
The 13th European Individual Championship is taking place in Plovdiv, Bulgaria,
from March 20th to 31st, 2012. The rate of play is 90 minutes for 40 moves,
plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per
move, starting from move one. The total prize fund is 100,000 Euros, with the
top three taking 14,000, 11,000 and 9,000 Euros respectively.
Round two
The game of the round was between the two youngsters Illya Nyzhnyk from Ukraine
and Anish Giri from the Netherlands. The former is just fifteen and already
a GM rated 2585. Giri is seventeen and has won two national championships (in
2009 and 2011) as well as a super-GM tournament (Reggio Emilia 2011-2012). His
rating is 2717, exactly 132 points above Nizhnyk's, so he was the clear favourite
in this game, even though he had the black pieces. However, Giri committed an
inaccuracy on move 21 and an error on move 22, and was professionally dispatched
by his younger colleague. This interesting game was annotated for us by GM Alejandro
Ramirez.
Note that on our JavaScript player you can use the cursor keys to play
through the main line or click on moves to jump to them on the board. The ChessBase
training DVDs shown below the board teach you more about the opening played
in the game. The games will be more extensively analysed for the next issue
of ChessBase Magazine.

1.e4 | 1,165,570 | 54% | 2421 | --- |
1.d4 | 946,474 | 55% | 2434 | --- |
1.Nf3 | 281,312 | 56% | 2441 | --- |
1.c4 | 181,937 | 56% | 2442 | --- |
1.g3 | 19,688 | 56% | 2427 | --- |
1.b3 | 14,236 | 54% | 2427 | --- |
1.f4 | 5,886 | 48% | 2377 | --- |
1.Nc3 | 3,796 | 51% | 2384 | --- |
1.b4 | 1,753 | 48% | 2380 | --- |
1.a3 | 1,197 | 54% | 2403 | --- |
1.e3 | 1,068 | 48% | 2408 | --- |
1.d3 | 948 | 50% | 2378 | --- |
1.g4 | 662 | 46% | 2361 | --- |
1.h4 | 446 | 53% | 2374 | --- |
1.c3 | 426 | 51% | 2425 | --- |
1.h3 | 279 | 56% | 2416 | --- |
1.a4 | 108 | 60% | 2468 | --- |
1.f3 | 91 | 47% | 2431 | --- |
1.Nh3 | 89 | 66% | 2508 | --- |
1.Na3 | 42 | 62% | 2482 | --- |
Please, wait...
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 3.Nc3 Bb4 3.g3 3...d5 3...b6 4.Nc3 c6 4...c5 4...Bb4 4...dxc4 4...Be7 5.g3 dxc4 5...Nbd7 6.Bg2 dxc4 6.Bg2 b5 7.Ne5 a6 7...Nd5 8.0-0 f6 9.Ng4 Be7 10.e4 Nb4 11.a4 8.a4 8.Nxc6?! Qb6 9.Ne5 Bb7 8...Bb7 9.0-0 Be7 10.axb5 axb5 11.Rxa8 Bxa8 12.Nxb5 cxb5 13.Bxa8 0-0 14.Bg2 Nd5 15.f4 Bd6 16.e3 16.e4? Nb4 16...Bxe5 17.fxe5 Nc6 18.Qg4 18.Bd2 Qd7 19.Be4= 18...Qd7 19.h4 Ncb4 20.h5 Nd3 20...f5 21.exf6 Nxf6 22.Qh4 h6 21.h6 f5 21...g6 22.exf6 Rxf6? 22...Nxf6 23.hxg7 Rf7 24.Qg5 Ne8= 23.Bxd5 Rxf1+ 23...Rg6 24.Qf3 Rf6 25.Bc6 24.Kxf1 Qf7+ 25.Bf3 Nxc1 26.d5! Nd3 26...exd5 27.Kg2 27.dxe6 Qe7 28.Bd5! Kf8 28...Nb4 29.e4 29.Qxg7+ 29.Qxg7+ Qxg7 30.hxg7+ Kxg7 31.e7 1–0
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Nyzhnyk,I | 2585 | Giri,A | 2717 | 1–0 | 2012 | E04 | European Chess Championship | 2 |
Please, wait...

