After dour performances in their previous five matches, England produced a stunning victory in Friday’s sixth round of the European team championship in Budva, Montenegro. Their 3.5-0.5 win against the Netherlands jumped them into the joint lead with Germany, who drew 2-2 with Romania.
England v Germany in Saturday’s seventh round (of nine) will now be a potential gold medal match. It can be watched, live and free, on chess24.com and other leading chess websites, starting at 2.15 pm and continuing for four or five hours.
Friday’s victory was sparked by a fine 26-move win on top board for the former Russian champion and now England No 1, Nikita Vitiugov, who exploited Jorden van Foreest’s passive play to drive home a fierce king’s side attack in 26 moves, launched by a knight sacrifice on f4 and climaxed by a queen-rook checkmating attack on the h file.
David Howell, on board two, took advantage of a late error by Max Warmerdam to score in a queen and pawns endgame in a marathon 75 moves as he forced a pawn through to promote to a second queen.
Luke McShane, on board four, demonstrated subtle skills in a 55-move knight and pawns endgame to win by zugzwang, a rare technique where the opponent is on the move but only has a choice of losing replies. Benjamin Bok v Michael Adams on board three was drawn at move 41 after level play.
England women also registered their best result so far in round seven, defeating higher rated Spain by 2.5‑1.5, with wins by Harriet Hunt and Katarzyna Toma on boards three and four and a draw by Lan Yao on board two. Toma’s victory was outstanding as she scored with a checkmating queen and rook attack against an opponent who had been one of the top performers of the tournament.
England women, who were seeded only 13th, are now up to sixth place and will now meet the No 2 seeds, Azerbaijan, in Saturday’s seventh round.
Friday’s sixth round also featured a classic 19-move miniature where Azerbaijan’s former world title candidate, Teimour Radjabov, was routed in a cascade of sacrifices by his Greek opponent, Nikolas Theodorou.
Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen’s struggles against 2500-rated opponents, which began at the recent Qatar Open, have continued. The world No 1, with a current live rating of 2827, has scored 5/6, but that total includes two games where he won or drew from inferior or losing positions.
The French open team is missing its stars. Alireza Firouzja and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are currently playing the St Louis Rapid and Blitz prior to the elite Sinquefield Cup, which starts on 21 November. However, France is the runaway leader of the women’s event at Budva, winning 15 games out of 24 with just two defeats.
The 2023 London Chess Classic, organised by Chess in Schools and Communities, will be staged in central London from 1 to 10 December as an all-play-all of 10 competitors. The tournament will not be open to the public, but all the action will be broadcast online on a dedicated website.
The field is Dommaraju Gukesh (India), Nikita Vitiugov (England), Amin Tabatabaei (Iran), Michael Adams (England), Andrei Volokitin (Ukraine), Hans Niemann (USA), Mateusz Bartel (Poland), Jules Moussard (France), Luke McShane (England) and Shreyas Royal (England).
The tournament is sure to attract plenty of interest. The participation of the controversial Niemann stands out, as well as the opportunity for four English players, including Royal, 14, to compete against top global stars.
3894: 1 Rxg5! hxg5 2 Nf4! gxf4 3 Qxe6+! Kf8 (Rxe6 4 Rd8+ mates) 4 Qf5+ Kg8 5 Rd7 wins.
