England teams for 2011 European Team Championship

[Sabrina Chevannes]

I don't think he feels up to it. It must be really difficult as when you are playing for your country, you really want to do well. I guess if he is not in form, he probably didn't feel he could redeem himself but only do more damage. It's also nice to give Nick more of a chance

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I notice that Gawain has drawn already. I guess if the bottom two boards can draw then we have a slim chance of getting something.

6/9 from Gawain (+3) and a rating performance of 2700+ is very impressive.

[Mick Norris]

Aronian drew in 11 moves

Topalov in interesting position against Leko

[Matthew Turner]

Once it became clear that England's (open) team were not going to finish that high, I imagine that a lot of the selections revolved around giving players the best possible opportunity for individual medals. Given the Gawain and Mickey are both in contention for medals this seems to have worked well.

[Paul Cooksey]

I'm surprised the site computer is only giving +0.18 for Admas-Ivanchuk at move 22. I'd have thought white doing a bit better than that, although not enough to get excited about yet.

[Michael Yeo]

Topalov in interesting position against Leko

....which has all been seen before (up to 26.Rc1) in Potkin- Svidler Moscow 2010. Still very likely to end in the draw by repetition that Leko tried to avoid.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Looks like Mickey can win a pawn, but ending up in one of those Queen and pawn endgames.

EDIT: Oops. Chucky's blundered!

[Matthew Turner]

Mr. Ivanchuk has a problem - Houdini gives it as -15 (fifteen)

[Mick Norris]

Mickey has won

[Sabrina Chevannes]

Woooo! I'm sure this is a great birthday present for him Go Mickey!

[Mick Norris]

Topalov in interesting position against Leko

....which has all been seen before (up to 26.Rc1) in Potkin- Svidler Moscow 2010. Still very likely to end in the draw by repetition that Leko tried to avoid.

I assume 26...Qb2+ was a mistake?

Topalov looks in trouble now

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Unfortunately, Pert's just lost and Short's position looks lost as well (computer says he just blundered). So the match is probably lost, but the good news is that Leko beat Topalov. Does this mean Adams has got the board 1 gold medal? He must have got at least one of the three medals. I'm confused though as to how some lists are saying both Svidler and Grischuk (both play for Russia) are eligible for the board 1 prize.

[Mick Norris]

The Chess Results info is unreliable, as it seems to allocate the board based on the highest played rather than starting number, which is relevant as far as we are concerned

Mickey must have passed Topalov, but not sure about Aronian (presumably Alex can work out rating performances as well as pairings?)

[Michael Yeo]

Topalov in interesting position against Leko

....which has all been seen before (up to 26.Rc1) in Potkin- Svidler Moscow 2010. Still very likely to end in the draw by repetition that Leko tried to avoid.

I assume 26...Qb2+ was a mistake?

Topalov looks in trouble now

I'm sure that 26....Qb4 is safer, but it may just have been Topalov rolling the dice. He followed Svidler all the way to 31....h5? where Svidler's Re8 held the draw.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Are Germany actually going to pull off a win in this match and win the entire event? Computer says Meier is crushing Movsesian. Wonder how Gustafsson's nerves are feeling at the moment.