Thursday 3 November 2016

European Club Championship - Now with interesting names

The 2016 European Club Championship starts in a couple of days, and as usual it is a very strong event. Top seeded Syberia (yes, with a Y) has an average rating of 2745, and are 1 of 5 teams with an average rating above 2700.
As the pinnacle of the European club season, the event is guaranteed to attract some very strong teams, and some with slightly odd names. There are some good old chess themed clubs like 'En Passant', 'Schachfreunde' or the "Chania Chess Academy". Then there is the slightly more aggressive "The Smashing Pawns Bieles". The very ambitious "Perfect" team is clearly hoping to improve on its 38th seeding. And then there are just the plain weird like "Alkaloid" (2nd seeds btw), "IntelliMagic" and "LugPoker Chess". I assume in this case it is the team sponsor who is being highlighted here.
The tournament itself beings on the 6th November, and there will be plenty of Super GM v Super GM action to watch. Kramnik, Svidler and Aronian are just some of the players leading there teams, with Giri, and Ding Liren even being relegated to slightly lower boards!

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