Germany Win 2011 European Team Champs
Tenth seeds Germany have won the 2011 European Team Chess Championship after beating Armenia 2½-1½ in a last-round showdown.
Germany's games with the white pieces on boards 1 and 3 ended in short draws, leaving all the action on boards 2 and 4.
Georg Meier won an excellent game against Sergey Movsesian on board 2, and Jan Gustafsson held on for a draw against Gabriel Sargassian in a nailbiting climax on board 4 to secure the gold medal for Germany.
Azerbaijan beat Romania 3-1 to claim the silver medal, while Hungary came from nowhere to thrash one-time leaders Bulgaria 4-0 to overtake unlucky Armenia in the standings and claim the bronze medal.
Naiditsch, Meier, Fridman and Gustafsson won the gold medal for Germany (left of picture)
Germany's match results during the tournament were:
| Round | Result/Opponent/(Seed)/Score |
| 1 | Beat Montenegro (29) 3-1 |
| 2 | Drew Israel (11) 2-2 |
| 3 | Beat Hungary (5) 2½-1½ |
| 4 | Beat Ukraine (2) 3½-½ |
| 5 | Lost to Bulgaria (7) 3-1 |
| 6 | Beat Italy (22) 3-1 |
| 7 | Beat Romania (17) 2½-1½ |
| 8 | Beat Azerbaijan (3) 2½-1½ |
| 9 | Beat Armenia (4) 2½-1½ |
Gashimov (centre) and Mamedyarov (right) both won against Romania to claim silver for Azerbaijan
Hungary (left) thumped Bulgaria 4-0 to claim an unexpected bronze medal
The final standings:
| Rk. | SNo | Team | W | D | L | MP | BP |
| 1 | 10 | Germany | 7 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 22.5 |
| 2 | 3 | Azerbaijan | 6 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 23.0 |
| 3 | 5 | Hungary | 5 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 23.0 |
| 4 | 4 | Armenia | 6 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 22.5 |
| 5 | 1 | Russia | 6 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 21.5 |
| 6 | 9 | Netherlands | 5 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 19.0 |
| 7 | 7 | Bulgaria | 5 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 18.5 |
| 8 | 14 | Poland | 4 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 22.0 |
| 9 | 17 | Romania | 5 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 20.0 |
| 10 | 13 | Spain | 5 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 19.5 |
| 11 | 22 | Italy | 5 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 19.0 |
| 12 | 18 | Serbia | 5 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 22.0 |
| 13 | 15 | Georgia | 4 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 22.0 |
| 14 | 11 | Israel | 4 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 20.0 |
| 15 | 2 | Ukraine | 4 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 19.0 |
| 16 | 12 | Czech Rep. | 3 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 18.5 |
| 17 | 21 | Slovenia | 4 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 17.5 |
| 18 | 20 | Moldova | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 20.5 |
| 19 | 6 | France | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 19.0 |
| 20 | 19 | Greece | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 19.0 |
| 21 | 16 | Croatia | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 17.0 |
| 22 | 8 | England | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 18.5 |
| 23 | 26 | Switzerland | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 18.5 |
| 24 | 27 | Latvia | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 18.0 |
| 25 | 29 | Montenegro | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 18.0 |
| 26 | 32 | Iceland | 4 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 18.0 |
| 27 | 25 | Sweden | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 17.5 |
| 28 | 24 | Denmark | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 17.0 |
| 29 | 31 | Norway | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 15.5 |
| 30 | 30 | FYROM | 3 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 18.5 |
| 31 | 28 | Finland | 3 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 17.0 |
| 32 | 23 | Austria | 2 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 16.5 |
| 33 | 33 | Lithuania | 2 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 16.0 |
| 34 | 34 | Turkey | 3 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 16.0 |
| 35 | 35 | Scotland | 2 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 13.5 |
| 36 | 37 | Luxembourg | 1 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 9.5 |
| 37 | 36 | Wales | 0 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 5.5 |
| 38 | 38 | Cyprus | 0 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 5.5 |
As expected, the Russian women's team completed an excellent tournament with a 3-1 victory in the final round to claim the gold medal. Poland took the silver medal, and Georgia pipped Ukraine to the bronze.
The gold medal winning Russian women
The women's final standings:
| Rk. | SNo | Team | W | D | L | MP | BP |
| 1 | 1 | Russia | 8 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 25.5 |
| 2 | 5 | Poland | 6 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 23.0 |
| 3 | 3 | Georgia | 7 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 22.5 |
| 4 | 2 | Ukraine | 6 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 21.5 |
| 5 | 12 | France | 6 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 21.0 |
| 6 | 8 | Bulgaria | 5 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 19.5 |
| 7 | 4 | Armenia | 4 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 19.0 |
| 8 | 7 | Germany | 4 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 20.5 |
| 9 | 15 | Israel | 4 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 19.0 |
| 10 | 11 | Slovenia | 4 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 19.0 |
| 11 | 10 | Spain | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 19.5 |
| 12 | 18 | Czech Rep. | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 18.0 |
| 13 | 13 | Netherlands | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 18.0 |
| 14 | 21 | Austria | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 17.5 |
| 15 | 6 | Hungary | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 17.0 |
| 16 | 19 | Croatia | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 17.0 |
| 17 | 9 | Romania | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 16.5 |
| 18 | 14 | Serbia | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 19.5 |
| 19 | 23 | Italy | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 18.0 |
| 20 | 17 | Azerbaijan | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 17.5 |
| 21 | 16 | Greece | 2 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 17.0 |
| 22 | 27 | Turkey | 3 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 17.0 |
| 23 | 22 | England | 3 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 17.0 |
| 24 | 26 | Lithuania | 1 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 15.5 |
| 25 | 25 | Switzerland | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 14.0 |
| 26 | 20 | Latvia | 2 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 17.0 |
| 27 | 24 | Montenegro | 2 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 13.5 |
| 28 | 28 | Norway | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 4.0 |
Pictures from the official website.
