European Team, Crete 2017

**Hugh Brodie** · Saturday, 28th October, 2017, 01:57 AM

Re: European Team, Crete 2017

I wonder why countrirs such as Bulgaria, Sweden, and the Baltic states are missing?

**Wayne Komer** · Saturday, 28th October, 2017, 08:48 PM

Re: European Team, Crete 2017

European Team, Crete 2017

October 28, 2017

I am not sure why Sweden and the Baltic countries did not send teams but the following tells why Bulgaria did not:

From Chessbase:

"It's chaotic": An interview with Kiril Georgiev

by Vera Jürgens

What is going on with chess in Bulgaria? Currently the country has no less than three chess federations but none of them is recognised by the ministry of sports in Bulgaria or FIDE. In an interview with Vera Jürgens the Bulgarian grandmaster and top player Kiril Georgiev gives insights into this mess…

In the last decades chess in Bulgaria has had a lot of success. Unfortunately, from 2011 to 2014 employees and board members of the Bulgarian Chess Federation (BCF) embezzled large amounts of money. In the last three years the BCF has been the target of numerous inspections by the board of control and the department of public prosecution. This embezzlement is well documented, in papers published by various official channels such as the ministry for youth and sport, the European Chess Union and FIDE.

In 2016 the BCF refused to submit the requested documents for this period. The BCF also refused all cooperation and a statement about opening a special account in the U.S. State of Delaware. But it is a fact that the BCF transferred large sums of money to this special account and not to the official bank account of the European Chess Union in Switzerland.

Minister Krasen Kralev asked the BCF to reimburse the missing sum of more than one million euros to the ministry of sports.

This did not happen, and as a result and after an order of the ministry the licence of the Bulgarian Chess Federation was withdrawn on August 10th, 2017. This led to an automatic licence withdrawal by the FIDE — another heavy blow.

Now Bulgarian chessplayers can only play under the flag of FIDE. The Bulgarian Chess Federation re-established itself under the name BSB 1928. Unfortunately, people from the old chess federation and many friends of the former president and executive director are part of the new federation. This chess federation does not really inspire confidence, neither in Bulgaria nor at the ECU or FIDE. Interestingly, many believe that the people who inflicted enormous damage on the Bulgarian players and chess clubs would get a licence for their re-establishment of the BCF.

http://en.chessbase.com/post/it-is-c...kiril-georgiev

**Wayne Komer** · Sunday, 29th October, 2017, 11:54 AM

Re: European Team, Crete 2017

European Team, Crete 2017

October 29, 2017

Round One

Colin McGourty at chess24.com:

Euro Teams 1: Italy shock Azerbaijian

Wins for Sabino Brunello and 17-year-old Luca Moroni saw 22nd seeds Italy pull off a shock victory over 2nd seeds Azerbaijan in Round 1 of the European Team Championship on Crete. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov was rested for that game, with other teams also paying the price for resting their top players as England, Poland and Germany were held to draws. In the women’s section star names such as Valentina Gunina and Nana Dzagnidze lost individual games, but the favourites all won.

Nigel Short lost to Victor Bologan on top board as England were held to a 2:2 draw by Moldova Round 1 of a big Swiss open usually provides very few shocks, but with only four boards and few of the very weak teams that play in Olympiads, the first round of the 2017 European Team Championship was no walk in the park for the favourites:

The teams on Crete consist of five players, with only four able to play each round, and presumably reasoning “if not now, then when? ” almost all of the top teams took the decision to rest their top player in the first round. In some cases that worked out fine. Armenia without Levon Aronian demonstrated the professional “draw with Black”, “win with White” approach.

Daniil Dubov just missed out on a win on his first start for Russia in a major event, but Nikita Vitiugov got the win the team needed against Alexander Beliavsky The Russian team without Alexander Grischuk seemed to have misheard those instructions and almost won with Black and drew with White, though in the end they settled for one win for Nikita Vitiugov over 63-year-old Alexander Beliavsky. Some other teams such as Ukraine without Pavel Eljanov and Hungary without Peter Leko scored comfortable team wins.

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/eur...ck-azerbaijian

Round 1 Results (Open)

No. Team Res. : Res. Team

1 Russia 2½ : 1½ Slovenia
2 Italy 2½ : 1½ Azerbaijan
3 Ukraine 3½ : ½ Austria
4 Moldova 2 : 2 England
5 Israel 2 : 2 Norway
6 Switzerland 1 : 3 Armenia
7 Hungary 3 : 1 Iceland
8 Slovakia 2 : 2 Poland
9 Germany 2 : 2 Greece 2
10 Montenegro 1 : 3 Netherlands
11 Czech Republic 3½ : ½ Denmark
12 Finland ½ : 3½ France
13 Georgia 3 : 1 FYROM
14 Portugal 1½ : 2½ Croatia
15 Spain 3 : 1 Faroe Islands
16 Belgium ½ : 3½ Belarus
17 Serbia 3½ : ½ Albania
18 Kosovo* ½ : 3½ Turkey
19 Greece 1 4 : 0 Greece - Crete
20 Scotland 0 : 4 Romania

Evidently, Nigel Short was upset at his loss vs Victor Bologan. That game and the two Italian wins are given below:

European Team, Crete
Round 1, Oct. 28, 2017
Moldova-England
Bologan, Victor – Short, Nigel
C50 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.d3 a6 6.c3 Ba7 7.a4 d6 8.Be3 O-O 9.Nbd2 Ne7 10.Bxa7 Rxa7 11.a5 Ng6 12.Re1 h6 13.d4 Re8 14.Qb3 Re7 15.dxe5 dxe5 16.Rad1 b5 17.Bf1 Be6 18.c4 c5 19.Qe3 Qxa5 20.cxb5 axb5 21.Qxc5 Rec7 22.Qxb5 Qxb5 23.Bxb5 Rab7 24.Bd3 Rxb2 25.Rc1 Rxc1 26.Rxc1 Nf4 27.Bf1 g5 28.g3 Nh3+ 29.Bxh3 Bxh3 30.Nc4 Ra2 31.Re1 Ng4 32.Nfd2 h5 33.f3 Nf6 34.Kf2 Be6 35.Re2 Nd7 36.Nd6 Nc5 37.N2c4 Ra6 38.Ke3 f6 39.Rb2 Ra4 40.Rb8+ Kh7 41.Rb5 Nd7 42.Rb7 Kg6 43.h4 Nc5 44.Rb5 Bxc4 45.Rxc5 Ra3+ 46.Kf2 Ra2+ 47.Kg1 Be2 48.hxg5 Kxg5 49.Rc7 f5 50.exf5 Bxf3 51.Rg7+ Kf6 52.Rf7+ Kg5 53.Rg7+ Kf6 54.Rg6+ Ke7 55.Re6+ Kd7 56.Nc4 e4 57.Ne5+ Kd8 58.f6 Rg2+ 59.Kf1 e3 60.Nf7+ Kc7 61.Re7+ Kb6 62.Rxe3 Bd5 63.Rd3 h4 64.Rxd5 Rxg3 65.Ne5 h3 66.Rd2 Rg5 67.f7 Rf5+ 68.Kg1 Kc7 69.Rd7+ Kc8 70.Re7 1-0

His bad moves: 48….Kxg5, 56….e4 and 63…h4

Round 1, Oct. 28, 2017
Italy-Azerbaijan
Naiditsch, Arkadij – Brunello, Sabino
C77 Ruy Lopez, Anderssen variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 Be7 7.O-O O-O 8.Re1 Re8 9.Nbd2 Bf8 10.h3 h6 11.d4 b5 12.Bc2 Bb7 13.a3 Nb8 14.b3 Nbd7 15.Bb2 g6 16.a4 c6 17.Bd3 Qc7 18.Qc2 Bg7 19.c4 bxa4 20.c5 axb3 21.Nxb3 d5 22.dxe5 Nxe4 23.Bxe4 dxe4 24.Rxe4 Nf8 25.Na5 Bc8 26.Rd4 Be6 27.Rd6 Bd5 28.Nh2 Rab8 29.Ng4 Ne6 30.Qd2 Nxc5 31.Rc1 Rxb2 32.Qxb2 Qxa5 33.Qc2 Ne6 34.Rb1 Nd4 35.Qd3 Nf5 36.Rd7 Qa4 37.Rdb7 h5 38.R7b4 Qa5 39.Nf6+ Bxf6 40.exf6 Qc7 41.Qxa6 Qd6 42.Qa1 c5 43.Rb6 Qf4 44.Re1 Rxe1+ 45.Qxe1 Qg5 46.g3 Nd4 47.Qe3 Nf3+ 48.Kf1 Qxe3 49.fxe3 Ng5 50.g4 h4 51.Rd6 Be6 52.Kg2 c4 53.Rd4 Kh7 54.Kf1 Kh6 55.Kg2 c3 56.Rd8 c2 0-1

Round 1, Oct. 28, 2017
Italy-Azerbaijan
Guseinov, Gadir – Moroni, Luca Jr
C78 Ruy Lopez, Archangel variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Rb8 8.c3 d6 9.d4 Bb6 10.a5 Ba7 11.h3 O-O 12.Be3 Ra8 13.Nbd2 Re8 14.Re1 h6 15.Qc2 exd4 16.Bxd4 Nxd4 17.cxd4 Bb7 18.e5 Nd5 19.Qe4 dxe5 20.dxe5 Qd7 21.Bc2 g6 22.Qh4 Kg7 23.Rad1 Qe7 24.Qg3 Rad8 25.Bb1 Nb4 26.e6 Qd6 27.Qg4 h5 28.Qh4 Bxf3 29.gxf3 Qe7 30.Qg3 h4 31.Qg4 Rd4 32.Qg2 Qd6 33.Ne4 Qxe6 34.Rxd4 Bxd4 35.Rd1 c5 36.f4 f5 37.Ng5 Qd5 38.Qf3 Qxf3 39.Nxf3 Nc6 40.Kf1 Rd8 41.Ng5 Re8 42.b3 Re7 43.Nf3 Kf6 44.Nxh4 Rd7 45.Nf3 Rd8 46.Ke2 Bc3 47.Rc1 Bb4 48.Rg1 Bxa5 49.h4 Re8+ 50.Kd1 Rd8+ 51.Ke2 Re8+ 52.Kd1 Bc7 53.h5 gxh5 54.Rg5 Ne7 55.Rxh5 Bxf4 56.Bd3 Rd8 57.Ke2 Kg6 58.Rh1 Nc6 59.Bb1 Kf6 60.Rh5 Ne7 61.Bd3 Kg6 62.Rh1 Nc6 63.Bb1 Nd4+ 64.Nxd4 Rxd4 65.Rd1 Rb4 66.Rd5 Rxb3 67.Bxf5+ Kf6 68.Rxc5 Bd6 69.Rd5 Rb2+ 70.Ke3 Bc7 71.Bd3 Ke6 72.Rh5 Bb6+ 73.Ke4 Rb4+ 74.Kf3 Bd4 75.Bf5+ Kd6 76.Rh6+ Ke5 77.Bd3 Ra4 78.Rh5+ Ke6 79.Bf5+ Ke7 80.Rh7+ Kd6 81.Bd3 Ra3 82.Ke4 Bxf2 83.Rh5 Kc6 84.Rh2 Bc5 85.Rh6+ Bd6 86.Kd4 Ra4+ 87.Kc3 Kd5 88.Bh7 Ra3+ 89.Kb2 Rg3 90.Rg6 Re3 91.Rg5+ Be5+ 92.Kc2 Rf3 93.Bd3 Rf2+ 94.Kb3 Rb2+ 95.Ka3 Rd2 96.Bf1 Rf2 97.Bg2+ Kc4 98.Rg4+ Bd4 0-1

**Wayne Komer** · Sunday, 29th October, 2017, 09:36 PM

Re: European Team, Crete 2017

European Team Crete 2017

October 29, 2017

Round Two

Round 2 Results (Open)

No. Team MP Res. : Res. MP Team

1 Armenia 2 2½ : 1½ 2 Greece 1
2 Romania 2 ½ : 3½ 2 Hungary
3 Netherlands 2 2½ : 1½ 2 Ukraine
4 Georgia 2 1½ : 2½ 2 Czech Republic
5 France 2 2 : 2 2 Spain
6 Belarus 2 1½ : 2½ 2 Russia
7 Croatia 2 2½ : 1½ 2 Serbia
8 Turkey 2 1½ : 2½ 2 Italy
9 England 1 3 : 1 1 Norway
10 Moldova 1 1 : 3 1 Israel
11 Poland 1 3 : 1 1 Greece 2
12 Slovakia 1 ½ : 3½ 1 Germany
13 Azerbaijan 0 4 : 0 0 Austria
14 Slovenia 0 2½ : 1½ 0 Denmark
15 Finland 0 1 : 3 0 Portugal
16 Belgium 0 1½ : 2½ 0 Switzerland
17 Iceland 0 2½ : 1½ 0 Albania
18 Kosovo* 0 1 : 3 0 Montenegro
19 FYROM 0 2 : 2 0 Greece - Crete
20 Faroe Islands 0 2 : 2 0 Scotland

FYROM = Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
_________

Peter Doggers at chess.com:

European Teams: Italy Does It Again

In the second round of the European Team Championship, Italy managed to beat a higher rated team. Sabino Brunello decided their match against Turkey. Tied for first place after two rounds, with four match points, are Armenia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, and Russia.

