Olympiad round 10 report: Chinese hopes dashed
Posted by Webmaster on 1 June 2006
Armenia beat China in the top match of round 10 to strengthen their lead while Russia rose from scratch sweeping out declining Ukraine to move up to third. Today will be the rest day, and on Friday Armenia will test rampart Czech team at top table.
There wasn't much dispute today about who is going to prove its supremacy in the match of top two teams. The Chinese were in deep defence all along and honestly cannot complain about the outcome. Etienne Bacrot, head of French team, once again proved his indispensability as he brilliantly tore up Kamsky's position to compensate Bauer's loss at bottom board and level match score. France tied with USA and both teams stay undefeated lying in fifth and sixth respectively.
Ukraine are totally ruined as they did not make a stand today and lost 3-1 to Russia and top three seems to be out of their reach. It is quite strange that a team to readily sweep out the rest of the World in Calvia now struggle to get into top 10 although there is only one player missing from the winning team from 2004 (Ponomariov, who contributed least by the way). The Czech Republic made best use of lucky pairing wiping out Slovenia to climb to tied third. Now they face real test as they will play Armenia in the next round and excited Czech fans have already been calculating who bin a margin of a win should be to retain Czech hopes for gold (which, with all respect, appears to be a pious wish). India do not seem to be determined to pave their way to the top as today they conceded another dull draw vs Cuba. It is sorry to note, but Anand is still of no avail. Uzbekistan proved once again they have been fairly underrated as today they beat Germany and are in eighth. Azerbaijan recover after nightmare of first day and climb up the table day by day. Today we saw them defeat Norway 3-1 (Carlsen-Radjabov draw) to move up to 15th. Of top seeded teams Bulgaria are doing striving; they conceded another unexpected loss today vs Vietnam.
Tomorrow will be the rest day and we are on a straight way to finish. Armenia are one foot in heaven and no more than 8 or 9 teams may still be hoping of medalling. A lot of major nations are out: Ukraine, England, India, Israel... while there are teams fighting for top honours that hardly anyone would bet a penny on: Czech Republic, Cuba, Uzbekistan. We shall see. Stay tuned!
In the women's section Ukraine beat third seeds Georgia 2-1 and have now clear way to go. Russia keep the pase as today the defeated Bulgaria 2-1 (Kosteniuk lost to Stefanova). China ran over Armenia to lie in third.
Standings:
Men: Armenia 29; China 27; Russia and Czech Rep. 26.5; France 26; USA 25.5; Cuba and Uzbekistan 25
Women: Ukraine 23; Russia 22.5; China 20.5; Georgia 20; Bulgaria 19.5, India and Greece 19.5
Key pairings for tomorrow: Armenia-Czech Rep.; China-France; Uzbekistan-Cuba; USA-Russia; Azerbaijan-Ukraine; India-Israel
Recommended links:
Detailed results and statistics at Wiener Zeitung page
chessgames.com - a lot of comments and analyses
Fiji at the Olympiad - a very interesting Olympiad-related blog
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY
5. Bacrot (FRA, 2708) - Kamsky (USA, 2671)
Black's Queenside is reasonably weaken so he should protect it rather than provoke. 15... c5? too much of a risk. 16. axb5 cxd4 17. Nxd4 Nxe4 18. Nxe4 Qxd4 19. Be3 Qxe4 now White cannot capture the Rook since Be2 is hanging 20. Bf3 not any more 20... Qe5 21. Bxa7 +- White won exchange and went on for a victory after 64 moves. 1-0
7. Fressinet (FRA, 2633) - Nakamura (USA, 2664)
No other player is more often guest starring in the highlight section than Fressinet (see also news archive from 2005). Unfortunately today he shows up in faded colours. White's position is won: 38. Qa7! Qf7 (only move) 39. Ra8+ Bf8 40. Qxf7+ Kxf7 41. Bf4 and White wins exchange. Fressinet's move was one step too far: 38. Qa8? Qxa8 39. Bxa8 Nxd5 40. Rb8+ Bf8 41. Nc6 += In the endgame White was two pawns up but he failed to nip off rival's counterchances. 1/2-1/2 after 82 moves.
8. Ibragimov (USA, 2637) - Bauer (FRA, 2638)
Another ghoulish game from France-Russia match. One can hardly imagine White can save the dead lost game. But.... 43... Rd8? seems robust at first glance but is not, since White can infiltrate King's area. Qe5 was good 44. Qf6 Rd5 45. Qe6+ Qf7 = White has perpetual check 46. Qc8+ Qf8 47. Qe6+ Qf7 48. Qc8+ draw? 48... Kg7?? no draw pal, I play for a win... 49. Bc3! +- suddenly Black King find himself in a trap 49... Kg6 50. Qxa6+ Kh5 51. g4+ Kh4 52. Qe2 and soon 1-0. There is now a philosophical matter, whether White was just lucky or is it according to the Latin sentence fortuna favet fortibus (fortune favours the bold)?
10. Svidler (RUS, 2743) - Volokytin (UKR, 2660)
Ukraine's play is huge disappointment to the fans. Volokytin's position scatters to dust: 16... f6? position was hardly playable but the move seals the fate. 17. c4 Rfd8? another bad move. Black should take the piece. 18. Qh5 fxe5 too late, White's attack cannot be refuted anymore 19.Qxh7+ Kf8 20. cxd5 exd5 21. f4! Only move. Black pawn cannot avoid trade since e4 is blocked. Opening f file is mortal threat for Black. 21... exf4 22. Bg6 Qe6 23. Qh8+ Qg8 24. Rxf4+ Bf6 25. Rxf6+! 1-0 The Rook is untouchable because of Qxf6.
12. Bareev (RUS, 2701) - Efimenko (UKR, 2648)
This is our question to the readers rather than a game preview. Black is dead lost, promotion cannot be stopped. There comes a pre-mortal check 41... gxf4+ now what? Kxf4 wins on spot, but the notation shows 42. Ke4?? (so does live coverage site) which blunders mate in one after 42... Rc4+# Black resigned here 1-0. There is a question: is Ke4 (most probably) a misprint or perhaps a terrible blunder unnoticed by both sides?
14. Pavasovic (SLO, 2534) - Babula (CZE, 2583)
Slovenia were hammered by the Czechs but this game could be some consolation for them. Virtually everything wins here, e.g. 38. Bf3 or 38. Bg2 and Black gets mated. 38. fxg6?? too fast! 38... Rxf1+ 39. Rxf1 Qd4+ 40. Rf2 Qe1 41. Rf1 Qd4+ 1/2-1/2 a perpetual check. Never lose concentration.
23. Gareev (UZB, 2522) - Luther (GER, 2593)
TACTICS TEST (quite hard). White to move and win. Please drag your mouse between the brackets to find the answer.
[ 28. e6! fxe6 29. f6 in order to protect g5 from a check 29...Rd6? better was Qd6 30. Nf3 Rbb6 31. Ng5 Kf8 32. Nf7+ +- ]
300. Kosteniuk (RUS, 2540) - Stefanova (BUL, 2502)
Time for women's stuff. White sacrificed a piece and she seems to have good prospects for a game. 22. Qf3? Bxd5! Seemingly gives back the piece... 23. Bxf6+ Qxf6 24. Qxd5 Bxf2+ 25. Kh1 Rh8! more effective that capturing the Rook 26. h3 Qf5 threatens Rxh3 27. Rg1 X-raying Black monarch 27... Bg3! 0-1
303. Mkrtchian (ARM, 2453) - Zhao Xue (CHN, 2423)
Black has just played 21... Kh8?? blundering a piece. There is a very simple win here 22. Qb5 Nb4 23. Nxb4 and if 23... cxb4 then 24. Qxf5 +-. Instead White chose 22. Re5? Position is still far better for White but all in all she managed to lose anyway. 0-1 after 83 moves. No comments.
See online games from round 10
Armenia beat China in the top match of round 10 to strengthen their lead while Russia rose from scratch sweeping out declining Ukraine to move up to third. Today will be the rest day, and on Friday Armenia will test rampart Czech team at top table.There wasn't much dispute today about who is going to prove its supremacy in the match of top two teams. The Chinese were in deep defence all along and honestly cannot complain about the outcome. Etienne Bacrot, head of French team, once again proved his indispensability as he brilliantly tore up Kamsky's position to compensate Bauer's loss at bottom board and level match score. France tied with USA and both teams stay undefeated lying in fifth and sixth respectively.
Ukraine are totally ruined as they did not make a stand today and lost 3-1 to Russia and top three seems to be out of their reach. It is quite strange that a team to readily sweep out the rest of the World in Calvia now struggle to get into top 10 although there is only one player missing from the winning team from 2004 (Ponomariov, who contributed least by the way). The Czech Republic made best use of lucky pairing wiping out Slovenia to climb to tied third. Now they face real test as they will play Armenia in the next round and excited Czech fans have already been calculating who bin a margin of a win should be to retain Czech hopes for gold (which, with all respect, appears to be a pious wish). India do not seem to be determined to pave their way to the top as today they conceded another dull draw vs Cuba. It is sorry to note, but Anand is still of no avail. Uzbekistan proved once again they have been fairly underrated as today they beat Germany and are in eighth. Azerbaijan recover after nightmare of first day and climb up the table day by day. Today we saw them defeat Norway 3-1 (Carlsen-Radjabov draw) to move up to 15th. Of top seeded teams Bulgaria are doing striving; they conceded another unexpected loss today vs Vietnam.
Tomorrow will be the rest day and we are on a straight way to finish. Armenia are one foot in heaven and no more than 8 or 9 teams may still be hoping of medalling. A lot of major nations are out: Ukraine, England, India, Israel... while there are teams fighting for top honours that hardly anyone would bet a penny on: Czech Republic, Cuba, Uzbekistan. We shall see. Stay tuned!
In the women's section Ukraine beat third seeds Georgia 2-1 and have now clear way to go. Russia keep the pase as today the defeated Bulgaria 2-1 (Kosteniuk lost to Stefanova). China ran over Armenia to lie in third.
Standings:
Men: Armenia 29; China 27; Russia and Czech Rep. 26.5; France 26; USA 25.5; Cuba and Uzbekistan 25
Women: Ukraine 23; Russia 22.5; China 20.5; Georgia 20; Bulgaria 19.5, India and Greece 19.5
Key pairings for tomorrow: Armenia-Czech Rep.; China-France; Uzbekistan-Cuba; USA-Russia; Azerbaijan-Ukraine; India-Israel
Recommended links:
Detailed results and statistics at Wiener Zeitung page
chessgames.com - a lot of comments and analyses
Fiji at the Olympiad - a very interesting Olympiad-related blog
5. Bacrot (FRA, 2708) - Kamsky (USA, 2671)Black's Queenside is reasonably weaken so he should protect it rather than provoke. 15... c5? too much of a risk. 16. axb5 cxd4 17. Nxd4 Nxe4 18. Nxe4 Qxd4 19. Be3 Qxe4 now White cannot capture the Rook since Be2 is hanging 20. Bf3 not any more 20... Qe5 21. Bxa7 +- White won exchange and went on for a victory after 64 moves. 1-0
7. Fressinet (FRA, 2633) - Nakamura (USA, 2664)No other player is more often guest starring in the highlight section than Fressinet (see also news archive from 2005). Unfortunately today he shows up in faded colours. White's position is won: 38. Qa7! Qf7 (only move) 39. Ra8+ Bf8 40. Qxf7+ Kxf7 41. Bf4 and White wins exchange. Fressinet's move was one step too far: 38. Qa8? Qxa8 39. Bxa8 Nxd5 40. Rb8+ Bf8 41. Nc6 += In the endgame White was two pawns up but he failed to nip off rival's counterchances. 1/2-1/2 after 82 moves.
8. Ibragimov (USA, 2637) - Bauer (FRA, 2638)Another ghoulish game from France-Russia match. One can hardly imagine White can save the dead lost game. But.... 43... Rd8? seems robust at first glance but is not, since White can infiltrate King's area. Qe5 was good 44. Qf6 Rd5 45. Qe6+ Qf7 = White has perpetual check 46. Qc8+ Qf8 47. Qe6+ Qf7 48. Qc8+ draw? 48... Kg7?? no draw pal, I play for a win... 49. Bc3! +- suddenly Black King find himself in a trap 49... Kg6 50. Qxa6+ Kh5 51. g4+ Kh4 52. Qe2 and soon 1-0. There is now a philosophical matter, whether White was just lucky or is it according to the Latin sentence fortuna favet fortibus (fortune favours the bold)?
