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:
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1.d4Nf62.c4e63.Nc3Bb44.e30-05.Bd3d56.Nf3b6c5 is the main line but this idea
of fianchettoing and keeping the e4 control is also good.7.a3Bxc3+8.bxc3c68...Ba69.cxd5Bxd310.Qxd3exd5=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.cxd5cxd510.Qe2Nc611.0-0Na512.a4Re8The 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.Ne5Ne4maybe not terrible but I would have
developed.14.f3Nd614...Nxc315.Qc2+-15.Ba3Bb716.Bxd6!?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!Qxd617.f4g618.Qg4Nc419.Qg3Qc7?19...Qe720.Bxc4dxc421.f5exf522.Rxf5f623.Nxc4Rad8and Black is at least fine.20.Bxc4dxc421.f5!f621...exf522.Rxf5Bd523.Raf1Rf824.Qg5!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!It's all over now.fxe5At first I didn't get it. But Ivanchuk calculates quite well.23.Rf7Qc624.gxh7+!24.Raf1Qxg2+25.Qxg2Bxg226.gxh7+Kh827.Kxg2exd428.exd4e5is a very survivable endgame. Maybe the Chinese player was hoping
for this, which is not easy to hold, but possible.24...Kxf725.Rf1+Ke726.h8Q!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.Rxh827.Qg7+Kd6To the mere human, it is still unclear why the sacrifice works. To Ivanchuk,
this is child's play.27...Kd828.Qxh8+Qe828...Kc729.Rf7++-29.Rf8+-28.dxe5+!28.Qxe5+?Ke7leads to no more than a draw.28...Kd528...Kc529.Qe7+Kd530.Rd1+Ke431.Qg5with unstoppable mate.28...Kd529.Rd1+Ke430.Qg5This 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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