England teams for 2011 European Team Championship

[Alex Holowczak]

I've had to revise my predictions; a downfloat makes this confusing.

Hungary look like they'll downfloat, but they can't play any of Denmark, Czech Republic or Croatia... So that seems to suggest Hungary v Latvia.

The fact the table is not sorted by the pairing criteria they're using (it's sorted by Buchholz if MP and GP are tied) doesn't help.

[Jonathan Rogers]

I think we'll get "Black" against Norway for the Women.

and round seven? c'mon, you know you want to ....

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I've had to revise my predictions; a downfloat makes this confusing.

Hungary look like they'll downfloat, but they can't play any of Denmark, Czech Republic or Croatia... So that seems to suggest Hungary v Latvia.

I have a horrible feeling Ukraine v England is going to come up, but it's not so easy to predict.

So who are Switzerland playing? Was my wild guess ever likely to be correct? (I correctly predicted the women's pairing by pairing the two teams at the bottom )

[And I see Wales have sunk like a stone to the bottom of the Open section, with Scotland two positions above them. Without funding to send the best players, is this what the future holds?]

[Alex Holowczak]

OK, my pairings in England's scoregroup - I think - will be:

Hungary v Latvia

England v Czech Republic
Ukraine v Israel
Switzerland v Croatia
Moldova v Denmark

I know that England cannot play Israel, who would be our natural opponents according to the basic rules, but I don't know who you choose as the next team. I'm guessing you just go down the teams in the scoregroup until you find a team you haven't played before...

[Alex Holowczak]

I correctly predicted the women's pairing by pairing the two teams at the bottom

Well, quite.

[And I see Wales have sunk like a stone to the bottom of the Open section, with Scotland two positions above them. Without funding to send the best players, is this what the future holds?]

Yes. Although we'd still probably do a bit better than Scotland and Wales.

[Alex Holowczak]

OK, I got one or two of the colours back-to-front through not checking both teams' colour sequence ( ), but I got the coupling right.

[John Moore]

So does Board 10 make the live boards tomorrow.

[John Moore]

Incidentally, I suspect Lithuania's Board 4 is over rated at 2100. Have you looked at the games. Might be their Association President or paid for the team!

[Roger de Coverly]

Incidentally, I suspect Lithuania's Board 4 is over rated at 2100. Have you looked at the games. Might be their Association President or paid for the team!

He's 15 or 16

http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=12805246

Their isn't anything in his recent results to explain why he was selected. He's 73rd in their rankings.

[Mick Norris]

3-1 v Lithuania then, and one would have to say that this does not bode well for the London Chess Classic for David Howell. (He will have to take his chances with White in December, as did Vallejo Pons in the recent Grand Slam event). But at least we have established two team members on good form (Adams and Jones).

The women lost 2.5-1.5. Doubtless Alex has already worked out both teams' opponents tomorrow ...

I'm going to take a punt at Switzerland! (for the men) and, er, Norway for the women.

And Adams is currently tenth on this list (whatever that list is showing):

http://chess-results.com/tnr57856.aspx? ... ES&flag=30

He is 13t on this, and 4th for the board 1
http://chess-results.com/tnr57856.aspx? ... ES&flag=30

[Mick Norris]

In case you hadn't noticed - Russia plays Ukraine today on board five!

They won, so tomorrow they are up to board 3 to play Azerbaijan

[Christopher Kreuzer]

In case you hadn't noticed - Russia plays Ukraine today on board five!

They won, so tomorrow they are up to board 3 to play Azerbaijan

Interesting. Anyone like to pick a likely winner of the whole event? Or at least the team best-placed to make a push having played most of the top teams early?

[Paul Cooksey]

Some odd games today. Topalov looks to have played a losing move to win on time. But truly weird was Radjabov-Bacrot 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Ng1 Nb8 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Bc4 Bc5 6. O-O Nf6 7. d3 O-O 8. Nbd2 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Re1 Nf6 11. c3 a6 12. a4 h6 13. b4 Bd6 14. Qb3 b6 15. Ne4 Drawn, but I suspect it would have got a double default from Stewart Reuben.

[Alex Holowczak]

But truly weird was Radjabov-Bacrot 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Ng1 Nb8 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Bc4 Bc5 6. O-O Nf6 7. d3 O-O 8. Nbd2 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Re1 Nf6 11. c3 a6 12. a4 h6 13. b4 Bd6 14. Qb3 b6 15. Ne4 Drawn, but I suspect it would have got a double default from Stewart Reuben.

The first thing to check is whether this is actually what happened by checking the scoresheets, and not just a DGT error!

You have to decide whether:
(1) The two players agreed a draw before the game had started
(2) The two teams had agreed to draw all four games in the match before the match had started

You could reasonably claim that the first four moves of this game were "[bringing] the game of chess into disrepute". You even used the adjectives "truly weird" to describe the game, which could certainly build to accusations of "disrepute". You're only mentioning it, I imagine, because it's potentially controversial.

Edit: One of the Azerbaijan players was apparently taken ill though, so this may have had a bearing on what happened.

[LozCooper]

I can add some "inside info" to the Azerbaijan-France match. The match was progressing normally until I became aware of a commotion from outside the playing area in the smoking section. It transpired that Gashimov had had what I believe to have been an epileptic fit (or something similar) and his teammates were very worried about his condition. I'm not sure what transpired after that but all four clocks were stopped and some negotiations appeared to be taking place. Next thing I knew four draws were agreed and all the players (with the exception of Gashimov) shook hands. From the outside it looked like a very sporting gesture on the part of the French team. The Azerbaijan team were clearly very concerned for their player and looked in no state to continue playing. I subsequently heard that he'll be okay and wish him a speedy recovery.