ETCC kicks off

by ChessBase
11/9/2013 – The European Team Chess Championship has started in Warsaw and the tournament saw very few surprises in the first round. Bulgaria was able to take half a point from Armenia in the Open, while Sweden did the same with Azerbaijan, but the real loser of today's round was the Netherlands as both of its teams lost. Report of round one.
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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.

The beautiful view from the tournament hotel

Open Section

The open section did not see many surprises, but the matches were much closer than predicted. On the top board Morozevich was the saving grace of a Team Russia that keeps winning their matches by the bare minimum. Their third board capitalized on his opponent's mistake in a Sveshnikov to obtain a comfortable position that he converted into a win.

Bulgaria-Armenia was an anticipated match mainly because of its powerhouse game on its first board: Topalov-Aronian, however the game and the match actually resulted in uneventful draws.

Sweden drew Azerbaijan when Hans Tikkanen took out Safarli in a wild game. Austria had the biggest upset of the day as they took down the Netherlands.

The World Number 2 had a tough pairing against...

...Veselin Topalov. However the Armenian didn't have any issues holding a draw.

"Oops" - Smeet's loss meant the loss of his team as Austria surprisingly took out the Netherlands 2.5-1.5

Morozevich pulled off the one victory Russia needed to take today's match

Svidler was held to a draw by Ivanisevic, a strong GM in his own right

Br. 1   RUSSIA Elo - 20   SERBIA Elo 2½:1½
1.1 GM SVIDLER, Peter 2752 - GM IVANISEVIC, Ivan 2619 ½ - ½
1.2 GM ANDREIKIN, Dmitry 2710 - GM PERUNOVIC, Milos 2613 ½ - ½
1.3 GM MOROZEVICH, Alexander 2727 - GM BOGOSAVLJEVIC, Boban 2549 1 - 0
1.4 GM TOMASHEVSKY, Evgeny 2722 - IM INDJIC, Aleksandar 2534 ½ - ½
Br. 21   BULGARIA Elo - 2   ARMENIA Elo 2 : 2
2.1 GM TOPALOV, Veselin 2774 - GM ARONIAN, Levon 2801 ½ - ½
2.2 GM RUSEV, Krasimir 2539 - GM MOVSESIAN, Sergei 2700 ½ - ½
2.3 GM PETKOV, Vladimir 2570 - GM SARGISSIAN, Gabriel 2676 ½ - ½
2.4 IM ARNAUDOV, G. Petar 2448 - GM PETROSIAN, Tigran L. 2660 ½ - ½
Br. 3   FRANCE Elo - 22   SLOVENIA Elo 2½:1½
3.1 GM VACHIER-LAGRAVE, Maxime 2742 - GM PAVASOVIC, Dusko 2563 ½ - ½
3.2 GM EDOUARD, Romain 2653 - GM LENIC, Luka 2637 ½ - ½