After sitting out the first round, the one 2800 player in the tournament entered the playing hall today: Levon Aronian. He started with an important win vs Ioannis Papaioannou as Armenia scored a narrow 2.5-1.5 win vs Greece.

Yesterday Hungary beat Iceland 3-1 and today the win was even bigger: 3.5-0.5 vs neighbour Romania. On board two Richard Rapport's opening didn't make a great impression, but in the endgame he was just that little bit more effective than his opponent (while having a bishop vs a knight helped too).

With draws on the other boards, Anish Giri became the match winner in the battle between the Netherlands and Ukraine. Pavel Eljanov has been looking a little bit shaky lately, and today he missed the main tactic Giri had been playing for (although by that point his position was pretty bad already).

Georgia's chances rely much on whether their top gun Baadur Jobava is in good shape or not. Today was not a great day for him. In fact it was quite a devastating loss he suffered vs. David Navara, the kind that looks like Master vs Amateur. It was part of a 2.5-1.5 victory for the Czech Republic.

https://www.chess.com/news/view/euro...-does-it-again

The games:

European Team Crete 2017
Round 2, Oct. 29, 2017
Armenia-Greece
Aronian, Levon – Papaloannou Ioannis
A20 English Opening

1.c4 e5 2.g3 c6 3.Nf3 e4 4.Nd4 d5 5.cxd5 Qxd5 6.Nc2 Nf6 7.Nc3 Qh5 8.Ne3 Bc5 9.Qc2 Qe5 10.Bg2 Bxe3 11.fxe3 Bf5 12.b4 O-O 13.Bb2 Nbd7 14.O-O Qe6 15.b5 Bg6 16.Qb3 Nd5 17.Rac1 N7f6 18.Nxd5 Nxd5 19.Rc5 Rfd8 20.bxc6 bxc6 21.Qc4 Rac8 22.Rc1 h5 23.Rxc6 Rxc6 24.Qxc6 Qg4 25.Qb5 h4 26.gxh4 Qxh4 27.Bd4 Kh7 28.Rf1 Qg4 29.Rf2 Qe6 30.Qb1 Nf6 31.Qb3 Qe7 32.Rf1 Ng4 33.h3 Nh6 34.Rf4 Qg5 35.Bc3 Qg3 36.Qb7 Bf5 37.Qe7 Rb8 38.Rf1 f6 39.Bxf6 Qg6 40.Bc3 Rb5 41.Qh4 1-0

Round 2, Oct. 29, 2017
Italy-Turkey
Brunello, Sabino – Yilmaz, Mustafa
D37 QGD, Hastings variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 Nbd7 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Bd3 c5 9.O-O Nxf4 10.exf4 cxd4 11.Ne4 b6 12.Nxd4 Bb7 13.Qe2 Nc5 14.Nxc5 Bxc5 15.Nf3 Qf6 16.Ng5 g6 17.g3 Bd4 18.Be4 Bxe4 19.Nxe4 Qg7 20.Rad1 e5 21.b3 Rfe8 22.f5 Rec8 23.f6 Qh6 24.Kg2 a5 25.a4 Rc6 26.Rd2 Rac8 27.h4 Qh5 28.Qxh5 gxh5 29.Kf3 Rc1 30.Rfd1 Rxd1 31.Rxd1 Rc2 32.g4 Rb2 33.Rd3 Kf8 34.gxh5 Rb1 35.Kg4 Re1 36.Kf5 Rh1 37.Kg5 Re1 38.Ng3 Rg1 39.Kh6 Kg8 40.Nf5 Rg4 41.Rg3 Rxg3 42.fxg3 Bc5 43.Ne7+ Kf8 44.Kxh7 e4 45.Ng6+ Ke8 46.Nf4 Kf8 47.g4 Bf2 48.g5 Bd4 49.Ne2 Be5 50.h6 e3 51.h5 1-0

Round 2, Oct. 29, 2017
Hungary-Romania
Rapport, Richard – Parligras, Mirces-Emilian
E20 Nimzo-Indian, Romanishin-Kasparov System

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.g3 O-O 5.Bg2 d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.a3 Bd6 8.Nxd5 Nxd5 9.Bxd5 Bb4+ 10.axb4 Qxd5 11.f3 Nc6 12.Kf2 Qxd4+ 13.Qxd4 Nxd4 14.Bf4 Nc2 15.Rc1 Nxb4 16.Bxc7 Be6 17.Bd6 Na2 18.Rc7 Rac8 19.Rxb7 Rfd8 20.Bf4 Rc2 21.g4 a5 22.Nh3 Re8 23.Rd1 Bc4 24.Ng1 Bxe2 25.Nxe2 Rcxe2+ 26.Kg3 h6 27.Rdd7 g5 28.Bd2 Rc8 29.h4 Rc2 30.Rd8+ Kg7 31.Rbd7 gxh4+ 32.Kxh4 Rxb2 33.Rd6 Re6 34.f4 Rxd6 35.Rxd6 Rb8 36.f5 a4 37.Ra6 Nb4 38.Bc3+ Kh7 39.Rd6 Na2 40.Bd4 Nc1 41.Kh5 Kg8 42.Rxh6 f6 43.Bxf6 Kf7 44.g5 Rb5 45.Rh7+ Ke8 46.Re7+ Kf8 47.Kg6 Nd3 48.Re4 1-0

Round 2, Oct. 29, 2017
Netherlands-Ukraine
Giri, Anish – Eljanov, Pavel
D28 QGA, Classical

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.O-O a6 7.Qe2 b5 8.Bd3 Nbd7 9.a4 c4 10.Bc2 Bb7 11.e4 Be7 12.Nc3 b4 13.e5 bxc3 14.exf6 Nxf6 15.bxc3 Bxf3 16.Qxf3 Nd5 17.a5 O-O 18.Qh3 f5 19.Re1 Rf6 20.Bg5 Rg6 21.Bxe7 Nxe7 22.Qf3 Nd5 23.Re5 Rf6 24.g3 Rb8 25.Bd1 Qc8 26.h4 Rb5 27.Kh2 h6 28.Ba4 Rb8 29.Rae1 Kh8 30.Kg2 Ra8 31.Kg1 Rb8 32.Kh2 Ra8 33.Bc2 Qd7 34.Rxe6 Rxe6 35.Qxf5 g6 36.Qxe6 Qxe6 37.Rxe6 Nxc3 38.Rxg6 1-0

Round 2, Oct. 29, 2017
Georgia-Czech Republic
Jobava, Baadur – Navara, David
B50 Sicilian, Kopec System

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 Nf6 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.Bc2 Bg4 6.d3 e6 7.h3 Bh5 8.Bf4 d5 9.g4 Bg6 10.Nbd2 Bd6 11.e5 Bc7 12.Qe2 Nd7 13.O-O-O b5 14.d4 Bxc2 15.Kxc2 c4 16.b3 b4 17.bxc4 bxc3 18.Kxc3 Rb8 19.Nb3 Nb6 20.c5 Nc4 21.Bc1 Qc8 22.a3 Qa6 23.Qa2 O-O 24.Nfd2 Ba5+ 25.Kc2 Bxd2 26.Bxd2 Qa4 27.Kc3 Nxd2 28.Nxd2 Qxd4+ 29.Kc2 Nxe5 30.Nb3 Qc4+ 31.Kb2 a5 32.Rhe1 a4 0-1

This game is singled out for the amazing Black exchange sacrifice on move 28…Rd5!

Round 2, Oct. 29, 2017
Spain-France
Salgado Lopez, Ivan – Gharamian, Tigran
B12 Caro-Kann

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 e6 5.Nf3 Bxc5 6.a3 Ne7 7.b4 Bb6 8.Bb2 a5 9.b5 a4 10.Be2 Nd7 11.O-O O-O 12.c4 Nc5 13.Nc3 dxc4 14.Qc2 Ng6 15.Rad1 Qe7 16.Ne4 Nxe4 17.Qxe4 Bc5 18.h4 Re8 19.h5 Nf8 20.h6 Bxa3 21.Bxa3 Qxa3 22.hxg7 Kxg7 23.Nh2 Qc5 24.Ng4 Ng6 25.Rd4 a3 26.Rxc4 Qf8 27.Ra1 Rd8 28.Nf6 Rd5 29.Nxd5 exd5 30.Qxd5 Be6 31.Qxb7 Bxc4 32.Bxc4 Nxe5 33.Be2 Qd8 34.Qe4 f6 35.b6 Rb8 36.Rxa3 Qxb6 37.Rg3+ Kh8 38.Qf4 Rg8 39.Rxg8+ 1/2-1/2

White to play his 29th move

**Wayne Komer** · Tuesday, 31st October, 2017, 11:16 PM

Re: European Team, Crete 2017

European Team Crete 2017

October 31, 2017

Rounds Three and Four

Round Three

Round 3 Results (Open) Oct. 30, 2017

No. Team MP Res. : Res. MP Team

1 Hungary 4 2 : 2 4 Netherlands
2 Czech Republic 4 1½ : 2½ 4 Russia
3 Croatia 4 2 : 2 4 Armenia
4 Italy 4 ½ : 3½ 3 Germany
5 Israel 3 3 : 1 3 France
6 Poland 3 2½ : 1½ 3 England
7 Spain 3 2 : 2 2 Azerbaijan
8 Greece 1 2 1 : 3 2 Romania
9 Ukraine 2 3½ : ½ 2 Portugal
10 Slovenia 2 1 : 3 2 Belarus
11 Serbia 2 3½ : ½ 2 Montenegro
12 Switzerland 2 1 : 3 2 Turkey
13 Iceland 2 ½ : 3½ 2 Georgia
14 Norway 1 3 : 1 1 Faroe Islands
15 Greece 2 1 2 : 2 1 Slovakia
16 Greece - Crete 1 1 : 3 1 Moldova
17 Scotland 1 2½ : 1½ 1 FYROM
18 Albania 0 2½ : 1½ 0 Kosovo*
19 Denmark 0 1½ : 2½ 0 Finland
20 Austria 0 3 : 1 0 Belgium

Russia stayed in first place with a win over the Czech Republic. That is the third match won by a single game for the Russians. A rather thin margin. History tells us that he who lives by the (something), dies by the (something). I forget the actual word at the moment but I am sure everyone will agree to the truth of the adage.

Cinderella Italy went down to Germany. Mickey Adams lost to Radoslaw Wojtaszek and so Poland beat England and Azerbaijan tied Spain and Ukraine walked over Portugal. Turkey’s team beat Switzerland.

