2016 European Club Cup

[Mick Norris]

Round 7 team pairings

16 24 Jelica PEP - Goracici 6 : 6 Gonzaga 56
17 32 Oslo Schakselskap 6 : 6 Cheddleton 17

24 51 White Rose 4 : 4 Skakklubben Nordkalotten 43

29 57 De Sprenger Echternach 3 : 3 Abergavenny 58
30 54 Edinburgh Chess Club 2 : 1 Butrinti 61
31 60 Cardigan 1 : 2 Trinity College Dublin 59

[Mick Norris]

16.2 IM Roganovic, Milos 2478 SRB - Li, Henry 2113 IRL

[Tim Harding]

16.2 IM Roganovic, Milos 2478 SRB - Li, Henry 2113 IRL

No, Henry is on board 2 and will have the White pieces. I think (hope) that's the right call by the Gonzaga captain, who rested himself.
(He had anyway played every other round and was due to rest.)

Gonzaga think Henry needs a draw for a norm, assuming norms are valid in this event. Black against an only slightly lower rated opponent could be tougher.

Chess-results show Henry's Rp after 6 rounds is 2478 and that is actually the rating of today's opponent so clearly a draw is indeed sufficient?
(Even without raising his 1877 opponent to 2050.)

[LawrenceCooper]

Gonzaga think Henry needs a draw for a norm, assuming norms are valid in this event. Black against an only slightly lower rated opponent could be tougher.

Chess-results show Henry's Rp after 6 rounds is 2478 and that is actually the rating of today's opponent so clearly a draw is indeed sufficient?
(Even without raising his 1877 opponent to 2050.)

The Midland Monarchs board 1 in the women's event needs a win for an IM norm today but against a very strong opponent. If there's a happy ending then I'll break the news later. Regardless of the outcome it's been a good experience for the players albeit captaining the team from home, rather than being in Novi Sad, has made for an interesting week.

[Alistair Campbell]

Chess-results show Henry's Rp after 6 rounds is 2478 and that is actually the rating of today's opponent so clearly a draw is indeed sufficient?
(Even without raising his 1877 opponent to 2050.)

I've no formal experience of these things, but my interpretation of the regulations concurs with yours, in that a draw is sufficient.

Didn't Hjorvar Steinn Gretarsson get his final GM norm in a European Club Cup over 7 games?

[NickFaulks]

Didn't Hjorvar Steinn Gretarsson get his final GM norm in a European Club Cup over 7 games?

There's a trivia question here. Who awarded Gretarsson's title?

[Leonard Barden]

16.2 IM Roganovic, Milos 2478 SRB - Li, Henry 2113 IRL

No, Henry is on board 2 and will have the White pieces. I think (hope) that's the right call by the Gonzaga captain, who rested himself.
(He had anyway played every other round and was due to rest.)

Gonzaga think Henry needs a draw for a norm, assuming norms are valid in this event. Black against an only slightly lower rated opponent could be tougher.

Chess-results show Henry's Rp after 6 rounds is 2478 and that is actually the rating of today's opponent so clearly a draw is indeed sufficient?
(Even without raising his 1877 opponent to 2050.)

Bad news. Chess Results has Li 0-1 Roganovic. Still, that's a lot closer to an IM norm than any 2002-born English junior. The best we can offer is Freddie Hand at the 4NCL congress, but that was only a 5-round event.

[LawrenceCooper]

The Midland Monarchs board 1 in the women's event needs a win for an IM norm today but against a very strong opponent. If there's a happy ending then I'll break the news later. Regardless of the outcome it's been a good experience for the players albeit captaining the team from home, rather than being in Novi Sad, has made for an interesting week.

IM norm confirmed

[Tim Harding]

16.2 IM Roganovic, Milos 2478 SRB - Li, Henry 2113 IRL

No, Henry is on board 2 and will have the White pieces. I think (hope) that's the right call by the Gonzaga captain, who rested himself.
(He had anyway played every other round and was due to rest.)

Gonzaga think Henry needs a draw for a norm, assuming norms are valid in this event. Black against an only slightly lower rated opponent could be tougher.