The hero of round two: 15-year-old GM Illya Nyzhnyk
Second seed Shakhryar Mamedyarov (2752, AZE) drew with the black pieces against
Luka Paichadze of Georgia, 261 points below him on the rating scale. Similarly
Baadur Jobava (2706, GEO), the eighth seed in this event, was unable to score
against Bulgarian GM Petar Drenchev, 207 points below him, and David Navara
(2700, CZE), playing black, shared the point with IM Dalibor Stojanovic of Bosnia-Herzegovian,
229 rating points below him.
The winner of the European U18 championship in Albena 2011, Nils Grandelius
(2545, SWE), beat the more experienced Bartosz Socko (2647, POL), while former
European Champion GM Zdenko Kozul (2602, CRO) defeated the winner of the European
U14 championship in Albena 2011 Ali Marandi Cemil Can (2315, TUR) in less than
2.5 hours. In an interesting game Vladimir Malakhov (2705, RUS) was defeated
by Russian GM Boris Savchenko (2580, RUS). This game has been annotated for
us by GM Ramirez:

1.e4 | 1,165,570 | 54% | 2421 | --- |
1.d4 | 946,474 | 55% | 2434 | --- |
1.Nf3 | 281,312 | 56% | 2441 | --- |
1.c4 | 181,937 | 56% | 2442 | --- |
1.g3 | 19,688 | 56% | 2427 | --- |
1.b3 | 14,236 | 54% | 2427 | --- |
1.f4 | 5,886 | 48% | 2377 | --- |
1.Nc3 | 3,796 | 51% | 2384 | --- |
1.b4 | 1,753 | 48% | 2380 | --- |
1.a3 | 1,197 | 54% | 2403 | --- |
1.e3 | 1,068 | 48% | 2408 | --- |
1.d3 | 948 | 50% | 2378 | --- |
1.g4 | 662 | 46% | 2361 | --- |
1.h4 | 446 | 53% | 2374 | --- |
1.c3 | 426 | 51% | 2425 | --- |
1.h3 | 279 | 56% | 2416 | --- |
1.a4 | 108 | 60% | 2468 | --- |
1.f3 | 91 | 47% | 2431 | --- |
1.Nh3 | 89 | 66% | 2508 | --- |
1.Na3 | 42 | 62% | 2482 | --- |
Please, wait...
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.Qe2 Bd6 5.d3 0-0 6.c3 Re8 7.Nbd2 Bf8 8.Nf1 d6 9.Ba4 9.h3 Nd7 10.Be3 Nb6 11.Ng3 a6 12.Bxc6 bxc6 9...Bd7 10.Bc2 Ne7 11.Ne3 Ng6 12.g3 d5 13.exd5 c6 13...Nf4 14.gxf4 exf4 15.Bd2 Nxd5 16.0-0-0 14.dxc6 Bxc6 15.0-0 Nd5 15...Nf4 16.gxf4 exf4 17.Nd4! 16.Qd1 Ndf4!? 17.gxf4 Nxf4 17...exf4 18.Ng2! Qd5 19.d4 Qxf3 20.Qxf3 Bxf3 21.Nxf4 18.Re1 Re6?! 18...Nh3+ 19.Kf1 Qf6 20.Ng4 Qxf3 21.Qxf3 Bxf3 22.Nxe5 19.Nf5 Rg6+ 20.Ng3 Qd7 21.d4! Qh3 22.Bxf4 exf4 23.Bxg6 hxg6 24.d5 fxg3 25.dxc6 gxf2+ 26.Kxf2 Bc5+ 27.Nd4 Qxh2+ 28.Ke3 bxc6 29.Kd3 Rd8 30.Qe2 1–0
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Savchenko,B | 2580 | Malakhov,V | 2705 | 1–0 | 2012 | C65 | European Chess Championship | 2 |
Please, wait...
Other upsets: Russian FM Kirill Alekseenko, rated 2367, won with the black
pieces against his compatriot, GM Sergey Volkov, rated 2623, i.e. 256 points
below him. And Sarunas Sulskis (2569, LTU) lost against Avital Boruchovsky (2333,
ISR). The Bulgarian champion GM Julian Radulski, 2552, defeated Maxim Rodshtein,
2652, with the black pieces. The young Israeli GM is the second of the World
Championship challenger Boris Gelfand. Top seed Fabiano Caruana beat GM Tamas
Banusz and was one of exactly 40 players with 2.0/2 points.
