9/9/2012 – After ten rounds China was leading in both groups. But in the Open section they lost 1-3 to Ukraine, while Armenia and Russia both won. On tiebrake points Armenia took Gold, with Russia and Ukraine following with Silver and Bronze. In the Women's section China won 2.5-1.5, but the Russians beat Kazakhstan 4-0. There Russia won Gold, China and Ukraine got Silver and Bronze. Full report.
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The 40th Chess Olympiad is taking place in the Turkish metropole of Istanbul,
from August 27 to September 10th, 2012. A record of 158 national chess federations
have brought teams to Istanbul to participate in this prestigious event, which
is being staged in the WOW Hotel and Convention Center, just minutes away from
the airport.
Final round comments by GM Alejandro Ramirez
If China won their final round match, they would, for the first time, be Olympiad
champions in the Open section. It looked as if the dream was possible –
in fact China could win the Open and the Women's sections at the same time.
But it was not to be. Vassily Ivanchuk came to the board with nothing but brilliancy,
and slayed that dream before it even began to take off.
China vs Ukraine, with Wang Hao facing Vassily Ivanchuk on board one
On the other side of the playing hall, Russia showed no mercy against Kazakhstan,
and their 4-0 result allowed them to leapfrog China on tiebreak and take the
gold medal. A sour day for the Asian country, but it just goes to show you how
volatile these tournaments can be.
China vs Bulgaria, with Hou Yifan vs Antoaneta Stefanova, ended 2.5-1.5
...
... while Russia (right) thashed Kazakhstan 4-0 to snatch Gold from the Chinese
In the Open section, since China was out of the race by losing, it came down
to the matches between Hungary-Armenia and Russia-Germany. In what I can only
describe as a strange game Kramnik beat Naiditsch, Karjakin beat Fridman after
being up a pawn the whole game, and Russia took a 3-1 in a typical "let's
draw with black and win with white" approach to chess.
Russia with Alexander Grischuk and Vladimir Kramnik
Armenia would not give up, however. In a very unclear match both Leko and Polgar
were easily neutralized by Aronian and Akopian.
Gabriel Sargissian (left), however, was also not able to get anything at
all against Ferenc Berkes.
So it was all up to Sergei Movsesian (above), who had by any definition had
a bad Olympiad, and who was arguably the villain in the European Team Championship,
when his loss against Meier cost Armenia Gold. But this time he came through,
he had his shining moment, defeating Almasi and winning first place and Gold
for his team with the narrow 2.5-1.5 victory.
The victorious Armenian team, with Aronian, Movsesian, Akopian and Sargissian
(r.-l.)
The tiebreaks in this Olympiad are somewhat unpredictable, as they depend on
your previous opponent's results, so I'm sure it was not easy to see who was
going to finish in first place. Anyway, now that we
know what happened on the results, let's see Dream Slayer Ivanchuk in action
on the last round:
[Event "40th Olympiad 2012 Open1"] [Site "Istanbul"] [Date "2012.09.09"] [Round
"11"] [White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"] [Black "Wang, Hao"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E52"]
[WhiteElo "2769"] [BlackElo "2726"] [Annotator "Ramirez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount
"56"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] [EventCountry "TUR"] [WhiteTeam "Ukraine"] [BlackTeam
"China"] [WhiteTeamCountry "UKR"] [BlackTeamCountry "CHN"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6
3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 b6 {c5 is the main line but this idea
of fianchettoing and keeping the e4 control is also good.} 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3
c6 (8... Ba6 9. cxd5 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 exd5 $11 {this looks like it should give
Black an okay position. White will try to put the knight on e5 and then play
f3-e4, but Black should have resources.}) 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Qe2 Nc6 11. O-O Na5
12. a4 Re8 {The rook is not super active here on e8, but it was either move
it now or wait for White to kick it here with Ba3. White's position is definitely
more comfortable. Despite the weakness on c3: he has better piece play and the
possibility to go f3-e4 gaining central control. And let's not forget everyone's
favorite pair of bishops.} 13. Ne5 Ne4 {maybe not terrible but I would have
developed.} 14. f3 Nd6 (14... Nxc3 15. Qc2 $18) 15. Ba3 Bb7 16. Bxd6 $5 {I wouldn't
have made this trade, but that's why I'm not Ivanchuk. He sees the importance
of f4-f5, and to achieve this he is willing to part with the two bishop advantage.
At first it seems that this plan cannot be all that dangerous, but apparently
it was!} Qxd6 17. f4 g6 18. Qg4 Nc4 19. Qg3 Qc7 $2 (19... Qe7 20. Bxc4 dxc4
21. f5 exf5 22. Rxf5 f6 23. Nxc4 Rad8 {and Black is at least fine.}) 20. Bxc4
dxc4 21. f5 $1 f6 (21... exf5 22. Rxf5 Bd5 23. Raf1 Rf8 24. Qg5 $1 {Gives White
a winning attack for free. It is posible that Wang Hao simply missed fxg6. We
see in this variation why it was so important to keep the queen on e7 and not
c7. The pressure on the f-file is too great.}) 22. fxg6 $1 {It's all over now.}
fxe5 {At first I didn't get it. But Ivanchuk calculates quite well.} 23. Rf7
Qc6 24. gxh7+ $1 (24. Raf1 Qxg2+ 25. Qxg2 Bxg2 26. gxh7+ Kh8 27. Kxg2 exd4 28.
exd4 e5 $14 {is a very survivable endgame. Maybe the Chinese player was hoping
for this, which is not easy to hold, but possible.}) 24... Kxf7 25. Rf1+ Ke7
26. h8=Q $1 {This quiet move is, in essence, the point of the entire combination.
The quiet move distracts the rook to h8, where it is vulnerable and not doing
its defensive duties. We will see what I mean soon enough.} Rxh8 27. Qg7+ Kd6
{To the mere human, it is still unclear why the sacrifice works. To Ivanchuk,
this is child's play.} (27... Kd8 28. Qxh8+ Qe8 (28... Kc7 29. Rf7+ $18) 29.
Rf8 $18) 28. dxe5+ $1 (28. Qxe5+ $2 Ke7 {leads to no more than a draw.}) 28...
Kd5 ( 28... Kc5 29. Qe7+ Kd5 30. Rd1+ Ke4 31. Qg5 {with unstoppable mate.})
(28... Kd5 29. Rd1+ Ke4 30. Qg5 {This quiet move is the finishing touch of the
combination. White threatens both Qf4 and Rd4 mate, and Black cannot stop both
of them at the same time. The king covers the a8-g2 diagonal so there is no
desperado sacrifice or any check of any kind. A brilliancy you will find repeated
in many future tactics books to come. A heartbreaking day for China, and a tough
fight against Ukraine, who ended with the Bronze medal.}) 1-0
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