The 36th edition of the prestigious European Club Cup ended September 24th at Struga in North Macedonia with the Mednyi Vsadnik team from Russia winning the championship by the skin of its teeth over the AVE Novy Bor squad of the Czech Republic.
Both teams were undefeated in the 38-team, 7-round Swiss competition with a classic time format of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves + 30 minutes to finish + 30 seconds increment per move. Mednyi Vsadnik, bannered by GMs Peter Svidler, Andrey Esipenko and Vladimir Fedoseev, was seeded 2nd, while AVE Novy Bor, led by GMs Pentala Harikhrisna, Radoslaw Wojtaszek and David Navara was seeded 3rd.
Top seed Alkaloid – with GMs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Sam Shankland and Daniil Dubov at the helm, only managed to finish in 8th place. World champion Magnus Carlsen also played three games for Norway’s Offerspill Chess Club, which finished in 13th place.
The top 10 finishers are 1. Mednyi Vsadnik; 2. AVE Novy Bor; 3. Vugar Gashimov; 4. KPRF; 5. Skakfelag Selfoss; 6. Team XtraCon; 7. Sloven Ruma; 8. Alkaloid; 9. Silla-Valencia Origin of Chess; and 10. Schachgesellschaft Riehen.
Harikrishna,P (2725) – Svidler,P (2701) [C84]
Struga (5.1) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Nd7 12.Nbd2 Rb8 13.d5 Nb6 14.Re1 f5 15.exf5 Bxf5 16.Bxf5 Rxf5 17.Ne4 Qd7 18.b3 Rbf8 19.Nh2 c4 20.Be3 Bd8 21.Re2 Nb7 22.Nf1 Qc8 23.Rb2 R5f7 24.Nfg3 h6 25.Rd2 Nd7 26.Qg4 Kh7 27.Qe6 Bh4 28.Nf1 cxb3 29.axb3 Nf6 30.Nxf6+ Bxf6 31.Rxa6 Qxc3 32.Qf5+ Kg8 33.Qc2 Qb4 34.Ng3 Na5 35.Qe4 Qc3 36.Qd3 Qb4 37.Ne4 Be7 38.Rd1 Nb7 39.Rb6 Bd8 40.Rxb5 Qa3 41.Qc3 Qa2 42.Ra1 Qe2 43.Qc4 1-0
Grischuk,A (2775)-Westerberg,J (2526) [E11]
Struga (2.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Nbd2 0-0 5.a3 Be7 6.e4 d6 7.Be2 c5 8.d5 Nbd7 9.Qc2 Re8 10.Nf1 exd5 11.cxd5 Bf8 12.Ng3 b5 13.0-0 Rb8 14.a4 bxa4 15.Rxa4 Qc7 16.Bd2 Nb6 17.Ra5 Bg4 18.Rfa1 Nc8 19.Bb5 Bd7 20.Bf1 Qd8 21.h3 g6 22.Bc3 Bg7 23.Bd3 h5 24.Qd2 Nh7 25.Bxg7 Kxg7 26.Qc3+ Qf6 27.e5 dxe5 28.Ne4 Qf4 29.Nxc5 Nf6 30.Nxd7 Nxd7 31.Bb5 Ncb6 32.Bxd7 Nxd7 33.Rxa7 Nf6 34.d6 e4 35.Rxf7+ Kxf7 36.Ra7+ Kg8 37.Qc7 Nd7 38.Qxd7 Qc1+ 39.Ne1 Qh6 40.Qf7+ Kh8 41.Qf6+ Kg8 42.g4 hxg4 43.hxg4 Rf8 44.Qe6 Kh8 45.Qe5 Kg8 46.g5 Qh8 47.Qd5 1-0
Carlsen,M (2855) – Llobell Cortell,Enrique (2392) [B30]
