3rd – 11th November in Halkidiki, Greece
The ETCC was a nine-round Swiss, with one open section and one section for
the women’s teams. The time control was 90 min for 40 moves + 30 min for
the rest of the game + 30 sec increment for every move played starting from
the first move. The member countries of the European Chess Union (ECU) had the
right to enter one team of four players plus one reserve in the open competition,
and one team of four female players and one reserve in the women’s competition.
There were 38 teams in the former and 28 in the latter. The games were played
in the Olympic Hall Congress Center (1500 sq.m.), within the five-star Porto
Carras Grand Resort, which is located in an enchantingly verdant landscape in
Halkidiki, Greece.
Here to refresh your memory are the final standings of the top teams. As
we reported it was the tenth seed, Germany, who in the latter half of the
Championship suddenly started winning and finished with a clear win on match
points, although Armenia, Bulgaria or Azerbaijan had been in the lead foir most
of the time.
Final top standings Open
Rk. |
SNo |
Team |
Gms |
+ |
= |
– |
TB1 |
TB2 |
TB3 |
TB4 |
TB5 |
1 |
10 |
Germany |
9 |
7 |
1 |
1 |
15 |
22.5 |
183.0 |
154.50 |
142.0 |
2 |
3 |
Azerbaijan |
9 |
6 |
2 |
1 |
14 |
23.0 |
181.5 |
139.75 |
140.5 |
3 |
5 |
Hungary |
9 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
13 |
23.0 |
167.5 |
117.25 |
128.0 |
4 |
4 |
Armenia |
9 |
6 |
1 |
2 |
13 |
22.5 |
172.0 |
117.25 |
132.5 |
5 |
1 |
Russia |
9 |
6 |
1 |
2 |
13 |
21.5 |
174.5 |
123.50 |
134.0 |
6 |
9 |
Netherlands |
9 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
12 |
19.0 |
180.0 |
118.25 |
140.5 |
7 |
7 |
Bulgaria |
9 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
12 |
18.5 |
187.5 |
122.50 |
146.0 |
8 |
14 |
Poland |
9 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
11 |
22.0 |
159.0 |
95.25 |
124.0 |
9 |
17 |
Romania |
9 |
5 |
1 |
3 |
11 |
20.0 |
163.5 |
87.00 |
135.0 |
10 |
13 |
Spain |
9 |
5 |
1 |
3 |
11 |
19.5 |
183.0 |
108.50 |
142.0 |
11 |
22 |
Italy |
9 |
5 |
1 |
3 |
11 |
19.0 |
164.0 |
91.25 |
135.5 |
Final top standings Women
Rk. |
SNo |
Team |
Gms |
+ |
= |
– |
TB1 |
TB2 |
TB3 |
TB4 |
TB5 |
1 |
1 |
Russia |
9 |
8 |
1 |
0 |
17 |
25.5 |
177.0 |
165.50 |
137.5 |
2 |
5 |
Poland |
9 |
6 |
2 |
1 |
14 |
23.0 |
178.0 |
133.25 |
138.5 |
3 |
3 |
Georgia |
9 |
7 |
0 |
2 |
14 |
22.5 |
181.0 |
134.00 |
139.0 |
4 |
2 |
Ukraine |
9 |
6 |
0 |
3 |
12 |
21.5 |
180.0 |
110.50 |
138.0 |
5 |
12 |
France |
9 |
6 |
0 |
3 |
12 |
21.0 |
172.5 |
107.50 |
133.5 |
6 |
8 |
Bulgaria |
9 |
5 |
1 |
3 |
11 |
19.5 |
175.5 |
100.00 |
135.5 |
7 |
4 |
Armenia |
9 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
11 |
19.0 |
182.0 |
104.00 |
139.5 |
8 |
7 |
Germany |
9 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
10 |
20.5 |
161.5 |
86.50 |
125.5 |
9 |
15 |
Israel |
9 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
10 |
19.0 |
164.5 |
85.00 |
125.5 |
10 |
11 |
Slovenia |
9 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
10 |
19.0 |
146.0 |
74.50 |
119.5 |
We now come to an important aspect of such events: who were the best players,
who contributed most to the success of their teams? In the following tables
we have removed the names of players who played less than seven games –
you can click on the links below the tables to get a full list.
Best players by rating performance (seven games or higher)
Best players by rating performance (seven games or higher
Pictorial impressions from the European Championship in Porto Carras
By Anastasiya Karlovich
The 2011 European Team Chess Championship was held in the Olympic Hall Congress
Center (1500 sq. m.), within the five-star Porto Carras Grand Resort, which
is located in an enchantingly verdant landscape in Halkidiki, Greece. Also called
Chalkidiki the peninsula is one of the peripheral units of Greece, part of the
periphery of Central Macedonia.
View
Larger Map
Set like a gem in 1763 hectares (17 million sq. m.) of incredibly beautiful
grounds, it is a paradise of green, fringed by seemingly endless sandy beaches,
in fact nine kilometers of them! The Porto Carras Grand Resort is located 110
km (75-minute drive) south of the international airport of Thessaloniki, and
includes in its 1763 hectares three hotel divisions, each in a different style,
a casino, an ultra-modern thalassotherapy centre and spa, an international-standard
18-hole golf course, a private 315-berth marina, a 5,000 seat convention centre
and Greece’s largest organic vineyard.

