11/19/2015 – The Russian team maintained their lead in both the sections. The women team is in great form and have a perfect 10.0/10 score, while the men were held to a draw by Azerbaijan - yet with a score of 9.0/10 they have a point’s lead over the field. The biggest news was definitely Carlsen’s loss to Yannick Pelletier. The Norwegian is now down to 2832 on the live rating list. Round five report.
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Russia’s perfect score was spoilt after they drew the fifth round against Azerbaijan. All the four boards ended in draws. However, the top seeded team still has one point lead over the field with 9.0/10 match points.
Peter Svidler drew a wild game in the Open Variation of the Ruy Lopez against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Grischuk has played only two games till now and both of them ended in draws
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (right) with team member Arkadij Naiditsch, a German GM who has switched federations and now plays for Azerbaijan, which is currently in the fifth spot with a match score of 7.0/10
Judit Polgar's team had done pretty decently until the fourth round by drawing their
match against France and beating Poland. But in the fifth round they lost to Ukraine.
Pavel Eljanov once again proved to be the hero for the Ukrainian team as he featured
in the only decisive game of the match, beating Richard Rapport
The reason why the clash between Pavel Eljanov and Richard Rapport was especially interesting was because the Ukrainian is a solid player who believes in classical principles, while the Hungarian is a hyper-modernist who loves to break the rules. In the end Eljanov’s solid chess turned out to be too much for Rapport, as he blundered in an equal position, and lost the game.
[Event "20th European Teams"] [Site "Reykjavik ISL"] [Date "2015.11.17"] [Round "5.2"] [White "Eljanov, Pavel"] [Black "Rapport, Richard"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "2753"] [BlackElo "2693"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "147"] [EventDate "2015.11.13"] [WhiteTeam "Ukraine"] [BlackTeam "Hungrary"] [WhiteTeamCountry "UKR"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Bg4 3. Ne5 Bf5 4. c4 f6 5. Nf3 e6 6. Nc3 c6 7. g3 Bb4 8. Qb3 a5 9. a3 Bxc3+ 10. bxc3 Ne7 11. Bg2 Nd7 12. O-O a4 13. Qa2 Bg6 14. cxd5 exd5 15. c4 O-O 16. cxd5 Nxd5 17. Nd2 Bf7 18. Qc2 Nc7 19. Bb2 Nb5 20. e4 Re8 21. Rfe1 Nb6 22. Qc5 Nd7 23. Qc2 Nb6 24. Qc5 Nd7 25. Qb4 Nb8 26. d5 Qe7 27. Qxe7 Rxe7 28. Nc4 Nd7 29. Rac1 cxd5 30. exd5 Rxe1+ 31. Rxe1 Kf8 32. Ne3 Rc8 33. Bh3 Rc7 34. Rb1 Nd6 35. Bd4 Bg6 36. Rb4 Nc5 37. Bf1 Nd3 38. Rxa4 {[#] White is a pawn up but Black has activity to compensate for it. With his next move Black starts to create concrete threats.} Rc1 39. Kg2 {This is a move which requires a good amount of accurate calculation.} Be4+ 40. f3 Ne1+ 41. Kf2 Bxf3 $6 ({ Why did Richard not take the pawn with the knight? There is absolutely no good way to take advantage with regards to the placement of the black pieces.} 41... Nxf3 $1 42. Bb2 Rb1 43. Bc3 $11 (43. Rxe4 $2 Nxe4+ 44. Kxf3 Nd2+ $19)) 42. Bb2 $1 Rb1 43. Bc3 $1 {The knight on e1 cannot move because the bishop on f3 is hanging. Black has to give up two pieces for a rook.} Ne4+ 44. Rxe4 Bxe4 45. Bxe1 {This is not so difficult to convert because the bishop has a fixed square on b4 and the d-pawn is quite strong.} Rb2+ 46. Kg1 (46. Be2 $2 Bd3 $19) 46... Rb1 47. Bb4+ Kf7 48. Kf2 Rb2+ 49. Ke1 Rb1+ (49... Rxh2 50. Bb5 $18 { and the d-pawn is ready to roll.}) 50. Kd2 Bxd5 51. Bd3 $1 (51. Nxd5 $2 Rxf1 { would be equal.}) 51... Rb2+ 52. Bc2 {The sad news for Black is that the rook on b2 is trapped.