Sarana beats Deac
Only one of the four games in the Germany vs England match — the clash of co-leaders — lasted more than 32 moves, with Alexander Donchenko and Luke McShane playing 52 moves each before drawing their game on board 4 (the same result that had been seen on the remaining three boards earlier in the day).
Similarly, three rather quick draws were signed in the match facing Romania and Serbia. However, the one longer encounter finished decisively in this one, as Alexey Sarana outplayed Bogdan-Daniel Deac with the white pieces from a tricky position with five pawns, a queen, a knight and a bishop per side.
Let Toptrainer Sokolov show you the ins and outs of middlegames. This course is about the catalan structures vs. semi-slav/triangle setups

Romania versus Serbia | Photo: Mark Livshitz
Carlsen misplays advantageous position, then escapes with a draw
In what turned out to be an entertaining, rollercoaster game, Magnus Carlsen split the point with Danish rising star Jonas Buhl Bjerre. Playing black, the former world champion could not make the most of his advantage in a sharp middlegame, and then survived an inferior position with queen and four pawns (for Bjerre) against two minor pieces and six pawns (for Carlsen).
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

Magnus Carlsen | Photo: Mark Livshitz
Standings after round 7
1 |
3 |
|
Germany |
7 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
11 |
137,5 |
16,5 |
109,5 |
86,3 |
2 |
4 |
|
England |
7 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
11 |
130 |
17 |
110 |
86,8 |
3 |
10 |
|
Serbia |
7 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
11 |
127 |
18,5 |
103,5 |
79,3 |
4 |
7 |
|
France |
7 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
10 |
115 |
18 |
103,5 |
74 |
5 |
5 |
|
Armenia |
7 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
10 |
112,5 |
15,5 |
107 |
73,8 |
6 |
17 |
|
Greece |
7 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
10 |
102,5 |
16,5 |
103,5 |
71,5 |
7 |
2 |
|
Romania |
7 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
9 |
114,5 |
15,5 |
106,5 |
65,5 |
8 |
14 |
|
Croatia |
7 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
9 |
110 |
15 |
104,5 |
62,3 |
9 |
9 |
|
Netherlands |
7 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
9 |
106,5 |
15 |
106 |
66 |
10 |
11 |
|
Poland |
7 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
8 |
104,5 |
14 |
110 |
62,3 |
11 |
13 |
|
Czech Republic |
7 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
8 |
104 |
15 |
109,5 |
60,5 |
12 |
18 |
|
Italy |
7 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
8 |
101,5 |
15,5 |
105,5 |
57 |
13 |
15 |
|
Israel |
7 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
8 |
97,5 |
15,5 |
103,5 |
57,5 |
14 |
12 |
|
Hungary |
7 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
8 |
96,5 |
15 |
100,5 |
53 |
15 |
25 |
|
Lithuania |
7 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
8 |
88,5 |
16 |
99,5 |
52,3 |
...38 teams
All games - Round 7
Replay games from all rounds at Live.ChessBase.com
Women’s: Bulgaria sole leaders
Bulgaria, the fifth seeds in the women’s tournament, are now the only undefeated team in the competition, as they defeated the in-form French squad to grab the sole lead with two rounds to go in Budva. The exciting match saw decisive results on all four boards, with wins for Antoaneta Stefanova, Nurgyul Salimova and Beloslava Kratseva giving the new sole leaders an all-important 3-1 victory.
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.

Bulgaria’s Antoaneta Stefanova | Photo: Mark Livshitz
The Bulgarians lead two teams by a match point: France and Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani squad bounced back from their loss against Bulgaria by beating England 3-1 — Gunay Mammadzada and Gulnar Mammadova scored full points on boards 1 and 4, respectively.
Still with chances of fighting for first place are Poland and Greece, which stand a match point behind France and Azerbaijan. Greece’s Stravoula Tsolakidou is having a great run on the top board, as she scored four consecutive wins after drawing her first three games to already secure a grandmaster norm!

Hungary versus Greece | Photo: Mark Livshitz
Standings after round 7
1 |
5 |
|
Bulgaria |
7 |
5 |
2 |
0 |
12 |
141,5 |
18 |
109,5 |
94,5 |
2 |
6 |
|
France |
7 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
11 |
144 |
19,5 |
112,5 |
86 |
3 |
2 |
|
Azerbaijan |
7 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
11 |
134 |
17 |
116,5 |
88,8 |
4 |
19 |
|
Greece |
7 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
10 |
111,5 |
16,5 |
108 |
75,8 |
5 |
8 |
|
Poland |
7 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
10 |
99,5 |
15,5 |
105 |
73 |
6 |
3 |
|
Germany |
7 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
9 |
109 |
16 |
102 |
61,3 |
7 |
15 |
|
Serbia |
7 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
9 |
106,5 |
15 |
109 |
66,5 |
8 |
7 |
|
Armenia |
7 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
9 |
105,5 |
16,5 |
106 |
63,3 |
9 |
1 |
|
Georgia |
7 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
9 |
105,5 |
16 |
111,5 |
68,3 |
10 |
4 |
|
Ukraine |
7 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
8 |
95,5 |
17 |
94,5 |
48,3 |
11 |
9 |
|
Spain |
7 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
8 |
95,5 |
15,5 |
107,5 |
54,5 |
12 |
11 |
|
Switzerland |
7 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
8 |
95,5 |
15,5 |
104,5 |
55 |
13 |
13 |
|
England |
7 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
8 |
82,5 |
15,5 |
98,5 |
48,3 |
14 |
10 |
|
Netherlands |
7 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
7 |
103 |
16,5 |
103,5 |
47,5 |
15 |
12 |
|
Hungary |
7 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
7 |
94 |
14,5 |
107,5 |
50 |
...32 teams
All games - Round 7
Replay games from all rounds at Live.ChessBase.com
Links