22 November 2015

Russia Wins Both European Team Championships in Iceland

Our nearest rivals finished two points behind.

In the concluding round of the European team championship Russian men's team drew with Hungary (all four games ended in draws: Leko-Svidler, Grischuk-Rapport, Almaszi-Tomashevsky, Nepomniachtchi-Balogh) and took the first place with 15 match points. Hungary, Armenia, and France were two points behind. In the last round Armenia defeated Georgia 3-1, while France outplayed Netherlands 2.5-1.5. The tie-break score gave Armenia silver medals, Hungary won bronze medals.


Russian women's team defeated Germany 3-1 – wins by Aleksandra Goryachkina and Anastasia Bodnaruk, draws by Alexandra Kosteniuk and Ekaterina Lagno. Russia won the gold with 17 match points out of 18. Ukraine took the second place with 15 points, following their victory over the Dutch team – 3.5-0.5. The rating favorites from Georgia, who drew with Austria in the last round, landed at the third place with 14 points.


Only for the second time after the break-up of the Soviet Union did our teams win both men's and women's competitions, the first time being in 2003. Our congratulations to the players of the teams as well as their coaches and managers – Mark Glukhovsky, Sergey Rublevsky, Alexander Motylev, Vladimir Potkin, Alexander Riazantsev, and Evgeny Najer!