2016 European Club Cup

[Chris Rice]

Well its 24 hours later and I still can't believe what's happened. 27....Rh1+!! Who saw that coming?

https://www.chess.com/news/rapport-play ... paign=news

[Kevin Thurlow]

"But not a particularly high rating. Whilst an OTB, or correspondence, GM needs to have a rating that most people would consider to be pretty high, for an AGM ttile you only need a rating that has been continuously over 2000 for a variable number of games, depending on what type of online chess you've been playing (50 games for rapidplay, 100 games for blitz and 150 games for bullet)."

Yes - I played an AIM at Guernsey recently and asked about it. He said you just had to average about 1700 over 100 games. He didn't seem to take it too seriously!

[Mick Norris]

Ivanchuk - Kramnik today

White Rose v Edinburgh & Abergavenny v Cardigan

Board pairings

[Tim Harding]

Are title norms achievable in this tournament? I think so but maybe somebody can confirm.

In the FIDE Handbook, title regulations 1.41 it says:

The Number of Games
1.41a
The player must play at least 9 games, however
1.41b
Only 7 games are required for 7 round World Team and Continental Team Championships.

So does the European Club Cup count as a Continental Team Championship within the meaning of these regulations?

[LawrenceCooper]

Are title norms achievable in this tournament? I think so but maybe somebody can confirm.

In the FIDE Handbook, title regulations 1.41 it says:

The Number of Games
1.41a
The player must play at least 9 games, however
1.41b
Only 7 games are required for 7 round World Team and Continental Team Championships.

So does the European Club Cup count as a Continental Team Championship within the meaning of these regulations?

Title norms are indeed possible in both events

[Tim Harding]

Are title norms achievable in this tournament? I think so but maybe somebody can confirm.

Title norms are indeed possible in both events

That's good news. Irish teenager Henry Li (born 2002) beat 2395-rated GM Igor Efimov with Black today on board 3 for Gonzaga. He has now met his full quota of titled opponents and has 4/5.

His Rp before this game (according to chess-results.com) was 2463 so I guess it must be pushing 2500 now, and I think that's without raising the rating of his one untitled opponent (1877) to 2050 for the purpose of calculation. However I'm not really au fait with these calculations, so maybe somebody who is can advise tomorrow when the pairings are out and we see who he will play in round 6.

As Henry's team won today and have 4 MP, there's a good chance he'll meet another opponent with a suitable rating tomorrow. Of course he must play both the remaining rounds to have a chance of a norm. I'm hoping maybe one draw from two games could be enough though the way he's scoring he could win at least one more game which should surely be sufficient as long as the last round opponent is not low rated.

I also note that all the players who had 4/4 either drew or lost today so nobody has a perfect score in five rounds, but Guseinov (who missed one round) won today and has 4/4. Likewise Ivan Popov.

[NickFaulks]

Title norms are indeed possible in both events

I'm not saying you're wrong, but am interested to know your basis for saying that.

[LawrenceCooper]

Title norms are indeed possible in both events

I'm not saying you're wrong, but am interested to know your basis for saying that.

"Attention is drawn to the fact that this competition is offering the possibility to achieve GM- or IM-norms based on 7 games."

http://euroclubcup2016.com/wp-content/u ... pdf?x99248 Page 8, towards the end of regulation 12.

[NickFaulks]

"Attention is drawn to the fact that this competition is offering the possibility to achieve GM- or IM-norms based on 7 games."

http://euroclubcup2016.com/wp-content/u ... pdf?x99248 Page 8, towards the end of regulation 12.

Thanks, that's interesting.

[LawrenceCooper]

"Attention is drawn to the fact that this competition is offering the possibility to achieve GM- or IM-norms based on 7 games."

http://euroclubcup2016.com/wp-content/u ... pdf?x99248 Page 8, towards the end of regulation 12.

Thanks, that's interesting.

I did hear that plans had been afoot to remove norms from future events but that this hadn't happened.

[Tim Harding]

Gonzaga play White Rose tomorrow so whoever plays Henry Li, please don't beat him! (Or maybe I should say, watch out your head is on the block.) Henry's Rp after five rounds is 2535 but I guess that will fall even if he wins because of the relatively low ratings of the White Rose players.

Good to see Cheddleton play live tomorrow; a nice aperitif before Carlsen v Karjakin.

[Mick Norris]

Bo. 56 Gonzaga Rtg FED - 51 White Rose Rtg FED

23.1 Murray, David 2139 IRL - IM Adair, James R 2488 ENG
23.2 Delaney, Killian 2227 IRL - FM Brown, Martin 2302 ENG
23.3 Li, Henry 2113 IRL - Townsend, M Paul 2231 ENG
23.4 Freeman, Gordon 2119 IRL - Barrett, Stephen J 2181 ENG
23.5 Jackson, Carl 2108 IRL - O'Driscoll, Kieran 2109 IRL
23.6 McMorrow, John 1971 IRL - WFM Sucikova, Svetlana 2076 SVK

[Mick Norris]

Bo. 15 Schachgesellschaft Zurich Rtg FED - 17 Cheddleton Rtg FED

8.1 GM Van Wely, Loek 2685 NED - GM Howell, David W L 2655 ENG
8.2 GM Bauer, Christian 2632 FRA - IM Hamitevici, Vladimir 2484 MDA
8.3 GM Pelletier, Yannick 2566 SUI - GM Williams, Simon K 2444 ENG
8.4 IM Studer, Noel 2436 SUI - IM Eggleston, David J 2413 ENG
8.5 GM Vogt, Lothar 2409 GER - GM Fodor, Tamas Jr. 2493 HUN
8.6 FM Rosenthal, Jonathan 2333 SUI - WIM Steil-Antoni, Fiona 2141 LUX

[Alex Holowczak]

"Attention is drawn to the fact that this competition is offering the possibility to achieve GM- or IM-norms based on 7 games."

http://euroclubcup2016.com/wp-content/u ... pdf?x99248 Page 8, towards the end of regulation 12.

Thanks, that's interesting.

I did hear that plans had been afoot to remove norms from future events but that this hadn't happened.

This is not really what happened in Baku, although my memory of the following is not supported by any notes.

Tim Harding asked:

So does the European Club Cup count as a Continental Team Championship within the meaning of these regulations?

To which from memory, the answer was no, and it never has done, but the ECU have always (deliberately?) misinterpreted this regulation to say that it does. "Team" in this context meant national team.

At the first of two QC meetings, a proposal to make this explicit by changing the wording to "National Team" was passed, to stop this confusion in future.

At the second meeting, a separate proposal was passed to allow any 7-round continental Club Championship to be eligible for norms. This was a more generic way of letting the European Club Cup back in as a norm event.

I don't think the General Assembly ever got around to approving the report and regulations though, and I don't see that the new regulations have been published yet.

[Tim Harding]

Well I hope the norm (if he achieves it) will be valid. Today's result just went up. Li-Townsend was drawn but Gonzaga won the match narrowly (wins for Adair and Sucikova). So now Gonzaga have 6MP and Henry should get a suitable opponent tomorrow. When we know exactly who he plays, somebody maybe can please calculate his required result (assuming there is a norm), remembering the rating of his lowest-rated opponent can be raised?

Butrinti-Cardigan drew 3-3 so both have 1 MP. Trinity lost so presumably will play Cardigan tomorrow.