GM Joel's Chess Week Recap

European Club Championship - Fall Classic in St. Louis

This week GM Joel wraps up the European Club Championship and find counterplay for old men in St. Louis.
Magnus Carlsen had a very sluggish European Club Cup result with one win and five draws. He was even a bit fortunate in some of the draws, as we shall see. Ding Liren's massive unbeaten streak is still going, and he has himself become a candidate for the top spot in the rating list. Even with Carlsen's modest contributions, Valerenga Sjakklubb hung in there until the end, but went down in the final round to Mednyi Vsadnick St. Petersburg. The Russian club scored one win when Bjorki Predojevic flat our hung a piece in an equal position to Maxim Rodshtein.
The Fall Classic A Group in St. Louis scored one for old-timers with 49-year-old Alexey Dreev schooling his younger opponents to the tune of 6.5/9, a full point clear of the field. He showed off his wiles in a subtle endgame against an opponent less than half his age!