9/2/2016 – The 2016 Baku Olympiad certainly lives up to its name with no fewer than 180 teams ranging from Russia to Djibouti in the Open section, and 140 teams in the Women's section. The opening round saw results that reflected the huge rating disparities, with the occasional heroic result, but the greatest surprise was without a doubt Bulgaria's draw against Sudan, in which two of the Bulgarian fell prey to their Sudanese opponents. Big report with GM commentary.
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2016 Baku Olympiad
All games start at 3 p.m. local time = 15 p.m. in Europe (CEST), one hour earlier in Britain, and 2 p.m. in Moscow. You can find the starting time at your location here.
The numbers are unquestionably impressive: 894 players in the Open section, including a staggering 253 grandmasters, and a similar number of masters, while the Women’s section has 693 players, of which 435 are titled.
It all started with a spectacular Opening Ceremony (see footage at 2:00)
The teams are all immensely strong needless to say though the lineups are not without a few surprises and omissions. At the very top of the Open section is the Russian team, which comes as no surprise. Their average rating of 2768 is comprised of Sergey Karjakin on first board, followed by Vladimir Kramnik, Evgeny Tomashevksky, Ian Nepomniachtchi, and finally Alexander Grischuk. Considering just how deep the talent runs in Russia, one could bring up names such as Svidler, Andreikin, and more, but it is just the nature of such a situation. In spite of their favoritism on paper, the Russians have not taken gold since 2002, the last time Kasparov himself played, a reminder of just how tough the competition is.
Russia, with Sergey Karjakin on board one, had no issues with Nigeria (photo by Eteri Kublashvili)
In second, with only three Elo separating them, is the US team with an average rating of 2765 FIDE, and it should be noted that the top three boards outrate any other three, with Top Ten names Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, and Wesley So, followed by Ray Robson and Sam Shankland to bolster the last board.
Sam Shankland (USA) - Joan Fernandez Lopez (Andorra)
White wins a piece here. Can you see how? Hint: be wary of the 'obvious'
In third is China, with a stellar lineup of their own, including Ding Liren, Li Chao, Wang Yue, Yu Yangyi, and of course the Chinese talent Wei Yi. It should be noted that not one of their players is over 30, though the US team can make a similar claim, and if it comes down to youth, Iran’s mostly teenage team probably has the strongest claim.
Anish Giri won his first game, and posted a tongue-in-cheek Tweet
With such a massive tournament, one could easily go on and on, justifiably so, but of note also are the missing members. The most noteworthy is the absence of the entire team of Armenia, which for geopolitical reasons has refused to send a team, a true loss for chess as they won gold no fewer than three out of the last five Olympiads.
Israel is both there and not, and is unlikely to vie for any medals this time, despite having taken silver in 2008 and bronze in 2010 ahead of much higher rated rivals. For reasons that are related to issues between the government, the federation and the top players, none of the top players such as Gelfand or Sutovsky will be playing.
Many teams sought out coaching help from foreign players. Above, Ivory Coast brought in GM Maurice Ashley to help, but other examples include Bulgarian GM Georgiev who is the captain of Egypt's team, Polish GM Krasenkov who is captain of Turkey, and GM Ivan Sokolov who is helping Iran.
Team Jamaica (photo by Eteri Kublashvili)
The Women’s section also has their outright favorites and here we already have the first surprise. The Chinese team is the clear top seed with an average 2560 rating, with Hou Yifan on first board, followed by Ju Wenjun, Zhao Xue, Tan Zhongyi and Gui Qi. They outrate their nearest rivals by 55 Elo, the second seed…. Ukraine! It has been such a consistent story of numbers for the last years: China and Russia fighting over the top honors that it was easy to not realize that a change had taken place, even if by a single Elo point, and this year Ukraine is the second seed with a 2505 average, led by Anna Muzychuk, Mariya Muzychuk, Natalia Zhukova, Anna Ushenina (all GMs) and Inna Gaponenko.
