Novi Sad: Russia and Azerbaijan lead

This massive event, with 38 men's and 28 women's teams, four boards per round each – is taking place in the famous chess city of Novi Sad in Serbia (formerly Yugoslavia). We bring you results, games, photos and video reports by Europe Echecs.

Round seven

Leaders Azerbaijan lost to Armenia, with Gabriel Sargissian scoring the decisive win (against Gadir Guseinov in 70 moves). Russia defeated Georgia, with Morozevich scoring; Ukraine beat the Czech Republic 3.5:0.5; Poland beat France; England lost to Switzerland, Bulgaria (without Topalov) lost to Denmark. At the end of the round Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan were in the joint lead, with 11 our of 14 possible match points. In hot pursuit: Ukraine, Poland and The Netherlands, with ten points each.

Armenia (with Petrosian, Sargissian, Akopian and Aronian facing Azerbaijan (with Radjabov)

The Russian team, with Svidler, Morozevich, Alekseev and Tomashevsky, in round seven

Bulgaria lost to Denmark (Cheparinov vs Hansen Lars Bo in front)

Michael Adams faced Viktor Korchnoi in this round seven encounter

In the women's section Russia trounced Azerbaijan 4-0, while Georgia scored a 3:1 win over Israel. Armenia beat Romania and Ukraine beat Hungary, so that after seven rounds Russia and Georgia were tied for first with 12/14 points (the Russians had lost one match, the Georgians drawn two). Three teams were in luke-warm pursuit: Armenia, the Czech Republic and Ukraine with ten point each.

• All results from the round seven Open section can be found here
• All results from the round seven Women's section can be found here

Round eight

The playing hall during round eight

Russia beat Armenia 2.5:1.5, with Alexander "Who-else" Morozevich scoring the decisive point, against Vladimir Akopian. Azerbaijan beat Poland, Ukraine drew The Netherlands, Israel beat Georgia, Norway drew England. When the dust had cleared Russia and Azerbaijan were in the joint lead, two match points ahead of five teams in the follow-up group: Ukraine, Armenia, Netherlands, Spain and Israel. In the final round Russia plays Spain (Svidler vs Shirov, Morozevich vs Vallejo) while Azerbaijan plays Netherlands (Radjabov vs Smeets, Gashimov vs Stellwagen).

In the women's section Russia again won, 3:1 against the Czech Republic. Georgia beat Bulgaria, and Armenia held Ukraine. One round before the end Russia and Georgia are leading, three points ahead of any other rivals. In the final round Russia plays Armenia while Georgia faces Romania.

• All results from the round eight Open section can be found here
• All results from the round eight Women's section can be found here

Standings after round eight – Men

• Full standings of all teams after eight rounds

Standings after round eight – Women

• Full standings of all teams after eight rounds

Tiebreak rules

In this event the score in each game is: 1 for a win, ½ for a draw and 0 for a lost game. Each team gets two points for winning a match, one for a draw and zero for a loss. The final ranking is made by match points: the team obtaining the highest number of match points is the winner of the competition.

In case of equality the order of the winners is determined according to the following tie-breaking criteria:

1. the number of board points won, the highest number wins;
2. the sum of the board points of all team's opponents, the highest number wins;
3. the sum of the board points of all opponents defeated plus one half of the board points of all the opponents with which a tied result was achieved, the highest number wins;
4. the sum of the board points of all the team's opponents, excluding the opponent who scored the highest number of board points and the opponent who scored the lowest number of board points, the highest number wins.

Performance

The best performance, by a pretty big margin, has been displayed by Norwegian GM Jon Ludvig Hammer, 19, who has scored 5.0/8 points on board one, with a 2810 performance. The Azeris Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Vugar Gashimov have moved to second and third place, while a loss (and a win) by Fabiano Caruana put him from second to ninth place – with a 2761 performance.

Top performance by Jon Ludvig Hammer (above right against Beliavsky in round seven)

The best Open Section players after eight rounds

The best Women's Section players after eight rounds

The Russian rule: Alexandra Kosteniuk and Nadezhda Kosintseva lead with performances of 2649 and 2648 on boards one and two. In third place we find Kateryna Lahno with a 2618 performance.

Video reports by Europe Echecs

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!