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European Championship: Potkin and Savchenko on 4/4

PeterDoggers
| 0 | Chess Event Coverage
Potkin and Savchenko on 4/4 at European ChampionshipAt the European Championship in Aix les Bains, France Vladimir Potkin and Boris Savchenko are the only two players left with a 100% score. Judit Polgar is one of the 19 players on 3.5 points while top seed Peter Svidler has half a point less as he was held to a draw by two IMs.

The start of round 4 in Aix les Bans | Photo courtesy of the official website, more here

The 12th European Individual Chess Championship for Men is being held from March 21 till April 3rd, 2011 in Aix les Bain, France. The thermal city in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France has already hosted four big chess events: two individual French Championships (2003 and 2007) and two youth French Championships (2006 and 2009).




The Championship is a Swiss system of 11 rounds. The time control is 90 minutes for 40 moves and then 30 minutes to finish the game, plus 30 seconds per move starting with the first move. The games start every day at 15:00 CET (live here) while Tuesday, March 29th is a rest day.

A total of 407 participants (172 GMs!) are fighting for the European title or a more modest, personal goal. Beside, there are 23 qualification spots for the World Cup 2011 which will take place in August-September, again in Khanty-Mansiysk (Russia).

The list of stars includes top seed Peter Svidler; the strongest woman of all time, Judit Polgar; the young Italian-American prodigy, Fabiano Caruana, the present French Champion, Laurent Fressinet and many others. Seven of the eleven former European Champions will attempt the feat of becoming two-time Champions, including the 2007 Champion Vlad Tkachiev or the Russian, Pavel Tregubov, 1st European Champion. Ian Nepomniachtchi is defending his title.

Another notable participant is Sebastien Feller. Last week the Disciplinary Commission of the French Chess Federation suspended him for “violation of sporting ethics”. However, the 20-year-old Feller has decided to appeal against this and therefore claimed the right to play. (Incidentally, he also has the right to receive the hotel fees for 2600+ players from the federation).

After four rounds Russian GMs Vladimir Potkin and Boris Savchenko are the only two players left with a 100% score. The first round already saw some big surprises. Several strong players had to be content with a draw against much lower rated players, including top seed GM Peter Svidler (2730) who played the talented IM Helgi Dam Ziska (2432) of the Faroe Islands.

Dmitry Jakovenko (2718) did even worse: he lost to IM Artem Smirnov (2425). David Navara escaped with a draw against French IM Vincent Colin.

Navara-Colin Aix les Bains 2011 Navara-Colin After a passive opening, Black seizes the initiative convincingly. 28... g5! 29. exf6 Qxf6 Risky. 29...Bxf6 was a bit better. 30. Bxg5 Qg6 31. Ng4 e5 32. c5 exf4 33. Bxf4 h5 34. Bc4+ Kh7 35. Kh1 bxc5 36. bxc5 e3 37. Bxe3? 37.c6 Bxc6 38.Bd3 was more or less forced. Navara-Colin 37... Bxg2+! In mutual time trouble, Black finds a simple but nice way to blow up his opponent’s position. 38. Kxg2 Qe4+ 39. Kg3 h4+? 39...Be5+ was totally winning: 40.Nxe5 (40.Kh4 Nf3+) 40...Qxe5+ 41.Kg2 Qe4+ 42.Kh2 Nf3+. 40. Kxh4 Nf3+ 41. Kg3 Nxe1 42. Rxe1 Colin was still winning, but Navara showed some class in defending this difficult position, making his opponent fall into a well-known fortress with R+P vs Q. [Notes from the tournament bulletin.]

There are 19 players with 3.5/4 - 17 GMs and two IMs, both from France and both named Anthony: Wirig and Bellaiche. Judit Polgar started with a draw but then won her three subsequent games. Here are two more fragments from rounds 1-4.

Rublevsky-Zude Aix les Bains 2011 Rublevsky-Zude Black's last move was 14...Nc6?, where he should have included 14...b4. 15. Nd5! Bd8 16. Nf5! exf5 17. exf5 Ne5 18. Rxe5 dxe5 19. f6 g6 20. Ne7+ 1-0

Polgar-Edouard Aix les Bains 2011 Polgar-Edouard Polgar refutes the last move 35... h6? nicely: 36. h5! Rg8 37. Rd7 Rg7 38. Bf7! 1-0

