European Championships, Round 7 results

In round 7 Mickey Adams could only draw with 2625- rated Polish GM Bartlomiej Macieja, and has now dropped a point off the lead on 5/7. It may be difficult for him to catch up to the lead now, given that he has had 2 whites in a row. Today he has black against 2618- rated Serbian GM Robert Markus.

Keith Arkell had a bad result in round 7, losing with white against 2171 rated Bosnian Denis Kadric. Now on 3/7, he faces a big task to avoid losing rating points. A win today with black against 2311- rated Croatian IM Rikard Medancic would be a good start.

European Championships, Round 6 results

In round 6 Mickey Adams drew with 2638- rated GM Ivan Sokolov to move on to 4.5/6, and now faces Polish GM Bartlomiej Macieja in round 7. Keith Arkell lost against Russian GM Evgeny Romanov, and now faces 2171- rated Bosnian Denis Kadric in round 7. So far Keith has been a little unfortunate in going from opponents much lower rated, to much higher rated, without really facing anyone around his own strength.

European Championships, Round 5 results.

In round 5 Mickey Adams was held to a draw by Moldovan GM Viorel Iordachescu, and now has 4/5. Today he faces Bosnia and Herzegovinan GM Ivan Sokolov.

Keith Arkell had a decent win against Croatian FM Mladen Zelic yesterday, and today faces a tough match against Russian GM Evgeny Romanov, on 3/5.

European Championships, Round 4 results

A good win for Mickey Adams today, against the 2509- rated Croatian IM Sasa Martinovic see him move on to 3.5/4, and he now faces Moldvan GM Viorel Iordachescu in round 5.

Sadly Keith Arkell fared less well today, losing against the young Israeli GM Maxim Rodshtein to leave him on 2/4. Tommorow he faces Croatian FM Mladen Zelic.

Blackpool/ European Championships

Firstly, the final results of several of the entrants at Blackpool. In the open, Mike Richardt sadly had to withdraw for personal reasons after the Saturday with a score of 1/3. In the intermediate section 2 draws on the Sunday saw Tom Cooper finish on 3/5. Also in the intermediate disappointing finishes of 0.5/2 from Gareth Williams and Dave Marshall saw them finish on 1.5/5 and 0.5/5 respectively. In the minor a win and a draw saw Adrian Davis finish on 3/5, whilst 2 wins from Steve Williams helped him complete a fine recovery to finish on 2.5/5.

At the European Championships a win and a draw from Michael Adams against opponents rated 2569 and 2606 respectively see him on 2.5/3. 2 wins from Keith Arkell have lead him to 2/3 now, having beaten opponents rated 2215 and 2271. I imagine Mickey Adams' game may well be shown live on the host website again tommorow.

Blackpool/ European Championships

The Trowbridge Chess website (which you can get to by clicking on the title of this post), has up to the minute results of the Trowbridge entrants at Blackpool. Here's how they're all getting on at the close of play on Saturday:

Tom Cooper, Intermediate section: 2/3
Gareth Williams, Intermediate section: 1/3
Dave Marshall, Intermediate section: 0.5/3
Adrian Davis, Minor: 1.5/3
Steve Williams, Minor: 0.5/3

In Rijeka, Mickey Adams has white against Croation GM Alojzije Jankovic, and his game will almost certainly be shown live again today. Keith Arkell has black against the 2215 rated Scottish player Alan Tate.

Blackpool/ European Championships

At Blackpool Mike Richardt suffered his first loss this afternoon, to leave him on 1/3, with 2 draws.

In Rijeka, Keith Arkell lost with white against GM Vallejo Pons, whilst Mickey Adams won with black against IM Shytaj.

The European Championships, Rd.1

As predicted, Keith Arkell has a tough first round pairing, with white against Francisco Vallejo Pons, seeded 5th and with a mighty impressive 2708 rating. 2 boards down from him, Michael Adams has black against Italian IM Luca Shytaj, rated 2472.

Clicking on the title should take you to the live games feed, where both games are being shown, and started about 10 minutes ago (14.30).

The European Championships

Hard to see how this one fits in with Westcountry Chess isn't it? GMs Michael Adams and Keith Arkell are the link. Now resident in Somerset and Devon respectively, they've flown out to Rijeka in Croatia to compete in the European championships, starting tommorow. For anyone wondering where exactly in Croatia Rijeka is, it's (hope I'm getting this right) in the north- west of Croatia, right on the coast, close to the Slovenian border.

Michael Adams seems to have been around top level chess for as long as anyone, but his form has dipped slightly in recent years. Boasting a very impressive 2704 rating, he's 7th seed, and as long as he doesn't get bogged down in drawing with lower rated players, will be one of the favourites to win the tournament.

I think I'd need a calculator to add up the number of weekend congresses Keith Arkell's won, but here he's 212th seed, just in the bottom half of the draw. Given that the first round is done on a top-half vs bottom- half pairing system, he's going to face a very tough first round.

Best of luck to both, and I'll keep you updated with their progress.