European Team Chess Championship starts in Halkidiki

3rd – 11th November in Halkidiki, Greece

The ETCC is a nine-round Swiss, with one open section and one section for the women’s teams, considered a separate competitions. The time control is 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. A total of 38 countries have registered their participation in the European Team Championship 2011, with each national federation affiliated to the European Chess Union (ECU) having 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. The games are being 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. Also called Chalkidiki the peninsula is one of the peripheral units of Greece, part of the periphery of Central Macedonia.

Round one report

Round one saw top seed Russia struggle past Moldova with a 2.5-1.5 result when Moldovian GMs Viktor Bologan and Dmitry Svetushkin let slip a win and a draw against Peter Svidler and Alexander Morozevich respectively. While Svetushkin tragically blundered a rook in a drawn ending, his compatriot Bologan made a strange draw offer in a completely winning game that he had dominated from the start. Time trouble, it appears, can get to the best of them…

Start of Russia with Svidler, Grischuk, Morozevich and Nepomniachtchi vs Moldova
with Bologan, Iordachescu, Svetushkin and Vedmediuc

Morozevich,Alexander (2762) - Svetushkin,Dmitry (2621) [D10]
18th European Teams Porto Carras GRE (1.3), 03.11.2011

Morozevich has just played 76.Rg3-g8 and Svetushkin, in a moment of total chess blindness in a drawn position, plays 76...Rg2?? Naturally the game ends 77.Rxg2 1-0.

On board two, Ukraine made a clean 3.5-0.5 sweep against Slovenia despite Ivanchuk being held to a draw by Beliavsky on the top board. Meanwhile Scandinavian countries opened with an impressive showing after lowly rated Sweden and Finland held France and Netherlands to draws. Romania, Serbia and Greece all scored 4-0 (against Wales, Luxembourg and Cypress) and are thus in the lead. But the ranking table is not really meaningful yet.

• Full results here

The women’s section also saw some well-fought matches. The Russian Kosintseva sisters Nadezhda and Tatiana led their team to a 3-0 victory over Israel on board one, while Ukraine beat Greece on board two. Third seed Georgia overcame Azerbaijan, but not before their leader Lela Javakhishvili fell to Zeinab Mamedjarova, 150 points her inferior.

The Russian women's team, with Gunina Valentina, Tatania and Nadezhda (back to camera) Kosintseva and Natalija Pogonina receive final instructions from their trainer, GM Yuri Dokhoian, who for many years seconded you-know-who.

• Full results here

Picture gallery

Players arriving for round one in the five-star Porto Carras Grand Resort...

... and congregate in the entry hall of the Olympic Hall Congress Center

The playing hall, where all the action takes place

The English team, with Adams, Short, Howell and Jones (right to left)

The Bulgarians, with Topalov, Cheparinov, Delchev and Georgiev

Hungarian GM Peter Leko discussing his game with his GM Hansen Sune Berg of
Denmark, who snatched a draw from his higher rated opponent

Video impressions of the European Team Championships start

Links Official tournament site All available games in PGN: Open – Women The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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