10. Svidler (RUS, 2743) - Volokytin (UKR, 2660)Ukraine's play is huge disappointment to the fans. Volokytin's position scatters to dust: 16... f6? position was hardly playable but the move seals the fate. 17. c4 Rfd8? another bad move. Black should take the piece. 18. Qh5 fxe5 too late, White's attack cannot be refuted anymore 19.Qxh7+ Kf8 20. cxd5 exd5 21. f4! Only move. Black pawn cannot avoid trade since e4 is blocked. Opening f file is mortal threat for Black. 21... exf4 22. Bg6 Qe6 23. Qh8+ Qg8 24. Rxf4+ Bf6 25. Rxf6+! 1-0 The Rook is untouchable because of Qxf6.
12. Bareev (RUS, 2701) - Efimenko (UKR, 2648)This is our question to the readers rather than a game preview. Black is dead lost, promotion cannot be stopped. There comes a pre-mortal check 41... gxf4+ now what? Kxf4 wins on spot, but the notation shows 42. Ke4?? (so does live coverage site) which blunders mate in one after 42... Rc4+# Black resigned here 1-0. There is a question: is Ke4 (most probably) a misprint or perhaps a terrible blunder unnoticed by both sides?
14. Pavasovic (SLO, 2534) - Babula (CZE, 2583)Slovenia were hammered by the Czechs but this game could be some consolation for them. Virtually everything wins here, e.g. 38. Bf3 or 38. Bg2 and Black gets mated. 38. fxg6?? too fast! 38... Rxf1+ 39. Rxf1 Qd4+ 40. Rf2 Qe1 41. Rf1 Qd4+ 1/2-1/2 a perpetual check. Never lose concentration.
23. Gareev (UZB, 2522) - Luther (GER, 2593)TACTICS TEST (quite hard). White to move and win. Please drag your mouse between the brackets to find the answer.
[ 28. e6! fxe6 29. f6 in order to protect g5 from a check 29...Rd6? better was Qd6 30. Nf3 Rbb6 31. Ng5 Kf8 32. Nf7+ +- ]
300. Kosteniuk (RUS, 2540) - Stefanova (BUL, 2502)Time for women's stuff. White sacrificed a piece and she seems to have good prospects for a game. 22. Qf3? Bxd5! Seemingly gives back the piece... 23. Bxf6+ Qxf6 24. Qxd5 Bxf2+ 25. Kh1 Rh8! more effective that capturing the Rook 26. h3 Qf5 threatens Rxh3 27. Rg1 X-raying Black monarch 27... Bg3! 0-1
303. Mkrtchian (ARM, 2453) - Zhao Xue (CHN, 2423)Black has just played 21... Kh8?? blundering a piece. There is a very simple win here 22. Qb5 Nb4 23. Nxb4 and if 23... cxb4 then 24. Qxf5 +-. Instead White chose 22. Re5? Position is still far better for White but all in all she managed to lose anyway. 0-1 after 83 moves. No comments.
See online games from round 10
* * *
Olympiad round 9 report: just two teams left in the field
Posted by Webmaster on 31 May 2006
It seems that no human power can stop the Armenians as they beat Ukraine today in a match that symbolically passed the baton to the possible future gold medal winners. Russia are now full three points behind as they lost to accelerating France. China moved to second scoring unbelievable 4-0 vs Georgia.
With four days to go Armenia hold one point advantage over China and the leaders will play each other in the hit clash of round 10. France, who were not able to beat any of three ex-Yugoslav nations they met in the beginning (Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia), became tycoons those days and beat top seeded Russia courtesy to Fressinet who scored brave victory over Rublevsky. China beat Georgia which is not probably a sensation in itself, but the margin of a win (4-0) is very unlikely to happen in an encounter between top teams. The win hoisted the Chinese up to second position clear 1.5 point ahead of third placed Russia. Devastated Georgia are now in 18th. Czech Republic held USA to a draw which is another valuable result scored by them; their head Navara failed this time and lost to Kamsky, his overall record is still impressive (6/8). India gave Anand the rest (which seems to be fully justified judging by his recent games) and their match with Uzbekistan went on to four draws. Slovenia beat Slovakia in a meeting of two often confused nations (to shed so light on differencies, Slovenia is a country of 2 million citizens, lying near the Adriatic sea and it was part of Yugoslavia prior to 1992; its capital is Ljubljana. On the other hand Slovakia used to be part of Czechoslovakia; it is a country inhabitted by 5 million people, lying south of Poland, its capital is Bratislava).
The Netherlands are plunged in deep crisis as they lost third consecutive match today (they actually recorded no game win those days). Bulgaria deprived of their leader seem to be lacking faith and they lost badly to Moldova today. Azerbaijani fellows are quite unlucky since they get paired with the toughest possible opposition in relation to their moderate rank. As yesterday they faced 6th seeds Israel, today they matched 11th seeded Spain, another struggling side potencially capable of reaching medal zone. There are no good news for English fans - the team scored another modest victory (2.5-1.5 over Mexico) and are ranked 32nd at the moment. Malaysia produced upset of the day beating Switzerland (IM Mas beat Kortschnoj at top board).
In the women's section China held Russia to a draw which cost the Russians the lead as they were overcame by Ukraine who beat USA 2.5-0.5. Georgia are in third as they defeated fourth seeds Hungary 2.5-0.5. 51st seeds Canada caused biggest sensation of the day wiping out 21st seeded Italy 2.5-0.5.
Standings:
Men: Armenia 26.5; Ukraine 25.5; France 24; Russia, USA and Ukraine 23.5
Women: Ukraine 21; Russia 20.5; Georgia 19; China and Bulgaria 18.5; Armenia 18
Key pairings for tomorrow: Armenia-China; France-USA; Ukraine-Russia; Cuba-India
Recommended links:
Detailed results and statistics at Wiener Zeitung page
Tim Krabbe's chess diary - not really related to the Olympiad but recommended anyway
Christophe Bouton's blog - a lot of Olympic news and trivia (in French)
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY
8. Fressinet (FRA, 2633) - Rublevsky (RUS, 2687)
The following game is no doubt the game of the round. White launches the attack: 23. Nxe6! Bxe6 24. Bxc5 Nxd3 25. Bxd6 Rf7 += White should now continue 26. Rb1! threatening back rank mate, eg. 26... Nf2+ 27. Qxf2 Nd7 (protecting b8 with a tempo) Instead White automatically took back the piece 26. Qxd3 which is not a good choice in itself. 26... Nxe5 27. Nd4?? that's already a blunder, now Ng3+ wins on spot 27... Rxf1?? we can only guess that time pressure was immense 28. Qxf1 Bf7 29. Be5 Bxa2 30. Qf4 Bd5 31. Bxg7!! +- and White won 1-0. A very interesting play but not free of mistakes.
9. Jobava (GEO, 2646) - Bu (CHN, 2640)
Material is balanced but white King is exposed and pawn structure is weak. Black does unpleasant leverage: 25... d4! 26. Qxd4?! perhaps 26. exd4 would cause less harm 26... Rd8! 27. Qe5 f6 28. gxf6 Rd2+ 29. Kg1 Qxh3 and White was only able to delay mate for a few moves. 0-1
18. Dominguez Perez (CUB, 2647) - Jussupow (GER, 2608)
White's obvious plan is to attack h7 but is there any way to drag away defenders? 33. Ng7! g5 now Bc2 protects h7, but there is another problem 34. Nxe6 Re8 35. Qg5+ Bg6 36. Qxg6! 1-0 Black cannot avoid mate: 36... hxg6 37. Rh8+ Kf7 38. Ng5+#
39. Nijboer (NED, 2584) - Zelcic (SCG, 2525)
Some opening remarks. The game started as follows 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5. Now White should either capture or play Nf3. Instead he chose 4. c4?! which is theoretically known move (of course) but is dubious; c file pawn is usually needed to protect d4 and White can rarely expect to gain advantage. 4... cxd4 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. e6? this is already too extravagant. Pawn sac doesn't seem to be justified. What might work in a scholar tournament is not suitable at 2600 level. 6... Bxe6 7. Nxd4 Nc6 8. Nxe6 fxe6 9. Be2?! too passive 9... Nf6=+ As it happened, Black defended a pawn and went on for a win. 0-1 in 35 moves.
46. Agdestein (NOR, 2594) - Moradiabani (IRI, 2490)
The unique position: all of white pieces are cramped at d file doubly X-rayed by pair of major black pieces. White is dead lost, but it is not so simple: 42. Nb3? Qc2+? 42... Rc2+ was much better 43. Ka3 a4 44. Kxa4 Ra8+ 45. Kb4 Qa2?! 46. Bxa8 Rxd4 47. Nxd4! now Black cannot capture the Bishop because of 48. Nc6+ +- 47... Qb1+ 48. Rb4 = Position is balanced but all in all Black won after long and fierce fight. 0-1
57. Radjabov (AZE, 2717) - Shirov (ESP, 2699)
White decided not to re-capture but to get control over the centre instead 14. d4! exd4 Not a good choice. Black should not let pair od white pawns control two key squares. 15. Bg5 Qd6 16. cxd4 Be7 17. d5 no time to lose 17... Ne5 18. Bf4 += White is in control of the game, Black has no counterchances. 1-0 after 39 moves.
78. Gonzales Garcia (MEX, 2494) - Speelman (ENG, 2555)
The golden generation of English players is unrelentingly aging. Here Speelman is just a walk-on. 17. e5! dxe5 18. Rxd7 Bxd7? Qxd7 was a must. There is fork now. 19. Nd5 Nxd5 20. Qxf7+ Black Bishop covers the Queen 20... Kh8 21. Qxg6 Nf6 or 21... hxg5 22. Qh5+ Kg8 23. Bxd5+ 22. Nf7+ +- and Black resigned in a few moves. 1-0
87. Escobar Forero (COL, 2429) - Ziska (FAI, 2306)
White's position was dead lost but Ziska played badly under time pressure. The time control has just passed and White played 41. Nf5. The Knight cannot be captured since the Rook is hanging (that is what the Faroese thought). Defence fails: 41... Rd7 42. Qf6+ Kg8 43. Qe6+ Kf8 44. Qxd7 Qc7 45. Qxd2 +-. So - what to do? Black resigned. 1-0. However after 41... exf5 42. Qxd6+ Kg8 43. Rxd2 Qxe4 White has nothing better in sight than a perpetual check. The position is drawn!
89. Mas (MAS, 2412) - Kortschnoj (SUI, 2611)
White's name is not a misprint. He is Malaysian IM who was honoured not only to face legendary Kortschnoj, but he was ballsy enough to win in a brilliant miniature. Black is to move, he should play 18... Qf6 19. hxg7+ Rxg7 20. Kg2 Nxf5 21. Qxf5 Qxf5 22. exf5= Istead Viktor chose suicidal 18... g5? 19. Ng7 Qxh6 20. Nxe8 Rxe8 21. Qxf7 1-0
Le roi est mort, vive le roi!
See online games from round 9
It seems that no human power can stop the Armenians as they beat Ukraine today in a match that symbolically passed the baton to the possible future gold medal winners. Russia are now full three points behind as they lost to accelerating France. China moved to second scoring unbelievable 4-0 vs Georgia.With four days to go Armenia hold one point advantage over China and the leaders will play each other in the hit clash of round 10. France, who were not able to beat any of three ex-Yugoslav nations they met in the beginning (Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia), became tycoons those days and beat top seeded Russia courtesy to Fressinet who scored brave victory over Rublevsky. China beat Georgia which is not probably a sensation in itself, but the margin of a win (4-0) is very unlikely to happen in an encounter between top teams. The win hoisted the Chinese up to second position clear 1.5 point ahead of third placed Russia. Devastated Georgia are now in 18th. Czech Republic held USA to a draw which is another valuable result scored by them; their head Navara failed this time and lost to Kamsky, his overall record is still impressive (6/8). India gave Anand the rest (which seems to be fully justified judging by his recent games) and their match with Uzbekistan went on to four draws. Slovenia beat Slovakia in a meeting of two often confused nations (to shed so light on differencies, Slovenia is a country of 2 million citizens, lying near the Adriatic sea and it was part of Yugoslavia prior to 1992; its capital is Ljubljana. On the other hand Slovakia used to be part of Czechoslovakia; it is a country inhabitted by 5 million people, lying south of Poland, its capital is Bratislava).
The Netherlands are plunged in deep crisis as they lost third consecutive match today (they actually recorded no game win those days). Bulgaria deprived of their leader seem to be lacking faith and they lost badly to Moldova today. Azerbaijani fellows are quite unlucky since they get paired with the toughest possible opposition in relation to their moderate rank. As yesterday they faced 6th seeds Israel, today they matched 11th seeded Spain, another struggling side potencially capable of reaching medal zone. There are no good news for English fans - the team scored another modest victory (2.5-1.5 over Mexico) and are ranked 32nd at the moment. Malaysia produced upset of the day beating Switzerland (IM Mas beat Kortschnoj at top board).
In the women's section China held Russia to a draw which cost the Russians the lead as they were overcame by Ukraine who beat USA 2.5-0.5. Georgia are in third as they defeated fourth seeds Hungary 2.5-0.5. 51st seeds Canada caused biggest sensation of the day wiping out 21st seeded Italy 2.5-0.5.
