Novi Sad: Russia and Azerbaijan lead

by ChessBase
10/30/2009 – With one round to go in the European Team Championship Russia and Azerbaijan are leading, two match points ahead of five teams in the follow-up group. In the women's section Russia and Georgia are leading, three points ahead of any other rivals (best performance: Alexandra Kosteniuk). Playchess will broadcast the two exciting struggles for Gold. Round seven and eight reports.

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This massive event, with 38 men's and 28 women's teams, four boards per round each – is taking place in the famous chess city of Novi Sad in Serbia (formerly Yugoslavia). We bring you results, games, photos and video reports by Europe Echecs.

Round seven

Leaders Azerbaijan lost to Armenia, with Gabriel Sargissian scoring the decisive win (against Gadir Guseinov in 70 moves). Russia defeated Georgia, with Morozevich scoring; Ukraine beat the Czech Republic 3.5:0.5; Poland beat France; England lost to Switzerland, Bulgaria (without Topalov) lost to Denmark. At the end of the round Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan were in the joint lead, with 11 our of 14 possible match points. In hot pursuit: Ukraine, Poland and The Netherlands, with ten points each.


Armenia (with Petrosian, Sargissian, Akopian and Aronian facing Azerbaijan (with Radjabov)


The Russian team, with Svidler, Morozevich, Alekseev and Tomashevsky, in round seven


Bulgaria lost to Denmark (Cheparinov vs Hansen Lars Bo in front)


Michael Adams faced Viktor Korchnoi in this round seven encounter

In the women's section Russia trounced Azerbaijan 4-0, while Georgia scored a 3:1 win over Israel. Armenia beat Romania and Ukraine beat Hungary, so that after seven rounds Russia and Georgia were tied for first with 12/14 points (the Russians had lost one match, the Georgians drawn two). Three teams were in luke-warm pursuit: Armenia, the Czech Republic and Ukraine with ten point each.

Round eight


The playing hall during round eight

Russia beat Armenia 2.5:1.5, with Alexander "Who-else" Morozevich scoring the decisive point, against Vladimir Akopian. Azerbaijan beat Poland, Ukraine drew The Netherlands, Israel beat Georgia, Norway drew England. When the dust had cleared Russia and Azerbaijan were in the joint lead, two match points ahead of five teams in the follow-up group: Ukraine, Armenia, Netherlands, Spain and Israel. In the final round Russia plays Spain (Svidler vs Shirov, Morozevich vs Vallejo) while Azerbaijan plays Netherlands (Radjabov vs Smeets, Gashimov vs Stellwagen).

In the women's section Russia again won, 3:1 against the Czech Republic. Georgia beat Bulgaria, and Armenia held Ukraine. One round before the end Russia and Georgia are leading, three points ahead of any other rivals. In the final round Russia plays Armenia while Georgia faces Romania.

Standings after round eight – Men

Rk. SNo Team Team + = TB1 TB2 TB3
1 1 Russia RUS 5 3 0 13 20.5 138.0
2 2 Azerbaijan AZE 6 1 1 13 19.5 141.0
3 5 Ukraine UKR 4 3 1 11 20.0 128.5
4 3 Armenia ARM 5 1 2 11 19.0 142.5
5 15 Netherlands NED 3 5 0 11 19.0 135.0
6 8 Spain ESP 5 1 2 11 19.0 133.0
7 6 Israel ISR 5 1 2 11 17.0 149.0
8 7 Germany GER 4 2 2 10 19.0 132.0
9 12 Poland POL 4 2 2 10 18.0 137.0
10 14 Romania ROU 4 2 2 10 17.5 123.5
11 25 Switzerland SUI 4 2 2 10 17.0 137.5
12 10 Hungary HUN 3 3 2 9 18.5 131.0
13 9 France FRA 3 3 2 9 18.0 135.5
14 17 Serbia 1 SRB 1 3 3 2 9 17.5 136.0
15 11 Georgia GEO 4 1 3 9 17.0 146.5
16 19 Greece GRE 4 1 3 9 16.0 141.0
17 13 Czech Republic CZE 3 3 2 9 15.0 142.0
18 18 England ENG 3 2 3 8 16.0 125.5
19 27 Yug Rep of Macedonia MKD 4 0 4 8 16.0 119.5
20 23 Denmark DEN 4 0 4 8 15.0 140.0
21 29 Norway NOR 2 4 2 8 14.5 137.5

Standings after round eight – Women

Rk. SNo Team Team + = TB1 TB2 TB3
1 1 Russia RUS 7 0 1 14 23.5 137.0
2 2 Georgia GEO 6 2 0 14 21.5 141.0
3 5 Armenia ARM 4 3 1 11 19.5 148.0
4 3 Ukraine UKR 4 3 1 11 18.0 150.0
5 12 Slovenia SLO 4 2 2 10 19.5 123.0
6 20 Azerbaijan AZE 3 4 1 10 17.5 148.5
7 16 Czech Republic CZE 4 2 2 10 17.5 146.5
8 13 Romania ROU 4 2 2 10 17.5 135.0
9 6 France FRA 3 3 2 9 18.0 132.5
10 14 Greece GRE 2 5 1 9 18.0 131.0
11 15 Spain ESP 3 3 2 9 16.0 135.0
12 4 Poland POL 3 2 3 8 19.0 135.5
13 10 Hungary HUN 3 2 3 8 17.0 135.0
14 19 Italy ITA 4 0 4 8 17.0 123.5
15 7 Germany GER 3 2 3 8 16.0 140.0
16 17 Israel ISR 4 0 4 8 15.0 142.0
17 8 Bulgaria BUL 4 0 4 8 14.0 134.5

Tiebreak rules

In this event the score in each game is: 1 for a win, ½ for a draw and 0 for a lost game. Each team gets two points for winning a match, one for a draw and zero for a loss. The final ranking is made by match points: the team obtaining the highest number of match points is the winner of the competition.

