In the fourth round of ECC the only one match between the teams with 2700+ was played in Open section while the other top-rated clubs had comparatively easy life.
Economist-SGSEU Saratov and Saint-Petersburg Chess Federation were fighting on the first board for six hours and as a result the defending champions outplayed their opponents. Vadim Zvjaginsev brought an important point to his team by wining against Igor Lysyj, who replaced today Evgeny Alekseev. Alexander Morozevich was the last one to finish the game against Nikita Vitiugov but, despite his great efforts, didn’t manage to equalize the score in the match.
Tomsk-400, SOCAR Azerbaijan didn’t leave any chances to their opponents and won their matches with 6-0 score against Tammer-Shakki and Schachgesellschaft Zürich respectively.
After fourth round Saint-Petersburg Chess Federation and Tomsk-400 share the first place with 8 points. Ashdot, Economist-SGSEU Saratov, SOCAR Azerbaijan, Ugra, G-Team Novy-Bor, Gros Xake Taldea, Hapoel Kfar Saba share the third place with 6 points each.
Monte-Carlo won the fourth match in a row and keeps leading in the Women section. Ashdod club, which played quite successfully in the previous rounds and shared the second place, lost all four games against the leader. Ludmila Tsifanskaya had very good chances to hold the balance in the game against Pia Cramling but made a mistake in the rook endgame. It was remarkable that the identical technically drawish endgame happened in the game Morozevich-Vitiugov, which was played in the open section same time, but Russian GM Nikita Vitiugov had no problems to make a draw at the board. Tatiana Shadrina brought the victory to her club Ugra as she managed to outplay Tatiana Ivanova-Skripova on the fourth board. The same situation happened in the match between AVS and Mika where Lela Javakhishvili was the only one to score a full point in the game against Ukrainian champion Mariya Muzychuk while the others made draws. As a result defending champions AVS lost the third match and placed 7th after four rounds.







The official tournament web page is http://www.ecc2012-chesseilat.com/

Pictures by Anastasiya Karlovich

The 3rd round of the ECC saw match-ups of many strong teams in the Open section.
The only draw between two Ukrainians Volokitin and Areshenko was played in the match between Israeli Club Ashdot against Tomsk-400. In the remaining games Russian Club managed to score more points as another Ukrainian derby between Ruslan Ponomariov and Vassily Ivanchuk finished in favor of Ruslan, while members of Tomsk-400 Igor Kurnosov and Alexander Motylev defeated Evgeny Romanov and Boris Avrukh respectively. Pavel Eljanov won the third game in a row but this time his result could not affect the outcome of the match.
Economist-SGSEU Saratov didn’t lose any game and won two during the match against OSG Baden-Baden e.V. Ian Nepomniachtchi and Evgeny Alekssev outplayed Etienne Bacrot and Arkadiy Naiditsch to bring the victory to their team.
Ugra recovered after yesterday loss and managed to defeat SHSM-64. Saint-Petersburg Chess Federation Club achieved a narrow victory against Tammer-Shakki Club. Only GM Peter Svidler gave half a point to IM Mika Karttunen, while the other members of Russian Club made 100%.
Before the fourth round three Russian Clubs (Petersburg Chess Federation Club, Economist-SGSEU Saratov and Tomsk-400) won all the matches and lead in the tournament.
In Women section the world champion Hou Yifan brought the victory to her club for the second time! She was the only one to win her game against Elina Danielian as all the other matches finished peacefully. Monte Carlo is a sole leader in women section with perfect score.
The silver medalist of the previous ECC AVS Club, who unexpectedly lost two previous matches, drew the match against SHSM-Nashe Nasledie. The derby on the first board between two former world champions Antoaneta Stefanova and Alexandra Kosteniuk finished in a draw as well as the game between Viktorija Cmilyte and Ekaterina Kovalevskaya, The other two games didn’t change the situation in the match as Katerina Lahno lost against Valentina Gunina but Mariya Muzychuk struck back on the fourth board by defeating Anastasia Savina.
Israeli team Ashdot drew all the games in the match against Ugra, despite the rating disadvantage in all the boards.
Chigorin Club won against Rishon Le-Zion, however WIM Marsel Efroimski and young talent Michal Lahav managed to grab two draws playing against more titled opponents Anastasiya Bodnaruk and Tatiana Ivanova-Skripova respectively.












The official tournament web page is http://www.ecc2012-chesseilat.com/

Pictures by Anastasiya Karlovich

Round 2


In open section the hero of the previous day Ashdot grabbed the second victory against another 2700+ average rating team. Israeli team defeated Ugra with 3,5 – 2,5 score after the leader of the club Vassily Ivanchuk won decisive game against Dmitry Jakovenko.
Russian club SHSM-64 had good chances to outplay German club OSG Baden-Baden e.V. Boris Gelfand, who entered battlefield, confidently won against Michael Adams but Anish Giri, who had very promising position against Arkadiy Naiditsch, unexpectedly blundered and had to resign. As the result the score in the match was equalized. In the last game Vladimir Potkin didn’t find the winning continuation against Liviu-Dieter Nisepianu and the match finished in a draw.
Economist-SGSEU Saratov defeated G-Team Novy Bor in very solid style thanks to the full point of Evgeny Tomashevsky, while the other five games were drawn.
Socar Azerbaijan had no difficulty dispatching their opponents Vesnianka Gran, however Petar Arnaudov managed to steal the only draw for his team in the game against the leader of Socar Azerbaijan Teimour Radjabov.
In women section Monte-Carlo won an important match against silver medalist of previous ECC AVS club. The world champion Hou Yifan brought the victory to the team by defeating the former world champion Antoaneta Stefanova, as all remaining games finished in a draw.
The derby between two Russian Clubs SHSM-Nashe Nasledie and Chigorin Club finished peacefully, even the chances of the team headed by Alexandra Kosteniuk looked more promising before the match. Woman’s Ugra was more successful today and managed to defeat Armenian team Mika with 2.5-1.5 score. Woman’s club Ashdot outplayed Rishon Le-Zion with 3-1 score.

The official tournament web page is http://www.ecc2012-chesseilat.com/