Standings:
Men: Armenia 26.5; Ukraine 25.5; France 24; Russia, USA and Ukraine 23.5
Women: Ukraine 21; Russia 20.5; Georgia 19; China and Bulgaria 18.5; Armenia 18
Key pairings for tomorrow: Armenia-China; France-USA; Ukraine-Russia; Cuba-India
Recommended links:
Detailed results and statistics at Wiener Zeitung page
Tim Krabbe's chess diary - not really related to the Olympiad but recommended anyway
Christophe Bouton's blog - a lot of Olympic news and trivia (in French)
8. Fressinet (FRA, 2633) - Rublevsky (RUS, 2687)The following game is no doubt the game of the round. White launches the attack: 23. Nxe6! Bxe6 24. Bxc5 Nxd3 25. Bxd6 Rf7 += White should now continue 26. Rb1! threatening back rank mate, eg. 26... Nf2+ 27. Qxf2 Nd7 (protecting b8 with a tempo) Instead White automatically took back the piece 26. Qxd3 which is not a good choice in itself. 26... Nxe5 27. Nd4?? that's already a blunder, now Ng3+ wins on spot 27... Rxf1?? we can only guess that time pressure was immense 28. Qxf1 Bf7 29. Be5 Bxa2 30. Qf4 Bd5 31. Bxg7!! +- and White won 1-0. A very interesting play but not free of mistakes.
9. Jobava (GEO, 2646) - Bu (CHN, 2640)Material is balanced but white King is exposed and pawn structure is weak. Black does unpleasant leverage: 25... d4! 26. Qxd4?! perhaps 26. exd4 would cause less harm 26... Rd8! 27. Qe5 f6 28. gxf6 Rd2+ 29. Kg1 Qxh3 and White was only able to delay mate for a few moves. 0-1
18. Dominguez Perez (CUB, 2647) - Jussupow (GER, 2608)White's obvious plan is to attack h7 but is there any way to drag away defenders? 33. Ng7! g5 now Bc2 protects h7, but there is another problem 34. Nxe6 Re8 35. Qg5+ Bg6 36. Qxg6! 1-0 Black cannot avoid mate: 36... hxg6 37. Rh8+ Kf7 38. Ng5+#
39. Nijboer (NED, 2584) - Zelcic (SCG, 2525)Some opening remarks. The game started as follows 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5. Now White should either capture or play Nf3. Instead he chose 4. c4?! which is theoretically known move (of course) but is dubious; c file pawn is usually needed to protect d4 and White can rarely expect to gain advantage. 4... cxd4 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. e6? this is already too extravagant. Pawn sac doesn't seem to be justified. What might work in a scholar tournament is not suitable at 2600 level. 6... Bxe6 7. Nxd4 Nc6 8. Nxe6 fxe6 9. Be2?! too passive 9... Nf6=+ As it happened, Black defended a pawn and went on for a win. 0-1 in 35 moves.
46. Agdestein (NOR, 2594) - Moradiabani (IRI, 2490)The unique position: all of white pieces are cramped at d file doubly X-rayed by pair of major black pieces. White is dead lost, but it is not so simple: 42. Nb3? Qc2+? 42... Rc2+ was much better 43. Ka3 a4 44. Kxa4 Ra8+ 45. Kb4 Qa2?! 46. Bxa8 Rxd4 47. Nxd4! now Black cannot capture the Bishop because of 48. Nc6+ +- 47... Qb1+ 48. Rb4 = Position is balanced but all in all Black won after long and fierce fight. 0-1
57. Radjabov (AZE, 2717) - Shirov (ESP, 2699)White decided not to re-capture but to get control over the centre instead 14. d4! exd4 Not a good choice. Black should not let pair od white pawns control two key squares. 15. Bg5 Qd6 16. cxd4 Be7 17. d5 no time to lose 17... Ne5 18. Bf4 += White is in control of the game, Black has no counterchances. 1-0 after 39 moves.
78. Gonzales Garcia (MEX, 2494) - Speelman (ENG, 2555)The golden generation of English players is unrelentingly aging. Here Speelman is just a walk-on. 17. e5! dxe5 18. Rxd7 Bxd7? Qxd7 was a must. There is fork now. 19. Nd5 Nxd5 20. Qxf7+ Black Bishop covers the Queen 20... Kh8 21. Qxg6 Nf6 or 21... hxg5 22. Qh5+ Kg8 23. Bxd5+ 22. Nf7+ +- and Black resigned in a few moves. 1-0
87. Escobar Forero (COL, 2429) - Ziska (FAI, 2306)White's position was dead lost but Ziska played badly under time pressure. The time control has just passed and White played 41. Nf5. The Knight cannot be captured since the Rook is hanging (that is what the Faroese thought). Defence fails: 41... Rd7 42. Qf6+ Kg8 43. Qe6+ Kf8 44. Qxd7 Qc7 45. Qxd2 +-. So - what to do? Black resigned. 1-0. However after 41... exf5 42. Qxd6+ Kg8 43. Rxd2 Qxe4 White has nothing better in sight than a perpetual check. The position is drawn!
89. Mas (MAS, 2412) - Kortschnoj (SUI, 2611)White's name is not a misprint. He is Malaysian IM who was honoured not only to face legendary Kortschnoj, but he was ballsy enough to win in a brilliant miniature. Black is to move, he should play 18... Qf6 19. hxg7+ Rxg7 20. Kg2 Nxf5 21. Qxf5 Qxf5 22. exf5= Istead Viktor chose suicidal 18... g5? 19. Ng7 Qxh6 20. Nxe8 Rxe8 21. Qxf7 1-0
Le roi est mort, vive le roi!
See online games from round 9
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Olympiad round 8 report: Armenia leapfrog to extend lead
Posted by Webmaster on 29 May 2006
Third seeds Armenia are confidently stepping from one win to another as they beat today Cuba 3-1 to extend their lead over top seeded Russia and Ukraine to full two points, with just five rounds remaining. Russia were held to a draw by the Czech Republic and they might be happy to score as good as that.
The Armenians made best use of the colour assignment and won both games in which they commanded white pieces to tie games played with black. Russia barely drew with vibrant Czech team as Svidler lost to Navara at top board and Morozevich extricated from a very bad position (probably winning on time). Uzbekistan have been doing very well until now but their form seems to evaporate day by day as today they lost to Georgia 2.5-1.5. Ukraine, who did not suffer spectacular losses but did not squeeze their opposition as tight as could be, finally found their way to the top wiping out Sweden 3-1 to move to second. Tomorrow they will face Armenia to be one of last major obstacles on leader's way to making history. France, who took off poorly have been plunged in a crisis for a couple of days but now they emerged near the peak headed by late-comer Bacrot (3/3 so far). However now they will have to face toughest opposition if they dream about retaining top 10 position.
USA stayed near the peak easily beating Denmark. China ran over the Philippines 3.5-0.5 and are in joint fourth with promising prospects for final rounds. India beat Bulgaria by the smallest possible margin (Anand drew again) but this is not enough since they have to chase the leading group. Today Israel and Azerbaijan met - two teams seeded in top 10 that have been awfully underperforming - and the match went on for a 2-all draw which is certainly below expectations of both sides. England clamber out of a trash too slowly - only 2.5-1.5 vs Lithuania today is by far inadequate.
The upset of the day might seem amusing but pure ratings say everything: Nepal beat Andorra 3 to 1. Only for chess dilletanti it will seem insignificant, while in fact Nepal are very debutants, hardly capable of achieving Elo ratings while Andorra is semi professional, master class team. Here rating difference was close to 200 points. Hats off! Anybody knows how to pronounce Congratulations in Nepali dialect?
In the women's section USA held leading Russia to a draw while Ukraine narrowly beat Hungary in the fierce match. China swept out Latvia 3-0 to move to tied third. Top seed Humpy of India lost to Mkrtchian of Armenia with white pieces.
Standings:
Men: Armenia 24; Russia and Ukraine 22; China, Georgia, USA, France 21.5
Women: Russia 19; Ukraine 18.5; USA and China 17; Georgia 16.5
Crucial pairings for tomorrow: Ukraine-Armenia; Russia-France; Georgia-China; USA-Czech Rep.; India-Uzbekistan
Recommended links:
Detailed results and statistics at Wiener Zeitung page
Susan Polgar's blog
Info about Armenia - as the tiny Caucasian nation is heading towards victory you should be familiar with the country, so please take a look
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY
Kramnik (RUS, 2729) - Alexandrov (BLR, 2634)
This is a game from yesterday, but only today we learnt what actually happened. Black is to move but his position is not easy to defent. Alexandrov intended to play 18... Kf7 19. Nc5 Bc8 += but for some reason he confused move sequence and played 18... Bc8?? which blunderes a Rook in one move. Once he noticed his error he immediately resigned 1-0.
5. Navara (CZE, 2658) - Svidler (RUS, 2743)
White decided to break the centre 19. d5! another good shot was Nxf7 19... exd5 20. Nxd5 Bxd5 21. Bxb4 but not 21. Bxd5 due to 21... Nexd5 22. Bxb4 Nf4 -+ 21... Re8 22. Qd2 Qb6 23. Bxe7 Bxc4 24. Rd6 Qc7 25. Bxf6 gxf6 26. Rd7 +- and 1-0 after 40 moves. In this case it was essential to trade pieces in a proper order.
12. Artunian (GEO, 2532) - Kaiumov (UZB, 2426)
Black has an extra pawn but it is him who would struggle to save the game. White has a pair of active Bishops while black Knight is out of play and pair of Queenside pawns is weak and vulnerable. Kaiumov helps the game to be finished soon 29. Qb7?? 30. Bxd5! +- of course 30... cxd5 would meet 31. Qe8 Kg7 32. Qf8# or 32. Bf8+ in a more sadistic variant. 30... Kg7 31. Qxc6 Now it is White who is a pawn up and the rest was unchanged.
17. Bacrot (FRA, 2708) - Sokolov (NED, 2676)
Bacrot is well shaped in Turin and it must have been a pleasure for him to conduct decisive attack vs Sokolov who suffered deep shock yesterday. The win is simple but you have to be careful 27. Nxf6! but not yet 27. Nxh6? due to 27... Qd3! 28. Qf4 Rd7 and White has nothing in sight 27... Bxf6 28. Rxf6 Kg8 or 28... gxf6 29. Qxh6+ Kg8 30. Bxf6 Qd7 31. Rf1 +- 29. Rg6 Rf7 30. Qxh6 and soon White won 1-0 We are really sorry to see Sokolov concede two spectacular losses on two consecutive days.
20. Van den Doel (NED, 2579) - Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 2576)
TACTICS TEST. Today is the hard one. White to move. In fact Van den Doel was satisfied with a perpetual check: 36. Qe7+ Kb8 37. Qe8+ Kc7 38. Qe7+ 1/2-1/2, but he missed excellent possibility to win the game. Be better than a 2579! The answer is hidden between the brackets (drag your mouse over it to learn the answer)
[ 36. Nd6! Qxd6 (if 36... Rxd6 then 37. Rf7+ Ka6 38. Qa8+ +-) 37. Rf7+ Kb6 38. Qa8! (threatening Rb7+ and Qa3+) 38... Rh1+ last chance 39. Kxh1 Qxg3 40. Qb7+ and white wins ]
29. Alexandrov (BLR, 2634) - Naiditsch (GE, 2664)
Another nightmare story happened to the Belorussian. In the course of the game he missed easy win, still the diagram position is better for White. He should continue 59. Rh1 c2 60. Rc1 Nd4 61. Kf2 Ke7 62. Ke3 += Instead he chose 59. Kf2?? which loses on spot. Black pawn cannot be stopped without giving away the Rook. 59... c2 60. Rh8+ postponing execution... 60... Kd7 61. Rh7+ Kc6 62. Rh1 Nc5! 63. e6 Nd3+ 0-1 Another one to concede two bad losses. It never rains but it pours!
39. Delchev (BUL, 2640) - Ganguly (IND, 2578)
It is not easy to predict the outcome at first glance. Both sides chave chances to win. Black, who is to move, should stop pair of white pawns at any cost: 45... Be2! 46. a4 Bd1! 47. a5 Be2! and White has to be very careful to draw. Instead the Indian played 45... Bc6? +- 46. Kb6? 46. Ka6! was an easy win paving way to eigth rank for a pawn, e.g. 46... Kxd6 47. b5 Bf3 48. b5 Ke5 49. b7 Bxb7 50. Kxb7 +- Now position is probably drawn. 46... Ba4 47. Kc5 Bc2 48. b5 Kb8? Black is losing again. Correct was 48... Ba4 49. b6 Bc6 50. a4 Bh1 51. a5 Bb7 = Now White wins 49. Kb6 Ba4 too late! 50. Ka6 Kb8 51. d7 1-0 Quite poorly played. We can only guess both players were short of time.
