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The 2011 European Individual Championship (Mixed) is currently underway, and will run from March 21st to April 3rd in Aix-Les-Bains, France. The first round is on March 22nd, and the last on April 2nd, with no tie-break matches to decide the final places. Besides determining the title of European Champion, the top 23 finishers also qualify for the 2011 World Cup.
Prizes: place 1-25 (113,700 €): 20,000 €, 15,000 €, 11,000 €, 8,000 €, 7,000 €, 6,000 €, 5,500 €, 5,000 €, 4,500 €, 4,000 €, 3,500 €, 3,000 €, 2,500 €, 2,200 €, 2,000 €, 1,900 €, 1,800 €, 1,700 €, 1,600 €, 1,500 €, 1,400 €, 1,300 €, 1,200 €, 1,100 €, 1,000 €
Special Prizes (perf - rating): 6,300 €: 1,000 €, 800 €, 700 €, 600 €, 500 €, 450 €, 400 €, 350 €, 300 €, 2 x 250 €, 2 x 200 €, 2 x 150 €
Tourney system: Swiss system, 11 rounds
Time control: 90 minutes/40 moves + 30 minutes + 30 seconds/move starting with the first move
Game start: all rounds, everyday 15:00
Rest day: 29th March
Entering the penultimate round, twelve players were tied in the lead, and the question was who would be able to distance themselves going into the last round. The answer was three players. After four straight draws, Potkin's initiative seemed on the verge of evaporating, but in round ten he demonstrated great character by beating Jobava in a sharp game where he seemed to be a step ahead of his opponent in the tactics. Polish star Wojtaszek, who had seen some of his 2700+ Elo evaporate earlier this year, had been on the constant rise, and a win here also secured his spot at the top. The third and final player to reach 8.0/10 was the amazing Judit Polgar, who racked up her fourth consecutive win, this time against Romanian GM Iordachescu in a merciless rout.
Polgar,Judit (2686) - Iordachescu,Viorel (2626) [B12]
12th ch-EUR Aix-les-Bains FRA (10), 01.04.2011
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nd2 e6 5.Nb3 Nd7 6.Nf3 Bg6 7.Be2 Nh6 8.0-0 Nf5 9.c3 Rc8N 9...Be7 10.g4 Nh4 11.Nxh4 Bxh4 12.f4 f5 13.Be3 Be7 14.c4 Nb6 15.Na5 dxc4 16.Nxb7 Qd7 17.Na5 fxg4 18.Nxc4 Nxc4 19.Bxc4 Bf5 20.Bd3 g6 21.Qc2 Kf7 22.Be4 Bxe4 23.Qxe4 Qd5 1/2-1/2 (23) Erenburg,S (2582)-Sakaev,K (2668)/Khanty Mansiysk 2005/CBM 111 10.Bf4 c5 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.Nxc5 Nxc5 13.Bb5+ Nd7 14.Bg5 Qc7 15.c4!
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This seemingly innocuous move carries a great deal of venom in it. 15...a6. Taking with 15...dxc4? would flat out lose to 16.Rc1 and there is no defense against Rxc4. 16...Ne7 To try Rxc4 Nc6 17.Bxe7 Kxe7 18.Rxc4 Nc5 (18...Qd8 19.Qd6+ Ke8 20.Rd1) 19.b4 16.cxd5! axb5 17.Rc1 Qb8 18.dxe6 fxe6 19.Qb3 Nf8?! Black panics now that he can no longer castle and under such pressure from a renowned attacker. 19...0-0? 20.Qxe6+ Rf7 21.Rxc8+ Qxc8 22.Rc1 Qb8 23.Qb3! with e6 to follow.; 19...Rc4! 20.Qxb5 Rxc1 21.Rxc1 Rf8= 20.Qxb5+ Kf7 21.Rxc8 Qxc8 22.Rc1 Qb8
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23.g4! Nh6 24.Qb4 Kg8 25.Bxh6 gxh6 26.Qe7 Qe8 27.Qxb7. The Romanian is completely tied up and can barely move a piece. 27...Qa4 28.b4 Be8 29.Qe7 Qd7 30.Rc7 Qxe7 31.Rxe7 Bc6 32.Nd4 Bd5 33.b5 Ng6 34.Rc7 Nxe5 35.f4 Nf7
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36.f5! exf5 37.Nxf5 with Rc8+ in the air. 37...Be6 38.b6 Bxf5 39.gxf5 Kg7 40.b7 Rb8 41.a4 Kf6 42.a5 Nd6 43.a6 Kxf5 One has to ask oneself what exactly he is hoping for here. 44.a7 Rg8+ 45.Kf2 Nxb7 46.Rxb7 Ra8 47.Ke3 Ke5 48.Rxh7 Rc8 49.Kd3 Kd5 50.Rxh6 Kc5 51.Ra6 Ra8 52.h4 Kb5 53.Ra1 Kb6 54.Ke4 1-0. [Click to replay]
The final round saw Potkin paired against Polgar, and they made no attempts to jeopardize their standings and agreed to a quick draw. Wojtaszek was much the same against Svidler, while only one player in the group with 7.5/10 was able to notch a win: Moiseenko at the expense of Brit GM McShane. This might have spelled disaster for the Englishman's spot in the World Cup, but since Potkin, Mamedov, and Svidler had already qualified, the extra spots benefited McShane, Fridman, and Motylev as a result.
