Michael Adams and Gawain Jones impress at European Team Championship

Michael Adams and Gawain Jones impress at European Team Championship
Leonard Barden
Friday 18 November 2011 18.02 EST

Michael Adams won the individual top board gold medal in the European Team Championship at Halkidiki in Greece, but the continued impressive advance of Gawain Jones, 23, was just as significant for English chess.

Adams celebrated his fortieth birthday on Thursday by regaining his place in the world top 20, a ranking list where his peak a decade ago was at No4.

Jones has just achieved a series of personal bests. His unbeaten 6/9 in the Euroteams followed quickly on a success at the Corsica Open, and he agreed an early draw in his final game in Greece to fly back to the UK in time for the opening weekend's play in Britain's 4NCL league. There he won both his games, including the elegant 16-move miniature featured below.

In the next world list due in January Jones's rating is likely to soar to around 2650, equal to a place in the top 100 grandmasters. For almost the first time since the peak decade of 1985-1995, when England ranked second to the USSR, there will be five Englishmen in the active top 100-Adams, Nigel Short, Luke McShane, Matthew Sadler and Jones. Sadler, who has made an impressive return to top chess this year after a decade's absence, has said that he will be available for the national team in the 150-nation Olympiad at Istanbul in 2012.

The England quintet can be serious Olympiad contenders both at Istanbul and at Tromso, Norway, in 2014, with the aid of rule changes which have halted the former USSR/Russia gold medal monopoly. Match points rather than game points are now the prime decider, enabling lower rated teams to score in key matches by narrow 2.5-1.5 wins while formerly the Soviet juggernaut would shrug off setbacks by some crushing 4-0 or 3.5-0.5 victories.

In the past six years the Netherlands and now Germany have won the European title, while Armenia and Azerbaijan have taken Olympiad and world team golds as top seeded Russia failed. England, with Sadler and Jones as potential lower board match winners, can aim high in 2012.

More here.

Welcoming back the Champ!

Members of the Knight Raiders welcoming back GM Georg Meier at the Lubbock International Airport, one of the stars in the German European Championship Team!

Georg Meier and Arkadij Naiditsch after winning the European team gold

Grandmasters Georg Meier and Arkadij Naiditsch from Germany after winning the team GOLD medal at the European Team Chess Championship in Porto Carras, Greece.

Norms earned at the European Team Championship

Open Section:

IM A.Neiksans (LAT) – GM Norm
IM D.Zagorskis (LTU) – GM Norm
FM H.S.Gretarsson (ISL) – GM Norm

FM G.Morrison (SCO) – IM Norm (in 8 games)
FM A.Tate (SCO) – IM Norm

Women's Section:

IM A.Muzychuk (SLO) – GM Norm

WGM K.Szczepkowska-Horowska (POL) – IM Norm
WGM J.Zawadzka (POL) – IM Norm
WIM M.Ohme (GER) – IM Norm (Perf)
WGM I.Videnova (BUL) – IM Norm
WGM M.Michna (GER) – IM Norm (Perf) (in 7 games)
WIM I.Bulmaga (ROM) – IM Norm

WIM K.Ozturk (TUR) – WGM Norm

WFM A.Milovic (MNE) – WIM Norm (in 7 games)
WFM K.Newrkla (AUT) – WIM Norm
K.Cemhan (TUR) – WIM Norm

Adams, Grischuk, Mamedyarov, Morozevich, Bauer win Gold

18th European Team Chess Championship 2011

Board list after round 9 (exclusive forfeit points), sorted according to Performance, Rtg-O

Board 1
Rank Name Rtg Team Rp Rtg-O Pts G %

1 GM Adams, Michael 2734 ENG 2841 2675 6,5 9 72.2
2 GM Aronian, Levon 2802 ARM 2833 2692 5,5 8 68.8
3 GM Naiditsch, Arkadij 2712 GER 2794 2699 5 8 62.5

4 GM Topalov, Veselin 2768 BUL 2779 2699 5,5 9 61.1
5 GM Bologan, Viktor 2665 MDA 2769 2603 6,5 9 72.2
6 GM Sulskis, Sarunas 2577 LTU 2725 2600 6 9 66.7
7 GM Beliavsky, Alexander G 2617 SLO 2723 2680 5 9 55.6
8 GM Giri, Anish 2714 NED 2723 2680 5 9 55.6