51. Avrukh (ISR, 2633) - Guliev (AZE, 2580)
TACTICS TEST. This is much easier than previous one. White to move and win.
[ 13. Qxb4! Bxb4 14. Nf6+ Kf8 15. Rxd4! +- White has three minor pieces for a Rook. ]
59. Bartel (POL, 2554) - Johannessen (NOR, 2559)
Opening central files is White's only chance to revive the Bishop. 26. d4 a brave attempt 26... cxd4 27. cxd4 Nxd4 28. Rxd4! consistently with the plan 28... exd4 29. e5 Qf5 30. exd6 Rd7 31. Qxd4+ += White sacrificed exchange but pawn on d6 pinnes black Rook. White soon won: 1-0 after 39 moves.
90. Atakisi (TUR, 2419) - Gundavaa (MGL, 2124)
Another piece of tactics, this one is very simple 19. Rxf6! Qxe7 or 19... gxf6 20. Bxf6+ Rxf6 21. Qg8+# 20. Rf7 Qe8 21. Raf1 Rg8 22. Bh6! Bg6 23. Bxg7+ 1-0 Simple and powerful.
See online games from round 8
Third seeds Armenia are confidently stepping from one win to another as they beat today Cuba 3-1 to extend their lead over top seeded Russia and Ukraine to full two points, with just five rounds remaining. Russia were held to a draw by the Czech Republic and they might be happy to score as good as that.The Armenians made best use of the colour assignment and won both games in which they commanded white pieces to tie games played with black. Russia barely drew with vibrant Czech team as Svidler lost to Navara at top board and Morozevich extricated from a very bad position (probably winning on time). Uzbekistan have been doing very well until now but their form seems to evaporate day by day as today they lost to Georgia 2.5-1.5. Ukraine, who did not suffer spectacular losses but did not squeeze their opposition as tight as could be, finally found their way to the top wiping out Sweden 3-1 to move to second. Tomorrow they will face Armenia to be one of last major obstacles on leader's way to making history. France, who took off poorly have been plunged in a crisis for a couple of days but now they emerged near the peak headed by late-comer Bacrot (3/3 so far). However now they will have to face toughest opposition if they dream about retaining top 10 position.
USA stayed near the peak easily beating Denmark. China ran over the Philippines 3.5-0.5 and are in joint fourth with promising prospects for final rounds. India beat Bulgaria by the smallest possible margin (Anand drew again) but this is not enough since they have to chase the leading group. Today Israel and Azerbaijan met - two teams seeded in top 10 that have been awfully underperforming - and the match went on for a 2-all draw which is certainly below expectations of both sides. England clamber out of a trash too slowly - only 2.5-1.5 vs Lithuania today is by far inadequate.
The upset of the day might seem amusing but pure ratings say everything: Nepal beat Andorra 3 to 1. Only for chess dilletanti it will seem insignificant, while in fact Nepal are very debutants, hardly capable of achieving Elo ratings while Andorra is semi professional, master class team. Here rating difference was close to 200 points. Hats off! Anybody knows how to pronounce Congratulations in Nepali dialect?
In the women's section USA held leading Russia to a draw while Ukraine narrowly beat Hungary in the fierce match. China swept out Latvia 3-0 to move to tied third. Top seed Humpy of India lost to Mkrtchian of Armenia with white pieces.
Standings:
Men: Armenia 24; Russia and Ukraine 22; China, Georgia, USA, France 21.5
Women: Russia 19; Ukraine 18.5; USA and China 17; Georgia 16.5
Crucial pairings for tomorrow: Ukraine-Armenia; Russia-France; Georgia-China; USA-Czech Rep.; India-Uzbekistan
Recommended links:
Detailed results and statistics at Wiener Zeitung page
Susan Polgar's blog
Info about Armenia - as the tiny Caucasian nation is heading towards victory you should be familiar with the country, so please take a look
Kramnik (RUS, 2729) - Alexandrov (BLR, 2634)This is a game from yesterday, but only today we learnt what actually happened. Black is to move but his position is not easy to defent. Alexandrov intended to play 18... Kf7 19. Nc5 Bc8 += but for some reason he confused move sequence and played 18... Bc8?? which blunderes a Rook in one move. Once he noticed his error he immediately resigned 1-0.
5. Navara (CZE, 2658) - Svidler (RUS, 2743)White decided to break the centre 19. d5! another good shot was Nxf7 19... exd5 20. Nxd5 Bxd5 21. Bxb4 but not 21. Bxd5 due to 21... Nexd5 22. Bxb4 Nf4 -+ 21... Re8 22. Qd2 Qb6 23. Bxe7 Bxc4 24. Rd6 Qc7 25. Bxf6 gxf6 26. Rd7 +- and 1-0 after 40 moves. In this case it was essential to trade pieces in a proper order.
12. Artunian (GEO, 2532) - Kaiumov (UZB, 2426)Black has an extra pawn but it is him who would struggle to save the game. White has a pair of active Bishops while black Knight is out of play and pair of Queenside pawns is weak and vulnerable. Kaiumov helps the game to be finished soon 29. Qb7?? 30. Bxd5! +- of course 30... cxd5 would meet 31. Qe8 Kg7 32. Qf8# or 32. Bf8+ in a more sadistic variant. 30... Kg7 31. Qxc6 Now it is White who is a pawn up and the rest was unchanged.
17. Bacrot (FRA, 2708) - Sokolov (NED, 2676)Bacrot is well shaped in Turin and it must have been a pleasure for him to conduct decisive attack vs Sokolov who suffered deep shock yesterday. The win is simple but you have to be careful 27. Nxf6! but not yet 27. Nxh6? due to 27... Qd3! 28. Qf4 Rd7 and White has nothing in sight 27... Bxf6 28. Rxf6 Kg8 or 28... gxf6 29. Qxh6+ Kg8 30. Bxf6 Qd7 31. Rf1 +- 29. Rg6 Rf7 30. Qxh6 and soon White won 1-0 We are really sorry to see Sokolov concede two spectacular losses on two consecutive days.
20. Van den Doel (NED, 2579) - Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 2576)TACTICS TEST. Today is the hard one. White to move. In fact Van den Doel was satisfied with a perpetual check: 36. Qe7+ Kb8 37. Qe8+ Kc7 38. Qe7+ 1/2-1/2, but he missed excellent possibility to win the game. Be better than a 2579! The answer is hidden between the brackets (drag your mouse over it to learn the answer)
[ 36. Nd6! Qxd6 (if 36... Rxd6 then 37. Rf7+ Ka6 38. Qa8+ +-) 37. Rf7+ Kb6 38. Qa8! (threatening Rb7+ and Qa3+) 38... Rh1+ last chance 39. Kxh1 Qxg3 40. Qb7+ and white wins ]
29. Alexandrov (BLR, 2634) - Naiditsch (GE, 2664)Another nightmare story happened to the Belorussian. In the course of the game he missed easy win, still the diagram position is better for White. He should continue 59. Rh1 c2 60. Rc1 Nd4 61. Kf2 Ke7 62. Ke3 += Instead he chose 59. Kf2?? which loses on spot. Black pawn cannot be stopped without giving away the Rook. 59... c2 60. Rh8+ postponing execution... 60... Kd7 61. Rh7+ Kc6 62. Rh1 Nc5! 63. e6 Nd3+ 0-1 Another one to concede two bad losses. It never rains but it pours!
39. Delchev (BUL, 2640) - Ganguly (IND, 2578)It is not easy to predict the outcome at first glance. Both sides chave chances to win. Black, who is to move, should stop pair of white pawns at any cost: 45... Be2! 46. a4 Bd1! 47. a5 Be2! and White has to be very careful to draw. Instead the Indian played 45... Bc6? +- 46. Kb6? 46. Ka6! was an easy win paving way to eigth rank for a pawn, e.g. 46... Kxd6 47. b5 Bf3 48. b5 Ke5 49. b7 Bxb7 50. Kxb7 +- Now position is probably drawn. 46... Ba4 47. Kc5 Bc2 48. b5 Kb8? Black is losing again. Correct was 48... Ba4 49. b6 Bc6 50. a4 Bh1 51. a5 Bb7 = Now White wins 49. Kb6 Ba4 too late! 50. Ka6 Kb8 51. d7 1-0 Quite poorly played. We can only guess both players were short of time.
51. Avrukh (ISR, 2633) - Guliev (AZE, 2580)TACTICS TEST. This is much easier than previous one. White to move and win.
[ 13. Qxb4! Bxb4 14. Nf6+ Kf8 15. Rxd4! +- White has three minor pieces for a Rook. ]
59. Bartel (POL, 2554) - Johannessen (NOR, 2559)Opening central files is White's only chance to revive the Bishop. 26. d4 a brave attempt 26... cxd4 27. cxd4 Nxd4 28. Rxd4! consistently with the plan 28... exd4 29. e5 Qf5 30. exd6 Rd7 31. Qxd4+ += White sacrificed exchange but pawn on d6 pinnes black Rook. White soon won: 1-0 after 39 moves.
90. Atakisi (TUR, 2419) - Gundavaa (MGL, 2124)Another piece of tactics, this one is very simple 19. Rxf6! Qxe7 or 19... gxf6 20. Bxf6+ Rxf6 21. Qg8+# 20. Rf7 Qe8 21. Raf1 Rg8 22. Bh6! Bg6 23. Bxg7+ 1-0 Simple and powerful.
See online games from round 8
* * *
Olympiad round 7 report: Armenia hold halfway grip
Posted by Webmaster on 29 May 2006
There weren't much major upsets in the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin on day eight as the games crossed the midway point. Armenia retain one point lead ahead of Russia. It seems those two will struggle for gold.
The Dutch doom was sealed today as Aronian scored a thumping brisk win with black pieces over Ivan Sokolov. Sargissian's win over L'ami added to Armenia's success. The Russians were the first to stop Belarus and won 3-1 too. Kramnik scored another quick victory to improve his overall performance to 4/5 which is equivalent to sky-high 2914 Elo. Ukraine-India was a battle of the two teams possibly to threaten the leading duo. Ukraine won narrowly 2.5-1.5 courtesy to Karjakin who beat yesterday's hero Harikrishna. India are now down in 18th, unlikely to recover for the third time.
Surprise Sweden held USA to retain top 10 position. Gutsy Uzbekistan are back on top as they defeated Brazil 3-1. The Czech Republic gave pleasure to their fans wiping out sixth seeds Israel 3-1. Cuba unexpectedly emerged near the top of the table sweeping out Indonesia 3.5-0.5.
Spain failed to break Vietnamese guard to go on to a four draw tie. England play badly from the very beginning and today they lost to Norway 2.5-1.5. Perhaps biggest upset of the day was delivered by Mongolia who beat Latvia 3-1 (their board 2 player rated 2124 beat the 2482 Latvian GM). The Virgin Island derby was convincingly won by the British part by 3-1.
The only team to win all of its matches is Zambia who late-joined on day four and won four consecutive matches since then. Unfortunately they are only lying in 112th, so they are unlikely to get the top honours regardless they might win remaining six matches. Best individual results hitherto are recorded by Czech GM Laznicka 6/6, and Belorussian GM Zhigalko 5/5.
In the women's section Russia strengthened their lead wiping out Slovakia 3-0 as Ukraine dropped a fraction with Romania. USA beat India 2.5-0.5 and are lying in third.
Standings:
Men: Armenia 21; Russia 20; Cuba 19.5; Uzbekistan, Georgia, Ukraine, Czech Rep. 19
Women: Russia 17.5; Ukraine 16.5; USA 15.5; Hungary, Georgia 15
Crucial pairings for tomorrow: Cuba-Armenia; Czech Rep.-Russia; Uzbekistan-Georgia; France-Netherlands; Bulgaria-India (no Topalov-Anand though...)
Recommended links:
Detailed results and statistics at Wiener Zeitung page
Dennis Mokronoussos' blog
IM Jimmy Liew's blog focused on Malaysian team
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY
1. Sokolov (NED, 2676) - Aronian (ARM, 2756)
Sokolov has just played dubious 10. Bxb8?! in a (not so well) known, sharp Nimzowitsch line. There followed 10... Qf6! 11. Bg3 Nxc3 12. a3 Bf5!? Expected was 12... Ba5 13. b4 Bc7 and White cannot capture because of Ne4 threatening Ra1 and f2. The move played could certainly well surprise Sokolov but it can probably be refuted. 13. Qd2 Ba5 14. b4?? Loses immediately. The only chance for White was 14. e3 0-0-0 15. Bd6 d4 16. Ne2 unclear. 14... Ne4 15. Qc1 Rc8!! Now White cannot capture because of Rxc5 which is a threat anyway since pb4 is pinned. 16. Ra2 Rxc5 17. Qa1 Qc6 18. Qe5+ Kd8! Giving away a Rook and a tempo, but this doesn't matter. 19. Qxh8 Kd7 0-1 Mate cannot be avoided. Most spectacular catastrophe in Turin.
