Highlights of Round 5 and Interim Report

Here are the highlights from Round 4 of the Mitropa Cup, analyzed by GM Felix Blohberger.

Highlights from GM Felix Blohberger

In the fifth round of the Mitropacup, the leading teams faced off yesterday at the Fuchspalast in St. Veit an der Glan.

In the women’s competition, Ukraine made short work of previous co-leaders Germany, securing a crushing 4-0 victory. Anastasiya Rakhmangulova, Tetyana Skarbarchuk, Anastasiia Hnatyshyn and Liudmyla Ivanytska demonstrated just how much chess potential still lies in their war-torn country. Ukraine now leads the table on its own with nine points. The Italians are the new runners-up, just one point behind after a 3.5–0.5 victory over France. The title will likely be decided in a head-to-head clash in the seventh round. Germany are third with seven points. They are followed by Switzerland (6 points), the Czech Republic (5), France and Austria (4 each), Slovenia (3), and at the bottom of the table Croatia and Slovakia (2 each).

In the open section, France has regained the lead ahead of Italy with a 2.5–1.5 victory in their head-to-head clash. Although Luca Moroni won on board one against Tomethe Razafindratsima, the French struck back with wins by Loic Travadon and Flroyan Eugene on boards two and three. In the table, France leads with nine points, ahead of Italy (8) and the Czech Republic and Switzerland (6 each). Behind Germany (5 points) come Austria, Slovenia and Hungary with four points each, ahead of Slovakia with three points. Croatia is bottom of the table with one point so far.

Results: https://chess-results.com/tnr1394907.aspx
Live-Games: http://live.chess.at/info.htm
Youtube Channel GM Blohberger: https://www.youtube.com/@febloh
Photos: https://cloud.chess.at/index.php/s/gZxZw6jNA56TayE