17th European Individual

[Kevin Thurlow]

"The Jones game is too weird for me; 5...g6 but his B is still on f8. is this normal?"

Yes, he's played it before, as has Chris Ward, and other distinguished players.

[Mick Norris]

Dylan Loeb McClain (the AGON man some of you love to hate)

Really? I think hate is an unnecessarily strong word

Given his threats when he came on the Forum, he is hardly likely to be popular, so the conclusion for most of us I guess would be we don't care what he writes

[Brian Towers]

Dylan Loeb McClain (the AGON man some of you love to hate) has an article about The Shrinking European Championship:

http://worldchess.com/2016/05/16/the-sh ... mpionship/

The tournament may be nominally weaker than in previous years but neither Howell nor Jones look like gaining the benefit.

In this year’s championship, there are only five players rated 2700 or above. (A rating of 2700 is the plateau of the elite players; there are currently 42 of them in the world.) Altogether, there are only 60 players rated over 2600, the level of a top grandmaster, in the championship.

In 2015, there were six players over 2700 and 63 over 2600. In 2014, the championship attracted 15 players at the 2700 level and 72 over 2600. The 2013 championship had 12 players 2700 or above and 80 who were 2600 or higher. And in the 2012 championship, there were 15 players 2700 or higher and 98! players 2600 or above.

Another possible explanation could be that there was some rating deflation between 2012 and 2014. The 2015 and 2016 numbers look broadly similar as do the 2012 to 2014 ones.

[Mick Norris]

Rd. Bo. No. Name Typ Gr FED Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name Typ Gr FED Rtg No.
7 38 97 GM Blomqvist Erik SWE 2526 3½ 3½ GM Howell David W L ACP ENG 2671 18
7 43 27 GM Jones Gawain C B ACP ENG 2657 3½ 3½ IM Valsecchi Alessio ITA 2494 106

Gawain is currently 88th and David 95th - with 23 confirmed qualifiers for the 2017 World Cup, only the top 21 players have at least 4.5 points, so it isn't impossible for either, or preferably both, to qualify

[Roger de Coverly]

Gawain is currently 88th and David 95th

I suppose their ratings are sufficiently close, that in a large field it remains unlikely that they will have to play one another.

[Barry Sandercock]

David Howell seems to be doing alright today, but there is no sign of Gawain's game. Would he be having a bye ? Is that permitted ?

[LawrenceCooper]

David Howell seems to be doing alright today, but there is no sign of Gawain's game. Would he be having a bye ? Is that permitted ?

They don't show all the games, only the top 40. He's on board 43.

[LawrenceCooper]

David won

[Mick Norris]

David won

Yes, he turned that round from unpromising to won in a handful of moves

Let's hope he keep winning

Do we know how Gawain did?

[LawrenceCooper]

David won

Yes, he turned that round from unpromising to won in a handful of moves

Let's hope he keep winning

Do we know how Gawain did?

Awaiting news on chess-results, hopefully soon now all the games have finished (that we know of).

[David Shepherd]

8 21 18 GM Howell David W L ACP ENG 2671 4½ 4½ GM Antipov Mikhail Al. U20 ACP RUS 2576 73
8 23 66 GM Prohaszka Peter HUN 2593 4½ 4½ GM Jones Gawain C B ACP ENG 2657 27

[Mick Norris]

That's good news, Gawain won as well

David now joint 49th, Gawain joint 60th with 27 players on a higher score of at least 5 points

I assume the winner is going to come from the top 8:
Bo. No. Name Gr Typ FED Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name Gr Typ FED Rtg No.
1 1 GM Navara David CZE 2735 6 6 GM Inarkiev Ernesto ACP RUS 2686 12
2 2 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw ACP POL 2722 5½ 5½ GM Ter-Sahakyan Samvel ARM 2601 59
3 29 GM Bartel Mateusz ACP POL 2653 5½ 5½ GM Goganov Aleksey ACP RUS 2600 60
4 30 GM Saric Ivan ACP CRO 2650 5½ 5½ GM Kovalenko Igor ACP LAT 2644 37

[Paul Dargan]

What did people think was needed to qualify? +4?

Paul

[LawrenceCooper]

What did people think was needed to qualify? +4?

Paul

I suspect so, that means 3/4 which is realistic but still tough. Their tie-break won't be great so that could make it even tougher.

[Mick Norris]

Yes, the World Cup is the big prize, so I imagine there will be a lot of draws at the top as players aim to stay in the top 23

It is probably only the top 2 have the freedom to play to try and win the whole thing, knowing even a loss will still see them well placed to qualify

2015 - 250 players, top 26 scored 7.5
2014 - 259 players, top 24 scored 7.5

Of course, in 2015 some had already qualified for the World Cup from the 2014 event I think