European Teams Open is still open

by ChessBase
11/6/2017 – Azerbaijan beat Russia in Round 8, leaving the tournament to be decided in the final round with both teams plus Ukraine vying for the title. Rauf Mamedov has a remarkable 7½ out of 8 games and has broken 2700 for the first time. Azerbaijan takes a small lead into their match with Ukraine, Germany rocketed to fourth with wins over Armenia and Israel, and will face Russia. GM Daniel Fernandez and IM Lawrence Trent annotate the best games from Rounds 6-8. | Photo: EuroTeams2017.com

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Three-way race in Open

Azerbaijan clings to a small lead after an eigth round victory over Russia on Sunday, moved them to 13 matchpoints. They play third place Ukraine on top table in Monday's final round. Russia meets the German squad, who has scored back-to-back wins over Armenia and Israel, and looking to medal.

Round 6

Croatia's unlikely run came to an abrupt halt as they lost in Round 6 to Hungary 3½ : ½, and then to Russia the following round 3 : 1. Poland suffered a similar fate, also losing twice to Russia and Israel in succession.

Peter Leko vs. Ivan Saric

Leko's win over Ivan Saric contributed to Hungary's rout of Croatia | Photo: EuroTeams2017.com

GM Daniel Fernandez looked at the two key games from the sixth round: The top game Peter Leko vs. Ivan Saric and Ian Nepomnichtchi's key win over Jan-Krzystof Duda.

 

Click the game in the list to switch


My best games in the Sveshnikov

The Sveshnikov Variation of the Sicilian Defence is considered one of the most promising replies to 1.e4, often giving rise to sharp and complex positions which require precise and inventive play from both sides. Thus, an opening tailor-made for Alexei Shirov (FIDE World Cup finalist in 2007), who has included it into his repertoire with both White and Black and knows the mutual tricks and traps all too well.


Round 7

After six impressive rounds from the Hungarians, during which they gave up just two matchpoints in ties with Armenia and the Netherlands, they finally faltered against Azerbaijan in the seventh round, thanks largely to the streaking Rauf Mamedov. With his win over Ferenc Berkes he crossed the 2700 mark for the first time.

Ferenc Berkes 0-1 Rauf Mamedov (annotated by GM Daniel Fernandez)
 

The London System with 2.Bf4

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The other key match of the round was Russia-Croatia which hinged on wins by Nikita Vitiugov and Daniil Dubov.

Daniil Dubov 1-0 Alojzije Jankovic (annotated by GM Daniel Fernandez)
 

Round 8

Mamedov's streak continued to an incredible 7½ out of 8 as he beat Daniil Dubov in a bloddy match with Russia in which all four games were decisive.

Rauf Mamedov beat Daniil Dubov

Azerbaijan stunned Russia with a 3 : 1 victory, as Mamedov has been impressive | Photo: EuroTeams2017.com

IM Lawrence Trent's Highlights

Lawrence looks at Grischuk vs. Mamedyarov and Mamedov vs. Dubov. (Also available in the ChessBase Videos portal.)


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Rasmus Svane, one of the young "princes" of German chess has done well in Crete, scoring 5½ from his 7 games played as the fifth and youngest member of the team. In Round 8, he upset the veterin Israeli GM Ilia Smirnin.

 

Notes by IM Irene Sukandar (Play through the moves on the live diagram!)

Some of the Grandmaster games could make you feel better about yourself, especially when one missed simple calculation like this.

19.Rc1 Qd5 Black could enjoy equality by bringing the Bishop back to f5. But instead, Smirin chose a pretty "ambitious" move.

But after 20. Qc3 the black position just collapsed. 20... Bd1 And now Black's Bishop on d1 is very restricted and soon be lost. Perhaps Smirin missed 20... Bf5 21. e4 +-

21.Kf2  g5 22.Qd3 Rd8 23.Qxd5 Rxd5 24.Nd3 f5 25.Rxd1  e4 26.Bxg7 1-0

Top Results for Round 8 (Open)

Team MP Res. : Res. MP Team
Russia 12 1 : 3 11 Azerbaijan
Hungary 10 : 10 Ukraine
Israel 10 1 : 3 9 Germany
Netherlands 9 : 9 Turkey
France 9 : 9 Croatia
Romania 8 : 8 Serbia
Greece 1 8 : 8 England
Armenia 8 2 : 2 8 Poland
Georgia 7 ½ : 8 Spain
Austria 7 ½ : 7 Belarus

Current standings (Top 10)

Open

Rk. Team  TB1 
1 Azerbaijan 13
2 Russia 12
3 Ukraine 12
4 Germany 11
5 Turkey 11
6 Croatia 11
7 Hungary 10
8 Spain 10
9 Israel 10
10 England 10

All games (Open)

 

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