2012 Chess Olympiad
Reports | November 06, 2011 18:33

European Team Championship R3-4: Russia and Ukraine falter

European Team Championship R3-4: Russia and Ukraine falter

It was Bloody Sunday for the top seeded teams Russia and Ukraine, who both lost their matches in the 4th round of the European Team Championship in Halkidiki, Greece. Russia already dropped a match point on Saturday against The Netherlands and went down 3-1 today against Bulgaria while Ukraine was crushed 0.5-3.5 by Germany.

Bulgaria beats Russia in round 4 of 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

Players entering the venue for another round

Saturday: round 3

It's anyone's game at the 2011 European Team Championship as one favourite after another loses a match in the early stages. After Armenia's defeat against Azerbaijan, both Russia and Ukraine went down on Sunday.

The tournament is just four rounds under way and there's no team left with a 100% score. Germany, Azerbaijan, France, Spain and Bulgaria are sharing the lead with 7 match points. Romania, Greece and The Netherlands have 6 points and only then we see Armenia, Russia and Ukraine in the standings, on a shared 9th place.

Both Azerbaijan and Spain had an excellent round on Saturday with unbeaten 3-1 victories against Greece and Romania respectively. Alexei Shirov won a typical, hyper-sharp game:

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The team from The Netherlands must have been quite satisfied as well with their four draws against the mighty Russians. Crucial was Karjakin failing to convert a big advantage against Smeets.

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Early arrival: the Dutch team awaits their opponents from Russia.

The crucial game between Karjakin and Smeets

Ukraine did what they had to do and beat Croatia 3-1 while Armenia and England shared the points. Sargissian beat Pert on four but Jones beat Akopian in a difficult game, castling as late as move 36:

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England vs Armenia

Board one of the match Latvia-Czech Republic (2-2) finished with a study-like mate:

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Sunday: round 4

The match of the round was Bulgaria vs. Russia, especially taking into account the result: a smashing 3-1 for the Bulgarians. Cheparinov quickly got an excellent position with the black pieces against Karjakin and won a fine game.

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Nepomniachtchi beat Georgiev on board four, but on three Delchev won against Morozevich remarkably easily. This meant that the match was already decided as Topalov would score at least half a point in his game against Svidler.

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The Russians, again struggling in a team event

Bulgaria's top boards Topalov and Cheparinov in a good mood before the round

Even more experience on the lower boards: Delchev and K.Georgiev

As Bulgaria has been quite successful against Russia in earlier events, even more surprising was Germany's crushing 3.5-0.5 victory against Ukraine. Especially Naiditsch' win against Ponomariov was impressive:

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Gustafsson's finish wasn't too difficult, but still pretty.

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The start of the 4th round, with Ukraine vs Germany

On 'board one', Azerbaijan and Spain split match points. Mamedyarov beat Salgado Lopez, but on board four experience prevailed with a nice win for Illescas against Guseinov.

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Azerbaijan and Spain tied their match

Bauer decided the match Moldova-France, promoting his recent book about the Scandinavian along the way.

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The Netherlands-Serbia saw three draws and this game:

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The transmission of the games hasn't been perfect and also in the following game the final phase raised some eyebrows.

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On Monday the top boards will see Azerbaijan-France, Spain-Greece, Romania-Netherlands and Russia-Ukraine (!).

In the women's section Russia is doing better. They'er sharing the lead with 8 match points after a successful top match against the Ukrainian ladies:

Bo. 2 Ukraine Rtg - 1 Russia Rtg 1½:2½
1.1 GM Lahno Kateryna 2549 - GM Kosintseva Nadezhda 2546 1 - 0
1.2 GM Zhukova Natalia 2427 - GM Kosintseva Tatiana 2526 0 - 1
1.3 IM Gaponenko Inna 2435 - IM Gunina Valentina 2514 0 - 1
1.4 IM Muzychuk Mariya 2460 - GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2439 ½ - ½

Games top boards round 3 (Open)

