Armenia Wins Chess Olympic Gold in Turkey
By GM Lubomir Kavalek
On Sunday, Armenia won the gold medal at the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul.
It is their third Olympic gold overall. They also finished first at the World
Team Championship last year in Ningbo, China.
Upon arrival in Yerevan on Monday, the jubilant Armenian chess team was treated
like national heroes by a cheering crowd and the president of Armenia Serzh
Sargsyan who is also the head of the Armenian Chess Federation. Small countries
do that. They cherish their victories. The Czech national ice-hockey team, led
by Dominik Hasek and Jaromir Jagr, got a similar reception after they returned
to Prague from the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano with a gold medal.
Ideally, to win medals at chess Olympiads, the team should not lose a match.
But nobody went undefeated in the 11-round event in Istanbul. The outcome was
decided not by how teams won their matches, but by the timing of their losses.
Every time some teams jumped into the lead, they were knocked out like duck
pins. Those who lost earlier could still recover. The drama continued into the
last round, and when it was over Armenia won nine matches, lost one and tied
one. They had the most match points and the best tiebreak.
The final standing: 1. Armenia 19/22, 2. Russia 19, 3. Ukraine 18, 4. China
17, 5. USA 17. The results are based on match points. Shared places were decided
by a tiebreak.
In the Women's Olympiad Russia and China scored 19 points, but the gold went
to the Russians on a tiebreak. Ukraine won the bronze with 18 points.
Individually, the Czech GM David Navara scored the most points with 9.5/11.
GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan posted the best rating performance with
2880 points and a 8.5/10 score.
Let's ride the olympic roller coaster to see the ups and downs of the top five
finishers.
Armenia
The winning Armenian team and their final scores. From left: Tigran Petrosian
(2.5/3),
Gabriel Sargissian (7/11), Vladimir Akopian (7.5/10), Sergei Movsesian (5/10),
Levon Aronian (7/10) and the captain Arshak Petrosian.
Armenia beefed up their line-up, acquiring Movsesian from Slovakia for $50,000.
He finished with 50 percent on the second board, but delivered the only win
against Hungary in the last round.
In the fifth round, Armenia clashed with Ukraine, the defending champions,
and their top board Aronian brought home the victory in the Queen's Indian.
[Event "Olympiad"] [Site "0:53.35-0:29.49"] [Date "2012.09.01"] [Round "5"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"] [Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo
"2816"] [BlackElo "2769"] [Annotator "Lubomir Kavalek/The Huffington Post"]
[PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] [WhiteTeam "Armenia"] [BlackTeam "Ukraine"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ARM"] [BlackTeamCountry "UKR"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. d4
b6 4. g3 Ba6 ({Nimzovich's sharp attacking idea in the Queen's Indian, but even
the quiet line} 4... Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O { can be spiced up with a pawn
sacrifice} 7. d5 exd5 8. Nh4 {The line became popular after the Candidates match
Polugaevsky-Korchnoi, Buenos Aires 1980. Aronian played it against Ivanchuk
in 2007and the game was drawn.}) 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Nc3 Bb7 8. Bg2 O-O
9. O-O Na6 10. d5 exd5 11. Nd4 ({White doesn't need to place his knight on the
rim anymore. After} 11. Nh4 Ne4 $1 { black is fine.}) 11... Bc5 12. Nc2 c6 13.
cxd5 cxd5 14. Bg5 Nc7 15. Ne3 d4 $6 { Ivanchuk must have misjudged the complications.}
16. Bxb7 Rb8 (16... dxe3 17. fxe3 Rb8 18. Bxf6 gxf6 19. Be4 $16) 17. Ng4 $1
dxc3 ({After} 17... Be7 18. Bxf6 Bxf6 19. Nxf6+ gxf6 (19... Qxf6 20. Nd5 {wins.})
20. Qxd4 Rxb7 21. Qg4+ Kh8 22. Rfd1 Ne6 23. Nd5 {black is positionally busted.})
18. Bxf6 gxf6 19. Be4 $1 { Preparing an invasion along the diagonal b1-h7. The
shattered, week pawns can't provide a good cover for the black king.} d5 20.
Bc2 {21.Qd3 is a serious threat.} f5 21. Nh6+ Kh8 22. Nxf5 Qf6 23. a3 $5 {A
clever move that threatens to push the dark bishop back with 24.b4. Ivanchuk
prevents it, but it alllows Aronian's rook to break into black's position.}
a5 24. Qd3 Rg8 ( 24... Ra8 {protects against the invasion, but white is still
better after} 25. Rfb1 Ne6 26. b4 axb4 27. axb4 Rxa1 28. Rxa1 Bxb4 29. Ne3 Qg7
30. Nxd5 $16) 25. b4 $1 {Opening the a-file for the rook.} axb4 26. axb4 Bxb4
(26... Bf8 27. Ra7 Ne6 28. Ne7 Rg7 29. Nxd5 {wins for white.}) 27. Ra7 Ne6 28.