Hou Yifan missed out on the first round, but nor was she needed (photo by Rasim Huseynov)
The Russian Women's team have taken gold ahead of China in the last three Olympiads
Aleksandra Goryachkina is playing on Russia's second board (photo by Eteri Kublashvili)
The opening day saw a number of fascinating results and mishaps, some at the board and some off. For the most part, aside from the occasional draws here or there, the favorites won by massive scores. In the Open section, the top ten matches saw the favorites drop only a single draw out of 40 games. Mind oyu, though favorites, there were chances of more upsets, such as Wesley So, who found himself facing a full grandmaster right off the bat, but he held his cool and won cleanly.
Round one highlights by GM Daniel King
Yusuf Ndoe proudly representing Team Tanzania! (photo by David Llada)
Match preparation taken to the next level. Notice the elaborate nail polish. (photo by David Llada)
Diana Real Pereyra from Mexico stares down her opponent (photo by David Llada)
There were some surprises though, at least for those watching the games. Spectators watching online were shocked to see England being wiped out by the IBCA, the team of blind players. No disrespect meant to the IBCA players, all of whom are full-fledged masters in their own right, but a surprise whitewash against England seemed incredible.
Just logged into watch England's 1st round at #bakuchess - What's happening? Is there a transmission error? Are we losing to IBCA?
A similar tale was told of Iran, who were facing a massacre by the team from Botswana, losing on all boards. Thankfully, it turned out to be merely a technical glitch that had inverted the names in the transmissions, and the corrected scores brought sighs of relief to many.
I feel embarrassed that I ever doubted England. (Even for a split second)
Then there was the astonishing result by Bulgaria. Facing a quite modest team by Sudan, and enjoying a majestic Topalov on board one, they showed an incredible 2-2 result at the end. Was this yet another case of equipment malfunction? No, indeed. Was this perhaps a highly unfortunate result of catastrophic blunders by two of the Bulgarian players? This would seem the most likely explanation, but the truth was even more startling: the two Sudanese players had quite simply outplayed their much higher rated opponents as if their Elos had been inverted. See for yourself.
Mohamed Abdalla Abdelazeez - Martin Petrov (annotated by GM Elshan Moradiabadi)
[Event "42nd Olympiad Baku 2016 Open"] [Site "Baku"] [Date "2016.09.02"] [Round "1.8"] [White "Abdelazeez Mohamed Abdalla"] [Black "Petrov, Martin"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E15"] [WhiteElo "2183"] [BlackElo "2458"] [Annotator "Elshan Moradiabadi"] [PlyCount "99"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] [EventCountry "AZE"] [WhiteTeam "Sudan"] [BlackTeam "Bulgarien"] [WhiteTeamCountry "SUD"] [BlackTeamCountry "BUL"] [TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"] [WhiteClock "0:34:02"] [BlackClock "0:22:54"] {This could easily be a master vs. amateur game. It is indeed one, however, in this game the weaker player, Elo-wise, demonstrates great understanding and beats a strong International Master.} 1. d4 {0} Nf6 {0} 2. c4 {0} e6 {1} 3. Nf3 {0} b6 {51 Petrov decides to play it classical: A Queen's Indian ladies and gentlemen!} 4. g3 {12} Bb4+ {345 After a long thought. Presumably, Petrov wanted to win this game and then he decided to choose something less common than the main line.