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We are nearing the end of the European Team Championships 2015, and after the penultimate round Russia continued their two point lead over the field in both the sections. In the open section Russia was held to a draw by Armenia, and now has 14.0/16 match points. They are followed by Hungary on twelve points, the only team that has the theoretical chance of winning gold. Russia faces Hungary in the final round, which makes it a very interesting finale. The Russian women team is leading with 15.0/16 match points. The only teams that can catch them, if they lose, are Ukraine and Georgia who have 13.0/16 points. Ukraine has an excellent tiebreak, because of the huge margins by which they have won their matches. However it seems unlikely that Russia would lose to the German team in the last round. Let’s first turn our attention to the highly interesting board one clash of the eighth round in the open section between Russia and Armenia.
Svidler and Aronian played out a tame draw on board one
The best game of the day award should really go to Gabriel Sargissian for his superb positional victory over Alexander Grischuk. Sargissian stayed true to his tag of a fantastic team tournament player, and simply outplayed his Russian opponent without giving him a single chance. This game is a must-watch for all the players who would like to learn the art of converting small advantages.
[Event "20th European Teams"] [Site "Reykjavik ISL"] [Date "2015.11.21"] [Round "8.2"] [White "Sargissian, Gabriel"] [Black "Grischuk, Alexander"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A33"] [WhiteElo "2689"] [BlackElo "2750"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2015.11.13"] [WhiteTeam "Armenia"] [BlackTeam "Russia"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ARM"] 1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bg5 Be7 7. e3 O-O 8. Be2 d5 9. cxd5 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 Nxd5 11. Bxe7 Nxe7 12. O-O-O Qxd4 13. Rxd4 e5 14. Rd2 Be6 15. b3 Rfd8 16. Rhd1 Rxd2 17. Rxd2 {[#] At first sight the position looks completely even. But on close inspection we can find many minor points in White's favour: 1. The white rook is already on an open file, Black's rook is not. 2. The white king is closer to the center. 3. The bishop could come to f3 and pressurize the Black's queenside. Combined with Ne4-d6 it could be quite dangerous. 4. The bishop on e6 is blunted due to the pawn on b3. When you put this all together you do not get a winning advantage – you get a nagging edge for White which is difficult to defuse because the pawn structure is symmetrical.} Kf8 18. Bf3 Nc6 (18... Rc8 19. Kb2 Nc6 20. Ne4 Ke7 {was surely a better way to play as after} 21. Nc5 b6 22. Nxe6 Kxe6 {Black should be alright.}) 19. Ne4 $1 Rb8 20. Nd6 f5 {Sargissian calculates deeply and sees that he can get away by taking on b7.} 21. Nxb7 $1 e4 22. Nc5 $1 exf3 23. Nxe6+ Ke7 24. Nf4 $16 {White is a pawn up for no compensation.} fxg2 25. Nxg2 g5 26. h4 $1 {Getting rid of the isolated h-pawn. If Black pushes on with g4, then the f4 square is weakened.} h6 27. hxg5 hxg5 28. Ne1 Ne5 29. Rd5 Ke6 30. Ra5 Nc6 31. Rc5 Ne5 32. Kd2 Rh8 33. Nd3 Nxd3 34. Kxd3 Rh2 35. Rc2 {The way Sargissian keeps control of the position is worth learning from.} g4 36. b4 Rh1 37. a4 Rb1 38. Kc4 {The rook defends the f2 pawn, which is the only weakness in White's camp, and the king escorts his pawns to the queening square.} Ke5 ( 38... Kd6 {trying to run to c7 could have been a better defence, but after} 39. Kb5 $18 {the king will not be allowed to come to the c-file and White can win by playing Rc4 and transferring his rook to f4.}) 39. Kb5 Kd5 40. Rc5+ $1 Ke6 41. Rc4 {The rook defends c4, prepares Ka6 and is ready to keep everything under control with Rf4.} Rb3 42. Ka6 {Grischuk saw nothing better than to resign. A superb positonal game by Sargissian which I am sure will become some sort of a classic in the years to come.} 1-0
Sargissian and Aronian might have different perceptions towards how they assess a game of chess,
but both of them would agree that the former played a masterpiece today!
Ian Nepomniachtchi turned out to be the saviour for the Russian team,
as he downed Sergei Movsesian from the white side of a Sicilian Taimanov
The last board game between Jakovenko and Melkumyan ended in a draw and the match was tied at 2:2. Quite a good result for the Armenian team, who are in fourth position after eight rounds.
Maxime Vachier Lagrave didn’t seem too confident and forced a quick draw against Baadur Jobava’s Caro Kann. Mikheil Mchedlishvili had a definite edge against Laurent Fressinet, but was unable to convert it.