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Games top boards round 3 (Women)

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Games top boards round 4 (Open)

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Games top boards round 4 (Women)

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Results Open section, round 3

Bo. 19 Greece Rtg - 3 Azerbaijan Rtg 1 : 3
1.1 GM Banikas Hristos 2620 - GM Radjabov Teimour 2781 ½ - ½
1.2 GM Mastrovasilis Dimitrios 2621 - GM Gashimov Vugar 2757 ½ - ½
1.3 GM Papaioannou Ioannis 2600 - GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2733 0 - 1
1.4 GM Nikolaidis Ioannis 2554 - GM Safarli Eltaj 2630 0 - 1
Bo. 17 Romania Rtg - 13 Spain Rtg 1 : 3
2.1 GM Lupulescu Constantin 2657 - GM Vallejo Pons Francisco 2705 ½ - ½
2.2 GM Parligras Mircea-Emilian 2650 - GM Shirov Alexei 2705 0 - 1
2.3 GM Vajda Levente 2584 - GM Salgado Lopez Ivan 2621 ½ - ½
2.4 GM Szabo Gergely-Andras-Gyula 2553 - GM Arizmendi Martinez Julen Luis 2568 0 - 1
Bo. 1 Russia Rtg - 9 Netherlands Rtg 2 : 2
3.1 GM Svidler Peter 2755 - GM Giri Anish 2714 ½ - ½
3.2 GM Grischuk Alexander 2752 - GM Van Wely Loek 2686 ½ - ½
3.3 GM Karjakin Sergey 2763 - GM Smeets Jan 2615 ½ - ½
3.4 GM Morozevich Alexander 2762 - GM Stellwagen Daniel 2627 ½ - ½
Bo. 16 Croatia Rtg - 2 Ukraine Rtg 1 : 3
4.1 GM Stevic Hrvoje 2612 - GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2775 ½ - ½
4.2 GM Saric Ivan 2648 - GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2723 0 - 1
4.3 GM Palac Mladen 2580 - GM Eljanov Pavel 2691 ½ - ½
4.4 GM Jovanovic Zoran 2581 - GM Efimenko Zahar 2702 0 - 1
Bo. 5 Hungary Rtg - 10 Germany Rtg 1½:2½
5.1 GM Leko Peter 2720 - GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2712 ½ - ½
5.2 GM Almasi Zoltan 2707 - GM Meier Georg 2659 ½ - ½
5.3 GM Berkes Ferenc 2705 - GM Fridman Daniel 2661 ½ - ½
5.4 GM Balogh Csaba 2662 - GM Gustafsson Jan 2633 0 - 1
Bo. 11 Israel Rtg - 6 France Rtg 1½:2½
6.1 GM Rodshtein Maxim 2645 - GM Bacrot Etienne 2714 ½ - ½
6.2 GM Sutovsky Emil 2696 - GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2710 ½ - ½
6.3 GM Roiz Michael 2651 - GM Fressinet Laurent 2700 ½ - ½
6.4 GM Smirin Ilia 2670 - GM Bauer Christian 2641 0 - 1
Bo. 7 Bulgaria Rtg - 14 Poland Rtg 2½:1½
7.1 GM Topalov Veselin 2768 - GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2705 ½ - ½
7.2 GM Cheparinov Ivan 2650 - GM Bartel Mateusz 2653 ½ - ½
7.3 GM Delchev Aleksander 2629 - GM Miton Kamil 2622 1 - 0
7.4 GM Georgiev Kiril 2666 - GM Macieja Bartlomiej 2616 ½ - ½
Bo. 8 England Rtg - 4 Armenia Rtg 2 : 2
8.1 GM Adams Michael 2734 - GM Aronian Levon 2802 ½ - ½
8.2 GM Short Nigel D 2698 - GM Movsesian Sergei 2710 ½ - ½
8.3 GM Jones Gawain C B 2635 - GM Akopian Vladimir 2681 1 - 0
8.4 GM Pert Nicholas 2563 - GM Sargissian Gabriel 2671 0 - 1
Bo. 27 Latvia Rtg - 12 Czech Rep. Rtg 2 : 2
9.1 GM Miezis Normunds 2547 - GM Navara David 2724 1 - 0
9.2 GM Sveshnikov Evgeny 2514 - GM Laznicka Viktor 2703 0 - 1