The 2011 European champions
Potkin's superb tournament, assuredly his best result to date, and a 2822 performance, crowned him the 2011 European Champion, while Wojtaszek came in second also with a 2800+ performance. Judit's incredible rally, after her round six loss to Ragger, with four straight wins not only placed her as the first female to climb the podium of the Absolute European Championship, but her performance was also enough to bring her back to the 2700 club, or within a point, depending on any other pending results to be computed.
Europe Echecs once again brings English video reports with comments by Polgar, Wojtaszek, and of course, the winner, Potkin.
Round ten report with comments by Judit Polgar and Wojtaszek (courtesy Europe Echecs)
Final report with prize ceremony and comments by Potkin (courtesy Europe Echecs)
Rk |
Tit |
Name | Nat |
Rtg |
Pts |
TB1 |
TB2 |
TB3 |
Perf |
Elo +/- |
1 |
GM |
Potkin Vladimir | 2653 |
8.5 |
2849 |
63.5 |
78.0 |
2822 |
24.3 |
|
2 |
GM |
Wojtaszek Radoslaw | 2711 |
8.5 |
2826 |
63.0 |
77.0 |
2812 |
14.5 |
|
3 |
GM |
Polgar Judit | 2686 |
8.5 |
2799 |
63.5 |
77.0 |
2781 |
13.4 |
|
4 |
GM |
Moiseenko Alexander | 2673 |
8.5 |
2755 |
62.0 |
74.5 |
2790 |
16.3 |
|
5 |
GM |
Vallejo Pons Francisco | 2707 |
8.0 |
2819 |
66.5 |
80.0 |
2764 |
8.2 |
|
6 |
GM |
Ragger Markus | 2614 |
8.0 |
2783 |
62.5 |
76.0 |
2768 |
22.8 |
|
7 |
GM |
Feller Sebastien | 2657 |
8.0 |
2766 |
58.5 |
70.5 |
2763 |
15.4 |
|
8 |
GM |
Svidler Peter | 2730 |
8.0 |
2751 |
62.5 |
76.5 |
2757 |
4.2 |
|
9 |
GM |
Mamedov Rauf | 2667 |
8.0 |
2751 |
61.0 |
74.0 |
2754 |
12.4 |
|
10 |
GM |
Vitiugov Nikita | 2720 |
8.0 |
2741 |
63.0 |
76.5 |
2744 |
3.9 |
|
11 |
GM |
Zhigalko Sergei | 2680 |
8.0 |
2732 |
59.5 |
72.0 |
2731 |
7.5 |
|
12 |
GM |
Jakovenko Dmitry | 2718 |
8.0 |
2719 |
60.0 |
72.5 |
2704 |
1.3 |
|
13 |
GM |
Korobov Anton | 2647 |
8.0 |
2697 |
61.5 |
75.0 |
2740 |
13.4 |
|
14 |
GM |
Inarkiev Ernesto | 2674 |
8.0 |
2695 |
60.0 |
72.5 |
2735 |
8.5 |
|
15 |
GM |
Postny Evgeny | 2585 |
8.0 |
2633 |
52.0 |
64.0 |
2676 |
14.0 |
|
16 |
GM |
Azarov Sergei | 2615 |
7.5 |
2776 |
62.5 |
75.0 |
2723 |
17.1 |
|
17 |
GM |
Khairullin Ildar | 2634 |
7.5 |
2771 |
61.5 |
74.5 |
2720 |
13.8 |
|
18 |
GM |
Kobalia Mikhail | 2672 |
7.5 |
2754 |
57.0 |
70.5 |
2716 |
7.0 |
|
19 |
GM |
Guliyev Namig | 2522 |
7.5 |
2739 |
59.5 |
71.0 |
2652 |
24.3 |
|
20 |
GM |
Zherebukh Yaroslav | 2560 |
7.5 |
2739 |
59.0 |
71.5 |
2712 |
25.1 |
|
21 |
GM |
Riazantsev Alexander | 2679 |
7.5 |
2728 |
60.0 |
72.5 |
2687 |
2.0 |
|
22 |
GM |
Iordachescu Viorel | 2626 |
7.5 |
2725 |
62.0 |
76.0 |
2716 |
14.2 |
|
23 |
GM |
Lupulescu Constantin | 2626 |
7.5 |
2722 |
58.0 |
71.0 |
2677 |
8.8 |
|
24 |
GM |
Mcshane Luke J | 2683 |
7.5 |
2718 |
59.0 |
72.5 |
2684 |
0.9 |
|
25 |
GM |
Fridman Daniel | 2661 |
7.5 |
2717 |
56.5 |
69.0 |
2684 |
3.9 |
|
26 |
GM |
Motylev Alexander | 2677 |
7.5 |
2716 |
59.0 |
71.0 |
2710 |
5.4 |
Click here for complete standings
Pictures from the official site
LinksThe games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009! |
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