ETCC: Russia are European men's and women's team champions

European Team Chess Championships 2007

Crete, Greece / 27 October – 7 November

The European Team Championship took place in Crete, Greece. It was a nine round Swiss team tournament, with one general section and one section for the women's teams, considered as separate competitions. According to FIDE rules, the time controls were 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.

Round nine report (final)

The Russian team were already the European Champions yesterday, but they crowned it with an additional 2.5:1.5 victory over Bulgaria, making sure nobody could doubt their superiority. Armenia beat Israel to take Silver, while Azerbeijan beat France to clinch Bronze.

The winners: Russia with Svidler, Grischuk, Alekseev and Jakovenko

Bulgaria with Cheparinov, Georgiev, Delchev and Chatalbashev (r. to l.)

Armenia vs Israel, with Levon Aronian vs Emil Sutovsky on board one

England vs Ukraine with Michael Adams facing Vassily Ivanchuk

Here's an incredible game from the final round for you to enjoy:

Svidler,Peter (2732) - Cheparinov,Ivan (2670) [B81]
EuroTeams 2007 Crete, Greece (9.1), 06.11.2007
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 7.g4 h6 8.Bg2 e5 9.Nf5 g6

10.h3 gxf5 11.exf5 Nc6 12.Qe2 Qa5

Peter Svidler vs Ivan Cheparinov after 12...Qa5

13.0-0-0 Bd7 14.f4 Rc8 15.Kb1 Nb4 16.a3

16...Rxc3 17.axb4 Qxb4 18.fxe5 Ba4

19.exf6 Bxc2+ 20.Qxc2 Rxc2 21.Kxc2

21...d5 22.Rxd5 Qa4+ 23.Kb1 Bb4 24.Bc5 Qb3 25.Re5+ Kd8 26.Bxb4 Qxb4 27.Rc1

Threatening 28.Rd5+ with Rc8 mate to follow. 1-0.

All results of round nine (men's section)

In the women's section Russia drew Ukraine, which was enough to take Gold. Poland and Armenia drew their matches as well, so that both teams remained two match points behind Russia, with Poland winning out on board points.

The winners: Russia with Alexandra Kosteniuk, Tatiana and Nadezhda Kosintseva, Ekaterina Korbut

Ukraine vs Russia, with GM Katya Lahno vs GM Sasha Kosteniuk (1-0)

Romania vs Poland with Corina-Isabela Peptan vs Monika Socko (0-1)

All results of round nine (women's section)

Final standings

In the men's section Russia took clear first, three points ahead of the field, with Armenia and Azerbeijan following them with 14 and 13 match points. In the women's section Russia also won, two points ahead of the field, with Poland and Armenia tying behind them on board points, but Poland having 2.5 more board points.

Best rating performances (men)

The best rating perfomance of the European Championship was achieved by Peter Svidler, who played seven out of nine games on board one, scoring five wins and two draws. Peter's rating performance was 2989, which will bring him a number of real rating points on the next list. So don't listen to anyone who says he is not a truly great player – even if that critical person is predictably Peter Svidler himself.

Best rating performance of the tournament: Peter Svidler

In the list below you can click on the names to get the individual results of the players.

Best rating performance (women)

The best performance was achieved by Dutch grandmaster Peng Zhaoqin, who played all nine games and scored 6.5 points, with a rating performance of almost 2600. In spite of her ninth round loss GM Alexandra Kosteniuk was second highest, with a performance of 2587.

Best women's performance: Dutch GM Peng Zhaoqin

Links

Official tournament site All results and tables on Chess-Results.com Games (zipped): Rd.1 – Rd.2 – Rd.3 – Rd.4 – Rd.5 – Rd.6 – Rd.7 – Rd.8 – Rd.9 – All   Download free PGN reader ChessBase Light The games were broadcast on Playchess.com