In case of equality the order of the winners is determined according to the following tie-breaking criteria:

  1. the number of board points won, the highest number wins;
  2. the sum of the board points of all team's opponents, the highest number wins;
  3. the sum of the board points of all opponents defeated plus one half of the board points of all the opponents with which a tied result was achieved, the highest number wins;
  4. the sum of the board points of all the team's opponents, excluding the opponent who scored the highest number of board points and the opponent who scored the lowest number of board points, the highest number wins.

Performance

The best performance, by a pretty big margin, has been displayed by Norwegian GM Jon Ludvig Hammer, 19, who has scored 5.0/8 points on board one, with a 2810 performance. The Azeris Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Vugar Gashimov have moved to second and third place, while a loss (and a win) by Fabiano Caruana put him from second to ninth place – with a 2761 performance.


Top performance by Jon Ludvig Hammer (above right against Beliavsky in round seven)

The best Open Section players after eight rounds

No. Ti. Name Rtg Team Rp
Pts.
Gms
%
Bo.
1 GM Hammer Jon Ludvig 2585 Norway 2810
6.0
8
75.0
1
2 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2721 Azerbaijan 2805
6.0
8
75.0
3
3 GM Gashimov Vugar 2740 Azerbaijan 2790
5.5
8
68.8
2
4 GM Eljanov Pavel 2717 Ukraine 2782
5.0
7
71.4
1
5 GM Svidler Peter 2741 Russia 2777
4.5
7
64.3
1
6 GM Bacrot Etienne 2709 France 2772
4.5
7
64.3
1
7 GM Almasi Zoltan 2685 Hungary 2768
4.0
6
66.7
1
8 GM Morozevich Alexander 2750 Russia 2762
3.5
5
70.0
1
9 GM Caruana Fabiano 2662 Italy 2761
5.0
7
71.4
1
10 GM Shirov Alexei 2730 Spain 2742
5.0
8
62.5
1
11 GM Petrosian Tigran L 2602 Armenia 2737
5.0
7
71.4
4
12 GM Jobava Baadur 2696 Georgia 2732
4.5
8
56.3
1
13 GM Feller Sebastien 2570 France 2729
6.0
8
75.0
4
14 GM Aronian Levon 2773 Armenia 2725
4.0
7
57.1
1
15 GM Sargissian Gabriel 2678 Armenia 2724
4.5
7
64.3
2
16 GM Tomashevsky Evgeny 2688 Russia 2722
5.5
8
68.8
4
17 GM Navara David 2692 Czech Republic 2720
4.5
8
56.3
1
18 GM Fridman Daniel 2661 Germany 2715
5.0
7
71.4
2
19 GM Vallejo Pons Francisco 2696 Spain 2711
4.5
7
64.3
2
20 GM Topalov Veselin 2813 Bulgaria 2710
2.5
4
62.5
1
21 GM L'Ami Erwin 2606 Netherlands 2708
5.5
8
68.8
2
22 GM Alekseev Evgeny 2725 Russia 2706
4.0
6
66.7
3

The best Women's Section players after eight rounds

The Russian rule: Alexandra Kosteniuk and Nadezhda Kosintseva lead with performances of 2649 and 2648 on boards one and two. In third place we find Kateryna Lahno with a 2618 performance.


Top performer: Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk

No. Ti. Name Rtg Team Rp
Pts.
Gms
%
Bo.
1 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2516 Russia 2649
5.5
7
78.6
1
2 IM Kosintseva Nadezhda 2493 Russia 2648
7.0
8
87.5
2
3 GM Lahno Kateryna 2483 Ukraine 2618
5.0
7
71.4
1
4 IM Javakhishvili Lela 2472 Georgia 2599
5.5
7
78.6
1
5 WGM Majdan Joanna 2361 Poland 2598
6.0
7
85.7
4
6 IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2469 Armenia 2573
6.0
8
75.0
2
7 WGM Mamedjarova Zeinab 2285 Azerbaijan 2570
4.5
7
64.3
1
8 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2527 Bulgaria 2561
5.0
7
71.4
1
9 WGM Galojan Lilit 2326 Armenia 2560
5.5
7
78.6
3
10 IM Khukhashvili Sopiko 2451 Georgia 2546
4.5
6
75.0
2
11 IM Paehtz Elisabeth 2482 Germany 2543
5.0
8
62.5
1
12 IM Gaponenko Inna 2438 Ukraine 2525
4.5
6
75.0
3
13 IM Jackova Jana 2393 Czech Republic 2507
4.0
7
57.1
1

Video reports by Europe Echecs

Videos and pictures in this report by GM Robert Fontaine for Europe Echecs

Links

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 the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!


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