Shadowed by the World Championship match, yet still important, the 19th European Team Championship commenced on Friday, November 8th in Warsaw, Poland in Novotel Hotel. The biennial event is held under patronage of Polish President Bronisław Komorowski and attracted 38 men's (no Latvia and no Slovakia) and 32 women's teams. As in previous years, the event is nine round Swiss, and the final order is decided by match points.

There is no Carlsen, of course, and Poland, the home side are missing their top board Wojtaszek, Anand's second. Russia have no Kramnik nor Karjakin, but Grischuk and Svidler are there. Ponomariov and Ivanchuk are missing for Ukraine, while Aronian (2801) leads extremely strong Armenian team. Other top rated players to arrive to Warsaw are Caruana (2782), Topalov (2774 - played Aronian in round 1 - these two are the strongest players ever to play a game of chess on Polish soil), Mamedyarov (2757), Adams (2752).

As the games took off, Russia sensationally lost to Turkey by 2.5-1.5 while second seeds Armenia went to a disappointing draw vs Bulgaria. Mighty France seem to be the strongest in the pool. In round 3 they scored thumping 3-1 win over Ukraine. England lost badly to Greece 3-1 on day two, but held Russia on the consecutive day. Czech Republic are in the lead, but this seems rather be lucky pairing so far, and challenges are yet to come.

In the women's section Armenia and Poland are in joint lead at 6 points, both to play each other on Monday. 15th seeds Israel step from one surprise to another: on day two the beat 2nd seeds Russia and then held 3rd seeds Georgia to a draw. Today they must face top seeded Ukraine - what a demanding roll!

Tournament website :: http://etcc2013.com
European Team Championship 1957-2011 summary :: men and women




Wojciech Bartelski, Mayor of Warszawa-Śródmieście district, member of honorary committee,
(and yes! - owner of olimpbase.org) starts game GM Svidler-GM Ivanisević,
Russia-Serbia, round 1, board 1.