European Club Cup: Globus first across the finish line

AVE Nový Bor 3½ : 2½ Odlar Yurdu

The decisive game was Nijat Abasov loss to Krishnan Sasikiran on board five. The other five games ended drawn. Given the fact that the Czech team outrated their Azerbaijani opponents on all boards, we can't call this a "slip-up", and Globus deserves credit for handily dispatching their opposition 4½ : 1½ on the second table to take the European Club Cup trophy.

The defending champion team of Alkaloid also won their last round, and slipped into second place over both Oldar Yurdu and AVE Nový Bor on better Sonneborn-Berger tiebreak score.

Team Alkaloid accepting their tropy | Photo: David Llada

Top results of Round 7

One could say Black's 42nd move decided the tournament:

Chess Endgames 8 - Practical Rook Endgames

Rook endings are amongst the most frequently encountered endgames there are, and so your training effort will be quickly repaid in the form of half and full points. Knowing even a few rules of thumb and key methods makes life a great deal easier and provides a guiding light even in complex positions. This DVD focuses on the important themes which are to be found in common rook endings.

Krishnan Sasikiran | Photo: David Llada

There was little doubt about the victory of Globus against their Russian colleagues SHSM Legacy Square Capital. Globus even allowed the first loss of any game in the tournament, when Sergey Karjakin went down against Boris Grachev. But four other wins were more than enough to make up for it, following Odlar Yurdu's loss.

SHSM Legacy Square Capital (from R-to-L): Inarkiev, Najer, Malakhov, Grachev, Zvjaginsev | Photo: David Llada

The importance of rook endings was again on display in Kramnik's game. There's a nice example of Zugswang in the following position:

Play through the moves on the diagram!

Kramnik played 68.Ka6 and Black is out of passable moves, as 68...Kh5 69.Rd6 Rxb3 70.Rxf6! Rxg3 71.Rxf5+ Kxh4 72.Kxb6 lends itself to a simple conversion, since the black king is much too far away from white's a-pawn.

The Russian number one came into Antalya with some chance of still qualifying to the 2018 Candidates by rating (instead Wesley So and Fabiano Caruana are now all but assured the two spots). But after three black games and three draws, even a last round win wasn't enough to net him more than a point or so, effectively removing him from contention in the current World Championship, barring a 'wild card' nomination. Outwardly he remained focused on his teams performance, and they lived up to their top ranking.

Final standings

All completed games (Open)

All Videos

Batumi Chess Club NONA snags the Women's Championship

Despite a 2 : 2 tie with underdog Romanian team Cs Studentesc Medicina Timisoara, the Georgian top seeds NONA, edged out neighboring rivals Odlar Yurdu on tiebreak score. Both teams achieved 11 match points with five wins, a draw and a loss apiece.

Batumi Chess Club NONA, European Women's Club Cup winners | Photo: David Llada

In the last round the Azerbaijani team eeked out a win thanks to their bottom board Khanim Balajayeva who scored the only full point of the round.

White must choose where to drop back with the dark-squared bishop, and went for 18.Be3 attacking the c5-pawn. But Black had the strong intermezzo 18...b4! when after 19.axb4 cxb4 20.Na4 the e4-pawn drops off.

Had White instead played 18.Bd2, then b4 would be met by 19.axb4 cxb4 20.Nd5 and the position remains about equal thanks to the x-ray attack on the knight on a5. In the game continuation 20.Nd5 was also possible, but not as strong due to 20...b3! keeping Black's advantage.

The queenside majority for Black eventually led to her vicitory.

Khanim Balajayeva (third from left in glasses) and her Oldar Yurdu team | Photo: David Llada

The Georgian team could have had an easier time of it. Their third board, Nino Batsiashvili — fresh off a stellar performance in Isle of Man, where she clinched her third and final Grandmaster norm and earned the title — made a serious oversight in her last game:

Batsiashvili would be fine after exchanging two rooks for the queen with 36.Ra8, but instead blundered the immediate capture 36.bxc4? Try to spot the refutation in the diagram.

Fortunately, the win for her teammate Bela Khotenashvili saved the day for Batumi.

Improve your Tactics

The aim of this course is to help you understand how to make tactical opportunities arise as well as to sharpen your tactical vision - these selected lectures will help to foster your overall tactical understanding.

Team results for Round 7

Final standings

All games (Women)

Translation from German and additional reporting: Macauley Peterson

Links

• Official site
• Full results (Open) (Chess-Results)
• Full results (Women) (Chess-Results)