Chess - The Scotsman 23/05/2013

THE European Individual Championship has become one of the most keenly contested tournaments for many grandmasters, mainly due to the lure of the top finishers earning a potentially lucrative pay-day with a guarantee of multiple qualification spots into the next FIDE World Cup.

This added attraction invariably comes with an inevitable multiplayer tie for first place.

This year’s 14th edition of the championship – which attracted a field of 286 players, and took place 4 to 16 May in Legnica, Poland – finished in a ten-way tie for first on 8/11, with Alexander Moiseenko (Ukraine) taking the title on tie-break ahead of Evgeny Alekseev and Evgeny Romanov (both Russia).

And from today’s diagram, the newly-crowned European champion soon found the sacrificial breakthrough to beat Russian grandmaster Sergey Volkov with 36 Nd7! Rb5 37 Nxf8 Rxb2 38 Bxg6 Rxg2 39 Rh5+ Kg7 40 Rxh7+ and Black resigned.

Twenty three World Cup spots in total were up for grabs; the ten who finished on eight points all qualified, the remaining 13 coming from a group of 16 on 7.5 points.

Scotland’s sole representative, Alan Tate, had mixed fortunes with a couple of nice wins over higher-rated players, but ultimately will have been disappointed in finishing 227th on 4/11.

A Tate - A Donchenko

14th European Individual Ch., (6)

English Opening

1 c4 c5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nc3 d5 4 cxd5 Nxd5 5 e4 Nb4 6 Bc4 e6 7 0–0 N4c6 8 a3 a6 9 d3 Be7 10 Re1 b5 11 Ba2 Bb7 12 Bf4 0–0 13 Rc1 Qd7 14 Qe2 Rd8 15 Red1 h6 16 h3 Nd4 17 Nxd4 Qxd4 18 Qg4 Qf6 19 e5 Qf5 20 Qxf5 exf5 21 e6 f6 22 Bc7 Rc8 23 Nd5 Kf8 24 b4 Nc6 25 bxc5 Nd4 26 Re1 Bxd5 27 Bxd5 Rxc7 28 Bxa8 Rxc5 29 Kf1 Nc2 30 Red1 Rc3 31 Ke2 Nd4+ 32 Ke3 Rxc1 33 Rxc1 Nxe6 34 Rc6 Kf7 35 d4 Bxa3 36 Rxa6 Bc1+ 37 Kd3 Ke7 38 Rb6 Bb2 39 Rb7+ Kd6 40 Rxb5 Nf4+ 41 Kc4 Ba3 42 Ra5 Bc1 43 Rxf5 1–0