European Club Cup

Tim Harding

This starts today at 2pm at Novi Sad, capital of the northern province of Vojvodina, Serbia.

Ireland has two weakened teams: Gonzaga (lacking Sam Collins and Conor O'Donnell) and Trinity (really a Trinity graduates/past captains team without Karl and Ioana but borrowing two young Blanchardstown experts).

The pairings (and ordered team lists) are now available at chess-results.com:
http://chess-results.com/tnr246470.aspx?lan=1&art=3&rd=1&turdet=YES&flag=30&wi=984

They also can be seen on chess24:
https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/european-club-cup-2016/1/1/1

I guess we won't know until it gets under way how many of the games will be broadcast live.

Round 1 of 7 is the usual top half versus bottom half so some 6-0 results can be expected; let's hope our guys are not on the wrong end of them.

Trinity are playing a team from Gent in Belgium; on board 1 Stephen Moran has Black against GM Romain Edouard. Also playing today (in board order) are Colin Menzies, Anthony Bourached, Rudolf Tirziman, Luke Scott, and Rory Delaney (captain). The reserve player not in action today is Oisin Benson.

Gonzaga are playing a mixed-nationality team called KSK47 Eynatten who have two GMs. Their line-up today is David Murray (captain), Killian Delaney, Henry Li (great opportunity for young Henry to meet masters), Gordon Freeman, John McMorrow and Ray Byrne. The other player in their squad is Colin Jackson.

Tim Harding

Very few surprise results today and Trinity lost 6-0.

The most notable giant-killing feat of the day was the win by 13-year-old Henry Li on board 3 for Gonzaga against an IM rated 2457. So Gonzaga only lost 1-5.

It will probably be round 3 or 4 before big match-ups start. Most of the 10 highest-rated players were rested today but Ding Liren won and Grischuk was held to a draw by an IM.

Tim Harding

Round 2 board pairings are now available. The draw seems to have given Gonzaga an easier match than Trinity.

Gonzaga play Hatay Metropolitan from Turkey and are higher rated on every board. Thye should win comfortably. Killian sits this one out so Henry Li is on board two.

Trinity play a team from Monaco who are higher rated on all but bottom board. The opposition have two FMs and a 2395-rated GM on board 3. It looks a tough match but hopefully we can get something from it; it could be crucial for Oisin Benson to use the white pieces effectively. Rory has rested himself today.

Every match yesterday was decisive. English team Cheddleton get the down-float to a losing team. This brings David Howell up against fast-rising Dutch teenager Jorden van Foreest.

Mostly there is a big rating average gap between teams meeting today but some "lower-rated" teams have a very strong top board or even board 2. MVL-Markus Ragger could be a game to watch. Rapport-Kamsky is the board 2 line-up in the top match. Mamedyarov, Grischuk, Ding Liren and Svidler also play today.

Some squads have eight players this year (it was max 7 previously?) so top seeds Siberia still have Kramnik "in their pocket" but Anish Giri plays for them today.

Bombadil10

Any one else having trouble viewing games played by the Irish teams on chess24.com?
Or is it the case that their results are listed, but not the games themselves due to them not using live boards?

Tim Harding

Bombadil10 wrote: »

Any one else having trouble viewing games played by the Irish teams on chess24.com?
Or is it the case that their results are listed, but not the games themselves due to them not using live boards?

Yesterday only the top 15 matches (approx) were on live boards. Unless that changes we are unlikely to see the Irish games live.

Tim Harding

As predicted, Gonzaga won today. Carl Jackson drew and Gordon Freeman lost. There were wins for David Murray, Henry Li, John McMorrow and Ray Byrne.

Trinity lost 4-2. They won two of the games with White (Colin Menzies on board 2 and Oisin Benson on board 6) but the Monaco players who had White all won, and eventually Rudolf Tirziman lost on 4 in the last game to finish.

Teams should find their level by round 4 but Gonzaga could be in for a tough one tomorrow.

Tim Harding

Team pairings are up now; board pairings won't be known until later, probably tomorrow (Tues).

Good news: Gonzaga are in match 15 so I think they may be online in round 3. Perhaps the only chance we'll get to see Irish players in live action.

They have Black on odd-numbered boards against AEM Luxten Timisoara who have four GMs, Two IMs and one untitled player who will have to play if he's a norm-seeker.

Top match sees the nominally Italian team OR Padova (MVL, Aronian, Gelfand, Leko, Bacrot and three strong Italians) with Black on odds against a Serbian team led by Mamedyarov, Rapport and Morozevich, so things are starting to hot up.

It's not clear yet whether chess24 will have proper commentary for the later rounds. Perhaps not with the Carlsen-Karjakin match close on the horizon.

Syberia play a team from Moscow. Maybe Kramnik will turn out, but perhaps he won't fancy Black against Ernesto Inarkiev (winner of the Aeroflot this year) who also has not played yet.

Another match to watch is English team Cheddleton (Howell on board 1, Simon Williams on 3) against number two seeds Alkaloid (Ding Liren, Andreikin, Eljanov, Jakovenko, Yu Yangyi, Kryvoruchko plus two reserves).

Trinity play DLF Steinitz Roma who are all about 2200 except their reserve, with three FMs. So it is not easy for them but could be a close match. The two Welsh teams and the second English team (White Rose) also lost both matches, but Edinburgh Chess Club won today (against Cardigan).

Does any reader on this board know the Irish player Kieran O'Driscoll who is on the White Rose team (as he also was last year)?

cdeb

Tim Harding wrote: »

Does any reader on this board know the Irish player Kieran O'Driscoll who is on the White Rose team (as he also was last year)?

