2012 Chess Olympiad
Reports | November 09, 2011 20:16

ETC R6-7: Azerbaijan in sole lead after beating Bulgaria

ETC R6-7: Azerbaijan in sole lead after beating Bulgaria

Azerbaijan is the sole leader at the European Team Championship in Halkidiki, Greece. On Wednesday the Azerbaijanis crushed Bulgaria 3.5-0.5. Vugar Gashimov seems fully recovered as he played both rounds 6 and 7. Russia is still struggling but Ukraine completely lost track and even lost to Switzerland.

With two rounds to go Azerbaijan is leading by a point at the 2011 European Team Championship

All photos © ChessDom

Event 18th European Team Championship 2011 | Chess Results | PGN (Men) PGN (Women) via TWIC
Dates November 3rd-11th, 2011
Location Halkidiki, Greece
System 9-round Swiss Team Competition
Players Top 20 rated players are Aronian, Radjabov, Ivanchuk, Topalov, Karjakin, Morozevich, Gashimov, Svidler, Grischuk, Adams, Mamedyarov, Nepomniachtchi, Caruana, Navara, Ponomariov, Leko, Moiseenko, Bacrot, Giri and Naiditsch
Rate of play 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game plus 30 seconds increment starting from the first move

Two rounds ago Bulgaria was on a roll and Azerbaijan had other problems to worry about. After Wednesday the roles were reversed: in a direct confrontation the Azerbaijanis defeated the Bulgarians 3-1 to grab the lead - they have 12 match points. Two teams follow with 11 points: Armenia (yes, they fought themselves back up) and Germany (yes, back in a team competition and doing well).

Tuesday, round 6

On Tuesday tournament leader Bulgaria dropped a match point against France, who had enjoyed a semi-rest day in the previous round. Bacrot and Topalov drew a 5.Bf4 QGD - highly popular these days - and Fressinet and Delchev also split the point. Cheparinov profited from a big mistake by Vachier-Lagrave:

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On board 4 the French were more succesful thanks to their fresh team member.

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Good spirits at the start of France-Bulgaria

This result allowed Azerbaijan and Romania (!) to catch the Bulgarians in the standings. The Azerbaijanis profited from a yet again struggling Russian team. On board one Svidler had a small plus against Radjabov but at some point it went terribly wrong. Because the other three games ended in draws, this game decided everything.

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The top match between Russia and Azerbaijan

Romania is doing surprisingly well, especially taking into account that they're playing without Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu and Andrei Istratescu. In this round Parligras was match winner:

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Armenia defeated Spain but needed some luck. Levon Aronian played a piece sac against Vallejo that looked very suspicious, but he got away with a draw. Sargissian claimed the two match points with his win:

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Armenia vs Spain with Aronian-Vallejo on board 1

Georg Meier decided the match Germany-Italy, providing a splendid training example of the bishop pair.

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The Dutch team won 2.5-1.5 against Poland thanks to a black win for Van Wely against Socko. Both Ukraine-Israel and England-Czech Republic ended in 2-2.

Wednesday, round 7

The Bulgarian party is over, at least for the moment. The score 0.5-3.5 left no doubts about their match with Azerbaijan, who again included Gashimov in their line-up, so we can safely say that he recovered well. In fact he defeated an in-form Cheparinov, who went for the brilliancy prize but got a zero instead:

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Azerbaijan put an end to Bulgaria's success

The Germany-Romania was decided by, well, Levente Vajda's wandering king!

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Armenia continued its comeback with a 2.5-1.5 win against France: three draws and a win for Movsesian against the Frenchman with two names, and now also two consecutive losses. Perhaps Maxime was asking for trouble, playing the Scheveningen against one of the biggest experts of this opening?

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France-Armenia

Hungary was too strong for Slovenia: 3-1. We just have to include board 4 of this match, because the similarity with coffeehouse chess was striking:

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The Dutch team also still has chances to win a medal - after another victory, against Greece, they're in shared 4th place. Anish Giri, who again played 1.e4, scored his second win in the tournament (he drew his other five games) and a nice one:

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We'll finish with what was the biggest upset in the tournament: Ukraine losing to Switzerland (who didn't play with Korchnoi this round). It's hard to believe these scores! But congratulations to the Swiss for this great result.