The Nepomniachtchi miniature:

European Team Crete 2017
Round 3, Oct. 30, 2017
Czech Republic-Russia, Board 2
Nepomniachtchi, Ian – Laznicka Viktor
B12 Caro-Kann, Advance variation

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 c5 6.Be3 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Ne7 8.O-O Nbc6 9.Bb5 a6 10.Bxc6+ bxc6 11.c4 Qd7 12.Nc3 dxc4 13.Na4 Nd5 14.Nxf5 exf5 15.Rc1 c3 16.Qc2 Be7 17.Nxc3 Nxe3 18.fxe3 Bg5 19.Rce1 g6 20.g4 fxg4 21.Ne4 Be7 22.Rd1 Qc8 23.e6 fxe6 24.Qc3 Rf8 25.Rxf8+ Bxf8 26.Qh8 1-0

Round 3, Oct. 30, 2017
Poland-England, Board 1
Wojtaszek, Radoslaw – Adams, Michael
E05 Catalan, open, Classical line

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 O-O 6.O-O dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Qxc4 Bc6 10.Bf4 Bd6 11.Qc1 Nbd7 12.Nc3 Qe7 13.a5 h6 14.Re1 Bxf3 15.Bxf3 Bxf4 16.Qxf4 c6 17.Red1 Rfe8 18.Qe3 Rad8 19.Bg2 Nd5 20.Qc1 N7f6 21.Na4 e5 22.e3 exd4 23.Rxd4 Nc7 24.Rxd8 Rxd8 25.Qc5 Qd7 26.Qb4 Nb5 27.Nc5 Qc7 28.Qf4 Qe7 29.Rc1 Nc7 30.Qb4 Nb5 31.Nxa6 Qxb4 32.Nxb4 Rd2 33.Rc2 Rd1+ 34.Bf1 Nd5 35.Nxd5 Rxd5 36.a6 bxa6 37.Rxc6 a5 38.Rc8+ Kh7 39.Bc4 Rd1+ 40.Kg2 Nd6 41.Rd8 f5 42.Be2 Rd2 43.Kf1 Ne4 44.Rxd2 Nxd2+ 45.Ke1 Nb3 46.Bd3 g6 47.Bc2 Nc5 48.Kd2 Nd7 49.Kc3 Ne5 50.Bd1 Kg7 51.f4 Nc6 52.Kc4 Nb4 53.Kb5 Nd5 54.Kxa5 Nxe3 55.Bf3 1-0

Round Four

Round 4 Results (Open) Oct. 31, 2017

No. Team MP Res. : Res. MP Team

1 Russia 6 1½ : 2½ 5 Hungary
2 Germany 5 2 : 2 5 Poland
3 Israel 5 1½ : 2½ 5 Croatia
4 Armenia 5 2½ : 1½ 5 Netherlands
5 Turkey 4 2½ : 1½ 4 Ukraine
6 Czech Republic 4 2 : 2 4 Serbia
7 England 3 2 : 2 4 Italy
8 Romania 4 2 : 2 4 Georgia
9 Belarus 4 3 : 1 4 Spain
10 Azerbaijan 3 4 : 0 3 Moldova
11 France 3 3 : 1 3 Norway
12 Greece 1 2 3 : 1 3 Scotland
13 Montenegro 2 ½ : 3½ 2 Slovenia
14 Greece 2 2 2½ : 1½ 2 Albania
15 Portugal 2 1 : 3 2 Iceland
16 Finland 2 2½ : 1½ 2 Switzerland
17 FYROM 1 3 : 1 1 Faroe Islands
18 Austria 2 2 : 2 2 Slovakia
19 Greece - Crete 1 ½ : 3½ 0 Denmark
20 Kosovo* 0 2½ : 1½ 0 Belgium

Nepo went down to Viktor Erdos of Hungary and now Hungary, Armenia and Croatia are ahead of five countries, including Russia, on match points.

Armenia moved to shared first place thanks to a 2.5-1.5 win over the Netherlands.

(chess.com) - Croatia has beaten Portugal and Serbia, drawn with Armenia and today, upset Israel. Turkey surprisingly defeated Ukraine. The top three boards in this match ended in draws, and it was 19-year-old Vahap Sanal, who became a grandmaster last year, who beat the strong Yuriy Kuzubov with the black pieces.

England drew with Italy. On Board 3 GM Danyyil Dvirnyy beat David Howell. If I had to guess the nationality of Dvirnyy, it would not be Italian! Actually he was born in St. Petersburg in 1990 and at the age of 13 moved with his family to Italy.

The games:

Round 4, Oct. 31, 2017
Turkey-Ukraine, Board 4
Kuzubov, Yuriy – Sanal, Vahap
E18 Queen’s Indian, old main line

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.O-O O-O 7.Nc3 Ne4 8.Bd2 Nxd2 9.Qxd2 d6 10.Qc2 g6 11.b4 Bf6 12.Rfd1 Bg7 13.e3 Qe7 14.a4 c5 15.dxc5 dxc5 16.b5 a5 17.Rac1 Nd7 18.Ne1 Bxg2 19.Kxg2 Ne5 20.Qe2 f5 21.Nb1 g5 22.Nd2 g4 23.Nd3 Nxd3 24.Qxd3 h5 25.h4 Rad8 26.Qe2 Rd6 27.Nf1 Rfd8 28.Kg1 Qd7 29.Re1 e5 30.f3 e4 31.f4 Rd3 32.Qa2 Bc3 33.Re2 Kf7 34.Kf2 Qd6 35.Qb1 Qe6 36.Qa2 Qf6 37.Qb1 Bb4 38.Rcc2 R8d7 39.Rc1 Ba3 40.Rce1 R7d6 41.Ra2 Ke7 42.Ke2 Rc3 43.Rc2 Rdd3 44.Rd1 Rb3 45.Qa2 Bb4 46.Qa1 Ra3 47.Ra2 Qxa1 48.Raxa1 Rxd1 49.Rxa3 Re1+ 50.Kf2 Rc1 51.Ra2 Rxc4 52.Ke2 Rc1 0-1

Round 4, Oct. 31, 2017
England-Italy, Board 4
Howell, David – Dvirnyy, Danyyll
B12 Caro-Kann, Advance variation

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 h5 5.Bd3 Bxd3 6.Qxd3 Qa5+ 7.Nd2 Qa6 8.e6 Qxd3 9.exf7+ Kxf7 10.cxd3 Nh6 11.Ndf3 Nd7 12.Nh3 Nf5 13.Nhg5+ Kg8 14.Ne6 g6 15.O-O Bg7 16.Nxg7 Kxg7 17.Bd2 a5 18.Rfe1 Rhe8 19.Rac1 e6 20.Re2 Kf6 21.g3 Rac8 22.Rce1 b6 23.Bg5+ Kf7 24.Bd2 Kf6 25.Bc3 Rc7 26.Kg2 Rcc8 27.Kh3 Nh6 28.a4 Nf5 29.b3 Rc7 30.Bb2 b5 31.Bc3 b4 32.Bb2 Ng7 33.Ng5 Nf8 34.Bc1 Nf5 35.Bf4 Rcc8 36.f3 Ke7 37.Be5 Nd7 38.g4 Nxe5 39.gxf5 Nxd3 40.Rxe6+ Kd7 41.Rxe8 Rxe8 42.Rxe8 Kxe8 43.fxg6 Nf4+ 44.Kg3 Nxg6 45.Ne6 Kf7 46.Nd8+ Kf6 47.Nxc6 Ne7 48.Nxa5 Nf5+ 49.Kf4 Nxd4 50.Nb7 Nxb3 51.a5 Nd4 52.a6 b3 53.a7 b2 54.a8=Q Ne6+ 55.Kg3 b1=Q 56.Qh8+ Ke7 57.Kh2 Qf5 58.Qc3 Qf4+ 59.Kh3 d4 60.Qa3+ Kd7 61.Na5 Qf5+ 62.Kg3 Qe5+ 63.Kg2 Qe2+ 64.Kg3 Qe1+ 65.Kh2 Qxh4+ 66.Kg1 Qe1+ 67.Kh2 Qe5+ 68.Kh1 Qb5 69.Qa2 Qf1+ 70.Kh2 Qxf3 71.Nc4 Ke7 72.Qa6 Qf4+ 73.Kh1 h4 74.Qb7+ Kf6 75.Qc8 Qe4+ 76.Kh2 d3 77.Qh8+ Ke7 78.Qc3 Qf4+ 79.Kh1 Qf3+ 80.Kh2 Qf2+ 81.Kh1 h3 82.Qa3+ Kf6 83.Qa1+ Nd4 84.Qa6+ Kg5 85.Qa5+ Kg4 86.Ne3+ Qxe3 87.Qh5+ Kxh5 0-1

Standings after Round Four

1-3 Hungary, Croatia, Armenia 7
4-8 Russia, Germany, Poland, Belarus, Turkey 6
9-16 Israel, Netherlands, Georgia, Czech Rep., Italy, Azerbaijan, Serbia, France, Romania 5

**Wayne Komer** · Wednesday, 1st November, 2017, 10:27 PM

Re: European Team, Crete 2017

European Team Crete 2017

November 1, 2017

Round Five

The biggest news is that with his victory over David Navara (along with his other wins in this tourney) Mamedyarov is now World No. 2 in the Live Ratings (2801.5).

European Team Crete 2017
Round 5, Nov. 1, 2017
Azerbaijan-Czech Republic, Board 1
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar – Navara, David
D28 QGA, Classical

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e3 Nf6 4.Bxc4 e6 5.Nf3 c5 6.O-O a6 7.Qe2 b5 8.Bd3 cxd4 9.Rd1 Be7 10.a4 bxa4 11.Rxa4 dxe3 12.Bxe3 Nbd7 13.Nc3 O-O 14.Bg5 Bb7 15.Rd4 Bxf3 16.Qxf3 Ne5 17.Qe3 Qb8 18.Bf4 Neg4 19.Qe2 e5 20.Bg3 h5 21.Nd5 Re8 22.h3 h4 23.Nxf6+ Bxf6 24.Qe4 g6 25.Bc4 Kg7 26.Rd7 Re7 27.Bxh4 Bxh4 28.Qxg4 Bf6 29.R7d6 Rc7 30.Qf3 Bh4 31.Rd7 Rxd7 32.Rxd7 Qb4 33.Qxf7+ Kh6 34.Qh7+ Kg5 35.f4+ Kf5 36.Qf7+ Ke4 37.Qxg6+ 1-0

The Azeris 3, the Czechs 1.

(Peter Doggers) - Going into tomorrow's rest day, Croatia is the surprising sole leader at the European Team Championship in Greece. The team defeated Germany and saw co-leaders Armenia and Hungary play 2-2.

It's not the first country you would expect to see as the sole leader after five rounds, but Croatia it is. In their five matches, the 14th seeded team only lost one individual game, and especially Marin Bosiocic is doing great with 3.5/4.

The 29-year-old player from Rijeka, who happens to have a chess-themed birthday (8-8-'88!), scored the decisive point in the match with Germany today. That game, and also the match (since the other games had ended in draws already) saw a dramatic turnaround as Matthias Bluebaum was close to winning out of the opening (an exchange up!) but then completely blew it.

Just before the time control he chose the wrong square for his king and suddenly, to avoid mate, he had to give a full rook. What a disaster! With two pawns for the piece there was some hope for a draw, and indeed at some point Bosiocic let it slip, but Bluebaum failed to spot it. Double disaster.

https://www.chess.com/news/view/croa...m-championship

Round 5, Nov. 1, 2017
Croatia-Germany, Board 2
Bluebaum, Matthias – Bosiocic, Marin
E15 Queen’s Indian, Nimzowitsch variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Nc3 d5 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Bg2 O-O 10.O-O Re8 11.Qc2 Nbd7 12.Ne5 Bb7 13.Rad1 h6 14.Nb5 c5 15.Bf4 Nf8 16.dxc5 Bxc5 17.Nd3 Ba6 18.Nc7 Rc8 19.b4 Bd4 20.Qa4 Bc4 21.Nxe8 Qxe8 22.Qxe8 Rxe8 23.Nc1 Ne6 24.Bd2 b5 25.Rfe1 Ne4 26.Bxe4 dxe4 27.Nb3 Be5 28.Rc1 f5 29.Bc3 Bc7 30.Nd4 f4 31.Nxe6 Rxe6 32.Bd4 a6 33.Rc2 e3 34.gxf4 Rg6+ 35.Kf1 Be6 36.fxe3 Bd8 37.e4 Bh3+ 38.Kf2 Bh4+ 39.Kf3 Bg2+ 40.Ke3 Bxe1 41.a3 Re6 42.Rc8+ Kf7 43.Rc7+ Ke8 44.e5 g6 45.Kd3 Rc6 46.Rh7 Rc1 47.Rxh6 Rd1+ 48.Ke3 Rb1 49.f5 gxf5 50.Bc5 Rb3+ 51.Kf4 Rh3 52.Rxa6 Be4 53.e6 Rxh2 54.Ra7 Rh6 55.Re7+ Kd8 56.Rd7+ Ke8 57.Re7+ Kd8 58.Rd7+ Kc8 59.Rd1 Bc3 60.e7 Rh8 61.Bd6 Bf6 62.Rc1+ Kd7 63.Rd1 Rh4+ 64.Ke3 Rh3+ 65.Kf4 Bxe7 66.Bxe7+ Kxe7 67.Ra1 Kd6 68.a4 bxa4 69.Rxa4 Kc6 0-1

Russia is now among the teams trailing Croatia by a point. They didn’t have any problems with Turkey today and Alexander Grischuk got his first win, after three draws. It was his 34th birthday yesterday.

