European Championship: Shevchenko joins the lead

One round to go

Eleven consecutive rounds with no rest day. The European Championship in Serbia is coming to an end, and a group of twenty-three — most likely exhausted — players will gain a spot in the next edition of the World Cup after Monday’s final round, with the winner of the event taking home €20,000 in prize money.

After ten rounds, two young players share first place on 8/10 points. Kirill Shevchenko joined Alexey Sarana in the lead on Sunday thanks to his victory over Benjamin Gledura with the white pieces. Sarana, who had defeated long-time leader Anton Korobov in the previous round, had to work hard to hold a draw against Andrey Esipenko.

A Complete Black Repertoire against 1.Nf3 & 1.c4

This video course offers you a complete, clear repertoire for Black against the moves 1.Nf3 and 1.c4. The recommended variations are easy to learn and not difficult to remember, but also pose White serious challenges.

Esipenko is one of twelve players standing a half point behind the co-leaders. Out of the twelve chasers, seven joined the group on 7½ points by collecting victories on Sunday — i.e. David Anton, Jaime Santos, Thai Dai Van Nguyen, Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis, Yuriy Kuzubov, Igor Janik and Daniel Dardha.

While the aforementioned players only need draws on Monday to secure a spot in the World Cup, the participants who currently have 6½ points are likely to go all-in in the final round. A few of the rating favourites belong to this group, including experienced GMs Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Vasyl Ivanchuk, who have not qualified for the World Cup in previous events.

David Anton has won three games in a row to recover from his loss in round 5

Our in-house endgame expert, GM Karsten Müller, has been sending numerous instructive positions with on-point analyses. In Saturday’s ninth round, David Paravyan managed to demonstrate why Ivan Cheparinov’s decision to simplify into a king and pawns endgame had been a mistake.

 

Paravyan, David2584

1–0

Cheparinov, Ivan2661

EICC 2023 Vrnjacka Banja11.03.2023[Mueller,Karsten]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxe5 Nxe5 12.Rxe5 Qd6 13.Re1 c5 14.Nd2 Rae8 15.Ne4 Qc6 16.c4 Nb6 17.f3 Bh4 18.Rf1 Qc7 19.Qc2 b4 20.Be3 Nd7 21.Ba4 Bc6 22.Bxc6 Qxc6 23.Bf2 Bxf2+ 24.Nxf2 Re6 25.Rae1 Rfe8 26.Qd1 Qd6 27.b3 Nb8 28.Rxe6 Rxe6 29.Re1 Nc6 30.Rxe6 Qxe6 31.Kf1 h5 32.Qe1 Nd4 33.Qxe6 Nxe6 34.h4 Kf8 35.Ne4 f5 36.Ng5 Nd4 37.Nh3 Kf7 38.Nf4 g6 39.Ke1 Kf6 40.Nd5+ Ke5 41.f4+ Kd6 42.Ne3 Ne6 43.g3 Nd4 44.Kd2 Kc6 45.Nc2 Kb6 46.Ne1 a5 47.Ke3 a4 48.bxa4 Ka5 49.Nf3

The wrong exchange. An exchange into a pawn ending should be considered very carefully: 49...Nxf3? The wrong exchange. 49...Ne6 draws, e.g. 50.d4 Kxa4 51.dxc5 Ka3 52.Nd4 Nxc5 53.Nc2+ Kxa2 54.Nxb4+ Kb3 55.Nd5 Kxc4 56.Ne7 Ne4 57.Nxg6 Nxg3= 50.Kxf3 Kxa4 51.d4 The decisive breakthrough. cxd4 52.Ke2!

Black's play must be stopped first. 52...Ka3 53.c5 Kxa2 54.c6 b3 55.c7 b2 56.c8Q b1Q 56...d3+ is met by 57.Kxd3 b1Q+ 58.Qc2++- 57.Qa6+ Kb2 58.Qb6+ Kc1 59.Qxb1+ Kxb1 60.Kd3 Kc1 61.Kxd4 61.Kxd4 Kd2 62.Ke5 Ke3 63.Kf6 Kf3 64.Kxg6 Kxg3 65.Kg5‼+-

This decisive zugzwang is White's point. 1–0

Standings - Round 10

...484 players

All available games - Round 10

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Links

• Official site
• European Chess Union
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