Levan Pantsulaia has been firing at will for the Georgian team. He scored yet another crucial victory when his opponent Edouard Romain overstretched in a position where he had to take the draw by perpetual check.
[Event "20th European Teams"] [Site "Reykjavik ISL"] [Date "2015.11.21"] [Round "8.3"] [White "Edouard, Romain"] [Black "Pantsulaia, Levan"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B42"] [WhiteElo "2632"] [BlackElo "2567"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "88"] [EventDate "2015.11.13"] [WhiteTeam "France"] [BlackTeam "Georgia"] [WhiteTeamCountry "FRA"] [BlackTeamCountry "GEO"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Nf6 6. O-O e5 $5 {This move is a speciality of Pantsulaia.} 7. Nf3 (7. Bg5 {is an interesting line which has been played by Edouard before.} h6 (7... exd4 $2 8. e5 h6 9. exf6 hxg5 10. Re1+ $18) 8. Bxf6 Qxf6 9. Nf5 g6 10. Ne3 Bc5 11. Nc3 d6 12. Ncd5 Qd8 13. b4 Ba7 { with a complicated position. The weakness on the d5 square is neutralized by the fact that Black has the bishop pair!}) 7... Nc6 8. Be3 $146 {Already a novelty by Romain, but it doesn't seem so effective as it allows d7-d5. 8.Nc3 was surely better.} d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Qe2 Be7 11. Rd1 Nxe3 12. Qxe3 Qd6 13. Nbd2 Qc5 14. Qe2 O-O 15. Nb3 Qb4 16. Be4 f6 17. Qd3 g6 {This is an invitation to take on g6 and end the game in a draw.} (17... Kh8 {was much better as taking on h7 is not possible for the time being.} 18. Bxh7 f5 19. Bg6 Qg4 $19) 18. c3 (18. Bxg6 hxg6 19. Qxg6+ Kh8 20. Qh6+ $11 {Looks like a draw and nothing more than that.}) 18... Qa4 19. Bxg6 hxg6 20. Qxg6+ Kh8 21. Qh6+ Kg8 22. Qg6+ Kh8 23. Rd3 {Romain tries for more but now he risks losing.} Qf4 $1 24. Qh5+ Kg7 25. Nh4 Qh6 26. Nf5+ Bxf5 27. Qxf5 Rh8 $1 28. Rh3 Qf4 29. Rg3+ Kf7 30. Qd7 Rag8 {Black has co-ordinated himself and is clear piece up. The rest is not difficult for Pantsulaia.} 31. Qd5+ Kf8 32. Nc5 Bxc5 33. Qxc5+ Ke8 34. Rxg8+ Rxg8 35. Qd5 Rh8 36. g3 Qg4 37. Rd1 Qh3 38. Qg2 Qxg2+ 39. Kxg2 Rh7 40. Rd2 Rd7 41. Re2 Kf7 42. Kf3 Ke6 43. h4 f5 44. Ke3 Rd1 0-1
Pantsulaia is surely playing the tournament of his life. He has a score of 6.5/8 against an average opposition of 2617! This comes to a mammoth rating performance of 2868, and he is gaining 30 Elo points from the event. He has been given rest for the last round which confirms his gold medal on board three.
Merab Gagunashvili was unable to hold his position against Etienne Bacrot
on the fourth board, which resulted in the match being tied at 2:2
The match of the day was surely the one between Azerbaijan and Hungary. Both the teams were quite evenly matched, but Judit’s boys went on a rampage, giving a thorough drubbing to their opponents, beating them with a hefty margin of 3.5:0.5.