Round 5, Nov. 1, 2017
Russia-Turkey, Board 1
Grischuk, Alexander – Solak, Dragan
B13 Caro-Kann, Exchange variation

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Bb5 e6 6.O-O Bd6 7.Re1 Ne7 8.Bd3 Ng6 9.c4 dxc4 10.Bxc4 O-O 11.Nc3 b6 12.Bg5 Be7 13.Bxe7 Ncxe7 14.d5 exd5 15.Nxd5 Nc6 16.Qa4 Na5 17.Rad1 Nxc4 18.Qxc4 Be6 19.Qe4 Bxd5 20.Rxd5 Qc7 21.g3 Rad8 22.Nd4 Rxd5 23.Qxd5 Rd8 24.Qc6 Qd7 25.Qxd7 Rxd7 26.Re8+ Nf8 27.Nc6 f6 28.b4 Kf7 29.Ra8 Ne6 30.a4 a5 31.bxa5 bxa5 32.Rxa5 Nd4 33.Ra7 Rxa7 34.Nxa7 Ke6 35.f4 g5 36.fxg5 fxg5 37.Kf2 h5 38.Nb5 Nb3 39.Ke3 Ke5 40.Na3 Na5 41.Kd3 Kd5 42.Nc2 Nb3 43.Ne3+ Kc5 44.Nf5 Kd5 45.Ke3 Na5 46.Kd3 Nb3 47.Kc3 Nc5 48.a5 Na6 49.Kd3 Nb4+ 50.Ke3 Ke5 51.Nd4 Kd5 52.Nf3 g4 53.Nd4 Ke5 54.Ne2 Nd5+ 55.Kd3 Nb4+ 56.Kc4 Nc6 57.a6 Kd6 58.Nf4 Ne5+ 59.Kd4 h4 60.gxh4 Nf3+ 61.Ke4 Kc6 62.h5 Nxh2 63.h6 Nf3 64.Kf5 g3 65.h7 Nd4+ 66.Kf6 1-0

Romania managed to pull off an upset vs The Netherlands, despite a beautiful win for Anish Giri on board one, which included a long-term queen sacrifice

Round 5, Nov. 1, 2017
Netherlands-Romania, Board 1
Giri, Anish – Lupulescu, Constatin
A37 English, symmetrical variation

1.c4 c5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.O-O e5 7.a3 a5 8.d3 Nge7 9.Bd2 O-O 10.Rb1 Be6 11.Ng5 Bc8 12.Nb5 f5 13.Nf3 h6 14.b4 axb4 15.axb4 b6 16.Ne1 Be6 17.Nc2 Rb8 18.Nc3 Kh8 19.bxc5 bxc5 20.Rxb8 Qxb8 21.Na3 Qa7 22.Nab5 Qd7 23.Qa4 Rb8 24.Qa6 Qd8 25.Bxc6 Rb6 26.Qa8 Rb8 27.Ra1 Rxa8 28.Rxa8 Bc8 29.Bg2 Kh7 30.Nd5 Nc6 31.h4 e4 32.dxe4 Qd7 33.Nb6 Qb7 34.Rxc8 Qxb6 35.exf5 Nd4 36.fxg6+ Kxg6 37.Be4+ Kf7 38.Rc7+ Kg8 39.Ra7 d5 40.Bxd5+ Kh7 41.Be4+ Kg8 42.Ra8+ Kf7 43.Bd5+ Kg6 44.Re8 Bf6 45.h5+ Kh7 46.Nxd4 cxd4 47.Bf4 Bg5 48.Re6 Qb1+ 49.Kg2 Qd1 50.Bxg5 hxg5 51.h6 1-0

Round 5 Results (Open)

No. Team MP Res. : Res. MP Team

1 Hungary 7 2 : 2 7 Armenia
2 Croatia 7 2½ : 1½ 6 Germany
3 Poland 6 3 : 1 6 Belarus
4 Russia 6 3½ : ½ 6 Turkey
5 Azerbaijan 5 3 : 1 5 Czech Republic
6 Serbia 5 1½ : 2½ 5 France
7 Georgia 5 1½ : 2½ 5 Israel
8 Netherlands 5 1½ : 2½ 5 Romania
9 Italy 5 ½ : 3½ 4 Ukraine
10 Spain 4 2½ : 1½ 4 Greece 1
11 England 4 2½ : 1½ 4 Greece 2
12 Slovenia 4 2½ : 1½ 4 Iceland
13 Norway 3 1½ : 2½ 4 Finland
14 Slovakia 3 2 : 2 3 FYROM
15 Moldova 3 1½ : 2½ 3 Austria
16 Denmark 2 3 : 1 3 Scotland
17 Albania 2 0 : 4 2 Switzerland
18 Portugal 2 3 : 1 2 Kosovo*
19 Faroe Islands 1 2½ : 1½ 2 Montenegro
20 Belgium 0 1½ : 2½ 1 Greece – Crete

Rank after Round 5

Rk. FED Team TB1

1 CRO Croatia 9
2 HUN Hungary 8
3 RUS Russia 8
4 ARM Armenia 8
5 POL Poland 8
6 ISR Israel 7
7 AZE Azerbaijan 7
8 FRA France 7
9 ROU Romania 7
10 GER Germany 6
11 BLR Belarus 6
12 UKR Ukraine 6
13 ESP Spain 6
14 ENG England 6
15 TUR Turkey 6
16 SLO Slovenia 6
17 FIN Finland 6
18 NED Netherlands 5
19 ITA Italy 5
20 GEO Georgia 5
21 CZE Czech Republic 5
22 SRB Serbia 5
23 AUT Austria 5
24 GRE Greece 1 4
25 POR Portugal 4
26 GRE Greece 2 4
27 SVK Slovakia 4
28 ISL Iceland 4
29 SUI Switzerland 4
30 DEN Denmark 4
31 MKD FYROM 4

**Wayne Komer** · Friday, 3rd November, 2017, 03:53 PM

Re: European Team, Crete 2017

European Team Crete 2017

November 3, 2017

Round Six

The biggest game was between Aronian (Live Rating No. 3) and Mamedyarov (L.R. No. 2). After the game, Aronian was No. 2 again and Mamedyarov, No. 4.

European Team Crete 2017
Round 6, Nov. 3
Armenia-Azerbaijan, Board 1
Aronian, Levon – Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
A37 English, symmetrical variation

1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 d6 6.O-O e6 7.e3 Nge7 8.d4 O-O 9.Re1 Nf5 10.d5 exd5 11.Nxd5 Nfe7 12.Nh4 Ne5 13.Qc2 Nxd5 14.Bxd5 Be6 15.Rd1 Qd7 16.Rb1 b5 17.Bxa8 Rxa8 18.f4 Nxc4 19.b3 Nb6 20.Bb2 Bxb2 21.Rxb2 Re8 22.e4 Qc6 23.f5 Bc8 24.Qd3 c4 25.Qxd6 Qxe4 26.Rf2 gxf5 27.Ng2 Qe5 28.Qh6 Qe6 29.Qg5+ Qg6 30.Qh4 Kg7 31.Nf4 Qg4 32.Nh5+ Kh6 33.Qxg4 fxg4 34.Nf6 Re5 35.bxc4 bxc4 36.Rf4 Re2 37.Nxg4+ Kg7 38.Nf6 Re5 39.Rd8 Bf5 40.Nh5+ Kh6 41.Rg8 Bg6 42.Nf6 Re1+ 43.Kf2 Ra1 44.h4 1-0

In spite of this loss, the final result was Armenia-Azerbaijan 1.5-2.5. In other top matches Hungary-Croatia 3.5-0.5, Poland-Russia 1.5-2.5, Romania-Israel 2-2, Ukraine-France 2.5-1.5 and Germany-Turkey 2-2.

England tied with Belarus today and on second board, Nigel Short beat Kovalev. There was some comment about his blunder in Round 5, which I give without comment with today’s game.

Round 5, Nov. 1, 2017
England-Greece2, Board 2
Kelires, Andreas – Short, Nigel
A63 Benoni, Fianchetto variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Bg2 Bg7 8.Nf3 O-O 9.O-O Nbd7 10.h3 a6 11.a4 Rb8 12.Bf4 Qc7 13.Rc1 Re8 14.Qd2 b5 15.axb5 axb5 16.b4 Ba6 17.Bh6 Bh8 18.Qf4 Qb6 19.Ng5 Re7 20.Nce4 Nxd5 21.Qh4 Bb7 22.Rfd1 Rbe8 23.bxc5 dxc5 24.Nxc5 Nxc5 25.Bxd5 Bxd5 26.Rxd5 Nb3 27.Rcd1 Rxe2 28.Qf4 f6 29.Rd7 Nc5 30.Qf3 R2e5 31.R1d6 Rf5 32.Rxb6 Rxf3 33.Re7 1-0

Position after White’s 30th move, Qf3

Round 6, Nov. 3, 2017
Belarus-England, Board 2
Short, Nigel – Kovalev, Vladislav
C92 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Flohr-Zaitsev System

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 O-O 9.h3 Bb7 10.d4 Re8 11.Nbd2 exd4 12.cxd4 Nd7 13.Nf1 Na5 14.Bc2 Bf6 15.Bf4 Nf8 16.Ng3 Ne6 17.Bc1 g6 18.Rb1 c5 19.d5 Nd4 20.b3 b4 21.Nxd4 Bxd4 22.Be3 Bxe3 23.Rxe3 Qh4 24.Qd2 Bc8 25.Rf1 Qf4 26.Ne2 Qf6 27.f4 Qb2 28.f5 Bd7 29.f6 Kh8 30.Rg3 Rg8 31.Rf2 Rae8 32.Kh2 Qxa2 33.Ng1 Qb2 34.Nf3 Re5 35.Rg5 Rxg5 36.Qxg5 Nxb3 37.Qh6 g5 38.e5 1-0

Other games of interest:

Round 6, Nov. 3, 2017
Netherlands-Czech Republic, Board 1
Giri, Anish – Navara, David
D76 neo-Grunfeld

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.c4 Bg7 5.d4 O-O 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.O-O Nb6 8.Nc3 Nc6 9.d5 Na5 10.e4 c6 11.Bf4 Nac4 12.b3 Bxc3 13.bxc4 Bxa1 14.Qxa1 Nxc4 15.Bh6 f6 16.Bxf8 Qxf8 17.dxc6 bxc6 18.Rc1 Be6 19.Bf1 Nd6 20.Rxc6 Rc8 21.Rxc8 Qxc8 22.e5 Nf7 23.exf6 exf6 24.h4 Kg7 25.Ng5 Nxg5 26.hxg5 Qd8 27.Qb2 Kf7 28.gxf6 Qxf6 29.Qb7+ Qe7 30.Qf3+ Kg8 31.Qa8+ Kg7 32.Qe4 Qd7 33.Qe5+ Kf7 34.Qf4+ Kg8 35.a4 a5 36.Bc4 Bxc4 37.Qxc4+ Qf7 38.Qc8+ Qf8 39.Qe6+ Qf7 40.Qc8+ Qf8 41.Qc4+ Qf7 42.Qc8+ 1/2-1/2

Round 6, Nov. 3, 2017
Georgia-Italy, Board 1
Jobava, Baadur – Brunello, Sabino
A01 Nimzowitsch-Larsen Attack, Indian variation

