ETCC 08: Medals defined Tomorrow

11/17/2013 – Almost all medals are up for grabs at the European Team Championship. The only major exception to this rule is the fact that the Ukrainian Women's team has demolished the competition and has secured the gold medal for themselves regardless of what happens tomorrow. In the open nothing is defined while silver and bronze in the women's can still be anybody's. Penultimate round report.

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You might remember that there was a similar sounding event that happened only recently, the European Club Championship, but the events are certainly different as the Club Championship allows players from outside Europe to compete while the European Team Championship is a battle between different nations. The ETCC will be held in Warsaw, Poland from November 7th - November 18th. The event is a team swiss played in 11 rounds.

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Open Section

France was finally stopped by a powerful team of Armenia. Aronian took out Bacrot in the trademarked Aronian Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined. However a determined Maxime Vachier-Lagrave took out Movesesian to even the score. With the two draws on boards three and four France retains the lead of the tournament, but now has to share it.

Azerbaijan beat Greece with three draws and a win by Rauf Mamedov in the black side of a Maroczy Bind. This allows Azerbaijan to catch up with France. Russia squeeked a win past the Netherlands as Svidler beat L'Ami and the rest of the games were drawn.

The medals in this group are still up for grabs as there are many important games. Armenia will face Azerbaijan in the top board while Russia finally makes it back to the top boards and will play France. Czech Republic only has 10 points as opposed to their opponent, Georgia who has 11, so they and everyone else with 10 points shouldn't have a chance to medal.

Radjabov thinks about his next move while Mamedyarov walks around. These two have been the backbone of the Azerbaijani team in many ocassions.

England's had a decent showing in this tournament. Today they drew Hungary and they will finish the tournament against Poland.

France has been the revelation of the event but it could still slip away from their hands if they don't win tomorrow