7. Morozevich (RUS, 2730) - Azarov (BLR, 2592)
I don't know what will Miso Cebalo's choice for "Game of round 7" will be in the official bulletin, but this game certainly does deserve to be picked. A very instructive game with Moro unleashing deep strategic visions. 13. e5! An extremely strong, positional move cuts communication between the wings and leaves black pieces uselessly aiming at white Queenside while the King is forced to castle. Seemingly this move weakens crucial d5 and f5 squares but Black pieces can find no way to get there. 13... Ndb8 14. Qc4! Another neat manoeuvre. White Queen aims at g4 14... 0-0 15. Qg4 Rfe8 16. h4 Bf8 17. h5 Nd7 18. Bf4 += White has good prospects for attack while Black is missing counterchances. Morozevich forced g7-g6 weakening dark squares and soon won exchange to score easy win. 1-0 after 45 moves. Please do not forget to study the rest of the game (please find the game file below)!
11. Harikrishna (IND, 2680) - Karjakin (UKR, 2661)
Black's only tangible advantage is passed b4 pawn. The game, however, should end in a draw. The Indian commits decisive mistake already after time control 42. Nf5? Allows Black to play Qd1 and win the pawn. 42... g6 43. Ne7+ Kg7 44. Nc6 He protected the pawn but it makes situation even worse. 44... Qe3+ 45. Kf1 Qd3+ 46. Kf1 b3 -+ The pawn can be stopped only at a high cost. 0-1 soon.
14. Berg (SWE, 2539) - Ibragimov (USA, 2637)
Swedish GM plays exceptionally well in Turin. The Rook ending is of course drawn (Black to move): 84... a3 85. Re7+ Rxe7 86. fxe7 a2 87. e8=Q a1=Q = but apparently Black was hoping for a win and recklessly played 84... Kg8?? +- Unfortunately he overlooked his King falling into the mating net. 85. Kg6 Kf8 85... Ra8 wouldn't be of help either 86. Rb6 Ra8 87. Rxb5 Kd8 88. Kg7 Ra7+ 89. Kg8 a3 90. Re5+ 1-0 For yet another time a 2600 blunders in a simple ending.
20. Iuldachev (UZB, 2480) - Fier Alexander (BRA, 2471)
Black was totally destroyed here. The time has come for White's pressure to explode 32. exd6 Bxb2 33. Nxc5 Bf6 34. Qxh6+ Bg7 35. Nxd7+ Bxd7 36. dxe7+ Rxe7 37. Rxe7 1-0 A massacre.
44. Palo (DEN, 2546) - Darbanvaighani (IRI, 2396)
White has a deficit of a Rook and Black threatens to mate in 1 but white pawn is about to be promoted and White has perpetual check at his disposal, which was optimal solution for both players. Obviously the Iranian decided to win the game 42... Kxf6?? 43. e8=N+ Oups! 43... Kg5 44. Qh4+ Kg6 45. Qg4 Kh6 46. Qg7+ 1-0 46... Kh5 would follow 47. Nf6+ and Black has to trade his Queen for a Knight. Nevertheless we have to praise Iranian chess players for their efforts in Turin all in all.
62. Lautier (FRA, 2682) - Cuartas (COL, 2458)
We rarely see Lautier playing OTB chess as he is involved in some political and management activities those days, but here he proves he did not forget his well-known endgame technique. White's only tangible advantage is weak pg6 but limited material and opposite coloured Bishops make it highly unlikely for White to win. 59. Rc8 Kh7 60. h4! Winning space 60... Be7 61. Rc6 Rc5 61... Bf6 wouldn't work due to 62. g4 62. Rxg6 Kg8 63. Rb6 g5 64. Rg6+ Kf7 65. h5! +- There is 200 point difference between the players so expected result of a two-game match is 1.5-0.5. The stronger player will either convert the small prevalence into a win or not. This time he did.
77. Carlsen (NOR, 2646) - Adams (ENG, 2720)
Both Norway and England play poorly in Turin so the two met on 20th table (!). Carlsen came late because of his school duties but once he arrived he strengthened his team considerably. Looking for counterchances Adams decided to sacrifice exchange and it is hard to find the winning plan for White since black castle seems to be hard to storm. Luckily for the Norwegian Black commits decisive mistake 56... Nc1? 57. Rb8+ Kc6 58. Ra8 wins the pawn. If 58... Kb5 then 59. Ra5+ and if 58... Bc2 then 59. Rc8+. Black could well resign here but he put up resistance for more than 10 moves yet. 1-0 after 73 moves. Well done by 15-year old Magnus.
78. Short (ENG, 2677) - Johannessen (NOR, 2559)
That is a sweet revenge taken by English board #2 GM Short who recently deeply involved in Bessel Kok's presidential campaign. The end is near: 22. Rxc6 bxc6 23. Nxg6! fxg6 24. Qxg6+ 24. Rxc6 is good too 24... Kd8 25. Rxc6 There wasn't much of a fight, was it?
83. Pacheco (PER, 2331) - Bachmann (PAR, 2414)
TACTICS TEST: Black to move and win. Drag your mouse through the brackets to reveal the answer.
[ 12... Bxd4 0-1 If White recaptures 13. Bxd4 then 13... Qg5! wins threatening Qg2# and Nh3+ ]
See online games from round 7
There weren't much major upsets in the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin on day eight as the games crossed the midway point. Armenia retain one point lead ahead of Russia. It seems those two will struggle for gold.The Dutch doom was sealed today as Aronian scored a thumping brisk win with black pieces over Ivan Sokolov. Sargissian's win over L'ami added to Armenia's success. The Russians were the first to stop Belarus and won 3-1 too. Kramnik scored another quick victory to improve his overall performance to 4/5 which is equivalent to sky-high 2914 Elo. Ukraine-India was a battle of the two teams possibly to threaten the leading duo. Ukraine won narrowly 2.5-1.5 courtesy to Karjakin who beat yesterday's hero Harikrishna. India are now down in 18th, unlikely to recover for the third time.
Surprise Sweden held USA to retain top 10 position. Gutsy Uzbekistan are back on top as they defeated Brazil 3-1. The Czech Republic gave pleasure to their fans wiping out sixth seeds Israel 3-1. Cuba unexpectedly emerged near the top of the table sweeping out Indonesia 3.5-0.5.
Spain failed to break Vietnamese guard to go on to a four draw tie. England play badly from the very beginning and today they lost to Norway 2.5-1.5. Perhaps biggest upset of the day was delivered by Mongolia who beat Latvia 3-1 (their board 2 player rated 2124 beat the 2482 Latvian GM). The Virgin Island derby was convincingly won by the British part by 3-1.
The only team to win all of its matches is Zambia who late-joined on day four and won four consecutive matches since then. Unfortunately they are only lying in 112th, so they are unlikely to get the top honours regardless they might win remaining six matches. Best individual results hitherto are recorded by Czech GM Laznicka 6/6, and Belorussian GM Zhigalko 5/5.
In the women's section Russia strengthened their lead wiping out Slovakia 3-0 as Ukraine dropped a fraction with Romania. USA beat India 2.5-0.5 and are lying in third.
Standings:
Men: Armenia 21; Russia 20; Cuba 19.5; Uzbekistan, Georgia, Ukraine, Czech Rep. 19
Women: Russia 17.5; Ukraine 16.5; USA 15.5; Hungary, Georgia 15
Crucial pairings for tomorrow: Cuba-Armenia; Czech Rep.-Russia; Uzbekistan-Georgia; France-Netherlands; Bulgaria-India (no Topalov-Anand though...)
Recommended links:
Detailed results and statistics at Wiener Zeitung page
Dennis Mokronoussos' blog
IM Jimmy Liew's blog focused on Malaysian team
1. Sokolov (NED, 2676) - Aronian (ARM, 2756)Sokolov has just played dubious 10. Bxb8?! in a (not so well) known, sharp Nimzowitsch line. There followed 10... Qf6! 11. Bg3 Nxc3 12. a3 Bf5!? Expected was 12... Ba5 13. b4 Bc7 and White cannot capture because of Ne4 threatening Ra1 and f2. The move played could certainly well surprise Sokolov but it can probably be refuted. 13. Qd2 Ba5 14. b4?? Loses immediately. The only chance for White was 14. e3 0-0-0 15. Bd6 d4 16. Ne2 unclear. 14... Ne4 15. Qc1 Rc8!! Now White cannot capture because of Rxc5 which is a threat anyway since pb4 is pinned. 16. Ra2 Rxc5 17. Qa1 Qc6 18. Qe5+ Kd8! Giving away a Rook and a tempo, but this doesn't matter. 19. Qxh8 Kd7 0-1 Mate cannot be avoided. Most spectacular catastrophe in Turin.
7. Morozevich (RUS, 2730) - Azarov (BLR, 2592)I don't know what will Miso Cebalo's choice for "Game of round 7" will be in the official bulletin, but this game certainly does deserve to be picked. A very instructive game with Moro unleashing deep strategic visions. 13. e5! An extremely strong, positional move cuts communication between the wings and leaves black pieces uselessly aiming at white Queenside while the King is forced to castle. Seemingly this move weakens crucial d5 and f5 squares but Black pieces can find no way to get there. 13... Ndb8 14. Qc4! Another neat manoeuvre. White Queen aims at g4 14... 0-0 15. Qg4 Rfe8 16. h4 Bf8 17. h5 Nd7 18. Bf4 += White has good prospects for attack while Black is missing counterchances. Morozevich forced g7-g6 weakening dark squares and soon won exchange to score easy win. 1-0 after 45 moves. Please do not forget to study the rest of the game (please find the game file below)!
11. Harikrishna (IND, 2680) - Karjakin (UKR, 2661)Black's only tangible advantage is passed b4 pawn. The game, however, should end in a draw. The Indian commits decisive mistake already after time control 42. Nf5? Allows Black to play Qd1 and win the pawn. 42... g6 43. Ne7+ Kg7 44. Nc6 He protected the pawn but it makes situation even worse. 44... Qe3+ 45. Kf1 Qd3+ 46. Kf1 b3 -+ The pawn can be stopped only at a high cost. 0-1 soon.
14. Berg (SWE, 2539) - Ibragimov (USA, 2637)Swedish GM plays exceptionally well in Turin. The Rook ending is of course drawn (Black to move): 84... a3 85. Re7+ Rxe7 86. fxe7 a2 87. e8=Q a1=Q = but apparently Black was hoping for a win and recklessly played 84... Kg8?? +- Unfortunately he overlooked his King falling into the mating net. 85. Kg6 Kf8 85... Ra8 wouldn't be of help either 86. Rb6 Ra8 87. Rxb5 Kd8 88. Kg7 Ra7+ 89. Kg8 a3 90. Re5+ 1-0 For yet another time a 2600 blunders in a simple ending.
20. Iuldachev (UZB, 2480) - Fier Alexander (BRA, 2471)Black was totally destroyed here. The time has come for White's pressure to explode 32. exd6 Bxb2 33. Nxc5 Bf6 34. Qxh6+ Bg7 35. Nxd7+ Bxd7 36. dxe7+ Rxe7 37. Rxe7 1-0 A massacre.
44. Palo (DEN, 2546) - Darbanvaighani (IRI, 2396)White has a deficit of a Rook and Black threatens to mate in 1 but white pawn is about to be promoted and White has perpetual check at his disposal, which was optimal solution for both players. Obviously the Iranian decided to win the game 42... Kxf6?? 43. e8=N+ Oups! 43... Kg5 44. Qh4+ Kg6 45. Qg4 Kh6 46. Qg7+ 1-0 46... Kh5 would follow 47. Nf6+ and Black has to trade his Queen for a Knight. Nevertheless we have to praise Iranian chess players for their efforts in Turin all in all.
62. Lautier (FRA, 2682) - Cuartas (COL, 2458)We rarely see Lautier playing OTB chess as he is involved in some political and management activities those days, but here he proves he did not forget his well-known endgame technique. White's only tangible advantage is weak pg6 but limited material and opposite coloured Bishops make it highly unlikely for White to win. 59. Rc8 Kh7 60. h4! Winning space 60... Be7 61. Rc6 Rc5 61... Bf6 wouldn't work due to 62. g4 62. Rxg6 Kg8 63. Rb6 g5 64. Rg6+ Kf7 65. h5! +- There is 200 point difference between the players so expected result of a two-game match is 1.5-0.5. The stronger player will either convert the small prevalence into a win or not. This time he did.