1.b3 Nf6 2.Bb2 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.g3 O-O 5.Bg2 c5 6.Nf3 d6 7.d4 Nc6 8.d5 Na5 9.Nfd2 a6 10.a4 e6 11.Na3 exd5 12.cxd5 Bd7 13.Ra2 b5 14.O-O bxa4 15.bxa4 Rb8 16.Bc3 Ng4 17.Bxg7 Kxg7 18.Qa1+ Nf6 19.Rb1 Rxb1+ 20.Naxb1 Kg8 21.e4 Ng4 22.Qc3 f5 23.h3 Nf6 24.exf5 Bxf5 25.Rb2 Nd7 26.Bf1 Nf6 27.Bg2 Nd7 28.Na3 Ne5 29.Bf1 Qf6 30.Qxa5 Bxh3 31.f4 Ng4 32.Bxh3 Qd4+ 33.Kh1 Qxd5+ 34.Bg2 Qh5+ 35.Kg1 Qh2+ 36.Kf1 Qxg3 37.Bd5+ Kh8 38.Ke2 Qe3+ 39.Kd1 Qxa3 40.Kc1 Qe3 41.Rb3 Qe1+ 42.Kb2 Rxf4 43.Qd8+ Kg7 44.Nf3 Qe2+ 45.Ka3 Nf6 46.Ng5 Kh6 47.Nf7+ Kh5 48.Rh3+ Kg4 49.Qc8+ Rf5 50.Bf3+ Qxf3+ 51.Rxf3 Kxf3 52.Nxd6 1-0

Results of Round 6 (Open)

No. Team MP Res. : Res. MP Team

1 Hungary 8 3½ : ½ 9 Croatia
2 Poland 8 1½ : 2½ 8 Russia
3 Armenia 8 1½ : 2½ 7 Azerbaijan
4 Romania 7 2 : 2 7 Israel
5 Ukraine 6 2½ : 1½ 7 France
6 Germany 6 2 : 2 6 Turkey
7 Belarus 6 2 : 2 6 England
8 Spain 6 2 : 2 6 Slovenia
9 Finland 6 2 : 2 5 Serbia
10 Georgia 5 3 : 1 5 Italy
11 Netherlands 5 2½ : 1½ 5 Czech Republic
12 Austria 5 1 : 3 4 Greece 1
13 Switzerland 4 2 : 2 4 Greece 2
14 Denmark 4 2½ : 1½ 4 Portugal
15 Iceland 4 2½ : 1½ 4 FYROM
16 Norway 3 3 : 1 4 Slovakia
17 Faroe Islands 3 1½ : 2½ 3 Moldova
18 Scotland 3 1 : 3 2 Montenegro
19 Greece - Crete 3 2½ : 1½ 2 Kosovo*
20 Albania 2 1 : 3 0 Belgium

Round 7 Pairings

No. Team MP : MP Team

1 Azerbaijan 9 : 10 Hungary
2 Croatia 9 : 10 Russia
3 Ukraine 8 : 8 Romania
4 Israel 8 : 8 Poland
5 Germany 7 : 8 Armenia
6 Turkey 7 : 7 Georgia
7 Belarus 7 : 7 Netherlands
8 France 7 : 7 Slovenia
9 England 7 : 7 Spain
10 Greece 1 6 : 7 Finland
11 Serbia 6 : 6 Denmark
12 Czech Republic 5 : 6 Iceland
13 Moldova 5 : 5 Switzerland
14 Italy 5 : 5 Norway
15 Greece 2 5 : 5 Greece - Crete
16 FYROM 4 : 5 Austria
17 Slovakia 4 : 4 Portugal
18 Montenegro 4 : 2 Belgium
19 Kosovo* 2 : 3 Faroe Islands
20 Scotland 3 : 2 Albania

**Wayne Komer** · Saturday, 4th November, 2017, 01:17 PM

Re: European Team, Crete 2017

European Team Crete 2017

November 4, 2017

Round Six (continued)

Two positions from Round Six

Evidently, in the broadcast, Jan Gustafsson came across this position and was perplexed as to how the two white pawns had got to b7 and d7 with the black pawns on b5 and d5!

Position after 48.h5 in Nepo vs Duda

The game:

European Team Crete
Round 6, Nov. 3
Russia-Poland, Board 2
Nepomniachtchi, Ian – Duda, Jan-Krzysztof
C10 French, Fort Knox variation

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd7 5.Nf3 Bc6 6.Bd3 Nd7 7.O-O Ngf6 8.Ng3 g6 9.b3 Bg7 10.Ba3 Bf8 11.Bb2 Bg7 12.c4 O-O 13.b4 Bxf3 14.Qxf3 c6 15.a4 Qc7 16.a5 a6 17.Rfe1 Rfe8 18.Qe2 Rad8 19.Rad1 Re7 20.Bb1 Nf8 21.Qf3 Ne8 22.Ne4 Red7 23.Nc5 Re7 24.Qe2 Nd7 25.Nb3 Ndf6 26.Bc1 Red7 27.g3 Bf8 28.Bf4 Qc8 29.Bd2 Bg7 30.Bc3 Re7 31.Qf3 Qc7 32.Bd2 Nh5 33.Bg5 Nhf6 34.Nc5 h6 35.Bf4 Qc8 36.h4 Nh7 37.Be5 Nef6 38.Na4 Qd7 39.Nb6 Qe8 40.c5 Qf8 41.Bd6 Rxd6 42.cxd6 Re8 43.b5 axb5 44.a6 Nd5 45.Nxd5 cxd5 46.d7 Rd8 47.axb7 Nf6 48.h5 Qd6 49.hxg6 Qxd7 50.gxf7+ Kxf7 51.Qd3 Rb8 52.Qg6+ Kf8 53.Bd3 Rxb7 54.Ra1 Qf7 55.Ra8+ Ke7 56.Ra6 Qxg6 57.Bxg6 Ne4 58.Bxe4 dxe4 59.Rxe4 Kf7 60.Rexe6 Bxd4 61.Red6 Bc5 62.Rxh6 Bd4 63.Rad6 Kg7 64.Rh5 Bc3 65.Rhd5 b4 66.Rd7+ Rxd7 67.Rxd7+ Kf6 68.Rd3 Ke5 69.Kf1 Bd4 70.Ke2 Kd5 71.Kd2 Kc4 72.Rxd4+ 1-0

________

From:

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/eur...t-armenia-lose

In Armenia-Azerbaijan, the game Mamedov-Melkumyan, developed into a thriller. At first it looked as though Mamedov was going to win as convincingly as Radjabov, but he missed a trick around move 58:

Perhaps only the tension of the situation, and the lack of time on the clock, could explain why Mamedov didn’t push back the black king here with 58.Ra7+!, but instead played 58.h6+ first. That might still have been winning, but a few moves later it was a draw, and all Hrant Melkumyan had to do was hold on. That was easier said than done, though, and a mistake came on move 86 in a position where we know the incontrovertible truth thanks to our tablebase friends:

Black to move

Move Value

Rh7-f7 Draw
Rh7-e7 Draw
Rh7-h8 Draw
Rh7-a7 Lose in 22
Kg6-h5 Lose in 20
Kg6-f7 Lose in 12
Rh7-g7 Lose in 8
Rh7-c7 Lose in 8
Rh7-b7 Lose in 8
Rh7xh6 Lose in 8
Rh7-d7 Lose in 7

Melkumyan had three drawing rook moves, but chose a fourth, 86…Ra7?, and after 87.Rd7! there was no longer any way to stop Rg7+ and pushing the h-pawn. When that had happened on move 92, Hrant resigned, and Azerbaijan had won the match 2.5:1.5.

**Wayne Komer** · Saturday, 4th November, 2017, 10:28 PM

Re: European Team, Crete 2017

European Team Crete 2017

November 4, 2017

Round Seven

One of the ladies in the Women’s Team Championship has a toy squirrel as a personal mascot. It sits on the table watching the Spanish team play. Jan Gustafsson said that he dislikes what grey squirrels are doing to his garden and he has read that black squirrels have a genetic mutation that allows them to be more aggressive and he would like to get one as a pet to hunt down the grey ones.

He and Fiona Steil-Antoni have been broadcasting the rounds of the tournaments for chess24.

She asks where one could get one and Jan says that they live mainly in North America. He was unclear as to how one picks one up.

Russia is leading the Women’s with 13 Match Points, followed by Georgia with 12 and Poland and Turkey with 10 each.

In the Open, Azerbaijan beat Hungary 3-1 and Russia beat Croatia by the same score, and the two winners will meet in the penultimate round tomorrow.

Knowledgeable readers will know that Graham Greene wrote a short story entitled “When Greek Meets Greek”. The story of is basically of two men, each trying to con the other and each believing that he is being successful at it when in reality, they are both being conned. It is a story of when like meets like.

Well Greek did meet Greek today in Round 7 and it was a drawn match at 2-2. I hesitate to call it a Mexican Standoff because that would be mixing my nationalities allusions.

The surprise of the round might be Armenia falling to Germany 1.5-2.5. The Netherlands beat Belarus 3-1 and Anish Giri came in to talk to Jan and analyze for a bit. Jan asked him the difference between the Netherlands and Nederlands and between the Netherlands and Holland. The official name of the country is the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Holland actually only means the two provinces of Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland. Don’t even ask where Belgium comes in to all this.

The Results of Round Seven (Open)

No. Team MP Res. : Res. MP Team

1 Azerbaijan 9 3 : 1 10 Hungary
2 Croatia 9 1 : 3 10 Russia
3 Ukraine 8 2½ : 1½ 8 Romania
4 Israel 8 2½ : 1½ 8 Poland
5 Germany 7 2½ : 1½ 8 Armenia
6 Turkey 7 2½ : 1½ 7 Georgia
7 Belarus 7 1 : 3 7 Netherlands
8 France 7 2½ : 1½ 7 Slovenia
9 England 7 2 : 2 7 Spain
10 Greece 1 6 3 : 1 7 Finland
11 Serbia 6 3 : 1 6 Denmark
12 Czech Republic 5 2½ : 1½ 6 Iceland
13 Moldova 5 2 : 2 5 Switzerland
14 Italy 5 3 : 1 5 Norway
15 Greece 2 5 2 : 2 5 Greece - Crete
16 FYROM 4 ½ : 3½ 5 Austria
17 Slovakia 4 3½ : ½ 4 Portugal
18 Montenegro 4 2 : 2 2 Belgium
19 Kosovo* 2 ½ : 3½ 3 Faroe Islands
20 Scotland 3 ½ : 3½ 2 Albania

A selection of Round Seven games

European Team Crete 2017
Round 7, Nov. 4, 2017
Azerbaijan-Hungary, Board 3
Naiditsch, Arkadij – Rapport, Richard
B42 Sicilian, Kan, Swiss cheese variation

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 g6 6.Nd2 Bg7 7.N2f3 d6 8.O-O Nd7 9.b3 Ne7 10.Ba3 Qc7 11.Qd2 O-O 12.Rad1 Nc5 13.c4 e5 14.Ne2 Bg4 15.Ne1 f5 16.h3 Bh5 17.Bb1 Bh6 18.Qxd6 Qxd6 19.Rxd6 Bxe2 20.Bxc5 Rfc8 21.Ba3 Bf8 22.Rb6 Rc7 23.Bxe7 Bxe7 24.exf5 gxf5 25.Bxf5 Rf8 26.Be6+ Kh8 27.b4 e4 28.Bd5 Bh4 29.f3 Bf6 30.Nc2 exf3 31.Rxf3 Bxc4 32.Bxc4 Rxc4 33.Rbxf6 Rxf6 34.Rxf6 Rxc2 35.a4 Rc4 36.Rb6 a5 37.bxa5 Rxa4 38.Rb5 Ra2 39.Kh2 Ra3 40.h4 h6 41.Rb6 1-0

Round 7, Nov. 4, 2017
Croatia-Russia, Board 4
Dubov-Daniil – Jankovic, Alojzije
D20 QGA

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 e5 4.Nf3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Bxd2+ 6.Nbxd2 exd4 7.Bxc4 Nc6 8.O-O Nge7 9.Nb3 d3 10.Bxd3 Bg4 11.h3 Bh5 12.Be2 Qxd1 13.Rfxd1 Bg6 14.Nc5 b6 15.Na6 O-O 16.Nxc7 Rad8 17.e5 Bc2 18.Rxd8 Rxd8 19.Rc1 Bd3 20.Bxd3 Rxd3 21.e6 f6 22.Kf1 Rd6 23.a3 Kf8 24.b4 Ng6 25.g3 Nge5 26.Nxe5 fxe5 27.Ke2 Ke7 28.Ke3 a5 29.b5 Nd8 30.Ke4 Rd2 31.f4 exf4 32.gxf4 g6 33.Nd5+ Kxe6 34.Nxb6 Rb2 35.a4 Rb4+ 36.Rc4 Kd6 37.Rxb4 axb4 38.Kd4 Ne6+ 39.Kc4 Nxf4 40.Kxb4 g5 41.a5 Kc7 42.Nc4 Nd3+ 43.Kc3 Nf4 44.Kd4 h5 45.a6 Ne6+ 46.Kd5 Nf4+ 47.Ke5 Nd3+ 48.Kd4 Nb4 49.b6+ Kb8 50.a7+ Ka8 51.Kc5 Nd3+ 52.Kc6 Nb4+ 53.Kb5 g4 54.Kxb4 gxh3 55.Nd6 h2 56.Ne8 h1=Q 57.Nc7+ Kb7 58.a8=Q+ 1-0

