The European Championship is being held in Gajkova (Kosovo) and lasts until May 24. The event counts more than 150 players, includig more than 100 (!) GMs. The tournament number 1 is the always polite czech GM David Navara (2735).
Obviously wuth so many strong players it is hard to make a list with all the big names. GMs like Gabriel Sargissian (2689), from Armenia , who is not even in the top 10. Or Cheparinov, Nisipeanu, Duda – all of them great playes.
Maybe it is better just to check the list of the top 10 players to understand the tournament strenght:
| 1 | GM | Navara David | 2735 |
| 2 | GM | Wojtaszek Radoslaw | 2722 |
| 3 | GM | Vitiugov Nikita | 2721 |
| 4 | GM | Ponomariov Ruslan | 2715 |
| 5 | GM | Vallejo Pons Francisco | 2700 |
| 6 | GM | Ragger Markus | 2696 |
| 7 | GM | Matlakov Maxim | 2693 |
| 8 | GM | Fressinet Laurent | 2692 |
| 9 | GM | Kryvoruchko Yuriy | 2691 |
| 10 | GM | Hammer Jon Ludvig | 2689 |
From the very start we had great games going on. Like ex-world champion Ruslan Ponomariov win against the young russian IM Vasiliy Korchmar (2437) – showing great feel for the initiative in a Benoni Defense (check the analysis here). In the second round, the ever creative Baadur Jobava (2661) played a beautiful game against GM Bogner (2555) – see the game here.
But the best game of the tournament so far is the fantastic win by the young russian GM Daniil Dubov (2644) against croatian Ante Brkic (2584), featuring a combination reminiscent of the old romantic chess days. Watch this masterpiece here.
GM Daniil Dubov
After 9 rounds, russian GM Ernesto Inarkiev (12th pre-favourite) is the sole leader, with an stunning performance (8 points, with seven wins and two draws). One of the highlights was his win in the 8th round with black against Navara. In the round before, the czech has played a great endgame against Jobava (game here).
Sole leader: Russian GM Ernesto Inarkiev
The great theoretician Radoslaw Wojtaszek (2722) and the surprising russian GM Igor Aleksey Goganov (2600) form the group with 7 points. The top 10 right now are:
| 1 | GM | Inarkiev Ernesto | 2686 | 8,0 | |
| 2 | GM | Wojtaszek Radoslaw | 2722 | 7,0 | |
| 3 | GM | Goganov Aleksey | 2600 | 7,0 | |
| 4 | GM | Navara David | 2735 | 6,5 | |
| 5 | GM | Jobava Baadur | 2661 | 6,5 | |
| 6 | GM | Vallejo Pons Francisco | 2700 | 6,5 | |
| 7 | GM | Fressinet Laurent | 2692 | 6,5 | |
| 8 | GM | Kovalenko Igor | 2644 | 6,5 | |
| 9 | GM | Hovhannisyan Robert | 2632 | 6,5 | |
| 10 | GM | Anton Guijarro David | 2616 | 6,5 |
In the next round Inarkiev plays Goganov, while Wojtaszek meets the spanyard “Paco” Vallejo. Another highlight is the encounter between Navara and Dubov.
Is Inarkiev an unstoppable force in this tournament?
SOURCES:
Written by Rafael Leitão Chess Academy Team on 21.05.2016.
No comments