Selection of games



Game viewer by ChessTempo


European Individual Championship 2011 | Aix les Bains | Round 4 Standings (Top 100)
Rk Name Ti FED Rtg Pts TB1 TB2 TB3
1 Potkin Vladimir GM RUS 2653 4.0 3354 5.5 10.0
2 Savchenko Boris GM RUS 2616 4.0 3312 4.5 9.0
3 Wirig Anthony IM FRA 2480 3.5 3420 5.0 9.0
4 Moiseenko Alexander GM UKR 2673 3.5 3368 5.0 10.5
5 Grachev Boris GM RUS 2675 3.5 3366 5.0 10.0
6 Kobalia Mikhail GM RUS 2672 3.5 3363 5.0 9.5
7 Guseinov Gadir GM AZE 2584 3.5 3358 5.0 10.0
8 Ragger Markus GM AUT 2614 3.5 3285 5.0 10.5
9 Vaisser Anatoly GM FRA 2522 3.5 2804 5.0 9.5
10 Bellaiche Anthony IM FRA 2472 3.5 2800 5.0 8.0
11 Parligras Mircea-Emilian GM ROU 2598 3.5 2761 5.0 10.5
12 Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter GM ROU 2673 3.5 2759 4.5 10.0
13 Sutovsky Emil GM ISR 2692 3.5 2750 4.0 8.0
14 Kotronias Vasilios GM GRE 2583 3.5 2749 4.5 9.0
15 Volokitin Andrei GM UKR 2677 3.5 2744 5.0 9.5
16 Mastrovasilis Dimitrios GM GRE 2584 3.5 2735 4.0 8.5
17 Iordachescu Viorel GM MDA 2626 3.5 2734 5.5 11.0
18 Korobov Anton GM UKR 2647 3.5 2711 5.0 10.0
19 Polgar Judit GM HUN 2686 3.5 2674 3.5 7.5
20 Reinderman Dimitri GM NED 2601 3.5 2670 4.5 9.0
21 Zhigalko Andrey GM BLR 2571 3.5 2663 5.0 9.5
22 Navara David GM CZE 2722 3.0 3346 4.0 8.0
23 Nielsen Peter Heine GM DEN 2670 3.0 3335 4.5 10.0
24 Ter-Sahakyan Samvel GM ARM 2575 3.0 3328 5.5 11.0
25 Vallejo Pons Francisco GM ESP 2707 3.0 3304 4.5 9.5
26 Hracek Zbynek GM CZE 2631 3.0 3301 4.0 8.5
27 Lupulescu Constantin GM ROU 2626 3.0 3286 4.0 9.0
28 Zhigalko Sergei GM BLR 2680 3.0 3275 4.5 9.0
29 Riazantsev Alexander GM RUS 2679 3.0 3274 4.0 8.5
30 Nyback Tomi GM FIN 2656 3.0 3263 4.5 9.0
31 Smirin Ilia GM ISR 2658 3.0 3249 4.0 7.0
32 Gharamian Tigran GM FRA 2650 3.0 3240 4.0 7.5
33 Pantsulaia Levan GM GEO 2595 3.0 3238 4.5 10.5
34 Zude Erik Dr IM GER 2409 3.0 3190 4.0 7.5
35 Popov Valerij GM RUS 2565 3.0 3143 4.0 8.0
36 Jones Gawain C B GM ENG 2578 3.0 3123 4.0 9.0
37 Shimanov Aleksandr GM RUS 2550 3.0 3060 4.0 8.5
38 Vocaturo Daniele GM ITA 2564 3.0 3036 3.5 7.0
39 Wells Peter K GM ENG 2487 3.0 2823 4.5 8.0
40 Dubov Daniil IM RUS 2489 3.0 2805 5.5 9.5
41 Javakhishvili Lela IM GEO 2437 3.0 2789 5.0 9.0
42 Motylev Alexander GM RUS 2677 3.0 2765 6.0 11.0
43 Nikolic Predrag GM BIH 2596 3.0 2762 5.5 9.5
44 Melkumyan Hrant GM ARM 2593 3.0 2759 5.5 11.0
45 Naiditsch Arkadij GM GER 2684 3.0 2752 4.5 9.0
46 Khismatullin Denis GM RUS 2662 3.0 2744 5.0 9.5
47 Bartel Mateusz GM POL 2638 3.0 2736 5.5 11.0
48 Mamedov Rauf GM AZE 2667 3.0 2730 3.5 7.5
49 Halkias Stelios GM GRE 2579 3.0 2727 5.0 9.5
50 Cheparinov Ivan GM BUL 2664 3.0 2727 4.5 8.5
