ETCC: Highlights from first two rounds

Seven teams on 2 : 0

The story of Round 1 was the surprise upset of second seed Azerbaijan at the hands of the Italian squad. Italy kept the momentum in Round 2 against Turkey, again largely thanks to a win from Sabino Brunello, who knocked off Mustafa Yilmaz. On Saturday he upset Arkadij Naiditsch in a game annoted by GM Daniel Fernandez below.

Several top names made their debut appearance in the round, including newlywed Levon Aronian for Armenia, and Alexander Grischuk for Russia. Aronian overcame Greek top board Ioannis Papaioannou en route to a 2½ : 1½ win for the Armenians. After nursing a small edge with the bishop pair for much of the game, Aronian let his oppenent pull equal with the black pieces as move 40 approached. But just shy of the time control, Papaioannou blundered:

38...f6?

Forgetting the pin on the seventh rank, black was swiftly punished: 39.Bxf6 Qg6 40.Bc3 Rb5 41.Qh4 1-0 With two pawns down and no counterplay, Papaioannou gave up.

GM Daniel Fernandez also annotates this game below.

(Below) Levon Aronian sporting a wedding ring | Photo: ETCC2017 Instagram

Results of Round 2

Annotated games by GM Daniel Fernandez

Click or tap a game in the list to switch games

Winning against the Grünfeld

The Grünfeld is a highly dynamic opening in which Black's position often seems to hang together by a single thread; and yet, this apparently precarious equilibrium appears to be enough to make it entirely viable — up to the highest level.

Top ten teams after two rounds

Tiebreak 1: Match points (2 for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss)
Tiebreak 2: Team Sonneborn-Berger (minus the lowest result)
Tiebreak 3: Board points

Interestingly, Vladimir Fedoseev was replaced at the last minute by Daniil Dubov. The ETCC Instagram paged updated this photo post with a comment noting the change.

 

Ten years after their triumph in 2007, reigning champions Russia return to Hersonissos hoping to retain their crown, with Alexander Grischuk the only 2007 gold medallist surviving! #etcc2017 #ecu #eurochess #russia photos by Anastasiya Karlovich

A post shared by European Team Chess Ch 2017 (@etcc2017) on Oct 20, 2017 at 6:39am PDT

All games (rounds 1 and 2)

An Anti-Sicilian Repertoire

Tired of spending hours and hours on the boring theory of your favourite opening? Then here is your solution, play an Anti-Sicilian with 3.Bb5 against 2...d6 or 2...Nc6, and 3.d3 against 2...e6. In 60 minutes you will get a crash course in how to avoid mainstream theory and in understanding the ideas of this Anti-Sicilian setup. After these 60 minutes you should be able to survive the Sicilian for a long time, without being bothered by new developments found by engine x supported by an x-core machine. Now that it finally comes down to understanding, let's play chess!

Women

In the Women's tournament, eight teams, including rating favourites Russian and Georgia, have won both matches, but so far the underdog Israeli team has racked up the most board points. They face a tough test against Poland in Round 3.

Results of Round 2

Top ten teams after two rounds

Tiebreak 1: Match points (2 for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss)
Tiebreak 2: Team Sonneborn-Berger (minus the lowest result)
Tiebreak 3: Board points

All games (rounds 1 and 2)

The Sicilian Tajmanov-Scheveningen

The Sicilian has been known for decades as the most reliable way for Black to obtain an unbalanced but good position. Among the most popular Sicilians at the top level the two that certainly stand out are the Najdorf and the Paulsen.

Links

• ETCC LIVE GAMES
• Official site
• European Chess Unin (ECU)
• Full results (Chess-Results)