9.3 IM Neiksans Arturs 2502 - GM Hracek Zbynek 2628 1 - 0
9.4 GM Starostits Ilmars 2456 - GM Stocek Jiri 2600 0 - 1
Bo. 34 Turkey Rtg - 18 Serbia Rtg 0 : 4
10.1 IM Yilmaz Mustafa 2515 - GM Ivanisevic Ivan 2636 0 - 1
10.2 GM Can Emre 2465 - GM Damljanovic Branko 2597 0 - 1
10.3 IM Firat Burak 2393 - GM Kovacevic Aleksandar 2563 0 - 1
10.4 FM Ali Marandi Cemil Can 2275 - GM Perunovic Milos 2576 0 - 1
Bo. 29 Montenegro Rtg - 20 Moldova Rtg 1 : 3
11.1 GM Djukic Nikola 2493 - GM Bologan Viktor 2665 0 - 1
11.2 GM Blagojevic Dragisa 2514 - GM Iordachescu Viorel 2648 ½ - ½
11.3 GM Drasko Milan 2478 - GM Svetushkin Dmitry 2621 0 - 1
11.4 GM Kosic Dragan 2502 - IM Vedmediuc Serghei 2465 ½ - ½
Bo. 21 Slovenia Rtg - 22 Italy Rtg 2 : 2
12.1 GM Beliavsky Alexander G 2617 - GM Caruana Fabiano 2727 ½ - ½
12.2 GM Lenic Luka 2634 - GM Godena Michele 2548 ½ - ½
12.3 IM Sebenik Matej 2518 - IM Dvirnyy Daniyyl 2475 ½ - ½
12.4 GM Skoberne Jure 2533 - GM Brunello Sabino 2575 ½ - ½
Bo. 15 Georgia Rtg - 35 Scotland Rtg 3½: ½
13.1 GM Jobava Baadur 2678 - FM Tate Alan 2334 1 - 0
13.2 GM Pantsulaia Levan 2588 - FM Morrison Graham 2339 1 - 0
13.3 GM Mchedlishvili Mikheil 2636 - CM Roberts Paul 2222 1 - 0
13.4 GM Gagunashvili Merab 2577 -   Mitchell Martin 2215 ½ - ½
Bo. 31 Norway Rtg - 24 Denmark Rtg ½ :3½
14.1 GM Lie Kjetil A 2560 - GM Hansen Sune Berg 2566 0 - 1
14.2 IM Elsness Frode 2506 - GM Rasmussen Allan Stig 2541 0 - 1
14.3 GM Johannessen Leif Erlend 2515 - GM Aagaard Jacob 2522 ½ - ½
14.4 IM Getz Nicolai 2369 - IM Glud Jakob Vang 2497 0 - 1
Bo. 28 Finland Rtg - 25 Sweden Rtg 1½:2½
15.1 GM Nyback Tomi 2631 - GM Tikkanen Hans 2586 1 - 0
15.2 IM Sammalvuo Tapani 2492 - GM Grandelius Nils 2543 0 - 1
15.3 IM Agopov Mikael 2450 - GM Carlsson Pontus 2502 ½ - ½
15.4 IM Karttunen Mika 2434 - IM Semcesen Daniel 2490 0 - 1
Bo. 33 Lithuania Rtg - 26 Switzerland Rtg 3 : 1
16.1 GM Sulskis Sarunas 2577 - GM Pelletier Yannick 2581 ½ - ½
16.2 IM Zagorskis Darius 2497 - GM Korchnoi Viktor 2567 1 - 0
16.3 IM Sakalauskas Vaidas 2411 - IM Kurmann Oliver 2451 ½ - ½
16.4 IM Labeckas Kestutis 2410 - IM Forster Richard 2458 1 - 0
Bo. 36 Wales Rtg - 23 Austria Rtg 0 : 4
17.1 CM Jones Iolo C 2282 - GM Ragger Markus 2662 0 - 1
17.2   Kett Tim 2184 - GM Kindermann Stefan 2519 0 - 1
17.3   Pleasants Allan J 2089 - GM Shengelia David 2551 0 - 1
17.4   Young Alan 2042 - IM Kreisl Robert 2415 0 - 1
Bo. 38 Cyprus Rtg - 30 FYROM Rtg 0 : 4
18.1   Bryan-Vissi Mark 1808 - GM Nedev Trajko 2493 0 - 1
18.2   Aristotelous Vassilis 1921 - IM Colovic Aleksandar 2451 0 - 1
18.3   Boulos Vrachimis 0 - IM Pancevski Filip 2442 0 - 1
18.4   Constantinou Pavlos 2068 - GM Stanojoski Zvonko 2470 0 - 1
Bo. 37 Luxembourg Rtg - 32 Iceland Rtg 1 : 3
19.1 IM Berend Fred 2381 - FM Gretarsson Hjorvar Steinn 2452 0 - 1
19.2   Jeitz Christian 2171 - IM Thorfinnsson Bragi 2421 0 - 1
19.3 FM Mossong Hubert 2119 - IM Thorfinnsson Bjorn 2402 1 - 0
19.4 WIM Steil-Antoni Fiona 2104 - GM Olafsson Helgi 2531 0 - 1