51 Sargissian Gabriel GM ARM 2676 3.0 2727 4.0 7.5
52 Khairullin Ildar GM RUS 2634 3.0 2723 5.5 10.5
53 Gustafsson Jan GM GER 2647 3.0 2722 4.0 9.0
54 Smeets Jan GM NED 2660 3.0 2718 4.0 8.5
55 Feller Sebastien GM FRA 2657 3.0 2712 4.0 7.5
56 Wojtaszek Radoslaw GM POL 2711 3.0 2700 4.5 9.5
57 Azarov Sergei GM BLR 2615 3.0 2698 5.0 10.0
58 Andriasian Zaven GM ARM 2645 3.0 2685 5.0 10.0
59 Vitiugov Nikita GM RUS 2720 3.0 2679 4.5 8.5
60 Zherebukh Yaroslav GM UKR 2560 3.0 2674 4.5 9.0
61 Stevic Hrvoje GM CRO 2611 3.0 2668 5.5 11.0
62 Matlakov Maxim GM RUS 2625 3.0 2665 4.0 9.0
63 Saric Ivan GM CRO 2626 3.0 2665 4.0 8.5
64 Macieja Bartlomiej GM POL 2619 3.0 2655 5.5 10.5
65 Hammer Jon Ludvig GM NOR 2606 3.0 2652 4.0 8.5
66 Romanov Evgeny GM RUS 2624 3.0 2651 4.0 8.5
67 Alsina Leal Daniel GM ESP 2538 3.0 2648 5.0 9.0
68 Rogozenco Dorian GM ROU 2553 3.0 2643 4.5 9.5
69 Ivanisevic Ivan GM SRB 2617 3.0 2643 4.5 9.0
70 Kozul Zdenko GM CRO 2568 3.0 2630 4.5 8.5
71 Maze Sebastien GM FRA 2559 3.0 2629 6.0 10.0
72 Gallagher Joseph G GM SUI 2500 3.0 2628 4.5 8.5
73 Kovchan Alexander GM UKR 2563 3.0 2618 5.0 10.0
74 Papin Vasily GM RUS 2569 3.0 2593 3.5 7.5
75 Balogh Csaba GM HUN 2601 3.0 2579 4.5 9.5
76 Papaioannou Ioannis GM GRE 2605 3.0 2538 3.5 7.5
77 Svidler Peter GM RUS 2730 3.0 2456 4.0 9.0
78 Shengelia David GM AUT 2573 3.0 2248 3.0 6.0
79 Terrieux Kevin IM FRA 2422 2.5 2873 4.0 8.5
80 Getz Nicolai FM NOR 2333 2.5 2772 3.5 8.0
81 Palac Mladen GM CRO 2586 2.5 2754 6.0 10.5
82 Rublevsky Sergei GM RUS 2678 2.5 2752 5.0 10.0
83 Mikhalevski Victor GM ISR 2584 2.5 2746 5.5 11.0
84 Inarkiev Ernesto GM RUS 2674 2.5 2740 4.5 10.0
85 Bologan Viktor GM MDA 2671 2.5 2739 4.0 9.0
86 Nepomniachtchi Ian GM RUS 2729 2.5 2719 6.0 11.0
87 Doros Radu-Marian ROU 2278 2.5 2714 3.0 6.5
88 Deleva Michael FRA 2236 2.5 2694 4.0 7.5
89 Prie Eric GM FRA 2508 2.5 2692 4.0 8.5
90 Djukic Nikola GM MNE 2494 2.5 2683 4.5 8.5
91 Caruana Fabiano GM ITA 2716 2.5 2676 5.0 10.0
92 Cornette Matthieu GM FRA 2548 2.5 2675 4.0 8.5
93 Houriez Clement FM FRA 2252 2.5 2673 3.5 7.0
94 Laznicka Viktor GM CZE 2688 2.5 2672 4.0 7.5
95 Pridorozhni Aleksei GM RUS 2542 2.5 2666 5.5 9.5
96 Beliavsky Alexander G GM SLO 2619 2.5 2665 5.0 10.0
97 Rapport Richard GM HUN 2540 2.5 2663 5.0 9.0
98 Brandenburg Daan IM NED 2527 2.5 2655 5.0 9.5
99 Zakhartsov Viacheslav V GM RUS 2608 2.5 2654 5.0 10.0
100 Godena Michele GM ITA 2526 2.5 2653 5.5 9.0



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PeterDoggers
Peter Doggers

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.”

In October, Peter's first book The Chess Revolution will be published!


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