3.3 GM TKACHIEV, Vladislav 2637 - GM SKOBERNE, Jure 2573 1 - 0
3.4 GM HAMDOUCHI, Hicham 2627 - GM BORISEK, Jure 2555 ½ - ½
Br. 23   POLAND 2 Elo - 4   UKRAINE Elo 1 : 3
4.1 GM DUDA, Jan-Krzysztof 2542 - GM ARESHCHENKO, Alexander 2720 0 - 1
4.2 GM DRAGUN, Kamil 2543 - GM VOLOKITIN, Andrei 2682 0 - 1
4.3 GM TOMCZAK, Jacek 2581 - GM EFIMENKO, Zahar 2657 ½ - ½
4.4 GM PIORUN, Kacper 2555 - GM MOISEENKO, Alexander 2709 ½ - ½
Br. 5   ENGLAND Elo - 24   POLAND 3 Elo 3 : 1
5.1 GM MCSHANE, Luke J 2696 - GM TAZBIR, Marcin 2555 ½ - ½
5.2 GM SHORT, Nigel D 2680 - GM HEBERLA, Bartlomiej 2556 ½ - ½
5.3 GM JONES, Gawain C B 2648 - GM BULSKI, Krzysztof 2538 1 - 0
5.4 GM HOWELL, David W L 2644 - GM GDANSKI, Jacek 2518 1 - 0
Br. 25   SWEDEN Elo - 6   AZERBAIJAN Elo 2 : 2
6.1 GM GRANDELIUS, Nils 2557 - GM RADJABOV, Teimour 2715 ½ - ½
6.2 GM TIKKANEN, Hans 2544 - GM SAFARLI, Eltaj 2653 1 - 0
6.3 GM BERG, Emanuel 2547 - GM MAMEDOV, Rauf 2647 ½ - ½
6.4 IM BLOMQVIST, Erik 2508 - GM GUSEINOV, Gadir 2607 0 - 1
Br. 7   HUNGARY Elo - 26   DENMARK Elo 3 : 1
7.1 GM ERDOS, Viktor 2658 - GM HANSEN, Sune Berg 2563 ½ - ½
7.2 GM ALMASI, Zoltan 2710 - IM GLUD, Jakob Vang 2526 1 - 0
7.3 GM POLGAR, Judit 2689 - GM RASMUSSEN, Allan Stig 2486 1 - 0
7.4 GM BANUSZ, Tamas 2593 - IM ANDERSEN, Mads 2499 ½ - ½
Br. 27   AUSTRIA Elo - 8   NETHERLANDS Elo 2½:1½
8.1 GM RAGGER, Markus 2672 - GM GIRI, Anish 2732 ½ - ½
8.2 GM SHENGELIA, David 2543 - GM L'AMI, Erwin 2648 ½ - ½
8.3 IM KREISL, Robert 2410 - GM SMEETS, Jan 2620 1 - 0
8.4 IM SCHREINER, Peter 2452 - GM VAN KAMPEN, Robin 2618 ½ - ½
Br. 9   CZECH REPUBLIC Elo - 28   ICELAND Elo 2½:1½
9.1 GM NAVARA, David 2705 - GM STEINGRIMSSON, Hedinn 2543 ½ - ½
9.2 GM LAZNICKA, Viktor 2677 - GM STEFANSSON, Hannes 2539 ½ - ½
9.3 GM HRACEK, Zbynek 2638 - IM GRETARSSON, Hjorvar Steinn 2511 ½ - ½
9.4 GM BABULA, Vlastimil 2574 - IM KJARTANSSON, Gudmundur 2455 1 - 0
Br. 29   ISRAEL Elo - 10   GERMANY Elo 1½:2½
10.1 GM NABATY, Tamir 2580 - GM NAIDITSCH, Arkadij 2727 0 - 1
10.2 IM RAZNIKOV, Danny 2481 - GM MEIER, Georg 2623 ½ - ½
10.3 GM BARON, Tal 2487 - GM BARAMIDZE, David 2614 ½ - ½
10.4 IM BORUCHOVSKY, Avital 2472 - GM FRIDMAN, Daniel 2600 ½ - ½
Br. 11   SPAIN Elo - 30   MONTENEGRO Elo 2 : 2
11.1 GM VALLEJO PONS, Francisco 2705 - GM DJUKIC, Nikola 2543 1 - 0
11.2 GM SALGADO LOPEZ, Ivan 2610 - GM BLAGOJEVIC, Dragisa 2524 ½ - ½
11.3 GM ILLESCAS CORDOBA, Miguel 2614 - GM DRASKO, Milan 2447 ½ - ½
