Chess - Monday 14th November

How does Black win?

ONE of the most infamous team tournaments in the annals of chess has to be the Buenos Aires Olympiad of 1939. Halfway through it, Nazi Germany invaded Poland and War was declared – meanwhile Germany also beat Poland to take the gold medal.

That’s how far back we need to go for the last time that Germany won a team gold in chess, but at the European Team Championship in Greece, they are close to what could be a historic victory, as they blew the tournament wide open in the penultimate round with a surprising upset win over the leaders and defending champions, Azerbaijan.

Germany won, 2.5-1.5, thanks to their top board, Arkady Naiditsch, who beat Teimour Radjabov in the only decisive game of the match.

The win puts Germany in with a chance of their first team gold in 72 years, as they get set to play the current world team champions, Armenia, in a final round showdown for gold.

Armenia are tied at the top with Germany, with both on 13/16, but the former have the advantage of having the better tiebreak scores. There’s also now a fight for 3rd-4th place with Azerbaijan tied with Bulgaria on 12 points.

In round eight, Scotland scored their second win of the competition with an emphatic 3-1 victory over Cyprus.

T Radjabov - A Naiditsch

18th European Team Ch., (8)

Reti’s Opening

1 Nf3 d5 2 c4 d4 3 b4 f6 4 d3 e5 5 b5 a6 6 bxa6 Nxa6 7 g3 Bb4+ 8 Bd2 Ne7 9 Bg2 0-0 10 0-0 Bd7 11 Bxb4 Nxb4 12 Qb3 Nec6 13 Nbd2 Qe7 14 Qb2 Ra7 15 Nb3 Rfa8 16 a3 Na6 17 Ne1 Nd8 18 Nc2 Bc6 19 f4 Bxg2 20 Kxg2 c5 21 e4 Nf7 22 Nd2 Nb8 23 f5 Nd7 24 g4 Qd8 25 Rab1 Qa5 26 Nf3 Nd6 27 Kh1 Ra6 28 Qa1 Kh8 29 g5 fxg5 30 Rg1 h6 31 h4 gxh4 32 Rbf1 b5 33 cxb5 Qxb5 34 Qd1 c4! 35 dxc4 Qb7 36 Nb4 Rxa3 37 c5 Nxe4 38 c6 Qxb4 39 cxd7 Qb7 40 Kh2 Ra2+ 41 Rg2 Qxd7 42 Nxh4 Rxg2+ 43 Kxg2 Nf6 44 Ng6+ Kh7 45 Nxe5 Qd5+ 46 Nf3 Ra2+ 47 Kh1 d3 48 Kg1 Qe4 49 Rf2 Qe3 50 Nd2 Qd4 0-1