With just a round to go, four teams – Armenia, France, Azerbaijan and Ukraine – share the lead of the 23rd European Team Chess Championship Open Division being played at the large spa resort of Terme Čatež in Slovenia.
The 39-team, 9-round, Swiss chess team competition started November 11th with a classic time control of 90 minutes + 30 minutes play to finish +3 0 seconds increment per move. Running alongside the Open is the 23rd European Women’s Team Chess Championship already won by powerhouse Russia with a round to spare.
The tangle on top of the Open arose after France, bannered by GMs Aliresa Firouzja and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, toppled tournament favorite Russia led by GMs Alexander Grischuk and Daniil Dubov, 2½-1½. GM Maxime Lagarde’s victory over GM Andrey Esipenko on Board 4 won the match for France. On the other hand, Azerbaijan and Ukraine drew all four boards for a 2-2 tie, while Armenia demolished Serbia, 3½-½, to join the leaders. The last round will see France facing Azerbaijan, and Ukraine going up against Armenia in tough, exciting matches that will determine who gets to be the 23rd European Open Team Chess Champion.
Duda,Jan-Krzysztof (2756) – Hillarp Persson,T (2528) [B90]
Terme Catez (1.1) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3 e6 7.g4 Be7 8.g5 Nfd7 9.Be3 b5 10.a3 Bb7 11.h4 Nc6 12.Rg1 0-0 13.h5 Nc5 14.Qg4 Ne5 15.Qg2 Rc8 16.f4 Nc4 17.Bxc4 bxc4 18.0-0-0 Qb6 19.f5 Rb8 20.f6 Bd8 21.fxg7 Kxg7 22.g6 Bf6 23.Rdf1 fxg6 24.hxg6 Qxb2+ 25.Kxb2 Bxe4+ 26.Ka2 Bxg2 27.gxh7 Kh8 28.Rxg2 Bg7 29.Rfg1 Rb7 30.Nde2 Kxh7 31.Bd4 Rff7 32.Rg4 1-0
Jobava,B (2582)-Adams,M (2714) [C53]
Terme Catez (2.1) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.e5 d5 7.Be2 Ne4 8.cxd4 Bb4+ 9.Bd2 Bxd2+ 10.Nbxd2 0-0 11.0-0 Bf5 12.Rc1 Qe7 13.Nb3 f6 14.Re1 Kh8 15.Bb5 Nd8 16.exf6 Qxf6 17.Ne5 c6 18.Bf1 Nf7 19.f3 Ned6 20.Rc3 Rae8 21.Rce3 Qd8 22.Qc1 Kg8 23.Qc5 Nc8 24.a3 h5 25.Qb4 Qb6 26.Qc3 Nxe5 27.dxe5 Ne7 28.e6 Rf6 29.Nc5 Rh6 30.b4 Qc7 31.Re5 Rf6 32.Bd3 Bxd3 33.Qxd3 Ng6 34.Rxh5 b6 35.Nd7 Rfxe6 36.Nf6+ gxf6 37.Rxe6 Rxe6 38.Qxg6+ Qg7 39.Qf5 Re1+ 40.Kf2 Re2+ 41.Kxe2 Qxg2+ 42.Kd3 Qf1+ 43.Kc3 1-0
Giri,A (2774)-Saric,I (2665) [A21]
Terme Catez (3.1) 2021