Round three
Once again attention was focussed on the game of our round two hero Elijah
Nizhnik playing with the black pieces against 26-year-old Ukraine GM Anton Korobova,
2679 and 94 points above the lad. It was a super-sharp game that is certainly
worth study (it will be fully analysed in the next issue of ChessBase Magazine).
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 c6 10.Ba3 cxd5 11.cxd5 Bg4 12.h3 Bxf3 13.Bxf3 Nd7 14.Bc1 f5 15.Bd2 Nf6 16.Rc1 Qd7! 17.Qe2 Rac8 18.Qd3 Rc7 19.Rc2 Rfc8 20.Rfc1 Rc4 21.a3 a6! 22.Be3 b5! 23.Qd1 fxe4 24.Nxe4 Nxe4 25.Rxc4 Rxc4 26.Rxc4 Nxf2! 27.Bxf2 bxc4 28.g4 Qb5 29.Qc2 Nc8 30.h4 Kh8 31.Be2 Nb6 32.h5 Nxd5 33.Bxc4 Qc6 34.Qe4 Nxb4! 35.Qxc6 Nxc6 36.Bxa6 gxh5 37.gxh5 Bh6 38.a4 Nd4 39.Bc4 Bd2 40.h6 Nf5 41.Be6 Nxh6 42.Kf1 Ba5 43.Be1 Bc7 44.a5 Bxa5 45.Bxa5 Kg7 46.Ke2 Kf6 47.Bd5 Nf7 48.Kf3 Ng5+ 49.Kg4 Ne6 50.Ba2 h5+ 51.Kxh5 Kf5 52.Kh4 Nf4 53.Kg3 d5 54.Kf3 d4 55.Bb1+ d3 56.Ke3 e4 57.Ba2 Ng2+ 58.Kd4 Kf4 59.Bd5 d2 60.Bxd2+ e3 61.Ba5 e2 62.Bxg2 Kg3 ½–½
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Korobov,A | 2679 | Nyzhnyk,I | 2585 | ½–½ | 2012 | E97 | 13th EICC | 3 |
Please, wait...
After his round two loss the other youngster, Dutch GM Anish Giri, was unable
to score with the white pieces against IM Dalibor Stojanovic from Bosnia and
Herzegovina, ranked almost 250 points below him. Czech GM David Navarre had
a bad start as well, losing in round three with white against IM Zoran Arsovich
from Serbia, 265 point below him in the Elo rankings. Navara's compatriot Victor
Laznicka, rated 2702, lost with the black pieces against 20-year-old Russian
GM Alexander Shimanov, who is 111 points below him. Other upsets: French GM
Romaine Edward, 2607, lost with black to IM Popilski Gill, 2389, from Israel,
and another French GM, Matthew Cornette, 2545, lost to the young Slovak FM Tamas
Petenyi, rated 2359.
Top rankings after round three
Rk. |
Ti. |
Name |
FED |
Rtng |
Pts. |
1 |
GM |
Vitiugov Nikita |
RUS |
2709 |
3.0 |
2 |
GM |
Savchenko Boris |
RUS |
2580 |
3.0 |
3 |
GM |
Naiditsch Arkadij |
GER |
2702 |
3.0 |
4 |
GM |
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime |
FRA |
2682 |
3.0 |
5 |
GM |
Lenic Luka |
SLO |
2637 |
3.0 |
6 |
GM |
Jones Gawain C B |
ENG |
2635 |
3.0 |
7 |
GM |
Melkumyan Hrant |
ARM |
2628 |
3.0 |
8 |
GM |
Radulski Julian |
BUL |
2552 |
3.0 |
9 |
GM |
Kuzubov Yuriy |
UKR |
2615 |
3.0 |
10 |
GM |
Sjugirov Sanan |
RUS |
2610 |
3.0 |
11 |
GM |
Kulaots Kaido |
EST |
2585 |
3.0 |
12 |
IM |
Azaladze Shota |
GEO |
2419 |
2.5 |
13 |
GM |
Nyzhnyk Illya |
UKR |
2585 |
2.5 |
14 |
GM |
Caruana Fabiano |
ITA |
2767 |
2.5 |
15 |
GM |
Jakovenko Dmitry |
RUS |
2729 |
2.5 |
16 |
GM |
Bacrot Etienne |
FRA |
2706 |
2.5 |
17 |
