EURO 2007: Pictures, games, impressions from Dresden

Eighth European Chess Championship in Dresden

The 8th Individual European Chess Championships (EURO 2007) is taking place from April 2nd to 16th, 2007 in Dresden, Germany in the International Congress Center. The event is an 11 round Swiss, with time controls set at 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. EURO 2007 is one of the largest events at this level ever staged. There are over 600 participants from 43 European federations, with the biggest contingent coming naturally from the German Chess Federation (DSB, almost 150 participants), followed by Russia with 90.

The results of the first two rounds are available on the EURO 2007 home page, where live coverage is also provided (sporadically during the first rounds). We have put together a table of the leaders after two rounds, without any guarantee of accuracy or completness. Also a zipped PGN file with all the games that have become available so far (as collected by the indefatigable Mark Crowther of TWIC).

Round one impressions

The round was characterised by a number of upsets, like Germany's top GM Arkadij Naiditsch losing to IM Urban Klaudiusz, GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili to IM Szabo Krisztian, GM Georgiev Kiril to IM Frank Holzke. In the women's section local star Elisabeth Pähtz, who is a full IM and has a world junior title to her credit, lost to WGM Ana Srebrnic, who is more than 200 points below her on the Elo scale. Here are some pictorial impressions of the round.

Our hotel in Dresden – not in mint condition, but acceptable for chess players

Just kidding – this is where we and many of the players stayed, three blocks of the Ibis Hotel, five minutes from the Central Station and 20 minutes brisk walk from the venue. The first picture show you reconstruction work in Dresden, where ugly monolithic buildings from the Communist days are being torn down and replaced by tasteful modern facilities.

Chess posters all over the city, like here on the way to the venue

The Altmarkt, with the Kreutzkirche. The stroll from the Ibis Hotel to the
playing venue turns out to be a beautiful historical excursion.

The Hofkirche, a last big Roman baroque church to be built in Europe.

The famous Semper Opera, built in 1978, a stone's throw away from the venue

An incredibly intelligent, polite and friendly pedestrian in Dresden's old city

A man-powered form of transport with a microscopic carbon footprint

The new Congress Hall, where the 2008 Olympiad will also be held

The entrance to the Eighth European Championship, EURO 2007

The playing hall, with the Elbe River flowing by outside the Congress Center

One of the hot favourites in this event: Dmitrij Jakovenko with a 2-0 start

Another grandmaster to watch: former FIDE world champion Alexander Khalifman

Romanian GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, who won the European Chamionship in 2005

Sneaking a peek – 17-year-old Ukrainian star Sergey Karjakin

Suffered a shock loss in round one: Georgian GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili

A nother shock: Germany's IM Elisabeth Pähtz (right) is losing against WGM Ana Srebrnic

Lithuanian IM Viktorija Cmilyte, at 2480 is one of the favourites in the women's section

Another girl to watch: Slovenian WGM Anna Muzychuk, 17, rated 2474

Photographer's favourite WIM Anna Sharevich of Belarus

Dutch Peng Zhaoquin, rated 2439, has a full ("male") grandmaster title

Ukrainian IM Kateryna Lahno, 2467, seventeen years old and a potential winner

Elena Winkelman, 16-year-old German talent from Dresden

WIM Iosefina Paulet of Romania, 17 years old

IM Jovanka Houska of England, currently rated 2404

Links

• Official home page of EURO 2007
• Dresden as a chess ctiy