Think he's from Cork?

Drew with Babs and Lopez in Cork in 2014.

Other than that, don't know much. Just the name is familiar.

Tim Harding

Board pairings are now available at chess24 and chess-results.com. Gordon Freeman and Luke Scott have the day off.

Apart from the Gonzaga match (if it is indeed shown live on chess24) big games to watch today:

Mamedyarov-MVL, Rapport-Aronian and Morozevich-Gelfand are the first three boards in the top match.
Inarkiev-Kramnik will indeed happen in match 2.
Ivanchuk-Van Wely is top board in match 3.

I shall also keep an eye on Andreikin-Howell and Jakovenko-Williams in match 5.

Tim Harding

I see John McMorrow is providing on-the-spot reports at the ICU website so I'll probably stop posting about this event after today.
Carl Jackson tried his favourite gambit 1 d4 Nf6 2 g4 against his GM opponent - why not under the circumstances? But he lost so we now have a model game to study. (I found it annoying that Avrukh's book on QP games omitted this gambit altogether: evidently unknown in Israel.)

The others are still fighting but the best chance of a result is board 2; after lengthy manoeuvring, Killian Delaney has just offered a B on f5 and it could be good for a draw at least.

Elsewhere Mamedyarov beat MVL.

Tim Harding

Trinity won their match today against an Albanian team who on average were slightly higher rated. A tough match with a Geneva team awaits tomorrow.
Both Irish teams have two match points.

Gonzaga, who lost by the narrowest margin, play tomorrow against the Monaco team that beat Trinity. Henry Li now has 3/4 for them.

Today's full results can be seen at
http://chess-results.com/tnr246470.aspx?lan=1&art=3&rd=4&turdet=YES&flag=30&wi=984&zeilen=99999

There are now only two teams with 100% records (eight match points) so Alkaloid and Syberia don't meet tomorrow. Syberia (who drew 3-3 today after Grischuk lost to Naiditsch) are only on 7 and will need to beat Alkaloid when (as is likely) they meet in one of the last two rounds.

eclipsechaser

Henry Li has continued his great run by beating GM Igor Efimov. That's his first win against a GM - not surprising given his first win against an IM was earlier this week.

L1m1tless

That's brilliant news. I'm glad to say I have bragging rights to a 100% record against him :P Just have to avoid playing him ever again!

Tim Harding

eclipsechaser wrote: »

Henry Li has continued his great run by beating GM Igor Efimovin. That's his first win against a GM - not surprising given his first win against an IM was earlier this week.

Actually Efimov, Igor. "Only" rated 2395 but still an excellent result for the young teenager, especially considering he was playing Black.

I think Henry must have a fair chance of an IM norm now, so long as he plays both remaining rounds (he must not be rested).
He probably only needs one more point or maybe only a draw, depending on the rating of his remaining opponents.

He has already satisfied the requirements to play at least 50 per cent titleholders and at least three IM or GM (he's met 2 GM, 1 IM and one FM) so it doesn't matter if he does not meet another, though he probably will as Gonzaga won again today (wins for Carl and Ray also and a draw for Gordon).

After four rounds Henry's Rp was 2463 so it must be even higher now, and he needs it to finish at 2450+.

Unfortunately Trinity only scored half a point today (well done Rory).

At the time of writing a few games were still in progress but it looks like the crunch match Alkaloid v Syberia will happen tomorrow.

Tim Harding

Round 6 pairings are up and things are a bit clearer now for Henry Li's norm chances.
Henry's Rp at present is 2535 which is well up on the 2450 needed at the end of the event.

Gonzaga have White on odds against White Rose, who have only six players so their captain has a simple choice.

Let Henry play White against M. P. Townsend, which would drop the rating average of his opponents a bit, but offer good chances of a result as Townsend's results have not been that good in Novi Sad (four losses and a draw today), or risk resting one of their top two so that Henry would have Black against a slightly higher rated opponent, FM Martin Brown.

It looks pretty clear to me that Henry should play Townsend and try to beat him but not risk everything as a draw would still keep the norm chance alive for the last round.

Trinity play Norwegian team Sjakklubben AV 1911 who have a higher rating average with a GM and an IM.
There are still two teams with zero MP and they meet tomorrow.

Tim Harding

There has been some debate on the English Chess Forum about whether title norms are obtainable in the ECC. The official announcement of the tournament says they are although it's not clear what the FIDE Congress decided about it.

Henry Li drew today in a narrow Gonzaga win. Killian, Gordon and Carl won; David and John lost while Ray rested.

Tomorrow, when they meet a Serbian team, a draw would perhaps be enough for him, but it won't be easy with Black against an opponent rated 2432. Alternatively the Gonzaga captain David Murray, who hasn't had a day off, could rest himself so that Henry has White against a 2478 IM. (By now the team list has probably been submitted but we won't know until the morning what's decided.) Good luck to them anyway.

The chess-results site shows Henry's Rp as 2478 based on opponents' average rating 2289, but for norm purposes he can raise the rating of the round two opponent to 2050, which raises his opponent average and hence the Rp. But if Henry draws (or wins) it seems his Rp will be over 2450. At present he's gaining over 100 FIDE rating points.

Trinity had another hard day, losing 1-5. Oisin won; Luke rested. Tomorrow Trinity play Cardigan who are headed by two veterans of Welsh chess; Howard Williams and Iolo Jones.

At the top of the event, Alkaloid drew all six games with Syberia and go into the last round 1 MP ahead of the field.

mikhail

Tim Harding wrote: »

At present he's gaining over 100 FIDE rating points.

What's the cap on annual FIDE rating gain these days?