} ({Another way to win was} 52. Kc1 Rb3 53. Kc2 Be6 54. Nc4 { and the rook is trapped on b3.}) 52... Be6 53. Nd1 Ra2 54. Nc3 Ra1 55. Bb1 { The cage is getting smaller and smaller.} f5 56. Kc1 Kg6 57. Kb2 Rxb1+ 58. Kxb1 $18 {This is a pretty easy one for a player of Eljanov's class.} Kh5 59. Ne2 g5 (59... Kg4 60. h3+ $1 $18) 60. Kc1 Kg4 61. Kd2 Kh3 62. Be7 h6 63. Bf8 Kxh2 ( 63... h5 64. Be7 g4 $2 65. Nf4+ $18) 64. Bxh6 Bc4 65. Bxg5 Bxe2 66. Kxe2 Kxg3 { The a-pawn is a wrong coloured pawn, but the black king is just too far off.} 67. Ke3 Kg4 68. Bf4 b5 69. Be5 f4+ 70. Bxf4 Kf5 71. Kd4 Kxf4 (71... Ke6 72. Kc5 Kd7 73. Kxb5 Kc8 74. Kb6 $18) 72. Kc5 Ke5 73. Kxb5 Kd6 74. Kb6 {A nice technical win for Eljanov ensuring 2.5-1.5 victory for Ukraine.} 1-0
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, with a rating performance of 2936, is making sure that France remains right on the heels of the leaders. He beat Vallejo Pons and Vladislav Tkachiev’s victory ensured a 3:1 victory for France over Spain
Usually when the king is on e8 and the opponent attacks the f7 point with his queen on f3 and the bishop on b3 it makes sense to defend that point. But there are players like Maxime who don’t really care about how risky a move looks: if you cannot refute it, it works!
[Event "20th European Teams"] [Site "Reykjavik ISL"] [Date "2015.11.17"] [Round "5.1"] [White "Vallejo Pons, Francisco"] [Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2684"] [BlackElo "2765"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "70"] [EventDate "2015.11.13"] [WhiteTeam "Spain"] [BlackTeam "France"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ESP"] [BlackTeamCountry "FRA"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bc1 Nf6 8. Be3 Ng4 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 g5 11. Bg3 Bg7 12. h4 Nc6 13. Nxc6 bxc6 14. Bc4 Qa5 15. Qf3 {[%csl Rf7][%cal Rf3f7,Rc4f7] This position has been reached five times in the past. Some players thought they should defend the f7 point with Be6, some decided Rf8 was important and one guy even 0-0. But then comes Maxime Vachier Lagrave who says, why should the f7 point be defended at all?!} Ne5 $5 16. Bxe5 Qxe5 17. Bxf7+ (17. Qxf7+ {doesn't really change the nature of the position by much.} Kd8 18. hxg5 Qxg5 $44) 17... Kd8 {What has Black got in return for a pawn. Bishop pair, the bishop on g7 is super strong, the rooks can be used on semi open files on f8 and b8 and in general it is much easier to play as Black as his king is safe on d8 while the king on e1 is feeling the heat.} 18. hxg5 Rb8 $1 19. Bb3 Rf8 20. Qe3 Qxg5 21. Qxg5 hxg5 {This endgame promises excellent compensation for Black.} 22. f3 g4 $1 23. Ke2 a5 24. Na4 { White intends to meet Ba6 with c4, but this weakens the dark squares quite a bit and makes the bishop on b3 very passive.} (24. Rad1 {was much better not fearing a check on a6.} Ba6+ 25. Ke3 Be5 (25... c5 26. f4 c4 27. Ba4 Rxb2 28. e5 {The rook on d1 makes itself felt.}) 26. Rh7 $13) 24... Ba6+ 25. c4 Rb4 26. Rac1 gxf3+ 27. gxf3 Bd4 28. Rc2 c5 29. Rh2 Rg8 30. Rc1 {[#]White is under a lot of pressure but how exactly should Black breakthrough?} Bc8 $1 {The bishop on e6 would be much more useful both ways (kingside and queenside) than on a6.} 31. Nc3 Be6 32. Kd3 $2 (32. Rd1 Bxc4+ 33. Bxc4 Rxc4 $15 {is pleasant but not really winning.}) 32... Rg3 $1 33. Ke2 $2 (33. Rf1 Bh3 34. Rff2 Bxf2 35. Rxf2 Be6 {should also win.}) 33... Bxc4+ 34. Kd2 Rxf3 35. Bxc4 Rxb2+ {A superb game by Maxime!} 0-1
Baadur Jobava has got his magic working in this event. He is on 4.0/5 and his victory
over Ivan Ivanisevic helped Georgia beat Serbia 3:1.
