European Team Chess Championship Kicks off in Heraklion, Greece

 

2007 European Team Chess Championship is being held at Creta Maris Hotel in Heraklion, Crete, Greece between 27 October-7 November.

In men's section the highest rated team is Russia and 8 of the top 10 players in October 2007 FIDE Rating List including GM Ivanchuk(2787), , GM Topalov(2769), GM Morozevich(2755), GM Mamedyarov(2757), GM Radjabov(2742), GM Aronain(2741) with many others. The upset of the first round was Montenegro beating strong Poland team with 3.5-0.5 while Turkey lost Azerbaidjan, a team among the favourites with 0-4.

Turkish National teams had a camp last week in Khalkidiki. During the camp they played in a rapid tournament in Thessaloniki.

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Bo.3	3	AZERBAIDJAN (AZE)	Rtg	-	23	TURKEY (TUR)	Rtg	4 - 0
3.1	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	2752	-	GM	Gurevich Mikhail	2627	1 - 0
3.2	GM	Radjabov Teimour	2742	-	GM	Atalik Suat	2599	1 - 0
3.3	GM	Guseinov Gadir	2614	-	IM	Haznedaroglu Kivanc	2468	1 - 0
3.4	GM	Mamedov Rauf	2582	-	IM	Esen Baris	2453	1 - 0

In men's section all the favourites won neatly except for Polish side who faced Montenegro participating this event for the first time. However, they won brilliantly with  3,5-0,5 against Poland. The Bulgarian side led by ex-world champion GM Veselin Topalov against Lithuania and all the games draw except for Delchev's win against Kveinys and won with 2.5-1.5. Another marginal win cam from Spain against Norway with 2.5-1.5.

Turkey faced the third seeded Azerbaidjani team but were unfortunately sweeped off with 0-4.

Bo.	5	HUNGARY (HUN)	Rtg	-	19	TURKEY (TUR)	Rtg	3 - 1
5.1	GM	Hoang Thanh Trang	2466	-	IM	Atalik Ekaterina	2404	½ - ½
5.2	IM	Vajda Szidonia	2407	-	WIM	Topel Zehra	2246	½ - ½
5.3	IM	Madl Ildiko	2381	-	WIM	Yildiz Betul Cemre	2220	1 - 0
5.4	WGM	Gara Ticia	2324	-	WFM	Ozturk Kubra	2174	1 - 0

In women's section, the highest rated team is Russia again and the strong field includes players like GM Kosteniuk(2515), GM Chiburdanidze(2500), IM Kosintseva(2492), IM Ushenina(2486), IM Javakishvili(2474), IM Muzychuk(2469) and many others.  There were two upsets in the first round while Georgia lost to Lithuania led by IM Cmilyte who won against former world champion Maia Chiburdanidze. The second sensation was Azerbaidjan's win against strong Ukrainian team with 2.5-1.5. WGM Zhukova's draw with WGM Kadimova and GM Lahno's win against WGM Zeinab Mamedyarov were not enough since the other Mamedyarova sister Turkan won against IM Ushenina and WIM Umudova won against IM Vasilevich.

Turkish Women's team faced Hungary but 2006 European Champion Katya Atalık's and Zehra Topel's draws were not able to avoid a 3-1 loss against fifth seed of the women's section.