2017 European Ind Ch 29 May - 11 June (Minsk)

[Mick Norris]

Rd. Bo. No. Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name Rtg No.

2 24 141 IM Steinberg Nitzan 2532 1 1 GM Jones Gawain C B 2654 36

2 85 199 IM Karttunen Mika 2465 ½ ½ GM Howell David W L 2684 18

2 185 280 FM Tate Alan 2320 0 0 Damjanovic Vuk 1754 381

round 2 pairings

[Chris Rice]

A rather unusual first round report from ChessBase which features two difficult draws on the top boards and losses for Grandelius and Korobov. Also featured is David Howell's game where David pretty much got outplayed but very cleverly offered a draw putting the seeds of doubt in his opponent's mind as to whether he would be able to win it. His opponent bottled it and agreed the draw. Finally trying to be too tactically clever is one of my many weaknesses, so I really felt for Black in the game Shimanov vs Ofitserian. In fact sometimes when I play these "great" ideas they shouldn't get a ? mark but a symbol.

[JustinHorton]

A rather unusual first round report from ChessBase

"The event attracts almost every strong GM in Europe who wishes to earn a ticket to Georgia to take part in the 2017 World Cup in Georgia"

A useful clarification.

[LawrenceCooper]

Gawain has won to reach 2/2.

[LawrenceCooper]

David has drawn to move to 1/2.

[JustinHorton]

Jobava the most prominent loser.

[Mick Norris]

round 3 pairings

3 11 36 GM Jones Gawain C B 2654 2 2 GM Bocharov Dmitry 2574 109

3 73 18 GM Howell David W L 2684 1 1 FM Elistratov Semen 2417 230

[JustinHorton]

I confess Kryvoruchko's existence has eluded me until now, though he's the number four seed here.

[NickFaulks]

I confess Kryvoruchko's existence has eluded me until now, though he's the number four seed here.

Very rarely loses.

[Chris Rice]

Speaking of unknowns, Moroni was a name I hadn't come across before, but on the evidence of this game I expect he won't be unfamiliar for too much longer. Rarely have I ever seen Smirin outplayed like this.

Smirin, Ilia (ISR) 2676 - Moroni, Luca Jr (ITA) 2448
0-1 18th European Individual Championship 2017 round 02
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 d6 8. d4 Bb6 9. h3 O-O 10. Be3 h6 11. Nbd2 Re8 12. a4 Rb8 13. axb5 axb5 14. Qc2 exd4 15. cxd4 Bb7 16. Rfe1 Nb4 17. Qc3 c5 18. dxc5 dxc5 19. Ne5 Rxe5 20. Qxe5 Nd3 21. Qg3 Bc7 22. Qh4 Nxe1 23. Rxe1 Qd6 24. g3 Re8 25. Bc2 c4 26. Ra1 Bb6 27. Qf4 Qxf4 28. gxf4 Bxe3 29. fxe3 Rd8 30. Nf3 Nxe4 31. Nd4 Nd6 32. Rd1 Re8 33. Kf2 g6 34. Nf3 Ne4+ 35. Bxe4 Bxe4 36. Ra1 b4 37. Ne5 c3 38. bxc3 Rxe5 39. fxe5 b3 40. e6 fxe6 0-1

[JustinHorton]

Volotikin-Gabuzyan your early port of call for laying-waste-to-the-Najdorf action.

[LawrenceCooper]

Jobava the most prominent loser.

Ditto that for round 3.

[JustinHorton]

Oh that's quite a nice mistake (but a pretty bad one for a 2700 player to make).

[Roger de Coverly]

https://chess24.com/es/watch/live-tourn ... 017/3/1/71

For the English commentary, substitute /en/ for /es/ in Justin's links.

[JustinHorton]

Good point, and better than Volotikin's prosecution of his previously winning advantage