Results Open section, round 4

Bo. 3 Azerbaijan Rtg - 13 Spain Rtg 2 : 2
1.1 GM Radjabov Teimour 2781 - GM Vallejo Pons Francisco 2705 ½ - ½
1.2 GM Gashimov Vugar 2757 - GM Shirov Alexei 2705 ½ - ½
1.3 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2733 - GM Salgado Lopez Ivan 2621 1 - 0
1.4 GM Guseinov Gadir 2636 - GM Illescas Cordoba Miguel 2609 0 - 1
Bo. 7 Bulgaria Rtg - 1 Russia Rtg 3 : 1
2.1 GM Topalov Veselin 2768 - GM Svidler Peter 2755 1 - 0
2.2 GM Cheparinov Ivan 2650 - GM Karjakin Sergey 2763 1 - 0
2.3 GM Delchev Aleksander 2629 - GM Morozevich Alexander 2762 1 - 0
2.4 GM Georgiev Kiril 2666 - GM Nepomniachtchi Ian 2730 0 - 1
Bo. 2 Ukraine Rtg - 10 Germany Rtg ½ :3½
3.1 GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2723 - GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2712 0 - 1
3.2 GM Eljanov Pavel 2691 - GM Meier Georg 2659 0 - 1
3.3 GM Moiseenko Alexander 2715 - GM Fridman Daniel 2661 ½ - ½
3.4 GM Efimenko Zahar 2702 - GM Gustafsson Jan 2633 0 - 1
Bo. 6 France Rtg - 20 Moldova Rtg 2½:1½
4.1 GM Bacrot Etienne 2714 - GM Bologan Viktor 2665 ½ - ½
4.2 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2710 - GM Iordachescu Viorel 2648 ½ - ½
4.3 GM Istratescu Andrei 2627 - GM Svetushkin Dmitry 2621 ½ - ½
4.4 GM Bauer Christian 2641 - IM Vedmediuc Serghei 2465 1 - 0
Bo. 9 Netherlands Rtg - 18 Serbia Rtg 2½:1½
5.1 GM Giri Anish 2714 - GM Ivanisevic Ivan 2636 ½ - ½
5.2 GM Van Wely Loek 2686 - GM Solak Dragan 2629 ½ - ½
5.3 GM Sokolov Ivan 2646 - GM Damljanovic Branko 2597 1 - 0
5.4 GM Smeets Jan 2615 - GM Perunovic Milos 2576 ½ - ½
Bo. 19 Greece Rtg - 15 Georgia Rtg 2½:1½
6.1 GM Banikas Hristos 2620 - GM Jobava Baadur 2678 ½ - ½
6.2 GM Mastrovasilis Dimitrios 2621 - GM Pantsulaia Levan 2588 1 - 0
6.3 GM Papaioannou Ioannis 2600 - GM Mchedlishvili Mikheil 2636 ½ - ½
6.4 GM Halkias Stelios 2593 - GM Gagunashvili Merab 2577 ½ - ½
Bo. 33 Lithuania Rtg - 17 Romania Rtg 1½:2½
7.1 GM Sulskis Sarunas 2577 - GM Lupulescu Constantin 2657 1 - 0
7.2 IM Zagorskis Darius 2497 - GM Parligras Mircea-Emilian 2650 0 - 1
7.3 IM Labeckas Kestutis 2410 - GM Marin Mihail 2534 ½ - ½
