Both Georgian teams lead in Novi Sad
Azerbaijan and Georgia are leading the European Team Championship in Novi Sad after four rounds; the two teams won all their matches so far. Also in the women section Georgia tops the standings. In round 4 the Dutch team held Russia 2-2; on board one Smeets beat Morozevich with Black.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 4
After four rounds it's clear that Georgia is the most successful country so far in Novi Sad, with both teams having won all its matches. Yesterday the men were too strong for Serbia's first team: 1-3. As predicted, in the women section Georgia defeated Armenia; the score was 2½-1½.There weren't any real surprises this round, but the 2-2 draw against Russia was of course an excellent result for the Dutch team. Jan Smeets managed to beat Alexander Morozevich with Black in a very complicated game, and Stellwagen and l'Ami drew with Jakovenko and Alekseev respectively. Ernst was slowly but surely outplayed by Tomashevsky, but the question remains whether 35.Nxg7 Rf8+ 36.Kg2 Bf6 37.Nh5 Bc3 38.Rc1 was possible.Azerbaijan won its fourth match, against Israel. Radjabov, Gashimov and Mamedyarov are doing well but Guseinov is a weak spot so far. Greece held Germany thanks to a win by Papaioannou with Black against Naiditsch, who sacrificed his c2-pawn in a Scandinavian to avoid move repetition, but never saw it again. The centuries old rivalry between France and England was decided in favour of the country of wine and champagne; McShane lost his first game, to Fressinet, and Feller beat Williams.The fifth round will see Georgia-Azerbaijan, Israel-Russia, France-Armenia, Spain-Serbia 1 and Netherlands-Czech Republic. Other top pairings: Jobava-Radjabov, Sutovsky-Svidler, Bacrot-Aronian, Shirov-Solak and Smeets-Navara.The best players who played all four rounds are Conquest, Feller, Mamedyarov, Markus and Nyback, who all scored 3.5 points. In the women section Georgia is the only team with a 100% score. Azerbaijan and Ukraine follow with one match point less. Nadezhda Kosintseva won all four games there.All results round 4
Selection of games round 4
Game viewer by ChessTempo
Jan Smeets, board one of The Netherlands, beating...
...Alexander Morozevich, whose pokerface didn't help
The Georgian team with Baadur Jobava and Mikheil Mchedlishvili on boards 1 & 2
England vs Franc with Adams-Bacrot ½-½
The top match in round 4: Israel-Azerbaijan
The top match in round 4 of the women section: Georgia-Armenia
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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. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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