European Club Cup: Perfect Scores for SOCAR & Ugra
The fifth round of the European Club Cup in Rhodes, Greece will see the clash between SOCAR and Ugra, the two teams that won their first four matches. SOCAR's top scorer is Gata Kamsky with 3.5/4; Ugra's Anton Korobov has the same score. In the women's section Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo started with four wins, and the team is already two points ahead of CS Politechnica-Antibiotice and Ugra.
Photos © Goran Urosevic & Anastasiya Karlovich courtesy of the ECC
In the third round, top favourites SOCAR faced the Italian team from Padova which happens to play with Hikaru Nakamura on top board. (The fact that Hikaru has an Italian girlfriend, and therefore spends a lot of time in Italy, might well be related!) And so we got the clash Caruana-Nakamura, an absolutely amazing game that started as a Berlin Ending. With strong play Nakamura managed to get a winning position, but it was never easy and it must be said that Caruana defended brilliantly.
With Pentala Harikrishna on board 2 and Kiril Georgiev on 3, Padova isn't weak at all. "Hari" drew with Radjabov but SOCAR's Topalov beat Georgiev:
Kamsky's win over Michele Godena on board 4 was quite spectacular:
In the same match 23-year-old Italian IM Danyyil Dvirnyy kept a draw against Wang Hao - another very interesting encounter:
In the match St Petersburg vs Peristeri, Peter Svidler won an excellent strategical game against GM Ioannis Papaioannou which was in fact the Game of the Week in ChessVibes Openings:
Georgian GM Baadur Jobava has been playing 1.b3 for a while now, and in Rhodes he felt it was good enough for his fight with GM David Navara too. What followed was a coffeehouse game where Black eventually got the upper hand.
After three round there were five teams with 6 match points. On the top boards, Malachite from Russia faced Novy Bor from the Czech Republic, who did well with a 3-3 score. An amazing game was Morozevich-Laznicka, not to be missed!
And what about the following? Both Sasikiran and Shirov had their kingside weakened and a bishop trapped, but eventually it was Black who won a pawn, and then another one.
SOCAR and Ugra are the only two teams with a perfect score, so logically they play each other on Thursday. The individual pairings are Caruana-Jakovenko, Radjabov-Leko, Topalov-Korobov, Kamsky-Rublevsky, Wang Hao-Dreev and Giri-Khismatullin.
European Club Cup 2013 | Round 4 standings
| Rk. | SNo | FED | Team | + | = | - | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 |
| 1 | 1 | AZE | SOCAR | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 74,5 | 19,5 | 51 | 51 |
| 2 | 4 | RUS | Ugra | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 71 | 19 | 55 | 55 |
| 3 | 5 | CZE | G-Team Novy Bor | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 72 | 16 | 65 | 54,5 |
| 4 | 8 | AZE | Odlar Yurdu | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 69,5 | 19 | 51 | 43,75 |
| 5 | 2 | RUS | Malachite | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 69 | 21 | 40,5 | 32,5 |
| 6 | 3 | RUS | Saint-Petersburg | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 66 | 19 | 49 | 30 |
| 7 | 10 | BLR | Minsk | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 66 | 18,5 | 40,5 | 28,5 |
| 8 | 6 | RUS | PGMB-Rostov | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 62 | 18,5 | 45 | 29 |
| 9 | 15 | BEL | S.F. Wirtzfeld | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 50,5 | 15,5 | 47,5 | 31,5 |
| 10 | 12 | BEL | Amay Chess Club | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 48,5 | 15 | 52,5 | 33,5 |
| 11 | 25 | NOR | Asker | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 46 | 18,5 | 34,5 | 22,5 |
| 12 | 7 | ITA | O.R. Padova | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 46 | 14 | 57,5 | 38 |
| 13 | 21 | NED | En Passant | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 44 | 14,5 | 49,5 | 30,5 |
| 14 | 14 | BEL | SK 47 Eynatten | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 41 | 15,5 | 33 | 26 |
| 15 | 9 | FRA | Clichy Echecs 92 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 59 | 14,5 | 62 | 33 |
| 16 | 16 | HUN | Haladas VSE, Szombathely | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 36 | 15 | 37,5 | 23,25 |
| 17 | 24 | SWE | Limhamns SK | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 33 | 11,5 | 54,5 | 27,5 |
| 18 | 13 | AUT | Schachclub MPO Maria Saal | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 30,5 | 12 | 51,5 | 26,5 |
| 19 | 11 | GRE | Peristeri | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 45 | 12 | 62,5 | 29 |
| 20 | 18 | ISR | Kfar Saba Chess Club | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 41 | 12 | 60,5 | 27,5 |
| 21 | 17 | SUI | Reichenstein SSB | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 40,5 | 13,5 | 43 | 17 |
| 22 | 27 | NOR | Oslo Schakselskap | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 34 | 11 | 57 | 22 |
