ETCC R4: Germany and Bulgaria triumph, Germany leads

11/6/2011 – Normally we are scheduled to cover the European Team Championship after every second round. But round four was so interesting that we are slipping it in. The sensations: Russia was soundly defeated by Bulgaria 3-1, and even more sensationally: Germany beat Ukraine 3½-½ to take the overall lead in the event. We bring you the most interesting games in our round four extra report.

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3rd – 11th November in Halkidiki, Greece

The ETCC is a nine-round Swiss, with one open section and one section for the women’s teams. The time control is 90 min for 40 moves + 30 min for the rest of the game + 30 sec increment for every move played starting from the first move. The member countries of the European Chess Union (ECU) have the right to enter one team of four players plus one reserve in the open competition, and one team of four female players and one reserve in the women’s competition. There are 38 teams in the former and 28 in the latter. The games are being played in the Olympic Hall Congress Center (1500 sq.m.), within the five-star Porto Carras Grand Resort, which is located in an enchantingly verdant landscape in Halkidiki, Greece.

Top results of round four

Bo. 3 Azerbaijan Rtg
2:2
 13 Spain Rtg
1.1 GM Radjabov Teimour 2781
½-½
 GM Vallejo Pons Francisco 2705
1.2 GM Gashimov Vugar 2757
½-½
 GM Shirov Alexei 2705
1.3 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2733
1-0
 GM Salgado Lopez Ivan 2621
1.4 GM Guseinov Gadir 2636
0-1
 GM Illescas Cordoba Miguel 2609
Bo. 7 Bulgaria Rtg
3:1
 1 Russia Rtg
2.1 GM Topalov Veselin 2768
1-0
 GM Svidler Peter 2755
2.2 GM Cheparinov Ivan 2650
1-0
 GM Karjakin Sergey 2763
2.3 GM Delchev Aleksander 2629
1-0
 GM Morozevich Alexander 2762
2.4 GM Georgiev Kiril 2666
0-1
 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian 2730
Bo. 2 Ukraine Rtg
½:3½
 10 Germany Rtg
3.1 GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2723
0-1
 GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2712
3.2 GM Eljanov Pavel 2691
0-1
 GM Meier Georg 2659
3.3 GM Moiseenko Alexander 2715
½-½
 GM Fridman Daniel 2661
3.4 GM Efimenko Zahar 2702
0-1
 GM Gustafsson Jan 2633

You can scroll through the full results of round four in the window below

Full results

Click on "Women section" to get their results

Bulgaria vs Russia

In an Anti-Marshall Veselin Topalov played a novelts on move 13 and went on to get a slightly inferior position at move 28. But then Peter Svidler went astray, probably missing a knight move, and Topalov had a comfortable position. At some stage, seeing that his colleagues were winning in two games, he considered repeating moves, but then went on applying pressure and eventually won the rook ending – although he admitted that Svidler had missed some drawing chances.


Bulgaria vs Russia in round four (in the front on board one: Topalov vs Svidler)


On board two Ivan Cheparinov won the black side of a Scheveningen against Sergey Karjakin

Note that in the Javascript board below you can replay all four games, with display of the evaluations on the bottom left (click to jump to the critical postions).

Interview with Veselin Topalov


Indian TV journalist Vijay Kumar who is recording the video interviews

Ukraine vs Germany

The Ukrainians decided to rest their top player, Vassily Ivanchuk, against the "weak" German team – as it turned out a decision that "backfired horribly as the Ukrainian team was demolished by 0.5-3.5" (tournament bulletin). German GM Arkadij Naiditsch played a Sicilian Najdorf against former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov, winning in 55 moves; Georg Meier used a backrank weakness of Pavel Eljanov to secure the full point in 36 moves; and Jan Gustafsson ruthlessly punished an error by Zahar Efimenko on move 25. Only Alexander Moiseenko was able to secure half a point against Daniel Fridman.


German GM Arkadij Naiditsch won with a Najdorf on board one

Top standings after four rounds

Rk.
SNo
 Team
Gms
  + 
  = 
 – 
 TB1 
 TB2 
 TB3 
1
10
 Germany
4
3
1
0
7
11.0
32.5
2
3
 Azerbaijan
4
3
1
0
7
10.5
39.0
3
6
 France
4
3
1
0
7
10.5
33.5
4
13
 Spain
4
3
1
0
7
10.0
40.0
5
7
 Bulgaria
4
3
1
0
7
10.0
36.0
6
17
 Romania
4
3
0
1
6
10.5
22.5
7
19
 Greece
4
3
0
1
6
10.0
30.0
8
9
 Netherlands
4
2
2
0
6
9.0
32.5
9
4
 Armenia
4
2
1
1
5
9.5
33.0
10
22
 Italy
4
2
1
1
5
9.5
26.0
11
11
 Israel
4
2
1
1
5
9.0
38.0
12
1
 Russia
4
2
1
1
5
9.0
37.0
13
2
 Ukraine
4
2
1
1
5
9.0
35.5
14
24
 Denmark
4
2
1
1
5
9.0
27.0

In round five Germany plays Bulgaria, and Russia faces Ukraine. Should be very interesting...

Women's section

Here Russia continuted their triumphal march wint a 2½-1½ win over Ukrain, scored in spite of a loss by Nadezhda Kosintseva against her GM colleague Kateryna Lahno. Georgia beat Armenia 3-1 to take second place, previously occupied by Ukraine.

Top standings after four rounds

Rk.
SNo
 Team
Gms
  + 
  = 
 – 
 TB1 
 TB2 
 TB3 
1
1
 Russia
4
4
0
0
8
12.5
33.0
2
3
 Georgia
4
4
0
0
8
10.5
37.0
3
5
 Poland
4
3
0
1
6
11.0
30.0
4
2
 Ukraine
4
3
0
1
6
10.5
36.0
5
12
 France
4
3
0
1
6
10.5
29.5
6
14
 Serbia
4
2
1
1
5
11.0
24.0
7
11
 Slovenia
4
2
1
1
5
10.5
20.5
8
7
 Germany
4
2
1
1
5
10.0
25.5
9
18
 Czech Rep.
4
1
3
0
5
8.5
35.0
10
6
 Hungary
4
2
1
1
5
8.0
37.0
11
4
 Armenia
4
2
1
1
5
8.0
35.0
12
9
 Romania
4
2
1
1
5
7.5
41.5
13
10
 Spain
4
2
0
2
4
9.0
33.0
14
16
 Greece
4
1
2
1
4
8.5
30.0
15
8
 Bulgaria
4
2
0
2
4
8.0
34.5
16
13
 Netherlands
4
1
2
1
4
7.0
36.5

Pictures on the official ETCC website are provided by Anastasiya Karlovich,
Tzveta Karavelova and Goran Urosevic.

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 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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