Br. 3 FRANCE Elo - 2 ARMENIA Elo 2 : 2
1.1 GM BACROT, Etienne 2749 - GM ARONIAN, Levon 2801 0 - 1
1.2 GM VACHIER-LAGRAVE, Maxime 2742 - GM MOVSESIAN, Sergei 2700 1 - 0
1.3 GM EDOUARD, Romain 2653 - GM AKOPIAN, Vladimir 2681 ½ - ½
1.4 GM TKACHIEV, Vladislav 2637 - GM SARGISSIAN, Gabriel 2676 ½ - ½
Br. 6 AZERBAIJAN Elo - 15 GREECE Elo 2½:1½
2.1 GM MAMEDYAROV, Shakhriyar 2757 - GM BANIKAS, Hristos 2633 ½ - ½
2.2 GM RADJABOV, Teimour 2715 - GM PAPAIOANNOU, Ioannis 2639 ½ - ½
2.3 GM SAFARLI, Eltaj 2653 - GM MASTROVASILIS, Dimitrios 2589 ½ - ½
2.4 GM MAMEDOV, Rauf 2647 - GM KOTRONIAS, Vasilios 2564 1 - 0
Br. 8 NETHERLANDS Elo - 1 RUSSIA Elo 1½:2½
3.1 GM GIRI, Anish 2732 - GM GRISCHUK, Alexander 2785 ½ - ½
3.2 GM L'AMI, Erwin 2648 - GM SVIDLER, Peter 2752 0 - 1
3.3 GM SMEETS, Jan 2620 - GM ANDREIKIN, Dmitry 2710 ½ - ½
3.4 GM VAN KAMPEN, Robin 2618 - GM MOROZEVICH, Alexander 2727 ½ - ½
Br. 4 UKRAINE Elo - 14 GEORGIA Elo 1½:2½
4.1 GM ARESHCHENKO, Alexander 2720 - GM JOBAVA, Baadur 2695 0 - 1
4.2 GM VOLOKITIN, Andrei 2682 - GM MCHEDLISHVILI, Mikheil 2631 ½ - ½
4.3 GM MOISEENKO, Alexander 2709 - GM PANTSULAIA, Levan 2595 ½ - ½
4.4 GM FEDORCHUK, Sergey A. 2666 - IM NIGALIDZE, Gaioz 2494 ½ - ½
Br. 5 ENGLAND Elo - 7 HUNGARY Elo 2 : 2
5.1 GM ADAMS, Michael 2752 - GM ERDOS, Viktor 2658 1 - 0
5.2 GM SHORT, Nigel D 2680 - GM BALOGH, Csaba 2630 ½ - ½
5.3 GM JONES, Gawain C B 2648 - GM ALMASI, Zoltan 2710 0 - 1
5.4 GM HOWELL, David W L 2644 - GM POLGAR, Judit 2689 ½ - ½
Br. 17 BELARUS Elo - 9 CZECH REPUBLIC Elo 2 : 2
6.1 GM ZHIGALKO, Sergei 2694 - GM NAVARA, David 2705 ½ - ½
6.2 GM ZHIGALKO, Andrey 2619 - GM LAZNICKA, Viktor 2677 0 - 1
6.3 GM KOVALEV, Vladislav 2583 - GM HRACEK, Zbynek 2638 ½ - ½
6.4 GM STUPAK, Kirill 2494 - GM BABULA, Vlastimil 2574 1 - 0
Br. 12 POLAND Elo - 16 CROATIA Elo 2 : 2
7.1 GM SWIERCZ, Dariusz 2627 - GM SARIC, Ivan 2628 0 - 1
7.2 GM GAJEWSKI, Grzegorz 2634 - GM STEVIC, Hrvoje 2611 1 - 0
7.3 GM BARTEL, Mateusz 2626 - GM PALAC, Mladen 2571 ½ - ½
7.4 GM MITON, Kamil 2597 - GM KOZUL, Zdenko 2597 ½ - ½
Br. 13 ITALY Elo - 18 TURKEY Elo 2½:1½
8.1 GM CARUANA, Fabiano 2782 - GM SOLAK, Dragan 2618 1 - 0
8.2 GM BRUNELLO, Sabino 2615 - GM IPATOV, Alexander 2630 0 - 1
8.3 GM GODENA, Michele 2501 - GM ESEN, Baris 2565 ½ - ½
8.4 GM ROMBALDONI, Axel 2530 - GM YILMAZ, Mustafa 2577 1 - 0
Br. 31 SWITZERLAND Elo - 19 ROMANIA Elo ½ :3½
9.1 GM PELLETIER, Yannick 2575 - GM LUPULESCU, Constantin 2630 ½ - ½
9.2 GM GALLAGHER, Joseph G. 2504 - GM JIANU, Vlad-Cristian 2565 0 - 1
9.3 IM KURMANN, Oliver 2424 - GM PARLIGRAS, Mircea-Emilian 2576 0 - 1
9.4 FM GEORGIADIS, Nico 2423 - GM NEVEDNICHY, Vladislav 2590 0 - 1
Br. 30 MONTENEGRO Elo - 20 SERBIA Elo 2 : 2
10.1 GM DJUKIC, Nikola 2543 - GM IVANISEVIC, Ivan 2619 ½ - ½
10.2 GM DRASKO, Milan 2447 - GM PERUNOVIC, Milos 2613 ½ - ½
