As expected, the final round clashes of the 23rd European Team Chess Championship Open Division proved exciting and thrilling, as the four teams tied at the top battled for top honors. In the end, Ukraine, crushed Armenia, 3-1, to tie France on top before bunking on a better tiebreak quotient to snatch the gold. France , on the other hand, squeaked past Aerbainjan, 2½-1½, on Aliresa Firouzja’s defeat of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov on top board. Both Ukraine and France finished with 14 match points, but a better game point tally gave the gold to the Ukrainians. While France settled for the silver, it also celebrated Firouzja’s crossing the Elo 2800 rating, making the teenage whiz the youngest chess player in history to cross the ELO 2800 rating at age 18 years and 5 months. Magnus Carlsen cross 2800 rating when aged 18 years and 11 months.
Meanwhile, Poland and Spain tied for bronze, having scored identical 13 match points, each, but better tiebreaks again awarded the bronze to the Poles.
Russia claimed the women’s crown as early as the penultimate round, but it punctutated its win by beating Poland in the final round to complete a sweep of the women’s division. Georgia took the silver, while Azerbaijan went home with the bronze.
Firouzja,A (2770)-Mamedyarov,S (2765) [C50]
Terme Catez (9.1) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d3 h6 6.c3 d6 7.Re1 0-0 8.h3 a5 9.Nbd2 Be6 10.Bxe6 fxe6 11.Nb3 Ba7 12.Be3 Bxe3 13.Rxe3 a4 14.Nbd2 d5 15.Re2 b5 16.exd5 Nxd5 17.a3 Nf4 18.Re3 Qe8 19.g3 Nxh3+ 20.Kg2 Ng5 21.Nxg5 hxg5 22.Qg4 Rf5 23.Nf3 Qf7 24.Qe4 Rf8 25.Rh1 g6 26.Qxc6 g4 27.Kg1 Rxf3 28.Rxf3 Qxf3 29.Qxe6+ Qf7 30.Qxf7+ Rxf7 31.Rh4 Rd7 32.Rxg4 Rxd3 33.Rxg6+ Kf7 34.Rc6 Rd2 35.c4 Rxb2 36.Rxc7+ Ke6 37.Rc6+ Kf5 38.cxb5 Rb3 39.b6 Rxa3 40.b7 Rb3 41.Ra6 Rxb7 42.Rxa4 e4 43.Ra5+ Kf6 44.Kf1 Rb3 45.Ke2 Rc3 46.Ra8 Rb3 47.Rf8+ Ke5 48.Kf1 Kd4 49.Kg2 Rb7 50.Kh3 Ke5 51.g4 1-0
Korobov,A (2684)-Sargissian,G (2664) [E32]
Terme Catez (9.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.Nf3 d5 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.Qxc3 dxc4 8.Qxc4 b6 9.Bg5 Bb7 10.Rd1 Nbd7 11.e3 h6 12.Bh4 Rc8 13.Ne5 g5 14.Bg3 c5 15.Nxd7 Qxd7 16.dxc5 Qc6 17.Be5 Nd7 18.Bc3 Nxc5 19.f3 Qa4 20.Qxa4 Nxa4 21.Bf6 Rc2 22.h4 g4 23.Rd4 1-0
Martirosyan,HM (2624)-Volokitin,A (2656) [D38]
Terme Catez (9.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bf4 Ne4 7.Rc1 Nc6 8.Nd2 g5 9.Be3 Nxc3 10.bxc3 Ba3 11.Rb1 f5 12.g3 Bd6 13.Nf3 f4 14.Bc1 0-0 15.Rb5 g4 16.Nh4 Ne7 17.e3 c6 18.Rb3 f3 19.Bd3 Ng6 20.Nxg6 hxg6 21.Qc2 Qe7 22.Bxg6 b5 23.Kd1 Kg7 24.Bd3 Be6 25.Re1 Rh8 26.e4 dxe4 27.Rxe4 Rxh2 28.Qd2 Qf6 29.Qe3 Bf5 30.c4 Rah8 31.Re5 Bxd3 32.Rxd3 bxc4 33.Ba3 Rxf2 34.Qxf2 Bxe5 35.dxe5 Rh1+ 36.Kd2 Qh6+ 37.Kc3 Rc1+ 38.Kb4 cxd3 39.Qxa7+ Kg6 40.Bxc1 d2 41.Qe7 dxc1Q 42.Qf6+ Kh7 43.Qf7+ Qg7 0-1
Van Foreest,L (2532)-Anton Guijarro,D (2669) [B14]
Terme Catez (9.2) 2021
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nf3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Re1 Nc6 10.a3 b6 11.d5 Na5 12.Ba2 Nxd5 13.Nxd5 exd5 14.Qxd5 Be6 15.Qxd8 Raxd8 16.Bxe6 fxe6 17.b4 Bf6 18.Rb1 Nc4 19.a4 Rd3 20.Rxe6 Na3 21.Bxa3 Rxa3 22.b5 Rxa4 23.Rc6 Ra2 24.Rc7 Re8 25.g3 Ree2 26.Re1 Rxe1+ 27.Nxe1 Bd4 28.Nc2 Bc5 29.Ne3 h5 30.Nf5 g6 31.Ne7+ Kf7 32.Nc6+ Ke6 33.Nxa7 Bxf2+ 34.Kf1 Bc5 35.Rc6+ Kf5 36.Nc8 Rf2+ 37.Ke1 Rxh2 38.Nxb6 Bf2+ 39.Kf1 Bxg3 40.Nd5 g5 41.Ne3+ Ke4 42.Ng2 h4 43.Rc4+ Kd3 44.Rg4 Rh1# 0-1
Jobava,B (2582)-Duda,J-K (2756) [C15]
Terme Catez (9.1) 2021
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.exd5 exd5 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.0-0 Nge7 8.Ne2 Bxf3 9.gxf3 Qd7 10.c3 Bd6 11.Ng3 h5 12.Re1 0-0-0 13.a4 Rdg8 14.a5 h4 15.Nf1 Qh3 16.a6 g5 17.axb7+ Kb8 18.Rxe7 Bxe7 19.Ne3 g4 20.Bf1 gxf3+ 21.Kh1 Qe6 22.Qxf3 Qg6 23.Qg2 Qf6 24.Nxd5 Qf5 25.Ne3 Rxg2 26.Nxf5 Rxf2 27.Bd3 Bd6 28.Nxd6 cxd6 29.b4 h3 30.b5 Nd8 31.b6 a5 32.Ba3 Nxb7 33.Re1 Rf3 34.Ba6 Rxc3 35.Re7 Rxa3 36.Rxb7+ Ka8 37.Ra7+ Kb8 38.Rb7+ Kc8 39.Ra7+ Kd8 40.Bf1 Re8 41.Kg1 Rb3 42.Ra8+ Ke7 0-1
******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ne6!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Nxe6 2.Rd7#; 1…Kxe6 2.N4g5#; 1…Re5 2.Nc7#; 1…Qxe4 2.Qxe4#; 1…Qe2 2.Nf4#; 1…Qxe6 2.Rd1#.