Chess-results show Henry's Rp after 6 rounds is 2478 and that is actually the rating of today's opponent so clearly a draw is indeed sufficient?
(Even without raising his 1877 opponent to 2050.)

Bad news. Chess Results has Li 0-1 Roganovic. Still, that's a lot closer to an IM norm than any 2002-born English junior. The best we can offer is Freddie Hand at the 4NCL congress, but that was only a 5-round event.

Yes unfortunately Henry did lose, so fell short of a norm, but he still gained 102 rating points in 7 games if chess-results.com is correct. He played two GMs and two IMs and beat one of each, and finished with 4.5 pts. I played him three times last year (+1 =1 -1) and he was already getting very strong then. This September he won the City of Dublin championship. As he has not played abroad as much as some of the other very promising Irish juniors, it's good to see him making the most of this opportunity.

[LawrenceCooper]

The Turkish team beating White Rose appears to consist of juniors, so playing several hundred points above their rating isn't a total surprise.

This is the routine excuse whenever English players get badly beaten, but it doesn't stand up. The Turkish 16 year olds have well established ratings based on many recent games, and they have gone up and down over the past year. There is no reason whatsoever to think that they are underrated.

The team gained 194 rating points in the tournament. Not enough to stop the result being a big shock but enough to make them a tricky pairing.

[Stewart Reuben]

Tim Harding>7 games if chess-results.com is correct

chess-results.com are NOT to be relied upon.
When rating games, they always get the rating wrong when a player has met an unrated opponent.
For title nrms, they do not take into account the 400 point rule. e.g. Seeking a GM norm, the lowest opponent rated U2200 counts as 2200 when determining Ra.

[Steve Barrett]

The Turkish team beating White Rose appears to consist of juniors, so playing several hundred points above their rating isn't a total surprise.

This is the routine excuse whenever English players get badly beaten, but it doesn't stand up. The Turkish 16 year olds have well established ratings based on many recent games, and they have gone up and down over the past year. There is no reason whatsoever to think that they are underrated.

The team gained 194 rating points in the tournament. Not enough to stop the result being a big shock but enough to make them a tricky pairing.

The young Turkish team had a great week and totally outplayed us in this match from board 1-6 (even the board we won). Fair play to them.

[LawrenceCooper]

List of norms from the two events:

32nd European Chess Club Cup Open
Fide-Titel-Norm List  for rounds 7
Name FED IRtg Eval.Pts. Eval.Gam. Title
IM Sprenger Jan Michael Dr. GER 2512 4 7 GM
FM Murtazin Bulat RUS 2384 4½ 7 IM
FM Halvax Georg AUT 2373 4½ 7 IM
FM Mihajlov Sebastian NOR 2359 3½ 7 IM
FM Bosman Michiel NED 2353 4½ 7 IM
FM Villegas Pierre MNC 2344 5½ 7 IM
FM Stojcevski Zoran MKD 2316 4½ 7 IM
Mladenovic Stefan SRB 2292 4½ 7 IM
Grigorian Spartak GER 2280 5 7 IM
FM Nikolovski Nikola MKD 2274 5½ 7 IM
WCM Gundogan Sinem Cagla TUR 1952 4 7 WIM

21st European Chess Club Cup for Women
Fide-Titel-Norm List  for rounds 7 (unofficial)

Name FED IRtg Eval.Pts. Eval.Gam. Title
FM Pustovoitova Daria RUS 2427 4½ 7 WIM
WGM Mammadova Gulnar AZE 2364 5½ 7 IM
WGM Berzina Ilze LAT 2283 4½ 7 IM
WGM Sandu Mihaela ROU 2207 5 7 IM

The last name being the most pleasing as a member of my Midland Monarchs team.

[Mick Norris]

List of norms from the two events:

WGM Sandu Mihaela ROU 2207 5 7 IM

The last name being the most pleasing as a member of my Midland Monarchs team.

Obviously, captaining remotely was a success; maybe Wenger could try it next

[LawrenceCooper]

List of norms from the two events:

WGM Sandu Mihaela ROU 2207 5 7 IM

The last name being the most pleasing as a member of my Midland Monarchs team.

Obviously, captaining remotely was a success; maybe Wenger could try it next

At least I didn't have to make substitutions whilst the matches were in progress