Bo. 26 Switzerland Rtg - 2 Ukraine Rtg 3 : 1
8.1 GM Pelletier Yannick 2581 - GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2775 ½ - ½
8.2 GM Gallagher Joseph G 2500 - GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2723 ½ - ½
8.3 IM Kurmann Oliver 2451 - GM Eljanov Pavel 2691 1 - 0
8.4 IM Forster Richard 2458 - GM Efimenko Zahar 2702 1 - 0

Efimenko reached a winning position but then missed a devilish combination:

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An excellent result for the Swiss

In the women's section Russia is close to winning the gold medal. They're leading with two match points ahead of Poland. With one point less, Ukraine, Georgia and France follow.

Games top boards round 6 (Open)

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Games top boards round 6 (Women)

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Games top boards round 7 (Open)

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Games top boards round 7 (Women)

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Round 6 results

 

Bo. 6 France Rtg - 7 Bulgaria Rtg 2 : 2
1.1 GM Bacrot Etienne 2714 - GM Topalov Veselin 2768 ½ - ½
1.2 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2710 - GM Cheparinov Ivan 2650 0 - 1
1.3 GM Fressinet Laurent 2700 - GM Delchev Aleksander 2629 ½ - ½
1.4 GM Istratescu Andrei 2627 - GM Georgiev Kiril 2666 1 - 0
Bo. 19 Greece Rtg - 17 Romania Rtg 1½:2½
2.1 GM Banikas Hristos 2620 - GM Lupulescu Constantin 2657 ½ - ½
2.2 GM Mastrovasilis Dimitrios 2621 - GM Parligras Mircea-Emilian 2650 0 - 1
2.3 GM Papaioannou Ioannis 2600 - GM Vajda Levente 2584 ½ - ½
2.4 GM Halkias Stelios 2593 - GM Marin Mihail 2534 ½ - ½
Bo. 1 Russia Rtg - 3 Azerbaijan Rtg 1½:2½
3.1 GM Svidler Peter 2755 - GM Radjabov Teimour 2781 0 - 1
3.2 GM Grischuk Alexander 2752 - GM Gashimov Vugar 2757 ½ - ½
3.3 GM Karjakin Sergey 2763 - GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2733 ½ - ½
3.4 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian 2730 - GM Guseinov Gadir 2636 ½ - ½
Bo. 4 Armenia Rtg - 13 Spain Rtg 2½:1½
4.1 GM Aronian Levon 2802 - GM Vallejo Pons Francisco 2705 ½ - ½
4.2 GM Movsesian Sergei 2710 - GM Salgado Lopez Ivan 2621 ½ - ½
