Kamsky on Top at Euro Teams
By Jennifer Shahade   
October 11, 2007
Gata_Kamsky.jpg
Gata, near his apartment in Brighton Beach, possibly doing magic.
Gata Kamsky played first board for Linex Magic, the winner of the super-strong European Club Championship (Antalya, Turkey, Oct 2-10), where most of the world's strongest players competed, including Vishy Anand. Unlike the Olympiad, the European Club Championship was scored using match points (just like the U.S. Chess League and U.S. Amateur Team Champs), not game points. Linex Magic won six matches and drew one giving them clear first on match points. The Linex Magic squad included:

1 GM Kamsky Gata 2724
2. GM Adams Michael 2729 ENG
3 GM Rublevsky Sergei 2676 RUS
4 GM Sargissian Gabriel 2673 ARM
5 GM Cheparinov Ivan 2670 BUL
6 IM Perez Candelario Manuel 2525 ESP
7.FM Cabezas Ayala Ivan 2313 ESP

Gata had a lackluster beginning, losing to GMs Eljanov and Mamedyarov. However, he rose to the occasion in the final two rounds starting with a sixth round draw against Alexander Morozevich with Black.

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In the final round, Gata defeated Evgeny Alekseev (2716) from Russia.

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Alexander Onischuk was also playing in the event on the very strong Keystone team. Onischuk played 2nd board behind Ruslan Ponomariov. His team placed in eighth.