Servergazi Upseting the İş Bank Chess Leauge

After four rounds, defeating the defending champions Besiktas, İsek Aqumatch with the grandmaster trio and Turkish Airlines Servergazi is won most of the crucial matches to the victory. The other teams who won all the four rounds are Manisa Doruk Koleji and Adana Truva, other two major contenders for the title. Manisa Doruk College won a crucial victory against İSEK Aquamatch, İstanbul team with GMs Atalık, Papaiannou, Banikas and IM Atalık lost three games but all of them were major contenders for the league title. Beşiktaş, despite not having any foreign player, with the help of the strongest pack of the youth boards in the league only lost one game and standing solid.

Round-by-round reports by press officer Özgür Akman with lots of pictures are at the link below.

İş Bank Chess League After Round 4

Turkish İş Bank Chess League is being held in Kartepe, İzmit, from June 23 to July 3 at the top of a mountain with amazing views of İzmit Bay and Sapanca Lake. You can see where the venue is held from below. The hotel is famous as a pre-season preparation venue for sports teams, i.e. exclusively football teams. Together with the chess players, Sivasspor, the team which struggled for the Turkish First Division title against Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe until the final weeks of the season.

Greentepe Park Resort Hotel also hosting Sivasspor, the football club which struggled for the title against Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray until the final weeks of the first division.

 

The format

The league is round robin with 16 teams and the final four teams relegate to Turkish Clubs Championship, the second division. The teams consist of 10 boards, with first boards free, fifth board as women's board (there are also obligatory women's boards in France and  ) , sixth board is junior (under 20) , seventh and eighth are under16 boys and girls, ninth and tenth are under 14 boys and girls.

Seeing the pack of grandmasters could be misleading because of this board system. A team with two super-strong grandmasters may prove useless if the opposing team has stronger group youth boards. The winning team out 10 boards gain 2 match points while the draw means both sides get 1 point.

The league has 72 titled players of whom 22 GMs, 18 IMs (five of them also have WGM titles),  15 FMs,1 CM,  10 WGMs,  3 WIMs and 3 WFMs.

Before the season, Adana Truva, İsek Aquamatch, THY (Turkish Airlines), Doruk Koleji were the major contenders for the title. Adana Truva was a very strong and balanced team with GMs Gashimov(though he has not showed up yet) , Guseinov, Safarli and the Turkish stars IM Haznedaroğlu, Yılmaz (16 year old youngster who grounded down GM Gurevich in the first round), IM Dzagnidze, WIM Yildiz with a relatively strong group of youth boards. İsek Aquamatch has the grandmaster trio Atalik, Papaiannou, Banikas and FM Demirel with strongest Turkish women Ekaterina Atalık on their women's boards. THY has Gagunashvili, Muzychuk sisters, strong Turkish IMs Can(who already has a GM-norm and Erdoğdu) , Kılıçaslan and Georgian youngster Salome.

First Round: Champions Start With a Comfortable Win While

İSEK Aquamatch Defeats Tarsus Zeka

In the first round Besiktas won a comfortable match against Bursa Tophane with 9-1 who had Bulgarian Champion Vasil Spasov in the squad.

İSEK Aquamatch won the first round derby against Tarsus Zeka, last year's runner-up team in the league with GMs Solak and Abbasov, IM Matnadze and WIM Tsatsalashvili. They won 5.5-4.5 thanks to the nice wins of GM Papaiannou over GM Abbasov and IM Atalık's win against IM Matnadze.

Manisa Doruk College, won the against Denizli Erbakır with 6-4 which could be return match of the encounter of the two teams in the last round of the last season where Denizli Erbakır won and took the fourth place. The key boards on the path to the victory was GM Rauf Mamedov's unexpected quick win against GM Tamaz Gelashvili while IM Erturan contributed to the team's win by drawing against GM Aroshidze with black pieces. While, IM Khurtsidze, the most successful woman player last season continued her good performance by starting with a win against WGM Stepaiova.

GM Suat Atalık of İSEK Aquamatch executing his move against GM Dragan Solak.