Ne7 $1 {After this elegant jump, threatening 29.Qxh7 mate and attacking the
rook on g8, black also has to cope with an unpleasant fork 29.Nc6.} Qg7 29.
Nxg8 ({White could have taken the other rook:} 29. Nc6 Bc5 30. Nxb8 Rxb8 31.
Qxd5) 29... Kxg8 30. Qxd5 {Aronian is winning and he converts his advantage
wonderfully.} Bc5 31. e3 b5 32. Ra8 Rxa8 33. Qxa8+ Qf8 34. Qe4 Qh6 35. Ra1 b4
36. Ra5 Bf8 37. Qg4+ Qg7 38. Qh4 h6 39. Ra8 Nc7 40. Rxf8+ $1 {A pretty combination,
winning a piece.} Qxf8 (40... Kxf8 41. Qxb4+ $1 Ke8 (41... Kg8 42. Qb8+ $18)
42. Ba4+ Kd8 43. Qb8+ Ke7 44. Qxc7+ {and white mates soon.}) 41. Qg4+ Kh8 (41...
Qg7 42. Qc8+ { wins.}) 42. Qf5 (42. Qf5 Qg8 (42... Qg7 43. Qc8+) 43. Qe5+ {white
wins.}) 1-0
Russia
The Soviet team won gold at every chess Olympiad from 1954 till 1990 with the
exception of 1978 when the Hungarian team edged them in a tiebreak in Buenos
Aires. The team of Russia continued the dominance, winning from 1992 till 2002.
Ukraine won in 2004 and 2010 and Armenia in 2006 and in 2008. The Russians wanted
the gold back.
In the sixth round Russia met Armenia. Although the match ended 2-2, the former
world champion Vladimir Kramnik scored a fine win against Aronian.
[Event "40th Olympiad Open"] [Site "Istanbul TUR"] [Date "2012.09.03"] [Round
"6.1"] [White "Kramnik, Vladimir"] [Black "Aronian, Levon"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO
"D10"] [WhiteElo "2797"] [BlackElo "2816"] [Annotator "GM Lubomir Kavalek/The
Huffington Post"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "r1r3k1/1p5p/p1nqppp1/3p4/3P4/PN1QP2P/1PR2PP1/2R3K1
b - - 0 21"] [PlyCount "28"] [EventDate "2012.08.28"] [EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "TUR"] [WhiteTeam "Russia"] [BlackTeam "Armenia"]
21... Rc7 $2 {Doubling the rooks on the c-file is often a good idea in similar
positions, but here it doesn't work.} (21... b6 {loosens the queenside pawns,
but it was an option.}) 22. Na5 $1 Rac8 23. Nxb7 $1 {A beautiful long-term combination,
breaking black's resistance. White will have two pawns for the knight, but black
will be tied up. Eventually, white can advance the b-pawn and win the pinned
black knight.} Rxb7 24. Qxa6 Rbc7 25. b4 {Black is caught in terrible crosspins
and doesn't have a way out. The threat is 26.b5.} Qd7 26. Qb6 $1 {An important
move, tying up black's pieces.} Qe8 ({The pinning continues in the variation:}
26... Rb8 27. Qxb8+ $1 Nxb8 28. Rxc7 Qd6 29. Rb7 Nd7 30. Rc8+ Kg7 31. Rd8 {and
the open seventh rank is a bad omen for black.}) 27. b5 Nxd4 28. Rxc7 Ne2+ 29.
Kh1 Nxc1 30. Rxc8 Qxc8 31. Qc6 $1 {The double-attack wins the knight, but Kramnik
is more interested in promoting the b-pawn.} Qd8 32. b6 Kf7 33. Qc7+ Ke8 34.
Qa7 d4 35. b7 1-0
After China defeated the Armenians in the seventh round, Russia took the lead,
moving closer to their goal.
USA
The previous matches between the Soviets and the Americans were always exciting
and the US team didn't come out of it empty-handed. I was still playing on the
team when we beat the Soviets in 1984 and in 1986. The younger Americans scored
victory over Russia in 2006. With great performances on the top two boards,
they beat the Russians again in Istanbul and with two rounds to go shared the
lead with Russia, Armenia and China.
Hikaru Nakamura surpassed Bobby Fischer's rating record of 2785 in Istanbul.
Hikaru showed great fighting spirit and his 6 points in 9 games was one of the
top results on the first board. He took considerable risks in defeating Kramnik.