GM |
Movsesian Sergei |
ARM |
2702 |
2.5 |
18 |
GM |
Dreev Aleksey |
RUS |
2698 |
2.5 |
19 |
GM |
Fressinet Laurent |
FRA |
2693 |
2.5 |
20 |
GM |
Andreikin Dmitry |
RUS |
2689 |
2.5 |
21 |
GM |
Korobov Anton |
UKR |
2679 |
2.5 |
22 |
GM |
Riazantsev Alexander |
RUS |
2710 |
2.5 |
23 |
GM |
Kobalia Mikhail |
RUS |
2666 |
2.5 |
24 |
GM |
Cheparinov Ivan |
BUL |
2664 |
2.5 |
25 |
GM |
Ragger Markus |
AUT |
2654 |
2.5 |
26 |
GM |
Inarkiev Ernesto |
RUS |
2695 |
2.5 |
|
Rk. |
Ti. |
Name |
FED |
Rtng |
Pts. |
27 |
GM |
Timofeev Artyom |
RUS |
2650 |
2.5 |
28 |
GM |
Sokolov Ivan |
NED |
2653 |
2.5 |
29 |
GM |
Esen Baris |
TUR |
2555 |
2.5 |
30 |
GM |
Popov Ivan |
RUS |
2605 |
2.5 |
31 |
GM |
Zhigalko Sergei |
BLR |
2649 |
2.5 |
32 |
GM |
Bologan Viktor |
MDA |
2687 |
2.5 |
33 |
GM |
Berkes Ferenc |
HUN |
2682 |
2.5 |
34 |
GM |
Beliavsky Alexander |
SLO |
2630 |
2.5 |
35 |
GM |
Khairullin Ildar |
RUS |
2626 |
2.5 |
36 |
GM |
Durarbeyli Vasif |
AZE |
2543 |
2.5 |
37 |
GM |
Hracek Zbynek |
CZE |
2627 |
2.5 |
38 |
GM |
Rakhmanov Aleksandr |
RUS |
2602 |
2.5 |
39 |
GM |
Mamedov Rauf |
AZE |
2624 |
2.5 |
40 |
GM |
Guseinov Gadir |
AZE |
2616 |
2.5 |
41 |
GM |
Lysyj Igor |
RUS |
2656 |
2.5 |
42 |
GM |
Parligras Mircea |
ROU |
2614 |
2.5 |
43 |
GM |
Hovhannisyan Robert |
ARM |
2600 |
2.5 |
44 |
GM |
Pap Gyula |
HUN |
2538 |
2.5 |
45 |
GM |
Shimanov Aleksandr |
RUS |
2591 |
2.5 |
46 |
GM |
Stefansson Hannes |
ISL |
2531 |
2.5 |
47 |
GM |
Matlakov Maxim |
RUS |
2632 |
2.5 |
48 |
GM |
Delchev Aleksander |
BUL |
2622 |
2.5 |
49 |
GM |
Lupulescu Constantin |
ROU |
2616 |
2.5 |
50 |
GM |
Brkic Ante |
CRO |
2587 |
2.5 |
51 |
GM |
Kempinski Robert |
POL |
2610 |
2.5 |
52 |
IM |
Dvirnyy Daniyyl |
ITA |
2507 |
2.5 |
|
Remaining schedule + Playchess commentary
After every round there will be special wrap-up commentary on Playchess.
This starts at 20:00h Server time (= CET, = , 23:00h Moscow, 19:00h London,
3 p.m. New York, 12:00 noon California, 03:00h Beijing, 00:30h New Delhi –
you can find the time in your location here).
Commentary is in English.
Day |
Date |
Time |
Program |
Playchess commentary |
Friday |
March 23 |
15:00 |
Round 4 |
Valeri Lilov |
Saturday |
March 24 |
15:00 |
Round 5 |
Lawrence Trent |
Sunday |
March 25 |
15:00 |
Round 6 |
Lawrence Trent |
Monday |
March 26 |
Free Day |
|
Tuesday |
March 27 |
15:00 |
Round 7 |
Sam Collins |
Wednesday |
March 28 |
15:00 |
Round 8 |
Sam Collins |
Thursday |
March 29 |
15:00 |
Round 9 |
Robert Ris |
Friday |
March 30 |
15:00 |
Round 10 |
Robert Ris |
Saturday |
March 31 |
13:00 |
Round 11 |
Valeri Lilov |
Saturday |
March 31 |
20:00 |
Closing |
|
Sunday |
April 01 |
Departure |
|
Links
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