Other chess events that were held in Porto Carras include the 2010 World Youth
Chess Championships with almost 1400 participants (the largest FIDE event ever!),
the Greek School Championships of 2008, 2009 and 2010 and the International
Open “Summer Cup” tournaments of 2008, 2009 and 2010.

The official Hotel Sithonia hosted all players of the European Team Championship

A beautiful and inviting sculptured swimming pool on the grounds of the
hotel

A small cruise boat brings tourists from the hotel to the nearest village

Sunset on the beach in Porto Carras

The playing hall could be reached in a ten-minute walk, but many chess players...

... preferred to use the special little trains to commute

The Congress Hall in which
last year's World Youth Championship was also played

Inside the playing venue, with a round in full swing

German women’s team: IM Elisabeth Pähtz, WGM Marta Michna, WIM
Melanie Ohme, WIM Sarah Hoolt

The last seconds of the round four game Topalov-Svidler, which was the last
to finish in the match Russia-Bulgaria. Playing white former FIDE world champion
Veselin Topalov managed to win and brought the victory for his team in the fourth
round. One round later Bulgaria won against Germany and became the sole leader
with nine points.

In the fourth round
the second seed Ukrainian team lost to Germany by an amazing ½ :3½
result. In the above picture you see Ponomariov (facing Naiditsch) and Eljanov,
who both lost their games, Moiseenko, who drew and Efimenko who lost. On the
right a bemused Veselin Topalov.

Before the start of the fifth
round between Russia and Ukraine Peter Svidler jokes with his good friend
Vassily Ivanchuk. The match ended in three draws and one win for the Russians,
thanks to the efforts and solid endgame technique of Alexander Morozevich.

The Armenian team, with Aronian, Movsessian, Akopian and Sargissian, above
in
their fifth round games against Denmark, whom the beat 3½-½

The Greek team won few important matches and became one of the leaders of
the event. Above we see Hristos Banikas facing Baadur Jobava of Georgia in their
round four encounter. Greece won this match 2½:1½.

The Russian Women’s Team comprehensively dominating in this event, leading
from start to finish. Above we see the Kosintseva sisters Nadezhda and Tatiana,
Valentina Gunina and Alexandra Kosteniuk.

Elina Danielian and Nana Dzagnidze analyze their very sharp game, which
was drawn.
The Georgian team managed to win the match 2½-1½.

Alexandra Kosteniuk with her trademark ring fingernails with the colours
of the Russian flag

Anna Ushenina from the Ukrainian team

Viktor Korchnoi playing for the Swiss team

Jan Gustafsson for the German team

Alexander Motylev with the mother of all flash diffusers

One of the arbiters, Effi Andrikopoulou, was lucky and won 4000 Euros in the
hotel casino lottery

Three famous coaches sitting on a ledge... Arshak Petrosyan, Adrian Mikhalchishin
and Mikhail Gurevich

FIDE commercial director Geoffrey Borg chatting with GMs Robert Fontaine Katerina
Lahno, who are a couple

The youngest player in the tournament during her very exciting encounter
with chess pieces

The traditional party with disco and dance
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