11.4 GM VAZQUEZ IGARZA, Renier 2588 - GM KOSIC, Dragan 2504 0 - 1
Br. 31   SWITZERLAND Elo - 12   POLAND Elo 1 : 3
12.1 GM PELLETIER, Yannick 2575 - GM SOCKO, Bartosz 2661 ½ - ½
12.2 GM GALLAGHER, Joseph G. 2504 - GM SWIERCZ, Dariusz 2627 0 - 1
12.3 IM KURMANN, Oliver 2424 - GM GAJEWSKI, Grzegorz 2634 ½ - ½
12.4 FM GEORGIADIS, Nico 2423 - GM BARTEL, Mateusz 2626 0 - 1
Br. 13   ITALY Elo - 32   FINLAND Elo 3 : 1
13.1 GM CARUANA, Fabiano 2782 - GM NYBACK, Tomi 2586 1 - 0
13.2 GM BRUNELLO, Sabino 2615 - IM SIPILA, Vilka 2463 1 - 0
13.3 GM VOCATURO, Daniele 2577 - IM KARTTUNEN, Mika 2440 1 - 0
13.4 GM ROMBALDONI, Axel 2530 - IM AGOPOV, Mikael 2435 0 - 1
Br. 33   BELGIUM Elo - 14   GEORGIA Elo 1½:2½
14.1 IM MICHIELS, Bart 2506 - GM JOBAVA, Baadur 2695 ½ - ½
14.2 IM RINGOIR, Tanguy 2514 - GM MCHEDLISHVILI, Mikheil 2631 0 - 1
14.3 IM DOCX, Stefan 2488 - GM GAGUNASHVILI, Merab 2556 1 - 0
14.4 IM SOORS, Stef 2404 - GM PANTSULAIA, Levan 2595 0 - 1
Br. 15   GREECE Elo - 34   LITHUANIA Elo 2½:1½
15.1 GM BANIKAS, Hristos 2633 - GM ZAGORSKIS, Darius 2480 1 - 0
15.2 GM PAPAIOANNOU, Ioannis 2639 - IM BEINORAS, Mindaugas 2389 ½ - ½
15.3 GM HALKIAS, Stelios 2555 -   LAURUSAS, Tomas 2409 ½ - ½
15.4 GM KOTRONIAS, Vasilios 2564 - FM VEDRICKAS, Tautvydas 2305 ½ - ½
Br. 35   FYROM Elo - 16   CROATIA Elo 1½:2½
16.1 IM PANCEVSKI, Filip 2478 - GM SARIC, Ivan 2628 0 - 1
16.2 GM BOGDANOVSKI, Vlatko 2459 - GM STEVIC, Hrvoje 2611 0 - 1
16.3 IM KIZOV, Atanas 2413 - GM KOZUL, Zdenko 2597 ½ - ½
16.4 GM STANOJOSKI, Zvonko 2417 - GM BRKIC, Ante 2580 1 - 0
Br. 17   BELARUS Elo - 36   NORWAY Elo 3 : 1
17.1 GM ZHIGALKO, Sergei 2694 - FM TARI, Aryan 2420 ½ - ½
17.2 GM ZHIGALKO, Andrey 2619 -   HAUGE, Lars Oskar 2301 1 - 0
17.3 GM KOVALEV, Vladislav 2583 - FM HOLM, Kristian Stuvik 2281 1 - 0
17.4 GM TETEREV, Vitaly 2501 -   SALOMON, Johan 2246 ½ - ½
Br. 37   SCOTLAND Elo - 18   TURKEY Elo 1 : 3
18.1 FM MORRISON, Graham 2351 - GM SOLAK, Dragan 2618 ½ - ½
18.2 IM MUIR, Andrew J 2312 - GM ESEN, Baris 2565 ½ - ½
18.3 FM TATE, Alan 2299 - GM YILMAZ, Mustafa 2577 0 - 1
18.4   GRANT, Jonathan I M 2257 - IM FIRAT, Burak 2435 0 - 1
Br. 19   ROMANIA Elo - 38   WALES Elo 4 : 0
19.1 GM LUPULESCU, Constantin 2630 - IM JONES, Richard S. 2435 1 - 0
19.2 GM JIANU, Vlad-Cristian 2565 - FM VARLEY, Peter 2251 1 - 0
19.3 GM PARLIGRAS, Mircea-Emilian 2576 -   JAMESON, David 2147 1 - 0
19.4 GM NEVEDNICHY, Vladislav 2590 -   HEWITT, William 2061 1 - 0

