Batumi Olympiad Round 10: The mega duel China vs USA will decide the gold!

I think all of the players, officials, journalists, organizers, have a mixed feeling about this Olympiad. While everyone is definitely relieved that this is coming to an end, you always feel like you could have done better! The fact that the next Olympiad is two years away is just too much of a time-span to put to use what you have learnt here! In any case people ensured that they made the best use of whatever time they had. This is the best place to get all the champions under one roof and the fans did not miss the chance of taking autographs!

It's always a good idea to start with Fabi! Who knows, before this year ends, the value of this autograph will be significantly higher!

Ivanchuk! It's always a good idea to get an autograph from the Ukrainian genius!

Who doesn't love Levon!

The gentleman of chess - Wesley So

The big fight Poland versus China

The Polish team hadn't lost a single match until round nine. They had been playing some excellent chess and the Chinese team was next on cards for them. The thing about the Chinese team and what makes it different from any other team at this event is that each and every player in their team is capable of playing on board one and performing well. For example Li Chao, who plays on board four for China has had the highest rating of 2758 in the past! Bu Xiangzhi who plays on board three, just a year ago had ensured Carlsen's elimination from the World Cup 2017 in classical time control. Of course we do not even need to get started on the achievements of Yu Yangyi and Ding Liren. With such a depth, Poland had to once again show the miraculous form that they had been showing in the last few matches that helped them beat teams like Russia and USA.

Things started well for Poland when Duda managed to outprepare Ding Liren. But the Chinese player did not succumb to the pressure. He thought hard and came out on top with some amazing calculations!

Yu Yangyi and Bu Xiangzhi drew their games on boards two and three, Li Chao managed to score the crucial win on board four against GM Kamil Dragun

Ding Liren shows us some amazing lines in the bus! Why the bus? Well, the Chinese team was leaving and we couldn't afford not to get an insight into Ding Liren's phenomenal calculations and so we did it in the bus!

On the second board clash between Armenia and USA, things looked very balanced but Sam Shankland provided the win against Melkumyan. USA beat Armenia 2.5-1.5.

Samuel Shankland played a brilliant game showcasing great opening preparation to power USA to a win over Armenia by beating Hrant Melkumyan

It is rare to see all four players of one team not being at the board. It just means, Russia is back in form!

The Russians managed to beat England 2.5-1.5. It was Vladimir Kramnik who brought home the important point by beating David Howell on board three. Rest of the games ended in draws.

Erwin l'Ami doesn't join the pre-game Indo-Dutch conversations like everyday as Netherlands took on India. Anish, who was playing Harikrishna on board one anyway joined in.

Women's section:

It was an unbelievable round in the women's section. The first seven matches ended in a 2-2 deadlock! Of course there were teams who were winning the match, and there were those who were losing, but by the end we had all of them at 2-2. Thus China maintains is lead over the pack.

Results of Round 10 (Women)

No.	SNo	Team	Team	Pts.	MP	Res.	:	Res.	MP	Pts.	Team	Team	SNo
1	3	CHN	China	26½	16	2	:	2	15	24½	United States of America	USA	10
2	2	UKR	Ukraine	25	15	2	:	2	14	26½	Russia	RUS	1
3	11	AZE	Azerbaijan	24½	14	2	:	2	15	24	Armenia	ARM	12
4	19	VIE	Vietnam	26½	13	2	:	2	13	24	Hungary	HUN	13
5	15	ESP	Spain	23½	13	2	:	2	13	24	Kazakhstan	KAZ	8
6	4	GEO1	Georgia 1 *)	23	14	2	:	2	13	25½	Czech Republic	CZE	26
7	36	BLR	Belarus	24	12	2	:	2	13	21	Slovenia	SLO	35
8	5	IND	India	23½	12	3	:	1	12	22½	Peru	PER	37
9	18	ITA	Italy	22	12	1½	:	2½	12	23½	Georgia 2	GEO2	14
10	20	ROU	Romania	21	12	2	:	2	12	23	Iran	IRI	28

Complete list

The Ukrainian team faced Russia. It was a very tense match that ended in a 2-2 draw.

