Carlsen shows up
Offerspill, Magnus Carlsen’s club, is the fourth seed in the European Club Cup. Their lineup includes six Norwegian players and two young grandmasters from India, Raunak Sadhwani and Pranav V. The squad scored their second consecutive victory on Monday, with Carlsen making his debut and comfortably beating Wood Green’s Ravia Hari.
So far, 18 teams still have a perfect score in Durrës, including all those belonging to the top-10. The rating favourites, Superchess, did not field either Vishy Anand nor Richard Rapport in the first two rounds, but the two superstars are set to play in round 3, when Superchess is paired up against Azerbaijan’s Vugar Gashimov.
In this two-part course the emphasis will be on typical pawn-structures. “Open and half-open files” and “the pawn chain” will be covered extensively on this video course. New: now also available as stream!

Matthias Bluebaum is playing on board 3 for Turkish Airlines Sports Club — his team beat Paul Keres 1 from the Netherlands in the second round | Photo: Gerd Densing
Standings - Round 2
...84 teams
All available games - Round 2
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MSK Centar Asseco See draw Monte Carlo
The first important upset was seen in round 2 of the women’s tournament, as MSK Centar Asseco See drew Monte Carlo, the favourites by rating. The North Macedonian team scored a full point on the top board, where Stavroula Tsolakidou defeated Mariya Muzychuk with the black pieces. Elisabeth Paehtz tied the score for the Monégasque team, as she beat Marina Gajcin on board 4.
The Jobava London System is a minor form of the London System. White tries to play Lf4 quickly followed by Nc3.
While the open section counts with 84 teams, ‘only’ 26 squads have registered to participate in the women’s event, which made for more evenly matched confrontations early on. After two rounds, only four teams have perfect scores: Superchess (2nd seeds), Garuda Ajka BSK (3rd), TAJFUN SK Ljubljana (5th) and Teuta (13th).
Teuta is representing Albania, where the tournament is taking place. Besides including two local players (rated 1697 and 1263), they count with Antoaneta Stefanova, Monika Socko and Karina Cyfka as their heavy hitters.

Elisabeth Paehtz and Sara Khadem (Monte Carlo) | Photo: Gerd Densing
Standings - Round 2
...26 teams
All available games - Round 2
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
Please, wait...
- Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
- Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
- Drag the split bars between window panes.
- Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
- Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
- Create an account to access the games cloud.
Replay all games at Live.ChessBase.com
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