7.4   Klabis Rokas 2100 - GM Szabo Gergely-Andras-Gyula 2553 0 - 1
Bo. 4 Armenia Rtg - 16 Croatia Rtg 3 : 1
8.1 GM Aronian Levon 2802 - GM Stevic Hrvoje 2612 1 - 0
8.2 GM Movsesian Sergei 2710 - GM Saric Ivan 2648 ½ - ½
8.3 GM Sargissian Gabriel 2671 - GM Palac Mladen 2580 1 - 0
8.4 GM Hovhannisyan Robert 2586 - GM Brkic Ante 2605 ½ - ½
Bo. 12 Czech Rep. Rtg - 5 Hungary Rtg 2 : 2
9.1 GM Laznicka Viktor 2703 - GM Leko Peter 2720 ½ - ½
9.2 GM Hracek Zbynek 2628 - GM Almasi Zoltan 2707 ½ - ½
9.3 GM Stocek Jiri 2600 - GM Berkes Ferenc 2705 ½ - ½
9.4 GM Babula Vlastimil 2565 - GM Balogh Csaba 2662 ½ - ½
Bo. 11 Israel Rtg - 8 England Rtg 2½:1½
10.1 GM Sutovsky Emil 2696 - GM Adams Michael 2734 ½ - ½
10.2 GM Roiz Michael 2651 - GM Short Nigel D 2698 ½ - ½
10.3 GM Smirin Ilia 2670 - GM Howell David W L 2633 ½ - ½
10.4 GM Postny Evgeny 2640 - GM Jones Gawain C B 2635 1 - 0
Bo. 14 Poland Rtg - 21 Slovenia Rtg 2 : 2
11.1 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2705 - GM Beliavsky Alexander G 2617 ½ - ½
11.2 GM Socko Bartosz 2635 - GM Lenic Luka 2634 ½ - ½
11.3 GM Bartel Mateusz 2653 - GM Borisek Jure 2541 ½ - ½
11.4 GM Macieja Bartlomiej 2616 - GM Skoberne Jure 2533 ½ - ½
Bo. 22 Italy Rtg - 25 Sweden Rtg 2½:1½
12.1 GM Caruana Fabiano 2727 - GM Grandelius Nils 2543 1 - 0
12.2 GM Godena Michele 2548 - GM Carlsson Pontus 2502 ½ - ½
12.3 IM Dvirnyy Daniyyl 2475 - IM Semcesen Daniel 2490 1 - 0
12.4 IM Rombaldoni Axel 2459 - GM Brynell Stellan 2486 0 - 1
Bo. 24 Denmark Rtg - 27 Latvia Rtg 2½:1½
13.1 GM Hansen Sune Berg 2566 - GM Miezis Normunds 2547 1 - 0
13.2 GM Rasmussen Allan Stig 2541 - GM Sveshnikov Evgeny 2514 ½ - ½
13.3 GM Aagaard Jacob 2522 - IM Neiksans Arturs 2502 1 - 0
13.4 IM Glud Jakob Vang 2497 - GM Starostits Ilmars 2456 0 - 1
Bo. 32 Iceland Rtg - 29 Montenegro Rtg 2½:1½
14.1 GM Danielsen Henrik 2542 - GM Djukic Nikola 2493 0 - 1
14.2 FM Gretarsson Hjorvar Steinn 2452 - GM Blagojevic Dragisa 2514 ½ - ½
14.3 IM Thorfinnsson Bragi 2421 - GM Drasko Milan 2478 1 - 0
14.4 GM Olafsson Helgi 2531 - GM Kosic Dragan 2502 1 - 0
Bo. 30 FYROM Rtg - 34 Turkey Rtg 2½:1½
15.1 GM Georgiev Vladimir 2553 - IM Yilmaz Mustafa 2515 0 - 1
