Idman.biz
At the European Team Chess Championship held in Batumi, Georgia, the Azerbaijani men's national chess team has become a major contender for gold medals after securing an important victory.
Idman.Biz reports that in the key match of the seventh round, the Azerbaijani chess players demonstrated a confident performance against the strong Hungarian team, winning with a score of 3:1.
Eltaj Safarli and Aydin Suleymanli secured victories in the national team. They defeated Sanan Syugirov and Benyamin Gledura, respectively. On the first and second boards, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov drew with Richard Rapport, and Rauf Mammadov drew with Peter Leko.
In another key match of the round, the Ukrainian team defeated the Netherlands team with a score of 2.5:1.5. Ihor Kovalev brought victory to the Ukrainians - he defeated the Dutch veteran Luke van Wely with black pieces.
As a result, after the seventh round, the Azerbaijani team climbed to the second position in the tournament table, reaching 11 points and lagging behind the leader Ukraine by two points.
The match against Ukraine will be decisive for the Azerbaijani team. These teams will face each other in the eighth, the penultimate round, and that meeting will effectively determine the European champion. In case of victory, the Azerbaijani chess players will equalize the points and surpass Ukraine according to additional indicators. Ukraine's victory will guarantee them "gold", and a draw will keep the Azerbaijani team's chances for the championship.
It should be noted that currently, the Azerbaijani and Ukrainian teams are the only teams that have not faced defeat. Ukraine has six victories and one draw, while the Azerbaijani national team has four victories and three draws.
Both teams did not change their lineups that brought them victory in the previous round. The pairings in the Ukraine-Azerbaijan match are as follows:
Ruslan Ponomariov (2633) - Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2742)
Andrey Volokitin (2617) - Rauf Mammadov (2655)
Igor Kovalev (2669) - Eltaj Safarli (2630)
Igor Samunenko (2568) - Aydin Suleymanli (2614)
In addition, the Azerbaijani women's national chess team lost to the Georgian national team, one of the rating favorites, with a score of 1.5:2.5 in a tense struggle in the reporting round. Gulnar Mammadova secured the only victory in our team. Ulviyya Fataliyeva and Govhar Beydullayeva lost, and Khanim Balajayeva drew.
After the seventh round, our female chess players dropped to the 10th place in the tournament table with eight points and lost their chances of getting into the prize-winning places. The Polish team leads the tournament with 12 points. The German and Ukrainian teams are one point behind.
In the eighth round, the Azerbaijani national team will face the Romanian team.
Teymur Tushiyev
