Only on board 10 did we see a team scoring a 4-0 victory in the first round of the European Team Championship. Serbia, led by Alexey Sarana, won all four of their games against Iceland. The remaining top-10 favourite teams either won by a small margin, were held to draws by their lower-rated opponents or, in fact, started with a loss — shockingly, it was the Azerbaijani team, the squad with the highest rating average, the one that suffered a loss.
After Teimour Radjabov, Rauf Mamedov and Nijat Abasov all signed quick draws, it was Shakhriyar Mamedyarov’s duty to score with white against his Danish opponent, Mads Andersen. True to his nature, Mamedyarov sacrificed an exchange to create a promising kingside attack. But what could have been a spectacular win ended up favouring a resilient Andersen, who got the full point and gave his team overall victory.
Romania and Norway, meanwhile, only managed draws in the first round. The team led by Hungarian-born Richard Rapport drew all four of their games against Austria, while Magnus Carlsen’s national team could not get the better of Slovakia despite the former world champion grabbing a nice win over Jergus Pechac — Viktor Gazik, on board 2, defeated Aryan Tari to even the score.
A number of interesting pairings will be seen in round 2, with Germany facing a well-balanced Hungarian team and the dangerous Czech squad playing England, now with Nikita Vitiugov on the top board.
The Slovakian team | Photo: Mark Livshitz
Magnus Carlsen | Photo: Mark Livshitz
Analysis by Klaus Besenthal
| Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar2734 | 0–1 | Andersen, Mads2612 | |||||||||||||||||||||
 | ETCC Open 2023 Budva11.11.2023[Besenthal,Klaus-Gunther] | | |||||||||||||||||||||
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | Photo: Mark Livshitz
| Rk. | Team | Games | + | = | - | TB1 | |
| 1 | Germany | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| England | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Armenia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Spain | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| France | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Netherlands | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Serbia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Poland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Hungary | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Czech Republic | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Croatia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Israel | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Turkey | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Greece | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Italy | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Slovenia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Denmark | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 18 | Romania | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Norway | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Austria | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Slovakia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
The favourites by rating in the women’s section are the ever-dangerous Georgians, who kicked off the event with a 3-1 victory over Israel. Marsel Efroimski’s win over Nino Batsashvili was more than compensated by the Georgians’ victories on the three remaining boards.
Much like in the top-board match, Azerbaijan lost their game on board 1, where Slovenia’s Laura Unuk defeated Ulviyya Fataliyeva. However, wins for Khanim Balajayeva and Gulnar Mammadova were enough for the Azerbaijanis to collect 2 match points on opening day.
The biggest surprise on the top boards was given by Greece, who held Germany to a draw after all four games remained mostly balanced and saw the contenders splitting points at the end of the day. In fact, it was Greece’s Ekaterini Pavlidou who got the best winning chances out of the eight players who participated in the match.
On board 8, Poland beat Sweden, though it is noteworthy that mother and daughter Pia and Anna Cramling are playing on boards 1 and 3 for Sweden, with Anna in fact scoring an upset win over Alicya Sliwicka after showing great positional skills with the white pieces.
I’m in Montenegro representing Sweden in the European Team Chess Championship!!!!! Wish me luck!!!!! (Also I won my first game today and I’m so so happy) 🥹🥹
— Anna Cramling (@AnnaCramling) November 11, 2023
Recaps coming on yt every day! pic.twitter.com/p0Q2EzcANL
Juan Manuel Bellón following the games of his wife and daughter, Pia and Anna Cramling | Photo: Mark Livshitz
Israel’s Dina Belenkaya | Photo: Mark Livshitz
| Rk. | Team | Games | + | = | - | TB1 | |
| 1 | Georgia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Azerbaijan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Ukraine | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Bulgaria | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| France | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Armenia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Poland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Spain | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Netherlands | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Switzerland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Hungary | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| England | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Serbia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Slovakia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 15 | Germany | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Romania | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Greece | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Norway | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