Board 2
Rank Name Rtg Team Rp Rtg-O Pts G %

1 GM Grischuk, Alexander 2752 RUS 2837 2696 5,5 8 68.8
2 GM Almasi, Zoltan 2707 HUN 2809 2616 6 8 75.0
3 GM Gashimov, Vugar 2757 AZE 2792 2667 6 9 66.7

4 GM Sutovsky, Emil 2696 ISR 2765 2624 5,5 8 68.8
5 GM Meier, Georg 2659 GER 2758 2678 5,5 9 61.1
6 GM Cheparinov, Ivan 2650 BUL 2748 2668 5,5 9 61.1
7 GM Shirov, Alexei 2705 ESP 2729 2634 5 8 62.5
8 GM Laznicka, Viktor 2703 CZE 2705 2662 4,5 8 56.3

Board 3
Rank Name Rtg Team Rp Rtg-O Pts G %

1 GM Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2733 AZE 2866 2646 7 9 77.8
2 GM Karjakin, Sergey 2763 RUS 2745 2643 4,5 7 64.3
3 GM Akopian, Vladimir 2681 ARM 2723 2628 5 8 62.5

4 GM Bartel, Mateusz 2653 POL 2696 2571 6 9 66.7
5 GM Fridman, Daniel 2661 GER 2692 2649 4,5 8 56.3
6 GM Carlsson, Pontus 2502 SWE 2689 2548 5,5 8 68.8
7 IM Neiksans, Arturs 2502 LAT 2682 2557 6 9 66.7
8 GM Vajda, Levente 2584 ROM 2675 2580 5 8 62.5

Board 4
Rank Name Rtg Team Rp Rtg-O Pts G %

1 GM Morozevich, Alexander 2762 RUS 2775 2650 4 6 66.7
2 GM Sargissian, Gabriel 2671 ARM 2754 2588 6,5 9 72.2
3 GM Gustafsson, Jan 2633 GER 2732 2630 4,5 7 64.3

4 GM Jones, Gawain C B 2635 ENG 2706 2581 6 9 66.7
5 GM Brunello, Sabino 2575 ITA 2700 2559 5,5 8 68.8
6 GM Balogh, Csaba 2662 HUN 2689 2548 5,5 8 68.8
7 GM Illescas Cordoba, Miguel 2609 ESP 2661 2604 3,5 6 58.3
8 GM Stocek, Jiri 2600 CZE 2647 2604 5 9 55.6

Board 5
Rank Name Rtg Team Rp Rtg-O Pts G %

1 GM Bauer, Christian 2641 FRA 2797 2546 6,5 8 81.3
2 GM Olafsson, Helgi 2531 ISL 2786 2420 4,5 5 90.0
3 GM Postny, Evgeny 2640 ISR 2762 2569 6 8 75.0

4 GM Skoberne, Jure 2533 SLO 2663 2591 3 5 60.0
5 GM Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2730 RUS 2656 2606 4 7 57.1
6 GM Stellwagen, Daniel 2627 NED 2653 2596 3,5 6 58.3
7 GM Efimenko, Zahar 2702 UKR 2628 2585 4,5 8 56.3
8 GM Arizmendi Martinez, Julen Luis 2568 ESP 2570 2570 2,5 5 50.0

http://euro2011.chessdom.com/board-list-after-round-9/

ETCC Closing Ceremony

European Team Championship Closing Ceremony

The closing ceremony of the top event of the year, the European Team Chess Championships, focused on prize giving to the winners of the competition.

Germany with Arkadij Naiditsch, Georg Meier, Daniel Fridman, Jan Gustafsson, and Rainer Buhmann received the winner’s trophy in the Open section. Azerbaijan walked out with silver and Hungary with bronze.

The first place trophy in the women section was awarded to the fantastic team of Russia – Nadezhda Kosintseva, Tatiana Kosintseva, Valentina Gunina, Alexandra Kosteniuk, and Natalija Pogonina. The silver medals go to Poland and bronze to Georgia.

Board medals were awarded to 30 more players (see full list here) and 16 players achieved international title norms (see full list here).

Large photo album

A special photo album from the closing ceremony with all medal winners has been uploaded in the photo gallery. Click at this link to start at the first photo, and use the slide show button or the arrows to enjoy all the pictures.

