By Zaldy Dandan
Variety Editor

DRESDEN, Germany hosted this year’s Individual European Chess Championship from April 2 to 15. It was an 11-round Swiss event with time controls set at 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one.
Seven players tied for first in the men’s section, and the tiebreak was ultimately won by Vladislav Tkachiev (2652), who will be 34 this year. The French GM beat Bulgaria’s Ivan Cheparinov (2646), 21; Russia’s Dmitry Jakovenko (2708), 24; and Israel’s Emil Sutovsky (2648) in the finals. Had the 30-year-old Sutovsky beaten Tkachiev, he would have been the first player to win the title twice.
The tiebreak matches were 15-minute games with 10 seconds increment per move; then five-minute games with two seconds; and one “Armageddon” game in which white had five minutes to black’s four but had to win.
According to ChessBase, the European championship was part of the qualification for the FIDE World Cup. “Originally it was announced that 33 players would qualify, but then in Dresden it was announced that the number was reduced to 29. The exact reason was not explained with enough clarity and led to protests by a number of players. Russian GM Alexander Khalifman, 41, (2624) was sufficiently upset to boycott the tiebreak games.”
In the women’s section Russia’s Tatiana Kosintseva (2459), 21, took clean first, two points ahead of the field. Former women’s world champion Antoaneta Stefanova (2492), 28, of Bulgaria placed second after beating Tatiana’s sister Nadezhda (2475), 22, who took the bronze.
Game of the week. Here is one of the games from the event as annotated by American IM Jack Peters.
White: GM Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia)
Black: GM Piotr Bobras (Poland)
Ruy Lopez
European Championship, Dresden 2007
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 Qe2 A sideline of the Ruy Lopez, instead of the customary 5 0-0. b5 6 Bb3 Be7 7 c3 Attempting to advance d2-d4 before castling. Black has few problems after 7 0-0 0-0 8 c3 d5. 0-0 8 d4 exd4 More interesting than the solid 8 ... d6. 9 e5 Ne8?! Sharper is 9 ... Re8! 10 0-0 Bf8 11 cxd4 d6, as 12 Ng5 (maybe 12 Qc2 improves) Nxd4 13 Bxf7+ Kh8 14 Qd3 dxe5 15 Bxe8 Qxe8 is satisfactory for Black. 10 cxd4 d5 11 Nc3 Bg4 Inviting 12 Bxd5 Nxd4, but White secures an advantage by defending d4. 12 Be3 Bb4 13 0-0 Ne7 14 h3 Bh5 Consistent, but White’s initiative grows. 15 g4 Bg6 16 Nh4 c6 17 f4 f5 Necessary. If 17 ... Bxc3, hoping to rescue the Bishop by 18 bxc3 Be4, White inserts 18 Nxg6. 18 exf6 Nxf6 19 f5 Bf7 20 g5 Ne4 After 20 ... Ne8 21 Bc2 Qc7 (not 21 ... Nd6? 22 g6) 22 Qg4, it’s unlikely that Black can fend off threats of f5-f6 and g5-g6. 21 g6! hxg6? Black must cede a bit of material by 21 ... Ng3 22 gxf7+ Rxf7 23 Qg4 Nxf1. 22 Nxe4 dxe4 23 fxg6 Bxb3 Did Black expect 24 axb3?? Qd6, when 25 Qh5? Qg3+ saves him? 24 Qh5!, Black Resigns. After 24 ... Rf6 25 axb3 Qd5 26 Bg5, Black cannot keep the f-file closed.
Puzzler.
White — pawns on g3, h4; Nb4, Qb8, Nf6, Kf7, Bg1
Black — pawns c3, c4, d7, e5, g6; Na5, Rc5; Bd1, Kf5; Nf8
White to play and mate in four moves.
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