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4 3.Nd5 Bc5 4.e3 Nf6 5.b4 Be7 6.Nxe7 Qxe7 7.Bb2 0-0 8.Ne2 Re8 9.a3 a5 10.b5 c5 11.Ng3 d6 12.Bd3 Nbd7 13.0-0 Nf8 14.f4 b6 15.Qc2 Ra7 16.h3 Ng6 17.fxe5 dxe5 18.Rf2 Qd8 19.Raf1 Nh4 20.Rxf6 gxf6 21.Bxh7+ Kf8 22.Bc3 Bb7 23.Be4 Ba8 24.Rf2 Bxe4 25.Qxe4 Ng6 26.h4 Re6 27.h5 Ne7 28.Qh7 Ke8 29.Ne4 f5 30.Ng5 Kd7 31.Qxf7 Rh6 32.Rxf5 Qe8 33.g4 Qxf7 34.Rxf7 Ra8 35.Bxe5 Rg8 36.Bg7 1-0
Mamedyarov,S (2765)-Nisipeanu,L-D (2651) [D37]
Terme Catez (3.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 Bb4 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bxf6 Qxf6 8.Bxc4 c5 9.e5 Qd8 10.0-0 cxd4 11.Ne4 Be7 12.Qe2 Nc6 13.Rfd1 Qa5 14.Ned2 Bd7 15.a3 Bg5 16.b4 Qc7 17.b5 Na5 18.Bd3 Rc8 19.Nxg5 hxg5 20.g3 Ke7 21.Re1 f5 22.Nf3 Nb3 23.Rab1 g4 24.Rxb3 gxf3 25.Qxf3 Qa5 26.Rb4 Qxa3 27.Rxd4 Rc1 28.Rxc1 Qxc1+ 29.Bf1 Rc8 30.Qxb7 Rc7 31.Qb8 Bc8 32.Ra4 1-0
Dastan,MB (2572)-Vachier-Lagrave,M (2766) [D35]
Terme Catez (4.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 Be7 7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.Nge2 h6 9.Bh4 Nh5 10.Bxe7 Qxe7 11.g4 Nhf6 12.Ng3 Nb6 13.Nf5 Qf8 14.Qf3 g6 15.Nxh6 Qxh6 16.Qxf6 Bxg4 17.Qe5+ Be6 18.Qc7 Qf8 19.Qxb7 Qd6 20.Qa6 Rxh2 21.Rxh2 Qxh2 22.Na4 Bc8 23.Qa5 Rb8 24.b3 Rb7 25.Nc5 Re7 26.Qd2 Bg4 27.Bf1 f5 28.Nd3 Nd7 29.Rc1 Re6 30.Nc5 Nxc5 31.Rxc5 f4 32.Rc3 Qg1 33.f3 Bxf3 34.Qf2 Qg3 35.Ba6 g5 36.b4 Rh6 37.exf4 Re6+ 0-1
Firouzja,A (2770)-Jobava,B (2582) [B12]
Terme Catez (7.1) 2021
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 Ne7 6.0-0 h6 7.Nbd2 Nd7 8.Nb3 Bh7 9.a4 a6 10.Bd2 Qc7 11.Rc1 Rd8 12.Ba5 b6 13.Bb4 a5 14.Bd6 Qb7 15.Qd2 Nc8 16.Bxf8 Nxf8 17.Ne1 Ne7 18.Nd3 Nd7 19.Nf4 0-0 20.Rfe1 Rc8 21.c3 Rc7 22.g4 Qb8 23.Qe3 Qd8 24.h3 Kh8 25.Nd2 c5 26.Bb5 Nc6 27.Kh2 cxd4 28.cxd4 Nb4 29.Rxc7 Qxc7 30.Qc3 Rc8 31.Rc1 Bc2 32.Qg3 Qd8 33.Bxd7 Qxd7 34.g5 hxg5 35.Qxg5 Qd8 36.Qh5+ Kg8 37.Nf3 g6 38.Rg1 Nc6 39.Qh6 Qf8 40.Qh4 Qg7 41.Nh5 Qh6 42.Rg4 Kf8 43.Qf6 Nd8 44.Rh4 Kg8 45.Ng5 Bd1 46.Qxd8+ 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Be8!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Qxb8 2.Rxe4#; 1…Qa7/c6+ 2.N(x)c6#; 1…Qa6+/d5 2.N(x)a6#; 1…Qb7 2. Rxb7#; 1…Nd6/f6/c5/g5/c3/g3/d2/f2 2.Q(x)c3#.
