Few surprises in first round European Team Championship

The first round of the European Team Championship saw few surprises. Russia beat Moldova in a match that could have ended quite differently. The biggest upset was Turkey beating Georgia 2.5-1.5.

The start of the match Russia vs Moldova, top board of the 2011 European Team Championship's first round

All photos © ChessDom

The strongest team competition of 2011 started on Thursday in a country that made headlines for different reasons. During arguably the biggest crisis in its long history, Greece is hosting the 18th European Team Championship with 38 teams in the open group and 28 teams in the women's group. Venue is the Olympic Hall Congress Center, within the 5-star Porto Carras Grand Resort in the Chalkidiki peninsula in northern Greece.

It's quite a tough tournament since there is no rest day. However, the teams were allowed to bring one reserve player so basically everyone can have multiple rest days.

Venue is the Olympic Hall Congress Center

Some officials had travelled to Greece to attend the opening ceremony and start of the event: during the brief ceremony, George Mastrokoukos welcomed the players and guests on behalf of the Organizing Committee; FIDE Vice President Ali Nihat Yazici greeted the participants and ECU President Silvio Danailov declared the Championships open and made the honorary first move in the match Russia-Moldova.

Danailov making the first move

There were few surprises in the first round. Sweden held France to 2-2: IM Semcesen lost to GM Bauer but Sweden's GM Carlsson beat the higher rated GM Istratescu, who recently changed federations.

[Event "18th European Teams"]
[Site "Porto Carras GRE"]
[Date "2011.11.03"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Carlsson, Pontus"]
[Black "Istratescu, Andrei"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B40"]
[WhiteElo "2502"]
[BlackElo "2627"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Sweden"]
[BlackTeam "France"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "SWE"]
[BlackTeamCountry "FRA"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c3 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 d6 7. Bc4 Nc6 8. O-O
Be7 9. Qc2 O-O 10. Nc3 dxe5 11. dxe5 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Qa5 13. Bd2 Bd7 14. Rfe1
Rfd8 15. Rab1 Rab8 16. Qe4 Be8 17. Ng5 g6 18. Qh4 h5 19. Qf4 Rxd2 20. Qxd2 Nxe5
21. Qf4 Bxg5 22. Qxe5 Qxe5 23. Rxe5 Bf4 24. Re4 Bd6 25. Bb5 Kf8 26. Bxe8 Kxe8
27. Kf1 Kd7 28. Rd4 e5 29. Rd5 Ke6 30. Ra5 a6 31. Rb6 Ke7 32. Rd5 Bc7 33. Rb1
Ke6 34. Rbd1 e4 35. a4 Be5 36. Rc5 h4 37. g3 hxg3 38. hxg3 f5 39. Ke2 Bd6 40.
Rcd5 Be7 41. Rd7 g5 42. Rc7 Bd6 43. Rh7 Be7 44. a5 b5 45. Rdh1 Bc5 46. R1h6+
Kd5 47. Rd7+ Kc4 48. Rc7 b4 49. Rb6 1-0

The Netherlands couldn't beat their first round opponent Finland either: GM Sokolov beat IM Sammalvuo but GM Stellwagen, who has been quite inactive for more than a year, might have been a bit rusty and lost to IM Karttunen.

[Event "18th European Teams"]
[Site "Porto Carras GRE"]
[Date "2011.11.03"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Karttunen, Mika"]
[Black "Stellwagen, Daniel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E73"]
[WhiteElo "2434"]
[BlackElo "2627"]
[PlyCount "191"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Finland"]
[BlackTeam "Netherlands"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "FIN"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NED"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Bg5 Na6 7. Nf3 Qe8 8. O-O
e5 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. c5 exd4 11. Nd5 Qd8 12. Bxa6 bxa6 13. cxd6 cxd6 14. Nxf6+
Qxf6 15. Qxd4 Qxd4 16. Nxd4 Rb8 17. b3 Bd7 18. Rfd1 Rfc8 19. Ne2 Rb6 20. Nf4
Be6 21. Rac1 Rbc6 22. Rxc6 Rxc6 23. f3 a5 24. h4 Kf8 25. Rd4 h6 26. Ra4 Rc5 27.
Nd3 Rb5 28. g4 g5 29. h5 Ke7 30. Kf2 Kd8 31. Ke3 Kc7 32. Kd2 f6 33. Rd4 Kc6 34.
Ke3 Rb7 35. Ra4 Kb5 36. Nc1 Rc7 37. Ne2 Kb6 38. Rd4 Rc6 39. Kd3 Kc7 40. Ra4 Rc5
41. Nd4 Bd7 42. b4 axb4 43. Rxa7+ Kd8 44. Ra8+ Ke7 45. Rh8 Rc3+ 46. Kd2 d5 47.
exd5 Ra3 48. Rxh6 Kd6 49. Rh7 Rxa2+ 50. Kd3 Ra7 51. Kc4 b3 52. Kc3 Rc7+ 53. Kb2
Rc4 54. Nxb3 f5 55. Nd2 Rc8 56. Rg7 fxg4 57. fxg4 Bxg4 58. Rxg5 Bd1 59. Ne4+
Ke7 60. Nc3 Bf3 61. Rf5 Bg4 62. Rg5 Bf3 63. h6 Rh8 64. Rg6 Kf7 65. Rd6 Rc8 66.
Kb3 Rc7 67. Kb4 Kg8 68. Nb5 Rb7 69. Kc5 Kh7 70. Nd4 Bxd5 71. Kxd5 Rb1 72. Nf5
Rb5+ 73. Ke4 Ra5 74. Kf4 Ra1 75. Ke5 Rf1 76. Kf6 Kh8 77. Kg6 Rg1+ 78. Kh5 Rh1+
79. Nh4 Kh7 80. Rd7+ Kh8 81. Kg5 Rg1+ 82. Kf5 Rf1+ 83. Ke6 Re1+ 84. Kf6 Rf1+
85. Nf5 Kg8 86. Rd3 Kh7 87. Kg5 Rg1+ 88. Ng3 Ra1 89. Rd7+ Kh8 90. Ne4 Rg1+ 91.
Kf5 Rg8 92. Rd6 Ra8 93. Rd7 Ra6 94. Nf6 Ra5+ 95. Rd5 Rb5 96. Kg6 1-0

