Our team lost at the third round with the score 2.5-1.5 against the ‘italian team’ Piazza.degli.Scacchi.

LightSprtans 1.5-2.5 Piazza.degli.Scacchi
Board1: marjohn 1/2-1/2 Pupkin
Board2: Paolone 1-0 cjldx 
Board3: chebein 1-0 Gnam
Board4: alfreale 1-0 tschack

On  board 1 marjohn had white against Pupkin. An English opening where black replied with the English Defense (1. c4 b6) with the common motive for this opening: A closed position with no pawn exchanges until move 11 !! And then the position suddenly changed dramatically: open center with both players eyeing the opponent’s king. Unfortunately, black got the upper hand and white had to defend the tiny weaknesses and small threats by black. A lot of exhanges occured which resulted in a drawn endgame.

On board 2 cjldx played as black against Paolone . We could say that it was a classical KID by all means. Black’s fianchetto, the closed center and the crucial question to be answered: which side will succeed on each side of the board. Finally it was white we created a way through the Q-side while blocking any attacking plans by black at the K-side. The material advantage gave white an easy attack on the black King.

On board 3 chebein played against Gnam as white. An attacking game by both players ended in a miniature (only 21 moves played) for white. Black started the battle with a combination to disrupt white’s pawn formation but he lost a tempto and white with really active play managed to lure black’s king into a mating position. Surely this game is a highlight for this TL !!

On board 4 tschack, was playing against alfreale as black. A very positional game by both players which ended with a nice combination by white delivering mate at the end. The move 32…Bd7 was a terrible blunder and black’s position collapsed after that, until then the position was balanced with a slight advantage to white.

With this loss we lost any hope for a playoff spot in this TL, but nevertheless its important  that we still enjoy it !!