Azerbaijan wins European Team Championship

by ChessBase
11/7/2017 – Azerbaijan secured the European Team Championship gold on Monday with a draw against Ukraine. The Azerbaijani team scored a critical win over top-seeded Russia in Round 8, such that even a last round win for the Russians over Germany was only good enough for the silver medal. Ukraine, the third seed going in, took the bronze. In the European Women’s Team Championship, the favourites Russia, clinched gold with a round to spare, leaving Georgia and Ukraine battling for silver and bronze. In the end they finished exactly according to their starting rank. Fourth seed Poland was upset by ninth seed Romania and so just missed out on a medal. Analysis by IM Irene Sukandar | Photo: EuroTeams2017.com
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Azerbaijan wins the Open

Azerbaijan achieved a relatively quick 2 : 2 tie with Ukraine in the final Round 9, safe in the knowledge that even a shutout by Russia over Germany would not be enough to catch up on the board points tiebreak. In the end, Russia did win by a score of 3 : 1 — good enough for the silver medal — as both teams finished with 14 match points (out of a total possible 18).

Ukraine took the bronze with 13 match points, and an edge on board points over the Croatian team which finished fourth.

Top Results for Round 9 (Open)

Team MP Res. : Res. MP Team
Azerbaijan 13 2 : 2 12 Ukraine
Germany 11 1 : 3 12 Russia
Turkey 11 1½ : 2½ 11 Croatia
England 10 ½ : 3½ 10 Hungary
Spain 10 1½ : 2½ 10 Romania
Belarus 9 1½ : 2½ 10 Israel
Slovenia 9 1½ : 2½ 9 Netherlands
Poland 9 3 : 1 9 France
Serbia 8 2 : 2 9 Armenia
Slovakia 8 2½ : 1½ 8 Greece 1

Final Standings (Top 10)

Rk. Team  TB1 
1 Azerbaijan 14
2 Russia 14
3 Ukraine 13
4 Croatia 13
5 Hungary 12
6 Israel 12
7 Romania 12
8 Germany 11
9 Netherlands 11
10 Poland 11

Ukraine in the foreground, Russian flanking them

Ukraine in the foreground, Russia right behind them | Photo: EuroTeams2017.com

The Azerbaijan team just needed to remain solid against Ukraine, as a drawn match would be enough to secure gold given their superior tiebreak score. All games ended in draws around move 40, but Naiditsch vs. Pomomariev, despite ending peacefully, was a tactical slugfest.

 
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The Modern Pirc is actually a mixture of the Caro-Kann and the Pirc. In many lines Black combines the ideas of the classical Pirc in which the fianchettoed bishop is important with the Caro-Kann idea to fight for the center with c6-d5.

Russia, planing on the adjacent table had a much longer day at the office, but secured the silver medal by beating Germany. Ian Nepomniachtchi ground down Georg Meier in a long rook and pawn ending that went to move 86. Next to him Nikitia Vitiugov outplayed his young opponent Matthias Bluebaum in a rook and knight endng before liquidating into his own winning rook and pawn ending which quickly prompted resignation. The win left Russia with one match point more than Ukraine. The latter tied with Croatia, whose fourth place finish should leave them satisfied. The 14th seeds at the outset were leading at the half-way point, and won their last round match against Turkey.

In fifth through seventh spots, Hungary, Israel and Romania. The Romanian team came in a number 20, so they significantly outperformed, and capped off a strong tournament with a small upset against Spain. Gergely-Andras-Gyula Szabo and Mircea-Emilian Parligras posted wins — the latter's being one of the standout games of the day.

Mircea-Emilian Parligras 1-0 Ivan Salgado Lopez (annotated by IM Irene Sukandar)
 