} 5. Nbd2 $1 {65 A great choice by Abdelazeez! The exclamation mark is not because of this move's strength but it is for its psychological value! White will have a very solid position and although this is not an ambitious continuation for White, it definitely keeps White's position solid and avoids complications!} (5. Bd2 c5 {is what probably Petrov was hoping for.}) 5... Ba6 {(376) Again, after a long time for an opening move. Petrov is obviously not happy with his choice of opening and he seeks some complications in which he may outplay his lower-rated opponent. But this move does not offer many complications, so he should have tried the following continuation if he wanted a very complicated game:} (5... Bb7 6. Bg2 c5 7. d5 $1 exd5 8. Nh4 O-O 9. O-O Re8 {[#] Well, this is not a nice position for Black with that aimless bishop on b4 but the position is really complex and both parties can go astray.} 10. Nb1 (10. Nf5 d6 11. a3 Bxd2 12. Qxd2 Ne4 13. Qf4 Re5 14. cxd5 Bxd5 15. Rd1 Nc6 16. Rxd5 Rxd5 17. Bxe4 Rd1+ 18. Kg2 Nd4 19. Qg4 g6 20. Bg5 gxf5 21. Bxf5 h5 22. Qxh5 Nxf5 23. Bxd8 { 1-0 (23) Bach,M (2337)-Reeh,O (2420) Hamburg 1999}) 10... d6 11. a3 Ba5 12. cxd5 b5 13. Nf5 Bc8 14. Ne3 Nbd7 15. Nc2 Ne5 16. b4 Bb6 17. Nc3 Bd7 18. Bg5 h6 19. Bxf6 Qxf6 20. bxc5 Bxc5 21. Ne4 Qg6 22. Nxc5 dxc5 23. e4 Nc4 24. Qd3 f6 { 0-1 (24) Moiseenko,A (2692)-Riazantsev,A (2684) Wroclaw 2014}) 6. Qc2 {11} Bb7 {41} 7. Bg2 {16} Be4 {71} 8. Qb3 {10} Nc6 $6 {138 Is Petrov after some tricks?} (8... Bxd2+ 9. Bxd2 O-O 10. O-O d6 11. Qe3 a5 12. b3 Nbd7 {Preserves equality for Black. Nevertheless, White has a risk-free solid position which he can try to imprve and even push for an advantage.} 13. Bc3 Re8 14. Bh3 Bb7 15. Rfd1 Qe7 16. Bb2 h6 17. Rac1 Qf8 18. Ne1 Rac8 19. Qd3 Qe7 20. Nc2 Ra8 21. Na3 Rec8 22. Nb5 a4 23. d5 axb3 24. axb3 e5 25. Ra1 Ba6 26. Nc3 Qd8 27. Ra2 Bb7 28. Rda1 Rxa2 29. Rxa2 Ra8 30. Qb1 c6 31. Bg2 cxd5 32. cxd5 b5 33. b4 Nb6 34. Rxa8 Qxa8 35. e4 Nc4 36. Bc1 Ba6 37. Bf1 Qc8 38. Qa2 Kh7 39. Kg2 Nd7 40. Bxc4 bxc4 41. Qa3 Bb7 42. Qa7 f5 43. Nb5 fxe4 44. Nxd6 Qf8 45. Qxb7 Qf3+ 46. Kg1 Nf6 47. Be3 Qd1+ {1/2-1/2 (47) Yilmaz,M (2570)-Sjugirov,S (2669) Moscow 2015}) 9. O-O {361} Bxd2 {142} 10. Bxd2 {18} O-O {82} (10... Bxf3 {does not work due to} 11. Qxf3 { A rare case of a pin over the long diagonal by the queen!}) 11. Qe3 $6 {418 Abdelazeez still follows the plan with d6 and Nbd7 but the queen on e3 here does not do much for White. Nevertheless, we cannot blame him because he is following exactly the same plan demonstrated by the expert of this opening, GM Pavel Tregubov} (11. Rfd1 h6 12. Qe3 $6 {Strangely, Tregubov made this one inaccurate move too.} (12. Bc3 $1 $14) 12... a6 (12... d5) 13. Bc3 Re8 14. Bh3 b5 15. b3 bxc4 16. bxc4 Rb8 17. Ne5 d6 18. f3 dxe5 19. dxe5 Nd5 20. cxd5 Bxd5 21. f4 Ne7 22. g4 Qc8 23. f5 Ba8 24. f6 Ng6 25. fxg7 Qb7 26. Kf2 Rbd8 27. Qxh6 Qb6+ 28. Qe3 Qxe3+ 29. Kxe3 Kxg7 30. Bf1 Rd5 31. Rxd5 Bxd5 32. Kf2 Bc4 33. e3 Bxf1 34. Rxf1 Rd8 35. Rc1 Rd5 36. Bd4 Ra5 37. Rxc7 Rxa2+ 38. Kg3 Ra5 39. h4 Kg8 40. h5 Nxe5 41. g5 Rb5 42. g6 fxg6 43. h6 Nf7 44. h7+ Kxh7 45. Rxf7+ Kh6 46. Re7 {1-0 (46) Tregubov,P (2628)-Romanishin,O (2559) Ohrid 2001}) 11... d5 {1034 } 12. b3 {1364} Rc8 {576} 13. Bc3 {246} Ne7 {151} 14. Rfd1 {519} Nf5 {212} 15. Qc1 {41 Petrov has managed to regroup his pieces but White still has the pair of bishops and more space.} Qd6 {270} 16. Bh3 $1 {209 A typically good move in this position. Now White wants to move his knight either to d2 or g5 to capture the bishop on e4.