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European Club Cup: Perfect Score For Globus, Odlar Yurdu
Mamedyarov scored a brilliant win vs Nisipeanu. | Photo: ECC/David Llada.

European Club Cup: Perfect Score For Globus, Odlar Yurdu

PeterDoggers
| 13 | Chess Event Coverage

Top favorite Globus and sixth seed Odlar Yurdu started with four wins and will face each other in round five of the European Club Cup in Göynük/Antalya, Turkey. This report covers rounds two, three and four.

Round 2

After the usual big wins on the first day, the first big upset came as early as round two. Second seed Alkaloid of Macedonia lost to Moscow's SHSM Legacy Square Capital in a match with only one decisive result. Evgeniy Najer, who eliminated Fabiano Caruana from the World Cup last month, beat Pavel Eljanov as Black in a mere 23 moves.

The Ukrainian GM clear didn't have his day on the tactical front.

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Not a great day at the office for Pavel Eljanov. | Photo: ECC/David Llada.

This was good news for Globus, who saw one of its main rivals drop points while gaining the two match points itself. CSM Baia Mare from Romania was defeated 4.5-1.5, still without Vladimir Kramnik and Alexander Grischuk playing. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov won a spectacular game on board one vs Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu:

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When Mamedyarov is in an attacking mood you'd better hide. | Photo: ECC/David Llada.

Obiettivo Risarcimento Padova lost the sponsor that could sign up players such as Hikaru Nakamura and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in recent years. With only Italian players they were almost held to 3-3 by Šk Dunajská Streda of Hungary, until Daniele Vocaturo managed to win after 141 moves:

Meanwhile the local organizers were having fun with a drone, which shows the beautiful resort where the tournament takes place.

Round 3

Vladimir Kramnik finally made his first appearance for Globus in round three. He played Radek Wojtaszek of Novy Bor. Each game Kramnik plays until December has the extra story line of the rating qualification to the Candidates', so Fabiana Caruana and Wesley So might have kept a close watch here.

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Kramnik only played one game in Antalya so far. | Photo: ECC/David Llada.

There was a bit of tension before the game ended in a perpetual just before the time control. 

Kramnik on playing or not playing: "It's our captain who is deciding. I was ready to play all games; I am ready to play any day but it's always our common decision with the captain."

All games except for one ended in draws in this match. Sergey Karjakin won a fine (end)game vs Markus Ragger, which secured the next two match points for Globus.

A very enjoyable game in this match was the battle between Ian Nepomniachtchi vs Mateusz Bartel—who doesn't like the occasional king walk (in this game the black monarch ending up on e1)?

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Mateusz Bartel. | Photo: ECC/David Llada.

Round 4

With Legacy Square Capital (Inarkiev, Najer etc.) and Mednyi Vsadnik (Svidler, Matlakov etc.) playing 3-3 in the third round, the Swiss pairing system produced some mismatches on the top boards on Wednesday. Globus defeated Gambit Asseco See (Macedonia) 5.5-0.5, and on a table nearby Odlar Yurdu of Azerbaijan beat LSG Leiden (Netherlands) 5-1.

Kramnik again sat out, but Alexander Grischuk was more than capable on top board. He won a nice game:

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Alexander Grischuk. | Photo: ECC/David Llada.

Speaking of domination, Anish Giri must have enjoyed finishing off his game by letting his king join the party:

It's easy to see that Globus will play Odlar Yurdu on Thursday, but at the time of writing the individual board pairings aren't known yet. The other big clashes are Novy Bor vs SHSM Legacy Square Capital and Obiettivo Risarcimento Padova vs Alkaloid. The Dutch players from Leiden will have another tough battle as they play Mednyi Vsadnik (Bronze Horseman) from St. Petersburg.

2017 European Club Cup | Round 4 Standings

Rank SNo. Team + = - MP Pts.
1 1 Globus 4 0 0 8 19½
2 6 Odlar Yurdu 4 0 0 8 18½
3 5 SHSM Legacy Square Capital 3 1 0 7 16½
4 2 Alkaloid 3 0 1 6 18
4 AVE Nový Bor 3 0 1 6 18
6 7 Csm Baia Mare 3 0 1 6 16½
7 3 Mednyi Vsadnik 2 2 0 6 16
8 10 Obiettivo Risarcimento Padova 3 0 1 6 14½
9 14 Gambit Asseco See 3 0 1 6 14
10 12 LSG Leiden 3 0 1 6 13
11 8 Beer Sheva Chess Club 2 1 1 5 16½
12 20 Augusta Perusia 2 1 1 5 13
33 Karaman Belediyesi Spor Kulübü 2 1 1 5 13
14 16 Beşiktaş Jimnastik Kulübü 2 0 2 4 15½
15 11 Šk Dunajská Streda 2 0 2 4 14½
16 9 Nice Alekhine 2 0 2 4 13
17 13 Riga Technical University 2 0 2 4 12
18 23 3CS 2 0 2 4 11½
19 17 LSK 'MAKABI' 2 0 2 4 11
28 Genç Akademisyenler Eğitim Kültür ve Araştırma Kulübü 2 0 2 4 11
21 21 Etelä-Vantaan Shakki 2 0 2 4 10½
22 19 Fjölnir Chess Club 2 0 2 4 10
22 Vålerenga Sjakklubb 2 0 2 4 10
24 15 Oslo Schakselskap 1 1 2 3 12
25 27 SK Elektroprivreda 1 1 2 3 10
26 18 Skakklubben Nordkalotten 1 0 3 2 11½
31 Adare Chess Club 1 0 3 2 11½
28 30 Gonzaga 1 0 3 2 10½
29 24 White Rose 1 0 3 2
29 Dardania Chess Club 1 0 3 2
31 32 Viking Chess Club 1 0 3 2 8
32 26 Hasan Pristina 1 0 3 2
35 Chania Chess Academy 1 0 3 2
34 25 Club Gambit Bonnevoie 1 0 3 2 6
35 34 Benildus Chess Club 0 0 4 0
36 36 Hatay Büyükşehir Belediyesi Spor Kulübü 0 0 4 0 1

Games from TWIC.

You can follow a selection of top games every day in live chess. A live broadcast provided by the organizers, with commentary by GM Bartlomiej Heberla & IM Can Arduman, can be found at Chess.com/TV during the rounds.

The tournament can also be found on social media on Twitter (hashtag #ECC2017), Facebook and Instagram


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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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