Squads for European Team Championships

[Roger de Coverly]

I think it would be fair to say that the team isn't what you'd call a Scottish 1st team; their board 1 is their 11th highest-rated player.

Chess Scotland team selection strategy for the European Championships is to select the highest rated team who can afford to finance themselves for the event. It's what the ECF would have to do if it didn't get team sponsorship or agreement to finance International teams out of amounts raised from amateur players.

[Angus French]

Good result for Scotland, but I do have to say that the idea of their being notably out rated by the Faroe islands....

It's probably been asked before but are the Faroe Islands the strongest chess nation per capita? Wikipedia gives the country's population as 50,030 (April 2017) and in the current championships they have one GM, two IMs and two FMs playing.

[Chris Rice]

Good result for Scotland, but I do have to say that the idea of their being notably out rated by the Faroe islands....

It's probably been asked before but are the Faroe Islands the strongest chess nation per capita? Wikipedia gives the country's population as 50,030 (April 2017) and in the current championships they have one GM, two IMs and two FMs playing.

In terms of GMs Iceland has always been the strongest chess country adjusting for population (per capita), Serbia is the top "large" country (population over 1 million) in terms of International Masters per capita, and Armenia is the top "large" country in terms of Grandmasters per capita according to FIDE. However, I agree the Faroe Islands do punch above their weight which is apparently due to the state funding they receive (same in Iceland). When I ran the Jutes of Kent team Helgi Dam Ziska, the number 1 Faroes player and a number of Icelanders were in it and they all said the same thing that chess players were well treated and respected in both places which really motivated them.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Andorra must be up there if you include their inactive players: two GMs for a country with a population of 76,000.

[NickFaulks]

Andorra must be up there if you include their inactive players: two GMs for a country with a population of 76,000.

Yes, but one of those is a recent import, as is their only IM. On that basis you might include Monaco, whose top players are all imports.

[John Moore]

Scotland on fire having beaten MKD or FYROM or whatever they are called by 2.5-1.5 despite being heavily outrated. As far as I can see, Scotland move level with England on match points! By the way, Andy Burnett's opponent missed something that everyone should look at and remember for the future for we are all destined to repeat the mistakes

[MartinCarpenter]

Go them

Having read up on FYROM its comforting to know there are some things sillier than the Lancashire/GM chess dispute in this world! I suppose that it is almost amusingly ironic....

[Chris Rice]

Lengthy report from Peter Doggers on Round 3 of the Open. Full results here. A disappointing loss from England, three draws and Mickey lost on top board to Wojtaszek (2737). Whereas today was Scotland's day, clearly paying your own way provides its own motivation, an outstanding result:

(40) Scotland - (33) FYROM 2½:1½
17.1 FM Tate, Alan 2366 - IM Pancevski, Filip 2489 0 - 1
17.2 FM Berry, Neil 2283 - IM Stojanovski, Dejan 2454 ½ - ½
17.3 FM Morrison, Graham 2278 - FM Nikolovski, Nikola 2420 1 - 0
17.4 FM Burnett, Andrew 2226 - FM Lazov, Toni 2331 1 - 0

Russia are now the only team left on 100% and they face Hungary in Round 4. England face Italy who after a couple of great wins got a cold shower from the Germans. Scotland also like England on 3 match points are downfloated to play Greece 1.

In the Women's section the Round 3 results produced wins for Georgia, Spain, Poland & Russia to keep them on 100%. England got their first match point with their first board win from Akshaya:

(23) England - (29) Belgium 2 : 2
15.1 IM Houska, Jovanka 2393 - WFM Goossens, Hanne 2188 ½ - ½
15.2 WIM Maroroa, Sue 2077 - WFM Vanhuyse, Nele 2061 ½ - ½
15.3 FM Kalaiyalahan, Akshaya 2026 - Barbier, Wiebke 2013 1 - 0
15.4 WFM Bhatia, Kanwal K 2080 - WCM Vanduyfhuys, Daria 1737 0 - 1

Round 4 features Spain v Poland and Georgia v Russia while England take on Greece 2, hopefully they should get another result from that.

[NickFaulks]

Will Brunello try 6.g4 against Short?

[John Moore]

David Howell decided to turn down a forced draw with 48 Ne7 which would have given England the match. Instead he played a very sharp and unclear attempt to win which remains an unclear mess with David as always playing on increments. Why oh Why.

[John Moore]

Frankly a disgrace. I have said more than once before, I don't mind if David plays the entire game on increments from move 1 when he is playing in an individual event but I do care if he's playing for his country because he quite often blunders. This is the worst possible case so far because he has cost England a match point. But then does anyone care - no-one appears to be watching.

[Carl Hibbard]

But then does anyone care - no-one appears to be watching.

This was fun.