[Event "Istanbul Olympiad"] [Site "0:09.29-0:00.02"] [Date "2012.09.06"] [Round
"9"] [White "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo
"2778"] [BlackElo "2797"] [Annotator "GM Lubomir Kavalek/The Huffington Post"]
[SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/4k3/2P5/8/5p2/4pKbB/3p4/3N4 w - - 0 61"] [PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"] [WhiteTeam "USA"] [BlackTeam "Russia"] [WhiteTeamCountry
"USA"] [BlackTeamCountry "RUS"] 61. c7 e2 62. c8=N+ $1 ({Not} 62. Kxe2 f3+ 63.
Kxf3 Bxc7 {and black draws.}) 62... Kf6 63. Kxe2 {Nakamura has winning material
on the board. He will soon capture the black pawns. Afterwards his bishop will
take care of the light squares and one knight will control the dark squares.
The other knight and the king will push the black king into a corner and mate
him there. The game actuallly came to a quicker end.} Ke5 64. Nb6 Kd4 65. Bg2
Be1 66. Nd5 Ke5 67. Nb4 Bh4 68. Nd3+ Kf5 69. Kxd2 Kg4 70. Ke2 Bf6 71. N1f2+
Kg3 72. Bf3 Bd8 73. Ne4+ {This knight and the bishop contain the black king.
The other knight does the final damage.} Kh4 74. Ne5 Bc7 75. Ng6+ Kh3 76. Ne7
Bd8 77. Nf5 Bb6 78. Kf1 Kh2 79. Bg4 f3 80. Nh4 {Threatening mate in two with
81.Nxf3+ Kh1 82.Ng3 mate.} 1-0
Gata Kamsky's stellar performance (8.5/11) was the best on the team. He outplayed
Russia's Alexander Grischuk marvelously, but when he was about to collect the
full point, things began to happen.
Grischuk,Alexander - Kamsky,Gata
The endgame was an 18th century saga transferred to modern times with wonderful
tricks and trades. Kamsky played a great technical game and should have won
it. Instead, he allowed Grischuk to escape. With a draw in sight, the Russian
slipped, proving that this endgame is difficult to defend even for the best
players. The drama begins after 45 moves:
[Event "Istanbul Olympiad"] [Site "0:00.42-0:08.20"] [Date "2012.09.06"] [Round
"9"] [White "Grischuk, Alexander"] [Black "Kamsky, Gata"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo
"2763"] [BlackElo "2746"] [Annotator "GM Lubomir Kavalek/The Huffington Post"]
[SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/1R6/r3kb2/5p1p/5Bp1/3K2P1/7P/8 w - - 0 46"] [PlyCount "38"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"] [WhiteTeam "Russia"] [BlackTeam "USA"] [WhiteTeamCountry
"RUS"] [BlackTeamCountry "USA"] 46. Rh7 Ra3+ 47. Ke2 (47. Kc4 h4) 47... Ra2+
48. Kf1 Kd5 $2 ({Kamsky is cutting it too close. Black should have played} 48...
Rxh2 $1 49. Kg1 Rh3 50. Rh6 Kf7 51. Rh7+ Kg6 52. Rb7 h4 53. Rb6 Rxg3+ $1 54.
Bxg3 hxg3 {and he would not have any problems to roll his pawns forward, for
example} 55. Kg2 f4 56. Rb5 Bc3 57. Rc5 Bd4 58. Rd5 Bf2 59. Kf1 Kf6 (59... f3
60. Rg5+ Kf6 61. Rf5+ Ke6 62. Rxf3 $11) 60. Rd6+ Kf5 61. Rd8 Bb6 62. Rd5+ Ke4
63. Rb5 Bd4 64. Kg2 Be5 $19 ) 49. Rxh5 Ke4 50. h3 gxh3 (50... Kf3 51. Rxf5 Ra1+
52. Bc1+ Kxg3 53. hxg4 $11) 51. Rxh3 Bd4 52. Rh5 (52. Bd6 Rf2+ 53. Ke1) 52...
Rf2+ 53. Ke1 Rg2 54. Kf1 Kf3 55. Be3 $5 ({Grischuk tries to force a draw brilliantly.
It was possible to play:} 55. Ke1 Bf2+ 56. Kd1 Bxg3 57. Bxg3 Kg4 58. Rxf5 $11)
55... Bxe3 56. Rxf5+ Kxg3 57. Re5 Rf2+ 58. Ke1 Kf4 {The rook and bishop vs.
rook endgame with the king of the weaker side on the last rank was analyzed
already in the 18th century. The winning methods were shown by the Italian master
and theoretician Giambattista Lolli in 1763 and by the Frenchman André Danican
Philidor in 1792. With a correct play, the weaker side may draw, but many games
were lost during actual tournament play.} 59. Re8 ({The best, according to the
endgame tablebase, was to stay on the 5th rank, for example} 59. Rh5) 59...
