Before the seventh round of the European Team Championship in Montenegro, I woke with a peculiar malaise I could not explain. Answer soon came, in an alarming salvo of diarrhoea. My hopes for an easy ride in my game against the German grandmaster Alexander Donchenko did not last long, and I landed in a tenable but thankless middlegame where all the winning chances lay with my young opponent. I clung on for a draw after 52 moves, shivering through the game in spite of ample layers of clothing. Straight after, I crawled into bed and fell asleep.
That match, which we tied 2-2 against the eventual silver medallists, was played on the top board, but alas it was downhill thereafter. I sat out the following match against Serbia, which we lost. (Serbia went on to get the gold medals.) In the final round, a 2-2 draw against Armenia would have earned us the bronze, but that honour went to Armenia, who defeated us 2.5-1.5 and shunted us down to a disappointing sixth place.
Though the team medals eluded us, the British women’s champion Lan Yao secured an individual bronze medal on the second board of the women’s team. Her performance in Budva, including a final round win against Swedish grandmaster Pia Cramling, earned her an international master norm, and the women’s grandmaster title must soon be forthcoming.
Russian teams were conspicuously absent from the event. (It was announced back in February that Russia had joined the Asian Chess Federation, following their suspension by the European Chess Union.) But the departure of many of their top players, many of whom gave explicit reasons of conscience in light of the invasion of Ukraine, has strengthened the teams of other countries.
Serbia received a significant boost from the arrival of grandmasters Alexandr Predke and Alexey Sarana on the top two boards. (Even so, the Serbian team’s gold medals significantly outstripped their tenth place seeding.) England’s team was strengthened by the arrival of the current world no. 31 Nikita Vitiugov, originally from St Petersburg, whose transfer was announced in September. Vitiugov’s calm demeanour belies his tremendous fighting qualities as a player. In Montenegro, he was undefeated on the top board, where he played all nine games and scored important wins in our matches against the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. The latter game is shown below.
Jorden Van Foreest-Nikita Vitiugov
European Team Ch, Budva, November 2023
1 c4 Nf6 2 Nc3 e5 3 Nf3 Nc6 4 Qc2 g6 5 g3 Bg7 6 Bg2 O-O 7 d3 d6 8 O-O Bg4 9 e3 Qd7 10 a3 Bh3 11 b4 Nh5 12 Bb2 Bxg2 13 Kxg2 f5 14 Rae1 Nd8 Regrouping the knight is useful, preparing to augment the attacking force on the kingside. But the move also ensures that White cannot occupy the d5 square without being booted away by c7-c6. Van Foreest’s position is difficult, but I suspect he should have tried Nf3-d2 followed by f2-f4 to avoid being overrun on the kingside. 15 d4 e4 16 Nd2 Nf7 17 b5 Rae8 18 a4 Ng5 19 Rg1 19.Kh1 was a better way to anticipate the kingside offensive which follows. f4! (see diagram) 20 exf4 Nxf4+ 21 gxf4 Rxf4 Black’s threats are overwhelming, the most immediate being …Qh3+ followed by …Rxf2. If 22 Ncxe4 Qh3+ 23 Kh1 Rexe4! 24 Nxe4 Nf3 25 Rg2 and the simplest win is 25…Nxe1. 22 Re3 Bxd4 23 Kh1 Bxe3 24 Nd1 Abject, but after 24 fxe3 Rf2 and there is no good answer to the threat of …Qh3, and …Nf3. Rh4 25 Nf1 Bf4 26 Nde3 Qh3 White resigns
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