The 21st European Team Championship is taking place in the Mediterranean resort of Hersonissos Crete, Greece. It is a nine-round Swiss and runs to Nov. 7. It’s a national team event with 40 countries fielding teams. Of 195 players, 138 are grandmasters. The clear favorite going in was the defending-champion Russian team, but they suffered a surprising setback in the fourth round, losing 2.5/1.5 to the Hungarian team.

The surprise of the tournament so far has been the 14th-ranked Croatian team, in clear first with 4.5/5. Hungary, Russia, and Poland are in hot pursuit, all at 4/1, the difference being game points. In the women’s half, the Russian team was a heavy favorite going in, and after five rounds they are in clear first, with 5/5.

Missing from the Russian team is former world champ Vladimir Kramnik. He was named this week as the organizers’ wild card entry to the Candidates tournament. The addition of Kramnik gives Russia two entrants in the Candidates, with a strong possibility of a third, as Alexander Grischuk may qualify through the Grand Prix. This selection guarantees Americans Wesley So and Fabiano Caruana spots in the Berlin event.

The 2018 US Chess Federation All-America Chess Team features several Massachusetts players. In the age 18 group is Lexington’s Mika Brattain; at age 16 is Sam Sevian of Holden; at age 13 is Andover’s Carissa Yip; and at age 9, Derek Jin of Boston.

Coming events: Nov. 12, Spiegel Cup Series PerelChess Tournament, Chabat of the North Shore, 44 Burrill St., Swampscott, mperel56@comcast.net

Recent results: Massachusetts Junior Open, Championship Section: 1st: Gershon Gilman 3.5-0.5; Under 1600 Section: 1st: Aaron Li 3.5-0.5; Under 1200 Section: 1st: Prachi Dayal 4-0; Under 800 Section: 1st: Sam Parsi 4-0

Answer to today’s problem: 1.Rxe7+! Qxe7 2.Qxh8+ Qf8 3.Rd8+ Kxd8 4.Qxf8+

Chris Chase can be reached at BostonGlobeChessNotes@gmail.com.