17th European Individual

[LawrenceCooper]

Deffo a draw available if Black takes the piece

How so? Not obvious to me.

I think the initial piece sac was a draw (Qf3-g3-f3-g3 etc) but after Kh1 I think the game may continue.

[NickFaulks]

You've already played 12...Kg7.

[NickFaulks]

Justin, I see we're talking about slightly different lines.

[JustinHorton]

Nick - yes, I was commenting (after Lawrence) on why David hadn't taken at the first attempt. As Lawrence says, it's now less clear.

[NickFaulks]

With Black hoping to win, 12...Kg7 was a good move.

edit : but it would have been even better to play it half an hour faster.

[JustinHorton]

I've played quite a lot of Italian Games with Black and you're always having to reckon with this kind of set-up (often after ....g5 Nxg5). It's normally quite hard to see how Black can extricate himself while at the same time being not at all obvious how White makes progress....

[Roger de Coverly]

It's normally quite hard to see how Black can extricate himself while at the same time being not at all obvious how White makes progress....

The story so far:-
e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 a6 6. O-O Ba7 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 d6 9. Nbd2 g5 10. Bg3 O-O 11. a4 g4 12. Bh4 Kg7 13. Kh1 gxf3 14. Qxf3 Nb8 15. g4 Nbd7 16. Rg1 Rh8

The chessbomb stockfish is saying equal chances (+0.12) with its best line of 17. Nf1. A hair raising way to play for a win as Black, but we've seen David Howell play in that style often enough.

[NickFaulks]

Well, that was horrible.

[Mick Norris]

Inarkiev draws to come clear first on 9/11

Kovalenk wins with black to get clear second on 8.5

Navara, Jobava, Vallejo on 8

7.5 goes down to 26th place, so 3 will miss out on tiebreak for the World Cup spots

Gawain drew to join David on 6.5

[Mick Norris]

Tari and Bortnyk who have already drawn with white

Tari becomes the youngest qualifier for the World Cup, but Bortnyk misses out along with Lupulescu and Ter-Sahakyan

1 Inarkiev Ernesto

2 Kovalenko Igor

3 Jobava Baadur

4 Navara David

5 Vallejo Pons Francisco

6 Wojtaszek Radoslaw

7 Piorun Kacper

8 Fressinet Laurent

9 Goganov Aleksey

10 Dubov Daniil

11 Vitiugov Nikita

12 Cheparinov Ivan

Najer Evgeniy

14 Hovhannisyan Robert

15 Zhigalko Sergei

Palac Mladen

17 Salgado Lopez Ivan

18 Dreev Aleksey

19 Anton Guijarro David

20 Stupak Kirill

21 Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter

22 Tari Aryan

23 Demchenko Anton

[Mick Norris]

SNo Name Rtg 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Pts. Rk. Rp K rtg+/-
18 GM Howell David W L 2671 ½ 1 0 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 0 6,5 57 2602 10 -8,40
27 GM Jones Gawain C B 2657 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 1 ½ 6,5 66 2584 10 -9,30

Disappointing for both, but hope they have another go next year

[Roger de Coverly]

but Bortnyk misses out along with Lupulescu and Ter-Sahakyan

It's not unknown for wild card places to be given to those losing out on tie breaks. Presumably also they are first reserves if someone about them declines to participate in the World Cup, or qualifies in some other manner such as rating.

[Mick Norris]

There aren't that many wild cards, and it depends who enters the World Cup as to who might get the rating spots I guess

Last time's regulations were:

There are 128 qualifiers (in order of priority): World Champion + four (4) semi-finalists from the World Cup
2013, Women's World Champion, World Junior U-20 Champions 2013 & 2014, eighteen (18) rated players as described in 3.1.2, ninety (92) players from Continental Championships, the one (1) highest-placed participant of the ACP Tour who has not qualified with the previous criteria, two (2) FIDE President nominees, four (4) organiser nominees , three (3) qualifiers from FIDE-approved internet events. If there are no internet events, the spot(s) will be decided by the FIDE President after consulting the WCOC.

3. 1. 2. For the purpose of deciding the 18 rated player qualifiers, as well as any replacements, the average from the following lists will be used: all published ratings of February 2014 to January 2015 divided by twelve (12). In case of equality two decimals will be taken into consideration. If the numbers are still equal then the total number of rated games in the twelve months of 2014 shall be decisive. That means the player with the greater number of games shall qualify. If the numbers are still equal then the February 2015 list shall be decisive. If the Elo in this list is still the same, the player with the greater number of games in the February 2015 list will qualify.

[Mick Norris]

chess.com report