Extremely competitive European Team Championship to start in Budva

Azerbaijan and Georgia the rating favourites

The 24^th edition of the European Team Chess Championships will take place on November 11-20 at the Conference Hall of Hotel Splendid in Budva, Montenegro.

An open championship and a women’s championship will be played concurrently, with each event a 9-round Swiss tournament. The time control will be 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with 30-second increments for every move from the first move.

Each ECU member has the right to enter one team of four players plus one reserve in the open competition, and one team of four female players plus one reserve in the women’s competition. A total of 38 teams registered to participate in the open, while 32 squads will fight for first place in the women’s event.

Schedule

• Rounds 1 to 5: November 11-15
• Rest day: November 16
• Rounds 6 to 9: November 17-20

The action kicks off daily at 15.00 CET (9.00 ET, 19.30 IST)

Notably, the open section’s defending champions from Ukraine will not be participating (a women’s Ukrainian squad will play, with the absence of both Muzychuk sisters).

Open section

A total of 9 players rated 2700 or above will participate in the tournament, with no fewer than 60 players surpassing the 2600 rating barrier in the open section. Nonetheless, only the rating favourites from Azerbaijan can boast of having a 2700+ rating average.

The top 5 teams according to rating average:

The Classical French - Main Line

After 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3, the author takes a detailed look at a daring line with 7... cxd4 8. Nd4 Qb6, as well as the quieter plans with 7...cxd4 8. Nd4 Bc5, and the main line with 7... a6 and b5.

...38 teams

With two 2730+ rated players, Azerbaijan enter the event as rating favourites. In addition, having Nijat Abasov in the lineup might be a relevant factor, since the 28-year-old from Baku is likely to be getting sponsors (public and/or private) to prepare for a potential participation in the 2024 Candidates Tournament.

Meanwhile, Romania and England have boosted their chances by adding naturalized players to their teams, with Richard Rapport and Kirill Shevchenko joining the Romanian squad, and Nikita Vitiugov becoming the top board for the English team.

Alireza Firouzja, who had a remarkable performance in the latest edition, will not be playing for the French team.

Women’s section

Among the women, Georgia will arrive in Budva as the clear favourites, with a large 78-point advantage over second-seeded Azerbaijan in terms of rating average. Moreover, the Georgians recently showed their remarkable team spirit by winning the World Women’s Team Championship in Bydgoszcz.

The top 5 teams according to rating average:

The Accelerated Dragon - a sharp weapon against 1.e4

After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6! leads to the so-called "Accelerated Dragon Defense". On this DVD the Russian grandmaster and top women player Nadezhda Kosintseva reveals the secrets of her favourite opening.

...32 teams

How to play the Sicilian Defence!

The continuous stream of new ideas in the Sicilian makes 1..c5 the most popular answer to 1.e4. On this DVD I do give an introduction to the most important Sicilian systems.

Links

• Official site
• Full technical info at Chess-Results
• ChessBase reports from previous editions: 2021 | 2019 | 2017