The top board clash between Mamedyarov and Leko ended in a draw. Richard Rapport came out all guns blazing against Teimous Radjabov. After playing a high unusual opening, which on the other hand is quite usual for Richard, he gained a small edge. From move 25 until the end of the game (move 36) was just high quality chess from the 19-year-old Hungarian prodigy. A must-watch game:
[Event "20th European Teams"] [Site "Reykjavik ISL"] [Date "2015.11.21"] [Round "8.2"] [White "Rapport, Richard"] [Black "Radjabov, Teimour"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A45"] [WhiteElo "2693"] [BlackElo "2739"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "2015.11.13"] [WhiteTeam "Hungary"] [BlackTeam "Azerbaijan"] [WhiteTeamCountry "HUN"] [BlackTeamCountry "AZE"] {This game is highly unusual and shows perfectly how Richard Rapport likes to play.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 {The Trompowsky!} d5 3. e3 $5 {Maybe he doesn't really want to take on f6 and play the Trompowsky, he would like to play the Torre?!} c5 4. Nc3 $5 {Veresov?!!} e6 5. Nf3 {This my dear friends is no opening system. It's just a cocktail of all the respectable opening lines to create an unusual variation.} Nc6 6. a3 $5 {For normal people like me this move would mean playing dxc5 followed by b4. But on Planet Rapport it means creating a square on a2 for your c3 knight!} Be7 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Bd3 O-O 9. O-O Be7 {Black has a very comfortable position out of the opening, but then Richie never really tried for an opening advantage, did he?} 10. e4 d4 11. Na2 $5 {See how the move a2-a3 was useful!} e5 (11... a5 {trying to stop Nb4 is met with} 12. e5 $1 Nd5 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Nc1 $14 {And White is clearly better.}) 12. Nb4 Nd7 13. Bd2 a5 14. Nxc6 bxc6 15. b4 axb4 16. axb4 Bb7 17. Qe2 Qb6 18. c3 Rxa1 19. Rxa1 dxc3 20. Bxc3 Bxb4 21. Rb1 c5 22. Nxe5 Nxe5 23. Bxe5 {The last few moves have been pretty normal, nothing unusual. The position is round about equal.} Re8 24. Ba1 Qe6 (24... Bc8 {re-routing the bishop to e6 looks quite good.}) 25. f3 Ra8 26. Bc4 Ba6 {Getting into a tactical melee against Rapport is not such a great idea.} 27. Qb2 $1 {Threatening a mate on g7.} Qg6 28. Qa2 {The bishop on a6 is pinned and there's pressure on the f7 pawn.} Bb7 29. Rd1 $1 {Back rank weakness reminder.} h6 30. Qb2 {Rd7 is quite a deadly threat now.} Bc6 31. Qe5 $1 {Basically there is no real threat in this position, but the black pieces are just so badly tied down. The queen has to defend g7, the bishop on c6 has to taken care of a rook invasion on d7 and the bishop on b4 is practically out of the game. The rook on a8 looks free to move, but what can a lone man do!} Kh7 32. h4 $1 {With the deadly threat of h5 Qg5 Bxf7.} f6 33. Qc7 $1 Be8 34. Be6 {Bf5 is a monsterous threat.} Kh8 35. Qb7 Ra3 36. Qe7 $1 {The check on f8 cannot be prevented. What a game by Rapport! Unusual opening, creative middlegame play and then razor sharp calculation to finish off the game! He is truly a great player.} 1-0
The way he plays chess truly makes Richard Rapport a rock-star! [Picture by Amruta Mokal]
Zoltan Almasi had a wild and complicated game in the Nimzo Indian against Arkadij Naiditsch, which ended in favour of the Hungarian. On the last board Ferenc Berkes got just the kind of position he likes – a solid one with a slight edge. With his phenomenal technique he crushed the life out of Eltaj Safarli. The Hungarians now have a chance to finish the tournament on a high by beating the leaders Russia in the final round.
