2012 Chess Olympiad Istanbul: Round ten

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 ten comments by GM Alejandro Ramirez

The match situation was of course, very tense. With four teams tied for first place it seemed like anything could happen. Of course, the match-up of the day was China-USA, which ended in a victory for the Chinese after Ding Liren managed to convert a seemingly drawn endgame against usually super solid Alexander Onischuk. The rest of the games were relatively uneventful draws, though you could say that USA was slightly lucky to get the full 1.5/3 on those boards.

On the second table was a very unexpected match. Argentina is by no means a 'weak' team. They field four GMs near 2600, but by Olympiad standards they are nothing special. Yet somehow, after losing a match to Poland and drawing India, they find themselves only one point behind the leaders. Since Russia had already played the other teams with 15 points, they had to 'bring up' someone. The match should've been somewhat easy for the top ranked team, at least in theory. However Russia really suffered, their black pieces being held to draws with no problems and Sandro Mareco putting on the pressure (as black!) against Jakovenko. Unfortunately for the latin community Mareco could only draw and Flores lost disastrously to Karjakin in a miniature. Russia prevails with their typical 2.5-1.5 and joins the Chinese in the lead.

The last team with 15 points was Armenia, who got a strong opponent in the Netherlands. The Dutch team started the Olympiad horribly, losing to Venezuela (!) and Georgia in rounds 2 and 3, but they recovered and bested Israel in the last round. However, Armenia showed them why they have been playing nothing but the top boards the entire event.

Akopian also won with black after Sokolov pushed his pawns too far in an Exchange Slav and a timely piece sacrifice left White's pawns too weak to defend. The ensuing endgame proved that four passed connected pawns have more potential value than a knight. Specifically four queens more valuable. Armenia took the match and set up a heartstopping last round. Since the top three teams already played each other, they will be pulling up from the trailers, Ukraine at 16, USA, Hungary, Poland and Germany at 15. Will the top teams maintain their momentum? Who will lose the gold medal in the very last game? Sunday will be a big day.

Round ten summary

The Open Section will see an exciting finish as three teams are entering the final round with equal points: China, Armenia and Russia (sorted according to tie-break score).

The Chinese team with Bu Xiangzhi, Ding Liren, Wang Yue and Wang Hao

China's top striker Ding Liren nicely outplayed Alexander Onischuk in a rook endgame, and with the other three games being drawn, China signed an important victory against USA.

Russia assumed a quick lead against Argentina as Diego Flores lost a wandering knight to Sergey Karjakin right from the opening. But Argentinians held two draws with white pieces and Sandro Mareco pressed hard against Dmitry Jakovenko. Mareco was a pawn up but he couldn't convert the advantage and the match finally ended in Russia's favour.

Armenia achieved a relatively easy win against Netherlands. Levon Aronian won a nice game against Anish Giri (above), while Vladimir Akopian sacrificed a piece for three pawns and proceeded to an endgame where his phalanx was unstoppable. Armenia won 3-1. Ukraine leaped ahead to the fourth place thanks to a narrow 2.5-1.5 victory against Azerbaijan. Czech Republic took an early lead with David Navara's win, but then the Polish team switched the gear and won the remaining three games.

As the leaders have already played against each other, in round 11 they are paired against teams in the lower point groups: Ukraine-China, Hungary-Armenia and Russia-Germany.

Round ten: Top twenty team pairings – Open

Women

In the Women Section the things are heating up again as the 22nd-seed Kazakhstan bravely drew against the leading China. WIM Guliskhan Nakhbayeva held the World Champion Hou Yifan to a draw, while Madina Davletbayeva totally outplayed Ding Yixin. Zhao Xue could only even up the score with a victory against Gulmira Dauletova.

Kazakhstan vs China with Guliskhan Nakhbayeva facing Hou Yifan

Russia convincingly defeated Armenia by 3.5-0.5, as Lilit Galojan was the only player to make a draw for her team. Russia is now even with China in the term of match points, while China still holds some edge in the tie-break.

Poland vs Ukraine, with GM Monika Socko facing GM Kateryna Lahno on board one

Ukraine narrowly beat Poland 2.5-1.5, with Natalia Zhukova bringing the key point, and is now in serious contention for one of the medals.

The Peruvian teams, with the hero of the day, Deysi Estela Cori Tello, front right

From the other matches, it should be noted that the 2011 World Junior Champion Deysi Cori beat the top-rated player in the section, Anna Muzychuk (2606), as Peru defeated Slovenia by 2.5-1.5.

Round ten: Top twenty team pairings – Women

Top rankings after ten rounds

• Full rankings: Open – Women

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

Daniel King: Round 10 Play of the Day – Giri vs Aronian

Andrew Martin: Game of the Day Rd 10: Kasimdzhanov vsTopalov

Summary of round ten from the official video coverage

Coming soon...

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 and Andrew Martin on our news page. If possible they will appear on the same night, otherwise early the next morning.

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.