breakfast » 20 май 2015, 17:13
О заключительном раунде словами капитана команды Голландии:
Yesterday, the last round of the European Team Championship league A was played on Pandanet. 2nd place Ukraine surprisingly lost to 7th place Finland when a tie was enough for them to reach the finals (and they were stronger on every board). A loss meant that Russia, who were in fifth place, could draw level with them and reach 4th place on board points. But in another upset, Russia only got a tie against the Netherlands and thereby stayed in 5th place. Especially the loss of Ilja Shikshin (1p with 2752 rating) against Geert Groenen (5d with 2474 rating) was a huge upset. That tie means they stay in 5th place while Ukraine drops only to 4th place. Having won 3 of the last 4 championships, it is quite surprising that Russia fail to qualify for the finals, especially given their line-up. Czechia won the league, with France in 2nd and Romania in 3rd place. The top 4 teams will play round-robin for the prizes at the European Go Congress this summer.
At the bottom of the league, Poland are relegated to league B next year, while Sweden will have to defend their spot in a play-off against league B's 2nd place. With one round left, it looks like Germany will win league B and Hungary will get 2nd place. The UK are already guaranteed promotion back to league B, having already clinched the top spot in league C, while South Africa are favorites to get 2nd place in league C in the last round and earning a play-off against Switzerland from league B.