9/6/2012 – Sic transit gloria mundi. Yesterday the Russians were leading by two points, today they lost sensationally to the USA and now share the lead with three other teams. "The Olympiad has become a whole different tournament," writes our GM analyst Alejandro Ramirez. "It will be a sick bloodfest in the last two rounds." In the women's section China still leads.
Report with GM commentary.
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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.
Round nine
Russia's big advantage in the Open section melted in one day as they went down
against USA, allowing three other teams to catch up on the shared first place.
Alex Onischuk and Sergey Karjakin made a relatively quick draw, and then Dmitry
Jakovenko outplayed the young Ray Robson.
But USA prevailed on the top two boards as Hikaru Nakamura (right) defeated
Vladimir Kramnik...
... and Gata Kamsky (left) defeated Alexander Grischuk.
Philippines' tremendous run was put to a stop by the powerful Chinese team.
Ding Liren achieved another quick victory, and his team-mates followed the suit
to gain a huge 3-0 advantage. Wesley So was the only to take a draw for Philippines,
in the game against Wang Hao (picture below).
Armenia remained in the contention for the gold medal after defeating the European
champion Germany with 2.5-1.5 points. The decisive moment was when Georg Meier
blundered a queen in an approximately equal ending.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov played another excellent game to gain the lead for Azerbaijan
in the match against Poland. However, the well-prepared Radoslaw Wojtaszek,
who had been Vishy Anand's second for several years, defeated Teimour Radjabov
in his favourite King's Indian Defence. The other two games were drawn and the
match ended in a 2-2 tie.
Early stages of the match France vs Ukraine
The game Vassily Ivanchuk-Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was very interesting (see
video lecture by GM Daniel King below). The French player practically "forced"
Ivanchuk to execute the typical Sicilian sacrifice on d5. Black defended well
for awhile, but apparently he forgot about the danger hiding behind the opening
of the g-file. Ivanchuk efficiently concluded the game. Another Ukrainian victory
by Aleksandr Moiseenko sealed the fate of the French team.
Netherlands are making their way to the top as they defeated Israel thanks
to Loek Van Wely's swift victory against Emil Sutovsky and Jan Smeets' effort
on the 4th board.
China (above right) continued their winning streak by defeating France. Again
the top two boards were at work, securing the final score of 3-1 in the favour
of China.
India's top board: GM Harika Dronavalli
Russia drew with black, won with white, for the overall score of 3-1 in the
match with India. Poland recovered from the drama in the previous two rounds
and scored a minimal win of 2.5-1.5 against Bulgaria. Jolanta Zawadzka delivered
the decisive punch.
Ukraine vs USA in the ninth round
Kazakhstan edged the equally talented team of Uzbekistan by a narrow margin
2.5-1.5. Ukraine and Armenia beat USA and Iran respectively by 3-1, while Azerbaijan
stunned the third seeded Georgia. Israel shocked the higher-rated Serbia by
imposing them a 3-1 defeat.
Armenia vs Iran, with GM Elina Danielian vs WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan on board
one
Summaries from the official web site,
photos by David Llada, Arman Karakhanyan, Anastasiya Karlovich
Game of the day commentary by GM Alejandro Ramirez
The Olympiad is full of good teams. But there are different types of 'good
teams'. For example, China is a very solid team with not a huge level difference
between boards 1 and 5. Armenia has a spectacular first board but none of the
others cross 2700. Ukraine and Russia are just beastly teams, fielding 2700s
on their last board. The US is an interesting team. Being the country that I
represent now, I know their ins and outs. Essentially, there is a large contingency
of players trying to get into board 4 and 5. Akobian, Shankland, Robson, Hess,
Seirawan, and now Gareev will all be rather close in that race. However, as
strong as these GMs are, they are unfortunately not quite the level of Jakovenko,
Russia's top level 4th board. In these cases, it is up to the team 'super-stars',
Kamsky and Nakamura, to pull through and take the match. In essence, this is
exactly what happened today. The USA upsets Russia to catch up with then and
make this an unpredictable Olympiad.
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Move
N
Result
Elo
Players
1.e4
1,185,008
54%
2421
---
1.d4
959,510
55%
2434
---
1.Nf3
286,503
56%
2441
---
1.c4
184,834
56%
2442
---
1.g3
19,892
56%
2427
---
1.b3
14,600
54%
2428
---
1.f4
5,954
48%
2377
---
1.Nc3
3,911
50%
2384
---
1.b4
1,791
48%
2379
---
1.a3
1,250
54%
2406
---
1.e3
1,081
49%
2409
---
1.d3
969
50%
2378
---
1.g4
670
46%
2361
---
1.h4
466
54%
2382
---
1.c3
439
51%
2425
---
1.h3
289
56%
2420
---
1.a4
118
60%
2461
---
1.f3
100
47%
2427
---
1.Nh3
93
66%
2506
---
1.Na3
47
62%
2476
---
Please, wait...
