ETC R5: Bulgaria grabs sole lead, Gashimov feeling unwell

Bulgaria is leading the European Team Championship in Halkidiki, Greece after five rounds. On Monday they beat Germany 3-1 while their rivals dropped match points. The encounter between France and Azerbaijan was declared 2-2 quickly when Azerbaijan's board 2 Vugar Gashimov felt unwell and had call for a doctor.

Bulgaria beats Germany 3-1, in sole lead at the 2011 European Team Championship

All photos © ChessDom

Bulgaria, led by Veselin Topalov, is really on a roll it seems, and sees itself in sole first place at the 2011 European Team Championship with four rounds to go. In the women's section the Russian ladies are still on a perfect score.

The story of the day, however, was a bit disturbing but perhaps we don't need to worry too much. It was about Vugar Gashimov, who started to feel unwell during his game against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on board 2 of the Azerbaijan-France match.

The Azerbaijan-France match just before the start of the round

Already during the day Europe-Echecs reported about a crise d'épilepsie (an epileptic seizure) but according to Gashimov's brother and manager Sarkhan this was 'nonsense'. We spoke him on Skype and he told us:

It was not epilepsy at all; I don't know where it comes from. He felt bad, and left the playing hall to get some fresh air. Shah [Shakhriyar Mamedyarov - CV]  joined him and they decided to call a doctor. Vugar was complaining about pain in his head, and according to the doctor he was tense and his blood pressure was high.

The French sportively offered a 2-2, and so all games ended in draws at an early stage. A few hours after the round, Sarkhan Gashimov said that Vugar is already doing better:

He's OK now; his pressure normalized. He went to have dinner with the team.

Back to Bulgaria, which won deservedly, but not without some luck again. Especially Naiditsch shouldn't have lost against Topalov.

[Event "18th European Teams"]
[Site "Porto Carras GRE"]
[Date "2011.11.07"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2712"]
[BlackElo "2768"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4r1k1/p5pp/1pq5/8/2P1R3/3PQ1Pb/P3NK1P/8 w - - 0 30"]
[PlyCount "14"]
[EventDate "2011.11.03"]
[WhiteTeam "Germany"]
[BlackTeam "Bulgaria"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GER"]
[BlackTeamCountry "BUL"]

30... Rf8+ 31. Rf4 Re8 32. Re4 Rf8+ 33. Rf4 Re8 34. Qf3 $6 {Playing for a win
but this is good for Black.} Qc5+ 35. d4 Qxc4 36. g4 {This was the idea: the
bishop seems trapped...} g5 $1 {...but it isn't. Amazingly, the rook doesn't
have a good square.} 37. Rf5 (37. Rf6 Bxg4 $1 38. Qxg4 Rxe2+ 39. Qxe2 Qxd4+) ({
Naiditsch resigned because of} 37. Rf5 Rxe2+ $1 38. Qxe2 Qxe2+ 39. Kxe2 Bxg4+ 40.
Rf3 b5 {and Black will win the pawn ending.}) 0-1

Cheparinov played with a lot of power against Meier, who resigned quite early, though. So early, that we again question the transmission of the moves:

[Event "18th European Teams"]
[Site "Porto Carras GRE"]
[Date "2011.11.07"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Black "Meier, Georg"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2650"]
[BlackElo "2659"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2011.11.03"]
[WhiteTeam "Bulgaria"]
[BlackTeam "Germany"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "BUL"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e4 Bb4 6. Bxc4 Nxe4 7. O-O Nxc3 8.
bxc3 Be7 9. Ne5 O-O 10. Qg4 Nc6 11. Bh6 Bf6 12. Rae1 Kh8 13. Bf4 Bxe5 14. dxe5
f5 15. Qh5 Qe8 16. Qh4 Ne7 17. Bg5 Ng8 18. Re3 b6 19. Rd1 Bb7 20. Be2 h6 21.
Rg3 Be4 22. f3 Bd5 23. c4 Bb7 24. f4 Be4 25. Bh5 Qa4 26. h3 Bc6 27. Be7 (27.
Be7 Qxa2 28. Rdd3 a5 29. Kh2 Qf2 (29... a4 30. Bxf8 Rxf8 31. Rd8 $18) 30. Bf3
Bxf3 31. Rdxf3 Qc2 32. Bxf8 Rxf8 33. Qh5 Qd2 34. Qg6 Qd7) 1-0

Bulgaria, the proud leaders after five rounds

Spain dropped in the standings after a 1.5-2.5 loss against Greece: on board four Julen Lui Arizmendi Martinez lost to Stelios Halkias.