10.3 GM KOSIC, Dragan 2504 - GM DAMLJANOVIC, Branko 2569 ½ - ½
10.4 GM NIKCEVIC, Nebojsa 2428 - GM INDJIC, Aleksandar 2534 ½ - ½
Br. 25 SWEDEN Elo - 21 BULGARIA Elo 2 : 2
11.1 GM GRANDELIUS, Nils 2557 - GM TOPALOV, Veselin 2774 0 - 1
11.2 GM TIKKANEN, Hans 2544 - GM PETKOV, Vladimir 2570 1 - 0
11.3 GM BERG, Emanuel 2547 - GM ARNAUDOV, G. Petar 2448 ½ - ½
11.4 GM BLOMQVIST, Erik 2508 - IM DIMITROV, Radoslav 2445 ½ - ½
Br. 29 ISRAEL Elo - 22 SLOVENIA Elo 1½:2½
12.1 GM NABATY, Tamir 2580 - GM PAVASOVIC, Dusko 2563 ½ - ½
12.2 GM POPILSKI, Gil 2483 - GM LENIC, Luka 2637 0 - 1
12.3 IM RAZNIKOV, Danny 2481 - GM SKOBERNE, Jure 2573 ½ - ½
12.4 GM BARON, Tal 2487 - GM TRATAR, Marko 2494 ½ - ½
Br. 23 POLAND FUTURES Elo - 10 GERMANY Elo 2 : 2
13.1 GM DUDA, Jan-Krzysztof 2542 - GM MEIER, Georg 2623 ½ - ½
13.2 GM DRAGUN, Kamil 2543 - GM KHENKIN, Igor 2612 0 - 1
13.3 GM TOMCZAK, Jacek 2581 - GM BARAMIDZE, David 2614 1 - 0
13.4 GM PIORUN, Kacper 2555 - GM FRIDMAN, Daniel 2600 ½ - ½
Br. 11 SPAIN Elo - 27 AUSTRIA Elo 2 : 2
14.1 GM VALLEJO PONS, Francisco 2705 - GM RAGGER, Markus 2672 ½ - ½
14.2 GM ILLESCAS CORDOBA, Miguel 2614 - GM SHENGELIA, David 2543 ½ - ½
14.3 GM KORNEEV, Oleg 2637 - IM KREISL, Robert 2410 ½ - ½
14.4 GM VAZQUEZ IGARZA, Renier 2588 - IM SCHREINER, Peter 2452 ½ - ½
Br. 26 DENMARK Elo - 32 FINLAND Elo 2 : 2
15.1 GM HANSEN, Sune Berg 2563 - GM NYBACK, Tomi 2586 ½ - ½
15.2 IM GLUD, Jakob Vang 2526 - IM SIPILA, Vilka 2463 0 - 1
15.3 GM RASMUSSEN, Allan Stig 2486 - IM AGOPOV, Mikael 2435 1 - 0
15.4 IM ANDERSEN, Mads 2499 - FM EBELING, Daniel 2365 ½ - ½
Br. 33 BELGIUM Elo - 28 ICELAND Elo 1½:2½
16.1 IM MICHIELS, Bart 2506 - GM STEINGRIMSSON, Hedinn 2543 ½ - ½
16.2 IM RINGOIR, Tanguy 2514 - GM STEFANSSON, Hannes 2539 ½ - ½
16.3 IM DOCX, Stefan 2488 - GM DANIELSEN, Henrik 2502 0 - 1
16.4 IM SOORS, Stef 2404 - IM KJARTANSSON, Gudmundur 2455 ½ - ½
Br. 36 NORWAY Elo - 34 LITHUANIA Elo 1½:2½
17.1 IM TARI, Aryan 2420 - GM ZAGORSKIS, Darius 2480 0 - 1
17.2   HAUGE, Lars Oskar 2301 - IM BEINORAS, Mindaugas 2389 1 - 0
17.3 FM HOLM, Kristian Stuvik 2281 -   LAURUSAS, Tomas 2409 ½ - ½
17.4   SALOMON, Johan 2246 - FM VEDRICKAS, Tautvydas 2305 0 - 1
Br. 35 FYR MACEDONIA Elo - 37 SCOTLAND Elo 2½:1½
18.1 IM PANCEVSKI, Filip 2478 - FM MORRISON, Graham 2351 1 - 0
18.2 GM BOGDANOVSKI, Vlatko 2459 - IM MUIR, Andrew J 2312 ½ - ½
18.3 IM KIZOV, Atanas 2413 - FM TATE, Alan 2299 ½ - ½
18.4 GM JACIMOVIC, Dragoljub 2422 -   GRANT, Jonathan I M 2257 ½ - ½
Br. 38 WALES Elo - 24 POLAND GOLDIES Elo ½ :3½
19.1 IM JONES, Richard S. 2435 - GM HEBERLA, Bartlomiej 2556 0 - 1
19.2 FM VARLEY, Peter 2251 - GM BULSKI, Krzysztof 2538 ½ - ½
19.3   JAMESON, David 2147 - GM GDANSKI, Jacek 2518 0 - 1
19.4   PLEASANTS, Allan J 2027 - IM MASTERNAK, Grzegorz 2333 0 - 1