Tip: browse the closing ceremony album here or view all albums arranged by rounds here

The problem with women's chess

Women’s National Team Earn Meager 3,000 Euro for 6th Place at European Chess Finals

The best female chess players in Bulgaria finished sixth at the European Chess Team Finals in Greece and will share some six thousand levs (about three thousand euro) provided by the cash-strapped Bulgarian Chess Federation.

Team captain GM Antoaneta Stefanova led the squad to 3-1 victory over the Czech Republic in the final round.

Veteran Margarita Voiska and Adriana Nikolova earned full points, while Stefanova and Iva Videnova shared a point with their opponents. Bulgaria's female chess team earned eleven points in the competition and finished at the sixth place. The European title went to Russia (17 points) for a third time in a row, followed by Poland and Georgia with fourteen points each.

The men’s team led by GM Veselin Topalov suffered a devastating 4-0 loss to Hungary in the last round which plunged them down to the seventh place with twelve earned points.

Source: http://paper.standartnews.com

ETCC final round video

Adams earns gold in Greece

Michael Adams takes gold as England struggle at European Championship
Leonard Barden guardian.co.uk,
Friday 11 November 2011 12.20 EST

Michael Adams's individual gold medal was the standout of an uneven and sub-par England performance at the European team championship which ended at Halkidiki, Greece on Friday. The British champion scored an unbeaten 6.5/9, outplayed Ukraine's star Vasily Ivanchuk in the decisive final round, and nosed out Armenia's Levon Aronian for the top board gold.

Gawain Jones, 23, added to his growing reputation with zestful play and a 6/9 total, but David Howell, arriving straight from the middle of his university term, had four defeats in his five games. Overall England, seeded No 8, ended only 22nd among 38 teams.

Germany were the shock teamwinners, beating the Olympiad champions Armenia in the final round. Azerbaijan won silver and Hungary bronze, leaving top-seeded Russia, which lost twice early on, back in fifth place.

England's target now is to do better at the 150-nation World Olympiad at Istanbul 2012. The key will be fielding a maximum strength squad including Luke McShane and Matthew Sadler who have full-time jobs and were unavailable for the Euroteams.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk

Interview with GM Christian Bauer

GM Christian Bauer speaks about his fantastic result at the European Team Chess Championships.

Record breaking numbers at the ETCC 2011

Record breaking numbers at the ETCC 2011

The European Team Chess Championship is proving to be the top team event of the year. It has created an unprecedented interest in the chess world and more than 1 million absolute unique visitors* have visited the official website of the competition in the first 7 rounds.

These numbers represent by far the largest audience ever to be registered for a European team competition. With the most important and interesting days still coming, the ETCC 2011 is set for even higher record.

It is also setting a new local record for Porto Carras, where the World Youth Chess Championship registered 100k/day unique visitors.

Absolute unique visitors

* Absolute Unique Visitors represents the number of unduplicated (counted only once) visitors to the website over the course of a specified time period. This means that if a person visits the official website multiple times, he will only be counted as 1 visitor i.e. 1 million different chess fans have visited euro2011.chessdom.com

Item read and pageviews

Photos, videos, reports bring record in page views

The rapidity of the photos and videos, being ready maximum 25 minutes after the start of the round, has allowed the information to quickly spread among mainstream media around the world. Respectively, the photos, videos, and reports have been viewed over 4,5 million times, which is yet another highest register for the event.

So far there are 50 interviews with players, 1057 photos, and multiple reports on the official website.

Amazing final round at the European Team Championship

Germany - Armenia

In the final round of the ETCC Open Section Armenia exercised the well known strategy of neutralising opponent’s white pieces in the decisive match against the co-leading Germany. On boards one and three Levon Aronian and Vladimir Akopian quickly drew with Arkadij Naiditsch and Daniel Fridman, respectively.

On the 2nd board German rising star Georg Meier applied pressure on Sergei Movsesian’s setup, achieved a substantial advantage and consequently converted into the full point.

Jan Gustafsson eventually pulled a draw in the exhausting game against Gabriel Sargissian and marked a huge celebration for the German team. Congratulations!

Azerbaijan - Romania

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov’s swift victory against Levente Vajda from Romania put the Azerbaijan team in comfortable position. His teammates decided not to take any chances and routinely drew on the top board. Vugar Gashimov later also won for the final score 3-1 in favour of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan moved into the second position and took a silver medal.