GM David Arutinian and IM Tornike Sanikidze (Servergazi)

Servergazi Municipality Sports Club won its first İş Bank Chess League match against Selçuk University who missed their GMs Roiz and Mchedlishvili very much but only playing with WGM Gvetadze and IM-norm holder Turkish player Reyhan. Probably, there was a financial problem in the Konya side, but with the two 2600-rated GMs, they would have made their mark in the league.

FM Selim Çıtak hold GM Efstratios Grivas who is also the trainer of the Turkish National team, to a draw.

İstanbul Technical University, the club formerly managed by President of the Turkish Chess Federation Ali Nihat Yazıcı himself and who is also graduate of the university, is a successful club with having the records of one of the most experienced team. They have a balanced with 2300-2150 rated Turkish players and they started with a 5.5-4.5 win over Pamukkale University, while GM Grivas and FM Çıtak made a draw on the first board as WIM Karlovic did with WIM Topel, the Turkish Women's Champion.

Adana Truva's first three boards (from right to left): GM Gadir Guseinov, GM Eltaj Safarli, IM Kıvanç Haznedaroğlu

TED College and Antalya Deniz Gençlik (first two boards of TED are GM Adrian Mikhalchishin and FM Emre Karadeniz, and on the right you can see FM Ufuk Tuncer who lives in Germany)

The rating favourite of the league, Truva won comfortably against Mersin Ezgi with 8-2 , while the most successful club in the twelve year history of Turkish league TED College, missed an opportunity of starting with a win against Antalya Deniz Genclik by drawing after a missed win on junior board.

Turkish Airlines started well with a comfortable win against Antalya Çallıspor with 7-3.

Second Round: Servergazi Stuns Tarsus Zeka, Beşiktaş Defeats İSEK Aquamatch

One of the most memorable wins of the league was Servergazi Municipality's 8-2 win over Tarsus Zeka. The champion of İş Bank Chess League won against the newcomer and the winner of Turkish Clubs Cup İSEK Aquamatch 5,5-4,5 while İstanbul Technical University won a crucial game against Denizli Erbakir. Tarsus Zeka, one of the strongest teams in the league lost its first two games.

Besiktas, with strong Turkish players and probably the best junior-youth combination in the league does not have a foreign player or GM on their squad but they are still a very strong team. The famous Turkish club from İstanbul won against İSEK Aquamatch, which was founded with the sponsorship of Aquamatch , a water refinement corporation, to a chess center in İstanbul, İSEM led by FM Tolga Demirel, a well-known player and successful trainer in Turkey himself. İSEK Aquamatch, has only their own pupils on the youth-junior boards and the trainers of the club (FM Demirel and Gökerman playing here) with the Grandmaster troika: Atalık with the Greek GMs Papaiannou and Banikas. Also, they have the strongest Turkish woman player, 2006 European Champion IM Ekaterina Atalık so they have a formidable team but it was not enough for Besiktas. The youth boards of Besiktas were dominant on their own boards while IM Atakişi held GM Atalık to a draw which meant a 5.5-4.5 win for the champions.

Doruk Koleji won against Antalya Çallıspor with GM Shanava and IM Sidefzade comfortably with 8.5-1.5 while Turkish Airlines proved too strong for Bursa Tophane with a 6,5-3,5 win. IM Karakehajov's win against GM Gagunashvili on the first board was the only win, which was not sufficient.

Adana Truva scored its second comfortable victory with a 8-2 win against Antalya Deniz Gençlik. TED Ankara College with GM Mikhalchishin made another draw against Pamukkale University with GM Grivas, GM Odeev and WIM Karlovich. Mersin Ezgi won its first game against Selçuk University which does not seem to have the two GMs in their squad at all.

GMs Dragan Solak and Ioannnis Papaiannou are analyzing Papaiannou's first round win against GM Abbasov.

Round Three: Servergazi Beats the Champions,

İSEK loses Second Consecutive Game Against THY

Denizli Servergazi Municipality with GM Arutinian, IM Sanikidze, IM Lomineishvili and six-time Turkish Champion IM Arduman showed how strong they are by winning against Beşiktaş, the title holders. The İstanbul side, lost their first game against Servergazi with the slightest but vital 5.5-4.5 win.