| 23 | 39 | LUX | CE De Sprenger Echternach | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 30 | 12 | 41 | 19 |
| 24 | 19 | ITA | A.S.I. Bologna | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 29 | 11 | 52,5 | 19 |
| 25 | 41 | MNC | Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 27 | 11 | 51,5 | 20,5 |
| 26 | 20 | TUR | Besiktas JK | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 24 | 15 | 33 | 10,5 |
| 27 | 22 | SUI | Club d'Echecs de Geneve | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 22,5 | 9,5 | 55 | 20,5 |
| 28 | 43 | SCO | Edinburgh Chess Club | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 22 | 10 | 48,5 | 19,5 |
| 29 | 29 | ENG | Barbican 4NCL | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 20 | 8,5 | 62 | 24,5 |
| 30 | 28 | ENG | Jutes of Kent | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 19,5 | 9 | 63 | 23,5 |
| 31 | 35 | AUT | SK Advisory Invest Baden | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 18,5 | 10 | 44 | 18,5 |
| 32 | 26 | FIN | Tammer-Shakki | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 17,5 | 8,5 | 62,5 | 23 |
| 33 | 36 | ENG | White Rose | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 15 | 10,5 | 50 | 16,5 |
| 34 | 34 | FRA | Sautron | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 9,5 | 53,5 | 20 |
| 35 | 32 | NED | Accres Apeldoorn | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 9,5 | 59,5 | 22,5 |
| 36 | 38 | LUX | The Smashing Pawns Belvaux | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 31 | 12 | 38 | 9,5 |
| 37 | 47 | ECX | Istogu Chess Club | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 23 | 9 | 49 | 16,5 |
| 38 | 48 | IRL | Adare | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 22 | 10 | 41,5 | 15 |
| 39 | 52 | WLS | Cardigan | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 8 | 35 | 8 |
| 40 | 40 | DEN | Nordea Skanderborg | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 31 | 7 | 65 | 15,5 |
| 41 | 33 | GER | Schachgesellschaft Solingen | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 28 | 11 | 38 | 5 |
| 42 | 23 | DEN | Jetsmark | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 26,5 | 11,5 | 35,5 | 5 |
| 43 | 31 | FIN | Chess Club Velhot | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 24,5 | 10 | 43 | 5,5 |
| 44 | 37 | ECX | Expik Kosova | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 24 | 10,5 | 37,5 | 5 |
| 45 | 30 | ISL | Viking Chess Club | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 22 | 9,5 | 45,5 | 8 |
| 46 | 42 | GER | Chess Club Eppingen | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 20 | 10,5 | 40,5 | 6,5 |
| 47 | 45 | SCO | Edinburgh West Chess Club | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 20 | 9 | 35,5 | 5 |
| 48 | 44 | NED | SV Voerendaal / KNSB | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 16,5 | 9 | 37 | 5 |
| 49 | 53 | GRE | Ippotis Rodou | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 24 | 8 | 29,5 | 0 |
| 50 | 50 | WLS | White Knights Chess Club | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 13,5 | 6,5 | 32,5 | 0 |
| 51 | 51 | ALB | Klubi Sportiv Butrinti | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 5,5 | 43,5 | 0 |
| 52 | 46 | IRL | Gonzaga | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 16 | 5 | 50,5 | 0 |
| 53 | 49 | GER | SV Muelheim Nord 1931 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 10,5 | 5 | 43 | 0 |
In the women's section Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo seems to be cruising to victory, which was expected. On top board, World Champion Hou Yifan beat two former World Champions in a row: Ushenina and Kosteniuk.
European Club Cup 2013 | Women | Round 4 standings
| Rk. | SNo | Team | + | = | - | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | |
| 1 | 1 | Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 46,5 | 13 | 33,5 | 33,5 | |
| 2 | 4 | CS Politechnica-Antibiotice Iasi | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 31,5 | 12,5 | 26,5 | 17 | |
| 3 | 5 | Ugra | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 27 | 9,5 | 39 | 26 | |
| 4 | 2 | SHSM Nashe Nasledie | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 28,5 | 11 | 29,5 | 12,5 | |
| 5 | 3 | Mika Chess Club | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 30 | 8 | 39,5 | 17 | |
| 6 | 8 | MRU - Vilniaus Fortas | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 9 | 19,5 | 6,5 | |
| 7 | 7 | Jelica PEP | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 19 | 8 | 34,5 | 8,5 | |
| 8 | 6 | Chess Club BAS | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 12,5 | 5 | 33 | 9 | |
| 9 | 10 | Rudar Prijedor | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 5,5 | 25 | 3 | |
| 10 | 11 | ASVOE Pamhagen | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 11,5 | 3 | 22,5 | 0 | |
| 11 | 9 | Fischer Chieti | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 3,5 | 32,5 | 0 |
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms.
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