11/12/2023 – The European Team Championship kicked off with a big surprise on the top board. Azerbaijan, the rating favourites, were defeated by Denmark, as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov lost to Mads Andersen after his attempt at a winning attack backfired. Romania, the second seeds, only drew Austria, while Norway also got a draw against Slovakia despite Magnus Carlsen winning his game on the top board. In the women’s event, the most shocking result on the top boards was Greece holding Germany to a draw. | Photo: Mark Livshitz
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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.
The Indian chess grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi with an ELO of over 2700 (June 2023) is one of the best 20 players in the world. For the first time, the sympathetic top player presents himself in a video course. Let a world-class player show you tactical moti
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 Indian chess grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi with an ELO of over 2700 (June 2023) is one of the best 20 players in the world. For the first time, the sympathetic top player presents himself in a video course. Let a world-class player show you tactical moti
Women’s: Greece draw Germany, A. Cramling scores upset win
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.
In a total of 6 chapters, we look at the following aspects: the right decision based on tactical factors, decisions in exchanges and moves, complex and psychological decisions in longer games and in defence.
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) 🥹🥹
Carlos Alberto ColodroCarlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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Videos: Nico Zwirs examines two Petroffs from the 2026 Candidates. Robert Ris has a tip against the Caro-Kann Advance Variation with 3…c5. Fiona Sieber reveals a surprise weapon against the Najdorf. ‘Lucky Bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, L'Ami et al.
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In this video course experts examine the games of Bent Larsen. Let them show you which openings Larsen chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities!
From the 2026 Candidates Tournament, featuring a video review by Dorian Rogozenco, to Jan Werle’s opening video on the French Tarrasch Defence, and Oliver Reeh’s tactical column ‘Top Grandmasters at Work’. Analyses by Giri, So, Wei Yi and many others.
You will learn how Black's dynamic piece activity and structural counterplay more than compensate for White's extra tempo in the colour-reversed setups.
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