Anish Giri has not been in the news thanks to an extremely solid event, where he has made five draws (also three wins!). But in the eighth round he was able to set a very nasty trap against Alexei Shirov. The Latvian, who is famed for his tactical abilities, surprisingly, fell right into it.
Giri – Shirov, round eight
Giri attacked the black queen with Re3 and Shirov defended with ...Rd3. What was wrong with that?
[Event "20th European Teams"] [Site "Reykjavik ISL"] [Date "2015.11.21"] [Round "8.1"] [White "Giri, Anish"] [Black "Shirov, Alexei"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B31"] [WhiteElo "2778"] [BlackElo "2689"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "2015.11.13"] [WhiteTeam "Netherlands"] [BlackTeam "Latvia"] [WhiteTeamCountry "NED"] [BlackTeamCountry "LAT"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg4 6. Nbd2 Bg7 7. h3 Bxf3 8. Nxf3 Nf6 9. e5 Nd5 10. O-O Nc7 11. Be3 Ne6 12. Re1 Qc7 13. Bd2 Rd8 14. Re4 Nd4 15. Bc3 Nb5 16. Qd2 O-O 17. Rae1 Nxc3 18. Qxc3 Rd5 19. b3 b5 20. Qd2 Qb6 21. Qe3 Qa5 22. c4 bxc4 23. dxc4 Rdd8 24. Qe2 e6 25. h4 Rd7 26. h5 Rfd8 27. hxg6 hxg6 28. g3 Qc3 29. Kg2 a5 {White has the better pawn structure and a clearly superior game. But it is not yet a decisive advantage. Black can fight on. Giri decides to attack the black queen:} 30. Re3 {Shirov saw nothing wrong with } Rd3 $2 {Did you see what Shirov missed?} ({Black's only move to survive here is} 30... Qb4) 31. Rd1 $1 {A nice example of cross pin!} 1-0
Pavel Eljanov played a nice little combination against Grzegorz Gajewski,
to give Ukraine a 2.5:1.5 victory over Poland
[Event "20th European Teams"] [Site "Reykjavik ISL"] [Date "2015.11.21"] [Round "8.2"] [White "Gajewski, Grzegorz"] [Black "Eljanov, Pavel"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A11"] [WhiteElo "2647"] [BlackElo "2753"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "90"] [EventDate "2015.11.13"] [WhiteTeam "Poland"] [BlackTeam "Ukraine"] [WhiteTeamCountry "POL"] [BlackTeamCountry "UKR"] 1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. Qc2 e6 6. b3 c5 7. Bb2 d4 8. Ne4 Nc6 9. Nxf6+ Qxf6 10. exd4 cxd4 11. Bd3 Bd6 12. O-O h6 13. Be4 e5 14. Bxc6+ bxc6 15. Qe4 O-O 16. Qxc6 Bg4 17. Rfe1 Rac8 18. Qe4 Bf5 19. Qe2 Rfe8 20. d3 Bb4 21. Red1 a5 22. a3 Bc5 23. Re1 Bg4 24. Rab1 Rb8 25. Bc1 Qd6 26. h3 Bh5 27. g4 Bg6 28. Nh4 e4 29. Nxg6 fxg6 30. Bd2 e3 31. Bxa5 exf2+ 32. Qxf2 Re3 33. Rxe3 dxe3 34. Qh2 e2+ 35. Kh1 {[#] It's Black to play. The queen on h2 is asking a the one on d6.: will you take me? If not then you will have to leave the rook on b8 hanging with a check! Of course Eljanov sees underneath the surface and gives up the rook on b8.} Qxd3 $3 36. Qxb8+ Kh7 {The king is safe. Now the rook on b1 is hanging and Bd6 is also threatened. As Kasparov has said many times in the past, "Even a pawn is a unit of attack!"} 37. Rg1 (37. Re1 Qf3+ 38. Kh2 Qf2+ 39. Kh1 Qf1+ 40. Kh2 Bg1+ 41. Kg3 (41. Kh1 Ba7+ $19) 41... Qf2#) 37... Bd6 $1 {Threatening ...Qxh3#.} 38. Qxd6 Qxd6 {Because of the pawn on e2 the position is completely lost for Gajewski.} 39. Bb4 Qd3 40. Kg2 Qxb3 41. c5 h5 42. gxh5 gxh5 43. Kh2 Qc2 44. Rg2 Qe4 45. Be1 Qf4+ 0-1
Magnus Carlsen keeps shedding rating points. He drew his game against Nisipeanu and is now down to 2830
in the live ratings. In the last round he will face Poland’s Radoslaw Wojtaszek with the white pieces.
Nigel Short scored his first win of the tournament with a highly eventful game against Baris Esen. Have a look at this gem to see the unusual opening essayed by the Englishman, the highly dubious sacrifice by Baris, the harmonious mating attack by two rooks and two bishops, and Nigel’s attempt at another immortal king walk at the end of the game.
