England’s grandmasters have their best medal chance for nearly 20 years at the biennial European team championships which are under way in a chilly Reykjavik this weekend.
Michael Adams, David Howell, Luke McShane, Nigel Short and Gawain Jones are the strongest possible quintet, and are seeded No5 in a field of 36 teams. Adams and Short both took part when England won gold at Pula 1997, and additionally most of our players are in good form. Adams won a board prize at the European Club Cup, Short and Howell did well in the strong Isle of Man Open, Jones held his own with the elite at the World Blitz, while McShane, whose day job is financial trading, was highly placed at Las Vegas a few weeks ago.
Russia lacks its big stars Sergey Karjakin and Vlad Kramnik, but is still seeded No1 with a powerful squad led by Peter Svidler. Ukraine, Azerbaijan and France make up the top four seeds.
England women are led by our two best active GMs, Jovanka Houska and Dagne Ciuksyte, but are still seeded 18th among 30 teams headed by Georgia and Russia.
Games are live and free to view on the internet, starting at 3pm, with GM and computer move-by-move commentaries and nine rounds continuing until Sunday 22 November. For England chess fans, who have been starved of team successes in recent years, this event offers a chance to follow a squad which can compete seriously for a high place.
The venue is not just in Reykjavik, but evocatively in the very same indoor sports arena, the Laugardalsholl, where Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky played the most famous chess match of all time in 1972, and which normally hosts athletics, handball, basketball, and volleyball. And the first world champion to play there since 1972 will be the first Western champion since Fischer. Magnus Carlsen leads a Norwegian team seeded 11th, which means he will face some wannabe giant-killers as well as more familiar opponents.
Meanwhile, the global body Fide has awarded the 2016 world title candidates tournament to Moscow, starting 10 March. The event is sponsored by the Russian-based Tashir Group whose head, Samvel Karapetyan, is Armenian, so Armenia’s No1, Levon Aronian, gets the host’s wildcard place in the field of eight. The candidates winner will meet Carlsen for the world crown later in 2016, with New York or Los Angeles the likely venue. Since the US has two candidates, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana, the potential is there for a contest to gain wide public and media interest.
McShane’s win over the world No6 at Las Vegas was a fine example of creative defence. He began with an offbeat King’s Indian Attack, and Caruana took the bait by 15...h5?! (0-0 16 Rad1 Qa5 is safer) and 18...Ng5? (Bd6!). Black’s attack was visually crushing, but McShane calmly nicked the d5 pawn then dodged Black’s mate threats by the imaginative plan of marching his king all the way from g1 to b1 and safety. Caruana’s army was left stranded on the other flank, he lost a knight, and resigned because 32...Nb4 33 Nxb4 Bxb4 34 Qf5 wins easily.
Luke McShane v Fabiano Caruana, Las Vegas 2015
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 g3 Nc6 4 Bg2 Nf6 5 d3 d5 6 Qe2 Be7 7 O-O b5 8 exd5 exd5 9 d4 c4 10 Be3 Bg4 11 h3 Bxf3 12 Qxf3 Qb6 13 Nc3 Rd8 14 g4 b4 15 Ne2 h5?! 16 Rad1 hxg4 17 hxg4 Ne4 18 Nf4 Ng5? 19 Qe2 Qb8 20 Rfe1 Kf8 21 Nxd5! Qh2+ 22 Kf1 Nh3 23 Qf3 Bd6 24 Ke2! Re8 25 Kd2 c3+ 26 Kc1 cxb2+ 27 Kb1 b3 28 axb3 Be7 29 Rh1 Qd6 30 Rxh3 Rg8 31 Kxb2 Qa3+ 32 Kb1 1-0
3416 1 Rh7. If Kc1 2 Bh8 Kb1 3 Qg7 and 4 Qa1/b2. If Ke1 2 Ba8 Kf1 3 Qb7 and 4 Qh1.
