China trounces USA

The Chinese chess federation invited the United Chess Federation to send a male and female team to participate in a friendly China vs. USA match to be held in Ningbo, China from July 18 to July 28. The match consisted of five classic time control games in Scheveningen style followed by ten rapid games in a double Scheveningen format. The invitation for the Americans came relatively late, but they were still able to put a strong team together despite the fact that they had less than two months notice.

The men were playing for a prize fund of $30,000 divided 60% to the winning team and 40% to the other. The women are playing for the same odds but for a prize fund of $20,000. Some American stars were missing from the line-up, namely Kamsky and Nakamura in the men and Zatonskih and Krush in the women, but nonetheless they still fielded a very competitive team. The Chinese were not afraid to send some of their top players, including Wang Yue in the men and Ju Wenjun in the women.

Free Day

The US team went into the free day having badly lost the classical portion of the match. However they remained with their spirits high and tried to get some inspiration by visiting some of the local culture in Ningbo.

Player and photographer Iryna Zenyuk enjoys the view at the Moon Lake Parks

The players took time to visit a buddhist museum

Ningbo has become a great mix of the classical...

...and the modern.

Rapid Games

The rapid games were played at a rate of 25 minutes with 5 second increment. Despite the tactical nature of many of America's squad it seemed that the Chinese were much more familiar with how to handle these type fast controls. America was trying to turn around the defeat they suffered in the classic but ended up being crushed rather badly in the rapid.

Ding Yixin was the lowest scoring Chinese player in the rapids, at "only" 6.5/10

Wang Jue, not to be confused with Wang Yue!

The American team suffered seriously in the rapids, Shulman scored only 3/10

A little death glare never hurt anyone

Sabina Foisor comes from a chess playing family, but is the only one that represents America

Wang Yue showed his excellent form and beat Lenderman 2-0 in the rapids

Rapid Results

Closing Ceremony

When all was said and done, China completely dominated the match. It wasn't just that the women were outrated, to be fair China showed far superior form in the event. All of the Chinese player's in the rapid section scored at least +2, and showed that in rapid chess USA was no match to China.

The conclusion was of course a feast for the players and an award ceremony to the best players of each team.

Zenyuk and Abrahamyan were the hard hitters of the American women's team

Robson has been steadily improving the past few years but had problems in the rapid portion

At a 2608 classical performance and a near 2400 rapid performance Abrahamyan was without a doubt America's best girl

Also without question Shankland was the saving grace of America's men's team, scoring a brilliant 6.5/10 in the rapid and a 50% in the classical

Viktorja Ni and Alisa Melekhina

Foisor, Kaidanov and Shulman already plotting their revenge

An on-form Chinese team showed supremacy

Tan Zhongyi, sporting a red sweater and shying away from the camera, scored a monstruous 9.5/10 in the rapids

Stuart Chagrin, team captain and president of the Marshall Chess Club and Marcus Fenner, head of delegation, executive director of the Marshall Chess Club. They were in charge of making sure everything went smoothly for the players and they did an amazing job.

Never one to fall into bad spirits, Viktorja Ni gets ready for one last night out in Ningbo

Some of the players went to unwind with a beautiful view on their last day in China

A magnificent view of Ningbo. Not too shabby for a city that can find its roots in 4800 BC

The Chinese are expected to visit USA next year where a rematch will be played in New York. The Americans will then have home court and hope to turn around this result.

Replay all the rapid games

Click on the dropdown menu above the board to change games.

All pictures and information provided by Tatev Abrahamyan, Alisa Melekhina, Viktoria Ni and Iryna Zenyuk