Round 7, Nov. 4, 2017
Belarus-Netherlands, Board 1
Zhigalko, Sergei – Giri, Anish
C78 Ruy Lopez, Moeller Defence

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Bc5 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 h6 9.Re1 O-O 10.Nbd2 Ne7 11.a4 b4 12.d4 bxc3 13.bxc3 exd4 14.cxd4 Bb4 15.Re3 Ng6 16.h3 a5 17.Qc2 Nf4 18.Nf1 Be6 19.d5 Bd7 20.Bb2 Bc5 21.Bd4 Bxd4 22.Nxd4 Rb8 23.Nc6 Bxc6 24.dxc6 Qe7 25.Rae1 Qe5 26.Nd2 Rfe8 27.Nf3 Qc5 28.Qxc5 dxc5 29.e5 N6d5 30.Bxd5 Nxd5 31.Rd3 Nf4 32.Rc3 Red8 33.g3 Ne6 34.Rc2 Rb4 35.Ra1 Rd3 36.Ne1 Rd5 37.Rca2 c4 38.Nc2 Rb3 39.Ne3 Rc5 40.Rd1 c3 41.Kg2 Rxc6 42.Rc2 Rb2 43.Rxb2 cxb2 44.Rb1 Rb6 45.Nd1 Rb4 46.Rxb2 Rxa4 47.f4 Rb4 48.Ra2 a4 49.Nc3 Nc5 50.Nd5 Rb3 51.Rc2 Ne4 52.Rc4 Rb2+ 53.Kg1 a3 54.Rxe4 a2 55.Ra4 c5 56.Ra8+ Kh7 57.f5 Rb1+ 58.Kf2 a1=Q 59.Rxa1 Rxa1 60.e6 fxe6 61.fxe6 Kg8 62.h4 Rd1 63.Nb6 Kf8 64.Nd7+ Rxd7 65.exd7 Ke7 0-1

Round 8 Pairings (Open)

No. Team MP : MP Team

1 Russia 12 : 11 Azerbaijan
2 Hungary 10 : 10 Ukraine
3 Israel 10 : 9 Germany
4 Netherlands 9 : 9 Turkey
5 France 9 : 9 Croatia
6 Romania 8 : 8 Serbia
7 Greece 1 8 : 8 England
8 Armenia 8 : 8 Poland
9 Georgia 7 : 8 Spain
10 Austria 7 : 7 Belarus
11 Czech Republic 7 : 7 Italy
12 Slovenia 7 : 7 Finland
13 Switzerland 6 : 6 Iceland
14 Denmark 6 : 6 Greece 2
15 Moldova 6 : 6 Slovakia
16 Greece - Crete 6 : 5 Faroe Islands
17 Norway 5 : 5 Montenegro
18 Belgium 3 : 4 FYROM
19 Portugal 4 : 4 Albania
20 Kosovo* 2 : 3 Scotland

**Wayne Komer** · Sunday, 5th November, 2017, 01:56 PM

Re: European Team, Crete 2017

European Team Crete 2017

November 5, 2017

Round Eight

The images of the Azerbaijan-Russia match are a real study. Grischuk lost, face buried in his hands, Nepomniachtchi just blundered, can’t look at his board, Matlakov stern, holding his own against Naiditsch, Dubov probably lost, scanning his board.

These are the four games:

European Team Crete 2017
Round 8, Nov. 5
Azerbaijan-Russia, Board 1
Grischuk, Alexander – Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
C72 Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defence

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.O-O Bd7 6.Re1 g5 7.Bxc6 bxc6 8.d4 g4 9.Nfd2 exd4 10.Nb3 Ne7 11.Nxd4 Bg7 12.Nc3 O-O 13.Bg5 f6 14.Be3 Qe8 15.Qd3 Qf7 16.Qd2 Qg6 17.Bf4 h5 18.b4 h4 19.a4 Qh5 20.Be3 h3 21.Nce2 hxg2 22.Nf4 Qh7 23.Nfe6 Bxe6 24.Nxe6 Ng6 25.Nxf8 Rxf8 26.Bf4 f5 27.exf5 Nh4 28.Ra3 Qxf5 29.Bg5 Nf3+ 30.Rxf3 gxf3 31.Bh6 Qd5 32.Qc1 Bc3 33.Re3 Bd4 34.Rd3 Re8 35.c3 Bxf2+ 36.Kxf2 Re2+ 0-1

Round 8, Nov. 5
Azerbaijan-Russia, Board 2
Radjabov, Teimour – Nepomniachtchi, Ian
A30 English, symmetrical

1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.e3 Nf6 5.d4 cxd4 6.exd4 d5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Qb3 e6 9.Bb5 Bg7 10.Bxc6+ bxc6 11.O-O O-O 12.Na4 Qd6 13.Re1 Rb8 14.Qd3 c5 15.Nxc5 Nb4 16.Qc3 Bb7 17.a3 Nd5 18.Qd3 Ba8 19.b4 Rbc8 20.Ne5 Ne7 21.Bb2 Nf5 22.Rad1 Rfd8 23.Qe2 Qe7 24.Ne4 Qh4 25.f3 Rd5 26.a4 h6 27.b5 Qd8 28.Rc1 Rxc1 29.Rxc1 Nxd4 30.Bxd4 Rxd4 31.Nc6 Bxc6 32.bxc6 Be5 33.Qc2 Qc7 34.g3 Rb4 35.Kh1 Kg7 36.Qd1 Bd4 37.Nd6 Kh7 38.Nb5 Rxb5 39.axb5 e5 40.Qb3 Kg7 41.Qd5 Be3 42.Rd1 Qb8 43.Re1 Bd4 44.f4 1-0

Position in Radjabov-Nepo after 36…Bd4?

Round 8, Nov. 5
Azerbaijan-Russia, Board 3
Matlakov, Maxim – Naiditsch, Arcadia
E04 Catalan, open

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 a6 6.O-O Nc6 7.e3 Rb8 8.Nfd2 e5 9.Bxc6+ bxc6 10.dxe5 Ng4 11.Nxc4 Be6 12.Nbd2 h5 13.f3 Rb4 14.fxg4 Bxc4 15.Nxc4 Qxd1 16.Rxd1 Rxc4 17.Bd2 Rxg4 18.Rac1 Rh6 19.Ba5 Be7 20.Bxc7 Rb4 21.Rc2 Re6 22.Kg2 Rb7 23.Ba5 Rxe5 24.Bc3 Rg5 25.e4 h4 26.Kf3 hxg3 27.hxg3 f5 28.Re1 Kf7 29.Bd2 fxe4+ 30.Rxe4 Rf5+ 31.Kg2 Rd7 32.Be3 c5 33.g4 Rf6 34.Rec4 Rg6 35.Rf4+ Rf6 36.Rfc4 Rg6 37.Rf2+ Rf6 38.b3 Rd3 39.Rxf6+ gxf6 40.Kf3 Ke6 41.Ke4 Rd5 42.Ra4 Re5+ 43.Kf3 Kd5 44.Rxa6 f5 45.g5 Re4 46.Bf4 Re1 47.Bg3 Re4 48.g6 Rg4 49.Bf4 c4 50.bxc4+ Kxc4 51.a4 Bc5 52.Be5 Kd5 53.Bb2 Kc4 54.a5 Bb4 55.g7 Bc3 56.Bxc3 Kxc3 57.Ra7 1-0

Round 8, Nov. 5
Azerbaijan-Russia, Board 4
Mamedov, Rauf – Dubov, Daniil
B31 Sicilian, Nimzowitsch-Rossolimo Attack, Modern line

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.O-O Bg7 5.Re1 Nf6 6.e5 Nd5 7.Nc3 Nc7 8.Bxc6 dxc6 9.Ne4 b6 10.Nf6+ Kf8 11.Ne4 Bg4 12.d3 Bxe5 13.Nxe5 Bxd1 14.Bh6+ Kg8 15.Nxc6 Bxc2 16.Nxc5 bxc5 17.Nxd8 Rxd8 18.Rxe7 Ne6 19.Re1 Ba4 20.Rxa7 Bc6 21.h4 Ra8 22.Rxe6 fxe6 23.Rc7 Rd8 24.Rxc6 Kf7 25.Rc7+ Ke8 26.Bg5 Rb8 27.Re7+ Kf8 28.Bf6 Ra8 29.a3 h5 30.Rc7 Rg8 31.f4 Ke8 32.Kf2 Rb8 33.Be5 Rb3 34.Ke3 Kd8 35.Rxc5 Rb7 36.Bc3 Ra7 37.Bb4 Kd7 38.Rg5 Kc6 39.Ke4 Rf7 40.Rc5+ Kb6 41.Re5 Re8 42.Ba5+ Kc6 43.Bc3 Rf5 44.g3 Kd7 45.Ra5 Rxa5 46.Bxa5 Ra8 47.Bb4 Rc8 48.Bc3 Ra8 49.Ke5 Ra6 50.Kf6 Rd6 51.Kxg6 Rxd3 52.Kxh5 Rxg3 53.a4 Kc6 54.Be5 Rg1 55.Kh6 Ra1 56.h5 Rxa4 57.Kg6 Ra1 58.Bf6 Kd5 1-0

People are saying good things about Rauf. He recently joined the 2700 club. He has 7.5/8 in this tourney.

Peter Doggers: This guy is getting strong lately! He showed amazing opening preparation (another reminder that he is working with Alexander Khalifman!) as well as good technique:

(To be continued)

**Wayne Komer** · Sunday, 5th November, 2017, 04:49 PM

Re: European Team, Crete 2017

European Team Crete 2017

November 5, 2017

Round Eight (continued)

What move did Salgado play here?

Position after 33…Qd5

The game:

Round 8, Nov. 5, 2017
Georgia-Spain, Board 2
Salgado, Lopez, Ivan – Mchedlishvili, Mikheil
B08 Pirc, Classical System

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be2 O-O 6.O-O e6 7.Re1 Nc6 8.h3 a6 9.a4 b6 10.Bg5 h6 11.Be3 Bb7 12.Qd2 Kh7 13.Bf1 Nb4 14.Bf4 e5 15.Bh2 exd4 16.Nxd4 c5 17.Nf3 Re8 18.Rad1 Bxe4 19.Nxe4 Nxe4 20.Qc1 d5 21.c3 Nc6 22.Bc4 Nf6 23.Rxe8 Qxe8 24.Bxd5 Nxd5 25.Rxd5 Rd8 26.Qd1 Qe7 27.Rxd8 Nxd8 28.Qd3 a5 29.Qb5 Qb7 30.Bg3 Ne6 31.Qe8 Bf6 32.Ne5 Kg7 33.Nd7 Qd5 34.Qg8+ 1-0

A mate on the board

Round 8, Nov. 5
Kosovo-Scotland, Board 4
Grant, Jonathan – Sadiku, Bedri
A26 English, Botvinnik System

1.c4 g6 2.Nc3 Bg7 3.g3 Nc6 4.Bg2 d6 5.d3 e5 6.e4 Nh6 7.Nge2 O-O 8.h4 f6 9.f3 Be6 10.Be3 Ne7 11.Qb3 b6 12.d4 c5 13.dxe5 dxe5 14.Rd1 Qc8 15.Nd5 Nc6 16.Nec3 Kh8 17.Qc2 Nd4 18.Qd2 Ng8 19.O-O Qd7 20.Rb1 Rac8 21.b3 Bh3 22.Bxh3 Qxh3 23.Qg2 Qd7 24.Kh2 Ne7 25.Nxe7 Qxe7 26.Nd5 Qd6 27.Qd2 f5 28.exf5 gxf5 29.Kg2 Rce8 30.Rbe1 Rg8 31.Bxd4 cxd4 32.Qg5 Rgf8 33.g4 e4 34.fxe4 fxe4 35.Rxf8+ Qxf8 36.Rf1 Qd6 37.Rf7 Qg6 38.Qf4 e3 39.Ne7 Qc2+ 40.Kh3 e2 41.Rxg7 Kxg7 42.Qg5+ Kf7 43.Nf5 Qc3+ 44.Kh2 e1=Q 45.Nh6+ Ke6 46.Qd5+ Ke7 47.Qb7+ Kd6 48.Nf7+ Kc5 49.Qd5+ Kb4 50.Qd6+ Ka5 51.Qa3# 1-0

Round 8, Nov. 5
Hungary-Ukraine, Board 4
Kravtsiv, Martyn – Almasi, Zoltan
C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.O-O Qd6 7.c3 Bg4 8.Nbd2 Nd7 9.h3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 a5 11.Nc4 Qe6 12.Be3 O-O 13.Qg3 f6 14.f4 exf4 15.Rxf4 Rf7 16.Rf5 b5 17.Nd2 Bd6 18.Qe1 a4 19.Qe2 Re7 20.c4 g6 21.Rff1 a3 22.b3 f5 23.Bg5 Ree8 24.Rae1 Qe5 25.Nf3 Qg3 26.Kh1 Ne5 27.Bh4 Qf4 28.g3 Qh6 29.exf5 gxf5 30.Nd4 f4 31.Rxf4 Qg6 32.Re4 bxc4 33.dxc4 Rf8 34.c5 1-0

Jan and Fiona addressed a topic that has come up at least twice before in various chess24 tournament broadcasts – who is the tallest grandmaster?

