ECC 05: Nona virtual winner

by Alejandro Ramirez
9/19/2014 – Things are still unclear in the Open section, despite a huge triumph by SOCAR against the number two seed, Obiettivo Risarcimento. Important wins by Topalov and Korobov overshadows Caruana's continuation of his string of successes. In the Women's section it seems as if first place is virtually decided. Nona leads comfortably and has one of the "easy" pairings still left.

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2014 European Club Cup

This mega swiss tournament brings together the top teams from the top leagues in Europe to compete for the European Club Champion title. Most teams have reinforcementes specifically for this event, while others send their local players that have served them throughout the seasons.

Many 2700+ players are participating in the event. The tournament is a seven round swiss system that coincides with the Bilbao Grand Slam Finals, for which we will have separate reports.

Tha matches in the Open section will be six-on-six, while on the Women's section will be four-on-four.

Open Section

1 Obiettivo Risarcimento (2) 2.5 3.5 SOCAR Azerbaijan (1)
1.1 2801 Caruana, Fabiano 1 0 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2756
1.2 2782 Nakamura, Hikaru 0 1 Topalov, Veselin 2784
1.3 2768 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime ½ ½ Adams, Michael 2752
1.4 2729 Bacrot, Etienne ½ ½ Giri, Anish 2758
1.5 2712 Fressinet, Laurent ½ ½ Radjabov, Teimour 2717
1.6 2626 Georgiev, Kiril 0 1 Korobov, Anton 2673
2 Ladya (11) 2 4 Malakhite (3)
2.1 2681 Kamsky, Gata ½ ½ Leko, Peter 2734
2.2 2598 Timofeev, Artyom 0 1 Shirov, Alexei 2701
2.3 2544 Ibragimov, Ildar ½ ½ Malakhov, Vladimir 2696
2.4 2410 Makhmutov, Rail ½ ½ Motylev, Alexander 2686
2.5 2351 Sadykov, Ramil ½ ½ Lysyj, Igor 2684
2.6 2344 Faizrakhmanov, Ramil 0 1 Bologan, Viktor 2648
3 Odlar Yourdu (7) 2.5 3.5 G-Team Novy Bor (5)
3.1 2632 Sutovsky, Emil 0 1 Wojtaszek, Radoslaw 2736
3.2 2614 Durarbayli, Vasif 1 0 Navara, David 2722
3.3 2660 Mamedov, Rauf 0 1 Harikrishna, P. 2725
3.4 2615 Guseinov, Gadir ½ ½ Sasikiran, Krishnan 2680
3.5 2624 Mamedov, Nidjat 1 0 Bartel, Mateusz 2636
3.6 2514 Rasulov, Vugar 0 1 Hracek, Zbynek 2638
4 SK Rockaden (20) 0 6 SHSM Nashe Nasledie (6)
4.1 2506 Blomqvist, Erik 0 1 Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2710
4.2 2422 Bator, Robert 0 1 Morozevich, Alexander 2731
4.3 2362 Hedman, Erik 0 1 Grachev, Boris 2673
4.4 2348 Engqvist, Thomas 0 1 Dubov, Daniil 2614
4.5 2347 Lokander, Martin 0 1 Popov, Ivan 2627
4.6 2285 Kenneskog, Theodor 0 1 Potkin, Vladimir 2610
5 Haladas VSE (13) 2.5 3.5 Huginn Chessclub (21)
5.1 2572 Ruck, Robert ½ ½ Jones, Gawain C B 2664
5.2 2494 Nemeth, Miklos 0 1 Van Kampen, Robin 2637
5.3 2463 Kovacs, Gabor 1 0 Thorhallsson, Throstur 2437
5.4 2414 Nagy, Gabor 0 1 Jensson, Einar Hjalti 2349
5.5 2339 Csonka, Attila Istvan ½ ½ Hreinsson, Hlidar 2229
5.6 2241 Pergel, Laszlo ½ ½ Teitsson, Magnus 2197

Only the top 5 matches are shown

The top match between Obiettivo Risarcimento and SOCAR was very close. Caruana struck on the first board with a win against Mamedyarov as the player from SOCAR sacrificed two pawns, but was only able to get one back. The Italian player, who continues his meteoric rise and is now only 20 points away from Carlsen, converted in a long endgame that proved the value of a bishop against a knight.

Caruana reaches 2842 rating in the live list

Topalov out-maneuvered the American #1 Nakamura in a long King's Indian Defense. Eventually White obtained some material and also converted in a very long endgame.

