Open: Two co-leaders, three chasers
Serbia and Greece, seeded seventh and eleventh respectively, have made the most consistent starts, both scoring narrow 2½–1½ victories in Tuesday’s third round to maintain perfect records of 6 match points. Serbia defeated France thanks to a crucial win by Aleksandar Indjic, while the remaining three games ended in draws. Greece achieved the same score against Slovenia, with Antonios Pavlidis providing the decisive victory on board four.
Just behind the leaders are three teams with 5 match points – the Netherlands, Azerbaijan and Ukraine – all considered among the pre-tournament favourites. Each of them has shown steady form so far, combining solid preparation with depth across all boards.
Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!Fourteen teams are tied on 4 match points, including top seeds Germany and third seeds Hungary, both of whom recovered well after suffering first-round defeats. Vincent Keymer, Germany’s top board, contributed to his team’s resurgence with consecutive wins in rounds two and three, reaffirming his excellent form.
Among the surprises of the day, Montenegro continued their impressive campaign by upsetting Israel. With this victory, the Balkan team joined the large group on 4 match points, underlining the competitive balance of this year’s event.
Lortkipanidze 1-0 Sousa
Analysis by GM Karsten Müller
Standings after round 3
In a total of 6 chapters, we look at the following aspects: the right decision based on tactical factors, decisions in exchanges and moves, complex and psychological decisions in longer games and in defence.
All games
Women’s: Germany among co-leaders after upsetting Georgia
In the women’s competition, three teams lead with perfect scores after three rounds: Poland, Bulgaria and Germany. While Poland and Bulgaria have so far faced lower-rated opponents and recorded comfortable wins, Germany achieved a major success in round three by defeating top seeds and hosts Georgia by 2½–1½. Hanna Marie Klek delivered the decisive point with a determined victory over Nino Batsiashvili, while her teammates held firm on the remaining boards.
From Mating with a queen; a rook; two bishops; a knight and a bishop; to the basics of pawn endgames – here you will gain the necessary know-how to turn your endgame advantages into victories!Close behind the leaders are Ukraine, Azerbaijan and France, all with 5 match points.
Standings after round 3
All games
Links