2012 Chess Olympiad Istanbul: Round five

The 40th Chess Olympiad is scheduled to take 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.

Round five

Armenian Super GM and World #2 Levon Aronian (above middle, with team-mate Sergei Movsesian and Armenian trainer Arshak Petrosian) played the only decisive game in the match against Vassily Ivanchuk. Aronian went up an exchange and sealed the fate of Ivanchuk and the Ukrainian team a few moves later. Armenia scored a 2,5-1,5 victory.

The Russian and Hungarian teams engaged on the second match table, pitting the long-time friends and competitors Kramnik and Leko (above) against each other. The spectators were happy to see something that wasn't a Petroff between these two players. 32 moves later a quiet draw was taken. But on the board next to them Grischuk slashed and hacked at Almasi's defenses until all that was left was yet another simple tactical sequence to finish him off. The Russians had stuck the proverbial fork into their Hungarian competitors and finished them off 2,5-1,5.

The Azeri and Chinese teams demolished their Canadian and Iranian counterparts with a 3,5-0,5 score in each case, while France suffered their first loss against the Croatian team with score of 2,5-1,5. On the fifth match table we saw the USA held to yet another draw by the Czech team. The US team has their work cut out for them, still having to face the chess giants of Armenia, Russia, Ukraine, China, and Azerbaijan.

Round five: Top twenty team pairings – Open

In the Women Section Russia quickly secured the decisive advantage against France, with the two victories on the lower boards. Sophie Milliet could only reduce the losing margin after the European Champion Valentina Gunina ran into a checkmate. Russia won 2,5-1,5 to assume sole lead as the only team with a perfect score.

Serbia once again excelled as they defeated their Bulgarian neighbors by a score of 2,5-1,5. Ana Benderac, returning to the playing arena after being a captain for several years, won against Elitsa Raeva. The experienced Margarita Voiska turned the tables against Andjelija Stojanovic to even the score, but Maria Manakova continued to play in fantastic shape to score her 5th consecutive victory and bring two match points for Serbia.

Poland achieved a narrow victory against Greece, thanks to Jolanta Zawadzka, while Slovakia won with the same result against Latvia, where Veronika Machalova won the crucial game on the fourth board.

Harika Dronavalli made a good start for India in the match with China as she held the World Champion Hou Yifan to a draw with the black pieces. Yifan admitted that she couldn't find any advantage against the ultra-solid defence. Indian IM Karavade carelessly maneuvered a knight into enemy territory with no where to escape. On the bottom three boards the Chinese team scored three victories to obliterate the Indian team with a 3,5-0,5 score.

Georgia and Ukraine, as well as Slovenia and Israel, tied their matches with draws on all four boards. The US suffered a devastating 3-1 loss against Vietnam, who gave up an average of 158 rating points to the Americans. Perhaps the US players were bored to death with the lifeless London System showing up on boards 1 and 3 and dropped their defences, losing those games. Interestingly enough boards 2 and 4 both saw Caro-type formations for the Vietnamese ladies, where they split the games.

Round five: Top twenty team pairings – Women

Top rankings after five rounds

• Full rankings: Open – Women

Summaries from the official web site,
photos by David Llada, Arman Karakhanyan, Anastasiya Karlovich

Game of the day commentary by GM Alejandro Ramirez

The top two matches in today's rounds were something everyone was waiting for. Hungary vs. Russia and Ukraine vs. Armenia. Between these four countries, they have taken the great majority of Chess Olympiads, with only USA (1931, 1933, 1935, 1937 and 1976), Germany (1939), Poland (1930) and Yugoslavia (1950) having taken a Gold Medal from them. With chess becoming more and more competitive in many countries, it is unclear how long this supremacy will last. But for now, they are still among the definite favorites.

Polgar sisters united in Istanbul

The visite of the middle sister Sophia Polgar in Istanbul was an incredibly pleasant surprise for both other sisters. Susan lives in the USA, Judith lives in Hungary and Sophia in Israel, so the sisters rarely find a chance to get together.

Sophia emphasized that she is very happy not only to meet her sisters, but also to be at the Olympiad, since she hadn’t participated in oner herself for 15 years. Susan, when asked whether she is going to come back as an active chess player, said that she is very much involved in educational activities doesn’t feel like entering the arena again. Judith told journalists about her web site and series of books “Judith Polgar teaches chess”, the first volume of which is “How I beat Fisher’s record”. The book is based on the games played by Judith starting from six year until the year 1991 and includes different chess and emotional memories. Judith is looking forward to hold the book in her hands herself, because it’s like her small baby.

Daniel King: Istanbul Olympiad 2012 round 5 Play of the Day

Andrew Martin: Game of the Day Rd 5 – Bator Sambuev vs Teimour Radjabov

Live video coverage of the Olympiad

Remaining schedule of the Olympiad

Some hours after the end of each round we will be posting video summaries by Daniel King on our news page. If possible they will appear on the same night, otherwise early the next morning. We also expect best-game video commentary from Andrew Martin.

Links Official event web site All available games in zipped PGN: Open + Women All ChessBase reports on the Olympiad The top games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.