2016 Baku Rd3: China held to draw by Vietnam

2016 Baku Olympiad

All games start at 3 p.m. local time = 1 p.m. in Europe (CEST), one hour earlier in Britain, and 2 p.m. in Moscow. You can find the starting time at your location here.

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Round three

As things heat up, the matches become more and more balanced with teams of grandmasters meeting others on the battlefield in a no-holds barred matchup. Even if 16 teams can still claim perfect match records with three victories out of three, none can claim to have reached this point unblemished.

The Russians had little trouble establishing their authority over the Moldovans, who they outrated by a fair bit, and only conceded two draws. However, the party of easy matches ends tomorrow when they take on the very tough team of Ukraine. The Ukrainians kept their perfect match score, even if they came very close to drawing with Germany. It was on the second board, where young Matthias Bluebaum reached a winning position, only to fail to capitalize.

Matthias Bluebaum cannot be blamed for Germany's loss per se, but he did have the chance to save the match. (photo by David Llada)

Yuriy Kryvoruchko - Matthias Bluebaum

Although the US team was never in any actual danger, there was real concern when Nakamura found himself down two pawns against Argentine GM Sandro Mareco, in a dead lost position. As is typical of him, he dug down so very deep and somehow managed to save the game, and is now at 2.5/3. Fabiano Caruana has had fewer issues thus far and has 2.0/2. (photo by David Llada)

England faced a remarkably strong Canadian team, fielding four grandmasters now led by GM Evgeny Bareev (2675) (above) on board one. Although the English did come through, including a victory by Adams over the former Russian, it should be noted that this is Bareev's first return to the Olympiad as a player since 1998. (photo by Paul Truong)

The Azeris had every reason to be pleased. Not only did they crush the very strong Hungarian team by 3-1, but their top board Mamedyarov was in sparkling form as he defeated Richard Rapport on board one. (photo by David Llada)

Jovana Rapport, playing for Serbia and recently wed to Richard watches her husband's game with understandable concern (photo by M. Emelianova)

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov - Richard Rapport (annotated by GM Elshan Moradiabadi)

Even though the Chinese team had a significant rating advantage over the Brazilians and did beat them 3-1, this was hardly the full story. (photo by Paul Truong)

In fact, two of the Chinese were quite lost in their games, and not for a single move either. Diego di Berardino for example, was poised for the win of his career against Li Chao, but whether through nerves or inexperience he let the Chinese player slip away time and time again, and in the end he drew. A heartbreaking loss for the Brazilian fans, who had dreamed of an upset against China, but it also showed them they were hardly cannon fodder.

The strong French team has several players who may not be 2700+ now, but were quite recently, such as Romain Edouard. They faced a strong Spanish team but neither side was able to make a dent, and four hard draws were the result. In round four they will face Greece. (photo by E. Kublashvili)

The Netherlands faced a tough Vietnam who was led by the top player Quang Liem Le. Anish Giri, who joked in round one that he was on a winning streak of "one in a row", now has three in a row, and his forthcoming opponents are not laughing. (photo by Paul Truong)

Slovakian GM Lubomir Ftacnik together with GM Yasser Seirawan, captain of the US Women's team. Both are also popular authors of books and ChessBase DVDs. (photo by Paul Truong)

There can be no doubt the biggest news of the day was China's misstep in round three against Vietnam. (photo by Paul Truong)

For the past three Olympiads China has been the rating favorite, but Russia has managed to snatch gold each time. They hardly depend only on Hou Yifan, who was certainly playing this round, with players such as Ju Wenjun, or Zhao Xue, but things went awry, Hou won, Zhao Xue lost, and two draws mean the match ended 2-2.

The Russian Women did not falter and beat Uzbekistan 3-1 (photo by E. Kublashvili)

Ukraine took the threat of the US team seriously, and had all their heaviest artillery on the battlefield, such as GM Mariya Muzychuk. They defeated the Americans by the slimmest of margins with a key win on fourth board. (photo by M. Emelianova)

Fifth seed India quickly doused the flames of the Filipinos, fresh from a massive upset against Georgia the previous round, and soundly beat them 3.5/4. WGM Soumya Swaminathan has scored 3.0/3 for her team. (photo by M. Emelianova)

One big upset also came from the victory of Kazakhstan, ranked 31, who defeated Bulgaria by 3-1. The biggest win was teenage Zahnsaya Abdumalik (right) who beat former Women World Champion GM Antoaneta Stefanova with a powerful longterm sacrifice. (photo by M. Emelianova)

Zahnsaya Abdumalik - Antoaneta Stefanova

Iceland also scored an upset by defeating England. Hallgerdur Thorsteinsdottir was one of the key winners as she defeated WFM Sarah Longson. (photo by M. Emelianova)

Perhaps the biggest early surprise is that France is currently second on tiebreak, also with a perfect score, and has only conceded a single draw so far, making them the most lethal team in the Olympiad this far. Andreea-Cristiana Navrotescu has scored 3.0/3 for France. In round four they will face the Ukrainians. (photo by E. Kublashvili)

Sweden has also been immaculate, and legendary GM Pia Cramling has 2.5/3 on board one. (photo by David Llada)

About GM Elshan Moradiabadi Elshan Moradiabadi is a GM born and raised in Tehran, Iran. He moved to the US in 2012. Ever since, he has been active in US college chess scenes and in US chess. Elshan co-authored "Chess and the Art of War: Ancient Wisdom to Make You a Better Player" with Al Lawrence. He has also published written articles for ChessBase, and edited opening materials for fellow authors. Elshan Moradiabadi is a veteran instructor and teaches chess to every level, with students ranging from beginners to IM. He can be contacted for projects or teaching at his email. You can contact him at his email or follow him on Twitter.

Round three games (with times per move)

Select games from the list below the board

Open section (top pairings)

• All pairings of round 3

Women's section (top pairings)

• All pairings of round 3

Olympiad schedule

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