Topalov continues with amazing performances

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave used the Scotch against Michael Adams, maybe a funny choice considering today's elections (though MVL claimed it was a coincidence), but he only obtained a draw. Actually all the other games were drawn, except for the last board. Korobov came huge for SOCAR as he vanquished Georgiev in a well played game by white.

Shirov won a game and his victory coupled with Bologan's on the last board was sufficient to give Malakhite the victory over Ladya.

Novy Bor continues the hunt with a narrow victory over Odlar Yourdu. SHSM smashed the SK Rockaden, though somewhat expectedly. Meanwhile the Islandic team of Huginn Chessclub gives a surprise on board five by beating Haladas VSE from Hungary.

Rk ID Team Fed
Games
+
=
-
Pts
1 1 SOCAR Azerbaijan AZE
5
5
0
0
10
2 3 Malakhite RUS
5
4
1
0
9
3 5 G-Team Novy Bor CZE
5
4
0
1
8
4 6 SHSM Nashe Nasledie RUS
5
4
0
1
8
5 15 Minsk BLR
5
4
0
1
8
6 21 Huginn Chessclub ISL
5
4
0
1
8
7 2 Obiettivo Risarcimento ITA
5
3
1
1
7
8 4 SPB RUS
5
3
1
1
7
9 7 Odlar Yourdu AZE
5
3
1
1
7
10 11 Ladya RUS
5
3
1
1
7

Round Five Games

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Women's Section

1 Rishon Letzion (3) 0 4 SHSM Nashe Nasledie (8)
1.1 2331 Efroimski, Marsel 0 1 Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2543
1.2 0 Madivani, Maka 0 1 Girya, Olga 2476
1.3 1957 Vardi, Shlomit 0 1 Kashlinskaya, Alina 2433
1.4 1937 Federovski, Adi 0 1 Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina 2431
2 Batumi Chess Club "Nona" (4) 2.5 1.5 Ladya (2)
2.1 2566 Dzagnidze, Nana ½ ½ Galliamova, Alisa 2472
2.2 2507 Khotenashvili, Bela ½ ½ Zatonskih, Anna 2469
2.3 2464 Melia, Salome ½ ½ Atalik, Ekaterina 2421
2.4 2426 Batsiashvili, Nino 1 0 Zaiatz, Elena 2401
3 Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo (5) 3.5 0.5 Ugra (1)
3.1 2663 Hou, Yifan 1 0 Ushenina, Anna 2481
3.2 2551 Muzychuk, Anna ½ ½ Pogonina, Natalija 2482
3.3 2540 Lagno, Kateryna 1 0 Kovanova, Baira 2399
3.4 2516 Cramling, Pia 1 0 Guseva, Marina 2352
4 SC Bad Konigshofen (6) 4 0 Herzliya Chess Club (7)
4.1 2467 Paehtz, Elisabeth 1 0 Len, Irina 2133
4.2 2457 Mkrtchian, Lilit 1 0 Yakovleva, Tatiana 2047
4.3 2373 Savina, Anastasia 1 0 Lian, Marina 1871
4.4 2261 Schoene, Maria 1 0 Haitovich, Avital 1891

Nona keeps gathering important wins, and this time their narrow victory against Ladya virtually gives them the tournament victory. They have two rounds left, and one against the strong team of SHSM who trails them by 1.5 match points, but one of their other rivals is Rishon Letzion, and short of a miracle Nona should take at least that match and win the tournament.

Monte-Carlo finally showed what they are made of and smashed Ugra, at least trying to get on the podium. Both of the Israeli teams, as usual, were easily overwhelmed by their opponents.

Standings

Rk ID Team Fed Games
+
=
-
Pts
MatPnt
1 4 Batumi Chess Club "Nona" GEO 5
5
0
0
10
10
2 8 SHSM Nashe Nasledie RUS 5
3
1
1
7
7
3 5 Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo MNC 5
3
0
2
6
6
4 2 Ladya RUS 5
3
0
2
6
6
5 6 SC Bad Konigshofen GER 5
2
1
2
5
5
6 1 Ugra RUS 5
2
0
3
4
4
7 3 Rishon Letzion ISR 5
1
0
4
2
2
8 7 Herzliya Chess Club ISR 5
0
0
5
0
0

Round Five Games

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Photos by Manu de Alba from Bilbao's Facebook site

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 a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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