Azerbaijan beats Georgia in round 5 European Team Ch
After beating Georgia in round 5 Azerbaijan is the sole leader with 10 match points at the European Team Championship in Novi Sad. Russia follows on second place with the same number of match points as Georgia. In the women section Georgia kept the lead after all eight games on the two top boards ended in a draw.The 17th European Team Championship is organized by the European Chess Union and Serbia Chess Federation. The Championship is held in Novi Sad, Serbia (80 km northwest of the capital Belgrade and 280 km south of Budapest). The dates are October 21th (day of arrival) until October 31th 2009 (day of departure). It's a nine round Swiss played from October 22nd to 30th, without a rest day. The time control is 90 min. for 40 moves + 30 min. & 30 sec. increment.Round 5
Their top board Radjabov lost his first game, to Jobava, but Azerbaijan collected two match points anyway against Georgia. It was a very nice win by Jobava, including a double exchange sacrifice; a slightly different theme that reminds of Seirawan's Take My Rooks. Gashimov's win against Mchedlishvili was typical for the Azeri GM, calculating deeply and finding new ideas in seemingly equal positions. Guseinov, who had twice lost with Black, now scored an important victory behind the black pieces; a model Volga/Benkö.Russia is back in second place after a convincing victory over Israel. Tomashevsky outplayed Avrukh starting with 1.c4 while Svidler beat Sutovsky in a Caro-Kann. The strong reply 20...Ba8! completely refuted White's aggressive intentions. Svidler's finish was accurate and elegant at the same time.Aronian also lost his first game - he didn't survive a devastating attack by Bacrot. The Frenchman made the Anti-Moscow look like a King's Gambit with Adolf Anderssen behind the white pieces. Sargissian played a similar role for his team like Guseinov did for Azerbaijan: he had started poorly too, with 1/3, but right when the team's board one suffered his first loss, Sargissian scored his first win, to draw the match 2-2.Spain-Serbia 1 and Netherlands-Czech Republic also ended in 2-2. Ups and downs for Jan Smeets, who lost a drawn endgame against Navara. The infamous 41st move seems to be the problem; 41.Rb1+ Ka2 41.b5 looks dead equal. Germany's top board Naiditsch suffered his second loss in a row against Poland's Socko but Meier could level the score with a fine win against Wojtaszek. Topalov had to be satisfied with a draw against Miladinovic, who adopted the on this level rare 5...exf6 Caro-Kann.In the women section Ukraine and Georgia were very friendly to each other: all four games ended in quick draws. Armenia and Azerbaijan fought out a real match, but also these four games ended in draws. Russia beat Poland thanks to a win by Tatiana Kosintseva against Iweta Rajlich; in the same match Kosteniuk couldn't convert a winning rook ending against Monica Socko.All results round 5
Selection of games round 5
Game viewer by ChessTempo
Jobava beats Radjabov with the Four Pawns Attack
Russia back in second place now
Akopian and Aronian in deep thought against...
...Fressinet and Bacrot
Smeets-Navara, Stellwagen-Laznicka, L'Ami-Hracek and Werle-Babula
Spain's top boards Shirov and Vallejo
Kateryna Lahno vs Nana Dzagnidze
The Russian ladies: Alexandra Kosteniuk, Tatiana & Nadezhda Kosintseva and Marina Romanko
France's board 2 Sophie Milliet, the only player in the tournament left with a 100% score (4/4)
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