[Event "European Team Championship"] [Site "chess24.com"] [Date "2017.10.31"] [Round "4"] [White "Brunello, Sabino"] [Black "Short, Nigel D"] [Result "0-1"] [Board "2"] [WhiteElo "2555"] [WhiteTitle "GM"] [WhiteCountry "ITA"] [WhiteFideId "813613"] [WhiteEloChange "-3"] [BlackElo "2698"] [BlackTitle "GM"] [BlackCountry "ENG"] [BlackFideId "400025"] [BlackEloChange "3"] 1. d4 {[%clk 1:30:55]} Nf6 {[%clk 1:30:44]} 2. c4 {[%clk 1:31:20]} b6 {[%clk 1:30:14]} 3. f3 {[%clk 1:29:22]} Nc6 {[%clk 1:29:17]} 4. Nc3 {[%clk 1:22:50]} e5 {[%clk 1:25:27]} 5. d5 {[%clk 1:22:11]} Ne7 {[%clk 1:25:50]} 6. e4 {[%clk 0:58:54]} Ng6 {[%clk 1:24:47]} 7. Be3 {[%clk 0:59:17]} Bc5 {[%clk 1:22:26]} 8. Bxc5 {[%clk 0:59:05]} bxc5 {[%clk 1:22:49]} 9. Qd2 {[%clk 0:59:11]} d6 {[%clk 1:23:07]} 10. Bd3 {[%clk 0:59:14]} O-O {[%clk 1:18:34]} 11. O-O-O {[%clk 0:50:33]} Bd7 {[%clk 1:14:57]} 12. Nge2 {[%clk 0:49:21]} c6 {[%clk 1:13:30]} 13. dxc6 {[%clk 0:38:59]} Bxc6 {[%clk 1:13:52]} 14. h4 {[%clk 0:39:26]} Rb8 {[%clk 1:06:40]} 15. h5 {[%clk 0:37:01]} Ne7 {[%clk 1:06:53]} 16. g4 {[%clk 0:37:22]} Qb6 {[%clk 1:04:40]} 17. Ng3 {[%clk 0:26:19]} h6 {[%clk 0:58:03]} 18. Rh2 {[%clk 0:20:18]} Nh7 {[%clk 0:58:26]} 19. f4 {[%clk 0:13:40]} Bd7 {[%clk 0:49:21]} 20. Nf5 {[%clk 0:13:48]} Bxf5 {[%clk 0:49:42]} 21. exf5 {[%clk 0:13:15]} f6 {[%clk 0:48:35]} 22. Be4 {[%clk 0:09:45]} Rfd8 {[%clk 0:46:21]} 23. Rg1 {[%clk 0:04:12]} Kh8 {[%clk 0:41:35]} 24. g5 {[%clk 0:04:06]} Qb4 {[%clk 0:40:21]} 25. gxh6 {[%clk 0:03:41]} gxh6 {[%clk 0:39:34]} 26. fxe5 {[%clk 0:02:18]} dxe5 {[%clk 0:39:59]} 27. Qxh6 {[%clk 0:02:42]} Rg8 {[%clk 0:40:24]} 28. Rhg2 {[%clk 0:01:39]} Rg5 {[%clk 0:39:33]} 29. Rxg5 {[%clk 0:00:42]} Qxb2+ {[%clk 0:40:00]} 30. Kd1 {[%clk 0:01:11]} fxg5 {[%clk 0:40:23]} 31. f6 {[%clk 0:00:34]} Rd8+ {[%clk 0:40:48]} 0-1

[Jonathan Rogers]

I wouldn't be quite as critical as John, because I can see why David might have thought that he could hardly lose from the position after 48 Nxa5. To me, the position then looks good rather than quite unclear, though the latter did turn out to be the better assessment. Also because we already knew (well, before the event even started, in many cases) that we are not medal contenders, and that whether we finish even in the top ten will likely come down to how well we play the last two matches, not to how well we do in round four. Further, taking the match as a whole (we were never better on one, probably lost on 2 and much worse on 4) we can hardly complain about a draw. Their unexpected result on 3 fir then was surely not a bigger swing than our win on 2, in other words.

But following England at chess does often remind me of the 1980s BBC comedy Ever Decreasing Circles. Even when it seems that the gods are smiling on us, something or other seems to happen, and after our bright moments in Baku last year, we are in danger of returning to the situation where we just don't beat anyone remotely close to our own strength.

[Alex Holowczak]

Also because we already knew (well, before the event even started, in many cases) that we are not medal contenders

You realise we were seeded 4 at the start of the tournament, right; just 1 point behind the average squad rating of the team seeded 3?

Now I come to look at the standings, I see we're ahead of the team seeded 3 now.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Given that Armenia (2nd seeds) are currently 14th, and that Russia lost today to Hungary, it is clear that seedings don't mean too much at the moment, though maybe it will all come out in the wash by the end of the tournament.