European Club Cup 2023 R6: Pranav Venkatesh saves the day for Offerspill Sjakklubb

by Shahid Ahmed - 07/10/2023

Pranav Venkatesh saved his team Offerspill Sjakklubb from losing a crucial penultimate round match at 38th European Chess Club Cup 2023 Open. The rook endgame against the Dutch no.2 Jorden van Foreest was heading towards a draw. However, Jorden being the defender, needed to play with some precision to score the half point. He didn't and Pranav scored the sole win for his team. It balanced his teammate Aryan Tari's loss. Thus, Offerspill Sjakklubb drew against Superchess 3-3. They both remained coleaders 11/12 heading into the final round. Raunak Sadhwani had a well contested draw against Vishy Anand. It will be Novy Bor vs Superchess and Offerspill Sjakklubb vs Asnieres - Le Grand Echiquier in the final round. Round 7 starts today at 2 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Niki Riga/ECCC 2023

Raunak draws against Anand

GM Nihal Sarin defeated IM Bojan Maksimovic. Nihal's team Tajfun SK Ljubljana defeated SK Zmaj 1.5-4.5 to move to 10/11. In the Women's event, sole leader SP Gaz Ukraine lost to Superchess 0.5-3.5. Superchess is the new leader along with Garuda Ajka BSK who defeated Monte Carlo 1.5-2.5. The leaders Superchess and Garuda Ajka BSK are at 10/12 each. They will inevitably clash each other in the final round.

GM Pranav Venkatesh's win over GM Jorden van Foreest saved Offerspill Sjakklubb from losing the match

Superchess - Offerspill Sjakklubb: 3-3

GM Raunak Sadhwani (2641) held GM Vishy Anand (2754) to a draw. GM Pranav Venkatesh (2579) scored the sole and crucial victory for Offerspill Sjakklubb against Jorden van Foreest (2707).

Pranav - Jorden

Position after 37.Bxh6!

Just like previous day's 48...Bxh3, Pranav once again finds another long-range bishop sacrifice 37.Bxh6! to expose his opponent's king combined with some tactical ideas. The razer sharp position continued 37...Rd7 38.Nh5 Qxb4 39.Bxg7 Qd6+ 40.Kh1 Nd5 41.Be5 Nxe5 42.Rxe5 Nc3 43.Qxc3 Qd1+ 44.Kh2 Qxh5 45.g4 Qh6 46.Rxf5 Qd2+ 47.Qxd2 Rxd2+ and it seemed like the endgame is heading towards a draw.

Position after 57.Kd4

Black is about to lose the c3-pawn. White's king being far away from the connected passed pawns on g4 and h3, and black king being closer allows Black to go for a draw. However, Black needs to play precisely to get the half point. 57...Rd8+ 58.Kxc3 Rh8 59.Rh2 Kg5 60.Kd4 Rh7 61.Ke4 Rh8?? now Black needed to move the rook farthest on the seventh rank Ra7/b7 would have gotten Black ready to give flank checks. 61...Rh8?? allowed White to bring the king to support the pawns without the worry of perpetual checks.

Superchess - Offerspill Sjakklubb: 3-3

GM Raunak Sadhwani drew against GM Vishy Anand

Vishy Anand is in search of his first win of the event

Richard Rapport and Magnus Carlsen shares a smile moments before the game

Replay Superchess - Offerspill Sjakklubb games

Replay live stream

Replay European Chess Club Cup 2023 Round 6 Live Commentary by WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni (LUX) and GM David Howell (ENG) | Video: European Chess Union

Every day round starts at 3 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST from 1st to 7th October 2023. The final round on 7th October starts 2 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. The seven-round Swiss system tournament has a time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. The tournament will be taking place at Grand Blue FAFA Conference Hall in Durrës, Albania.

Replay Round 6 Open games

Replay Round 6 Women games

Round 6 Open results

No.	Team	Team	Res.	:	Res.
1	Novy Bor	Vugar Gashimov	5	:	1
2	Superchess	Offerspill Sjakklubb *)	3	:	3
3	Asnieres - Le Grand Echiquier	Beer Sheva Chess Club	3½	:	2½
4	Gokturk Chess Sport Club	Schachclub Viernheim 1934 e.V.	3½	:	2½
5	Turkish Airlines Sports Club	Rishon Lezion A	4	:	2
6	SK Zmaj	TAJFUN SK Ljubljana	1½	:	4½
7	Sentimento Ajka BSK	Elektroprivreda	4	:	2
8	TSV Schoenaich	CE Le Cavalier Differdange *)	2½	:	3½
9	Obiettivo Risarcimento Padova	C' Chartres Echecs	2	:	4
10	Paul Keres 1	LSG Leiden	2½	:	3½

Details

Standings after Round 6

Rk.	SNo	FED	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	4	NOR	Offerspill Sjakklubb	6	5	1	0	11	187	26	134	121,8
2	1	ROU	Superchess	6	5	1	0	11	164	24,5	139,5	126,5
3	3	FRA	Asnieres - Le Grand Echiquier	6	5	0	1	10	179,5	25,5	140,5	116
4	2	CZE	Novy Bor	6	5	0	1	10	174,5	26	139,5	113,5
5	7	SLO	TAJFUN SK Ljubljana	6	5	0	1	10	173	27	122	96,5
6	8	HUN	Sentimento Ajka BSK	6	5	0	1	10	167,5	25,5	120	94
7	12	TUR	Gokturk Chess Sport Club	6	5	0	1	10	167	26,5	122	96,5
8	6	TUR	Turkish Airlines Sports Club	6	5	0	1	10	164	26,5	119,5	93,5
9	9	FRA	C' Chartres Echecs	6	4	1	1	9	135	24	118,5	84
10	5	GER	Schachclub Viernheim 1934 e.V.	6	4	0	2	8	160,5	24	136	85

Details

Round 7 Open pairings

No.	Team	Team	Res.	:	Res.
1	Novy Bor	Superchess		:
2	Offerspill Sjakklubb *)	Asnieres - Le Grand Echiquier		:
3	Gokturk Chess Sport Club	Turkish Airlines Sports Club		:
4	TAJFUN SK Ljubljana	Sentimento Ajka BSK		:
5	C' Chartres Echecs	Vugar Gashimov		:
6	Schachclub Viernheim 1934 e.V.	Silla Chess Club		:
7	SK Rockaden	Beer Sheva Chess Club		:
8	CE Le Cavalier Differdange *)	Schachgesellschaft Zurich		:
9	Rishon Lezion A	SK Dunajska Streda		:
10	SV Werder Bremen	SK Zmaj		:

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament Regulations

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