4.3 GM Akopian Vladimir 2681 - GM Illescas Cordoba Miguel 2609 ½ - ½
4.4 GM Sargissian Gabriel 2671 - GM Arizmendi Martinez Julen Luis 2568 1 - 0
Bo. 10 Germany Rtg - 22 Italy Rtg 3 : 1
5.1 GM Meier Georg 2659 - GM Caruana Fabiano 2727 1 - 0
5.2 GM Fridman Daniel 2661 - IM Dvirnyy Daniyyl 2475 ½ - ½
5.3 GM Gustafsson Jan 2633 - GM Brunello Sabino 2575 ½ - ½
5.4 GM Buhmann Rainer 2612 - IM Rombaldoni Axel 2459 1 - 0
Bo. 9 Netherlands Rtg - 14 Poland Rtg 2½:1½
6.1 GM Giri Anish 2714 - GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2705 ½ - ½
6.2 GM Van Wely Loek 2686 - GM Socko Bartosz 2635 1 - 0
6.3 GM Sokolov Ivan 2646 - GM Bartel Mateusz 2653 ½ - ½
6.4 GM Stellwagen Daniel 2627 - GM Miton Kamil 2622 ½ - ½
Bo. 21 Slovenia Rtg - 15 Georgia Rtg 2½:1½
7.1 GM Beliavsky Alexander G 2617 - GM Jobava Baadur 2678 ½ - ½
7.2 GM Lenic Luka 2634 - GM Pantsulaia Levan 2588 1 - 0
7.3 GM Borisek Jure 2541 - GM Mchedlishvili Mikheil 2636 ½ - ½
7.4 IM Sebenik Matej 2518 -   Zarkua Davit 2443 ½ - ½
Bo. 27 Latvia Rtg - 5 Hungary Rtg 1½:2½
8.1 GM Miezis Normunds 2547 - GM Leko Peter 2720 ½ - ½
8.2 GM Sveshnikov Evgeny 2514 - GM Almasi Zoltan 2707 0 - 1
8.3 IM Neiksans Arturs 2502 - GM Berkes Ferenc 2705 1 - 0
8.4 GM Starostits Ilmars 2456 - GM Balogh Csaba 2662 0 - 1
Bo. 2 Ukraine Rtg - 11 Israel Rtg 2 : 2
9.1 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2775 - GM Rodshtein Maxim 2645 ½ - ½
9.2 GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2723 - GM Sutovsky Emil 2696 ½ - ½
9.3 GM Eljanov Pavel 2691 - GM Smirin Ilia 2670 1 - 0
9.4 GM Moiseenko Alexander 2715 - GM Postny Evgeny 2640 0 - 1
Bo. 12 Czech Rep. Rtg - 8 England Rtg 2 : 2
10.1 GM Navara David 2724 - GM Adams Michael 2734 0 - 1
10.2 GM Laznicka Viktor 2703 - GM Short Nigel D 2698 1 - 0
10.3 GM Hracek Zbynek 2628 - GM Jones Gawain C B 2635 ½ - ½
10.4 GM Stocek Jiri 2600 - GM Pert Nicholas 2563 ½ - ½
Bo. 16 Croatia Rtg - 26 Switzerland Rtg 2 : 2
11.1 GM Stevic Hrvoje 2612 - GM Pelletier Yannick 2581 ½ - ½
11.2 GM Saric Ivan 2648 - GM Korchnoi Viktor 2567 1 - 0
11.3 GM Brkic Ante 2605 - IM Kurmann Oliver 2451 0 - 1
11.4 GM Jovanovic Zoran 2581 - IM Forster Richard 2458 ½ - ½
Bo. 20 Moldova Rtg - 24 Denmark Rtg 3 : 1