Replay open games of round 8

Women's Section

Ukraine has put the nail on the coffin of this tournament and their victory over Armenia guarantees them the Gold medal regardless of the last round's results. Despite a shaky board four that alternated between Zhukova and Gaponenko, one with a dismal performance and the other with a mediocre one, Ukraine was simply superior to its opponents thanks to the brilliant showing of its first three boards. Lagno and Ushenina did great on boards one and two respectively, scoring 6.0/8 and 6.5/8 respectively so far and they hover around the 2600 performance

The true gem however came in the form of Mariya Muzychuk. Sometimes left in the shadows of her much higher rated sister, Muzychuk showed that she is a powerhouse herself as she annihilated her opposition, steamrolling with 6.5/7 and a 2761 performance.

Russia is back into the fight as they beat Georgia and they are now tied with Poland for second place. The last match will feature the much awaited Russia-Ukraine but with the Ukrainians not risking absolutely anything it is unclear how much drama there will be in this match.

Poland tomorrow has a fantastic opportunity to secure bronze medal if they beat Lithuania, who is considerably lower rated than they are. Armenia hopes that this will not happen as they are also in medal contention, only one point behind Poland and Russia.

Natacha Benmesbah from France

This tournament has not been kind to the English women's team, and Kanwal Bhatia's below 2000 performance has certainly not helped

Stefanova's performance of 2477 is not bad at all, but the fact that the rest of her team is relatively low rated really puts Bulgaria out of contention for medals

The reigning European Women's Champion Hoang Tranh Trang has had a tough time in this tournament. Hungary's second board, Gara Ticia, has also had a disastrous event, but thankfully their reserve Anna Rudolf has stepped her game up and done fantastically to compensate.

Poland will have a clear shot at medals tomorrow as they have everything they need to beat Lithuania

