Chess
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Your support makes all the difference.The English men's team have won the European Championship in Pula, Croatia, and the women have taken the bronze medals. These are the best results for both teams in any competition, and the first time our men's team has won a major title.
Until the final round, England had seemed to be coasting into first place, but a 11/2-21/2 defeat by Germany led to a desperately close finish. Finally England ended level on points with Russia, but the tie-split was clearly in our favour. This is the first time England have finished ahead of Russia (or the old USSR) in an international team competition.
This time, Russia led by Bareyev and Svidler, were far from full strength, but as defending champions, they never give up their titles easily, as they showed in the last round when they almost caught England.
Individual scores of the English players were as follows: Nigel Short 4/7; Michael Adams 5/9; Jonathan Speelman 41/2/8; Matthew Sadler 7/9; Julian Hodgson 2/3. Sadler, as usual, was devastating on a low board, while all of the other players made their contribution by each winning one more game than they lost.
Here is one of Nigel Short's best games from the event, played against a former Soviet grand-master, now on top board for Hungary. White's 7.d4, switching from a closed to an open Sicilian, caught Black off balance and 20.Bg5 (when 20...f6 is met by 21.fxg6 Nxg6 22.Bxf6 Nxh4 23.Bxd8 Rxd8 24.Bxc4, left him tottering. After 34.e5, the threat was 35.Nxg6 fxg6 36.Rh4+ Kg8 37.Rxh8+ and mate in two.
White: Nigel Short
Black: Alexander Chernin
1 e4 d6 19 Qh4 Qd8
2 Nc3 g6 20 Bg5 Qe8
3 Bc4 Bg7 21 f6 Bh8
4 f4 e6 22 Nf3 Nxb2
5 Nf3 Ne7 23 Rxd6 Nbc4
6 Bb3 c5 24 Rd4 Nxf3
7 d4 cxd4 25 Rxf3 Ne5
8 Nxd4 0-0 26 Rh3 h5
9 0-0 a6 27 Ne2 Rc5
10 Kh1 Nbc6 28 Nf4 Ng4
11 Be3 Na5 29 Nxh5 Rxg5
12 a4 Qc7 30 Qxg5 Nf2+
13 Qd3 Nec6 31 Kg1 Nxh3+
14 Rad1 Rd8 32 gxh3 Bc6
15 f5 Ne5 33 Nf4 Kh7
16 Qe2 Nac4 34 e5 Bf3
17 Bc1 Bd7 35 Kf2 Qc6
18 Qe1 Rdc8 36 Rc4 resigns
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