England teams for 2011 European Team Championship

[Nick Thomas]

Go Greece

[Michael Jones]

I can add some "inside info" to the Azerbaijan-France match. The match was progressing normally until I became aware of a commotion from outside the playing area in the smoking section. It transpired that Gashimov had had what I believe to have been an epileptic fit (or something similar) and his teammates were very worried about his condition. I'm not sure what transpired after that but all four clocks were stopped and some negotiations appeared to be taking place. Next thing I knew four draws were agreed and all the players (with the exception of Gashimov) shook hands. From the outside it looked like a very sporting gesture on the part of the French team. The Azerbaijan team were clearly very concerned for their player and looked in no state to continue playing. I subsequently heard that he'll be okay and wish him a speedy recovery.

Thanks for the info Loz. All the best to Gashimov for a rapid recovery, and congratulations to the French team for their sporting offer.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I can add some "inside info" to the Azerbaijan-France match. The match was progressing normally until I became aware of a commotion from outside the playing area in the smoking section. It transpired that Gashimov had had what I believe to have been an epileptic fit (or something similar) and his teammates were very worried about his condition. I'm not sure what transpired after that but all four clocks were stopped and some negotiations appeared to be taking place. Next thing I knew four draws were agreed and all the players (with the exception of Gashimov) shook hands. From the outside it looked like a very sporting gesture on the part of the French team. The Azerbaijan team were clearly very concerned for their player and looked in no state to continue playing. I subsequently heard that he'll be okay and wish him a speedy recovery.

Sounds like it was handled in a very sporting manner. Out of interest, how do the technicalities of an absent player agreeing a draw work? Does the captain agree the draw on that player's behalf? And is this explicitly stated somewhere? (Clearly allowing such a thing is in the spirit of the rules, I'm just asking if it is actually written into the rules as well). Hope Gashimov recovers fully and in time to carry on playing.

[Mick Norris]

Good news, Gashimov has recovered
Bo. 1
Russia Rtg - 3
Azerbaijan Rtg 0 : 0
3.1 GM Svidler Peter 2755 - GM Radjabov Teimour 2781
3.2 GM Grischuk Alexander 2752 - GM Gashimov Vugar 2757
3.3 GM Karjakin Sergey 2763 - GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2733
3.4 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian 2730 - GM Guseinov Gadir 2636

EDIT - report here suggest Gashimov wasn't as bad as he appeared
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/etc-r ... ing-unwell

Interesting comment about whether they would have been allowed to agree 2-2 if anti-draw rules had been in place

[Mick Norris]

Bo. 12 Czech Rep. - 8 England
10.1 GM Navara David 2724 - GM Adams Michael 2734
10.2 GM Laznicka Viktor 2703 - GM Short Nigel D 2698
10.3 GM Hracek Zbynek 2628 - GM Jones Gawain C B 2635
10.4 GM Stocek Jiri 2600 - GM Pert Nicholas 2563

[Mick Norris]

Bo. 28 Norway - 22 England
14.1 WFM Johnsen Sylvia 2028 - IM Ciuksyte Dagne 2327
14.2 Reppen Ellisiv 1949 - WFM Yurenok Maria S 2106
14.3 Carlsen Ellen Oen 1931 - WFM Bhatia Kanwal K 2087
14.4 Hansen Erle Andrea Marki 1762 - WFM Hegarty Sarah N 2060

[Mick Norris]

Bo. 36 Wales - 35 Scotland
19.1 FM Williams A Howard 2353 - FM Morrison Graham 2339
19.2 CM Jones Iolo C 2282 - IM Muir Andrew J 2311
19.3 Kett Tim 2184 - CM Roberts Paul 2222
19.4 Pleasants Allan J 2089 - Mitchell Martin 2215

Interesting

[Ben Purton]

Common Navara!!!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

No results from either England team reported at chess-results.com yet, but the links are here:

http://chess-results.com/tnr57856.aspx? ... ES&flag=30
http://chess-results.com/tnr57855.aspx? ... ES&flag=30

[Mick Norris]

Now reporting a win for Dagne

[Mick Norris]

Live games here:
http://euro2011.chessdom.com/etcc-2011- ... n-section/

Interesting position in Aronian's game

[Paul Dargan]

Been following Round 6 on WhyChess and some strange games...

Did Aronian really have enough for the piece or was he just fed-up with his position anyway and figured it was as good as just sitting thee and being worse?

Bd 2 in the Greece-Romania game simplified into R+B+wrongRP v's R ... which I was keen to watch as I've struggled to convert this twice ... then (move 52) Black offers the exchange of rooks on b5 (the White pawn is still on a3) and the online kibitzer (Houdini2 I beleive) says mate in 21?? really can White keep the Black king out of a8 AND advance the a-pawn?? Obviously the human player in the game played something quiet and just kept the position - but weird?

It looks like France will manage to get some kind of result against Bulgaria ... and sadly no England games on the live feed ... in fact no results from any of the games in the England match at all.

Paul

[Christopher Kreuzer]

4.5 hours play and still no results from the Open match involving England (though to be fair the ratings are very evenly matched on the first three boards, and not far apart on the fourth board). The women's team still 2-0 up. Scotland have beaten Wales in the Open section.

[Phil Makepeace]

Gawain has drawn with Hracek.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Indeed, and England's women recorded 4-0 against Norway. Congratulations to them!

(Also in the women's event, Russia dropped a draw against Poland)