Peristeri, with Ivanchuk & Polgar, retains Greek title
The team of Peristeri retained their Greek title. With Vassily Ivanchuk on first board and Judit Polgar on the women's board (!) Peristeri won six matches and drew one, against S.O. Kavalas (with GMs Papaioannou, D. Antic and Skembris), who came second.The Greek Team Championship took place July 3-8 in Eretria, which is about 100km north east of Athens. It was a 7-round Swiss team event with 34 teams participating. Each team consisted of 8 boards and they had to consist of 3 men, 1 woman, 2 juniors (U-18 and U-12) and two girls (U-18 and U-16). Up to two non-Greek players were allowed.Last year's champions of Peristeri were the big favourites with GMs Vassily Ivanchuk (2768), Judit Polgar (2699), Stelios Halkias (2600), Vassilios Kotronias (2588) and Hristos Banikas (2593) in their team. Other strong players in the competition included GMs David Navara (2722), Arkadij Naiditsch (2706), Peter Heine Nielsen (2681), Viktor Bologan (2678), Viktorija Cmilyte (2528), Antoaneta Stefanova (2524) and Cramling (2472).Peristeri indeed won the league with six victories and one tie against S.O. Kavalas. On top board, Ivanchuk scored 4/6 - his only loss was against Czech GM Navara.Navara-Ivanchuk
Eretria, 2011
23...Nxg2!?
Quite an interesting sacrifice.
24.Nxf5!
24.Kxg2 Bxh3+ was Ivanchuk's idea.
24...Qxf5 25.Kxg2
25... Re6?
As GM Golubev points out in Chess Today #3895, this is a big mistake. Correct was 25... Qg6+ 26. Kh2 Rh5 27. Rg1 Qf5 28. Rg3 Qxf2+ 29. Rg2 Qf5 30. Rg3 with a draw (Golubev).
26. Rh1!
26...Rf6 27. Rh2!
A wonderful defensive concept which completely refutes Black's 25th move.
27... Qxf2+ 28. Kh1 and White won on move 38.Four players scored 100% in Eretria: Edouard Romain (2587, N.O. Kalamatas Poseidon) GM Stefanova Antoaneta (2524, SK. AK. Chalkidos Palamidis The Evvoefs) but also Drakaki Anna-Maria (1742, E.O.A.O. Fysiolatris Nikaia) and Papathanasiou Elisavet (1884, Chess Academy Thes. Galaxias) Judit Polgar scored 3.5/4 against weak opposition, winning 3 rating points to cross 2700 again. Remarkably, she did so on board 4 - yes, the women's board. For the last two decades Polgar has only been playing in men's events - her last appearance at a team event on a female board was in the Novi Sad Olympiad back in 1990. Selection of games
Game viewer by ChessTempo| Rk | SNo | Team | Gms | + | - | = | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | 1 | Peristeri | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 323.5 | 42.0 |
| 2 | 2 | CC Kavala | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 286.0 | 34.0 |
| 3 | 8 | HRC Korydallos | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 237.5 | 32.0 |
| 4 | 7 | E.O.A.O. Fysiolatris Nikaia | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 215.0 | 31.0 |
| 5 | 6 | ES Thessaloniki | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 234.5 | 33.5 |
| 6 | 5 | Chess Academy Thes. Galaxias | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 217.0 | 32.0 |
| 7 | 13 | Heraklion CC | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 195.5 | 31.0 |
| 8 | 12 | Chess Union Amfissa | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 192.0 | 30.5 |
| 9 | 10 | Panionios G.S.S. 2210 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 170.0 | 30.0 |
| 10 | 3 | Chania Chess Academy | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 213.0 | 31.0 |
| 11 | 4 | AO Kydon Chania | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 212.0 | 30.5 |
| 12 | 24 | N.O. Kalamatas Poseidon | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 177.5 | 29.5 |
| 13 | 19 | Culture Club Florinas | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 169.0 | 26.0 |
| 14 | 16 | Ptolemaida Ptolemaios CC | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 165.0 | 30.0 |
| 15 | 11 | AEK | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 201.0 | 29.5 |
| 16 | 9 | OS Triandria | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 196.5 | 29.0 |
| 17 | 22 | O.A.A. Heraklion | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 179.5 | 28.5 |
| 18 | 20 | SK. AK. Chalkidos Palamidis The Evvoefs | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 166.0 | 28.5 |
| 19 | 15 | F.O. New Irakleion Attica | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 149.0 | 27.5 |
| 20 | 28 | Peiraikos OS | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 121.5 | 26.5 |
| 21 | 17 | Aigaleo CC | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 157.0 | 31.5 |
| 22 | 25 | Ilioupolis CC | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 151.0 | 26.5 |
| 23 | 14 | S.A.S. Koropiou | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 144.5 | 27.0 |
| 24 | 18 | Kallithea CC | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 125.0 | 24.0 |
| 25 | 29 | CC Patron | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 120.0 | 27.5 |
| 26 | 26 | AO Zenon Glyfadas | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 98.5 | 24.0 |
| 27 | 31 | CC Ikaria J. Tzelepis | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 130.0 | 26.0 |
| 28 | 23 | Polichni CC | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 126.5 | 22.5 |
| 29 | 21 | Chess Academy of Gazi 2099 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 140.5 | 29.5 |
| 30 | 32 | CC Amfissa | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 81.0 | 19.5 |
| 31 | 34 | Association of Chess Players of Ioannina | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 69.0 | 21.0 |
| 32 | 27 | Papagou | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 67.5 | 19.0 |
| 33 | 33 | Chess Union Kalamata | 7 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 63.5 | 16.5 |
| 34 | 30 | Aigialeias Chess Union | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 96.0 | 22.0 |
| Board | Title | Name | Rating | Federation | Points | Games |
| 1 | GM | Ivanchuk Vassily | 2768 | UKR | 4.0 | 6.0 |
| 2 | GM | Polgar Judit | 2699 | HUN | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| 3 | GM | Halkias Stelios | 2600 | GRE | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| 4 | GM | Kotronias Vasilios | 2588 | GRE | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| 5 | GM | Banikas Hristos | 2593 | GRE | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| 6 | WIM | Papadopoulou Vera | 2210 | GRE | 4.0 | 5.0 |
| 7 | Stathopoulos Ioannis | 2122 | GRE | 2.5 | 3.0 | |
| 8 | Tzouganakis Panteleimon | 2086 | GRE | 1.0 | 2.0 | |
| 9 | Papadopoulos Georgios | 2029 | GRE | 0.0 | 0.0 | |
| 10 | Bellos Ioannis | 1944 | GRE | 1.0 | 2.0 | |
| 11 | Fragkou Eleni | 1864 | GRE | 4.0 | 6.0 | |
| 12 | Spirou Marina | 1897 | GRE | 1.5 | 3.0 | |
| 13 | Ioannidis Evgenios | 1838 | GRE | 3.0 | 3.0 | |
| 14 | Tsiros Fragkiskos Vlasios | 1730 | GRE | 3.0 | 4.0 | |
| 15 | Kokossis Danae | 1768 | GRE | 2.5 | 5.0 | |
| 16 | Kokkota Eleni | 1515 | GRE | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Danish GM Peter Heine Nielsen
Reigning European Champ Viktorija Cmilyte of Lithuania
Czech Republic's number one David Navara
Vassilios Kotronias, in the winning team...
...together with Judit Polgar and...
...Vassily Ivanchuk on board one
The complete winning team of Peristeri
Kotronias (l.) with Ivanchuk holding the cup
Photos © Greek league, more here
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Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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