77. Carlsen (NOR, 2646) - Adams (ENG, 2720)Both Norway and England play poorly in Turin so the two met on 20th table (!). Carlsen came late because of his school duties but once he arrived he strengthened his team considerably. Looking for counterchances Adams decided to sacrifice exchange and it is hard to find the winning plan for White since black castle seems to be hard to storm. Luckily for the Norwegian Black commits decisive mistake 56... Nc1? 57. Rb8+ Kc6 58. Ra8 wins the pawn. If 58... Kb5 then 59. Ra5+ and if 58... Bc2 then 59. Rc8+. Black could well resign here but he put up resistance for more than 10 moves yet. 1-0 after 73 moves. Well done by 15-year old Magnus.
78. Short (ENG, 2677) - Johannessen (NOR, 2559)That is a sweet revenge taken by English board #2 GM Short who recently deeply involved in Bessel Kok's presidential campaign. The end is near: 22. Rxc6 bxc6 23. Nxg6! fxg6 24. Qxg6+ 24. Rxc6 is good too 24... Kd8 25. Rxc6 There wasn't much of a fight, was it?
83. Pacheco (PER, 2331) - Bachmann (PAR, 2414)TACTICS TEST: Black to move and win. Drag your mouse through the brackets to reveal the answer.
[ 12... Bxd4 0-1 If White recaptures 13. Bxd4 then 13... Qg5! wins threatening Qg2# and Nh3+ ]
See online games from round 7
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Olympiad round 6 report: Armenia take over the lead
Posted by Webmaster on 28 May 2006
Armenia's board 2 Akopian scored decisive win to secure team's win over Uzbekistan as Holland paved Armenia's way to the top surprisingly pulling off Russia. Belarus won their sixth consecutive match to lie in third.
There was a rest between fifth and sixth round and it apparently help to boost player's gallantry as there were no match draws at top boards today. Saturday was an upset day, as we say many hopes turn to dust; some teams most unexpectedly celebrate their glorious moments.
The Netherlands caused biggest upset of the day defeating leaders Russia. With two quick draws and Grischuk sneaking out Van Wely's hands the decisive point was scored by Nijboer who carried out great attack to devastate Rublevsky's defence and lead Netherlands to a win.
In table two encounter, Armenia-Uzbekistan, there wasn't much of a fight at top board as Aronian peacefully held Kasimdzhanov to a draw. Previously mentioned Akopian's win was the only decisive game of the match. Bulgaria wasted chance to go through losing to 31st seeds Sweden as Petkov strolled straight into a mate net in a drawn position. Iran performed well once again putting up tough resistance to the titleholders. They fought hard on almost every board and managed to save three draws with Eljanov scoring easy win vs Sharbaf. Belarus produced another shocker beating Spain 3-1. Shirov lost badly to Alexandrov blundering under time pressure in a won ending. Bu of China defeated Gata Kamsky but the rest of the US team managed to pick two wins and one draw to set match result at 2.5-1.5 in favour of the Americans.
Vishy Anand apparently haven't bounced back yet after MTel combat and produced another dull draw today. Team India however went on to a 3-1 win over Germany in a style suitable for the honour contenders. Harikrishna won RBNvRN ending presenting immaculate technique.
Azerbaijan continue their pathetic run as they lost to Cuba today 0.5-3.5. England cannot recover either - they only tied to Peru in round six. France beat Portugal 3-1 - not a very spectacular results but a win is a win - at last.
As far as some traditional derbies are concerned, Czech Republic proved their superiority (in the field of chess exclusively!) over their former countrymen Slovakia to win 3-1. Malta beat San Marino in a match between European minnows. The World will see another thrilling classic tomorrow as British Virgin Islands will face US Virgin Islands at table 74 (the bottom one).
In the women's section Russia narrowly ran over Hungary to maintain minimum lead over Ukraine. Surprise Slovakia are in third as they wiped out former leaders Lithuania with a clear 3-0. Chinese women recovered fully from yesterday's debacle hammering Poland 2.5-0.5.
Standings:
Men: Armenia 18; Netherlands 17.5; Russia and Belarus 17; Ukraine, USA, Sweden and India 16.5
Women: Russia 14.5; Ukraine 14; Slovakia 13.5; USA, Romania, India and Bulgaria 13
Crucial pairings for tomorrow: Netherlands-Armenia; Russia-Belarus; India-Ukraine; USA-Sweden
Recommended links:
Detailed results and statistics at Wiener Zeitung page
All Things Human (an Olympic blog by Rob Huntington)
Olympic news from TWIC (the brand speaks for itself)
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY
4. Rublevsky (RUS, 2687) - Nijboer (NED, 2584)
A win is at hand but Black decided to speed things up with a risky shot 23... Rxf2!? 23... Bxe3 24. fxe3 Nd3 25. Bd4 Bxd5 was secure way to build up advantage 24. Kxf2 Ng4+ 25. Ke1 Nxe3 26. Nc3?! after 26. Rd2 Black has nothing better in scope than 26... Ng2+ with perpetual check 26... Re8 27. Kd2 Ned1 28. Rxd1 Rf8 29. Kc2 Rf2+ 30. Kb1? why not Re2? 30... Rxh2 and Black won after 40 moves. 0-1 This is how The Netherlands picked the winning point.
6. Barsov (UZB, 2525) - Akopian (ARM, 2706)
Black to move. Position is lost for White but the win doesn't seem to come at last. The game did not last long though.
TACTICS TEST: find best move for Black. Drag your mouse between the brackets to reveal the answer.
[ 30... Be2! threatens Bxf3 and pulls away protectors of Bb1 31. Qe3 Worst answer. 31. Bd4 Qxb1 let White survive a few moves more 31... Rxb1 32. Qe2 Nxf2+ 0-1 ]
12. Petkov (BUL, 2500) - Hillarp-Persson (SWE, 2524)
White to move. The position is even. White should continue with Ke1 to avoid X-Ray. Instead he chose 24. Kg2? one must admit the danger was deeply hidden... 24... Rc3!! a thunderstruck. Black sacrifices a Rook to cover e3 square necessary to clench the mating grid. 25. Nxc3 Loses at once, but there was no choice. After 25. Qxc3 Bxc3 26. Nxc3 Nxe3+ 27. Kg3 White's position is hopeless. 25... Nxe3+ 26. Kg3 Be5 27. Kh4 Rf4+ 0-1 Mate in 2 would follow after 28. Kg3 Rf5+ 29. Kh3 Rh5# A game of the day.
16. Moradiabadi (IRI, 2490) - Efimenko (UKR, 2648)
Black has substantial material advantage but he has to be careful. Here Kc7 was necessary followed by b5 to leave b6 ready to shelter the King. The win wouldn't be simple anyway. Efimenko chose 54... Kb7 which lead to a draw after 55. a4! 1/2-1/2 Black cannot avoid perpetual check since White controls key squares at b5, e8 and e7.
17. Alexandrov (BLR, 2634) - Shirov (ESP, 2699)
Time control has just passed so there is no explanation for Black's choice. He could easily win after 43... Qd1+ 44. Re1 Qg4+ but instead he blundered 43... b4?? 44. Qc7 (44. Rxd5 was even faster) 44... Qd1+ 45. Kh2 Qd6 46. Qxd6! Bxd6 47. e7 1-0 It is not common for a 2700 player to play as badly as here.
22. Onischuk (USA, 2650) - Zhang (CHN, 2623)
Time for a little warning for all those who believe that winning a pawn in the opening is an act of utter wiliness. The Chinese took the try to defend pc4 and failed, losing time necessary for piece development. 5. a4 b4 6. Ne4 Qd5 7. Nd2 Ba6 the only way to protect the pawn 8. Qc2 b3 9. Qc4 += White takes back the pawn with fair positional advantage. Black was looking for counterchances and offered a pawn himself playing 9... e5?! but he failed, and White converted his material advantage into a win. 1-0 after 36 moves.
31. Halkias (GRE, 2528) - Lima (BRA, 2489)
White's treatment of the opening was rather poor. He can no more castle and his pawn centre ceased to exist. Now he makes his position even worse with pseudo-active 15. Qd6? Black has a good reply forcing trades to leave white King unprotected in the centre. 15... Ne5! 16. Qxd8 Nxd3+ 17. Kd2 Rxd8 18. Kxd3 Bf5+ -+ White is actually a pawn up but he is hopelessly lost. Chaser around the board by pair of almighty bishops. The game did no last long. 0-1 after 28 moves. Excellent play of the Brazilian met rather poor display.
35. Lutz (GER, 2608) - Harikrishna (IND, 2680)
Black is a piece ahead but limited material makes it hard to convert advantage into a win. A number of plans may be employed. The most intuitive one is to trade the Knight for the Bishop to win RBvR ending. But the Indian designed in even smarter way: 63... Bd4 64. Ra2 trading Rook lead to a draw 64... Re3 65. Bf5 Nh5! Excellent move. Now the pressure on pg3 is impossible to refute. 66. Kh2 Nxg3 Part one has been completed but the win is still not obvious. 67. Bc8 Nh5 68. Rd2 Be5+ 69. Kg2 Bg3! Forces White King to come back to the first rank allowing black King to come on the scene 70. Rd1? Dispels all the hopes, Ba6 was the only move here protecting f1 70... Nf4 71. Kg1 Re2 and soon 0-1 Anyone thinking of writing his own endgame encyclopedia must not omit this game.
49. Nisipeanu (ROM, 2695) - Gelfand (ISR, 2727)
We have just studied piece ending, that'll be purely pawn ending for a change. White to move. I bet 99% of players would automatically take the pawn, which leads to complicated ending with blurry prospects for White: 34. Kxg5 Kc5 35. Kg6 Kxc4 36. Kxg7 e4 37. f6 e3 38. f7 e2 39. f8=Q e1=Q += Instead the Romanian found 34. Kf3! What is a secret behind this move? White can no way save his pawn on c4 and aiming at pe5 appears to be slower than paving pawn's way through g file. It is essential for him to take black pawn at e5 which is Black's last hope. 34... Kc5 35. Ke4 Kxc4 (or 35... Kd6 36. c5+ +-) 36. Kxe5 a5 37. f6 gxf6 38. Kxf6 a4 39. Kxg5 Kc3 and Gelfand resigned soon 1-0.
61. Radjabov (AZE, 2717) - Bruzon-Batista (CUB, 2652)
Radjabov is awfully underperforming, as his team-mates do (what's the point?). The diagram position is even after evident 37. Nf6+ Rxf6 38. Rxe8+ Qxe8 39. Qxf6 or 37... Qxf6 38. Rxe8+ However the Azerbaijani leader missed this most simple opportunity and chose 37. h3? to lose after 74 move of a struggle. 0-1 Time trouble might be the only explanation; still tactics like that should be fetched in no time by a 2700.
301. Lahno (UKR, 2468) - Llaneza Vega (ESP, 2276)
This game was played in women's section of course. White has some advantage but Black can well save the game. The inconspicuous 32... Nc6?? causes immediate debacle though. Black Knight was necessary to protect g8! Why this move loses at once, is not obvious at first glance, to justify the Spaniard to some extent. 33. Qf3 +- Now Black cannot avoid mate without losing material. 33... Rd7 34. Qf6+ Rg7 35. Rxe5 1-0 35... Nxe5 would meet 36. Qd8+ and after 35... Qxe5 36. Qf8+ would win.
See online games from round 6
Armenia's board 2 Akopian scored decisive win to secure team's win over Uzbekistan as Holland paved Armenia's way to the top surprisingly pulling off Russia. Belarus won their sixth consecutive match to lie in third.
There was a rest between fifth and sixth round and it apparently help to boost player's gallantry as there were no match draws at top boards today. Saturday was an upset day, as we say many hopes turn to dust; some teams most unexpectedly celebrate their glorious moments.
The Netherlands caused biggest upset of the day defeating leaders Russia. With two quick draws and Grischuk sneaking out Van Wely's hands the decisive point was scored by Nijboer who carried out great attack to devastate Rublevsky's defence and lead Netherlands to a win.
In table two encounter, Armenia-Uzbekistan, there wasn't much of a fight at top board as Aronian peacefully held Kasimdzhanov to a draw. Previously mentioned Akopian's win was the only decisive game of the match. Bulgaria wasted chance to go through losing to 31st seeds Sweden as Petkov strolled straight into a mate net in a drawn position. Iran performed well once again putting up tough resistance to the titleholders. They fought hard on almost every board and managed to save three draws with Eljanov scoring easy win vs Sharbaf. Belarus produced another shocker beating Spain 3-1. Shirov lost badly to Alexandrov blundering under time pressure in a won ending. Bu of China defeated Gata Kamsky but the rest of the US team managed to pick two wins and one draw to set match result at 2.5-1.5 in favour of the Americans.
Vishy Anand apparently haven't bounced back yet after MTel combat and produced another dull draw today. Team India however went on to a 3-1 win over Germany in a style suitable for the honour contenders. Harikrishna won RBNvRN ending presenting immaculate technique.