} Bxf3 {413} 17. exf3 {11 Petrov decideds to defend with two knights vs.two bishops.} Qc6 {314} 18. c5 $1 {542 Brilliant positional play by Abdelazeez! Great timing, the pawn on c5 cannot be taken because White first will capture f5 and then c5.} Rfe8 {399} (18... bxc5 $2 19. Bxf5 exf5 20. dxc5 Qxc5 $2 21. Bxf6 Qxc1 22. Raxc1 gxf6 23. Rxd5 {And Black is dead lost in this endgame.}) 19. b4 {71 Abdelazeez reminds us of Capablanca and Karpov! He gradually grinds his advantage through! Petrov is in trouble!} Rcd8 $2 {112 Probably shocked at how a player who is almost 300 Elo below him had outplayed him in 20 moves. Petrov starts to stall and hope for a mistake by his opponent. However, in my opinion this was a bad practical decision. Once a player is capable of demonstrating such a great positional skill, procrastination would only give him more time to increase his advantage, Petrov should have played bxc5 to complicate matters.} (19... bxc5 20. bxc5 (20. dxc5 d4 {could have happened, which would have considerably mitigated White's advantage.}) 20... Nd7) 20. a4 {144} bxc5 {35} 21. Bxf5 {374} (21. b5 { was better and decisive.} Qb6 22. dxc5 Qxc5 23. Bxf6 Qxc1 24. Raxc1 gxf6 25. Bxf5 exf5 26. Rxc7 {with a winning rook endgame.}) 21... exf5 {437 Petrov misses his chance but he really had to take the queenless endgame and should have tried to defend it.} (21... cxb4 22. Bxb4 Qxc1 23. Rdxc1 exf5 24. Rxc7 Rd7 25. Rac1 g6 26. Rxd7 Nxd7 27. Rc7 Nf8 28. Bc5 Ne6 29. Rxa7 Nxc5 30. dxc5 Re1+ 31. Kg2 Rc1 {with some drawing chances.}) 22. dxc5 {333} a5 $4 {384 It is a bad day at the office for Petrov. He blunders and forces himself into a lost endgame.} (22... d4 23. Bxd4 Qxf3) 23. b5 $1 {57} Qxc5 {57} 24. Bxf6 {10} Qxc1 {11} 25. Raxc1 {12} gxf6 {5} 26. Rxc7 {14} d4 {42} 27. Rd3 {14} (27. Kf1 { was much better which prevents Black's rook to enter the second rank.}) 27... Rd6 { 379} 28. Kg2 {90} (28. Kf1) 28... Kg7 {43} 29. Ra7 $6 {148} (29. f4 {was better and less challenging!}) 29... Re2 {10} 30. Rxa5 {358} Ra2 {10} 31. f4 $2 {322 Now it is already difficult for Abdelazeez to win.} Re6 $1 {80 Finally Petrov gets some active play in this game and he does not miss it!} 32. h3 $2 { 271 This is a weird move! White's advantage is all gone now.} Ree2 {23} 33. Rf3 {44} d3 {92} 34. b6 {80} Reb2 $4 {49 And Petrov lets the draw slip out of his hand! } (34... d2 35. Rd5 Rxa4 36. b7 Rb4 37. Rfd3 Rxb7 38. Rxd2 Rxd2 39. Rxd2 h5 40. h4 Kg6 $11) 35. Rb5 $1 {55} Rxb5 {25} 36. axb5 {16} d2 {20} 37. Rd3 {14} Rb2 {6 } 38. Rd5 $3 {91 A cold shower for Petrov! He had probably counted on Rxb5 but:} d1=Q {67} (38... Rxb5 39. Rxb5 d1=Q 40. b7 {Black has no check and White will assuredly promote!}) 39. Rxd1 {11} Rxb5 {5} 40. Rd6 {0 The rest is a matter of technique and considering the level of play Abdelazeez demonstrated, we can be sure that he had no difficulty winning this one. At least today!} Rb3 {0} 41. Kf1 { 37} Rb2 {17} 42. Ke1 {53} Kg6 {258} 43. Kd1 {41} Rxf2 {397} 44. Rd2 {11} Rf1+ { 21} 45. Kc2 {26} Re1 {6} 46. b7 {68} Re8 {6} 47. Rd7 {7} h5 {49} 48. h4 {5} Kg7 {24} 49. Rc7 {8} Rb8 {10} 50. Kd3 {And Abdelazeez and Sudan did it! 2-2 against Bulgaria with mighty Veslin Topalov in their lineup!} 1-0
If the Open section showed a strong tendency to favor the favorites, the Women’s section was far more so. The first favorite to concede even a draw was 15th seed Mongolia, and the only ‘scare’ in the top matchups was Greece’s narrow 2.5-1.5 victory over Sri Lanka on table 30. The favorites showed why they were favorites, and 400-500 Elo differences were not easily overcome. Observe the handiwork of Ukrainian IM Inna Gaponenko:
