ETCC R01: Top seeds have it easy

European Team Chess Championshio R01: Top seeds have it easy

Watch it live on Playchess!

The 20th European Team Chess Championships 2015 (ETCC2015) for the open and women section are being held from 13th to 22nd of November 2015 in Reykjavik, Iceland. 36 European countries are playing in the open section while 30 are in action in the women’s. A few weeks ago we reported on the European Club Cup 2015. The European Team Championship differs from the Club Cup in the fact that the players represent their own countries – much more national pride is at stake in this event. The winning team in both sections gets a direct entry into the next World Team Championships. The top seed in the open section is Russia with an average Elo of 2743, while in the women section we have Georgia with a rating of 2517 at the top.

It is a nine round Swiss event with one round being played every day. 18th November is the rest day, when the players will be taken on an excursion to Golden Circle and Fischer’s Grave. The rate of play 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 tournament is being played in the same venue as the famous Fischer-Spassky match of 1972 ...

... and David Howell and Jovanka Houska feel what it’s like to sit on the same chairs as Fischer and Spassky

Three important men: Omar Salama, chief arbiter, Gunnar Bjornsson, chief organizer,
and Zurab Azmaiparashvili, President of the European Chess Union

Open Section

The first round in the open section pitted grandmasters against each other. The top six seeds – Russia, Ukraine, France, Azerbaijan, England and Armenia, were able to beat their opponents quite easily. A typical score was 3:1, with two players winning and two drawing. Armenia managed to completely blank their opponents Iceland 4:0.

For the top seeds Russia, who had won the gold medal back in 2007, it was their national champion Evgeny Tomashevsky who struck the first blood against Turkey’s Alexander Ipatov. And what a game it was!

Evgeny Tomashevsky (above) won his game and so did
Dmitry Jakovenko to give Russians a 3-1 victory over Turkey

Vassily Ivanchuk was in a creative mood today and made sure that his team beat the Romanians (3:1)

The Ukrainian team looks extremely well balanced this year. The World Cup 2015 hero Pavel Eljanov rested in the first round, but we will soon see him in action and it will be exciting to follow him. Just in case you were wondering how top players like Eljanov prepare for an event like this, here’s a tweet by the Ukrainian number one which will give you an idea:

It’s White to play and win. Try solving the position and see if you can beat Eljanov’s time.

Two upsets of the day were Moldova’s draw against Hungary and Austria holding Poland. In both the matches it was the top board that failed for the higher rated teams – Bologan got the better of Peter Leko while Markus Ragger beat Radoslaw Wojtaszek.

Viktor Bologan’s mean look is not good news for his opponent

Just in case you were wondering how Bologan managed to outplay such an elite opponent like Leko in a complex opening like the Berlin Wall, here’s the reason – Viktor recently recorded four hours and seven minutes of chess material for ChessBase on the Berlin Wall. This just shows that when you study an opening deeply with one colour, you start playing it well with the other colour as well! Eljanov made a DVD on the Ruy Lopez Breyer and played excellently at the World Cup 2015. It won’t come as surprise to us if Viktor simply crushes the field here!

Ragger was able to beat Wojtaszek from the Black side of the c6-d5 variation in Grunfeld. This ensured that Austria holds Poland to a 2:2 draw.

The Germans were able to beat Switzerland with a score of 2.5-1.5, Daniel Fridman needed a lot of luck to win against Sebastian Bogner and the other three games ended in a draw, but they were not peaceful ones. Just have a look at this crazy game between the talented 18-year-old Dennis Wagner and the chess historian Richard Forster.

One of Germany’s brightest talents: GM Dennis Wagner

Some of the other upsets were Montenegro beating Norway 2.5-1.5 (Carlsen took a rest on the first day). Everyone is eagerly looking forward to him getting into action from round two. Denmark was able to beat the Czech Republic 2.5-1.5 when David Navara lost on the top board to Sune Berg Hansen. The unheralded team from Finland was able to get the better of the strong Latvian team consisting of Shirov and Kovalenko. Kosovo are playing for the first time in the European Team Championships and they lost to Greece.

Round one results

Full individual results

Women Section

The Georgian ladies are on a high. A few weeks ago they represented the team Nona at the European Club Cup and waltzed to the first place on the final standings. In Reykjavik they have a much stronger bottom order and are surely the favourites to win the title. The team consists of Nana Dzagnidze, Bela Khotenashvili, Lela Javakhishvili, Nino Batsiashvili and Meri Arabidze. They beat Czech Republic in the first round with a score of 3.5:0.5.

Nana Dzagnidze (above) has been in scintillating form lately. After a dismal start at the Monaco FIDE Grand Prix 2015 she won the last four games. Later she played brilliantly at the European Club Cup 2015, scoring 5.5/7. She is truly the backbone of the Georgian team.

The two other teams which could give the Georgian ladies a run for their money are the Russians and Ukrainians. The Russian team of Alexandra Kosteniuk, Kateryna Lagno, Valentina Gunina, Aleksandra Goryachkina and Anastasia Bodnaruk, have an average rating of 2513. They are closely followed by Ukrainians on 2499. Ukraine is very solid with the Muzychuk sisters, Natalia Zhukova, Anna Ushenina and Inna Gaponenko. In spite of Anna Muzychuk not turning up for the first round, the other three players did the job, and won the match against England with a score of 2.5:1.5.

Valentina Gunina’s victory over Ekaterina Pavlidou
played an important role in Russia’s 3:1 win against Greece

Second board for Ukraine, Natalia Zhukova, will try to
make sure that her team repeats the success of 2013

Recently married Elisabeth Pähtz sports a new hairstyle

What?? Judit’s here! Well, unfortunately she isn’t playing. She is the coach of Hungarian men’s team.
The coach of the women’s team GM Robert Ruck can be seen next to her in the above picture.

Board one for Netherlands WGM Anne Haast

The three-time Hungarian champion Anna Rudolf plays on board two for her team

Anna-Maja Kazarian must have become a stronger player
after her 5.5-0.5 loss against Sopiko Guramishvili recently

Board number two for Spain IM Ana Matnadze

One of the best photographers in the chess world and also
a strong chess player, IM Alina l’Ami, plays under the Romanian flag

Round one results

Full individual results

Pictures taken from the official facebook page of ETCC 2015

Links Official tournament site Download all games in PGN: Open + Women 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 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.