Euro Teams: Six leaders, Carlsen escapes against Dragnev

Austria upset Norway, Israel upset Spain

Most round-2 top-board matches were closely contested affairs, with Germany, France, the Netherlands, Serbia, Poland and Israel grabbing a second consecutive match win to go into the third round sharing the lead with 4/4 match points.

In all the matches featuring the now co-leaders, a single win tipped the balance in their favour. The heroes for each winning squad were Vincent Keymer (Germany), Maxime Lagarde (France), Jorden van Foreest (Netherlands), Velimir Ivic (Serbia), Mateusz Bartel (Poland) and Evgeny Postny (Israel). Out of these six teams, only Israel defeated an opponent with a higher rating average: Spain.

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As usual, most eyes were put on Magnus Carlsen’s game, despite Norway having drawn their first match. In the end, the Norwegians suffered an upset loss against Austria, who scored the deciding victory on board 4, where Felix Blohberger defeated Lars Oskar Hauge. Shockingly, Carlsen was inches away from losing his game against Valentin Dragnev. The former world champion, let us not forget, comes from suffering two losses against much lower-rated opponents in the Qatar Masters.

Alexandr Predke, Robert Markus and Velimir Ivic (Serbia) | Photo: Mark Livshitz

Keymer 1 - 0 Erdos

Analysis by André Schulz

Keymer, Vincent2721

1–0

Erdos, Viktor2557

ETCC Open 2023 Budva12.11.2023[Schulz,A]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Qc2 The main variation of the Catalan Opening is 6.0-0 dxc4 Or 6...c6 is often played. 7.Qc2 a6 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc2 etc. 6...c6 After 6...dxc4 7.Qxc4 a6 White can play 8.Bf4 with good results. 7.0-0 b6 8.Nbd2 c5 8...Bb7 9.e4 Na6 10.a3 c5 is quite solid for Black. 8...Nbd7 9.b3 Bb7 10.Bb2 c5 11.dxc5 bxc5 leads to the game by a different move order. 9.dxc5 bxc5 10.b3 Bb7 11.Bb2 Nbd7 12.cxd5 Several times 12.Ne5 has been played. 12...exd5

This gives Black the famous hanging pawns in the centre. Engines rate the chances as equal. 13.Rad1 Re8 14.Nb1 Bf8 15.e3 Rc8 16.Nc3 Qa5 17.Qd2 Qa6 The threat was 17...-- 18.Nxd5 Qxd2 19.Nxf6+ Nxf6 20.Rxd2 gaining a piece. 18.Rfe1 c4 The machine already gives an advantage here. 19.Bf1 Nc5 20.Nd4 Nce4 21.Qc2 Nxc3 Black executes his idea of playing on the queenside somewhat imprecisely. More precise was 21...Qb6!? with the idea of 22.-- Necessary is 22.Na4 Qa5 with pressure on the queenside for Black. 22...cxb3 23.axb3 Nxc3 24.Bxc3 Ne4-+ 22.Bxc3 Ne4 23.Rb1 h5 24.Ba1 h4 25.f3 Nc5 25...Nd6= 26.bxc4 hxg3 26...dxc4 27.Bxc4 brings the white bishop into play. 27.hxg3 Qh6 28.Qf2 Ba6 In this phase the game tips in White's favour. 28...dxc4!? 29.Bxc4 Rc7 with the idea of Ne4. Black has counterplay for the lost pawn. 29.cxd5 Bxf1 Better was 29...Re5!? with the intention of playing Rh5 30.g4 Rxd5 30.Qxf1

30...Qg5? Qxg3 is not a real threat. 30...Re5 was still the better option. 31.e4 Nd3 The idea that the knight is impossible to capture because of perpetual check proves to be a chimera. The white king can escape. 31...Qxg3+ 32.Qg2 Qxg2+ 32...Qf4 33.Nf5 g6 34.Rbd1+- 33.Kxg2 with a clearly better endgame for White. 32.Qxd3 Qxg3+ 33.Kf1 Qh3+ 34.Ke2 f5 34...Qg2+ 35.Kd1+- 35.Kd2 Bd6 36.Bc3 This gives the white king access to the escape square c3. fxe4 37.fxe4 Bf4+ 38.Kc2 Rxc3+ One last attempt... 39.Qxc3 Rc8 40.Nc6 Qg2+ 41.Kb3 1–0

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Hungary versus Germany | Photo: German Chess Federation

IM Robert Ris analyses Dragnev vs. Carlsen

Standings after round 2

...38 teams

All games - Round 2

Replay games from all rounds at Live.ChessBase.com

Women’s: Spain stun Georgia

Five teams grabbed back-to-back wins in the first two rounds of the women’s championship: Azerbaijan, France, Poland, Spain and Serbia.

The Serbians have the lowest rating average in this group, and they joined the lead by upsetting Armenia in round 2, with Tijana Mandura scoring a 19-win over Maria Gevorgyan on board 4 — the latter was over-optimistic when she played 7.f4 in the following position.

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Mandura realized that her opponent’s pawn push was suspicious and spent almost a half hour before playing the accurate 7...Bg4. The Serbian’s conversion was not flawless, but she nonetheless managed to score a quick win that gave her team a crucial victory.

Serbia versus Armenia | Photo: Mark Livshitz

Even more surprising was Spain’s win over the top seeds from Georgia. Marta García and Ann Matnadze won their games on boards 1 and 4, respectively, to take down the favourites.

García’s passed e-pawn was the key factor in her victory over Bella Khotenashvili.

Playing the ugly-looking 26...Bc8, to deal with the passer, was necessary here. After 26...Kh7 27.e6, on the other hand, there was no stopping White’s initiative, as García showed good technique to make the most of her positional edge until getting a 48-move victory.

Spain versus Georgia | Photo: Mark Livshitz

Standings after round 2

...32 teams

All games - Round 2

Replay games from all rounds at Live.ChessBase.com

Links

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