Replay all games of round 1

Women's Section

In the women's section there were also very few surprises. The top three teams won their matches relatively easily, despite Goryachkina and Zhukova being defeated by their opponents. Germany had a bad day and lost against a much weaker Greece, who held the top three boards and struck an important upset on the last board. In another strange series of events Belgium took out the Netherlands. Neither Dutch team can be particularly happy with today's results.

A gift for the players: chess chocolate!

Olga Alexandrova and Anna Rudolf

Goryachkina lost against the much lower rated Tereza Olsarova, from the Czech Republic, but her team pulled through for her and Russia won 3-1

Azerbaijan's Umudova beat Zhukova (pictured) but, like in the Russian match, Ukraine pulled through regardless

The opening move was made in Lagno's board as she is the highest rated player in the top team, but it's actually Dzagnidze who is the highest rated girl in the tournament

WIM Natasha Benmesbah

Br. 17   Azerbaijan Elo - 1   Ukraine Elo 1 : 3
1.1 WGM Mammadova, Gulnar 2354 - GM Lagno, Kateryna 2542 0 - 1
1.2 WGM Mamedjarova, Zeinab 2236 - GM Ushenina, Anna 2492 0 - 1
1.3 WIM Abdulla, Khayala 2255 - IM Muzychuk, Mariya 2491 0 - 1
1.4 WIM Umudova, Nargiz 2253 - GM Zhukova, Natalia 2466 1 - 0
Br. 2   Russia Elo - 18   Czech Republic Elo 3 : 1
2.1 GM Gunina, Valentina 2509 - WGM Kulovana, Eva 2263 1 - 0
2.2 GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2510 - WIM Havlikova, Kristyna 2237 1 - 0
2.3 WGM Pogonina, Natalija 2499 - WIM Olsarova, Karolina 2275 1 - 0
2.4 WGM Goryachkina, Aleksandra 2438 - WIM Olsarova, Tereza 2248 0 - 1
Br. 19   Austria Elo - 3   Georgia Elo ½ :3½
3.1 IM Moser, Eva 2434 - GM Dzagnidze, Nana 2556 0 - 1
3.2 WFM Newrkla, Katharina 2173 - WGM Arabidze, Meri 2374 ½ - ½
3.3 WIM Kopinits, Anna-Christina 2263 - IM Khurtsidze, Nino 2462 0 - 1
3.4 WFM Exler, Veronika 2147 - IM Khotenashvili, Bela 2524 0 - 1
Br. 4   Poland Elo - 20   Italy Elo 3½: ½
4.1 GM Socko, Monika 2431 - IM Sedina, Elena 2302 1 - 0
4.2 WGM Zawadzka, Jolanta 2383 - IM Zimina, Olga 2338 1 - 0
4.3 WGM Majdan-Gajewska, Joanna 2420 - WIM Brunello, Marina 2248 ½ - ½
4.4 WGM Szczepkowska-Horowska, Karina 2382 -   Gueci, Tea 2056 1 - 0
Br. 21   Greece Elo - 5   Germany Elo 2½:1½
5.1 WGM Botsari, Anna-Maria 2338 - IM Paehtz, Elisabeth 2449 ½ - ½
5.2 WIM Pavlidou, Ekaterini 2199 - WGM Schleining, Zoya 2379 ½ - ½
5.3 WGM Makropoulou, Marina 2234 - IM Kachiani-Gersinska, Ketino 2365 ½ - ½
5.4   Tsolakidou, Stavroula 2117 - WGM Melamed, Tatjana 2367 1 - 0
Br. 6   Armenia Elo - 22   Croatia Elo 3½: ½
6.1 GM Danielian, Elina 2457 - WIM Franciskovic, Borka 2263 ½ - ½
6.2 IM Mkrtchian, Lilit 2447 - WIM Jelica, Mara 2252 1 - 0
6.3 IM Galojan, Lilit 2301 - WIM Saric, Kristina 2250 1 - 0
6.4 WGM Kursova, Maria 2339 - WFM Purgar, Ivona 2136 1 - 0
Br. 23   England Elo - 7   France Elo 0 : 4
7.1 WFM Chevannes, Sabrina L 2200 - GM Sebag, Marie 2510 0 - 1
