Serbia, Bulgaria Triumph; Carlsen Takes Gold On Board 1 (Flash Report)

Tenth-seed Serbia has won the 2023 European Team Chess Championship after finishing a single tiebreak point ahead of Germany, who took silver despite remaining unbeaten and winning their head-to-head clash. Team chess specialists Armenia took bronze, while GM Magnus Carlsen won the individual gold medal on Board 1. Bulgaria, who needed a wildcard to play, took gold in the Women’s section, ahead of Azerbaijan (silver) and France (bronze).

Both Germany (2.5-1.5 vs. Croatia) and Serbia (3-1 vs. Greece) won their final matches of the European Team Chess Championship to reach 15 points, two points clear of third-placed Armenia (2.5-1.5 vs. England).

It came down to tiebreaks, with a 2-2 draw in Iceland vs. Turkey ultimately giving Serbia gold. It was a special result for GM Alexey Sarana in particular, who was the first player ever to win the European individual and team championships in the same year.

It seems Serbia have won the #ETCC2023 by the smallest of tiebreak margins ahead of Germany! pic.twitter.com/xMs5iLVLLL

— chess24.com (@chess24com) November 20, 2023

Final Standings Open (Top 12)

Rk.	Seed	FED	Team	Games	+	=	–	Points	TB
1	10		Serbia	9	7	1	1	15	228
2	3		Germany	9	6	3	0	15	227
3	5		Armenia	9	5	3	1	13	196.5
4	11		Poland	9	5	2	2	12	179.5
5	13		Czech Republic	9	5	2	2	12	165
6	4		England	9	4	3	2	11	204.5
7	7		France	9	5	1	3	11	196.5
8	2		Romania	9	4	3	2	11	193.5
9	12		Hungary	9	4	3	2	11	185.5
10	14		Croatia	9	4	3	2	11	177.5
11	23		Georgia	9	5	1	3	11	169.5
12	17		Greece	9	5	1	3	11	168.5

Carlsen skipped the final round, so that his tournament ended with a win over GM Jorden van Foreest.

Carlsen explained why he didn’t play:

“The reasons are mostly selfish, I would say. The first and most important reason is that unless Saric wins I will get first place on board one, and I’ve never won an individual gold medal in European Teams or the Olympiad, so that would be something quite important to me. The second reason was that I was tired.”

I’ve never won an individual gold medal in European Teams or the Olympiad, so that would be something quite important to me.

—Magnus Carlsen

Watch the full interview:

Carlsen’s calculations were correct, and he did win the gold medal on board one ahead of GM Ivan Saric.

His beautiful “Karpovian” win over Van Foreest is also our Game of the Day, with analysis by GM Rafael Leitao.

The Women’s European Team Championship also went down to the wire, with Azerbaijan briefly looking set to snatch gold before WIM Gergana Peycheva managed to turn around a lost position and beat IM Lela Javakhishvili.

Congratulations to Bulgaria on winning the Women’s #ETCC2023 after Gergana Peycheva won a final game from a lost position to defeat top seeds Georgia! https://t.co/FFw2OJbXrQ pic.twitter.com/gRGy9PcSRw

— chess24.com (@chess24com) November 20, 2023

Azerbaijan took silver, while France took bronze on tiebreaks despite a 3-1 loss to Ukraine—an indication of how fantastic their tournament had been until they ran out of steam at the end.

Final Standings Women (Top 13)

Rk. Seed FED Team Games + = – Points TB

1 5 Bulgaria 9 7 2 0 16 236

2 2 Azerbaijan 9 7 1 1 15 227

3 6 France 9 5 2 2 12 210

4 4 Ukraine 9 5 2 2 12 199

5 19 Greece 9 5 2 2 12 181.5

6 8 Poland 9 6 0 3 12 175.5

7 3 Germany 9 4 3 2 11 178

8 15 Serbia 9 5 1 3 11 171.5

9 11 Switzerland 9 4 3 2 11 169.5

10 1 Georgia 9 4 2 3 10 180

11 7 Armenia 9 4 2 3 10 174.5

12 9 Spain 9 5 0 4 10 169

13 13 England 9 4 2 3 10 138

This is a flash report. Come back later for much more coverage!

The 2023 European Team Chess Championship is a nine-round team tournament taking place in Budva, Montenegro, during November 11-20. All the European chess federations can field a team in the Open and Women’s sections; matches are played on four boards. The time control is classical, with 90 minutes for 40 moves, 30 minutes to the end of the game, and a 30-second increment from move one.

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