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In this game, I will not comment much about the openings, but here I just wanted to show you how White smoothly carried on his attacking plan while being attacked himself. An example of the importance of calculation! 1.d4 0 Nf6 43 2.c4 0 e6 11 3.Nf3 0 b6 1:44 4.Bf4 1:51 Bb4+ 2:25 5.Nfd2 6 Nh5 2 6.Bg3 0 Nxg3 3:16 7.hxg3 5 Bb7 8 8.e3 1:49 Bf8 1:17 9.Nc3 44 g6 0 10.Qc2 5:49 Bg7 1:06 11.0-0-0 49 Qe7 4:51 12.Kb1 2:06 d6 7:30 13.Rh2 3:22 Nd7 3:29 14.Be2 17 a6 0 15.Bf3 3:07 c6 1:16 16.g4 6:37 Rb8 8:32 17.Be2 10:07 Rc8 8:18 18.f4 0 c5 1:29 19.dxc5?! 1:00 19.d5! exd5 19...0-0 20.dxe6 fxe6 21.Nde4 20.Bf3 0-0 20...Qxe3? 21.g3 21.g5 Qxe3 22.Bxd5 Bxc3 23.Bxb7 Rc7 24.Rh3 Qe7 25.Qxc3 Rxb7 26.Rxh7+- 19...Nxc5 1:19 20.Bf3 21:17 Bxf3 2:38 20...b5 21.Bxb7 Nxb7 22.Rdh1 Kf8 21.gxf3 2:02 b5 0 22.cxb5 3:34 axb5 4:14 23.Nxb5 10:47 0-0 1:49 24.Nc4 1:10 Rb8 5:11 25.Nbxd6± 1:32 Besides winning two pawns up, White also had the initiative, aiming toward Black's king on the h-file. However, Black also tried to create a counterplay on the opposite side, therefore White still had to be careful. Qa7 5:08 26.Rdh1 3:51 Na4 0 27.Rxh7 1:09 Rfd8 11:14 27...Rxb2+? would not work because 28.Nxb2 Nc3+ 29.Kc1 Qxe3+ 30.Qd2 Nxa2+ 31.Kc2 Qxd2+ 32.Kxd2 Bxb2 33.g5± 28.Qh2 5:49 Nc3+ 22 29.Kc1 2:42 29.Ka1?? would be a rookie mistake. Qxa2# 29...Nxa2+ 21 30.Kd1 4 Always shield the king from checks. Do not play 30.Kd2? because Rxb2+ 31.Nxb2 Rxd6+ 32.Nd3 Rxd3+ 33.Kxd3 Qa6+ 34.Kd2 Bc3+ 35.Kc2 Qa4+ 36.Kd3 Qb5+ 37.Kc2 Qa4+= with a forced draw. 30...Nc3+ 1:04 a desperate check. 31.Kc2 8:09 Oddly enough, the king is safe in the centre. Qa4+ 3:29 32.Kd3 4 Rxd6+ 7:26 33.Nxd6 6 Qa6+ 0 34.Nc4 4 Rd8+ 43 35.Kc2 5 The king always had a precise escaping route for every check. Kf8 0 35...Qa4+ 36.b3 Qa2+ 37.Nb2 and it's over. 36.Rxg7 20 Qxc4 5 36...Qa4+ 37.Kxc3 37.Qh8+ 22 Ke7 1 38.Rxf7+ 6 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Parligras,M2616Salgado Lopez,I26291–02017E12ETCC Open 20179

Let FIDE Senior Trainer and IM Andrew Martin introduce you to the Tiviakov method, where he covers all of 8.b3, 8.Re1, 8.Bf4, 8.Bg5, 8.a3, 8.Qa4 and 8.d5 and all in around an hour!

The Polish team relaxing after a long week

The Polish team was all smiles at the closing ceremony | Photo: EuroTeams2017.com

Rounding out the top ten teams, with 11 match points, Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland, teams which ended almost where they started.

Georgia and Ukraine fill out Women's podium

Russia finished in as dominating style ast they played the entire tournament, winning 3½ : ½ over Armenia. Georgia and Ukraine both won handily as well to secure the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Top Results for Round 9 (Women)

Team MP Res. : Res. MP Team
Armenia 11 ½ : 3½ 15 Russia
Georgia 12 3½ : ½ 10 Italy
Romania 10 3 : 1 12 Poland
Turkey 10 0 : 4 11 Ukraine
Netherlands 9 1½ : 2½ 9 Israel
Azerbaijan 9 2½ : 1½ 9 Serbia
Spain 9 4 : 0 9 Austria
Hungary 8 3 : 1 8 Czech Republic
Greece 1 8 2½ : 1½ 8 Belarus
Germany 7 2½ : 1½ 8 France

Final standings (Top 10)

Rk. Team  TB1 
1 Russia 17
2 Georgia 14
3 Ukraine 13
4 Poland 12
5 Romania 12
6 Spain 11
7 Israel 11
8 Azerbaijan 11
9 Armenia 11
10 Italy 10

Round 9 highlights

IM Irene Sukandar has selected a few highlights from the ninth round, a potpourri from both tournaments, including the "blunder of the day".

 
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30...e4 1:17 It's been known that the best defense is to attack. How should White save the Bishop on g5 and pawn on f3 while at the same time executing a counterplay? 31.Bh6+!± 1:01 Kxh6 1:10 31...Kh7 32.fxe4! Qe6 33.Qf8 Qf6 34.Bg5 Qe6 35.Qd8 Nb6 36.Bf6 Qc8 37.Qxc8 Nxc8 38.Bxd4 31...Kf6 32.fxe4! Qe6 32...Qd6 33.f4 33.Qd8+ Qe7 34.Bg5++- 32.Qh8+ 11 Kg5 6 33.dxe4 14 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Pancevski,F2489Ferreira,J24991–02017A00ETCC Open 20179
Nyback,T2572Jobava,B27051–02017D11ETCC Open 20179
Peng,Z2362Shvayger,Y24420–12017D05ETCC Women 20179
Danielian,E2415Kosteniuk,A25520–12017E35ETCC Women 20179
Eric,J2257Mamedjarova,Z22980–12017C41ETCC Women 20179
Guichard,P2285Michna,M23760–12017E94ETCC Women 20179

All games (Open)

 
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All games (Women)

 
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