[Event "20th European Teams"] [Site "Reykjavik ISL"] [Date "2015.11.21"] [Round "8.3"] [White "Esen, Baris"] [Black "Short, Nigel D"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E10"] [WhiteElo "2565"] [BlackElo "2686"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "80"] [EventDate "2015.11.13"] [WhiteTeam "Turkey"] [BlackTeam "England"] [WhiteTeamCountry "TUR"] [BlackTeamCountry "ENG"] {The reason why I selected this game is because of the unusual opening played by Nigel Short and the fact that a completely dubious sacrifice created quite a few practical problems even for a 2686 player.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 a6 $5 {What is that?!! Well the line isn't so rare. It has been played in nearly 500 games and essayed by top players like Romanishin.} 4. Bg5 h6 5. Bxf6 Qxf6 6. Nc3 d6 7. Qc2 g6 8. c5 $5 Qd8 (8... dxc5 9. Ne4) 9. e3 dxc5 10. Bd3 { Esen Baris plays in quite a creative mood, but this pawn sacrifice isn't so great.} cxd4 11. exd4 (11. Bxg6 dxc3 $19) 11... Bg7 12. Bxg6 $5 {In for a penny, in for a pound!} fxg6 13. Qxg6+ Kf8 {White really doesn't have anything much over here for the sacrificed piece. Yet in a practical game there are always chances to go wrong.} 14. O-O Nc6 15. Rfe1 Nxd4 $1 {Nigel doesn't see any ghosts and picks up another pawn.} 16. Nxd4 Bxd4 17. Ne4 Qe8 (17... Qe7 18. Rad1 e5 $19) 18. Qg3 Rg8 (18... Qe7 {Defending the c7 pawn was better. Maybe Nigel was afraid of} 19. Re3 $5 {If the rook is taken then fxe3 and the f-file opens. Even that seems to be totally fine for Black, but a better defence is} Rh7 $1 20. Rf3+ Rf7 $19 {When all is well.}) 19. Qxc7 Qe7 $6 (19... Qd7 { was better as we shall we in the game.}) 20. Qf4+ Kg7 21. Ng3 $1 {Now Nf5+ is a huge threat which wouldn't have been the case if the queen were on d7. Also the bishop on d4 would have been defended.} Bf6 $1 {Nigel remains alert and tries to find the best possible defensive moves in a situation that has completely gone haywire for him.} 22. Nf5+ exf5 23. Rxe7+ Bxe7 24. Qc7 Kf7 25. Re1 $14 {Materially Black is doing fine, but his king is weak and so are his pawns. White should be slightly better here.} Be6 26. Qxb7 Rad8 27. Qxa6 { Black has lost many pawns, but it seems he has co-ordinated himself to some extent.} Bd5 28. g3 Bf6 29. a4 Rge8 $1 30. Rf1 (30. Rxe8 Rxe8 31. Kf1 {would have been better.}) 30... h5 31. b4 h4 $1 32. a5 hxg3 $1 {The game is over after this.} 33. hxg3 (33. fxg3 Bd4+ $19) 33... Bf3 $1 (33... Rh8 {Maybe Esen thought that he could meet this with f3 and be still alright. As it turns out the move f3 can be stopped before playing Rh8.}) 34. Qc4+ Kg6 35. Qb3 Bd5 36. Qd3 Ba8 37. Qc2 Bd4 $1 {Pinning the f2 pawn and threatening the deadly Rh8.} 38. Qc4 Rh8 39. Qe6+ Kg5 40. Qe7+ Kg4 {[#] This might not end up as another king walk legend by Nigel Short, but it nonetheless was a very exciting game.} ({The game could have continued} 40... Kg4 41. Qh4+ Rxh4 42. gxh4 Kf3 43. Rc1 { (say)} Rg8+ 44. Kh2 Be5+ 45. Kh3 Rg2 46. Rh1 Kxf2 47. h5 Rg3+ 48. Kh4 Bf6#) 0-1
The two host teams faced off against each other, which ended in a 2.5:1.5 win for team Iceland. Margeir Petursson won his game, but his efforts were overshadowed by Hedinn Steingrimsson and Horjvar Steinn Gretarsson scoring full points.
| No. | Sd | Team |
Pts.
|
MP
|
Res.
|
:
|
Res.
|
MP
|
Pts.
|
Team | Sd |
| 1 | 1 | Russia | 18½ | 13 |
2
|
:
|
2
|
10 | 17½ | Armenia | 6 |
| 2 | 4 | France | 16½ | 10 |
2
|
:
|
2
|
10 | 17½ | Georgia | 17 |
| 3 | 3 | Azerbaijan | 18 | 10 |
½
|
:
|
3½
|
10 | 17 | Hungary | 7 |
| 4 | 9 | Netherlands | 16 | 9 |
3
|
:
|
1
|
9 | 17 | Latvia | 13 |
| 5 | 10 | Germany | 15 | 9 |
2½
|
:
|
1½
|
8 | 15½ | Norway | 11 |
