ETCC R07: Russians forge further ahead!

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ETCC R07: Russians forge further ahead!

Two teams were in excellent form in the European Team Championships 2015 – Russia and France. In round seven they were pitted against each other. The Russian team, who had one point lead over the field, distanced themselves even further from the rest by beating France 2.5:1.5. The match was tense and interesting, but in the end it was Alexander Grischuk’s win over Laurent Fressinet which made the difference.

On the top board, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was able to probe Svidler’s Grunfeld,
but the Russian kept his calm and equalized the game

Maxime had dropped down to 2723 in June 2015. A string of powerful performances have helped him get back to a live rating of 2774 and eleventh in the world rankings. In the seventh round he played a well-timed e4-e5 advance against Svidler in the Grunfeld. It seemed as if the Frenchman had quite a tangible advantage, but then he made a few inaccuracies and Svidler was alert to get his counterplay.

Grischuk was the Russian hero, featuring in the only decisive game of the match

Take any recent tournament and you will see that the Berlin scores really well for Black. However in Reykjavik, White has been scoring heavily – five wins, four draws and one loss, that’s quite an achievement for the first player. On the losing side from black have been strong players like Leko, Aronian, Almasi, Eljanov and Fressinet. Is this the start of a new chapter in this opening where white is gaining an advantage in the endgame line? I do not think so. But one thing is for sure – white players are coming better prepared and are able to pose new problems to their opponents. This is exactly what Alexander Grischuk did in his game against Laurent Fressinet.

Etienne Bacrot was so close to winning against Evgeny Tomashevsky
but couldn’t convert his material advantage

The final position from Etienne Bacrot – Evgeny Tomashevsky game

The last position from the game is an amusing fortress. Black keeps shuffling his king between f8 and f7 and there is nothing at all that White can do about it. Absolutely nothing! Bacrot saw the futility of continuing in this position, and agreed to a draw. But didn’t the French player have a chance to convert his advantage in an earlier stage of the game? Let’s have a look:

On the last board Jakovenko tried hard to win a pawn up endgame, but the game ended in a draw. With this victory Russia move to 13.0/14 match points, three points clear of the nearest rivals. A win in the next round will guarantee the gold medal for them. The Russian team faces Aronian and co. in the eighth round.

Thirteenth seeds in the event, Latvia, were on the verge of beating the third seeded Azerbaijani team. Igor Kovalenko played a sparkling attacking game against Teimour Radjabov, in a style which we associate with the legends of Lativa – Mikhail Tal and Alexei Shirov.

Kovalenko is one of those players who has reached the 2700 Elo mark by just playing in open events. Soon he will be getting invitations in the top level Round Robins, and it will be great fun to watch a creative player like him in action against the best in the world.

Alexei Shirov was so close to a draw against Shakhiryar Mamedyarov,
but blew it in the end, which resulted in a 2:2 tie

The biggest upset of the round was the victory of Georgia over Ukraine. Baadur Jobava against Vassily Ivanchuk ended in a draw. Pavel Eljanov had the white pieces against Mikheil Mchedlishvili. As we all know well by now, Pavel is extremely dangerous with white. He was able to easily beat his Georgian opponent. In spite of his loss yesterday to Fressinet, Eljanov is gaining rating in this tournament. He now has a live rating of 2760 and is up to number 13 in the world.

Levan Pantsulaia is surely the player of the tournament at this point. He has a score of 5.5/7 and a rating performance of 2845. With victories over strong players like Kozul, Nepomniactchi and Kryvoruchko he is adding 25 Elo points to his modest rating of 2567.

Alexander Areschenko had a horrible day at the office. He was completely winning in the middlegame against Merab Gagunashvili. Later he made a few mistakes, but was still clearly better. Towards the end he was under such great time pressure that he lost all his advantage, and in a position that was far from clear, his flag fell. Quite a depressing turn of events for the Ukrainian team.

In the position where Areshchenko’s flag fell White no longer has an advantage as his pieces are badly co-ordinated. The king on e5 is quite safe. Yet this is far from lost. Alexander must have tried to find a way to mate the black king, and in the frustration of not finding it forgot about his clock. Credit must also be given to Merab Gagunashvili, who defended the position with great tenacity.

Magnus Carlsen drew his game with the white pieces against Ioannis Papaioannou

Team pairings and results of round seven

Full board results of round seven

Rankings after seven rounds

Women's section

The Russian team continued their dominance in the women’s section with a clinical 3:1 victory over Hungary. Valentina Gunina and Aleksandra Goryachkina provided the wins for Russia to take their match point tally to 13.0/14.

Valentina Gunina played an interesting opening novelty and then
followed it up with some amazing power play chess against Petra Papp

Heartbreaker Petra realized that she had to create
some counterplay but was unable to control the tactics

Miss dependable for the Russian team: Aleksandra Goryachkina with +4 =2 on board four

The big news of round four was Serbia drawing their game against Georgia. Nana Dzagnidze lost her game to Jovana Vojinovic. Nino Batsiashvili pulled one back, but the other two games ended in draws.

Jovana Vojinovic, girlfriend of Richard Rapport, created a huge upset
by beating Nana Dzagnidze [picture by Ray Morris Hill]

Meanwhile Mariya Muzychuk and her team blanked Austria with a score of 4:0

The Ukrainians are now in the second spot and the Georgians have been pushed back to third. Are there any more surprises left in store in the remaining two rounds in the women’s section? Let’s wait and watch!

Team pairings and results of round seven

Full board results of round seven

Rankings after seven rounds

Pictures by Hrafn Jökulsson on 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.