Meanwhile, Bulgaria was under pressure in the match against the charging Hungary. Zoltan Almasi was the first to score against Ivan Cheparinov, and then everything fell apart as Veselin Topalov and Alexander Delchev also lost.

Update: Hungary crushed Bulgaria by 4-0, overtook Armenia in the final standings and claimed a bronze medal!

Germany gold, Azerbaijan silver, Hungary bronze

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Team	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	10		Germany	GER	9	7	1	1	15	22.5	183.0	154.50	142.0
2	3		Azerbaijan	AZE	9	6	2	1	14	23.0	181.5	139.75	140.5
3	5		Hungary	HUN	9	5	3	1	13	23.0	167.5	117.25	128.0
4	4		Armenia	ARM	9	6	1	2	13	22.5	172.0	117.25	132.5
5	1		Russia	RUS	9	6	1	2	13	21.5	174.5	123.50	134.0
6	9		Netherlands	NED	9	5	2	2	12	19.0	180.0	118.25	140.5
7	7		Bulgaria	BUL	9	5	2	2	12	18.5	187.5	122.50	146.0
8	14		Poland	POL	9	4	3	2	11	22.0	159.0	95.25	124.0
9	17		Romania	ROM	9	5	1	3	11	20.0	163.5	87.00	135.0
10	13		Spain	ESP	9	5	1	3	11	19.5	183.0	108.50	142.0
11	22		Italy	ITA	9	5	1	3	11	19.0	164.0	91.25	135.5
12	18		Serbia	SRB	9	5	0	4	10	22.0	152.0	77.50	123.0
13	15		Georgia	GEO	9	4	2	3	10	22.0	140.5	71.25	116.0
14	11		Israel	ISR	9	4	2	3	10	20.0	170.5	93.25	131.0
15	2		Ukraine	UKR	9	4	2	3	10	19.0	172.0	90.25	132.5
16	12		Czech Rep.	CZE	9	3	4	2	10	18.5	178.0	97.50	139.5
17	21		Slovenia	SLO	9	4	2	3	10	17.5	185.0	101.00	144.0
18	20		Moldova	MDA	9	4	1	4	9	20.5	156.0	70.25	125.0
19	6		France	FRA	9	3	3	3	9	19.0	179.0	86.00	140.0
20	19		Greece	GRE	9	4	1	4	9	19.0	168.5	76.50	140.0
21	16		Croatia	CRO	9	3	3	3	9	17.0	178.5	83.25	142.0
22	8		England	ENG	9	3	2	4	8	18.5	172.0	71.50	133.5
23	26		Switzerland	SUI	9	3	2	4	8	18.5	145.0	56.75	119.5
24	27		Latvia	LAT	9	3	2	4	8	18.0	163.0	67.75	124.5
25	29		Montenegro	MNE	9	3	2	4	8	18.0	160.5	60.50	128.5

Full standings here: http://euro2011.chessdom.com/etcc-2011-standings-open-section

Women's top 5

Rk.	SNo		Team	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	1		Russia	RUS	9	8	1	0	17	25.5	177.0	165.50	137.5
2	5		Poland	POL	9	6	2	1	14	23.0	178.0	133.25	138.5
3	3		Georgia	GEO	9	7	0	2	14	22.5	181.0	134.00	139.0
4	2		Ukraine	UKR	9	6	0	3	12	21.5	180.0	110.50	138.0
5	12		France	FRA	9	6	0	3	12	21.0	172.5	107.50	133

Meier and Germany win Gold at ETCC 2011

Texas Tech/SPICE Knight Raider GM Georg Meier defeated Armenian super GM Movsesian in the final round to give Germany a 2.5 - 1.5 win and the Gold medal at the 2011 European Team Championship! With this win, his rating should also pass the 2670 mark, breaking his previous high.

Congratulations to Georg and Germany! Well done!

Game of the day: Movsesian 0-1 Meier

Texas Tech Knight Raider GM Georg Meier defeated super GM Movsesian with Black to give Germany a 2-1 lead. This guarantees Germany a medal at the 2011 European Team Championship, perhaps gold if Gustafsson can hold against Sargissian.

