The open section finally has two clear leaders. France beat Ukraine when its top two boards produced important wins. Tkachiev's game was 79 moves long but eventually he forced a pawn through and won a very pretty endgame. The Czech Republic brought Turkey back down from the clouds and inflicted an easy 3.5-0.5 defeat on the Russian vanquishers. This puts France and Czech Republic at the top of the leaderboard as no other team has been able to win all of their matches.
The list of teams with 5/6 points (matches count for two points a piece) is rather formidable. Georgia, Greece, Armenia and Azerbaijana are all lurking just half a match point away from the leaders. The obvious team missing is Russia who keeps having dismal results. They drew the admittedly strong team of England and Russia only has 3 points out of 6.
Despite the fact that the following game was not played in round three, it is quite instructive and it is from one of the players themselves! The following is Kotronias' win over Howell from yesterday:
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Playing the young generation has become a very complicated task nowadays; With computer preparation at its heights and positional knowledge being part and parcel of almost every professional's arsenal the prospects of us "old hands" outplaying the ambitious newcomers border on the miraculous. The following game is an exception, and obviously I dont expect David to repeat such an inaccurate opening play anytime soon as he is a serious GM with many trophies under his belt. And actually, the variation he chose is not at all bad, it was probably one or two lapses of concentration that prevented white from displaying this line's full potential. Moving on to team atmosphere, statistics and tradition, I must admit that the positive outcome of my game against David may have been influenced to a certain extent by the good results we have managed to achieve as a team against England in the past few years. A positive factor for us, contriving to repeating success, was undoubtedly the absence of Nigel Short from their line-up, who, in spite of having a rather negative score against Greek players, could have made the difference in such a close match.1.e4c52.Nf3Nc63.Bb5David plays the Rossolimo quite often, and has scored an impressive string of victories with it.d6I usually play 3...g6, so I guess he was well prepared for that.4.0-0Bd75.Re1Nf66.c3a67.Bf1Bg48.d4!?Not one of the main lines, but it certainly contains a great deal of poison for the uninitiated.cxd49.cxd4d59...e5!?is the other main move, with complex play.10.e5Nd711.h3!?An interesting continuation.11.Be3e6is hardly inspiring for White.11...Bxf312.Qxf3Nxd4!?An attempt to mix thing up.Safe and solid is12...e6!13.Be3Qb614.Nd2Rc815.Nb3Bb416.Rec10-017.Qg4Rfe8 with just a tiny edge for White. This is my recommendation to Black players actually, as the game should have been a laborious issue for me.13.Qxd5 Principled.Better, however was13.Qd1!after which I intendedNc613...Ne6?14.Qxd5Ndc515.Nc3±is better for White in view of his two bishops and lead in development.14.e6fxe615.Nc3Nf616.Rxe6Kf7After17.Rxf6+!exf618.Nxd5b5!19.Bd3!( I had underestimated this move )Simply losing are both19.Qb3??Nd4-+and19.a4?Nb4-+19...Bd620.Bc2Re8Black should be able to hold the resulting position but White has various tries and over the board the situation is a bit unpleasant. For example,21.Be321.Qh5+Kf822.Bh6!Ra7!23.Be3Rxe324.Nxe3g625.Qh6+Kg826.Rd1Rd727.h4Bf828.Rxd7Bxh629.Rxd8+Nxd830.Nd5Kf731.Nc7Bc132.b3Ba333.Nxa6Bd6looks equal21...g622.Bb6Qb823.Bb3Kg724.Rc1Re625.Nxf6!Rxf626.Rxc6Bh2+27.Kh1Be528.Qd7+Kh829.Bc7Rxc630.Qxc6Qxc731.Qxa8+Kg732.g3Qe713...Nc2Black of course plunges in at the offered opportunity; you dont have often the chance to win a rook nowadays!14.e6!fxe615.Qxe6?After this White will be pushed back with gain