| 6 | 2 | Ukraine | 15 | 8 |
2½
|
:
|
1½
|
8 | 14½ | Poland | 8 |
| 7 | 15 | Serbia | 15 | 8 |
2
|
:
|
2
|
8 | 15½ | Spain | 14 |
| 8 | 23 | Italy | 15½ | 8 |
1
|
:
|
3
|
8 | 15 | Moldova | 25 |
| 9 | 19 | Turkey | 14½ | 7 |
1½
|
:
|
2½
|
7 | 14 | England | 5 |
| 10 | 12 | Czech Republic | 15 | 7 |
3½
|
:
|
½
|
7 | 14½ | Switzerland | 28 |
| 11 | 22 | Sweden | 14 | 7 |
1
|
:
|
3
|
6 | 15 | Romania | 20 |
| 12 | 31 | Finland | 12 | 6 |
1
|
:
|
3
|
6 | 12½ | Croatia | 16 |
| 13 | 18 | Greece | 12½ | 6 |
1
|
:
|
3
|
6 | 12 | Lithuania | 33 |
| 14 | 21 | Slovenia | 13 | 5 |
2½
|
:
|
1½
|
5 | 11½ | Belgium | 32 |
| 15 | 27 | Iceland Legends | 11 | 5 |
1½
|
:
|
2½
|
5 | 12 | Iceland | 24 |
| 16 | 29 | Montenegro | 12 | 5 |
3
|
:
|
1
|
5 | 15½ | Austria | 26 |
| 17 | 34 | Faroe Islands | 9½ | 4 |
2
|
:
|
2
|
4 | 12½ | Denmark | 30 |
| 18 | 35 | Scotland | 3 | 1 |
2½
|
:
|
1½
|
2 | 9 | Kosovo* | 36 |
Full pairings and board results
| Rk. | SNo | FED | Team |
+
|
=
|
-
|
TB1
|
TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | 1 | RUS | Russia |
6
|
2
|
0
|
14
|
170,5 | 20,5 |
| 2 | 7 | HUN | Hungary |
5
|
2
|
1
|
12
|
154,5 | 20,5 |
| 3 | 4 | FRA | France |
4
|
3
|
1
|
11
|
164,5 | 18,5 |
| 4 | 6 | ARM | Armenia |
4
|
3
|
1
|
11
|
150,0 | 19,5 |
| 5 | 17 | GEO | Georgia |
4
|
3
|
1
|
11
|
149,0 | 19,5 |
| 6 | 10 | GER | Germany |
5
|
1
|
2
|
11
|
130,0 | 17,5 |
| 7 | 9 | NED | Netherlands |
5
|
1
|
2
|
11
|
126,5 | 19,0 |
| 8 | 2 | UKR | Ukraine |
5
|
0
|
3
|
10
|
146,0 | 17,5 |
| 9 | 3 | AZE | Azerbaijan |
4
|
2
|
2
|
10
|
140,0 | 18,5 |
| 10 | 25 | MDA | Moldova |
4
|
2
|
2
|
10
|
124,5 | 18,0 |
| 11 | 14 | ESP | Spain |
4
|
1
|
3
|
9
|
136,5 | 17,5 |
| 12 | 15 | SRB | Serbia |
3
|
3
|
2
|
9
|
136,5 | 17,0 |
| 13 | 5 | ENG | England |
3
|
3
|
2
|
9
|
129,0 | 16,5 |
| 14 | 12 | CZE | Czech Republic |
3
|
3
|
2
|
9
|
124,0 | 18,5 |
| 15 | 13 | LAT | Latvia |
4
|
1
|
3
|
9
|
110,5 | 18,0 |
| 16 | 8 | POL | Poland |
3
|
2
|
3
|
8
|
128,5 | 16,0 |
| 17 | 23 | ITA | Italy |
3
|
2
|
3
|
8
|
117,5 | 16,5 |
| 18 | 11 | NOR | Norway |
4
|
0
|
4
|
8
|
117,0 | 17,0 |
| 19 | 20 | ROU | Romania |
3
|
2
|
3
|
8
|
106,5 | 18,0 |
| 20 | 16 | CRO | Croatia |
3
|
2
|
3
|
8
|
105,5 | 15,5 |
| 21 | 33 | LTU | Lithuania |
3
|
2
|
3
|
8
|
83,5 | 15,0 |
| 22 | 29 | MNE | Montenegro |
2
|
3
|
3
|
7
|
103,0 | 15,0 |
| 23 | 22 | SWE | Sweden |
3
|
1
|
4
|
7
|
100,5 | 15,0 |
| 24 | 19 | TUR | Turkey |
3
|
1
|
4
|
7
|
97,0 | 16,0 |
| 25 | 21 | SLO | Slovenia |
3
|
1
|
4
|
7
|
92,0 | 15,5 |
| 26 | 28 | SUI | Switzerland |
3
|
1
|
4
|
7
|
92,0 | 15,0 |
| 27 | 24 | ISL | Iceland |
3
|
1
|
4
|
7
|
87,5 | 14,5 |
| 28 | 18 | GRE | Greece |
2
|
2
|
4
|
6
|
94,0 | 13,5 |
| 29 | 31 | FIN | Finland |
3
|
0
|
5
|
6
|
87,5 | 13,0 |
| 30 | 26 | AUT | Austria |
2
|
1
|
5
|
5
|
74,0 | 16,5 |
| 31 | 30 | DEN | Denmark |
2
|
1
|
5
|
5
|
74,0 | 14,5 |
| 32 | 27 | ISL | Iceland Legends |
2
|
1
|
5
|
5
|
70,5 | 12,5 |
| 33 | 32 | BEL | Belgium |
2
|
1
|
5
|
5
|
64,0 | 13,0 |
| 34 | 34 | FAI | Faroe Islands |
2
|
1
|
5
|
5
|
44,0 | 11,5 |
| 35 | 35 | SCO | Scotland |
1
|
1
|
6
|
3
|
15,0 | 5,5 |
| 36 | 36 | KOS | Kosovo* |
1
|
0
|
7
|
2
|
54,0 | 10,5 |
Tie Break1: Matchpoints (2 for wins, 1 for draws, 0 for losses)
Tie Break2: Olympiad-Sonneborn-Berger-Tie-Break without lowest result (Khanty-Mansiysk)
Tie Break3: points (game-points)
The Russian women’s team faced a small scare today after Valentina Gunina went down to Karina Szczepkowska-Horowska. But Alexandra Kosteniuk and Aleksandra Goryachkina steadied the ship with fine wins over Monika Socko and Joanna Majdan-Gajewska. Russia won the match 2.5:1.5
Alexandra Kosteniuk: the Russian colours are everywhere in Reykjavik!
