NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS of ETCC 2007 9 November 2007 The Association of Professional Chessplayers (ACP) has sent a congratulatory letter for the organisation of the European Team Chess Championships 2007. We would like to thank all the participants of the ETCC 2007 for their positive remarks and we hope to see all of you soon again in Greece! The ACP letter... 6 November 2007 Russia triumphed with both men and women teams taking the golden medals at the 16th European Team Chess Championship 2007. Men team had an impressive run of eight consecutive wins and only one draw, claimed the title even before the last round, and most of their players took medals for individual scores as well. Silver medals go to the 2006 Olympiad winners - Armenia. This ultra solid team took a slow start, but broke through to the second place with the series of narrow wins. Quite the opposite happened to the bronze medalists, the explosive team of Azerbaijan. They started furiously in the first few rounds until they were stopped by the Russians. Still, the third place is a fantastic achievement for this young team. Russia women were having a tough race with the title defenders from Poland. Only in the 8th round Poland succumbed and Russia routinely drove the ship into the safe harbor. Just like men, most of the Russian ladies also earned individual medals. Poland still managed to capture the silver medals on better tie-breaks/individual points. Armenian female team resisted famous Georgians in the last round, and after Ukraine didn't win against Russia, girls from Yerevan started celebrating bronze medals. It was a fantastic event, the motivated players gave us aesthetic pleasure with wonderful games and our kind hosts in Creta Maris provided excellent playing and lodging conditions. See you in Novi Sad 2009!  Link... 5 November 2007 Russia's men team conquered the ETCC 2007 title one round before the end. With 15 MP Svidler and Co grabbed the golden medals after a draw with Spain. However, the battle for the silver and bronze medals will be exciting since many teams are in position to get them. Israel's win against Slovenia, thanks to the victory of GM Rodshtein on the last board, catapulted them to second place with 12 MP.  Link... 3 November 2007 Russia's men team is firmly holding the lead after storming through Israel in the sixth round. Evgeny Alexeev finally stopped Michael Roiz's winning streak, while Jakovenko and Svidler scored full points for the final 3-1 win. Slovenia continues with upsetting big guys. This time their victim was Azerbaijan after the top three boards were drawn and IM Borisek won against GM Guseinov.  Link... 1 November 2007 Russia heads for the title. With a two point lead GM Svidler and co. are taking a good shot at claiming the first place.  Link... 31 October 2007 Slovenia was finally stopped as Russian power-machine proved to be too strong. Full points by Alexander Morozevich and Dmitry Jakovenko were good enough for comfortable 3-1. Sergei Tiviakov and Teimour Radjabov quickly drew their game, then Gadir Guseinov beat Erik Van Den Doel and after Vugar Gashimov held Daniel Stellwagen to a draw, Azerbaijan celebrated 2.5-1.5 against Netherlands. Link... 30 October 2007 Third round of the European Team Chess Championship was marked with narrow 2.5-1.5 wins on the top four tables in men section. Peter Svidler beat David Navara with the Anti-Marshall and with other games drawn, Russia took most of against Czech Republic. Each day, Azerbaijan has different hero, this time it was turn to shine and blast Peter Heine Nielsen off the board with a beautiful rook sacrifice.  Link... 29 October 2007 The second round of the European Team Chess Championship has started with Russia-Armenia matches on top tables in both men and women section. Levon Aronian steps in for the first time to face Peter Svidler and Karen Asrian and Dmitry Jakovenko are entertaining everyone around with the way they blitz through their opening. Ukraine is playing their first real match today against Spain and probably the most interesting encounter is Bulgaria against galloping Azerbaijan as Topalov and Cheparinov are to play with Mamedyarov and Radjabov on the top boards.  Link... 28 October 2007 The first round of the European Team Chess Championship launched off today at 15:30 local time. Some of the teams are playing with the strongest lineup, others are resting top boards and some, like Bosnia and Herzegowina, didn't appear at all. The introductory speeches were given by Mr George Mastrokoukos, CEO of the Organizing Committee, and Mr Boris Kutin, ECU President. Levon Aronian, Michael Adams, Etienne Bacrot and Peter Heine Nielsen are skipping the first round. Vassily Ivanchuk has to arrive after his rapid match with Peter Leko. The weather is still warm, but with the exception of Michael and Tara Adams, no one of the chess players tried to swim in the sea.  