Azerbaijan continue their pathetic run as they lost to Cuba today 0.5-3.5. England cannot recover either - they only tied to Peru in round six. France beat Portugal 3-1 - not a very spectacular results but a win is a win - at last.
As far as some traditional derbies are concerned, Czech Republic proved their superiority (in the field of chess exclusively!) over their former countrymen Slovakia to win 3-1. Malta beat San Marino in a match between European minnows. The World will see another thrilling classic tomorrow as British Virgin Islands will face US Virgin Islands at table 74 (the bottom one).
In the women's section Russia narrowly ran over Hungary to maintain minimum lead over Ukraine. Surprise Slovakia are in third as they wiped out former leaders Lithuania with a clear 3-0. Chinese women recovered fully from yesterday's debacle hammering Poland 2.5-0.5.
Standings:
Men: Armenia 18; Netherlands 17.5; Russia and Belarus 17; Ukraine, USA, Sweden and India 16.5
Women: Russia 14.5; Ukraine 14; Slovakia 13.5; USA, Romania, India and Bulgaria 13
Crucial pairings for tomorrow: Netherlands-Armenia; Russia-Belarus; India-Ukraine; USA-Sweden
Recommended links:
Detailed results and statistics at Wiener Zeitung page
All Things Human (an Olympic blog by Rob Huntington)
Olympic news from TWIC (the brand speaks for itself)
4. Rublevsky (RUS, 2687) - Nijboer (NED, 2584)
A win is at hand but Black decided to speed things up with a risky shot 23... Rxf2!? 23... Bxe3 24. fxe3 Nd3 25. Bd4 Bxd5 was secure way to build up advantage 24. Kxf2 Ng4+ 25. Ke1 Nxe3 26. Nc3?! after 26. Rd2 Black has nothing better in scope than 26... Ng2+ with perpetual check 26... Re8 27. Kd2 Ned1 28. Rxd1 Rf8 29. Kc2 Rf2+ 30. Kb1? why not Re2? 30... Rxh2 and Black won after 40 moves. 0-1 This is how The Netherlands picked the winning point.
6. Barsov (UZB, 2525) - Akopian (ARM, 2706)
Black to move. Position is lost for White but the win doesn't seem to come at last. The game did not last long though.
TACTICS TEST: find best move for Black. Drag your mouse between the brackets to reveal the answer.
[ 30... Be2! threatens Bxf3 and pulls away protectors of Bb1 31. Qe3 Worst answer. 31. Bd4 Qxb1 let White survive a few moves more 31... Rxb1 32. Qe2 Nxf2+ 0-1 ]
12. Petkov (BUL, 2500) - Hillarp-Persson (SWE, 2524)
White to move. The position is even. White should continue with Ke1 to avoid X-Ray. Instead he chose 24. Kg2? one must admit the danger was deeply hidden... 24... Rc3!! a thunderstruck. Black sacrifices a Rook to cover e3 square necessary to clench the mating grid. 25. Nxc3 Loses at once, but there was no choice. After 25. Qxc3 Bxc3 26. Nxc3 Nxe3+ 27. Kg3 White's position is hopeless. 25... Nxe3+ 26. Kg3 Be5 27. Kh4 Rf4+ 0-1 Mate in 2 would follow after 28. Kg3 Rf5+ 29. Kh3 Rh5# A game of the day.
16. Moradiabadi (IRI, 2490) - Efimenko (UKR, 2648)
Black has substantial material advantage but he has to be careful. Here Kc7 was necessary followed by b5 to leave b6 ready to shelter the King. The win wouldn't be simple anyway. Efimenko chose 54... Kb7 which lead to a draw after 55. a4! 1/2-1/2 Black cannot avoid perpetual check since White controls key squares at b5, e8 and e7.
17. Alexandrov (BLR, 2634) - Shirov (ESP, 2699)
Time control has just passed so there is no explanation for Black's choice. He could easily win after 43... Qd1+ 44. Re1 Qg4+ but instead he blundered 43... b4?? 44. Qc7 (44. Rxd5 was even faster) 44... Qd1+ 45. Kh2 Qd6 46. Qxd6! Bxd6 47. e7 1-0 It is not common for a 2700 player to play as badly as here.
22. Onischuk (USA, 2650) - Zhang (CHN, 2623)
Time for a little warning for all those who believe that winning a pawn in the opening is an act of utter wiliness. The Chinese took the try to defend pc4 and failed, losing time necessary for piece development. 5. a4 b4 6. Ne4 Qd5 7. Nd2 Ba6 the only way to protect the pawn 8. Qc2 b3 9. Qc4 += White takes back the pawn with fair positional advantage. Black was looking for counterchances and offered a pawn himself playing 9... e5?! but he failed, and White converted his material advantage into a win. 1-0 after 36 moves.
31. Halkias (GRE, 2528) - Lima (BRA, 2489)
White's treatment of the opening was rather poor. He can no more castle and his pawn centre ceased to exist. Now he makes his position even worse with pseudo-active 15. Qd6? Black has a good reply forcing trades to leave white King unprotected in the centre. 15... Ne5! 16. Qxd8 Nxd3+ 17. Kd2 Rxd8 18. Kxd3 Bf5+ -+ White is actually a pawn up but he is hopelessly lost. Chaser around the board by pair of almighty bishops. The game did no last long. 0-1 after 28 moves. Excellent play of the Brazilian met rather poor display.
35. Lutz (GER, 2608) - Harikrishna (IND, 2680)
Black is a piece ahead but limited material makes it hard to convert advantage into a win. A number of plans may be employed. The most intuitive one is to trade the Knight for the Bishop to win RBvR ending. But the Indian designed in even smarter way: 63... Bd4 64. Ra2 trading Rook lead to a draw 64... Re3 65. Bf5 Nh5! Excellent move. Now the pressure on pg3 is impossible to refute. 66. Kh2 Nxg3 Part one has been completed but the win is still not obvious. 67. Bc8 Nh5 68. Rd2 Be5+ 69. Kg2 Bg3! Forces White King to come back to the first rank allowing black King to come on the scene 70. Rd1? Dispels all the hopes, Ba6 was the only move here protecting f1 70... Nf4 71. Kg1 Re2 and soon 0-1 Anyone thinking of writing his own endgame encyclopedia must not omit this game.
49. Nisipeanu (ROM, 2695) - Gelfand (ISR, 2727)
We have just studied piece ending, that'll be purely pawn ending for a change. White to move. I bet 99% of players would automatically take the pawn, which leads to complicated ending with blurry prospects for White: 34. Kxg5 Kc5 35. Kg6 Kxc4 36. Kxg7 e4 37. f6 e3 38. f7 e2 39. f8=Q e1=Q += Instead the Romanian found 34. Kf3! What is a secret behind this move? White can no way save his pawn on c4 and aiming at pe5 appears to be slower than paving pawn's way through g file. It is essential for him to take black pawn at e5 which is Black's last hope. 34... Kc5 35. Ke4 Kxc4 (or 35... Kd6 36. c5+ +-) 36. Kxe5 a5 37. f6 gxf6 38. Kxf6 a4 39. Kxg5 Kc3 and Gelfand resigned soon 1-0.
61. Radjabov (AZE, 2717) - Bruzon-Batista (CUB, 2652)
Radjabov is awfully underperforming, as his team-mates do (what's the point?). The diagram position is even after evident 37. Nf6+ Rxf6 38. Rxe8+ Qxe8 39. Qxf6 or 37... Qxf6 38. Rxe8+ However the Azerbaijani leader missed this most simple opportunity and chose 37. h3? to lose after 74 move of a struggle. 0-1 Time trouble might be the only explanation; still tactics like that should be fetched in no time by a 2700.
301. Lahno (UKR, 2468) - Llaneza Vega (ESP, 2276)
This game was played in women's section of course. White has some advantage but Black can well save the game. The inconspicuous 32... Nc6?? causes immediate debacle though. Black Knight was necessary to protect g8! Why this move loses at once, is not obvious at first glance, to justify the Spaniard to some extent. 33. Qf3 +- Now Black cannot avoid mate without losing material. 33... Rd7 34. Qf6+ Rg7 35. Rxe5 1-0 35... Nxe5 would meet 36. Qd8+ and after 35... Qxe5 36. Qf8+ would win.
See online games from round 6
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Olympiad round 5 report: status quo at the top
Posted by Webmaster on 26 May 2006
Round five caused no harm in the top of the progress table as all of top teams went to draw each other. Only top teams to take wins are USA who beat Georgia and surprisingly Iran who defeated Vietnam 3-1 to find themselves in tied 5th.
The Russia-Armenia was a match of two teams commonly believed to struggle for gold. Vladimir Kramnik hammered rising talent Aronian at top board but the match result was levelled by Armenia's board 4 Sargissian who outplayed Morozevich in the mid-game. Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan scored another nice win defeating Sokolov, a Dutch player of Bosnian origin to lead Uzbekistan to a valuable draw. Sweden are another surprise as they held Spain today to a draw with two tied and two decisive games. Ukraine gave rather disappointing display once more barely halving with Bulgaria as Volokytin wasted all his chances to lose to Cheparinov. Finally India, who conceded yet another draw, are less and less likely to emerge as the first Asian team ever to win the Olympiad. Unfortunately is seems Anand is not well shaped this time.
There are a few exceptionally strong teams that seem to be at the end of their wits. Israel (6th seeded) only managed to draw all four games vs Denmark. Azerbaijan beat Moldova by the smallest possible margin. Bologan lost to Radjabov in a way which makes it hard to believe he was sensational winner in Dortmund 2004. France are lacking vigour - another four draw match today. Algeria produced biggest upset of the day holding Slovenia to a 2-all draw. Please find details on Adlane's excellent win over Beliavsky in the game highlights section. Also Haddouche beat GM Pavasovic, rated 250 points better than himself.
In the women's section Russian hegemony was finally broken by Ukraine who beat the leaders 2-1. The Russians retained the lead, although the margin diminished to half of a point. Hungary led by Vietnamese Hoang beat China 2.5-0.5 to move into third. Tomorrow they will be tested by Russia. Georgia are still struggling at 15th.
Standings:
Men: Russia and Armenia 15.5; Netherlands 15; Uzbekistan 14.5; Bulgaria, Ukraine, Spain, Belarus, USA, Iran and Sweden 14
Women: Russia 12.5; Ukraine 12; Hungary 11.5; USA, Romania et al. 11
To be played tomorrow: Netherlands-Russia, Armenia-Uzbekistan, Sweden-Bulgaria, Ukraine-Iran (!!), Germany-India
Recommended links:
Detailed results and statistics at Wiener Zeitung page
The Chess Drum reports by Daaim Shabazz
ChessVista - photos by Frits Agterdenbos
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY
1. Kramnik (RUS, 2729) - Aronian (ARM, 2756)
Many believe Kramnik will never be able to come back to his top form. His claims for classical World Champion title aren't commonly recognized anymore. Today he showed really good chess squeezing World's third highest rated player move by move. The diagram position is hardly playable for Black, but what Aronian chooses causes immediate debacle: 33... b4? leaving pawn for a rout 34. c7 Ra8 35. Qb6 Bf8 forced 36. Bxb4 +- We can only regret Topalov doesn't play.
5. Kasimdzhanov (UZB, 2673) - Sokolov (NED, 2676)
That Kasim took FIDE World Championship title in 2004 was a mockery for many journalists and fans. In Turin he is virtually unstoppable showing brave and far-sighted chess. The position is way better for White as Sokolov commited decisive mistake 19... Rb7? forces Black to free e4 square for white Knight 20. Bd5! Bxd5 21. exd5 Ne7 22. Ne4 Qf5 only move 23. Nxc5 dxc5 24. Nxe5 +- White won a pawn and his piece mobility is better. 1-0 after 52 moves of hopeless struggle.
13. Ivanchuk (UKR, 2731) - Ki.Georgiev (BUL, 2677)
People love Ivanchuk for his unique style which combines sense of tactics with simply clairvoyant strategical outlooks. This game will no doubts become one of his classics: 32. Rxf8! Kxf8 33. Qc5 Ke8 34. Nd5 That's the point! Black is forced to trade his Bishop, the most active piece. Black's Rook will stay useless as White Bishop safely guards advancing pawns. 34... Bxd5 35. axd5 Ra6 36. Qc3! f6 36... Qb8 would meet winning 37. Bf4!! 37. gxf6 Rxf6 38. Qxe5 Qe7 39. Qxe7 Kxe7 40. Bg5 1-0 Perhaps the most valuable manoeuvre of day 5 of the games.