When you allow your opponent to claim a photographic draw in a crucial round, its quite disheartening. Zhukova claimed a draw and Olga Girya is not happy with the result.

One more case of draw by repetition Iran against Romania. Mitra Hejazipour drew against Isabela Peptan Corina

Who has chances to win a medal?

Ranking in the Open section (top 20)

Rk.	SNo	Team	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	1	United States of America	USA	10	8	1	1	17	324,5	27,0	122
2	3	China	CHN	10	8	1	1	17	320,5	26,5	124
3	11	Poland	POL	10	7	2	1	16	325,0	26,0	130
4	7	France	FRA	10	7	2	1	16	309,0	27,0	125
5	2	Russia	RUS	10	7	2	1	16	301,0	26,5	119
6	5	India	IND	10	7	1	2	15	325,5	27,0	128
7	8	Armenia	ARM	10	7	1	2	15	299,0	25,5	125
8	6	Ukraine	UKR	10	7	1	2	15	278,0	24,0	125
9	16	Germany	GER	10	5	5	0	15	274,0	25,0	118
10	15	Czech Republic	CZE	10	7	1	2	15	272,5	25,5	116
11	9	England	ENG	10	7	1	2	15	271,5	24,0	119
12	37	Kazakhstan	KAZ	10	7	1	2	15	256,0	25,5	109
13	27	Vietnam	VIE	10	5	4	1	14	312,5	27,5	117
14	18	Croatia	CRO	10	7	0	3	14	288,0	25,0	128
15	38	Norway	NOR	10	6	2	2	14	272,5	26,5	114
16	32	Sweden	SWE	10	7	0	3	14	269,5	26,0	112
17	30	Moldova	MDA	10	6	2	2	14	253,0	24,0	113
18	35	Austria	AUT	10	7	0	3	14	245,0	24,5	110
19	54	Philippines	PHI	10	7	0	3	14	243,5	25,5	97
20	4	Azerbaijan	AZE	10	6	1	3	13	318,5	25,5	134

Complete list

Pairings for round 11:

No.	SNo	Team	Team	Pts.	MP	Res.	:	Res.	MP	Pts.	Team	Team	SNo
1	1	USA	United States of America	27	17		:		17	26½	China	CHN	3
2	7	FRA	France	27	16		:		16	26½	Russia	RUS	2
3	5	IND	India	27	15		:		16	26	Poland	POL	11
4	16	GER	Germany	25	15		:		15	25½	Armenia	ARM	8
5	6	UKR	Ukraine	24	15		:		15	25½	Czech Republic	CZE	15
6	9	ENG	England	24	15		:		15	25½	Kazakhstan	KAZ	37
7	54	PHI	Philippines	25½	14		:		14	27½	Vietnam	VIE	27
8	18	CRO	Croatia	25	14		:		14	26	Sweden	SWE	32
9	35	AUT	Austria	24½	14		:		14	26½	Norway	NOR	38
10	30	MDA	Moldova	24	14		:		13	27½	Uzbekistan	UZB	36

It is almost certain that the gold medal will be decided by the top board clash between USA and China. However, we could see Russia or France winning the gold as well, if they win their match and USA and China draw theirs. This is because all the teams will end on 18/22 and the Sonneborn Berger will be used to decide who wins. And SB is a very volatile tiebreak. So it would not be easy to predict until all the games the are over.

France and Russia will be a critical match to follow. Also Poland has great chances if they beat India. India also has an outside chance for a medal if they beat Poland. All other teams on 15 points shoudl win their match and hope that on 17 their tiebreak is good enough for a medal.