This was occasioned by the game Szabo-Indjic (Romania-Serbia). Jan said that Aleksandar Indjic is well over two metres tall. They added to the list Kramnik at 193 cm and Peter Heine Nielsen at 199 cm.

Finally, the German GM Sebastian Siebrecht. One always has to check anything one posts to ChessTalk but would his bio mention his height?

I worried needlessly – this from Wikipedia:

Sebastian Siebrecht was born in Herdecke on April 16, 1973. At the age of three, he moved with his parents to Essen. He started playing chess because he watched his father and brother playing and was interested, whereby he started playing his father. He also cites a friend in school, who was interested in chess, whom he played blindfold chess with during mathematics lessons. Being a very tall man (2.02m), he made the basketball team in his school, playing for the regional (NRW) U17 section. He studied law at the Ruhr-University Bochum.

Two metres is roughly 6 feet, 5 inches
_________

Round Eight Results (Open)

No. Team MP Res. : Res. MP Team
1 Russia 12 1 : 3 11 Azerbaijan
2 Hungary 10 1½ : 2½ 10 Ukraine
3 Israel 10 1 : 3 9 Germany
4 Netherlands 9 1½ : 2½ 9 Turkey
5 France 9 1½ : 2½ 9 Croatia
6 Romania 8 2½ : 1½ 8 Serbia
7 Greece 1 8 1½ : 2½ 8 England
8 Armenia 8 2 : 2 8 Poland
9 Georgia 7 ½ : 3½ 8 Spain
10 Austria 7 ½ : 3½ 7 Belarus
11 Czech Republic 7 2 : 2 7 Italy
12 Slovenia 7 3½ : ½ 7 Finland
13 Switzerland 6 2½ : 1½ 6 Iceland
14 Denmark 6 1½ : 2½ 6 Greece 2
15 Moldova 6 1½ : 2½ 6 Slovakia
16 Greece - Crete 6 2 : 2 5 Faroe Islands
17 Norway 5 3 : 1 5 Montenegro
18 Belgium 3 ½ : 3½ 4 FYROM
19 Portugal 4 2½ : 1½ 4 Albania
20 Kosovo* 2 1½ : 2½ 3 Scotland

Final (Round 9) Pairings (Open)

No. Team MP : MP Team

1 Azerbaijan 13 : 12 Ukraine
2 Germany 11 : 12 Russia
3 Turkey 11 : 11 Croatia
4 England 10 : 10 Hungary
5 Spain 10 : 10 Romania
6 Belarus 9 : 10 Israel
7 Slovenia 9 : 9 Netherlands
8 Poland 9 : 9 France
9 Serbia 8 : 9 Armenia
10 Slovakia 8 : 8 Greece 1
11 Greece 2 8 : 8 Czech Republic
12 Italy 8 : 8 Switzerland
13 Finland 7 : 7 Georgia
14 Greece - Crete 7 : 7 Norway
15 Austria 7 : 6 Denmark
16 FYROM 6 : 6 Portugal
17 Iceland 6 : 6 Faroe Islands
18 Albania 4 : 5 Montenegro
19 Scotland 5 : 3 Belgium
20 Kosovo* 2 : 6 Moldova

**Wayne Komer** · Monday, 6th November, 2017, 03:24 PM

Re: European Team, Crete 2017

European Team Crete 2017

November 6, 2017

Round Nine

Nigel Short joins Jan. He says that he got the day off by pleading old age to Malcolm Pein. They look at the England-Hungary contest. The English have only lost one match but have not won very many either; otherwise they would be in first place.
Jan asks how the English football team is doing and Nigel says that he stopped watching English football when they lost to Iceland.

The state of English chess is discussed. Nigel says that in the British Chess Magazine in January of 1991, Dr. John Nunn wrote an article called “The Decline of British Chess” and he explained the reasons for it. It was very simple and logical. In order to thrive as a chess nation, you have to have professional players. In order to have professional players you need to have tournaments and if you don’t have enough tournaments then basically you are stuffed! He wrote at the time when England was getting medals in the 80s. John said we don’t have enough events and it is inevitable that countries like France will overtake England. He was right. That is the issue, that we don’t have enough events. Junior chess has some tourneys but the players don’t participate in international events. Without young players you are left with older players like Nigel and Mickey Adams. Chess is a young man’s game. Gawain Jones and David Howell are younger but it is still an issue. There are not a lot of juniors knocking at the door.

They talk about the Pirc Defence. Jan says that it gives White too many options and too much space. Nigel said that in the 70s they were encouraged to use the Pirc (mainly through the Batsford books) but White has dozens of ways to get a slight advantage. It doesn’t lose by force but it is not particularly good.

The players in Azeri chess were doing well a few years ago but they have recently got quite strong. Nigel says that they have had training camps before big events recently and better coaching. They have improved.

Where is Nigel going next? He is going into the hospital next for minor surgery. He does a lot of simultaneous exhibitions. He was in southern Africa in September – Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique. Kirsan offered to make him head of development of women’s chess in Africa and he accepted because he knew it was complete nonsense and the half a million dollar budget promised, never came through. He just wanted to take it so Kirsan would not say that Nigel torpedoed the project by not accepting it.

He has been to 113 countries of the 197 countries in the U.N. He is going to Kirgizstan for an exhibition once he has recovered and then to the London Classic. He also has a strange tournament in China in December – mixed doubles – four Chinese ladies and four foreign dudes. Karpov, MVL and Wesley So will be there too.

An interesting interview. I wonder if what Nigel said about English chess development is applicable to Canadian chess?
_________

The top match between Azerbaijan and Ukraine was drawn. Chucky is in China, playing in their team championship! Russia stands a chance of winning the gold medal if they can pile up the score against Germany.

Alexander Grischuk comes in. None of the players from the top teams are available for interviews until the last round. Alexander thinks that if they beat Germany 3-1, they will get the gold. At the moment they are half a point behind on the tie-break with Azerbaijan.

About the games yesterday: Boris Gelfand advised Dubov of an opening which led to a solid draw, but it wasn’t. In his game with Mamedyarov, Sasha’s opponent played brilliantly and even the computer couldn’t find a good line for him after. That game reminded him of his early encounters with Gary Kasparov when he couldn’t even think how to draw them.

He is going to play Caruana in St. Louis in two days time. He has been invited to Wijk aan Zee but declined. Because of the weather and the small prizes.
________

With all games finished in the Open, the result is that Azerbaijan wins the gold, Russia the silver and there is a tie for the bronze between Ukraine and Croatia but Ukraine takes the medal on the tie-break.

In the Women’s Section – Russia is gold, Georgia is silver and Ukraine is bronze.

Final Ranking after 9 Rounds (Open)

Rk. FED Team Games + = - TB1 TB2 TB3 TB4 TB5

1 AZE Azerbaijan 9 6 2 1 14 230 25 174 136.25
2 RUS Russia 9 7 0 2 14 217.5 22 185.5 138
3 UKR Ukraine 9 6 1 2 13 210 23 172 120
4 CRO Croatia 9 6 1 2 13 170 18.5 177 123
5 HUN Hungary 9 5 2 2 12 233 22.5 184 116.5
6 ISR Israel 9 5 2 2 12 172 20 173.5 114.5
7 ROU Romania 9 5 2 2 12 166.5 20.5 175.5 110.5
8 GER Germany 9 4 3 2 11 208.5 21 171 102
9 NED Netherlands 9 5 1 3 11 180.5 20 179.5 109.25
10 POL Poland 9 4 3 2 11 180 20.5 173.5 102.5
11 TUR Turkey 9 5 1 3 11 170 19.5 168.5 101
12 ARM Armenia 9 3 4 2 10 179 19 186 99
13 ESP Spain 9 3 4 2 10 162.5 19.5 175 94
14 CZE Czech Republic 9 4 2 3 10 152 19 174.5 89
15 ITA Italy 9 4 2 3 10 150.5 16.5 181 99.5
16 ENG England 9 3 4 2 10 147.5 18 171.5 92
17 SVK Slovakia 9 3 4 2 10 126.5 18 162 86.75
18 BLR Belarus 9 4 1 4 9 169.5 20 170 78.5
19 GEO Georgia 9 4 1 4 9 160.5 19 165.5 77.25
20 FRA France 9 4 1 4 9 154 18.5 174 82.25
21 SLO Slovenia 9 4 1 4 9 149 19.5 165 74.75
22 SRB Serbia 9 3 3 3 9 147.5 20.5 154.5 71
23 NOR Norway 9 4 1 4 9 135.5 18.5 149.5 72.5
24 AUT Austria 9 4 1 4 9 102 15.5 173 76
25 GRE Greece 1 9 4 0 5 8 148 20 149 54
26 GRE Greece 2 9 2 4 3 8 128 17 156.5 63.75
27 ISL Iceland 9 4 0 5 8 119 18 157 59
28 MKD FYROM 9 3 2 4 8 116 18.5 138.5 59.25
29 MDA Moldova 9 3 2 4 8 112.5 17 153 56.5
30 SUI Switzerland 9 3 2 4 8 111 18 148 62
31 FIN Finland 9 3 1 5 7 106 14 164.5 63.25
32 MNE Montenegro 9 3 1 5 7 79 16.5 141.5 41
33 GRE Greece - Crete 9 2 3 4 7 76.5 13.5 147.5 50.5
34 DEN Denmark 9 3 0 6 6 103 16.5 144 38.5
35 POR Portugal 9 3 0 6 6 83 14 149 36.5
36 FAI Faroe Islands 9 2 2 5 6 80.5 14.5 143 39.25
37 BEL Belgium 9 2 1 6 5 83.5 15 135.5 31.25
38 SCO Scotland 9 2 1 6 5 57.5 11 144 36.25
39 ALB Albania 9 2 0 7 4 60 12 140.5 21.5
40 KOS Kosovo* 9 1 0 8 2 56 10.5 133 15

(Round 9 results and games in next post)

**Wayne Komer** · Monday, 6th November, 2017, 04:07 PM

Re: European Team, Crete 2017

European Team Crete 2017

November 6, 2017

Round Nine (continued)

Round 9 Results (Open)

No. Team MP Res. : Res. MP Team

1 Azerbaijan 13 2 : 2 12 Ukraine
2 Germany 11 1 : 3 12 Russia
3 Turkey 11 1½ : 2½ 11 Croatia
4 England 10 ½ : 3½ 10 Hungary
5 Spain 10 1½ : 2½ 10 Romania
6 Belarus 9 1½ : 2½ 10 Israel
7 Slovenia 9 1½ : 2½ 9 Netherlands
8 Poland 9 3 : 1 9 France
9 Serbia 8 2 : 2 9 Armenia
10 Slovakia 8 2½ : 1½ 8 Greece 1
11 Greece 2 8 1½ : 2½ 8 Czech Republic
12 Italy 8 2½ : 1½ 8 Switzerland
13 Finland 7 1½ : 2½ 7 Georgia
14 Greece - Crete 7 1 : 3 7 Norway
15 Austria 7 2½ : 1½ 6 Denmark
16 FYROM 6 3½ : ½ 6 Portugal
17 Iceland 6 4 : 0 6 Faroe Islands
18 Albania 4 0 : 4 5 Montenegro
19 Scotland 5 ½ : 3½ 3 Belgium
20 Kosovo* 2 ½ : 3½ 6 Moldova

Week in Chess - Top individual performers were Rauf Mamedov with 8/9 (2920), Marin Bosiocic 6/8 (2824), Nikita Vitiugov 6/8 (2817) and Levon Aronian 4.5/7 (2810). Johan-Sebastian Christiansen scored 6/9 for Norway and a GM norm.

