Israel slowed the pace down a bit as they only halved vs newly emerged tournament rampage Poland on day 7. Holland beat Azerbaijan to level on points with the leaders. France cut the edge defeating Armenia. Russia and Ukraine - unanimously world's two most powerful chess nations - had another nighmare day today as they lost to Hungary and Georgia respectively. That some top players are missing is no excuse since their seeding numbers (1st and 3rd) still put them as iron favourites. With two days to go these teams are lying in 13th and 19th respectively. I doubt whether the Russians ever experienced something like that at international team event.

In the women's section Poland are on the straight road to heaven as they stunningly beat Bulgaria by 3,5-0,5 and World Champion Stefanova was to save the honour for the Bulgarians halving vs Radziewicz. IM Socko's record 6,5/7 is by far superior to any other female player. Russia denied Ukraine to move into tied second with reasonable advantage over the chasing groups. Georgia, who beat Romania today after fierce match are third and are looking for medal too. French girls are totally drawned - another loss today and they are lying in pathetic 22nd/26th!

Standings
Men: Israel and Holland - 12; France - 11; Poland, Greece and Georgia - 10
Women: Poland - 12; Russia and Georgia - 11; Bulgaria, Ukraine and Greece - 9

Now you can watch games of both men's and women's section round 1-7 online via well known OlimpBase format!
15th men's ETCh info page.
15th women's ETCh info page.
(Please note: history statistics are not available yet. Olympic statistics are used instead)

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

Van den Doel (NED, 2587) - Guseinov (AZE, 2585)
The position seems better for Black. Now White finds very creative and unusual idea: 20. a4! Nc4 21. Qc2! Nxe3 a piece is lost, but... 22. Qxc8+ Bxc1 23. Rc1 Black has big material advantage, but can he stop the duo of white pawns at the Queenside?. 23. ... Be6 24. b6 Bh6 25. b7 Kg7 26. b8=Q +- and Black resigned after 35 moves.


Fressinet (FRA, 2627) - Vaganian (ARM, 2614)
The Armenian legend chose unusual opening line in French Defence (5. ... Be7?! see game here) and soon went into trouble. 15. ... Qg4?! 16. Qa4+! Ke7? perhaps c6 or Kf8 was safer, now Black goes under direct attack 17. 0-0 Qg6 18. d5 h4 19. d6+ cxd6 20. exd6 Kxd6? Kf8 did not save the game but did not lose at once 21. Bxa6! resigns. Frassinet appears in the highlight section almost every day, but not every day one beats Vaganian in 20 moves!


Bareev (RUS, 2688) - Ruck (HUN, 2546)
White had advantage all the time but he had to win in order to save the match for the Russians. On his first move after time control (yes, time controls reappeared after couple of years) he nervously played 41. Rxg7? Rd7 and then d5+ secured the win for White and the exchange sacryfice cannot work for White. Perhaps Bareev was afraid of 41. Rd7 e2 42. d5+ Kf5 but he still wins here after 43. Rf7+! 41. ... Rxg7 42. c7 Kd7 43. Kf3 Rxg3+ resigns. This is how the Russians lost yet another match...


Gormally (ENG, 2557) - Hracek (CZE, 2591)
White sacrificed the Bishop at g6 but his attacking chances look unclear. The accack continues under time pressure: 23. ... Rb8? Rf7 was a must. Rb7 would certainly follow Rb8, but the tempo plays major role here. Now White is quickier. 24. Qh6! Rf7? too late! Had he played Rf7 on move 23, he would now find time to protect g6 25. Qxg6+ Rg7 26. Rxh7! a pin. White stole the piece back 26. ... Rxg6 27. Rxe7 Bxg4 += and White won after 40th move.


Ivanisevic (YUG, 2577) - Jacimovic (MKD, 2438)
Nothing special is at stake but who says the tension is smaller? Black is two pawns up but White is pressuring 31. ... Rg8?? automatically covers open line but protecting f7 was a must 32. f7 Rf8 33. Qg3 e3 34. Rg2 Qg6 resigns. Rg4 with Rg8+ wins.