7th China-Russia match: Rapid Day 2 - Russian men finally win

by ChessBase
8/13/2010 – It didn't seem normal to be reporting defeat after defeat of the Russian men who do actually have a ten elo advantage. They finally pulled in a victory, turning around more than one hairy situation. However, the Chinese women also rallied, and won their encounter by the same score, for an overall draw. Here is the report for Day Two, and more brain teasers for your pleasure.

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The 7th China vs Russia Chess Match is taking place from August 4th-15th, 2010 in Yinzhou, Ningbo, China. These matches have taken place between Russia and China since 2001. The first, in 2001 was in Shanghai, the next, in 2004 in Moscow, in 2006 in Argun, 2007 in Nizhni Novgorod, 2008 in Ningbo, and in 2009 in Sochi.

The match is a 'Scheveningen' team event between China team and Russia team. All members of each team play all members of the other team once. The games start on August 5th 2010 and continue until August 9th, 2010. The time control: 90 minutes for 40 moves + 30 minutes to the end of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move one.

From August 11th to August 14th, there will be four days of rapid games, with five rounds each day. First round starts at 10:30 and four rounds start at 14:00, 15:40 17:20 19:00, The time control: 25 minutes end of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1.  

FIDE's draconian zero-tolerance rule for late arrivals is not in effect and a ten-minute window is provided for the players, also, the Sofia rules are not in effect here, since obviously team strategy brings in other factors.

Rapid Games - Day 2


Vladimir Malakhov (2734) versus Wang Yue (2716)

The Russian men are celebrating. After losing the slow game encounter, and then losing the first day of rapid games by almost the same score, it had to really grate on them that they were not only behind, but by so much. The second day of rapid games took off to a far better start, though it is worth mentioning that lady luck had her hand in it as well. Naturally there are always reversals and surprise turnarounds, but there were more than the usual share. Still, a win is a win, and short of force majeure (getting sick, being struck by lightning, etc.) excuses don't cut it, so kudos are in order.


Jianchao facing Rublevsky who was a key player in the Russian men's win.

Does this mean the Russians took the day? Nope. Though the men won their encounters 14-11, the ladies who had been doing their part, finally yielded a day to the Chinese, and lost by the very same score. As a result, the day's tally was a just 25-25. The overall result of all the games until now is 78.5-71.5 in favor of the Chinese.


Huang Qian has been one of the top women in the rapid
games with 7.0/10

As yesterday, we have chosen a series of decisive moments to allow you to test your skills and see if you could have done as well or better. Some are easy, and some are hard. The link to the solutions is at the bottom, and they can be replayed in case you have trouble visualizing the moves.

Position 1 - Ding Yixin - Gunina








Black to play and win

Position 2 - Pogonina - Ding Yixin








White to play and win

Position 3 - Wang Hao - Malakhov








Black just played Qxa3. White must now decide whether to play Bf7 and
ignore the obvious threats, or avoid doing something foolish, and play Qb2.

Position 4 - Wang Yue - Potkin








White to play and win

Position 5 - Vitiugov - Jianchao








White to play and win

Position 6 - Tan Zhongyi - Bodnaruk








White to play and win. Even if you find the first move,
the second one is the star of the show.

Position 7 - Gunina - Qian Huang








The c7 pawn is going down. Should White take
with the rook, or the bishop, and why?

Position 8 - Wang Yue - Rublevsky








White sacrificed a piece for this attack, and it is crunch time.
He is debating Rh3 or Qh3. Which is best?

[Click to see solutions]

Photographs by sports.sina.com.cn


Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!

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