of time.15.Rxe6!Nf615...Qc716.Qe4(intending Bf4)Nc517.Qxc2Nxe618.Nc3is complicated16.Qxb7Qc817.Qb3‼Nd4!17...Nxa118.Qa4+Qd719.Rc6‼±produces an incredible position that is actually better for White.18.Qa4+Qd719.Qxd7+Nxd720.Re2Nxe2+21.Bxe2e5would have been an approximately balanced ending.15...Qb6!Now White has to retreat and Black gradually takes over.16.Qe4?!The more reserved16.Qe2was better.16...Qc6!White obviously missed this. Now Black's advantage is serious and I didnt let go in the remainder of the game.17.Qe2Nxe1! The right rook, in spite of the fact it's not a whole rook! I didnt want to leave White with many pieces pointing at my King.18.Qxe1e519.Nc3Bc520.Ne4Bd4Here I felt quite safe with my bishop anchored on the nice square d4.21.Bg50-022.Rc1Nc5!This is why it is instrumental to have the Queen on c6 as now the pressure on e4 and f2 forces exchanges favourable for Black.23.Nxc5Bxc523...Bxf2+!?24.Qxf2Rxf225.Kxf2Qb626.b3Qg627.Be3Rf8+!28.Ke1!28.Kg1??Qg3-+28...h6was also good, but less human.24.Bh424.b4??Bxf2+25.Qxf2Rxf226.Rxc6Rxf1+-+is out of the question.24.Be3Bxe325.Qxe325.Rxc6Bxf2+26.Qxf2Rxf2-+25...Qd6-+would have been hopeless.24...Qb625.Rc2Bd426.b3?White drifts to a hopeless position. The last thing to consider in such cases is a defence of a worthless pawn.26.Bd3was the only move to offer some practical chances, although afterg627.Bc4+Kg7Black should gradually prevail.26...Qg6!-+I was very pleased to control e4, as that practically guaranteed pushing my pawn to that square next move, cutting the White defences in two.27.Qc1e428.Rc4Bb629.Be2Qf530.Qe1Rae831.Bg3h532.a4Re6!Black has raging pressure on f2; The game has been decided.33.Rb4Rg634.Bc4+Kh835.Rxb6Rxb636.Qe3Rg637.Kh2Rxg3!The best practical choice; The resulting ending holds no chances of salvation for White. 38.fxg3h4!39.gxh4Qf4+40.Qxf4Rxf441.Kg3Rf542.h5Trying to stop ...g6 followed by ...Kg7 but Black does not necessarily need his King in this ending.b5!43.axb5axb544.Be2b445.Bc4Rc5!46.Be246.Be6e347.Bg4Rc348.Be6e2+49.Kf2Re3-+46...Rc3+47.Kf4e348.Bd1Rxb3 White resigned.0–1
Giri was unable to win today against Israel's top board, and the Israeli team surprisingly beat the Netherlands 2.5-1.5. This is mainly surprising because Israel has none of their top players.
Aronian's 2788 performance is "not bad". Armenia is in the follower pack with 5 out of 6 points.
L'Ami, rated 2648 from the Netherlands
Vallejo Pons' Spanish team had a tough round and they fell to Hungary's power 3-1
The Russian team: crying or laughing, you can decide
Russia was at least able to take some vengeance from yesterday's game as they annihilated a weak Austrain team who besides their first board, IM Eva Moser, is not really a threat to Russia. On the top boards Ukraine showed their strength by beating France as Ushenina and Muzychuk took out Milliet and Maisuradze. Armenia smashed Poland 3, which is strong in its own right. Poland (Poland 1?) barely beat Romania but it is enough for them to share first place. Israel continues surprising as they held Georgia to a draw.
In a somewhat strange pairing Ukraine, despite having won all their matches and being the highest rated team will move down to board two to face Israel, while Poland and Armenia will battle out on who stays on top of the leaderboard.
A sad but necessary mention is team England's showing, which despite being a decent enough team for the competition has not managed to score a single half or full point in any of its games. This has caused a little bit of a stir in the English online chess forums...
Kosteniuk has played two games and won them both
Eva Moser is by far and away Austria's best woman, but she wasn't quite high enough to challenge Gunina today
L'Ami, rated 2361 from Romania
Danielian helped her team smash Poland 3 and they are one of the leaders
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