Ra2 60. Kd1 Kf3 61. Re7 $2 ({Grischuk slips and makes a losing move. The endgame
tablebase gives three moves to make a draw:} 61. Rd8) (61. Rh8) (61. Rf8+) 61...
Rd2+ 62. Ke1 Rd8 $1 63. Rf7+ Bf4 64. Rf6 ({This is where Phillidor wanted the
rook to be. Black also wins after} 64. Rf5 Re8+ $1 65. Kd1 Rc8 {threatening
66...Rc1 mate.}) 64... Rc8 {The final coup, threatening 65...Rc1 mate. The saving
move 65.Rd6 is denied by the bishop.} 0-1
In the next round the U.S. team faltered and lost to China, but they fought
back and beat Poland in the last round. "Objectively, sharing the place
with China was a better result than the bronze medal results in Turin and Dresden."
says John Donaldson, the captain of the U.S. team. "We started well and
were always within sight of the leaders. With a bit more luck we could have
medaled."
The rest of the team performed well: Alexander Onischuk (6.5/10), Varuzhan
Akobian (3.5/6), Ray Robson (5.5/8).
China
The Chinese lost to Russia, but defeated the Armenians. With the victory over
the Americans China leaped into a shared lead. They had the best tiebreak and
a victory in the last round would have earned them the gold medals. But Ukraine
smashed them 3-1 and took them out of medal contention.
Ukraine
The defending champion lost matches against Russia and Armenia. Getting the
bronz was considered a miracle, but the Ukrainians managed to do it. Ivanchuk
downed Wang Hao in the last round with a nifty combination.
[Event "Istanbul-Olympiad"] [Site "?"] [Date "2012.09.09"] [Round "?"] [White
"Ivanchuk, Vassily"] [Black "Wang, Hao"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E52"] [Annotator
"GM Lubomir Kavalek/The Huffington Post"] [PlyCount "56"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6
3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 b6 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 c6 $5 $146 ({The
point of this novelty is clear and simple: anytime white captures on d5, black
would take with his c-pawn, opens the c-file and would pressure the backward
pawn on c3. The immediate} 8... Ba6 {had some success after} 9. cxd5 Bxd3 10.
Qxd3 Qxd5) 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Qe2 Nc6 11. O-O Na5 12. a4 Re8 13. Ne5 Ne4 14. f3
Nd6 ({After} 14... Nxc3 $2 15. Qc2 {wins.}) 15. Ba3 Bb7 16. Bxd6 Qxd6 17. f4
{White fortifies his Pillsbury knight. This attacking set-up was used by the
talented American Harry Nelson Pillsbury (1872-1906). White only needs to lift
his heavy pieces into attack.} g6 ({Weakens the dark squares, but black had
to prevent the bishop sacrifice on h7, for example} 17... Rac8 $2 18. Bxh7+
$1 Kxh7 19. Qh5+ Kg8 20. Qxf7+ Kh7 21. Rf3 {and white mates.}) ({After} 17...
h6 18. Qh5 {,followed by f4-f5, white's attack is too powerful.}) 18. Qg4 Nc4
19. Qg3 Qc7 20. Bxc4 dxc4 {Ivanchuk will now open the f-file.} 21. f5 $1 f6
$2 ({Allowing a pretty finale. But after} 21... exf5 22. Rxf5 Bd5 23. Raf1 Be6
24. Rf6 {white has a complete command of the dark squares. Black has no counterplay
and white's attack grows with each new move.} ) 22. fxg6 $1 {The combination,
sacrificing the knight and rook, wins easily. Ivanchuk had to only calculate
properly.} fxe5 23. Rf7 Qc6 24. gxh7+ $1 { Sacrificing the rook, Ivanchuk concludes
the game with a king's hunt.} Kxf7 25. Rf1+ Ke7 26. h8=Q $1 {A powerful deflection,
preventing the black king to hide on the eigth rank.} Rxh8 27. Qg7+ Kd6 (27...
Kd8 28. Qxh8+ Kc7 (28... Qe8 29. Rf8 {wins}) 29. Rf7+ Kd6 30. Qxe5#) 28. dxe5+
Kd5 ({Black gave up at the same time. White wins after} 28... Kd5 29. Rd1+ Ke4
(29... Kc5 30. Qe7+) 30. Qg5 { mating next move.}) 1-0
For the record, 157 teams participated in Istanbul. The Women's Olympiad had
127 teams.
Original
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