Snowdrops vs Old Hands – Ladies lead by 10:6

by ChessBase
12/13/2012 – A team of legendary grandmasters (Uhlmann, Olafsson, Romanishin and Hort) are struggling in a double round team competition against a rising generation of women grandmasters in the Czech Coal Chess Match 2012. The "Snowdrops" are Valentina Gunina, Tania Sachdev, Alina Kashlinskaja and Kristýna Havlíková. So far the Old Hands have won one out of four round. Big illustrated report.

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Snowdrops and Old Hands – Czech Coal Match 2012

From December 7th to 16th the spa city of Poděbrady is hosting a match between a rising generation of female chess players and chess legends of the 20th century. The former is represented by IM Valentina Gunina (Russia, rated 2517), IM Tania Sachdev (India, 2400), WGM Alina Kashlinskaya (Russia, 2344) and WIM Kristýna Havlíková (Czech Republic, 2310). They are trained by team captain GM Sergei Movsesian. The "Old Hands" are GM Oleg Romanishin (Ukraine, 2530), GM Fridrik Olafsson (Iceland, 2419), GM Vlastimil Hort (Czech Republic, 2455) and GM Wolfgang Uhlmann (Germany, 2319). The games are being played at Hotel Zámeček in Poděbrady, the rate of play is 90 minutes for 40 moves, 30 minutes for the rest, with an increament of 30 seconds per move.


The guest of honour is Yuri Averbakh, at 90 the oldest living grandmaster of the world


Snowdrops Alina Kašlinskaja, Valentina Gunina, Kristýna Havlíková and Tania
Sachdev with their capitan Sergei Movsesian.


The start of round one in the Blue Salon of Hotel Zámeček in Poděbrady

The event started on Saturday with a real snowstorm outside, and some fiery chess by the Snowdrops in the tournament hall: Tania Sachdev beat Wolfgang Uhlmann, Valentina Gunina beat Fridrik Olafsson and Alina Kašlinskaja beat Vlastimil Hort. Only Oleg Romanishin managed to draw Kristýna Havlíková with the black pieces. With that the young female talents had taken the lead with 3.5:0.5 points.


WIM Kristýna Havlíková of the Czech Republic, rated 2310

In the second round it looked as though the Old Hands would reduce the terrible loss from the first round. But everything finished differently. Wolfgang Uhlmann didn't manage to reinforce his adventageous position against Valentina Gunina and the match finished in the calm waters of a draw. The first victory for the Old Hands was achieved by Vlastimil Hort when he won a piece after a mistake by Kristýna Havlíková in time trouble.


A second victory for Indian IM Tania Sachdev

But the veterans couldn't rejoice for long, as the remaining decisions came in the fourth hour of play. Fridrik Olafsson sacrificed two pieces to open up the enemy king, but his adversary Tania Sachdev managed to ward off the attack and equalize the total score.


Alina Kashlinskaya with a win with a dramatic counter-attack against Oleg Romanishin

Finally a dramatic game between Oleg Romanishin and Alina Kashlinskaya had to decide who would win the second round. Romanishin, playing white, obtained an advantage in time trouble, but just before the time control his Snowdrop opponent launched an incredible counter-attack (starting with the move 39…Qa3!) and left her opponent helpless.


GM Oleg Romanishin, beaten by Alina Kashlinskaya and the clock

[Event "Snowdrops and Old-hands"] [Site "Podebrady"] [Date "2012.12.09"] [Round "2.3"] [White "Romanishin, Oleg"] [Black "Kashlinskaya, Alina"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C95"] [WhiteElo "2530"] [BlackElo "2344"] [PlyCount "88"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] [EventRounds "8"] [EventCountry "CZE"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Bg5 h6 15. Bh4 g6 16. dxe5 dxe5 17. N3h2 Bg7 18. Qf3 c5 19. Rad1 Qb6 20. Ne3 c4 21. Nhg4 h5 22. Nxf6+ Nxf6 23. g4 hxg4 24. hxg4 Qe6 25. Re2 Rad8 26. Red2 Rxd2 27. Rxd2 Bc8 28. Qd1 Bf8 29. f3 Bc5 30. Bf2 Qb6 31. Qe2 Bb7 32. b4 cxb3 33. axb3 a5 34. c4 bxc4 35. Nxc4 Bxf2+ 36. Qxf2 Qb4 37. Rd6 Kg7 38. Rb6 Qe7 39. Nxa5 Qa3 $1 40. Nc4 Qc1+ 41. Qf1 Qxc2 42. g5 Nd7 43. Rxb7 Rh8 44. Qg2 Qc1+ 0-1

So the young ladies increased the total score to 6:2.

The Snowdrops kept pressing in round three. In the game Tania Sachdev vs Oleg Romanishin Black obtained a slight advantage, but it wasn't enough to win, and the adversaries divided the point.


East German chess legend Wolfgang Uhlmann

Kristýna Havlíková scored a full point for Snowdrops when she won two pawns with a wonderful tactical stroke in the duel with Wolfgang Uhlmann.

Vlastimil Hort (above) got a beautiful game and a great position againt Valentina Gunina, but unfortunately he made a mistake before the decisive move and couldn't refuse the offer of a draw made by Valentina.

In the last game, Fridrik Olafsson (above) showed to Alina Kašlinskaja how Old Hands play rook endgames when he kept an inferior position in the safe boundries of a draw. The score after the third round: 8.5:3.5 for the Snowdrops.


The Snowdrops celebrating with tea and soft drinks after the round

The Old Hands scored their first win in the fourth round, taking one point off the Snowdrops' lead. While Oleg Romanishin drew against Valentina Gunina, Vlastimil Hort against Tania Sachdev, and Wolfgang Uhlmann against Alina Kašlinskaja, it was Fridrik Olafsson who scored the full point against Kristýna Havlíková, when he kept her king from castling and forced capitulation in 24 moves. Standing after four rounds: 10.0:6.0 for the Snowdrops.

Team results

I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
Snowdrops
3.5
2.5
2.5
1.5
Oldhands
0.5
1.5
1.5
2.5
Total Snowdrops
3.5
6
8.5
10
Total Oldhands
0.5
2
3.5
6

Individual results

O1
O2
O3
O4
O1
O2
O3
O4
Total
S1 Valentina Gunina
1
0.5
0.5
0.5
2.5
S2 Tania Sachdev
1
0.5
1
0.5
3
S3 Alina Kashlinskaya
0.5
1
0.5
1
3
S4 Kristýna Havlíková
1
0.5
0
0
1.5
S1
S2
S3
S4
S1
S2
S3
OS4
O1 Fridrik Olafsson
0
1
0
0.5
1.5
O2 Wolfgang Uhlmann
0.5
0.5
0
0
1
O3 Vlastimil Hort
0.5
1
0.5
0
2
O4 Oleg Romanishin
0.5
0
0.5
0.5
1.5


The venue: Hotel Zámeček in Poděbrady, Czech Republic. The tournament is being
held by the society Šach Mat ltd. and the civic association Prague Chess Society.


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