European Team Championships

[Clement Sreeves]

Good luck to the Scotland team (FM Alan Tate, FM Graham Morrison, IM Andrew Muir, CM Paul Roberts, Martin Mitchell), we have a tough draw against Croatia today. Unfortunately only the top 9 matches seem to be live.

[Alan Tate]

lost 3-1
I could have won & Graham and Alan were doing fine. Andy

[Clement Sreeves]

Some excellent results today! Does anyone know where we can see the games that are not broadcast?

Tomorrow Scotland vs Denmark, with Jacob Aagaard playing for Denmark

[Clement Sreeves]

Fantastic result today against Denmark, holding them to a 2-2 draw!!
In particular Graham Morrison defeated a 2541 GM, after having the better side of a draw yesterday against a 2648!

[Clement Sreeves]

Just trying my hand at the chess position function!

I.Saric-G.Morrison

[pos]2r1kb1r/1b2nppp/p3p3/qp1p4/4PPP1/2NBB3/PPP2Q1P/R4RK1 b k - 0 14[/pos]

14...Rxc3! a very nice and thematic exchange sacrifice










[pos]6k1/6Pp/p7/1p5P/4K3/2r5/2P3R1/8 b - - 0 40[/pos]

Here Graham played the natural 40...Rh3, but after 41.Rg5 white managed to hold on. Instead 40...Rc5! looks like a big improvement, safely rounding up the h-pawn after 41.h6 Rh5
However it was move 40 so time-trouble was likely a factor.

Although perhaps nobody cares about actual chess on the noticeboard?

[Alan Tate]

Denmark 2 - 2 Scotland. A long day today, we still had 2 games still going on when there were only 3 left in the whole Open section! Graham is on fire - today he took advantage of some over-optimistic play by his opponent; Martin was unlucky not to win after a nice rook and knight sac; Andy got out-prepared by Jacob who showed no mercy for his former compatriot; I was a bit fortunate to escape with a draw after some mutual errors in time-pressure.
Tomorrow we have Georgia so will be a tough match.

[robin moore]

Well done everyone, keep it going ! I thought Jacob Agaard's interview was interesting, in particular when he was comparing being a writer/publisher as compared to being a player. He felt that anyone who was operating under both codes would not suffer a general drop in their standard of play as long as they were prepared to study their own game alongside the publishing work. Jacob and John's company (John annoyingly but very welcomely turned up for a league match for Kilmarnock v my team Greenwood through the week) are very successful and popular. I was on the way back on the bus from Albena in Bulgaria at the Euroyouth where I got blethering to a Russian GM coach. I asked him what books he liked and was using, he replied anything by Quality Chess and proceeeded to howk out a couple of the company's publications from his bag. Alan Tate was sitting behind him and he too pulled a couple from the same lot out of his luggage. From the books for sale outside the playing hall in Albena there were plenty from the aforementioned company (and they were selling). Coincidence? probably not. Hard work? No doubt. A sacrifice on your personal targets with regard to day to day business concerns?... the jury is still out on this one.

Robin.

[David G Congalton]

Although perhaps nobody cares about actual chess on the noticeboard?

Personally, I'd like more actual chess on the noticeboard and I'm pleased to see Clement's comments on the positions from the round 1 games. Also nice to see that the Scots teams round 1 games can now be viewed via the Chess Scotland website.

I don't feel qualified to comment on the moves of players who are double my grade but Clement's posting had me looking at the second position and analysing the actual and suggested moves. I then went on to play through Alan Tate's game from round 1. Alan's updates are also appreciated. Having played through his game I was wondering if time was a contributory factor in his evential demise to Hrvoje Stevic.

It's a shame that only the top nine matches are being covered live and this may be part of the reason that the European Team Championships has not attracted as much comment on the forum as the Euroyouth, where every game the Scots team played was live. We're kind of in limbo waiting for reports and games. I would much rather have spent this afternoon watching our team's moves than watching Nigel Shorts game, although this did end in such a way that I was left wondering, did he actually miss that or was he so lost he let his opponent make the final moves rather than resign.

Good luck to the team for round 3. I don't want to put any more pressure on the team but a good result against Georgia could see the team on the live boards on Sunday. I'm sure it'll be tough but there's not much of a difference between Georgia and Denmark.

[Patrick McGovern]

good efforts so far, keep goin guys!

[Alan Tate]

Just a quick round-up as our captain had a dodgy Fanta and has taken ill. The ever impressive Martin played solidly and well to score another good result today, and Graham's hot streak has been temporarily halted unfortunately. Tomorrow we have Norway who are strong opponents, but who have yet to find their form in this tournament, so it should be a close match!