12.1 GM Bologan Viktor 2665 - GM Hansen Sune Berg 2566 1 - 0
12.2 GM Iordachescu Viorel 2648 - GM Rasmussen Allan Stig 2541 1 - 0
12.3 GM Svetushkin Dmitry 2621 - GM Aagaard Jacob 2522 ½ - ½
12.4 IM Hamitevici Vladimir 2428 - IM Glud Jakob Vang 2497 ½ - ½
Bo. 23 Austria Rtg - 29 Montenegro Rtg 2 : 2
13.1 GM Ragger Markus 2662 - GM Djukic Nikola 2493 1 - 0
13.2 GM Shengelia David 2551 - GM Blagojevic Dragisa 2514 ½ - ½
13.3 IM Kreisl Robert 2415 - GM Drasko Milan 2478 ½ - ½
13.4 IM Neubauer Martin 2431 - GM Kosic Dragan 2502 0 - 1
Bo. 30 FYROM Rtg - 32 Iceland Rtg 1½:2½
14.1 GM Georgiev Vladimir 2553 - GM Danielsen Henrik 2542 0 - 1
14.2 GM Nedev Trajko 2493 - FM Gretarsson Hjorvar Steinn 2452 0 - 1
14.3 IM Pancevski Filip 2442 - IM Thorfinnsson Bragi 2421 1 - 0
14.4 GM Stanojoski Zvonko 2470 - IM Thorfinnsson Bjorn 2402 ½ - ½
Bo. 18 Serbia Rtg - 33 Lithuania Rtg 3 : 1
15.1 GM Ivanisevic Ivan 2636 - GM Sulskis Sarunas 2577 1 - 0
15.2 GM Solak Dragan 2629 - IM Zagorskis Darius 2497 0 - 1
15.3 GM Damljanovic Branko 2597 - IM Labeckas Kestutis 2410 1 - 0
15.4 GM Perunovic Milos 2576 -   Klabis Rokas 2100 1 - 0
Bo. 31 Norway Rtg - 28 Finland Rtg 3 : 1
16.1 GM Lie Kjetil A 2560 - GM Nyback Tomi 2631 0 - 1
16.2 IM Elsness Frode 2506 - IM Agopov Mikael 2450 1 - 0
16.3 GM Johannessen Leif Erlend 2515 - IM Karttunen Mika 2434 1 - 0
16.4 IM Getz Nicolai 2369 - IM Nyysti Sampsa 2345 1 - 0
Bo. 37 Luxembourg Rtg - 25 Sweden Rtg 1 : 3
17.1 IM Berend Fred 2381 - GM Tikkanen Hans 2586 0 - 1
17.2   Schartz Alain 2160 - GM Grandelius Nils 2543 ½ - ½
17.3 FM Mossong Hubert 2119 - IM Semcesen Daniel 2490 ½ - ½
17.4 WIM Steil-Antoni Fiona 2104 - GM Brynell Stellan 2486 0 - 1
Bo. 38 Cyprus Rtg - 34 Turkey Rtg 1 : 3
18.1   Bryan-Vissi Mark 1808 - IM Yilmaz Mustafa 2515 0 - 1
18.2   Aristotelous Vassilis 1921 - GM Can Emre 2465 0 - 1
18.3   Boulos Vrachimis 0 - FM Ali Marandi Cemil Can 2275 0 - 1
18.4   Constantinou Pavlos 2068 - CM Sanal Vahap 2275 1 - 0
Bo. 36 Wales Rtg - 35 Scotland Rtg ½ :3½
19.1 FM Williams A Howard 2353 - FM Morrison Graham 2339 0 - 1
19.2 CM Jones Iolo C 2282 - IM Muir Andrew J 2311 0 - 1
19.3   Kett Tim 2184 - CM Roberts Paul 2222 ½ - ½
19.4   Pleasants Allan J 2089 -   Mitchell Martin 2215 0 - 1

