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Watch it live on Playchess! + Women's section
The 31st European Club Cup and 20th European Club Cup for Women were held from the 18th to 24th of October 2015 in Skopje, Macedonia. Fifty teams from different parts of Europe participated in the open event, while the women section consisted of twelve teams. Both the championships were seven round Swiss events with six boards per team in the open and four per team in the women’s. The time control was 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move one. The first prize in the open section was €12,000, while for the women it was €7000.
As the last round began in Skopje, Siberia was leading by clear two points with a perfect score of 12.0/12. Behind them were four teams with a score of 10.0/12: SOCAR, Mednyi Vsadnik, Beer-Sheva and Obiettivo. This is how the final round pairing looked:
The top three boards pairing of the final round (seven)
Alkaloid was able to beat Beer Sheva quite easily by a score of 4.5-1.5. Ivanchuk, Andreikin, Kryvoruchko and Yu Yangyi won their games. Huzman beating Jakovenko was quite an upset. Alkaloid was on eight points before the start of the last round. With this victory they ended up with same score as their opponents – 10.0/12. Both the teams were out from the medal contention.
Mednyi Vsadnik and SOCAR were pitted against each other. The defending champions and the top seeds SOCAR definitely wanted to prove their might by finishing the last round on a high. But their opposing Russian team was no pushover. It was a tense struggle that ended in a 3-3 draw.
Svidler had beaten Topalov, just a few weeks ago at the World Cup 2015, with the white pieces,
but their game at the European Club Cup ended peacefully.
Anish Giri drew his game against Lenier Dominguez, and Fabiano Caruana split the point with Nikita Vitiugov. The last board game between Ildar Khairullin and Eltaj Safarli also ended in a draw. Michael Adams was able to give SOCAR the lead with a great win over Maxim Matlakov.
Michael Adams (left) scored 5.0/6, beating strong players like Rublevsky, Li Chao
and Matlakov to perform at an Elo of 2941, gaining 15 Elo points in the process
SOCAR’s chances of winning the final round were spoilt when Shakhriyar Mamedyarov slumped to a defeat against Maxim Rodshtein, and the match ended in a 3-3 tie.
Maxim Rodshtein played a brilliant game to defeat Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
and level the scores [picture from Baku World Cup 2015]
Both the teams ended the event with a score of 11.0/14. SOCAR won the silver medal and Mednyi Vsadnik had to settle for the bronze.
Coming to the top board clash between Siberia and Obiettivo: the board one clash between Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Leko ended in a draw. The game between Levon Aronian and Sergey Karjakin also ended in a truce. Hikaru Nakamura and Alexander Grischuk played some crazy stuff where it was extremely difficult to understand what was going on. Finally pieces were exchanged and the game ended in a draw. The first set back for Siberia came when Li Chao lost against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave scored a powerful victory over Li Chao in the final round
Anton Korobov drew his game against Daniele Vocaturo. Now everything depended on Wang Yue. He was playing against Etienne Bacrot, and the Chinese player did not disappoint.
Wang Yue’s win helped Siberia level the scores in the last round
Thus Siberia drew the match with a score of 3.0/3 and became the 2015 European Club Cup Champions with a margin of two points. They won six of their matches and drew one to end of 13.0/14.
Team Siberia, with Vladimir Kramnik, Levon Aronian, Anton Korobov, Wang Yue, Li Chao, Dmity Kokarev, …
….Alexander Grischuk and Dmitry Bocharov (right), won the European Club Cup 2015
If there was one player who performed phenomenally in the tournament, it has to be Vladimir Kramnik who scored 4.5/5, beating players like Nepomiachtchi, Topalov, Svidler and Ivanchuk. He gained 19 Elo points and now has a live rating of 2796, and fourth place on the FIDE rating lists. What a tournament for the Big Vlad!
|
Rk.