On the starting list Norway is seeded eleventh. Their opponents Switzerland are the 28th seeds. Norway beat Switzerland 2.5:1.5. As expected, right? Yet this was the match which provided the biggest sensation of the fifth round.
Yannick Pelletier was able to beat the World Champion Magnus Carlsen with the black pieces!
Pelletier, ranked 403 in the world, has caught two big fishes in a month’s time – Nakamura at the European Club Cup and now Magnus Carlsen over here.
The game started out as a normal Hedgehog. Carlsen had a typical slight edge in the position, and it seemed as if he would crush the life out of his opponent by slowly improving his position. But nothing of that sort happened. Magnus made a few inaccuracies and Pelletier was able to equalize the game. This must have made Magnus lose his balance. In an equal position he blundered a full piece. After that it was just a matter of counting the moves before the World Champion resigned.
Three games in this tournament have made Magnus drop as many as 17.8 Elo points – loss to Aronian (-6), draw with Hansen (-3.4) and loss to Pelletier (-8.4). From a rating of 2850 he is now down to 2832. Still a hefty 29 points separate him from Topalov (2803) on the rating charts. But if Carlsen played in this fashion, it is highly probable that he would lose even more Elo points. Norway now faces Hungary in the sixth round. If Carlsen decides to play, he would be up against the super solid Peter Leko.
Sabino Brunello scored a crucial victory of Sergei Movsesian,
which helped Italy draw their match against Armenia
Luke McShane’s loss to Daniel Fridman was the reason why England went down 1.5:2.5 to Germany
The Russian team is unstoppable at the moment and leads the field by two points with a perfect score of 10.0/10. In the fifth round they chalked up a relatively easy victory over France with a 3:1 margin.
Alexandra Kosteniuk has been scoring heavily, 3.5/4, on the top board for Russia.
In their match against France she was able to defeat Marie Sebag.
Mariya Muzychuk’s Ukrainian team is currently on 8.0/10.
In the fifth round they were able to defeat the Romanian team.
The next round, the sixth, will be the most crucial one from the point of view of deciding the champion of this event. The Russian team will face the strong Ukrainians. If the latter can defeat Russia, then the tournament would be wide open and anyone could claim the top spot. But if Russia were to win or even the draw the match then it would be almost certain that they would go back with the Gold, considering that they have already played the Georgians.
It must be the hair! One of the main reasons why Germany is in the fifth place
currently is because of Elisabeth Paehtz’s fantastic 4.5/5
Nino Batsiashvili, Davit Jojua, Bela Khotenashvili and the entire Georgian team
would be hoping that the Ukrainians beat Russia in the sixth round
Russia’s Valentina Gunina (right) shares a light moment with the Ukrainians
Natalia Zhukova and Alexander Kovchan (centre)
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 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
Sagar ShahSagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India, the biggest chess news portal in the country. His YouTube channel has over a million subscribers, and to date close to a billion views. ChessBase India is the sole distributor of ChessBase products in India and seven adjoining countries, where the software is available at a 60% discount. compared to International prices.
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