Republic Day Celebrated in Heraklion

Bo.	19	TURKEY (TUR)	Rtg	-	24	AUSTRIA (AUT)	Rtg	2½:1½
12.1	IM	Atalık Ekaterina	2404	-	IM	Moser Eva	2412	½ - ½
12.2	WIM	Topel Zehra	2246	-	WFM	Kopinits Anna-Christina	2178	0 - 1
12.3	WIM	Yıldız Betül Cemre	2220	-		Newrkla Katharina	2037	1 - 0
12.4	WFM	Öztürk Kübra	2174	-		Schink Barbara	2031	1 - 0

Bo.	23	TURKEY (TUR)	Rtg	-	29	ITALY (ITA)	Rtg	2 : 2
13.1	GM	Gurevich Mikhail	2627	-	GM	Godena Michele	2535	½ - ½
13.2	GM	Atalik Suat	2599	-	GM	Caruana Fabiano	2594	½ - ½
13.3	IM	Haznedaroğlu Kıvanç	2468	-	IM	Brunello Sabino	2489	½ - ½
13.4	IM	Erdoğdu Mert	2440	-	IM	D'amore Carlo	2477	½ - ½

On the 84th anniversary of the foundation of Turkish Republic, Women's team won against Austria thanks to 2-time Under 16 European Champion WFM Kübra Öztürk and WIM Betül Cemre Yıldız. Men's team did not manage to win against the balanced Italian side.

There are pictures and round 2 report for men and women at the link below.

Official Page                    Photo Gallery (1-2.Rounds) 

PGN 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9

Round 2 Men:

Russia and Azerbaidjan Won Critical Matches Against Armenia and Bulgaria Respectively

 

Left:Ex-world champion Topalov always in a positive mood. Right: Alexander Morozevich about to start drawing his masterpiece and lead his team to victory against Armenia.

The match of the day in the second round was played between World Teams' Chess Champion Russia and Champion of 2006 Chess Olympiad in Turin, Armenia. It is not very usual for chess superpowers to face each other at such an early round. On the first board, two disappointed players of World Championship in Mexico Peter Svidler and Levon Aronian made a draw after Svidler neutralised his opponent with black. On the second board, Alexander Morozevich was inspired and he played in his usual unorthodox and uncompromising style and won against former world championship runner up Vladimir Akopian. This game was crucial since star of ECC 2007 winners Linex Magic Merida's star player and second of Aronian, Gabriel Sargissian made a draw against reigning Russia champion Evgeny Alekseev while on the fourht board Karen Asrian made a draw against Dmitry Jakolvenko.

On the second board, winners of the 2004 Calvia Olmypiad Ukraine was not able to escape a draw from Spain. Karjakin's victory against Shirov was not sufficient since GM Illescas Cordoba won against GM Moiseenko while Volokin and Areschenko had draw against Vallejo Pons and Khamrukulov one of the young stars of world chess in 1990s.

Another critical encounter was between Azerbaijan who won comfortably against Turkey in the first round against Bulgaria led by Veselin Topaov. On the first board Mamedyarov was able to hold a slightly inferior position against the ever-desiring Topalov in his usual pressing mode. Another Linex Magic Ivan Cheparinov, also another renowned second (of Topalov) made a draw against the other hefty superstar of Azerbaidjan, Teimur Radjabov. First board of Türkiye İş Bankası Chess League winner Beşiktaş Vugar Gashimov was the man of the match since he led his team to victory by winning against the experienced Kiril Georgiev in Benoni while GM Delchev neutralized GM Guseinov. These results brought a 2.5-1.5 victory to the Azerbaidjani team.

The sensation of the fourth round was Slovenia's victory against the strong French side with 3-1 Beliavsky and Bacrot made draws as Fressinet and Pavasovic did while Tratar won against the youngster Vachier-Lagrave and Bauer lost against Slovenian youngster Luka Lenic.

 

Left: Mikhail Gurevich, first board of Turkish team. Right: Suat Atalık analyzing his game with his opponent GM Caruana who became grandmaster at the age of 14 with the team captain of Turkish National Team GM Predrag Nikolic. (Photo: Chessdom)

Round 2 Women: A Strange Déja Vu!

Russian women's team waiting for Armenian team.

Another derby match was played between Russia and Armenia on the first board in women's ETCC 2007, too. Russia won the match 2.5-1.5 since Kosteniuk won comfortably against Danielian while Mkrtchian was able to draw against Nadezhda Kosintseva. Andriasian's win against Korbut made life difficult for the top seed but Kovalevskaya's win against Aginan completed the déja vu.

On the second board, French team won against Spain with a narrow 2.5-1.5 and they have a strong squad despite the absence of Marie Sebag, young star of French chess. Poland did not give a chance to Azerbaidjan the team that grounded down Ukraine in the first round while Bulgaria, the lower see won against Germany.

 

Left: Turkish women's team led by 2006 European Individual Champion Ekaterina Atalık , rock solid as usual. Right: WFM Kübra Öztürk, the youngest member of the team, one of the most promising players in Turkey.