As early as in round 2 the top matches are very tight already. Russia halved vs Azerbaijan at top table (all faour games were drawn). Avrukh led Israel to a win over Hungary beating Ruck nicely (see below for the game). Ukraine sensationally lost to Holland as Timman beat Kuzubov , and don't forget that Jan will soon turn 54 while Yury is still a teen (15)! France, led by superb duo Bacrot and Lautier ran over the Czech Republic and Germany beat England. Sweden, the leaders beat Serbia while Armenia hammered Sweden "C" by a ruthless 4-0.

In the women's section Russia beat Serbia, Hungary lost sensationally to Greece 3-1, Armenia beat Holland and the rest of the pairing, including Poland-Georgia and Ukraine-Bulgaria (Stefanova beat Lahno) were drawn.

Leaders in men's competition: France, Israel, Holland, Germany and Sweden; in women's: Romania, Russia, Armenia, Greece (and poor Swiss girls lost both matches 4-0!).

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

Avrukh (ISR, 2652) - Ruck (HUN, 2546)
Black chose one of minor lines of Grunfeld of dubious reputation. Indeed, his pieces quickly lost coordination leading to some positional disadvantages and material loses. See how quickly White destroys Black shield. 27. e6! before this move was made, would you guess the black King's position is vital? 27. ... Rxc8 28. exf7+ Qxf7 29. Qxc8+ Kg7 30. Re6! now Black cannot stop white Rook from its way to c7. Rc1 was quickier but easy to refute with Nc5 30. ... Nc5 31. Rc6 Qf8 32. Rc7+ Kg8 33. Qh3! resigns. Mate on h7 can only be avoided at a cost of a Queen. Impressive mobility and coordination of White pieces.



Kortschnoj (SUI, 2615) - Nisipeanu (ROM, 2679)
The legendary veteran Kortschnoj and young Romanian fought hard until the Rook ending emerged from complex middlegame. While Nisipeanu greedily stole all of white Kingside pawns Kortschnoj focused on his "b" file pawn that was finally killed in a suicidal run of black Rook. The ending is drawish, but let us see how it all worked: 38. ... f5 39. Kc6 g5 40. Kc5 perhaps Rd5 was a better choice first! 40. ... Ke5 41. Kc4 Ke4 42. Kc3 h5 43. Kd2 h4 44. Ke2 g4 and white King is where it should be but the chain of black pawns progressed, securing a tie. 45. Ra4 Ke5 46. Ke3 h3 = White can easily take f5 in which case he loses immediately because of "h" pawn promotion. On the other hand black chain of pawns is blocked.



Antoniou (CYP, 2198) - Kozul (CRO, 2585)
GM Kozul must have probably taken his amateur opponent too easy. The game was hard fought but Black's threats at white Kingside must have looked dangerous for White. Antoniou missed a chance of his life. To justify him, the way to win was not obvious. White was winning after 34. Rb6! Kg6 (to avoid pin) 35. Bxe6 Kh7 36. Bxf5+ Kg8 37. Qd5+ Kf8 38. Rg6 or 35. ... Kh5 36. Bf7+ Kg4 37. Rd4+ f4 38. Rg6. Instead he played 33. Rdc7? a3! 34. Bb5?? still 34. Qxa3 Kf8 35. Qc3! Qf6 36. Qxf6 Bxf6 37. Rf7+ was winning 34. ... Ra1!! a thunderstruck! 35. Kb3 axb2 36. Bxe8+ Kf8! resigns. Not every day we see a 2200 player so close to defeating a 2600 GM...