European Team Chess Championships

[Alastair White]

Cant quite believe wha's happening here. Scotland outgraded by 100+ ELO points on every board, are giving Belgium a bloody nose. Comfortably draw for Andy M. Alan Tate was a couple of pawns down but never gave up hope and eventually managed to set up enough mating threats to turn it round force a win. Andy B battled bravely but couldn't salvage a lost position so the match all hinges on the last game. Graham was doing well for most of the game with Q+P vs R+R and at the time of writing (move 48) he has just won a piece for 2 pawns to reach an ending Q+B+RP vs R+R+2P. Is it winnable? I don't know. But we surely can't lose it.

Edit - now his opponent has given up R for B to leave a very interesting ending (R+2P vs Q+RP). The silicon Brute says Graham is winning but I'm not so sure - could White set up a 'fortress'? Computers are not very good at these assessments (unless you use tablebases),

Edit again - Draw as I thought. However it's a good result. Match drawn.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi,

Good result and a very good game by Alan.

The game with some comments here.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1809099

[andyburnett]

Finally we showed that we could play as a team and get a result!

Andy M. had a solid draw as white, while I messed up a bit in my preparation and then missed the few chances which came my way.

Fortunately, just as I was resigning, Alan launched a vicious attack on the dark squares around his opponent's king. Almost impossible to defend in practice, and so it proved - Alan getting a well-deserved win and levelling the match.

This left Graham to try to eke out a win to take the match, but his opponent found a fortress and a draw. Still an excellent day's play from the Scots and a much-needed result for everyone before tomorrow's rest day.

Hopefully today's result will restore a bit of faith on the team's ability to play chess - I for one was getting a bit worried. After the rest day we have Austria in round 6. Not sure of our team yet but we are hopeful of taking something from the match.

England's men unfortunately lost today which puts them out of contention realistically, while Carlsen committed a gross blunder in a simple endgame (he basically chucked a piece in one move) to lose to Switzerland's Pelletier.

He doesn't seem overly interested/concerned about his results (just my impression of course) and might be better off not playing these events if he can't summon up the same intensity for his country as he shows as an individual. About 5 minutes after his loss he was walking about laughing and smiling.


There are tours arranged for tomorrow, but they are extremely pricey. £60 for a day tour? Hmmm. Alan has signed up for the football while I might pop into the international backgammon tournament - I know nothing about the game but am supposed to interview a backgammon champion/author soon for work so might as well get some tips!

P.S. Andy M and myself got a ticking off about talking (while my game was still going). Of course we weren't discussing the game, but the paranoia around cheating is huge at this event (and elsewhere nowadays).

They introduced hand-held body-scanners today, to complement the airport scanners at the entrance. I got scanned on the way-in, scanned at the smoker's area and scanned again at the toilets. It would have been much easier if they had just looked at my game - pretty bloody obvious I wasn't cheating!!

As of tomorrow no-one is allowed to wear a watch either. Upon this announcement Andy M pulled an old watch-face from his pocket (circa-1970, minus a strap!) and asked how he would tell the time if it wasn't allowed. Sundials and star positions from now on I guess. Sad state of affairs, but the reality of the game in 2015.

[Jonathan Livingstone]

Thanks for the excellent posts Andy. Good insights to the playing environment. Alan's game was classic Alan doing what he does best really. Graham a bit unfortunate and so nearly a win for the team. Are Scotland the bottom seeds? The team must have been exhausted after the previous grueling run of defeats by top level opposition in knife edge games. It is evident the team is showing great effort and competing well.

[amuir]

Stephen and i went to the national museum today. Apart from the icelandic reformation and volcano eruptions there were lots of hneftafel and Lewis chess pieces about. Geoff would have loved it.

[George Murphy]

Is there something wrong with the final position shown in Roddy's game? His last move is given as 50. Bf1, but instead 50. Nf6 is surely mate? (Wp on h5, WRs on e8 and f7; Bp on g7 is pinned.) This can't be right, surely??

Otherwise, our Senior players are doing well. Keep it going ...

George


:ymblushing: Apologies. I've got the wrong thread!!!

[Jonathan Livingstone]

Wrong thread George I was watching Roddy's game Live when it got stuck when it shown blacks move 42 as Ra3, then came up with same move on whites turn for move 43. Someone obviously tried to fix it, but it must have gone wrong as the moves just don't make any sense. Roddy looked like he was about to go material up and I expected him to go on to win. The results however confirm it was a draw. Maybe black found a perpetual check?... we may never know.

EDIT: Yes you noticed

[Alastair White]

George, Jonathan I have replied to this in the other, 'Correct' Thread...

[Geoff Chandler]

Brilliant.

One thread is called the 'World Seniors 2015 ' and the other
is the 'European Team Chess Championships' yet George
(should have gone to spec-savers) Neave manages to get them mixed up.

Anyway.

Aronian (White) resigned here.

[pos]8/8/p7/1b6/1Pp4k/P1K5/6P1/8[/pos]













And I posted in chessgames.com the clear draw.

This resulted in this:

http://www.redhotpawn.com/chess-blog/the...-on-me.277

OOPS!

[amuir]

I am resting today - went to outdoor swimming - minus 5 celsius here in your swimming costume - but pool plus 38 celsius when get to it - like hungary people were playing chess in pool - plus also basketball