Novi Sad: another loss by ringtone

A lot of interesting things happened in rounds two and three of the European Team Championship. We will tell you about it descriptively, instead of giving you yards of tables. At the end of each section of each round there are links to the official results lists, which you can browse.

Round two open

England lost to Azerbaijan, with Teimour Radjabov scoring against Michael Adams on board one; Armenia beat Romania thanks to a win by Levon Aronian. Spain defeated the Czech Republic with a win by Salgado on board four and a a forfeit by GM Viktor Laznicka, who did not appear in time at the board for his game against Francisco Vallejo on board two.

Italy held the Netherlands 2-2 with Fabiano Caruana scoring his second win (and Erwin L'Ami striking back for Holland). Russia trounced the Former Yug Rep of Macedonia (MKD) 3.5:0.5, with Svidler, Alekseev and Tomashevsky scoring (Morozevich drew against Nikola Mitkov. Bulgaria, still not fielding Topalov, beat Wales 2.5:1.5.

• All results from the round two open can be found here

Round two women

Georgia defeated Russia 2.5:1.5, and Ukraine beat Greece with the same score. Poland crushed Bulgaria 3.5:0.5, with Germany doing the same to the Netherlands. The young Turkish team beat Bosnia & Herzegovina (BIH) 3:1. It is remarkable that the Turkish girls are aged 20, 16, 15, 13 and 11 – the average for the whole team is 15 years.

• All results from the round two women can be found here

Round three open

Armenia lost to Serbia in spite of a win by Aronian; Israel beat Spain, Georgia beat Hungary, and Russia defeated Italy. In the match Bulgaria vs England Topalov played for the first time, beating Michael Adams on board one:

Topalov,V (2813) - Adams,Mi (2682) [C95]
17th TCh-Eur Novi Sad SRB (3), 24.10.2009
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Nb8 10.d4 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Bb7 12.a4 c5 13.Bc2 Re8 14.d5 c4 15.b3 cxb3 16.Nxb3 Qc7 17.Bd3 Qxc3 18.Be3 Rec8 19.Rc1 Qb4 20.Rb1 Qc3 21.axb5 axb5 22.Bxb5 Nf8 23.Nfd2 Ra2 24.Qf3 Rc2 25.Nf1 Ng6 26.Ng3 Rb2 27.Qd1 Nf4 28.Rxb2 Qxb2 29.Qb1 Qa3 30.Bd2 Bd8 31.Re3 Qa7 32.Nf5 Qb8 33.Na5 g6 34.Nxb7 gxf5 35.Nxd8 Rxd8 36.exf5 Qb7 37.Qb2

Adams has been under considerable pressure and now cracks under the strain: 37...Kf8? 37...N6xd5 was surely a better defence. 38.Rb3 N4xd5. Once again 38...N6xd5 is to be preferred, though the situation has become dire already. 39.Bh6+ Ke7 40.Ba4 Qa6 41.Rb7+ Nd7 42.Qb3 Qa5 43.Kh2 1-0.

GM Alexander Delchev losing his game after his cellphone rang

However, before the round was properly under way the cell phone of Alexander Delchev rang and the Bulgarina GM was duely disqualified (see video report by Robert Fontaine below). Stuart Conquest profited from that, and since Ivan Cheparinov lost to Luke McShane on board two the English won the match 2.5:1.5.

McShane,L (2615) - Cheparinov,I (2667) [B20]
17th TCh-Eur Novi Sad SRB (3), 24.10.2009
1.e4 c5 2.d3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be2 d6 6.0-0 Nf6 7.Qe1 0-0 8.Qh4 c4 9.Kh1 cxd3 10.cxd3 Bg4 11.Nc3 Bxf3 12.Bxf3 Qb6 13.Bd1 Qa6 14.Rf3 Rfc8 15.Rh3 h5 16.f5 Ne5 17.Bg5 Kf8 18.fxg6 fxg6 19.Bb3 Nxd3 20.Rf3

Incredibly the 2667 Bulgarian GM has been demolished in just 20 moves. 1-0.

Norway, without Carlsen, held Ukraine 2:2, while the Turkish men, four IMs, defeated Iceland, also four IMs, crushingly with a 4:0 score.

• All results from the round three open can be found here

Round three women

Germany lost badly to Georgia, Armenia flattened Poland, Romania held Ukraine 2:2, while Bulgaria, with former Women's World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova on board one, lost 1:3 to the French team. Russia defeated Finland 3.5:0.5, while Slovenia crushed the young Turkish girls (see above) by 4:0.

• All results from the round three women can be found here

Standings after round three – Men

Standings after round three – Women

Videos and pictures in this report by GM Robert Fontaine for Europe Echecs

Links Official tournament site All available games in zipped PGN: Men – 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 the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!