 

Round 7 results

Bo. 7 Bulgaria Rtg - 3 Azerbaijan Rtg ½ :3½
1.1 GM Topalov Veselin 2768 - GM Radjabov Teimour 2781 ½ - ½
1.2 GM Cheparinov Ivan 2650 - GM Gashimov Vugar 2757 0 - 1
1.3 GM Delchev Aleksander 2629 - GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2733 0 - 1
1.4 GM Radulski Julian 2565 - GM Safarli Eltaj 2630 0 - 1
Bo. 17 Romania Rtg - 10 Germany Rtg 1½:2½
2.1 GM Lupulescu Constantin 2657 - GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2712 ½ - ½
2.2 GM Parligras Mircea-Emilian 2650 - GM Meier Georg 2659 ½ - ½
2.3 GM Vajda Levente 2584 - GM Fridman Daniel 2661 0 - 1
2.4 GM Marin Mihail 2534 - GM Buhmann Rainer 2612 ½ - ½
Bo. 6 France Rtg - 4 Armenia Rtg 1½:2½
3.1 GM Bacrot Etienne 2714 - GM Aronian Levon 2802 ½ - ½
3.2 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2710 - GM Movsesian Sergei 2710 0 - 1
3.3 GM Fressinet Laurent 2700 - GM Akopian Vladimir 2681 ½ - ½
3.4 GM Bauer Christian 2641 - GM Sargissian Gabriel 2671 ½ - ½
Bo. 5 Hungary Rtg - 21 Slovenia Rtg 3 : 1
4.1 GM Leko Peter 2720 - GM Beliavsky Alexander G 2617 ½ - ½
4.2 GM Almasi Zoltan 2707 - GM Lenic Luka 2634 ½ - ½
4.3 GM Berkes Ferenc 2705 - GM Borisek Jure 2541 1 - 0
4.4 GM Balogh Csaba 2662 - IM Sebenik Matej 2518 1 - 0
Bo. 9 Netherlands Rtg - 19 Greece Rtg 2½:1½
5.1 GM Giri Anish 2714 - GM Banikas Hristos 2620 1 - 0
5.2 GM Van Wely Loek 2686 - GM Mastrovasilis Dimitrios 2621 ½ - ½
5.3 GM Sokolov Ivan 2646 - GM Papaioannou Ioannis 2600 1 - 0
5.4 GM Smeets Jan 2615 - GM Nikolaidis Ioannis 2554 0 - 1
Bo. 13 Spain Rtg - 1 Russia Rtg 1 : 3
6.1 GM Vallejo Pons Francisco 2705 - GM Svidler Peter 2755 ½ - ½
6.2 GM Shirov Alexei 2705 - GM Grischuk Alexander 2752 ½ - ½
6.3 GM Salgado Lopez Ivan 2621 - GM Karjakin Sergey 2763 0 - 1
6.4 GM Illescas Cordoba Miguel 2609 - GM Morozevich Alexander 2762 0 - 1
Bo. 22 Italy Rtg - 20 Moldova Rtg 2½:1½
7.1 GM Caruana Fabiano 2727 - GM Bologan Viktor 2665 ½ - ½
7.2 GM Godena Michele 2548 - GM Iordachescu Viorel 2648 ½ - ½
7.3 GM Brunello Sabino 2575 - GM Svetushkin Dmitry 2621 1 - 0
7.4 IM Rombaldoni Axel 2459 - IM Vedmediuc Serghei 2465 ½ - ½
Bo. 26 Switzerland Rtg - 2 Ukraine Rtg 3 : 1
8.1 GM Pelletier Yannick 2581 - GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2775 ½ - ½
8.2 GM Gallagher Joseph G 2500 - GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2723 ½ - ½
8.3 IM Kurmann Oliver 2451 - GM Eljanov Pavel 2691 1 - 0
8.4 IM Forster Richard 2458 - GM Efimenko Zahar 2702 1 - 0
Bo. 14 Poland Rtg - 8 England Rtg 3 : 1
9.1 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2705 - GM Adams Michael 2734 ½ - ½
9.2 GM Socko Bartosz 2635 - GM Howell David W L 2633 1 - 0
9.3 GM Bartel Mateusz 2653 - GM Jones Gawain C B 2635 ½ - ½
9.4 GM Miton Kamil 2622 - GM Pert Nicholas 2563 1 - 0
Bo. 11 Israel Rtg - 12 Czech Rep. Rtg 1½:2½
10.1 GM Rodshtein Maxim 2645 - GM Navara David 2724 0 - 1
10.2 GM Roiz Michael 2651 - GM Laznicka Viktor 2703 ½ - ½
10.3 GM Smirin Ilia 2670 - GM Hracek Zbynek 2628 ½ - ½
