site.btaBulgarian Women’s Team Wins, Men’s Team Loses in Penultimate Round of European Team Chess Championship

The Bulgarian women’s team recorded a victory while the men’s team suffered a loss in the eighth round of the European Team Chess Championship in Batumi.

The women’s quartet, reigning champions from the 2023 edition in Budva, defeated Hungary 3:1, thereby keeping alive their chances of finishing among the top five. On board one, Antoaneta Stefanova, playing with the white pieces, drew against Zsoka Gaal, while on board two Beloslava Krasteva, with Black, defeated Davaadembereliin Nomin-Erdene. Nadya Toncheva, with White, scored Bulgaria’s third point by defeating Petra Papp. The only defeat for the Bulgarian side came from Viktoria Radeva, playing Black on board four, who lost to Julianna Terbe. With this win, Bulgaria has accumulated 10 match points and holds eighth place in the standings. Leading is the Polish team with 14 match points, followed by Ukraine and Germany with 13 points each.

In the men’s competition, Bulgaria suffered its third loss of the event, falling 1.5:2.5 against Spain. The match opened with a draw on board one between Arkadiy Naiditsch and Alexei Shirov. Further draws followed on boards two and four: on board two, Momchil Petkov, with White, drew with David Anton, and on board four, team captain Kiril Georgiev held a draw against Jaime Santos. This set up the final board as decisive, where Daniil Yuffa, playing White, prevailed in a rook endgame against Radoslav Dimitrov, securing victory for the Spanish team. In the men’s standings, Bulgaria is placed 27th with 8 match points. Tied at the top with 13 match points are Azerbaijan and Ukraine, followed by Serbia with 11.

The final round of the European Team Championship is scheduled for Tuesday.