12/11/2023
♟THE EUROPEAN TEAM CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP HAS BEGUN
Today at 3 pm in Budva, the games of the first round of the European Team Chess Championship began. The President of the European Chess Union, Zurab Azmaiparashvili symbolically made the first move in the game between Nino Batsiashvili and Marsel Efroimski in the match on the first table in the women's competition, Georgia – Israel. The member of the Board of the Montenegro Chess Federation and honorary vice-president of the European Chess Union Veselin Vanja Drašković made the first move in Magnus Carlsen's game in the match between Norway and Slovakia.
The tournament started with a big surprise in the men's competition, the first favorite in open section, the Azerbaijani national team, was defeated by the Danish team, and the hero of the Danes was Mads Andersen who defeated Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, the former world number two, while the remaining three games ended in draws.
The fact that in chess everything is unpredictable was proven with the last moves of the second favorite the Romanian national team, which made the draw with the team of Austria. All four boards ended in draw, after a great match.
The third and fourth seeds in the tournament, Germany and England celebrated a victory in the interesting match after Aleksandar Donchenko and Luke McShane managed to score a decisive victories with the final result remaining at 2.5-1.5.
World number 1, Magnus Carlsen was victorious in a game with Jergus Pechac from Slovakia, but his win was only enough for a final draw as Viktor Gazik defeated A***n Tari on the second board in the match.
In the other matches of the first round, the favorites were convincing and registered triumphs.
There were no major surprises in the women's competition. The first favorite, the Georgian team was safe in the duel with Israel with a score of three to one. The victories were celebrated by Arabidze, Javakhishvili and Melia, while the victory for Israel was achieved by Efroimski who defeated Batsiashvili.
In an unprecedented match on the second table, Azerbaijan narrowly defeated Slovenia, and Laura Unuk's victory over Ulvija Fataliyeva was annulled by Khanim Balajayeva and Gulnar Mammadova. An extremely interesting duel was played by the selections of Germany and Greece, where after big battle, all four games ended in draws.
The other favorites justified their role, except for the match between Romania and Norway, which ended in a draw.
