Chess (#1176)

The European Teams ended in a double gold for Russia. Although the two teams were highly favoured, Russia hasn't always done well at team events. Given the consistent quality of opposition, it was a terrific result. It was a team effort from the Russians. They won several matches by minimum margins.

The Open event was taken by the Russians, who won with 15/18, dropping three draws, including an agreed 2-2 in the last round with Hungary. That followed a violent 2-2 versus Armenia where the teams shared wins and a 2-2 draw against Azerbaijan. Armenia, Hungary and France all scored 13 points to share 2-4. Armenia took silver on tiebreak with Hungary taking bronze. There were multiple 2800-plus performances. Georgia's Levon Pantsulaia led with a 2868 performance on Board 3. Levon Aronian, Gabriel Sargissian, Peter Svidler, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Richard Rapport, Pavel Eljanov all hit 2800-plus.

The women's team had a smoother path to gold. The Russian women scored 17/18, dropping a draw only to the third-seeded Ukraine. They beat top-seeded Georgia in a crucial match. Ukraine (15/18) took silver and Georgia (14/18) took bronze. The young prodigy, Alexandra Goryachkina, scored a brilliant 7/8, which was crucial to Russian results.

Closer to home, the National championships are in play. Joint top seed Vidit Gujrathi leads with 7 from 9 rounds in the open. He is followed by Murali Karthikeyan (6) and P Karthikeyan (5.5). There's some distance to go in the 14-player round robin. In the women's premier, top-seed Padmini Rout won with 8.5/11. She lost two games, but had seven successive wins. Soumya Swaminathan, Bhakti Kulkarni and Swati Ghate shared 2-4, with 7.5 each. Swaminathan and Kulkarni took silver and bronze, respectively.

The diagram, WHITE TO PLAY (White: Grischuk Vs Black: Fressinet, European Teams Reykjavik 2015) sets white problems in extreme time-trouble. Grischuk played 34.Ra3!? This involves sharp calculation. [Instead 34. e7 Kd7 35. Bxd4 Bxd3 36. Kxd3 Be7 37. Bc3 is relatively easy (note the forking themes on f8/f6). The Rh7 may as well not exist. White can play h4, Nhf4, h5, Ke4 as he pleases.]

The game continued 34. - Nxe6 35.fxe6 Bxg6 36.Ra8+ Kb7 37.Rg8 f5 [Or 37...Bb1 38.Rxg7 Rxg7 39.Nxg7 Bxa2 40.Bxf6 and the e-pawn claims a piece] Now white mops up with 38.Bxg7 Bxh5 39.gxh5 Kc6 40.a4! Kb7 The time control is up. The win is trivial after 41.Bf6 Kc6 42.Rg7 Rh8 [Or 42- Rxg7 43.Bxg7 Be7 44.Kf4] and 43.Rxc7+ (1-0). After 43.-Kxc7 44. Bxh8 Kd8 45. Bf6+ Ke8 46. Bg7 Ke7 47. Bxh6 Kxe6 48. Bf4 Bf8 49. Bc7, it's over.

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player