Inna Gaponenko (Ukraine) - Ana Ines Da Silva (Portugal)
White wins with a stylish finish
The opening round also saw the visit of the Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev visit the venue to make the symbolic first move. Naturally he did so on the first board of the Azeri team, where Shakhriyar Mamedyarov sat. This led to unexpected issues as the security then locked the venue from entrants, which included members of the press.
Accompanying this all, there was a high quality video crew filming it with live images of boards, players and more. There was also live commentary in English by GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko, GM Miguel Illescas, GM Susan Polgar and Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam.
Elshan Moradiabadi is a GM born and raised in Tehran, Iran. He moved to the US in 2012. Ever since, he has been active in US college chess scenes and in US chess.
Elshan co-authored "Chess and the Art of War: Ancient Wisdom to Make You a Better Player" with Al Lawrence. He has also published written articles for ChessBase, and edited opening materials for fellow authors.
Elshan Moradiabadi is a veteran instructor and teaches chess to every level, with students ranging from beginners to IM. He can be contacted for projects or teaching at his email.
The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the 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 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
Albert SilverBorn in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech.
Raymond, this is a further addition. When I and Seryhaber wrote, there was no information about Armenian on the article. Good to see they revised it.
Raymond Labelle 9/3/2016 05:13
"I counted 163 teams is this a record ?" Derek McGill
I did not count myself, but Daniel King, in the video presented on this page, states that there are 175 teams and that it indeed is a record.
Raymond Labelle 9/3/2016 05:12
Hi Igor,
There are these two paragraphs in the article of this page (right under the reproduction of Anish Giri's message).
"With such a massive tournament, one could easily go on and on, justifiably so, but of note also are the missing members. The most noteworthy is the absence of the entire team of Armenia, which for geopolitical reasons has refused to send a team, a true loss for chess as they won gold no fewer than three out of the last five Olympiads.
Israel is both there and not, and is unlikely to vie for any medals this time, despite having taken silver in 2008 and bronze in 2010 ahead of much higher rated rivals. For reasons that are related to issues between the government, the federation and the top players, none of the top players such as Gelfand or Sutovsky will be playing."
Seryhaber 9/3/2016 12:38
Not a word about the absence of Armenia?
Don't you think that a chess Olympiad without Armenia cannot be a complete success and is a bit like a sausage without mustard?
Derek McGill 9/3/2016 08:34
I counted 163 teams is this a record ?
Igor Freiberger 9/3/2016 01:01
Did I miss something or CB News completely forgot to mention the absence of Armenia? Geopolitics let one of the stronger teams out of Baku '16 and I think this deserves some news cover.
xrosstheh 9/2/2016 11:36
Rodwell Matoko had a good game game against Mamedyarov,.... He just missed one critical idea, otherwise, i feel he should have drawn....
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