ECTC R7+8: Holland poised to take Gold

15th European Chess Team Championship

Remember round six? Israel was dominating the team championship and, after defeating the French team 3:1, had taken the lead by one match point and 2½ board points. But the Dutch team had scored a shock 3:1 victory over Russia and remained in striking position.

In round seven Poland held Israel to a 2:2 draw while the Netherlands defeated Azerbaijan 2½:1½. France defeated Armenia and Georgia beat Ukraine by the same score. Greece scored a 3:1 victory over Romania and, another shocker, Russia lost to Hungary 1½:3½. The result was that Israel and the Netherlands were tied for first, with 12/14 match points each. Israel had 19 board points, as opposed to 17½ for the Dutch team. You can find all individual results of the round here.

Round eight brought a switch in the lead. The Netherlands drew the astonishingly strong Greek team, while Israel suffered their first loss in this event, to Georgia, after Sutovsky went down to Levan in a furious tactical melee.

Pantsulaia,Levan (2510) - Sutovsky,Emil (2674) [D91]
15th European Team Championship (8.1), 06.08.2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Ne4 5.Bh4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 dxc4 7.e3 Be6 8.Nf3 Bg7 9.Qb1 Qd5 10.Be2 Bf5 11.Qb4 c5 12.Qxc4 Qxc4 13.Bxc4 Nc6 14.0-0 Rc8 15.Rac1 Na5 16.Bb5+ Bd7 17.Be2 Be6 18.Nd2 b6 19.Bb5+ Kf8 20.Ba6 Rd8 21.Rc2 Bf6 22.Bg3 Kg7 23.dxc5.

25.Bc7 Bf5 26.f3 bxc5 27.a3 Bxe4 28.fxe4 Bd2 29.Rxd2 Rxd2 30.Bxa5 Rc2 31.Bd3 Ra2 32.Bc4 Rxa3 33.Rxf7+ Kh6 34.Bc7 Ra4 35.Be6 Rxe4 36.Bf4+ g5 37.Bf5 gxf4 38.Bxe4 fxe3 39.Kf1 c4 40.Rxe7 Rc8 41.Rxh7+ Kg5 42.Rxa7 c3 43.Ra2 Rc4 44.Bd3 Rh4 45.g3 Rh8 46.Rc2 Rf8+ 47.Ke2 1-0.

France lost to Poland, while both Russia and Ukraine won their matches against Lithuania and Estonia 3:1. This left the following situation before the final round: Holland is in the lead, a match point ahead of Israel, Poland and Georgia, with the former two having higher board points. France is at place eight, Ukraine at nine and Russia – but go look for yourself on the standings table below.

In the women's section the favourites Ukraine lost to Russia in round seven and to Poland in round eight to drop out of contention. Poland and Georgia won both their matches to take the lead for Gold and Silver. Poland is a match point ahead and has 21 board points to Georgia's 19½. Russia and Bulgaria have 20 and 19 board points but are two full match points behind Georgia.

Picture Gallery

The main sponsor of the event is the Swedish car manufacturer Volvo

... but the favourite mode of travel appears to be the electric tramcar

You can also travel in large flat-bottomed barges (in parks)

In contrast: a busy traffic intersection in Gothenburg

You don't believe it? Here's the town center on Saturday at 12:25 p.m.

"Ne'er a car to blight the Summer's proud and greenly spirit" (fake poetry)

The players' hotel, tall and proud, easy to find from anywhere in Gothenburg

Chess champions and dinosaurs in the Svenska Mässan

The giant book stall of Ari Ziegler

Round 8, Men – 06.08.2005

Round 8, Women – 06.08.2005

Standings Men / Women

15th European Chess Team Championship

• All ChessBase reports so far

• Official web site
  The organisers have promised to broadcast between 24 and 32 games live each day. This means that between 6 and 8 whole matches will be covered.

• Radio ChessBase
  IM Jacob Aagaard will provide live interviews and analysis of the games, starting each evening at 20:30h CEST. You can follow live games and listen to the commentary in the broadcast room of the Playchess.com server.