After two rounds in the open section of the European Team Championship, six teams are sharing first place with 4/4 match points: Germany, France, the Netherlands, Serbia, Poland and Israel. Among the six teams standing a match point behind is Austria, who stunned Norway despite Valentin Dragnev failing to make the most of an advantageous position over Magnus Carlsen. In the women’s section, Azerbaijan, France, Poland, Spain and Serbia are sharing the lead, with Spain joining the leading pack after beating the top seeds from Georgia. | Photo: German Chess Federation
Chess, by and large, is a war game played by nonmartial people who would have trouble identifying the business end of an M16 or explaining the difference between an embrasure and a sally port.
For the first time at the 2023 European Championship, Anton Korobov is not at least sharing the lead. The Ukrainian GM was defeated by Alexey Sarana, who thus climbed to sole first place in the standings. Now sharing second place with Korobov on 7/9 points are six more players: Etienne Bacrot, Benjamin Gledura, Kirill Shevchenko, Andrey Esipenko, Valentin Dragnev and David Paravyan. | Photos: European Chess Union