[Event "18th European Teams"]
[Site "Porto Carras GRE"]
[Date "2011.11.07"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Halkias, Stelios"]
[Black "Arizmendi Martinez, Julen Luis"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E06"]
[WhiteElo "2593"]
[BlackElo "2568"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2011.11.03"]
[WhiteTeam "Greece"]
[BlackTeam "Spain"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GRE"]
[BlackTeamCountry "ESP"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. d4 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O c6 7. Qc2 b6 8. Rd1
Nbd7 9. Nc3 Ba6 10. Ne5 Nxe5 11. dxe5 Nd7 12. cxd5 cxd5 13. e4 d4 14. Rxd4 Qc7
15. Bf4 Rad8 16. Rd2 Qb8 17. Rad1 Nxe5 18. Rxd8 Bxd8 19. Qa4 Bb7 20. Nb5 Bf6
21. Qxa7 Qxa7 22. Nxa7 g5 23. Be3 Nc4 24. e5 Nxe3 25. fxe3 Bxg2 26. exf6 Bd5
27. a3 h6 28. Rc1 e5 29. Rc8 Be6 30. Rxf8+ Kxf8 31. Nc6 e4 32. Nd4 Bh3 33. Nb5
Ke8 34. Nd6+ Kd7 35. Nxf7 Ke6 36. Nxh6 Kxf6 37. g4 Kg6 38. Nf5 Kf6 39. Nd6 Bxg4
40. Nxe4+ Kf5 41. Nc3 Bh5 42. Kf2 Kg4 43. Nd5 Kh3 44. Kg1 b5 45. Nc7 Be2 46. e4
Kg4 47. e5 Kf5 48. e6 Kf6 49. Kf2 Bc4 50. Ke3 Ke7 51. Kd4 Kd6 52. e7 Kxe7 53.
a4 Bb3 54. a5 1-0

The same happened to The Netherlands. On Sunday he was the match winner for the Dutch, but a day later he suffered the only loss: Ivan Sokolov.

[Event "18th European Teams"]
[Site "Porto Carras GRE"]
[Date "2011.11.07"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Vajda, Levente"]
[Black "Sokolov, Ivan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C44"]
[WhiteElo "2584"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2011.11.03"]
[WhiteTeam "Romania"]
[BlackTeam "Netherlands"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ROU"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NED"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 d5 5. Bb5 Nf6 6. e5 Nd7 7. O-O Be7 8. Re1
O-O 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. Nxd4 Nb8 11. Nc3 c5 12. Nde2 d4 13. Ne4 Nc6 14. Bf4 Bf5
15. N2g3 Bg6 16. Qf3 Qd7 17. h4 h6 18. h5 Bh7 19. c3 Rad8 20. Rac1 d3 21. Nd2
Rfe8 22. Ngf1 Qe6 23. Qg3 Bf8 24. b3 Kh8 25. Nc4 Ne7 26. Bd2 Qf5 27. Qh2 Nd5
28. Nfe3 Nxe3 29. Rxe3 Be7 30. Rce1 Bg5 31. Rf3 Qe6 32. Qg3 Bxd2 33. Nxd2 Rd5
34. Rfe3 Red8 35. Qh4 Bf5 36. f3 Qa6 37. a4 Qa5 38. Rc1 Be6 39. Qf2 R5d7 40.
Qh4 Bf5 41. Qf2 Be6 42. f4 Bg4 43. f5 c4 44. b4 Qxa4 45. e6 fxe6 46. fxe6 Rd5
47. e7 1-0

The top match between Russia and Ukraine also saw three draws. On board three, Morozevich decided matters against Moiseenko but unfortuately also this game is clearly incomplete. By now we're getting pretty disappointed about the way the organizers are providing the basic info of a chess tournament: the moves.

[Event "18th European Teams"]
[Site "Porto Carras GRE"]
[Date "2011.11.07"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Moiseenko, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2762"]
[BlackElo "2715"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2011.11.03"]
[WhiteTeam "Russia"]
[BlackTeam "Ukraine"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "UKR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 b6 7. Bg5 Bb7 8.
e3 d6 9. Ne2 Nbd7 10. Qc2 h6 11. Bh4 c5 12. dxc5 bxc5 13. Nc3 d5 14. Rd1 Qa5
15. Be2 Ba6 16. O-O Bxc4 17. Bxc4 dxc4 18. Nb1 Qb5 19. Nd2 Rab8 20. Rb1 Nb6 21.
Bxf6 gxf6 22. Ne4 Nd5 23. Rfc1 f5 24. Nd6 Qb3 25. Nxc4 Qxc2 26. Rxc2 Rb3 27.
Nd2 Rd3 28. g3 Rd8 29. Nc4 Nb6 30. Na5 c4 31. Nc6 Rd1+ 32. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 33. Kg2
Rd7 34. Ne5 Rc7 35. Kf1 Rc5 36. Nf3 Kf8 37. Nd2 Ke7 38. Ke2 Rb5 39. Kd1 Kd6 40.
Kc1 Rc5 41. e4 Ke5 1-0

Russia recovered from their loss against Bulgaria with a win against Ukraine

Armenia stays close behind the top countries thanks to a 3.5-0.5 win against Denmark. Italy had a good day and beat the higher rated Israel 2.5-1.5.

After five rounds, Christian Bauer performs the best with 4.5/5 although Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's TPR with 4/5 is even higher.

In the women's section the Russian ladies won again, and so they're on 10/5. Three teams follow with two points less: Poland, Ukraine and Georgia. Both WGM Karina Szczepkowska-H. (2379, Poland) and IM Anna Muzychuk (2557, Slovenia) won all of their five games.

Games top boards round 5 (Open)

PGN file

Games top boards round 5 (Women)

PGN file

Results Open section, round 5

Round 5 results women's section can be found here