[Event "ETCC 2011"]
[Date "11.11.11"]
[Round "9"]
[White "1.2 Movsesian, Sergei"]
[Black "Meier, Georg"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Ne2 Be7 8. g3 O-O 9. Bg2 b5 10. Be3 Qa5+ 11. Kf2 f6 12. c3 b4 13. Re1 bxc3 14. bxc3 Ba6 15. Bh3 f5 16. Bd2 Nb6 17. g4 Nc4 18. gxf5 exf5 19. Rg1 Rab8 20. Rg3 Nd8 21. Rb1 Nb2 22. Qg1 Ne6 23. Ra1 Bxe2 24. Kxe2 Qa6+ 25. Kf2 Nd3+ 26. Kg2 Ndxf4+ 27. Bxf4 Nxf4+ 28. Kh1 Qh6 29. Bf1 c4 30. Qf2 Rb6 31. Qc2 g5 32. Qa4 g4 33. Qxa7 Qe6 34. Rg1 Kh8 35. Nd2 Rb2 36. Rd1 Rg8 37. Bg2 Bh4 38. Qa5 Bf2 39. Rgf1 Be3 40. Rxf4 Bxf4 41. Nf1 Qh6 42. Qxd5 Bxh2 43. Qc6 Qxc6 44. Bxc6 Bf4 45. Re1 g3 46. Bg2 Rgb8 47. a4 Rb1 48. Re2 R8b2 49. Rxb2 Rxb2 50. a5 Ra2 51. Bc6 Kg7 52. e6 Kf6 0-1

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Germany brings excitement in the Open Section

Germany brings excitement in the Open Section

Thanks to Arkadij Naiditsch’s victory against Teimour Radjabov, Germany shocked Azerbaijan and caused a huge turmoil in the Open section of the European Team Championship.

Meanwhile, Armenia signed a creditable victory against the Netherlands, with full points from Levon Aronian and Vladimir Akopian. Now Armenia is sharing the lead with Germany and the two teams are paired to play each other in the last 9th round.

Bulgaria defeated Italy in the match, which Fabiano Caruana missed, and is now sharing the third place with Azerbaijan.

Romania signed yet another excellent result by tying with the higher-rated selection Hungary.

Russia recovered after the setback in the middle of the tournament and won against the strong selection of France. Alexander Grischuk and Sergey Karjakin scored for Russia, Morozevich – Fressinet finished with a draw, while the fantastic Christian Bauer beat Ian Nepomniachtchi. Bauer now has 6 points from 7 games.

Full results / Round 9 pairings / Replay games / Photo gallery / Videos

Crunch time: Germany vs Armenia in round 9

Round 9 pairings for leading teams

No.	SNo		Team	Team	Pts.	MP	Res.	:	Res.	MP	Pts.	Team	Team		SNo
1	10		GER	Germany	20	13		:		13	21	Armenia	ARM		4
2	3		AZE	Azerbaijan	20	12		:		11	19	Romania	ROM		17
3	5		HUN	Hungary	19	11		:		12	18½	Bulgaria	BUL		7
4	21		SLO	Slovenia	16½	10		:		11	18½	Russia	RUS		1
5	9		NED	Netherlands	16½	10		:		10	17	Czech Rep.	CZE		12
6	6		FRA	France	17½	9		:		9	17	Spain	ESP		13
7	16		CRO	Croatia	16	9		:		9	19	Poland	POL		14
8	19		GRE	Greece	17½	9		:		9	16½	Italy	ITA		22
9	8		ENG	England	17	8		:		8	16½	Ukraine	UKR

Full pairings here: http://euro2011.chessdom.com/etcc-2011-standings-open-section

Hunting for Gold

Armenia in final push for European gold
10.11.11 | 23:13

Reigning world champions Armenia are close to adding the European title to their collection of remarkable achievements in chess after outstripping current holder and arch-foe Azerbaijan in the penultimate round of championship play on Thursday.

FIDE’s current No. 3 player Levon Aronian and company need a victory in the ninth and final round of the ending tournament in Greece to finish first among 38 competing nations.

The Armenians scored a signal 3-1 victory against the Dutch team to rise to 13 points in team standings, a point ahead of Azerbaijan that inadvertently helped the Armenia cause by losing to Germany 1.5-2.5. Germany are second despite 13 points, yielding to Armenia on overall games statistics.

In the women’s section Armenia rose to 10 points and sixth place after beating Serbia 2.5-1.5. Russia is leader with 15 points.

Friday fixtures beginning at 1:00 pm Greece time, or 3:00 pm Yerevan time, are available for live online watching at the tournament’s official website http://euro2011.chessdom.com.

Source: http://armenianow.com