European Club Cup 2023 R4: Carlsen and Raunak power Offerspill Sjakklubb's fourth win

by Shahid Ahmed - 05/10/2023

Magnus Carlsen and Raunak Sadhwani's victories ensured their team Offerspill Sjakklubb register their fourth win at 38th European Chess Club Open 2023. The world no.1 scored a smooth win over Alexey Sarana of Sentimento Ajka BSK. Raunak's hat-trick was in jeopardy as he was lost for quite some time in the middlegame against the Slovakia no.1 Jergus Pechac. Vishy Anand drew his second game in-a-row against Bassem Amin. Anand's team Superchess won against Schachclub Viernheim 1934 e.V. 2.5-3.5. Nihal Sarin drew against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, although his team Tajfun SK Ljubljana lost to Asnieres - Le Grand Echiquier 2.5-3.5. Aditya Mittal (Gambit Asseco-SEE) drew against Alexei Shirov (Schachgesellschaft Zurich). Round 5 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Niki Riga/ECCC 2023

Nihal and Aditya Mittal draw against MVL and Shirov

Tajfun SK Ljubljana might be sad with their loss in the Open section. They have reasons to rejoice as their team defeated Garuda Ajka BSK 1.5-2.5 in the Women's section to gain sole lead 8/8. IM Nataliya Buksa and IM Laura Unuk scored the crucial victories for the team. Laura defeated the FIDE Women's World Cup 2023 Silver medalist, IM Nurgyul Salimova.

Offerspill Sjakklubb is in a four-way lead 8/8

Schachclub Viernheim 1934 e.V. - Superchess: 2.5-3.5

Vishy Anand (2754) drew against Bassem Amin (2680). Jorden van Foreest (2707) and Kirill Shevchenko's (2671) wins ensured Superchess beats Schachclub Viernheim 1934 e.V. by a minimum margin 2.5-3.5

Schachclub Viernheim 1934 e.V. - Superchess: 2.5-3.5

Replay Schachclub Viernheim 1934 e.V. - Superchess games

Offerspill Sjakklubb - Sentimento Ajka BSK: 3.5-2.5

GM Magnus Carlsen (2839) and GM Raunak Sadhwani (2641) scored the crucial victories for the team Offerspill Sjakklubb. GM Pranav Venkatesh (2579) drew against GM Csaba Balogh (2558).

Pechac - Raunak

Position after 30...Kh7?

Black needed to play 30...Bd6 to keep things under control. 30...Kh7? invited trouble 31.Qe2 Rg7 32.Ng4! fxg4 33.Rxc5 would have given White a decisive advantage. 31.g4 Rg7 32.g5 White still had the upper hand. However, an eventual blunder cost him the game.

Offerspill Sjakklubb - Sentimento Ajka BSK: 3.5-2.5

Magnus Carlsen scored his third win in-a-row

Offerspill Sjakklubb - Sentimento Ajka BSK: 3.5-2.5

Replay Offerspill Sjakklubb - Sentimento Ajka BSK games

Tajfun SK Ljubljana - Asnieres - Le Grand Echiquier: 2.5-3.5

Although Tajfun SK Ljubjlana lost to Asnieres - Le Grand Echiquier by 2.5-3.5, Nihal Sarin (2694) managed to draw against the former World Blitz champion, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2727).

Tajfun SK Ljubljana - Asnieres - Le Grand Echiquier: 2.5-3.5

GM Nihal Sarin must be sad that his team lost in the fourth round

However, Nihal has reason to rejoice as he drew against the mighty Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Replay Tajfun SK Ljubljana - Asnieres - Le Grand Echiquier games

Women: IM Laura Unuk scored one of the two key victories for Tajfun SK Ljubljana that gave the team sole lead 8/8

Replay live stream

Replay European Chess Club Cup 2023 Round 4 Live Commentary by WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni (LUX) and GM David Howell (ENG) | Video: European Chess Union

Every day round starts at 3 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST from 1st to 7th October 2023. The final round on 7th October starts 2 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. The seven-round Swiss system tournament has a time control of 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. The tournament will be taking place at Grand Blue FAFA Conference Hall in Durrës, Albania.

Replay Round 4 Open games

Replay Round 4 Women games

Round 4 Open results

No.	Team	Team	Res.	:	Res.
1	Schachclub Viernheim 1934 e.V.	Superchess	2½	:	3½
2	Offerspill Sjakklubb *)	Sentimento Ajka BSK	3½	:	2½
3	Novy Bor	Turkish Airlines Sports Club	3½	:	2½
4	TAJFUN SK Ljubljana	Asnieres - Le Grand Echiquier	2½	:	3½
5	Rishon Lezion A	C' Chartres Echecs	3	:	3
6	Obiettivo Risarcimento Padova	Lunds ASK	3	:	3
7	Vugar Gashimov	Paul Keres 1	5½	:	½
8	CE Le Cavalier Differdange *)	Chess Club Drejtesia-Trokadero	3	:	3
9	MRU - ROSK Consulting	Beer Sheva Chess Club	1	:	5
10	Gokturk Chess Sport Club	SK Dunajska Streda	5½	:	½

Details

Standings after Round 4

Rk.	SNo	FED	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	4	NOR	Offerspill Sjakklubb	4	4	0	0	8	84	19,5	57	57
2	3	FRA	Asnieres - Le Grand Echiquier	4	4	0	0	8	81	19,5	64	64
3	2	CZE	Novy Bor	4	4	0	0	8	75	18,5	61,5	61,5
4	1	ROU	Superchess	4	4	0	0	8	72	18	63,5	63,5
5	9	FRA	C' Chartres Echecs	4	3	1	0	7	60	18	46	38,5
6	10	AZE	Vugar Gashimov	4	3	0	1	6	75	19	53	35
7	5	GER	Schachclub Viernheim 1934 e.V.	4	3	0	1	6	75	17,5	59,5	41,5
8	7	SLO	TAJFUN SK Ljubljana	4	3	0	1	6	74	18	58,5	39
9	6	TUR	Turkish Airlines Sports Club	4	3	0	1	6	68	17,5	53,5	35
10	8	HUN	Sentimento Ajka BSK	4	3	0	1	6	65	17	51,5	32

Details

Round 5 Open pairings

No.	Team	Team	Res.	:	Res.
1	Superchess	Asnieres - Le Grand Echiquier		:
2	Offerspill Sjakklubb *)	Novy Bor		:
3	C' Chartres Echecs	Schachclub Viernheim 1934 e.V.		:
4	Turkish Airlines Sports Club	Schachgesellschaft Riehen		:
5	SK Javes Modra	TAJFUN SK Ljubljana		:
6	Sentimento Ajka BSK	SK Rockaden		:
7	Vugar Gashimov	SV Werder Bremen		:
8	CE Le Cavalier Differdange *)	Paul Keres 2		:
9	Beer Sheva Chess Club	Lunds ASK		:
10	Silla Chess Club	Gokturk Chess Sport Club		:

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament Regulations

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