36th ECC Open 2021 Struga MKD (4.1), 21.09.2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.Bxc6+ bxc6 5.e5 dxe5 6.Nxe5 Qd5 7.Nf3 Bg4 8.Nc3 Bxf3 9.gxf3 Qe5+ 10.Qe2 Qxe2+ 11.Kxe2 Nf6 12.d3 e6 13.Be3 Be7 14.Na4 Nd7 15.b3 0-0 16.Rag1 Kh8 17.d4 cxd4 18.Bxd4 f6 19.Rg4 Rfd8 20.Rd1 Kg8 21.Be3 Kf7 22.Rc4 Ne5 23.Rxd8 Bxd8 24.Rb4 a5 25.Rb7+ Kg6 26.Nc5 f5 27.Nxe6 Bf6 28.Nf4+ Kh6 29.Nd5+ Kg6 30.Ne7+ Bxe7 31.Rxe7 Kf6 32.Rc7 Ra6 33.Bd4 Ke6 34.Rxg7 1-0
Navara,D (2676)-Fedoseev,V (2708) [B12]
36th ECC Open 2021 Struga MKD (5.3), 22.09.2021
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 c5 6.Be3 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Ne7 8.Nd2 Nbc6 9.N2f3 a6 10.0-0 Be4 11.Rc1 Rc8 12.c4 dxc4 13.Bxc4 Nxd4 14.Nxd4 Bd5 15.b3 b5 16.Be2 Bb7 17.Nxb5 axb5 18.Bxb5+ Bc6 19.Rxc6 Nxc6 20.Qc2 Qd5 21.a4 f5 22.Rd1 Qe4 23.Bd3 Qb4 24.Ba6 Rc7 25.Bb5 Be7 26.Bb6 Rc8 27.Bxc6+ Kf7 28.a5 g5 29.Kf1 Qf4 30.g3 Qxe5 31.Qc4 Bc5 32.Re1 Qd6 33.Rxe6 Qd4 34.Re7+ 1-0
Alekseenko,K (2693)-Ragger,M (2665) [E60]
Struga (5.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.h4 Bg7 4.Nc3 c5 5.d5 e6 6.h5 Nxh5 7.g4 Nf6 8.d6 0-0 9.e4 Nc6 10.Qf3 h5 11.gxh5 Nxh5 12.Be2 Nd4 13.Qh3 Qf6 14.f4 Nc2+ 15.Kf1 Nxa1 16.Bxh5 gxh5 17.f5 Re8 18.Qxh5 exf5 19.Nd5 Qd4 20.Ne2 1-0
Mikhalevski,V (2573)-Korobov,A (2685) [A15]
Struga (5.1) 2021
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.h4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.h5 c5 8.e4 Nc6 9.Bb5 0-0 10.Ba3 Qb6 11.Rb1 a6 12.Bc4 Qc7 13.Qe2 Qa5 14.hxg6 hxg6 15.Nh4 e6 16.Qg4 Ne5 17.Nxg6 fxg6 18.Bxe6+ Bxe6 19.Qxe6+ Rf7 20.Rxb7 Qxa3 21.0-0 Qa4 22.Rxf7 Nxf7 23.Rb1 Re8 24.Qxg6 Qxe4 25.Qxe4 Rxe4 26.Rb8+ Bf8 0-1
Demchenko,A (2610)-Malakhov,V (2666) [C50]
Struga (5.2) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d3 h6 5.c3 Nf6 6.b4 Bb6 7.a4 a6 8.0-0 0-0 9.Nbd2 d6 10.h3 a5 11.b5 Ne7 12.Re1 Ng6 13.d4 Re8 14.Bb2 c6 15.Bf1 Be6 16.c4 exd4 17.Nxd4 Qc7 18.Ra3 Rad8 19.Rae3 Bc8 20.N2b3 Nd7 21.Qc2 Nc5 22.Nxc5 Bxc5 23.Rg3 cxb5 24.cxb5 Bb6 25.Qd2 d5 26.exd5 Rxe1 27.Qxe1 Rxd5 28.Qe8+ Kh7 29.Bd3 Rd6 30.Qe5 Kh8 31.Bxg6 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qxg7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Nb8/d8/a7/e7/a5/e5/b4, Nxd5 2.Ng5#; 1…Nd4, Ne8/g8/xh7/xh5/g4 2.Nc3#; 1…Bf2/e5 2.Qg2#.