IM Anna Muzychuk joined her sister WFM Mariya Muzychuk and the two were in the squad of Turkish Airlines helped the club with their third win over İSEK Aquamatch. GM Gagunashvili drew against GM Atalık as IM Erdoğdu did against GM Banikas. THY dominated the junior boards, which gave them 6-4 victory.

Pamukkale University and Antalya Deniz Genclik drew against each other while Adana Truva scored a 9-1 win against Selçuk University.

Adana Truva overwhelmed Selçuk University with 9-1.

Manisa Doruk Koleji scored its third consecutive win against Bursa Tophane with 6,5-3,5 despite IM Karakehajov hold GM Mamedov to a draw.

The "Mersin derby" (the city which is going to host Under 16 Chess Olympiad starting by the early August) between Tarsus Zeka and Mersin Ezgi ended as the first win of this season for Tarsus Zeka which has more than 2,000 players registered, which means they are the largest chess club in Turkey. FM Kerem Laçiner joined Antalya Çallıspor squad in this round to help Antalya side to score its first victory against İstanbul Technical University with 5.5-4.5. Denizli Erbakir, won its first match this season by winning comfortably against TED College, which is far from its past glorious days with 7.5-2.5.

Round 4: Is Servergazi Unstoppable?

Turkish İş Bank Chess Leauge is taking place in İzmit Kartepe Resort Hotel from June 23 to July 3. After the fourth round, Servergazi, Truva and Manisa Doruk leads the league with winning all their matches. At the link below, press officer Özgür Akman reviews the first four rounds with lots of pictures and selected games.

The Denizli team had a strong squad but their performance so far is brilliant. They won against Turkish Airlines with the slightest of margins and they won three crucial games which gave them a shared first place. First three boards ended peacefully (GM Arutinian-GM Gagunashvili ; IM Sanikidze - IM Can; IM Arduman - IM Erdoğdu) but FM Arı's win over Afyoncu was not enough since in the latter boards, Ali Ekber Doğan the underdog of Turkish Championship 2008 won against talented youngster Ertan with some others. The final games was between two Georgian ladies Lomineishvili and Salome ended as a draw after a rook vs. rook+bishop fight which meant a dramatic 5.5-4.5 win for Servergazi over Turkish Airlines.

Manisa Doruk Koleji won against İSEK Aquamatch which meant the fourth straight win for the former and the third straight loss for the latter all of them being important games. GM Mamedov-GM Savcenko -IM Erturan were solid enough to hold İSEK GMs to 2 points and went on to win.

İSEK Aquamatch's GM Troika: Suat Atalık, Ioannis Papaiannou, Hristos Banikas

Antalya Deniz Genclik made a big upset to Denizli Erbakir with 5.5-4.5 win thanks to FM Tamer Karatekin, former Turkish champion's victory against GM Levon Aroshidze and Köse's (well-known bulletin boy to win a very nice game against GM Naiditsch back in 2003 European Championship in Silivri, İstanbul) win against Genç and Uzuner's win against Metin.

ITU collected another 2 points against Bursa Tophane, who are one of the major disappointment in the league without a single point despite they have a strong team led by GM Spasov. GM Spasov, inflicting FM Çıtak with his first loss was not enough since FM Erdoğan stroke a win on the second board against IM Karakehajov. Turkish champion WIM Topel's win over WIM Chilingirova was another crucial board win that contributed to the 6-4 victory for the technical university.

Tarsus Zeka overwhelmed Selçuk University with a 8.5-1.5 win and Antalya Çallıspor scored another win this time against TED College thanks to the first three boards with GM Shanava, IM Sidefzade and FM Laçiner.

Truva duly won against Pamukkale University despite Grivas held GM Guseinov to a draw and Sipahioğlu won against Çoban.

Beşiktaş treated its wounds from the loss against Servergazi with a 7-3 win over Mersin Ezgi.