Tidbits from Europe

BY: BOBBY ANG

(As published in Chess Piece, BusinessWorld, 12 April 2010)

11th European Individual Championship
Rijeka, Croatia
March 6-18, 2010

Final Top Standings
1. GM Ian Nepomniachtchi RUS 2656, 9.0/11
2-3. GM Baadur Jobava GEO 2695, GM Artyom Timofeev RUS 2655, 8.5/11
4-10. GM Zahar Efimenko UKR 2640, GM Zoltan Almasi HUN 2720, GM Igor Lysyj RUS 2615, GM Evgeny Tomashevsky RUS 2701, GM Ivan Salgado Lopez ESP, GM Maxim Rodshtein ISR 2609, GM Arman Pashikian ARM 2652, 8.0/11
Total of 408 participants

Last column we were discussing the 2010 European Championship, won by Ian Nepomniachtchi. Georgia’s GM Jobava was leading in the early going but the following game proved crucial.

Nepomniachtchi, Ian (2656) -- Jobava, Baadur (2695) [B12]
11th EU-ch Rijeka (9), 15.03.2010
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The Fantasy Variation of the Caro-Kann (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3) is enjoying a comeback -- it was played no less than 13 times in Rijeka!





A revelation in the event was 19-year-old Robert Hovhannisyan, an untitled player from Armenia. Against strong opposition (seven players rated 2600+ and 1 rated 2700+) he lost only one game and defeated two Croatian 2600+ GMs, Hervoje Stevic and Zdenko Kozul (2602). Overall his 7.5/11 exceeded he GM norm by 1.5 points and was also good enough to tie for the last qualifying slot to the World Cup. In the rapid playoffs for the World Cup Hovhannisyan was knocked out by Vladimir Potkin but anyway he has already marked himself out as a potential world-beater.

Robert Hovhannisyan is more of a counter-attacker and usually does not "start the quarrel", but is quite good at finishing it, as the following game will show.

Oleksienko, Michailo (2525) -- Hovhannisyan, Robert (2498) [C43]
11th EICC Men Rijeka CRO (11), 17.03.2010
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A nice tactical finish: 32...Rh1+ 33.Kxh1 Qxh3+ 34.Kg1 Qxg2#

There were a lot of great games played in the Championships, but space limitations allow me to show you only one more. It was played by the Vice-Champion of the world in 1999, GM Vladimir Akopian.

Akopian was born Dec. 7, 1971 in Baku, same place as Radjabov, Kasparov and many others. He won a lot of youth world championships: World Under-16 Championship in 1986 at the age of 14, World Under-18 Championship in 1989, and World Junior Champion in 1991.

Former world champion Tigran Petrosian put Armenian chess on the world map, and after he died in 1984 the mantle of leadership passed on to Rafael Vaganian, and later on to Vladimir Akopian. In recent years, Levon Aronian has taken over the top position in Armenia, but Akopian remains a mainstay on Armenian chess teams. In fact in 2006 he was a key figure in his country’s Olympiad victory by scoring nine points from 12 games on second board.

In December 2009, he was awarded the title of "Honored Master of Sport of the Republic of Armenia"

Akopian, Vladimir (2688) -- Zvjaginsev, Vadim (2643) [C14]
11th EICC Men Playoff Rijeka CRO (2.2), 18.03.2010
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