10.4 GM Postny Evgeny 2640 - GM Stocek Jiri 2600 ½ - ½
Bo. 15 Georgia Rtg - 16 Croatia Rtg 2 : 2
11.1 GM Jobava Baadur 2678 - GM Stevic Hrvoje 2612 1 - 0
11.2 GM Mchedlishvili Mikheil 2636 - GM Saric Ivan 2648 0 - 1
11.3 GM Gagunashvili Merab 2577 - GM Palac Mladen 2580 ½ - ½
11.4   Zarkua Davit 2443 - GM Jovanovic Zoran 2581 ½ - ½
Bo. 32 Iceland Rtg - 18 Serbia Rtg 1½:2½
12.1 GM Danielsen Henrik 2542 - GM Ivanisevic Ivan 2636 ½ - ½
12.2 FM Gretarsson Hjorvar Steinn 2452 - GM Solak Dragan 2629 0 - 1
12.3 IM Thorfinnsson Bragi 2421 - GM Damljanovic Branko 2597 1 - 0
12.4 IM Thorfinnsson Bjorn 2402 - GM Perunovic Milos 2576 0 - 1
Bo. 24 Denmark Rtg - 23 Austria Rtg 2 : 2
13.1 GM Hansen Sune Berg 2566 - GM Ragger Markus 2662 ½ - ½
13.2 GM Rasmussen Allan Stig 2541 - GM Kindermann Stefan 2519 ½ - ½
13.3 GM Aagaard Jacob 2522 - GM Shengelia David 2551 0 - 1
13.4 IM Glud Jakob Vang 2497 - IM Neubauer Martin 2431 1 - 0
Bo. 29 Montenegro Rtg - 31 Norway Rtg 3 : 1
14.1 GM Djukic Nikola 2493 - GM Lie Kjetil A 2560 ½ - ½
14.2 GM Drasko Milan 2478 - IM Elsness Frode 2506 1 - 0
14.3 GM Kosic Dragan 2502 - GM Johannessen Leif Erlend 2515 1 - 0
14.4 IM Kalezic Blazo 2461 - IM Getz Nicolai 2369 ½ - ½
Bo. 25 Sweden Rtg - 34 Turkey Rtg 2½:1½
15.1 GM Tikkanen Hans 2586 - IM Yilmaz Mustafa 2515 1 - 0
15.2 GM Grandelius Nils 2543 - GM Can Emre 2465 ½ - ½
15.3 GM Carlsson Pontus 2502 - IM Firat Burak 2393 ½ - ½
15.4 IM Semcesen Daniel 2490 - FM Ali Marandi Cemil Can 2275 ½ - ½
Bo. 30 FYROM Rtg - 27 Latvia Rtg 1 : 3
16.1 GM Georgiev Vladimir 2553 - GM Miezis Normunds 2547 ½ - ½
16.2 IM Colovic Aleksandar 2451 - GM Sveshnikov Evgeny 2514 ½ - ½
16.3 IM Pancevski Filip 2442 - IM Neiksans Arturs 2502 0 - 1
16.4 GM Stanojoski Zvonko 2470 - GM Starostits Ilmars 2456 0 - 1
Bo. 33 Lithuania Rtg - 35 Scotland Rtg 3 : 1
17.1 GM Sulskis Sarunas 2577 - FM Tate Alan 2334 1 - 0
17.2 IM Zagorskis Darius 2497 - FM Morrison Graham 2339 1 - 0
17.3 IM Labeckas Kestutis 2410 - IM Muir Andrew J 2311 ½ - ½
17.4   Klabis Rokas 2100 - CM Roberts Paul 2222 ½ - ½
Bo. 28 Finland Rtg - 38 Cyprus Rtg 4 : 0
18.1 GM Nyback Tomi 2631 -   Bryan-Vissi Mark 1808 1 - 0
18.2 IM Sammalvuo Tapani 2492 -   Aristotelous Vassilis 1921 1 - 0
18.3 IM Karttunen Mika 2434 -   Boulos Vrachimis 0 1 - 0
18.4 IM Nyysti Sampsa 2345 -   Constantinou Pavlos 2068 1 - 0
Bo. 36 Wales Rtg - 37 Luxembourg Rtg 2 : 2
19.1 FM Williams A Howard 2353 - IM Berend Fred 2381 1 - 0
19.2 CM Jones Iolo C 2282 -   Jeitz Christian 2171 ½ - ½
19.3   Kett Tim 2184 -   Schartz Alain 2160 ½ - ½
19.4   Young Alan 2042 - FM Mossong Hubert 2119 0 - 1

Round 7 results women's section can be found here

 

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Author: Peter Doggers

Founder and editor-in-chief of ChessVibes.com, Peter is responsible for most of the chess news and tournament reports. Often visiting top events, he also provides photos and videos for the site. He's a 1.e4 player himself, likes Thai food and the Stones.

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