Estonian women's chess team draw twice in succession in Euro championships
Estonia's women's chess team drew 2:2 twice in a row this week at the ongoing European Team Chess Championships in Batumi, Georgia, with one more round to go.
On Sunday the team 2:2 with the Netherlands in the round seven.
Margareth and Grete Olde, who played with the black pieces, had to concede victory to their opponents, but since Mai Narva and Sofia Blokhin won their games playing white, the overall result was a draw against the Netherlands, the 15th seeds in the tournament (Estonia is seeded 26th).
Narva's win was her third in a row and with a performance rating of 2,602, she rose to third place among the first-board players.
Then on Monday, the team drew 2:2 again, against the 23rd-ranked Czech Republic in the eighth and penultimate round.
Mai Narva and Margareth Olde brought the winning points. Narva, who scored a total of six out of seven points, won her fourth consecutive victory; ahead of the final round, the Estonian's performance rating of 2,623 was the highest among the first table players.
Heading into the final round, the Estonian women's team has eight match points out of a possible 14 (with two wins, four draws and two losses), placing them 17th out of 36 competitors.
The team faces Georgia, the hosts, today, in the final round.
Georgia has also amassed eight points so far. Poland leads the table (12 match points), followed by Germany and Ukraine (both with 11points). Armenia, with ten match points, is also in with a chance of a medal.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Kristjan Kallaste