Round 9 games
Round 9, Nov. 6, 2017
Germany-Russia, Board 2
Nepomniachtchi, Ian – Meier, Georg
C10 French, Rubinstein

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Nxf6+ Nxf6 7.g3 b6 8.Bb5+ Bd7 9.a4 a6 10.Be2 Bc6 11.O-O Be7 12.Ne5 Bb7 13.c4 Nd7 14.Bf3 Bxf3 15.Qxf3 Nxe5 16.dxe5 O-O 17.Rd1 Qe8 18.Be3 Bb4 19.h4 h6 20.Rd4 Bc5 21.Rg4 Bxe3 22.Qxe3 Kh8 23.c5 Qc6 24.cxb6 Qxb6 25.Qc3 Rfd8 26.Rc4 Rd7 27.Rc1 Rb8 28.b4 Kg8 29.h5 Qb7 30.Kh2 Qd5 31.Qe3 Qd2 32.Qxd2 Rxd2 33.Rf4 Rb7 34.Kg2 Rd5 35.Rc6 Rxe5 36.Rxa6 Rxh5 37.b5 g6 38.Ra8+ Kg7 39.Re8 c6 40.bxc6 Rc7 41.Rc4 Kf6 42.Ra8 Ke7 43.a5 Kd6 44.Rd8+ Ke7 45.Ra8 Kd6 46.Ra4 Kxc6 47.a6 Kb6 48.Rb4+ Kc6 49.a7 Ra5 50.Rc4+ Kb7 51.Rxc7+ Kxa8 52.Rxf7 h5 53.Rh7 Rxa7 54.Rh8+ Kb7 55.Rh6 Kc6 56.Rxg6 Kd6 57.Kh3 Ra1 58.Rh6 Ke7 59.Rxh5 Kf6 60.Rh6+ Kf7 61.Kh4 Re1 62.Kg4 Kg7 63.Rh5 Kg6 64.f4 Rg1 65.Re5 Kf6 66.Kf3 Rf1+ 67.Kg2 Ra1 68.g4 Ra3 69.Kf2 Ra1 70.Re3 Rb1 71.Kf3 Rb5 72.Kg3 Ra5 73.Rb3 Ra1 74.g5+ Kf5 75.Rb5+ Kg6 76.Re5 Kf7 77.Re3 Ra4 78.Kf3 Rb4 79.Ra3 Rc4 80.Ra7+ Kf8 81.g6 Rc1 82.Kg4 Rg1+ 83.Kh5 Kg8 84.Kh6 Rh1+ 85.Kg5 Rf1 86.Re7 1-0

Round 9, Nov. 6
Turkey-Croatia, Board 2
Bosiocic, Marin – Yimaz, Mustafa
E04 Catalan, open

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 c5 6.O-O Nc6 7.Qa4 Bd7 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qd3 c4 10.Qd1 Rc8 11.b3 Be7 12.bxc4 bxc4 13.Nc3 O-O 14.Bd2 Nb4 15.Ne5 Be8 16.Be1 Nd7 17.a3 Nxe5 18.axb4 Nc6 19.Bxc6 Rxc6 20.b5 Rc7 21.f3 Rb7 22.Rb1 Qb8 23.d5 Bxb5 24.dxe6 fxe6 25.Qd4 Qc8 26.Ne4 Rd8 27.Qe3 Bc6 28.Bc3 Bd5 29.Qf4 Bf8 30.Rxb7 Qxb7 31.Qg5 Rc8 32.Nf6+ Kh8 33.Ng4 Qe7 34.Qf4 Kg8 35.Ra1 Qc7 36.Qg5 Kh8 37.Kg2 Ra8 38.h4 Qf7 39.e4 Bb7 40.h5 Be7 41.Qb5 Rb8 42.Rxa7 Rf8 43.Ne5 1-0

Two white queens

Round 9, Nov. 6
Slovenia-Netherlands, Board 1
Lenic, Luka – Giri, Anish
D43 QGC, Semi-Slav

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 g6 8.Be2 Bg7 9.O-O O-O 10.e4 dxc4 11.Bxc4 Qd8 12.e5 c5 13.dxc5 Nd7 14.Qe2 Nxc5 15.Rfd1 Qe7 16.Nb5 Bd7 17.Nd6 a5 18.Qe3 b6 19.Nd4 Rad8 20.Rd2 f6 21.Nb3 fxe5 22.Nxc5 bxc5 23.Qxc5 Rf4 24.Qc7 Kf8 25.Qxa5 Rd4 26.Rxd4 exd4 27.Ne4 d3 28.Rd1 Bc6 29.Nc5 Bd5 30.b3 Bd4 31.Nxd3 Be4 32.Qe1 Bf5 33.g3 Qa7 34.Qe2 Kg7 35.g4 Bxd3 36.Bxd3 Rf8 37.Rf1 e5 38.Kg2 Qb6 39.Be4 Rf7 40.Qd2 Rf4 41.f3 Rf7 42.Rb1 Be3 43.Qc3 Bf4 44.Qc6 Qxc6 45.Bxc6 Rc7 46.Be4 Rd7 47.Rb2 h5 48.h4 Rd2+ 49.Rxd2 Bxd2 50.Kf2 Bb4 51.g5 Kf7 52.a4 Ba5 53.Ke2 Bb4 54.Kd3 Be1 55.Kc4 Bxh4 56.a5 Bxg5 57.a6 Be3 58.Kd5 h4 59.Bd3 h3 60.Bf1 h2 61.Bg2 Kf6 62.b4 Kf5 63.Kc6 Kf4 64.b5 Kg3 65.Bh1 Kf2 66.b6 Kg1 67.a7 Kxh1 68.a8=Q Kg2 69.b7 h1=Q 70.b8=Q Bf4 71.Qc8 Qc1+ 72.Kd7 Qd2+ 73.Ke8 g5 74.Qg4+ Kf2 75.Qa1 1-0

Round 9, Nov. 6
Finland-Georgia, Board 1
Nyback, Tomi – Jobava, Baadur
D11 QGD Slav

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 d5 4.e3 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be2 Nbd7 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.e4 Nc7 9.O-O O-O 10.Re1 Nb6 11.a4 a5 12.Be3 Na6 13.h3 Kh8 14.Qd2 Nb4 15.Na2 Nxa2 16.Rxa2 f5 17.Bh6 fxe4 18.Bxg7+ Kxg7 19.Ne5 Be6 20.Ra3 Qd6 21.Bd1 Qb4 22.Qxb4 axb4 23.Ra1 Rfd8 24.Rxe4 Bf5 25.Rf4 Nd5 26.Rf3 Nf6 27.Rf4 e6 28.Bb3 g5 29.Rf3 Rxd4 30.Re3 h6 31.Nf3 Re4 32.Rae1 c5 33.g4 Rxe3 34.Rxe3 Be4 35.Nd2 Bd5 36.Bxd5 exd5 37.Re7+ Kf8 38.Rxb7 Rxa4 39.Nb3 Ne4 40.f3 Ra1+ 41.Nxa1 1-0

Round 9, Nov. 6
England-Hungary, Board 2
Rapport, Richard – Howell, David
C53 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 O-O 6.b4 Be7 7.Nbd2 d5 8.Bb3 dxe4 9.dxe4 Bd6 10.Qc2 a5 11.b5 Nb8 12.O-O Nbd7 13.a4 Nc5 14.Ba3 Nxb3 15.Qxb3 Be6 16.c4 Nd7 17.Qe3 Qe7 18.Nxe5 Bxa3 19.Nxd7 Rfd8 20.Rxa3 Rxd7 21.c5 Rad8 22.Nf3 Bc4 23.Re1 h6 24.h4 Rd3 25.Rxd3 Rxd3 26.Qf4 Bb3 27.c6 b6 28.Ne5 Rd4 29.Nd7 Qd6 30.e5 Qb4 31.Qe3 Rd3 32.Qxd3 Qxe1+ 33.Kh2 Bxa4 34.Nf6+ gxf6 35.Qg3+ Kf8 36.exf6 Qb4 37.Qxc7 Qxh4+ 38.Kg1 Qxf6 39.Qc8+ Kg7 40.Qg4+ Kf8 41.Qc8+ Kg7 42.Qg4+ Kf8 43.Qxa4 Qd6 44.Qc2 Qc7 45.Qc1 Ke7 46.Qxh6 Qe5 47.Qc1 Qc5 48.Qe1+ Kf8 49.Qd1 Kg7 50.g3 Qc3 51.Qg4+ Kf8 52.Qf4 Qc2 53.Qd6+ Kg7 54.Qe5+ Kg6 55.c7 a4 56.g4 Qd1+ 57.Kh2 Qxg4 58.Qg3 1-0

And this game from the previous round:

Look at Christian Bauer’s stunning 13th move. Would you even have looked at it, let alone play it?

Round 8, Nov. 6
France-Croatia, Board 1
Bauer, Christian – Saric, Ivan
D10 QGD Slav Defence, Exchange variation

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Bg5 Nc6 5.Nc3 f6 6.Bd2 Bg4 7.f3 Bh5 8.e4 e6 9.exd5 exd5 10.Bb5 Bf7 11.Qe2+ Qe7 12.Rc1 O-O-O 13.Ne4 dxe4 14.Bxc6 bxc6 15.Qa6+ Qb7 16.Rxc6+ Kb8 17.Bf4+ Ka8 18.Qxb7+ Kxb7 19.Rc7+ Ka6 20.Rxf7 Ne7 21.Kf2 Nd5 22.Bd2 Rb8 23.b3 e3+ 24.Bxe3 Rc8 25.Ne2 Bb4 26.Rc1 Rce8 27.a4 Kb6 28.Rc4 Be1+ 29.Kxe1 Rxe3 30.a5+ Kxa5 31.Rc5+ Kb4 32.Rxd5 Rhe8 33.Rb7+ Ka3 34.Rxa7+ Kb2 35.Kf2 Rxe2+ 36.Kg3 g5 37.Rxh7 Rd2 38.h4 Ree2 39.hxg5 Rxg2+ 40.Kf4 fxg5+ 41.Rxg5 Rxd4+ 42.Ke5 Rgd2 43.Rb7 Rd8 44.Rgg7 Re8+ 45.Kf5 Rf2 46.f4 Rf8+ 47.Rbf7 Rb8 48.Rg3 Re8 49.Rf6 Ka3 50.Rd3 Kb2 51.b4 Rb8 52.Rd4 Kc3 53.Re4 Kd3 54.Rd6+ Kc3 55.Ke5 Rb5+ 56.Rd5 Rb8 57.Rc5+ Kb3 58.b5 Re8+ 59.Kf5 Rh8 60.Rce5 Rg2 61.Ke6 Rg6+ 62.Kf7 Rb6 63.f5 Rh7+ 64.Kg8 Rh5 65.Kg7 Rg5+ 66.Kf7 Rb7+ 67.Kf6 Rg8 68.Re8 Rg1 69.R4e5 Kc4 70.R8e7 Rb8 71.Rc7+ Kd4 72.Rd7+ Kc4 73.Kf7 Rg5 74.Ke6 Rb6+ 75.Rd6 Rb8 76.b6 Rh5 77.Rc6+ Kb4 78.Kd5 Kb5 79.Kd6+ Ka6 80.b7+ Kxb7 81.Re7+ 1-0

Position in Bauer-Saric after Bauer’s 13.Ne4!?

**Egidijus Zeromskis** · Monday, 6th November, 2017, 11:52 PM

Re: European Team, Crete 2017

Originally posted by Hugh Brodie View Post

the Baltic states are missing?

Seems that the Lithuania team and federation have non-financial inner struggles. Nevertheless the women went and played, at the first board Deimante Cornette (Daulyte) got a personal bronze medal.

European Team, Crete 2017

European Team, Crete 2017

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