European Chess Championship

[Jonathan Rogers]

Well, they're off in Novi Sad. Reasonable start for both teams.

A 3-1 win v Monaco for the men, which does not sound great, though the dropped point is from Mcshane against their only (though lowly rated) GM. We did at least mop up the others, then. If that sounds mediocre, consider that only two of the top five seeds won at all: Russia drew with Croatia, Bulgaria (without Topalov) lost to Italy and Ukraine lost to Switzerland, with Jo Gallagher making the difference on board four. (England's best result!).

Since only matchpoints count, it may not matter quite so much that we dropped an early point - not that we are really playing for a place in the top five anyway, one wouldn't think. Note that only matchpoints count for pairing purposes too; so among teams with the same number of matchpoints, pairings continue to be done by seedings and not by the gamepoints racked up so far. That seems to be why we find ourselves on top board tomorrow, v Azerbaijan. Presumably we will have Adams, at least. But we are missing our goalscorer from last year in this match (Short, that is).

The women lost 2.5-1.5 to Bulgaria which is very respectable given the differences in rating. A good win for Ingrid!

[Mark Howitt]

Half reluctant to start this topic as have limited time for chess... but there's a euro champ on atm!

(Seems a bit typical of chessplayers to go on in detail about something when not always focusing on what's important).

Think it's v tough pairing for them tomorrow- Adams definitely needs to play all the rest of the games.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Moved to International News.

[Carl Hibbard]

Bo. 18 England (ENG) Rtg 3:1 38 Monaco (MNC) Rtg

18.1 GM McShane Luke J 2615 0:1 GM Efimov Igor 2433
18.2 GM Conquest Stuart C 2563 1:0 FM Van Hoolandt Patrick 2229
18.3 GM Williams Simon K 2545 1:0 Ribbegren Karl Johan 2158
18.4 GM Gordon Stephen J 2535 1:0 Iclicki Willy 2052

[Jonathan Rogers]

Perhaps my post on this last night should also be moved here, to keep everything on the same thread?

[Carl Hibbard]

Perhaps my post on this last night should also be moved here, to keep everything on the same thread?

That has been done

[Alex Holowczak]

Azerbaijan today. They have Mamedyarov on Board 4.

Why have Scotland fielded such a weak team? Looks like they've sent players who wanted to go and play, rather than fund their GMs to play. They haven't even sent a reserve.

[Roger de Coverly]

Why have Scotland fielded such a weak team? Looks like they've sent players who wanted to go and play, rather than fund their GMs to play. They haven't even sent a reserve.

They can't or don't want to afford it - see the discussion forum on http://www.chessscotland.com

They get a grant for the Olympiads but not for the Europeans.

Wales is seeded above them !

[Mark Howitt]

I don't really mind the thread being moved- but the original thread wasn't originally just on the euro championship.

Lol tactical move to but Mam down on board four... will be tough game today.

[Ben Purton]

That German lady who plays for us won.

[John Saunders]

Why have Scotland fielded such a weak team? Looks like they've sent players who wanted to go and play, rather than fund their GMs to play. They haven't even sent a reserve.

They can't or don't want to afford it - see the discussion forum on http://www.chessscotland.com

They get a grant for the Olympiads but not for the Europeans.

Wales is seeded above them !

That's a very patronising exclamation mark, Roger. Have the Welsh done something to upset you? This is the second instance of cymrophobia in last few days. Are you trying to become the Anne Robinson of chess? Or perhaps get an invitation to next week's 'Question Time'?

[Leonard Barden]

Azerbaijan today. They have Mamedyarov on Board 4.

Looks like a slugfest, with Williams as Black gambitting his b and e pawns against Mame in a Benkoish King's Indian. Doesn't seem enough compensation.... Adams v Radjabov, a 3 Bb5 Sicilian which Radja has sharpened by offering his c5 pawn for an attacking open f file.

[J T Melsom]

I doubt Roger is cymro-phobic. I note, as John Saunders alluded to last night's Question Time that both Nick Griffin and our newly elected President live in Wales. I trust this is a mere coincidence. However, Ben Purton seems to regard Germans as 'Johnny foreigner' and frankly his messages should be deleted. When it boils down to it his sentiments are really no different to those who object to black footballers playing for England. If people want to represent England at chess, given the lack of financial reward for doing so , that's good enough for me.

[Ben Purton]

Deary me, your full of crap Melsom, you need to actually get that theres a difference between disliking people and disliking them playing for the country. Also Race/Gender is different to nationality. So bringing that as a example is joke.

[Ben Purton]

It would have more validity and I would not be against it , if the said player actually had any sort of infiliation to team.