Azerbaijan, Russia take gold at the European Team Chess Championship

report by chessdom

Double bronze for Ukraine

The European Team Chess Championship took place on 22-30th October in Novi Sad, Serbia. The team of Azerbaijan with a touch of luck declined attacks from Russia and kept the first place which they took up from the very start of the competition. In the last round Azerbaijan beat Netherlands 2.5-1.5 (Stellwagen - Gashimov 0-1) and Russia was shocked by Spain who held them to a 2-2 tie (Morozevich - Vallejo Pons 1-0, Alekseev - Salgado Lopez 0-1). Had Russia won that match, they would have retained the gold medal from 2007 Crete thanks to a better tiebreak score - sum of game points.

This gold medal is a historic success for the young and ambitious team from Azerbaijan. At the last European Team Chess Championship they won a bronze and this summer they hired the experienced Georgian Grandmaster Zurab Azmaiparashvili to help them as a team captain in Novi Sad.

Russia took the consoling silver medal, while Ukraine beat Israel 3-1 in the final round to claim the bronze medal with a better tiebreak ahead of the Olympic champions from Armenia. Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine signed 6.0/8 on the first board for the best rating performance on the Championship - 2823.

Women team of Russia was involved in a dramatic race with Georgia, as the two teams singled out on the top ahead of rest of the field. In the last round both teams achieved 2.5-1.5 wins, against Armenia and Romania respectively, but the Russians celebrated the gold medal as they enjoyed better sum of the individual points. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev immediately congratulated the team which defended the gold medal from Crete.

The team of Russia

Azerbaijan players were the stars in the Women's event as well. Seeded 20th prior to the championship, the girls won against many strong teams and contested the medal until the final moves. However, the seasoned team of Ukraine claimed the bronze, but only after calculating the second tiebreak sum - Buchholz coefficient.

Final standings - Open

1 Azerbaijan AZE - 15
2 Russia RUS - 14
3 Ukraine UKR - 13 (23)
4 Armenia ARM - 13 (22)
5 Germany GER - 12
6 Spain ESP - 12
7 Poland POL - 12
8 Hungary HUN - 11
9 Netherlands NED - 11
10 Serbia 1 SRB 1 - 11
11 Israel ISR - 11
12 England ENG - 10
13 Georgia GEO - 10
14 Romania ROU - 10
15 Switzerland SUI - 10
16 Slovenia SLO - 9
17 France FRA - 9
18 Bulgaria BUL - 9
19 Finland FIN - 9
20 Greece GRE - 9
21 Austria AUT - 9
22 Denmark DEN - 9
23 Czech Republic CZE - 9
24 Norway NOR - 9
25 Serbia 2 SRB 2 - 8
26 Croatia CRO - 8
27 Belgium BEL - 8
28 Former Yug Rep of Macedonia MKD - 8
29 Bosnia & Herzegovina BIH - 7
30 Turkey TUR - 7
31 Lithuania LTU - 7
32 Italy ITA - 7
33 Montenegro MNE - 6
34 Iceland ISL - 6
35 Wales WLS - 6
36 Luxembourg LUX - 5
37 Scotland SCO - 2
38 Monaco MNC - 1

Final standings - Women

1 Russia RUS - 16 (26)
2 Georgia GEO - 16 (24)
3 Ukraine UKR - 12 (20/188)
4 Azerbaijan AZE - 12 (20/183)
5 Armenia ARM - 11
6 France FRA - 11
7 Czech Republic CZE - 11
8 Poland POL - 10
9 Slovenia SLO - 10
10 Hungary HUN - 10
11 Romania ROU - 10
12 Germany GER - 10
13 Israel ISR - 10
14 Netherlands NED - 9
15 Greece GRE - 9
16 Spain ESP - 9
17 England ENG - 8
18 Italy ITA - 8
19 Croatia CRO - 8
20 Austria AUT - 8
21 Bulgaria BUL - 8
22 Montenegro MNE - 7
23 Serbia SRB - 7
24 Bosnia & Herzegovina BIH - 6
25 Turkey TUR - 5
26 Former Yug Rep of Macedonia MKD - 4
27 Norway NOR - 4
28 Finland FIN - 3