Bo. 1 Ukraine Rtg - 6 Armenia Rtg 3 : 1
1.1 GM Lagno, Kateryna 2542 - GM Danielian, Elina 2457 1 - 0
1.2 GM Ushenina, Anna 2492 - IM Mkrtchian, Lilit 2447 ½ - ½
1.3 IM Muzychuk, Mariya 2491 - IM Galojan, Lilit 2301 1 - 0
1.4 GM Zhukova, Natalia 2466 - WGM Kursova, Maria 2339 ½ - ½
Bo. 2 Russia Rtg - 3 Georgia Rtg 3 : 1
2.1 GM Gunina, Valentina 2509 - GM Dzagnidze, Nana 2556 ½ - ½
2.2 GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2510 - WGM Arabidze, Meri 2374 1 - 0
2.3 WGM Pogonina, Natalija 2499 - IM Khotenashvili, Bela 2524 1 - 0
2.4 WGM Girya, Olga 2447 - IM Javakhishvili, Lela 2423 ½ - ½
Bo. 11 Bulgaria Rtg - 4 Poland Rtg 1½:2½
3.1 GM Stefanova, Antoaneta 2494 - GM Socko, Monika 2431 1 - 0
3.2 WIM Raeva, Elitsa 2361 - WGM Zawadzka, Jolanta 2383 ½ - ½
3.3 WGM Videnova, Iva 2272 - WGM Majdan-Gajewska, Joanna 2420 0 - 1
3.4 WGM Voiska, Margarita 2298 - WGM Szczepkowska-Horowska, Karina 2382 0 - 1
Bo. 18 Czech Republic Rtg - 16 Lithuania Rtg 1½:2½
4.1 WIM Havlikova, Kristyna 2237 - GM Cmilyte, Viktorija 2506 0 - 1
4.2 WIM Olsarova, Karolina 2275 - WGM Daulyte, Deimante 2336 0 - 1
4.3 WIM Olsarova, Tereza 2248 - WIM Zaksaite, Salomeja 2200 1 - 0
4.4 WIM Sikorova, Olga 2278 -   Batkovskyte, Dominyka 2111 ½ - ½
Bo. 13 Poland III Rtg - 10 Romania Rtg ½ :3½
5.1 WIM Worek, Joanna 2336 - IM Bulmaga, Irina 2399 0 - 1
5.2 WGM Kadziolka, Beata 2327 - WGM L'ami, Alina 2361 0 - 1
5.3 WGM Bartel, Marta 2308 - IM Foisor, Cristina-Adela 2347 0 - 1
5.4 WGM Toma, Katarzyna 2282 - WGM Voicu-Jagodzinsky, Carmen 2275 ½ - ½
Bo. 25 Poland Futures Rtg - 8 Hungary Rtg 0 : 4
6.1 WIM Kulon, Klaudia 2276 - GM Hoang, Thanh Trang 2511 0 - 1
6.2 WIM Iwanow, Anna 2206 - IM Gara, Anita 2311 0 - 1
6.3 WFM Wisniowska, Klaudia 2153 - WGM Papp, Petra 2300 0 - 1
6.4 WFM Kiolbasa, Oliwia 1982 - WGM Rudolf, Anna 2281 0 - 1
Bo. 14 Netherlands Rtg - 15 Israel Rtg 2½:1½
7.1 WIM Schut, Lisa 2333 - WIM Efroimski, Marsel 2313 0 - 1
7.2 GM Peng, Zhaoqin 2378 - IM Klinova, Masha 2291 ½ - ½
7.3 IM Lanchava, Tea 2289 - WIM Vasiliev, Olga 2282 1 - 0
7.4 WIM Haast, Anne 2262 - WIM Shvayger, Yuliya 2294 1 - 0
Bo. 12 Serbia Rtg - 5 Germany Rtg 1½:2½
8.1 IM Bojkovic, Natasa 2405 - IM Paehtz, Elisabeth 2449 ½ - ½
8.2 WGM Manakova, Maria 2324 - WGM Schleining, Zoya 2379 0 - 1
8.3 WGM Vojinovic, Jovana 2352 - WGM Melamed, Tatjana 2367 0 - 1
8.4 WIM Rakic, Marija 2291 - WGM Michna, Marta 2357 1 - 0
Bo. 24 Belarus Rtg - 9 Spain Rtg 1 : 3
9.1 WGM Ziaziulkina, Nastassia 2350 - IM Alexandrova, Olga 2427 0 - 1
9.2 FM Stetsko, Lanita 2226 - IM Matnadze, Ana 2373 ½ - ½
9.3   Nevioselaya, Maria 2074 - WIM Hernandez Estevez, Yudania 2284 ½ - ½
9.4 WFM Beinenson, Katsiaryna 1964 - WIM Nicolas Zapata, Irene 2241 0 - 1
Bo. 21 Greece Rtg - 19 Austria Rtg 1½:2½
10.1 WGM Botsari, Anna-Maria 2338 - IM Moser, Eva 2434 0 - 1
10.2 WGM Makropoulou, Marina 2234 - WFM Newrkla, Katharina 2173 ½ - ½
10.3 WIM Fakhiridou, Ekaterini 2168 - WIM Kopinits, Anna-Christina 2263 0 - 1
10.4   Tsolakidou, Stavroula 2117 - WFM Exler, Veronika 2147 1 - 0
Bo. 23 England Rtg - 17 Azerbaijan Rtg 1½:2½
11.1 WFM Chevannes, Sabrina L 2200 - WGM Mammadova, Gulnar 2354 0 - 1
11.2 WGM Corke, Anya S 2276 - WGM Mamedjarova, Zeinab 2236 1 - 0
11.3 WFM Grigoryan, Meri 2039 - WIM Abdulla, Khayala 2255 0 - 1
11.4 WFM Bhatia, Kanwal K 2039 - WGM Mamedjarova, Turkan 2250 ½ - ½
Bo. 20 Italy Rtg - 30 Belgium Rtg 3½: ½
12.1 IM Sedina, Elena 2302 - IM Zozulia, Anna 2334 ½ - ½
12.2 IM Zimina, Olga 2338 -   Goossens, Hanne 2069 1 - 0
12.3 WIM Brunello, Marina 2248 -   Degrande, Marigje 1867 1 - 0
12.4   Gueci, Tea 2056 -   Dierckens, Sarah 1872 1 - 0
Bo. 29 Norway Rtg - 7 France Rtg ½ :3½
13.1 WIM Sahl, Sheila Barth 2233 - GM Sebag, Marie 2510 ½ - ½
13.2   Gronnestad, Anita 1958 - IM Milliet, Sophie 2383 0 - 1
13.3   Machlik, Monika 1936 - WGM Maisuradze, Nino 2302 0 - 1
13.4   Reppen, Ellisiv 2008 - IM Collas, Silvia 2292 0 - 1
Bo. 26 Switzerland Rtg - 27 Slovenia Rtg 1½:2½
14.1 WIM Seps, Monika 2260 - WGM Srebrnic, Ana 2198 1 - 0
14.2 WIM Heinatz, Dr. Gundula 2169 - WGM Kaps, Darja 2221 0 - 1
14.3 WFM Stoeri, Laura 2102 - WFM Novak, Ksenija 2082 0 - 1
14.4 WFM De Seroux, Camille 2066 -   Unuk, Laura 1991 ½ - ½
Bo. 31 Finland Rtg - 28 Turkey Rtg 1½:2½
15.1 WFM Savola, Laura 2076 - WGM Yildiz, Betul Cemre 2291 0 - 1
15.2 WFM Puuska, Heini 1982 - WGM Ozturk, Kubra 2281 0 - 1
15.3   Rautanen, Sari 1956 -   Kaplan, Ebru 1882 ½ - ½
15.4 WCM Nazarova, Anastasia 1727 -   Gurcan, Aytolun 1745 1 - 0
Bo. 22 Croatia Rtg - 32 Iceland Rtg 3½: ½
16.1 WIM Franciskovic, Borka 2263 - WGM Ptacnikova, Lenka 2238 1 - 0
16.2 WIM Jelica, Mara 2252 -   Thorsteinsdottir, Hallgerdur 1951 1 - 0
16.3 WIM Saric, Kristina 2250 -   Johannsdottir, Johanna Bjorg 1901 1 - 0
16.4 WFM Purgar, Ivona 2136 -   Kristinardottir, Elsa Maria 1819 ½ - ½

Replay women games of round 8

 

Photos by Marek Skrzypczak

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