Women's section

Ranking in the Women section (top 20)

Rk.	SNo	Team	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	3	China	CHN	10	7	3	0	17	343,5	28,5	126
2	2	Ukraine	UKR	10	6	4	0	16	329,5	27,0	130
3	10	United States of America	USA	10	7	2	1	16	319,0	26,5	125
4	12	Armenia	ARM	10	7	2	1	16	315,0	26,0	129
5	1	Russia	RUS	10	7	1	2	15	319,0	28,5	119
6	4	Georgia 1	GEO1	10	6	3	1	15	304,0	25,0	126
7	11	Azerbaijan	AZE	10	6	3	1	15	286,5	26,5	119
8	13	Hungary	HUN	10	6	2	2	14	293,5	26,0	121
9	15	Spain	ESP	10	6	2	2	14	292,0	25,5	109
10	5	India	IND	10	5	4	1	14	288,0	26,5	119
11	14	Georgia 2	GEO2	10	6	2	2	14	281,0	26,0	117
12	7	Poland	POL	10	6	2	2	14	279,5	27,0	109
13	8	Kazakhstan	KAZ	10	5	4	1	14	279,0	26,0	115
14	19	Vietnam	VIE	10	6	2	2	14	276,5	28,5	108
15	26	Czech Republic	CZE	10	6	2	2	14	273,0	27,5	108
16	17	Mongolia	MGL	10	7	0	3	14	273,0	26,0	117
17	6	France	FRA	10	6	2	2	14	266,5	26,5	107
18	23	Serbia	SRB	10	6	2	2	14	255,5	24,5	114
19	22	Cuba	CUB	10	6	2	2	14	246,0	25,5	110
20	35	Slovenia	SLO	10	6	2	2	14	222,0	23,0	109

Complete list

Pairings of round 11 (women)

No.	SNo	Team	Team	Pts.	MP	Res.	:	Res.	MP	Pts.	Team	Team	SNo
1	1	RUS	Russia	28½	15		:		17	28½	China	CHN	3
2	10	USA	United States of America	26½	16		:		16	27	Ukraine	UKR	2
3	19	VIE	Vietnam	28½	14		:		15	26½	Azerbaijan	AZE	11
4	13	HUN	Hungary	26	14		:		14	23	Slovenia	SLO	35
5	7	POL	Poland	27	14		:		14	25½	Spain	ESP	15
6	12	ARM	Armenia	26	16		:		15	25	Georgia 1 *)	GEO1	4
7	17	MGL	Mongolia	26	14		:		14	26½	India	IND	5
8	26	CZE	Czech Republic	27½	14		:		14	26	Georgia 2	GEO2	14
9	23	SRB	Serbia	24½	14		:		14	26	Kazakhstan	KAZ	8
10	22	CUB	Cuba	25½	14		:		14	26½	France	FRA	6

If Russia beats China then the winner of USA and Ukraine would have chance to win the gold. If the top board ends in a win for China or even a draw, then China wins the gold because their tiebreak is really very good. If China beats Russia and one of USA or Ukraine win, then it leaves it open for other teams on 15 and 14 points to fight for the bronze.

The medal statistics if the tournament ended in ten rounds!

The Chinese and US guys are excellently matched. If I had to pick a board where one side is a favourite it would be Bu Xinagzhi against Nakamura. Naka is higher rated by over 50 Elo points. But seeing Nakamura's form we can conclude that this too will be a well fought encounter.

Russia have a clear edge over France. At least on boards two and three where Nepo and Kramnik are clearly better than Bacrot and Fressinet. Bauer is also not as strong as Vitiuov, but the Frenchman is in excellent form in this tournament.

India against Poland is a well balanced encounter. When the tournament began I would have said India is the favourite in this match, but now after 10 rounds and seeing Poland's form, it is clear that the match is going to be a hard fought one.

The match between Russia and China is a mouth watering one. Even if Russia cannot overtake China on tiebreaks, it would be a great feat for them to beat the leaders and hence you can expect the Russian team to go all out against China. USA and Ukraine will be fighting it out for the silver medal. And who knows if Russia does beat China, the winner of USA and Ukraine will win the gold.