17. Anand (IND, 2803) - Bu (CHN, 2640)
Anand's play doen's resemble that of arguably World's strongest player. Today he was close to taste bitter as his Chinese rival missed a win by a hair's breadth. Anand played badly and had to trade his Queen for a Rook and a Bishop. Here Bu could well win yet another pawn with 32... Qh4! attacking Rf2 and pg5. 33. Re2 would follow 33... Qg5+ 34. Kb1 Qf6 35. Rb2 (only way to prevent mate at a1) f4 and White's position is dead lost. Instead he chose 32... f4? 33. Bxd6 Bd4 34. Rfd2 Be3 35. Nxe3 fxe3 = The game went on for a perpetual check, thus 1/2-1/2
25. Socko (POL, 2606) - Garcia Palermo (ITA, 2462)
Time for a bit of wild tactics. Poland deprived of their top players perform rather poorly and this one seemed ominous for the Pole too. The black Knight forks white pieces but Socko managed to threaten the back rank mate. Black had two good answers here. One is 29... Rd8 preventing white Queen from occupying d4 (29... Ra8 or 29... Rb8 would be countered with 30. Qd4 Qxd4 31. Rfxd4 =) and White has nothing better to do than to trade a Rook for a Queen, so Black wins at once. 29... Rfc7 is not that strong but enough to win as well: 30. Rxc7 Qxc7 winning exchange or 30. Qa3 Nxf4. Instead the Italian chose suicidal 29... Qd8?? and lost on spot: 30. Qc3! +- Rxc4 31. Rxc4 Nc5 32. Rxc5 1-0 We can't say anything about time trouble (since it appears to be technically too hard for the organizers to provide live data on time remaining) but I would bet Black was under serious time pressure. That's modern chess.
31. Mastrovasilis (GRE, 2577) - Zarnicki (ARG, 2507)
Zarnicki, former junior World Champion never lived up to expectations of Argentinian fans. He is no more a chess prodigy, rather just a decent GM, one of hundreds. White to move. Black cunningly intended to send white Knight away from the centre but White happened to be even smarter: 19. dxc6! f4 20. Nc3 unleashing power of white Rook 20... fxg3 21. Bxg6 now Be7 is hanging 22.Bf6 c7! +- White has advanced pawn and development advantage. 1-0 after 35th move. The rest of the game is interesting too so it is recommended that you took a look on it (please see the game file below).
63. Haznedaroglu (TUR, 2455) - Markos (SVK, 2492)
As far as quality of chess managment is concerned Turkey can no doubt claim to be World Champions. Their Olympic team progresses too, but is still very far from the peak. 65. Rxf3 Now what?... White tried to win theoretically drawn RRNvRR ending. He was so diligent and overactive that he even managed to blunder a Rook on his 89th move. Of course RNvRR is drawn too (a strange case, a Rook doesn't make any difference!). 1/2-1/2
85. Beliavsky (SLO, 2622) - Adlane (ALG, 2424)
Beliavsky is some two decades after his prime but still a win with black pieces over legendary GM, former World Championship candidate must be a lifetime success for young Algerian. Black to move. White pieces are pointlessly aiming at Black's Queenside, while white King is left undefended. 34... Rxe3! 35. Kh2 Qf3 Now White has to capture to prevent Rxd3. Rc3 or Rd2 fails due to Re2+. 36. Nxe3 Rxe3 White has to protect g2 at any cost 37. Rg2 gxf4! 38. Qd1 fxg3+ 39. Kh3 Qf5+ 40. Qg4 Qxg4 41. Kxg4 Rxd3 -+ Black has huge material and positional advantage, and he easily grabbed the point after 55 moves 0-1. Excellent play by Arab Adlane. Chapeau bas!
95. Sammalvuo (FIN, 2461) - Gausel (NOR, 2509)
This bizarre game looks like a joke, but it is not. The Four Knights Opening followed 4. Bb5 Bd6?! 5. g4!?, the ending of this brisk game was no less strange: 10. d4 White is lost anyway but he continues the crazy dance. 10... Qg6! best reply 11. Bd3 preventing Qe4+ 11... e4 12. dxc5 exd3 13. dxc6 minor pieces are traded but the tempo is in Black's hands 13... Qe4+ 14. Kd2 Bg4! 15. Re1+ so?... 15... Be2!! and White cannot capture cxd3 because of Qxd3#. White pieces hermetically cut off way of escape for White King. 16. cxb7 Rd8 17. Rxe2 0-1 Really amusing and refreshing chess. We wish more, gentlemen!
See online games from round 5
Round five caused no harm in the top of the progress table as all of top teams went to draw each other. Only top teams to take wins are USA who beat Georgia and surprisingly Iran who defeated Vietnam 3-1 to find themselves in tied 5th. The Russia-Armenia was a match of two teams commonly believed to struggle for gold. Vladimir Kramnik hammered rising talent Aronian at top board but the match result was levelled by Armenia's board 4 Sargissian who outplayed Morozevich in the mid-game. Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan scored another nice win defeating Sokolov, a Dutch player of Bosnian origin to lead Uzbekistan to a valuable draw. Sweden are another surprise as they held Spain today to a draw with two tied and two decisive games. Ukraine gave rather disappointing display once more barely halving with Bulgaria as Volokytin wasted all his chances to lose to Cheparinov. Finally India, who conceded yet another draw, are less and less likely to emerge as the first Asian team ever to win the Olympiad. Unfortunately is seems Anand is not well shaped this time.
There are a few exceptionally strong teams that seem to be at the end of their wits. Israel (6th seeded) only managed to draw all four games vs Denmark. Azerbaijan beat Moldova by the smallest possible margin. Bologan lost to Radjabov in a way which makes it hard to believe he was sensational winner in Dortmund 2004. France are lacking vigour - another four draw match today. Algeria produced biggest upset of the day holding Slovenia to a 2-all draw. Please find details on Adlane's excellent win over Beliavsky in the game highlights section. Also Haddouche beat GM Pavasovic, rated 250 points better than himself.
In the women's section Russian hegemony was finally broken by Ukraine who beat the leaders 2-1. The Russians retained the lead, although the margin diminished to half of a point. Hungary led by Vietnamese Hoang beat China 2.5-0.5 to move into third. Tomorrow they will be tested by Russia. Georgia are still struggling at 15th.
Standings:
Men: Russia and Armenia 15.5; Netherlands 15; Uzbekistan 14.5; Bulgaria, Ukraine, Spain, Belarus, USA, Iran and Sweden 14
Women: Russia 12.5; Ukraine 12; Hungary 11.5; USA, Romania et al. 11
To be played tomorrow: Netherlands-Russia, Armenia-Uzbekistan, Sweden-Bulgaria, Ukraine-Iran (!!), Germany-India
Recommended links:
Detailed results and statistics at Wiener Zeitung page
The Chess Drum reports by Daaim Shabazz
ChessVista - photos by Frits Agterdenbos
1. Kramnik (RUS, 2729) - Aronian (ARM, 2756)
Many believe Kramnik will never be able to come back to his top form. His claims for classical World Champion title aren't commonly recognized anymore. Today he showed really good chess squeezing World's third highest rated player move by move. The diagram position is hardly playable for Black, but what Aronian chooses causes immediate debacle: 33... b4? leaving pawn for a rout 34. c7 Ra8 35. Qb6 Bf8 forced 36. Bxb4 +- We can only regret Topalov doesn't play.
5. Kasimdzhanov (UZB, 2673) - Sokolov (NED, 2676)That Kasim took FIDE World Championship title in 2004 was a mockery for many journalists and fans. In Turin he is virtually unstoppable showing brave and far-sighted chess. The position is way better for White as Sokolov commited decisive mistake 19... Rb7? forces Black to free e4 square for white Knight 20. Bd5! Bxd5 21. exd5 Ne7 22. Ne4 Qf5 only move 23. Nxc5 dxc5 24. Nxe5 +- White won a pawn and his piece mobility is better. 1-0 after 52 moves of hopeless struggle.
13. Ivanchuk (UKR, 2731) - Ki.Georgiev (BUL, 2677)People love Ivanchuk for his unique style which combines sense of tactics with simply clairvoyant strategical outlooks. This game will no doubts become one of his classics: 32. Rxf8! Kxf8 33. Qc5 Ke8 34. Nd5 That's the point! Black is forced to trade his Bishop, the most active piece. Black's Rook will stay useless as White Bishop safely guards advancing pawns. 34... Bxd5 35. axd5 Ra6 36. Qc3! f6 36... Qb8 would meet winning 37. Bf4!! 37. gxf6 Rxf6 38. Qxe5 Qe7 39. Qxe7 Kxe7 40. Bg5 1-0 Perhaps the most valuable manoeuvre of day 5 of the games.
17. Anand (IND, 2803) - Bu (CHN, 2640)Anand's play doen's resemble that of arguably World's strongest player. Today he was close to taste bitter as his Chinese rival missed a win by a hair's breadth. Anand played badly and had to trade his Queen for a Rook and a Bishop. Here Bu could well win yet another pawn with 32... Qh4! attacking Rf2 and pg5. 33. Re2 would follow 33... Qg5+ 34. Kb1 Qf6 35. Rb2 (only way to prevent mate at a1) f4 and White's position is dead lost. Instead he chose 32... f4? 33. Bxd6 Bd4 34. Rfd2 Be3 35. Nxe3 fxe3 = The game went on for a perpetual check, thus 1/2-1/2
25. Socko (POL, 2606) - Garcia Palermo (ITA, 2462)Time for a bit of wild tactics. Poland deprived of their top players perform rather poorly and this one seemed ominous for the Pole too. The black Knight forks white pieces but Socko managed to threaten the back rank mate. Black had two good answers here. One is 29... Rd8 preventing white Queen from occupying d4 (29... Ra8 or 29... Rb8 would be countered with 30. Qd4 Qxd4 31. Rfxd4 =) and White has nothing better to do than to trade a Rook for a Queen, so Black wins at once. 29... Rfc7 is not that strong but enough to win as well: 30. Rxc7 Qxc7 winning exchange or 30. Qa3 Nxf4. Instead the Italian chose suicidal 29... Qd8?? and lost on spot: 30. Qc3! +- Rxc4 31. Rxc4 Nc5 32. Rxc5 1-0 We can't say anything about time trouble (since it appears to be technically too hard for the organizers to provide live data on time remaining) but I would bet Black was under serious time pressure. That's modern chess.
31. Mastrovasilis (GRE, 2577) - Zarnicki (ARG, 2507)Zarnicki, former junior World Champion never lived up to expectations of Argentinian fans. He is no more a chess prodigy, rather just a decent GM, one of hundreds. White to move. Black cunningly intended to send white Knight away from the centre but White happened to be even smarter: 19. dxc6! f4 20. Nc3 unleashing power of white Rook 20... fxg3 21. Bxg6 now Be7 is hanging 22.Bf6 c7! +- White has advanced pawn and development advantage. 1-0 after 35th move. The rest of the game is interesting too so it is recommended that you took a look on it (please see the game file below).
63. Haznedaroglu (TUR, 2455) - Markos (SVK, 2492)As far as quality of chess managment is concerned Turkey can no doubt claim to be World Champions. Their Olympic team progresses too, but is still very far from the peak. 65. Rxf3 Now what?... White tried to win theoretically drawn RRNvRR ending. He was so diligent and overactive that he even managed to blunder a Rook on his 89th move. Of course RNvRR is drawn too (a strange case, a Rook doesn't make any difference!). 1/2-1/2
85. Beliavsky (SLO, 2622) - Adlane (ALG, 2424)Beliavsky is some two decades after his prime but still a win with black pieces over legendary GM, former World Championship candidate must be a lifetime success for young Algerian. Black to move. White pieces are pointlessly aiming at Black's Queenside, while white King is left undefended. 34... Rxe3! 35. Kh2 Qf3 Now White has to capture to prevent Rxd3. Rc3 or Rd2 fails due to Re2+. 36. Nxe3 Rxe3 White has to protect g2 at any cost 37. Rg2 gxf4! 38. Qd1 fxg3+ 39. Kh3 Qf5+ 40. Qg4 Qxg4 41. Kxg4 Rxd3 -+ Black has huge material and positional advantage, and he easily grabbed the point after 55 moves 0-1. Excellent play by Arab Adlane. Chapeau bas!
95. Sammalvuo (FIN, 2461) - Gausel (NOR, 2509)This bizarre game looks like a joke, but it is not. The Four Knights Opening followed 4. Bb5 Bd6?! 5. g4!?, the ending of this brisk game was no less strange: 10. d4 White is lost anyway but he continues the crazy dance. 10... Qg6! best reply 11. Bd3 preventing Qe4+ 11... e4 12. dxc5 exd3 13. dxc6 minor pieces are traded but the tempo is in Black's hands 13... Qe4+ 14. Kd2 Bg4! 15. Re1+ so?... 15... Be2!! and White cannot capture cxd3 because of Qxd3#. White pieces hermetically cut off way of escape for White King. 16. cxb7 Rd8 17. Rxe2 0-1 Really amusing and refreshing chess. We wish more, gentlemen!
See online games from round 5
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