Nana Dzagnidze was rested, hence Bela Khotenashvili (above) played on the top board for Georgia.
She scored a fine win over Szidonia Vajda that helped her team win the match 2.5:1.5
The Ukrainian women continued their no-nonsense approach by blanking the team from France 4:0. Mariya Muzychuk with her win over Marie Sebag now has 6.0/7, and has already gained 16 Elo points from the event. She now has a live rating of 2558. Anna Muzychuk scored a nice win over Almira Skripchenko in just 20 moves, but it was only after her opponent blundered pretty badly on her 15th turn.
[Event "20th European Teams Women"] [Site "Reykjavik ISL"] [Date "2015.11.21"] [Round "8.2"] [White "Muzychuk, Anna"] [Black "Skripchenko, Almira"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C41"] [WhiteElo "2534"] [BlackElo "2443"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "39"] [EventDate "2015.11.13"] [WhiteTeam "Ukraine"] [BlackTeam "France"] [WhiteTeamCountry "UKR"] [BlackTeamCountry "FRA"] 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. a4 O-O 7. O-O a6 8. h3 b6 9. Qe2 Bb7 10. Rd1 Qe8 11. dxe5 dxe5 12. Bg5 Nc5 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. Bxd5 Bxg5 15. Nxg5 {[#]The position is round about equal but now Almira goes terribly wrong.} c6 $4 16. Qh5 $1 h6 17. Bxf7+ $1 Rxf7 18. Qxf7+ Qxf7 19. Nxf7 Kxf7 20. b4 $1 {The rook check on d7 is coming up next and Black is just lost.} 1-0
Anna Muzychuk took full advantage of her opponent’s blunder and powered her team to a 4:0 victory
Romania lost their match against Italy, but Alina l’Ami (above) scored a fantastic win
over Olga Zimina. The final position of the game is aesthetically quite pleasing!
[Event "20th European Teams Women"] [Site "Reykjavik ISL"] [Date "2015.11.21"] [Round "8.1"] [White "L'Ami, Alina"] [Black "Zimina, Olga"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D31"] [WhiteElo "2364"] [BlackElo "2364"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "2015.11.13"] [WhiteTeam "Romania"] [BlackTeam "Italy"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ROU"] [BlackTeamCountry "ITA"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 e6 4. e4 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Nf6 6. Nxf6+ Qxf6 7. Nf3 Nd7 8. Bd3 Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 O-O 11. Ng5 g6 12. O-O-O b5 13. h4 bxc4 14. Bxc4 Nb6 15. Bb3 a5 16. h5 a4 17. Ne4 Qf5 18. Bc2 a3 19. b3 Ra7 20. g4 Qf3 21. Ng5 Qf6 {White is winning in many ways but Alina finds the fastest path to victory. } 22. Nxh7 $1 Kxh7 23. hxg6+ Kg8 24. g7 $5 (24. Rh6 {with the idea of doubling on the h-file is also strong.}) 24... Rd8 (24... Qxg7 25. Rh7 $18) 25. Rh7 Rd5 26. Rdh1 Qg5 27. f4 Qxg4 28. Qh2 f5 29. Rh8+ Kxg7 30. Qh7+ Kf6 31. Rh6+ { The reason why I selected this game is for this highly aesthetic final position with the three white major pieces on h8, h7 and h6.} 1-0
| No. | Sd | Team |
Pts.
|
MP
|
Res.
|
:
|
Res.
|
MP
|
Pts.
