Chess - Monday 14th November

How does Black win?

ONE of the most infamous team tournaments in the annals of chess has to be the Buenos Aires Olympiad of 1939. Halfway through it, Nazi Germany invaded Poland and War was declared – meanwhile Germany also beat Poland to take the gold medal.

That’s how far back we need to go for the last time that Germany won a team gold in chess, but at the European Team Championship in Greece, they are close to what could be a historic victory, as they blew the tournament wide open in the penultimate round with a surprising upset win over the leaders and defending champions, Azerbaijan.

Germany won, 2.5-1.5, thanks to their top board, Arkady Naiditsch, who beat Teimour Radjabov in the only decisive game of the match.

The win puts Germany in with a chance of their first team gold in 72 years, as they get set to play the current world team champions, Armenia, in a final round showdown for gold.

Armenia are tied at the top with Germany, with both on 13/16, but the former have the advantage of having the better tiebreak scores. There’s also now a fight for 3rd-4th place with Azerbaijan tied with Bulgaria on 12 points.

In round eight, Scotland scored their second win of the competition with an emphatic 3-1 victory over Cyprus.

T Radjabov - A Naiditsch

18th European Team Ch., (8)

Reti’s Opening

1 Nf3 d5 2 c4 d4 3 b4 f