7.2 WGM Corke, Anya S 2276 - IM Milliet, Sophie 2383 0 - 1
7.3 WFM Grigoryan, Meri 2039 - IM Collas, Silvia 2292 0 - 1
7.4 WFM Bhatia, Kanwal K 2039 - WIM Benmesbah, Natacha 2248 0 - 1
Br. 8   Hungary Elo - 24   Belarus Elo 2 : 2
8.1 GM Hoang, Thanh Trang 2511 - WGM Ziaziulkina, Nastassia 2350 0 - 1
8.2 WGM Gara, Ticia 2350 - FM Stetsko, Lanita 2226 0 - 1
8.3 IM Gara, Anita 2311 -   Revo, Tatiana 2075 1 - 0
8.4 WGM Papp, Petra 2300 -   Nevioselaya, Maria 2074 1 - 0
Br. 25   Poland 2 Elo - 9   Spain Elo 1½:2½
9.1 WIM Kulon, Klaudia 2276 - IM Vega Gutierrez, Sabrina 2385 ½ - ½
9.2 WIM Iwanow, Anna 2206 - IM Matnadze, Ana 2373 0 - 1
9.3 WFM Wisniowska, Klaudia 2153 - WIM Hernandez Estevez, Yudania 2284 1 - 0
9.4 WCM Wozniak, Mariola 2069 - WIM Nicolas Zapata, Irene 2241 0 - 1
Br. 10   Romania Elo - 26   Switzerland Elo 4 : 0
10.1 WGM Bulmaga, Irina 2399 - WIM Seps, Monika 2260 1 - 0
10.2 IM Foisor, Cristina-Adela 2347 - WFM Stoeri, Laura 2102 1 - 0
10.3 WGM Cosma, Elena-Luminita 2326 - WFM De Seroux, Camille 2066 1 - 0
10.4 WGM Voicu-Jagodzinsky, Carmen 2275 -   Thuerig, Catherine 1997 1 - 0
Br. 27   Slovenia Elo - 11   Bulgaria Elo 1½:2½
11.1 WGM Srebrnic, Ana 2198 - WIM Raeva, Elitsa 2361 ½ - ½
11.2 WGM Kaps, Darja 2221 - WGM Videnova, Iva 2272 0 - 1
11.3 WFM Novak, Ksenija 2082 - WGM Voiska, Margarita 2298 ½ - ½
11.4   Unuk, Laura 1991 -   Ivanova, Simoneta 2046 ½ - ½
Br. 12   Serbia Elo - 28   Turkey Elo 2½:1½
12.1 IM Bojkovic, Natasa 2405 - WGM Yildiz, Betul Cemre 2291 ½ - ½
12.2 WGM Manakova, Maria 2324 - WGM Ozturk, Kubra 2281 ½ - ½
12.3 WGM Vojinovic, Jovana 2352 - WCM Cemhan, Kardelen 1993 1 - 0
12.4 WGM Stojanovic, Andjelija 2293 -   Kaplan, Ebru 1882 ½ - ½
Br. 29   Norway Elo - 13   Poland 3 Elo ½ :3½
13.1 WGM Dolzhikova, Olga 2198 - WIM Worek, Joanna 2336 ½ - ½
13.2 WIM Sahl, Sheila Barth 2233 - IM Dworakowska, Joanna 2326 0 - 1
13.3   Gronnestad, Anita 1958 - WGM Bartel, Marta 2308 0 - 1
13.4   Machlik, Monika 1936 - WGM Toma, Katarzyna 2282 0 - 1
Br. 14   Netherlands Elo - 30   Belgium Elo 1 : 3
14.1 WIM Schut, Lisa 2333 - IM Zozulia, Anna 2334 0 - 1
14.2 GM Peng, Zhaoqin 2378 -   Goossens, Hanne 2069 0 - 1
14.3 WIM Haast, Anne 2262 -   Barbier, Wiebke 1945 1 - 0
14.4 WIM Van Weersel, Arlette 2180 -   Degrande, Marigje 1867 0 - 1
Br. 31   Finland Elo - 15   Israel Elo ½ :3½
15.1 WIM Tuominen, Tanja 2105 - WIM Efroimski, Marsel 2313 0 - 1
15.2 WFM Savola, Laura 2076 - IM Klinova, Masha 2291 0 - 1
15.3 WFM Puuska, Heini 1982 - WIM Vasiliev, Olga 2282 0 - 1
15.4   Rautanen, Sari 1956 - IM Borsuk, Angela 2186 ½ - ½
Br. 16   Lithuania Elo - 32   Iceland Elo 3 : 1
16.1 GM Cmilyte, Viktorija 2506 - WGM Ptacnikova, Lenka 2238 1 - 0
16.2 WGM Daulyte, Deimante 2336 -   Thorsteinsdottir, Hallgerdur 1951 1 - 0
16.3   Batkovskyte, Dominyka 2111 -   Johannsdottir, Johanna Bjorg 1901 1 - 0
16.4   Vanagaite, Giedre 2057 -   Finnbogadottir, Tinna Kristin 1882 0 - 1

Photos by Alina L'Ami

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