|
Team | Sd |
| 1 | 4 | Poland | 17 | 10 |
1½
|
:
|
2½
|
13 | 20½ | Russia | 2 |
| 2 | 1 | Georgia | 16 | 11 |
2½
|
:
|
1½
|
9 | 14½ | Hungary | 9 |
| 3 | 5 | France | 17½ | 9 |
0
|
:
|
4
|
11 | 20 | Ukraine | 3 |
| 4 | 7 | Germany | 17 | 9 |
2½
|
:
|
1½
|
9 | 17 | Serbia | 12 |
| 5 | 8 | Romania | 14 | 8 |
1½
|
:
|
2½
|
8 | 15½ | Italy | 15 |
| 6 | 19 | Austria | 13½ | 8 |
2½
|
:
|
1½
|
8 | 14 | Armenia | 6 |
| 7 | 17 | Greece | 14 | 7 |
3½
|
:
|
½
|
7 | 15½ | Azerbaijan | 13 |
| 8 | 11 | Spain | 15½ | 7 |
2½
|
:
|
1½
|
7 | 15 | Turkey | 14 |
| 9 | 10 | Netherlands | 16 | 7 |
3½
|
:
|
½
|
7 | 14 | Slovenia | 20 |
| 10 | 22 | Montenegro | 11 | 7 |
2
|
:
|
2
|
6 | 16½ | England | 18 |
| 11 | 26 | Denmark | 11½ | 5 |
1
|
:
|
3
|
6 | 12½ | Czech Republic | 16 |
| 12 | 25 | Lithuania | 13 | 5 |
1½
|
:
|
2½
|
6 | 15½ | Latvia | 21 |
| 13 | 24 | Switzerland | 9½ | 5 |
1½
|
:
|
2½
|
4 | 12½ | Norway | 23 |
| 14 | 27 | Sweden | 9 | 4 |
3
|
:
|
1
|
3 | 9 | Belgium | 28 |
| 15 | 29 | Iceland | 10 | 4 |
2½
|
:
|
1½
|
0 | 3½ | Finland | 30 |
Full pairings and board results
| Rk. | SNo | FED | Team |
+
|
=
|
–
|
TB1
|
TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | 2 | RUS | Russia |
7
|
1
|
0
|
15
|
207,5 | 23,0 |
| 2 | 3 | UKR | Ukraine |
6
|
1
|
1
|
13
|
219,5 | 24,0 |
| 3 | 1 | GEO | Georgia |
6
|
1
|
1
|
13
|
156,0 | 18,5 |
| 4 | 7 | GER | Germany |
5
|
1
|
2
|
11
|
140,5 | 19,5 |
| 5 | 4 | POL | Poland |
5
|
0
|
3
|
10
|
155,5 | 18,5 |
| 6 | 15 | ITA | Italy |
5
|
0
|
3
|
10
|
116,0 | 18,0 |
| 7 | 19 | AUT | Austria |
5
|
0
|
3
|
10
|
110,0 | 16,0 |
| 8 | 12 | SRB | Serbia |
3
|
3
|
2
|
9
|
139,0 | 18,5 |
| 9 | 5 | FRA | France |
4
|
1
|
3
|
9
|
134,5 | 17,5 |
| 10 | 9 | HUN | Hungary |
4
|
1
|
3
|
9
|
131,0 | 16,0 |
| 11 | 10 | NED | Netherlands |
4
|
1
|
3
|
9
|
127,5 | 19,5 |
| 12 | 11 | ESP | Spain |
4
|
1
|
3
|
9
|
113,5 | 18,0 |
| 13 | 17 | GRE | Greece |
4
|
1
|
3
|
9
|
112,0 | 17,5 |
| 14 | 8 | ROU | Romania |
3
|
2
|
3
|
8
|
124,0 | 15,5 |
| 15 | 6 | ARM | Armenia |
3
|
2
|
3
|
8
|
116,5 | 15,5 |
| 16 | 21 | LAT | Latvia |
4
|
0
|
4
|
8
|
114,5 | 18,0 |
| 17 | 16 | CZE | Czech Republic |
4
|
0
|
4
|
8
|
88,5 | 15,5 |
| 18 | 22 | MNE | Montenegro |
3
|
2
|
3
|
8
|
75,0 | 13,0 |
| 19 | 18 | ENG | England |
3
|
1
|
4
|
7
|
115,5 | 18,5 |
| 20 | 14 | TUR | Turkey |
3
|
1
|
4
|
7
|
106,0 | 16,5 |
| 21 | 13 | AZE | Azerbaijan |
3
|
1
|
4
|
7
|
92,5 | 16,0 |
| 22 | 20 | SLO | Slovenia |
2
|
3
|
3
|
7
|
67,5 | 14,5 |
| 23 | 23 | NOR | Norway |
3
|
0
|
5
|
6
|
76,0 | 15,0 |
| 24 | 29 | ISL | Iceland |
2
|
2
|
4
|
6
|
59,0 | 12,5 |
| 25 | 27 | SWE | Sweden |
2
|
2
|
4
|
6
|
47,5 | 12,0 |
| 26 | 25 | LTU | Lithuania |
2
|
1
|
5
|
5
|
97,5 | 14,5 |
| 27 | 24 | SUI | Switzerland |
1
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
68,0 | 11,0 |
| 28 | 26 | DEN | Denmark |
2
|
1
|
5
|
5
|
53,5 | 12,5 |
| 29 | 28 | BEL | Belgium |
1
|
1
|
6
|
3
|
43,0 | 10,0 |
| 30 | 30 | FIN | Finland |
0
|
0
|
8
|
0
|
26,0 | 5,0 |
Note: The final round begins four hours before prior round timings, that is at 11 a.m. Reykjavik time.
Pictures by Hrafn Jökulsson on the official facebook page of ETCC 2015
Links
|
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