England, with Adams and Short on top boards, beat Latvia 2.5-1.5

The biggest upset was Turkey beating Georgia 2.5-1.5. On top board GM Pantsulaia's win against IM Yilmaz was 'normal' but Turkey's GM Can and CM Sanal beat their higher rated opponents, Mchedlishvili and Zarkua respectively.

Top seed Russia's win over Moldova wasn't very impressive. On top board, World Cup winner Svidler escaped with a draw against Bologan:

[Event "18th European Teams"]
[Site "Porto Carras GRE"]
[Date "2011.11.03"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Bologan, Viktor"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2755"]
[BlackElo "2665"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "6r1/pp1kb2r/2p5/3nPRB1/3P4/6N1/PP6/3R2K1 w - - 0 37"]
[PlyCount "18"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Russia"]
[BlackTeam "Moldova"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "MDA"]

37. e6+ {Trying to complicate matters...} Kxe6 $2 {...and it works.} (37...
Kc7 {wins material and normally speaking, the game.}) 38. Re1+ Kd7 39. Bxe7
Rxg3+ 40. Kf2 Rgh3 41. Ba3 b5 42. Ree5 a5 43. Bc5 Rh2+ 44. Kf3 Rxb2 45. Rf8
Rbh2 1/2-1/2

Iordachescu and Grischuk drew on two, and Nepomniachtchi couldn't beat IM Vedmediuc with the black pieces. Board 3 should have ended in a draw too:

[Event "18th European Teams"]
[Site "Porto Carras GRE"]
[Date "2011.11.03"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Svetushkin, Dmitry"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "2762"]
[BlackElo "2621"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "6R1/8/4B3/8/8/kp6/1r6/3K4 w - - 0 76"]
[PlyCount "2"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Russia"]
[BlackTeam "Moldova"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "MDA"]

{We're about to enter the infamous, but theoretically drawn RB vs R ending, or
are we?} 76... Rg2 $4 77. Rxg2 1-0

(We got confirmation from Peter Svidler that this last move wasn't a mistake in the transmission...)

Experienced GMs: Alexander Beliavsky held Vassily Ivanchuk to a draw in Ukraine-Slovenia, 3.5-0.5

Azerbaijan beat Italy also with 2.5-1.5 'only', but board 3 was a real walk-over:

[Event "18th European Teams"]
[Site "Porto Carras GRE"]
[Date "2011.11.03"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Brunello, Sabino"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2575"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Azerbaidjan"]
[BlackTeam "Italy"]
[BlackTeamCountry "ITA"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 dxc4 4. e3 b5 5. a4 b4 6. Nce2 Qd5 7. Ng3 Nf6 8. Be2
e5 9. Nf3 Nbd7 10. O-O Bd6 11. Nd2 c3 12. bxc3 bxc3 13. e4 Qe6 14. Nf5 O-O 15.
Bc4 Nd5 16. Nf3 N7b6 17. Bb3 Ba6 18. Re1 Bc7 19. dxe5 1-0

An interesting match was Bulgaria vs Switzerland. It was another 2.5-1.5, with Topalov (yes, he's playing!) drawing Pelletier and Cheparinov splitting the point with (yes, he's playing too!) Korchnoi. After move 40 crazy things happened:

[Event "18th European Teams"]
[Site "Porto Carras GRE"]
[Date "2011.11.03"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Korchnoi, Viktor"]
[Black "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E81"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2650"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "6k1/1p5r/p2p1b2/2pP4/P4PbB/2N1q1P1/1P4Q1/5R1K w - - 0 37"]
[PlyCount "25"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Switzerland"]
[BlackTeam "Bulgaria"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "SUI"]
[BlackTeamCountry "BUL"]

{White is lost. and tries his last chance.} 37. Qe4 Rxh4+ $1 {Decisive, but
not in this game.} 38. gxh4 Qh3+ 39. Kg1 Bd4+ 40. Rf2 Qg3+ 41. Kh1 Bxf2 $2 ({
The subtle} 41... Kf8 $1 {forces resignation.}) 42. Qe8+ Kg7 43. Qe7+ Kg6 44.
Qxd6+ $2 {Now White is lost again.} (44. Qe8+ $11) 44... Kh5 $2 ({Winning was}
44... Kf7 $1 45. Qc7+ Ke8 $1 46. Qb8+ Ke7 47. Qc7+ Bd7 48. Qe5+ Kd8 $19) 45.
Qe5+ Kxh4 46. Qe7+ Kh3 47. Qh7+ Qh4 48. Qd3+ Qg3 49. Qh7+ 1/2-1/2

Another draw between openings book author Delchev and former openings books author Gallagher meant that Georgiev's win over IM Kurmann decided the match.

Topalov and Cheparinov top the Bulgarian team

In the women's section, Czech Republic held Armenia to 2-2 and Switzerland beat higher rated Slovenia.

Games top boards round 1 (Open)

PGN file

Games top boards round 1 (Women)

PGN file

Results Open section, round 1

Round 1 results women's section can be found here