Two rounds have been already played at European Chess Club Cup 2017 which takes place in Avantagrde Resort Hotel in Antalya, Turkey, from 7th-15h October.
48 teams from 24 European federations participate the event. The Championship has officially started and was declared open on the Opening Ceremony which took place on Saturday, 7th of October where the President of European Chess Union, Mr. Zurab Azmaiparashvili, the President of Turkish Chess Federation, Mrs. Gulkiz Tulay, and the deputy president of FIDE, Mr. Georgios Makropoulos greeted the players and guests. After the opening ceremony, the teams captains attended the Technical Meeting.
The first round has started when the President of the ECU, Mr. Zurab Azmaiparashvili and the President of Turkish Chess Federation, Mrs. Gulkiz Tulay made the first move in the game between Karjakin Sergey (the 2nd board of Globus from Russia) and Johannesson Oliver (the 2nd board of Fjölnir Chess Club from Island).
The defender of the prestigious title of European Chess Club Cup Champion in open section, “Alkaloid” (MKD) strengthened its team with the finalist of the FIDE World Cup 2017- Ding Liren (CHN, 2772) and Yu Yangyi (CHN, 2743) making the average rating of the team- 2724. Still, it was not enough to start the tournament as the top seeded team. “Globus” from Russia were the first on the starting list with top World’s players, former World Champion, Vladimir Kramnik (RUS, 2794), Mamedyarov Shakhriyar (AZE, 2791), Grischuk Alexander (RUS, 2785), Karjakin Sergey (RUS, 2765), Giri Anish (NED, 2762) and Nepomniachtchi Ian (RUS, 2733).
The Open section’s rating favorites were very convincing in the first round making the victories with maximum and almost the maximum results. The only surprise was the match between “Karaman Belediyesi Spor Kulubu” from Turkey and “Oslo Schakselkap” from Norway which finished peaceful with a result 3:3 even though the Norwegians were the rating favorites.
In the second round, “SHSM Legacy Square Capital” from Russia defeated “Alkaloid” (MKD) and threaded one’s way to tie for the first place with 8 other teams who took two victories from the first two rounds.
Open section- Pairings, Results and Standings
The first round in Women’s section went without any surprise and all the favorite teams won the matches against their lower rated opponents. The second round turned to be more interesting since favourites paired between them. 2nd on the starting list “Ugra Chess Club” played against 3rd rated “SHSM Legacy Square Capital” both from Russia and after a long fight the match ended in a draw with a result 2:2. The other tough match was played between Odlar Yurdu (AZE) and top seeded Batumi Chess Club NONA (GEO). Azeri girls took the advanatge in the match with a result 2:1 and the second board of Odlar Yurdu- Fataliyeva, Ulviyya (AZE) withstand in the game against Harika, Dronavalli (IND), drew and brought the victory to her team.
Women’s Section- Pairings, Results and Standings
The 3rd round starts today at 15:00 (local time) and all the games can be followed online through the official website of the tournament or through the ECU website, section LIVE. The organizers also provided the live analysis of the games by GM Bartlomiej Heberla and IM Can Arduman which can be followed through the LIVE stream which is also available on the ECU website, section LIVE.
Both championships are played in 7 rounds, played under the Swiss system, in accordance with the ECU Tournament Rules. The time control is 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move one.
The total prize fund is 34.000 EUR (24.000 EUR for Men’s event and 10.000 EUR for Women’s event).
Photographs by: David Llada