15.2 GM Nedev Trajko 2493 - GM Can Emre 2465 1 - 0
15.3 IM Colovic Aleksandar 2451 - IM Firat Burak 2393 ½ - ½
15.4 GM Stanojoski Zvonko 2470 - CM Sanal Vahap 2275 1 - 0
Bo. 28 Finland Rtg - 23 Austria Rtg 1½:2½
16.1 GM Nyback Tomi 2631 - GM Ragger Markus 2662 0 - 1
16.2 IM Sammalvuo Tapani 2492 - GM Kindermann Stefan 2519 ½ - ½
16.3 IM Agopov Mikael 2450 - GM Shengelia David 2551 0 - 1
16.4 IM Karttunen Mika 2434 - IM Kreisl Robert 2415 1 - 0
Bo. 35 Scotland Rtg - 31 Norway Rtg 1½:2½
17.1 FM Tate Alan 2334 - GM Lie Kjetil A 2560 1 - 0
17.2 FM Morrison Graham 2339 - IM Elsness Frode 2506 0 - 1
17.3 CM Roberts Paul 2222 - GM Johannessen Leif Erlend 2515 ½ - ½
17.4   Mitchell Martin 2215 - IM Getz Nicolai 2369 0 - 1
Bo. 26 Switzerland Rtg - 36 Wales Rtg 4 : 0
18.1 GM Pelletier Yannick 2581 - FM Williams A Howard 2353 1 - 0
18.2 GM Korchnoi Viktor 2567 -   Kett Tim 2184 1 - 0
18.3 GM Gallagher Joseph G 2500 -   Pleasants Allan J 2089 1 - 0
18.4 IM Kurmann Oliver 2451 -   Young Alan 2042 1 - 0
Bo. 37 Luxembourg Rtg - 38 Cyprus Rtg 2½:1½
19.1 IM Berend Fred 2381 -   Bryan-Vissi Mark 1808 1 - 0
19.2   Jeitz Christian 2171 -   Aristotelous Vassilis 1921 ½ - ½
19.3   Schartz Alain 2160 -   Boulos Vrachimis 0 1 - 0
19.4 FM Mossong Hubert 2119 -   Constantinou Pavlos 2068 0 - 1

Round 4 results women's section can be found here

 

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Peter Doggers's picture
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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Comments

Zeblakob's picture

Zeblakob

6 months 1 week ago

Kudos to the Bulgarian team, namely Chepa and Topa.
It remainz mysteriouz why Svidler have not eaten the h pawn wiz Rd6.

ACK's picture

ACK

6 months 1 week ago

Keep it up Topalov!

Mpho's picture

Mpho

6 months 1 week ago

I think Russia missed a trick they should have stuck to their plan and send the "B" young team led by Nepo

nil maglas's picture

nil maglas

6 months 1 week ago

go bulgaria, go!

Septimus's picture

Septimus

6 months 1 week ago

Super report Peter!

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