1.Nf3Nf62.g3g63.Bg2Bg74.c4c65.d4d56.cxd5cxd57.Nc3Ne4This rather dull line of the
Gruenfeld has been used for decades to equalize. Black is always suffering a
little, but at acceptable levels.8.Qb3Nxc39.bxc30-010.Nd2e611.e4Nc612.0-0Na513.Qd1Qc714.Qf3b615.Ba3Rd816.e5Ba617.Rfe1Black
has a bind on the light squares and pressure over c3. It seems that he really
solved all his opening problems somewhere along the lines. After all, those
queen maneouvers did look a little too fancy.Rac818.Bb4Bh619.Qd1Nc620.Ba3Na521.Bb4Nc622.Ba3Na5Playing Black, with Jakovenko already having
a slight edge against Robson and Karjakin and Grischuk being seeminly solid
against Onischuk and Kamsky respectively, it seemed smart for Kramnik to go
for a draw. I think any strong player would realize that any move but Bb4 leaves
white in a worse position, so they would go for it. However, Naka is just a
fighter. It's this bloodthirst that will make him one of the next 2800s.23.Nb1By all means dubious, of course.b5?!I also don't like this move. It
seemed better to chase the bishop away before pushing b5.23...Nc424.Bc1Bf824...Bxc1!?25.h4b524.h4Nc625.Bc5Qb826.Qe2Na5Honestly
I'm surprised at Kramnik's last few moves. They were just very clumsy. Not that
he is worse just yet, but he could've put on more pressure.27.Nd2Rxc528.dxc5Qc8?!28...Qc7!∞29.Nf3?!29.Nb3b429...Nc430.a430.Qc2±29...Qxc530.Nh2Bg730...Qxc3!31.Ng4Bd232.Red1Nc4seems a little dangerous but Black's pieces hold White's quite easily.
Maybe Kramnik didn't fancy this variation.31.h5g5?But this is just
bad. I don't know what Kramnik was thinking giving up his g-pawn for the h-pawn.
And I can't believe he would miss h6.32.h6Bxh633.Qh5Bg734.Qxg5Nc635.Ng4Qe736.Qxe7Nxe737.a4With the trade of queens Black's compensation
completely evaporated. The rooks are now free to attack all those weak pawns,
specially the one on a7. An exchange is an exchange so Kramnik muddies the waters.d438.axb5Bxb539.Rxa7d339...Nf540.cxd4Nxd441.Nf6+Bxf642.exf6is probably just a matter of time for White's victory.40.Rxe7d241.Rd1Be242.Ne3Bxe5 White's up a rook now, but he has to deal with that passed
pawn on d2. He should just be winning though.43.c4h544.Ra7h445.Ra2?!It's like players in this game just didn't like pawns.45.gxh4Bf446.Raa1should win, but maybe Hikaru didn't like his pieces being so tied up.45...Bxd146.Nxd1hxg347.fxg3Bxg348.c5f5?Another mistake. For some
reason Black cuts off his own king on the 8th rank. Much better was to first
put it on g7 and then push f5. Black's pawns are not particularly fast so I
don't know why he is in such a hurry to push them.49.Ra7e550.c6e451.Bh3Rc852.Ra6Rf8?52...Re8probably loses anyways, but it doesn't lose
as easily.53.Kf1Bd654.Ke2f4!55.Bg455.Kxd2e3+=55...f3+56.Kxd2Bb4+57.Kc1Bd6And White still has a lot of work to do. Though I'm not
doubting that he is winning.53.Ra5f4With the Bishop sealed away from
the c7 square, Black's position cannot be held.54.Kf1?!54.Rg5+Kh755.Rxg3fxg356.c7was also possible, as White will pick up all the pawns easily,
and I trust Hikaru can mate with a bishop and a knight, blindfolded and with
15 seconds on the clock, despite what people on Playchess.com suggested.54...e355.Ke2Rf6This loses instantly (as opposed to losing slowly), but I can't
put another question mark on a high level game without starting to feel bad.56.Ra8+Kg757.Ra7+Rf758.Rb7Kf659.Kf3Re760.Rxe7Kxe761.c7e2One
last hope. Kxe2 draws, but Hikaru is on top of things.62.c8N+A spadey
underpromotion seals the deal. White is just up too much material.Kf663.Kxe2Ke564.Bg2Bh465.Kxd2Kf566.Ke2Kg467.Nf2+Kg368.Bf3Bf6 Definitely
not the best played game ever. Ok, pretty far from that. But at the end the
result speaks volumes, USA edges out Russia after Kamsky wins a RB vs R endgame
against Grischuk, and the Olympiad has become a whole different tournament.
It will be a sick bloodfest at the top boards in the last two rounds. Stay tuned!1–0
Daniel King: Round 9 Play of the Day Vassily Ivanchuk-Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Andrew Martin: Game of the Day Rd 9: Lenier Dominguez vs Alexei Shirov
Summary of round 8 from the official video coverage
Live video coverage of the Olympiad
Remaining schedule of the Olympiad
There is live commentary of the most interesting games on Playchess.com,
beginning around half an hour after the games have started.
7 September 2012
15.00
10th Round
Daniel King
8 September 2012
Free Day
9 September 2011
11.00
11th Round, Closing
Daniel King
10 September 2011
Departure
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.
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
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