|
SNo
|
Team |
+
|
=
|
-
|
Pts
|
TB2
|
TB3
|
|
1
|
2
|
SIBERIA (RUS) |
6
|
1
|
0
|
13
|
246,0
|
28,5
|
|
2
|
1
|
SOCAR (AZE) |
5
|
1
|
1
|
11
|
239,0
|
28,0
|
|
3
|
5
|
MEDNYI VSADNIK (RUS) |
5
|
1
|
1
|
11
|
199,5
|
28,0
|
|
4
|
4
|
OBIETTIVO RISARCIMENTO PADOVA (ITA) |
5
|
1
|
1
|
11
|
199,0
|
24,5
|
|
5
|
6
|
AVE NOVY BOR (CZE) |
5
|
0
|
2
|
10
|
220,0
|
31,0
|
|
6
|
3
|
ALKALOID (MKD) |
5
|
0
|
2
|
10
|
212,0
|
27,5
|
|
7
|
8
|
SHSM LEGACY SQUARE (RUS) |
5
|
0
|
2
|
10
|
201,0
|
29,0
|
|
8
|
7
|
UNIVERZITY-BELORECHENSK (RUS) |
5
|
0
|
2
|
10
|
198,5
|
29,5
|
|
9
|
14
|
LSG LEIDEN (NED) |
5
|
0
|
2
|
10
|
162,5
|
27,5
|
|
10
|
19
|
SC MPA - MARIA SAAL (AUT) |
5
|
0
|
2
|
10
|
155,5
|
25,5
|
|
11
|
10
|
BEER-SHEVA (ISR) |
5
|
0
|
2
|
10
|
147,5
|
26,5
|
Right from the start the Georgian team of Nona dominated the field scoring one victory after another. In the end they won all their matches and lifted the title with a score of 14.0/14! Three points more than the silver medalists Gambit Asseko See and bronze medal winner Ugra.
The Georgian team Nona consisting of Nana Dzagnidze, Bela Khotenashvili,
Lela Javakhishvili, Nino Batsiashvili and Miranda Mikadze won the gold medal
Nana Dzagnidze’s strong performance of 5.5/7 on the top board helped Nona to not lose a single match. Bela Khotenashvili scored 5.5/7 on the second board, Javakhishvili made 5.0/7 and Batsiashvili mustered up 5.5/6. It was truly a team effort.
Team Gambit Asseko See lead by Antanoeta Stefanova finished second
Aleksandra Goryachkina didn’t really impress in this tournament,
but there is no doubt about how talented this young girl really is
|
Rk.
|
SNo
|
Team |
+
|
=
|
-
|
Pts
|
TB2
|
TB3
|
|
1
|
1
|
NONA (GEO) |
7
|
0
|
0
|
14
|
157,0
|
22,0
|
|
2
|
3
|
GAMBIT ASSEKO SEE (MKD) |
5
|
1
|
1
|
11
|
122,5
|
21,5
|
|
3
|
4
|
UGRA (RUS) |
4
|
2
|
1
|
10
|
100,5
|
18,0
|
|
4
|
2
|
SHSM LEGACY SQUARE (RUS) |
4
|
1
|
2
|
9
|
123,0
|
18,0
|
|
5
|
8
|
BOSSA NOVA (BLR) |
4
|
0
|
3
|
8
|
62,0
|
14,0
|
|
6
|
7
|
ASD CIRCOLO SCACCHI R.FISCHER (ITA) |
3
|
1
|
3
|
7
|
49,0
|
12,5
|
|
7
|
5
|
SPB (RUS) |
3
|
0
|
4
|
6
|
66,0
|
13,5
|
|
8
|
6
|
DE STUKKENJAGERS (NED) |
2
|
1
|
4
|
5
|
63,0
|
11,0
|
|
9
|
10
|
RISHON LEZION (ISR) |
2
|
1
|
4
|
5
|
42,0
|
10,5
|
|
10
|
9
|
MIDLAND MONARCHS (ENG) |
1
|
2
|
4
|
4
|
47,0
|
10,0
|
|
11
|
11
|
OSLO SCHAKSELSKAP (NOR) |
1
|
2
|
4
|
4
|
33,0
|
8,5
|
|
12
|
12
|
HERZLIYA CHESS CLUB (ISR) |
0
|
1
|
6
|
1
|
39,5
|
8,5
|
LinksThe 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. |
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