Azerbaijan Regain Lead At Euro Team Champs
Azerbaijan regained the lead after seven rounds of the European Team Chess Championships, thanks to a 2½-1½ win against Russia and a crushing 3½-½ win over Bulgaria.
Romania had re-taken the lead after round six by beating hosts Greece 2½-1½, but lost to Germany by the same score in round seven to slip back to 5th in the standings.
Armenia have recovered from a slow start, including losing to rivals Azerbaijan, to win their last four matches (against Croatia, Denmark, Spain and France) to lie in second place.
Favourites Russia beat Spain in round seven, but only stand 9th overall because of their match losses to Bulgaria and Azerbaijan.
Faring even worse are second seeds Ukraine who lost 3-1 to Switzerland in round seven and now languish in 26th place!
The Romanian team (right) regained the lead by beating Greece in round six...
...but Azerbaijan (right) regained the lead once more after crushing Bulgaria 3½-½ in round seven
Armenia (right) recorded their 4th consecutive match win by beating France in round seven
Switzerland (left) shocked Ukraine 3-1 in round seven
The Open standings after seven rounds:
| Rk. | SNo | Team | W | D | L | MP | BP |
| 1 | 3 | Azerbaijan | 5 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 18.5 |
| 2 | 4 | Armenia | 5 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 18.0 |
| 3 | 10 | Germany | 5 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 17.5 |
| 4 | 5 | Hungary | 4 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 17.0 |
| 5 | 17 | Romania | 5 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 17.0 |
| 6 | 7 | Bulgaria | 4 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 15.5 |
| 7 | 9 | Netherlands | 4 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 15.5 |
| 8 | 6 | France | 3 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 16.0 |
| 9 | 1 | Russia | 4 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 16.0 |
| 10 | 22 | Italy | 4 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 15.5 |
| 11 | 18 | Serbia | 4 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 18.0 |
| 12 | 14 | Poland | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 17.0 |
| 13 | 26 | Switzerland | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 16.0 |
| 14 | 19 | Greece | 4 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 15.5 |
| 15 | 12 | Czech Rep. | 2 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 14.5 |
| 16 | 21 | Slovenia | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 13.5 |
| 17 | 15 | Georgia | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 17.0 |
| 18 | 20 | Moldova | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 16.5 |
| 19 | 27 | Latvia | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 15.0 |
| 20 | 25 | Sweden | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 14.5 |
| 21 | 29 | Montenegro | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 14.5 |
| 22 | 13 | Spain | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 14.0 |
| 23 | 16 | Croatia | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 13.5 |
| 24 | 11 | Israel | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 14.0 |
| 25 | 8 | England | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 13.5 |
| 26 | 2 | Ukraine | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 13.5 |
| 27 | 32 | Iceland | 3 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 13.0 |
| 28 | 23 | Austria | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 13.0 |
| 29 | 24 | Denmark | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 12.5 |
| 30 | 28 | Finland | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 13.0 |
| 31 | 33 | Lithuania | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 12.0 |
| 32 | 31 | Norway | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 11.0 |
| 33 | 30 | FYROM | 2 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 12.5 |
| 34 | 34 | Turkey | 2 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 11.0 |
| 35 | 35 | Scotland | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 10.5 |
| 36 | 37 | Luxembourg | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 7.0 |
| 37 | 36 | Wales | 0 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 5.0 |
| 38 | 38 | Cyprus | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 4.5 |
In the women's competition, leaders Russia dropped their first match points in round six when they were held to a draw by Poland, but they won a close match with Armenia in round seven thanks to a win from Natalia Pogonina.
Russia (right) reaffirmed their lead by beating Armenia
The women's standings after seven rounds:
| Rk. | SNo | Team | W | D | L | MP | BP |
| 1 | 1 | Russia | 6 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 19.5 |
| 2 | 5 | Poland | 5 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 18.5 |
| 3 | 2 | Ukraine | 5 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 17.5 |
| 4 | 3 | Georgia | 5 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 17.0 |
| 5 | 12 | France | 5 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 17.0 |
| 6 | 8 | Bulgaria | 4 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 15.5 |
| 7 | 18 | Czech Rep. | 3 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 15.5 |
| 8 | 14 | Serbia | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 16.5 |
| 9 | 11 | Slovenia | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 15.5 |
| 10 | 4 | Armenia | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 14.5 |
| 11 | 6 | Hungary | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 14.0 |
| 12 | 7 | Germany | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 16.0 |
| 13 | 17 | Azerbaijan | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 14.5 |
| 14 | 15 | Israel | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 14.0 |
| 15 | 21 | Austria | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 13.5 |
| 16 | 19 | Croatia | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 13.0 |
| 17 | 9 | Romania | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 12.0 |
| 18 | 16 | Greece | 1 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 13.5 |
| 19 | 13 | Netherlands | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 13.0 |
| 20 | 20 | Latvia | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 14.0 |
| 21 | 10 | Spain | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 13.5 |
| 22 | 22 | England | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 13.5 |
| 23 | 23 | Italy | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 13.5 |
| 24 | 27 | Turkey | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 13.0 |
| 25 | 24 | Montenegro | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 10.5 |
| 26 | 26 | Lithuania | 0 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 11.0 |
| 27 | 25 | Switzerland | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 10.0 |
| 28 | 28 | Norway | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2.5 |
Pictures from the official website.
The European Team Chess Championships run from 3-11 November 2011 in Halkidiki, Greece.
This is the 18th edition of the championships, with 30 players rated over 2700 Elo taking part. There are 38 national teams in the Open event, and 28 in the separate women's event. Each team consists of 4 players and a reserve.
The format for both the Open and women's competitions is a 9-round Swiss, with time controls of 40 moves in 90 minutes followed by 30 minutes to finish, with a 30 second increment from the start of the game. The rounds start each day at 15:00 local time (13:00 UTC) except the final round which is 2 hours earlier. Live games are available at the official website.
