Romania Early Leaders In Euro Team Champs
A bright start by the Romanian team has left them top of the European Team Championships after two completed rounds.
The 17th seeds reached the top spot thanks to a 4-0 whitewash of Wales in the first round, and a 3-1 win against Turkey in round two. They will now face Spain in round three, who should prove to be stiffer opposition.
Hosts Greece also made an excellent start to lie in second place, beating Cyprus 4-0 in the opener, and upsetting England 2½-1½ in round two thanks to wins against Nigel Short and David Howell.
Top seeds Russia struggled to win their opening match 2½-1½ against Moldova, relying on a single win from Alexander Morozevich, but they upped their game in round two, beating the Czech Republic 3½-½.
In the women's championship Serbia have taken an early lead, with top seeds Russia and second seeds Ukraine breathing down their necks in 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
Russia (left) struggled to beat Moldova in the first round
Nigel Short was checkmated as England (left) lost to the hosts Greece in round two
The Armenians (pictured) lost 3-1 to bitter rivals Azerbaijan in round two
All the results and more games are available at the official website.
The Open standings after two rounds:
| Rk | SNo | Team | W | D | L | MP | BP |
| 1 | 17 | Romania | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7.0 |
| 2 | 19 | Greece | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6.5 |
| 3 | 1 | Russia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6.0 |
| 4 | 3 | Azerbaijan | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5.5 |
| 5 | 13 | Spain | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5.0 |
| 6 | 14 | Poland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6.0 |
| 7 | 2 | Ukraine | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5.5 |
| 8 | 6 | France | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5.5 |
| 9 | 10 | Germany | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5.0 |
| 10 | 5 | Hungary | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5.0 |
| 11 | 16 | Croatia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5.0 |
| 12 | 11 | Israel | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5.0 |
| 13 | 7 | Bulgaria | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4.5 |
| 14 | 9 | Netherlands | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4.5 |
| 15 | 20 | Moldova | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5.5 |
| 16 | 18 | Serbia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5.5 |
| 17 | 15 | Georgia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5.5 |
| 18 | 22 | Italy | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5.0 |
| 19 | 4 | Armenia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4.5 |
| 20 | 27 | Latvia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4.5 |
| 21 | 8 | England | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4.0 |
| 22 | 12 | Czech Republic | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4.0 |
| 23 | 34 | Turkey | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3.5 |
| 24 | 21 | Slovenia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3.5 |
| 25 | 29 | Montenegro | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3.5 |
| 26 | 25 | Sweden | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.5 |
| 27 | 26 | Switzerland | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.5 |
| 28 | 24 | Denmark | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.0 |
| 29 | 35 | Scotland | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.0 |
| 30 | 33 | Lithuania | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2.5 |
| 31 | 31 | Norway | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2.5 |
| 32 | 28 | Finland | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2.0 |
| 33 | 32 | Iceland | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2.5 |
| 34 | 30 | FYROM | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2.5 |
| 35 | 23 | Austria | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1.5 |
| 36 | 36 | Wales | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.5 |
| 37 | 38 | Cyprus | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 38 | 37 | Luxembourg | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.0 |
The women's standings after two rounds:
| Rk | SNo | Team | W | D | L | MP | GP |
| 1 | 14 | Serbia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7.5 |
| 2 | 1 | Russia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6.0 |
| 3 | 2 | Ukraine | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5.5 |
| 4 | 9 | Romania | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5.5 |
| 5 | 3 | Georgia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5.0 |
| 6 | 7 | Germany | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5.5 |
| 7 | 13 | Netherlands | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4.5 |
| 8 | 18 | Czech Republic | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4.5 |
| 9 | 4 | Armenia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4.5 |
| 10 | 11 | Slovenia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5.5 |
| 11 | 12 | France | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4.5 |
| 12 | 10 | Spain | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4.5 |
| 13 | 5 | Poland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4.5 |
| 14 | 16 | Greece | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4.5 |
| 15 | 15 | Israel | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4.0 |
| 16 | 8 | Bulgaria | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4.0 |
| 17 | 27 | Turkey | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4.0 |
| 18 | 6 | Hungary | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3.5 |
| 19 | 24 | Montenegro | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3.5 |
| 20 | 25 | Switzerland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3.0 |
| 21 | 17 | Azerbaijan | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.5 |
| 22 | 26 | Lithuania | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.0 |
| 23 | 20 | Latvia | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3.0 |
| 24 | 23 | Italy | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2.5 |
| 25 | 19 | Croatia | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2.5 |
| 26 | 22 | England | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2.0 |
| 27 | 21 | Austria | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1.5 |
| 28 | 28 | Norway | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.0 |
Pictures from the official website.
The European Team Chess Championships run from 3-11 November 2011 in Halkidiki, Greece.
This is the 18th edition of the championships, with 30 players rated over 2700 Elo taking part. There are 38 national teams in the Open event, and 28 in the separate women's event. Each team consists of 4 players and a reserve.
The format for both the Open and women's competitions is a 9-round Swiss, with time controls of 40 moves in 90 minutes followed by 30 minutes to finish, with a 30 second increment from the start of the game. The rounds start each day at 15:00 local time (13:00 UTC) except the final round which is 2 hours earlier. Live games are available at the official website.
