SF Deizisau convincingly wins the European Club Cup

by Klaus Besenthal
4/1/2021 – With a commanding performance, Schachfreunde Deizisau secured victory in the European Chess Club Cup. The winning team, consisting exclusively of German players, kept a series of top clubs at bay: Clichy (France), Mednyi Vsadnik (Russia) and Odlar Yurdu (Azerbaijan), among others. This was probably one of the most remarkable successes ever achieved by a German club. | Pictured: Vincent Keymer | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

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A tough fight

On the second day of the final, rounds 5 to 9 of the all-play-all tournament were played. After day 1, Clichy and Deizisau were sharing the lead with six match points each, with the French slightly ahead by one board point.

Already the 5th round saw Deizsau taking the sole lead, as they defeated the women’s squad from Monte Carlo, while another German club, Hamburger SK, defeated Clichy.

The victory did not come easy for Deizisau, though, as they scored a single win (and three draws) against the winners of the Women’s European Club Cup. Georg Meier — who finished the event with a remarkable 5/6 score — defeated Aleksandra Goryachkina, a player who can normally hold her own against the (male-dominated) world’s top players:  

 

The ultimate test for the team from Deizisau came in round 6, when they faced the strong squad from St. Petersburg, a team that has often fought for the title in similar events. This match could not be lost: to keep the lead in the standings, but also to strengthen the belief that they could win the tournament! And they succeeded. In a hard-fought 2:2 draw (there were no draws on individual boards), Alexander Donchenko and Vincent Keymer each took a full point.

In Round 7, the Poland Husars, led by Jan-Krzysztof Duda, were then left behind in the standings with a 2½:1½ win — Georg Meier and Vincent Keymer, the most successful point scorers for the eventual winners, scored victories in this match.

In Round 8, Deizisau ‘thanked’ Hamburger SK for their support earlier in the day (see above) as the match was drawn 2:2.

At the end, it all came down to nerves — a win against Ladya Kazan, who had not been too successful until that point, was needed to secure overall victory. This was once again a battle of equals, except on board 4, where Dmitrij Kollars had a large rating advantage over his opponent. Kollars kept his nerve and scored the full point. Deizisau won the match 2.5:1.5.

 

Clichy finished strong, with wins over Novy Bor and Odlar Yurdu, but that was not enough to catch the Germans. Mednyi Vsadnik and Poland Hussars obtained 11 match points each, but the Russians had two more board points, which was enough to secure the bronze.


The winning team

  1. SF Deizisau e.V. (Captain: Noppes, Sven)
Bo.   Name Rtg FED Pts. Games RtgAvg
1 GM Bluebaum Matthias 2670 GER 2,5 8 2714
2 GM Donchenko Alexander 2659 GER 4,5 8 2656
3 GM Meier Georg 2628 GER 5,0 6 2623
4 GM Heimann Andreas 2606 GER 1,0 4 2569
5 GM Keymer Vincent 2591 GER 5,5 7 2582
6 GM Kollars Dmitrij 2598 GER 2,0 3 2483

Final standings

Rk. SNo FED   Team   +    =    -   TB1   TB2 
1 4 GER
 
SF Deizisau e.V. 6 2 1 14 20,5
2 1 FRA
 
Clichy Echecs 92 6 1 2 13 22,5
3 3 RUS
 
Mednyi Vsadnik 3 5 1 11 22,0
4 10 POL
 
Poland Hussars 4 3 2 11 20,0
5 9 AZE
 
Odlar Yurdu 4 1 4 9 19,0
6 5 GER
 
Hamburger Schachklub 1830 4 1 4 9 14,0
7 7 ENG
 
4NCL Guildford 3 2 4 8 18,5
8 6 RUS
 
Ladya Kazan 3 2 4 8 16,5
9 8 CZE
 
Novy Bor 3 1 5 7 18,5
10 2 MNC
 
Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo 0 0 9 0 8,5

All games

 

Links


Klaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.

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