Azerbaijan Wins European Team Championship
And this is largely thanks to Daniel Stellwagen, who shockingly lost a drawn rook ending to Gashimov in the sole decisive game of the Azerbaijan-Netherlands match. As Russia could only draw with Spain, the Azeris didn't have to worry about tiebreaks and took clear first with 15 points. Russia came in second with 14, and although both Ukraine and Armenia finished with 13 points, it was Ukraine that won the bronze on tiebreak. (Full results here.)
When it came to individual performances, Pavel Eljanov had the best TPR with 2823, followed by Morozevich (2820), Gashimov (2813) and early TPR leader Hammer with 2792. (Full results here.) A note about Topalov. A few rounds ago I noted that he was in danger of slipping behind Carlsen on the top spot on the list; intriguingly, he insured that this didn't happen by taking the last four rounds off. (It's possible that he was pulling a "Brave Sir Robin" - I mean, these were the last four rounds, after all - but maybe he was ill or had another playing commitment somewhere else. Does anyone know?)
When it came to individual performances, Pavel Eljanov had the best TPR with 2823, followed by Morozevich (2820), Gashimov (2813) and early TPR leader Hammer with 2792. (Full results here.) A note about Topalov. A few rounds ago I noted that he was in danger of slipping behind Carlsen on the top spot on the list; intriguingly, he insured that this didn't happen by taking the last four rounds off. (It's possible that he was pulling a "Brave Sir Robin" - I mean, these were the last four rounds, after all - but maybe he was ill or had another playing commitment somewhere else. Does anyone know?)
Posted by Dennis Monokroussos on
Friday October 30, 2009 at 3:01pm
Concerning the world top, we have the funny situation of
- Topalov hardly playing
- Carlsen not playing at rather short notice
- Anand not playing for an obvious reason
- Aronian not really impressing [but maybe his task was mostly to "hold" board 1, with the lower Armenian boards scoring the decisive points?]
- Kramnik not playing, he said so well in advance
So the big winner is Gashimov, now solidly #6 on the live rating list. BTW he is also about 20-25 points ahead of Radjabov - so the Azeri organizers may face a difficult choice on who deserves the wildcard for the candidates tournament? I guess for the time being they hope that Radjabov will qualify via FIDE GP or World Cup ... .
What is a "Brave Sir Robin?"
[DM: I'm alluding to a Monty Python movie, in which the adjective is ironic: Sir Robin wasn't brave at all, but "bravely" ran away. ("When danger reared its ugly head, he bravely turned his tail and fled; Yes brave Sir Robin turned about, and gallantly he chickened out; Bravely taking to his feet, he beat a very brave retreat..." - you get the idea.)]
[DM: That makes more sense - thanks for that update!]
[DM: Don't forget that the little rabbit proved exceptionally dangerous! (Is Kasparov the "holy hand grenade of Antioch?")]