Link... 28 October 2007 After all teams have settled in the beautiful 5 star Creta Maris Hotel, the captains' meeting took place at 22:00 local in the "Aphrodita" hall. This was the usual procedure of arbiter's introduction, regulations reading, filling forms with board order and Q & A session. One of the most interesting rules will be application of new FIDE article that says "prearranged results are not allowed". Link... 27 October 2007 Here in Crete is arrival day for the chess players and their coaches, so the most common profession that one can see in the hotel registration form is "chess player". We already have seen the teams from Georgia and Armenia around the pool, the guys of Azerbaijan, Montenegro, Finland, Israel, Sweden. The weather is wonderful and those who were lucky enough to arrive early on the beautiful island are already on the beach. Link... 19 October 2007 40 countries confirmed their participation in the European Team Chess Championships 2007, including all the chess power houses of the continent! The participants include seven of the World Top-10 GMs: V Ivanchuk (UKR 2787, No. 2 in the world), V Topalov (BUL 2769, No. 4), A Morozevich (RUS 2755, No. 6), S Mamedyarov (AZE 2752, No. 7), T Radjabov (AZE 2742, No. 8), L Aronian (ARM 2741, No. 9) and A Shirov (ESP 2739, No. 10). View all the lists! Link... 2 October 2007 The Organising Committee is still receiving entry visa requests from several federations. In a few days the whole list of participating countries and players will be published. It is already confirmed that more than half of the World Top-10 players will be present in Crete! 9 September 2007 The top British player and former World Championship finalist GM Michael Adams is the big star of England for the European Team Championships in Crete! England was the winner of the gold medal in Pula 1997 (GM Adams played for that team too!) and of 2 bronze medals (Skara 1980, Debrecen 1992) in the past. Link... 30 August 2007 A youthful but also powerful team was announced by the German Chess Federation for Crete 2007, with an average age of 23,6 years for the men's team and 24,2 for the women's! Top stars are GM Arkadi Naiditsch and WGM Elisabeth Paehtz. Germany has won 3 times the bronze medal in the past (Haifa 1989, Batumi 1999, Leon 2001). Link... 28 August 2007 A very strong team has been announced by the French Chess Federation for Crete 2007, including super-star GMs Etienne Bacrot and Almira Skripchenko! France won the bronze medal in 2005 and it seems to be one of the medal favorites this year as well! Link... 8 August 2007 A report has appeared in chess media that a former World Champion will participate this year in the European Team Championship, although it has been many years since his last appearance as a member of the national team. We will soon be able to confirm this information. It seems that the ETCC 2007 will have lots of excitement involved..! More news... 26 June 2007 Which is the best way to reach Crete and Creta Maris hotel? A very popular question as Crete has 3 international airports! The nearest airport to the venue is Heraklion (25 km west of Creta Maris) which happens to be the second largest airport of Greece, after Athens. The IATA code of the airport is HER and it is served by many international airlines as Crete is a very popular destination for visitors all over Europe! There are also over 15 daily connections with Athens for visitors or participants wishing to combine both destinations by a connecting flight of Aegean or Olympic Airlines. All participants will be met in Heraklion airport and transferred via bus to Creta Maris hotel. Of course, feel free to contact the Organising Committee for any additional advice or information you might need! 5 May 2007 A few months before this year's European Team Chess Championships and many sport journalists think that Russia (or the ex USSR) always wins this event! Well, that's not absolutely correct if we see the past winners: 1957: USSR 1961: USSR 1965: USSR 1970: USSR 1973: USSR 1977: USSR 1980: USSR 1983: USSR 1989: USSR 1992: Russia 1997: England 1999: Armenia 2001: Netherlands 2003: Russia 2005: Netherlands So from 1997 and afterwards England, Armenia and the Netherlands (twice!) have also been on the European throne! In the women's event (it started in 1992) no country has yet to win the title twice! The past winners: 1992: Ukraine 1997: Georgia 1999: Slovakia 2001: France 2003: Armenia 2005: Poland Which European countries will win the titles in 2007? A little more patience and we will see it live in Crete..! 31 March 2007 The General Assembly of ECU has been announced for 3 November 2007 at 10 am in Creta Maris hotel, the venue of the European Team Chess Championships! 29 March 2007 The European Chess Union (ECU) mailed to all national federations the official invitation for the European Team Chess Championships. We are looking forward to seeing all of you in Crete!