Leonard Barden on chess
Saturday October 20, 2007
The Guardian
An English gold medal at last! Not in the way you would expect it, though. Michael Adams scored 4.5/7 for Linex Magic Merida, the Spanish champions, who were seeded only fifth but won the European Club Cup in Turkey. The all-ex-Soviet No2 and 3 seeds, from Tomsk (winners of the last three cups) and Sverdlovsk, took silver and bronze.
It seems even easier in chess than in football for top European teams to field mercenaries. Besides Adams, Merida had grandmasters from the US, Russia, Armenia and Bulgaria, with one token Spaniard. Nigel Short played fifth board for Sarajevo, and in contrast Hilsmark Kingfisher, sole representatives from the UK league, fielded only one GM.
Probably it does not matter. This way the Eurocup attracts a huge turnout of top GMs, with many fine games.
Here is the full article.
I thought he lives in greece? Or is it Short?