2016 Baku Rd11: US wins historic gold! China wins Women's

2016 Baku Olympiad

All games start at 3 p.m. local time = 1 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.

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Final round

Song and video that embody the Olympic spirit

The suspense was killing everyone: would the US close the deal and conclude its brilliant campaign with the oh-so-coveted gold?

The start of the round presented significant mismatches on all the top boards, whether the US, Ukraine, or Russia. In a way the tournament was going full circle: after starting with mismatches in the first rounds until only the leaders were left to fight each other, now the leaders had already done battle among themselves and weaker teams were what were left.

Board one was the United States of course, facing an astonishingly successful Canada. Canada has certainly had a few grandmasters over the years, but as a team they aren’t the ones you expect to be positioning themselves for a possible medal at the end of the Olympiad, and yet that was precisely what was going on as they entered the last round at a tentative fourth place on tiebreak. Obviously a medal meant scoring against the US, but the chance, however slim, was there.

The action started with Evgeny Bareev against Fabiano Caruana (photo by E. Kublashvili)

The team was bolstered by the arrival of former Russian GM Evgeny Bareev, who played first board, and while it was not he who had done the heavy scoring to reach this point, he took on all the biggest guns of rival teams and was a stalwart rock on board one, playing all eleven rounds. His challenge now was to find a way to hold Fabiano Caruana.

Fabiano was everything one could hope for in the US team. He did more than just neutralize the top boards of rival teams, such as Magnus Carlsen no less, he scored crucial points when needed the most. The last round was just such an instance as he defeated Bareev in the quickest game of the match.

Anton Kovalyov was one of Canada's stars, a word that fully applies (photo by Paul Truong)

Board two was 24-year-old Anton Kovalyov, who has already made waves in Baku before, when he somehow survived not one, but two elite matches in the World Cup. In fact, he had been so shocked, he had been forced to change his flight arrangements as he had booked a flight home the day of the first round, expecting to be eliminated just as soon. Now, in the Olympiad, the young talent enjoyed a rush of form that was hard to believe, and finished on 8.0/10 with a 2852 performance.

Hikaru Nakamura was a true soldier and played all eleven rounds (photo by David Llada)

Playing for the US was Hikaru Nakamura, also scoring when needed, but who had suffered a minor setback in round ten, when ill, he lost to Georgian GM Mchedlishvili. Hikaru did not back down, and played all eleven rounds, and opted to keep it simple and contain Kovalyov and drew.

Board three for Canada was 40-year-old GM Alexandre Lesiege, rated 2512, and who also did his duty and then some with a 2585 performance, but his opponent was a sizzling hot Wesley So.

Wesley had recently won the elite Sinquefield Cup, and brought all that confidence and form to the Olympiad and more. He soundly defeated Lesiege, scoring 8.5/10 in total with a 2896 performance as well as a gold medal for board three. (photo by David Llada)

Wesley So - Alexandre Lesiege (annotated by GM Elshan Moradiabadi)

Board four had Sam Shankland once more taking the post, and as yet undefeated in the Olympiads, but he came against someone who had seen one step ahead. Facing him was Canada’s best scoring player (in points): 24-year-old Eric Hansen.

Both players had correctly guessed the opening of the game, but Eric’s preparation was the better and he emerged up a pawn, and inflicted Shankland’s first defeat. Although this was not enough to change the tale of the match, he can be proud of the result of Canada, and his magnificent 9.0/11 contribution with a 2738 performance. (photo by M. Emelianova)

Alejandro Ramirez has a quick chat with Eric Hansen

Former elite player, Alexander Beliavsky (left), was board one for Slovenia. He fell to Pavel Eljanov, whose victory contributed to a 3-1 win for Ukraine. (photo by M. Emelianova)

The main rival of the US, Ukraine, had come tied with the Americans in match points, behind on tiebreaks alone. The Ukrainians continued their fantastic onslaught, crushing the Slovenian team by 3.5-0.5. Much like the Americans, they had their share of miracle workers, such as Andrei Volokitin, who won yet again, taking gold medal on board four with 8.5/9 and a 2992 performance, the greatest of any player on any board.

The final medal match was played by Russia, who needed to win to guarantee none of the teams might threaten its bronze medal. They had no trouble beating Italy, scoring 3-1. (photo by E. Kublashvili)

Of special note, was Vladimir Kramnik’s win on board one. Not only did this net him the gold medal for board two, the board he had played on throughout the event, but his win catapulted him to a 2817 rating, which will appear in the next ratings list, his highest ever. (photo by E. Kublashvili)

Eteri Kublashvili and Anastasiya Karlovich, fixtures for the RCF and FIDE (photo by Paul Truong)

Still, the question on everyone’s mind was now that both teams had won their matches, who had taken gold? Incredibly, no one knew. While the first criterion was match points, where both US and Ukraine were tied, the next criterion was not game points, but Olympiad Sonneborn-Berger without the lowest result.

Even after both top matches were over the US team still had no idea if they had won gold or silver (photo by Paul Truong)

The basis of all Sonneborn-Berger tiebreak variants is to weight scores against high ranked opponents higher, which means winning against a team that finishes 5th is worth more than a victory over a team that finished 23rd even if their ratings were the same. Unfortunately that meant that victory for one or the other might lie not in the hands of the American or Ukrainian players, but some other team they had met earlier. The permutations are manifold as one can imagine, but to overcome the significant tiebreak score between the two teams, some experts wielding laptops and Excel spreadsheets concluded that if Ukraine won their final match by 3-1 and Germany failed to beat Estonia, then Ukraine would take gold.

Captain of the US Team, John Donaldson, begins doing calculations to try to figure out if the US won, and if not (yet) what they need to win

It seemed incredible, but even with both top table matches over, gold was going to be determined by table 28’s result, and it was not obvious. Germany had won their game on board one, but lost on board four, and tied board two. It all hinged on Matthias Bluebaum’s ability to win an endgame that until move 59 engines were declaring a resolute 0.00.

Both teams and many others were following this one game with unwavering focus, and one wonders whether Bluebaum knew that the winner’s fate lay entirely in his one game. Move 60 was the decider as the Estonian IM finally went astray, in a decisive blunder the German never forgave. (photo by Paul Truong)

The entire US team owes him a round of drinks, that is certain

It is fair to say that the US victory is their greatest ever result in a Chess Olympiad. Although it has been noted that although the Americans took gold in 1976 in Haifa, Israel, an event boycotted by the Soviet Union and many eastern bloc countries, weakening it considerably, their earlier victories in the 1930s were also without the Soviet participation. The Soviets only began participating in 1952, promptly winning it, it should be noted. The 2016 Open field not only has Russia in its lineup (though is missing Armenia sadly), but is also the largest field ever, with 170 teams present.

Garry Kasparov also commented that the United States had gone through the event without a single loss, a remarkable feat. Indeed they won nine matches and drew two. However, it should be pointed out that one other team went through the eleven rounds without suffering a defeat. Can you guess which? The answer is not one of the other top performers, but 18th place finisher Greece! They won four matches, lost none, and drew seven! Note that this included matches such as a draw with Slovenia, which ended in two wins each.

The Indian team that had started so strong, lost their chance to medal after losing both their matches to the US and Ukraine, and finished in fourth place. (photo by Paul Truong)

Alejandro Ramirez enjoys a quick chat with GM Vidit Gujrathi, one of India's best scoring players

The surprise fifth place was Norway led by Magnus Carlsen. They were in a group of teams that ended with 16 match points thanks to their last round draw with India. However, what really gave them a boost in their tiebreaks was their huge win over Iran in round 10. (photo by M. Emelianova)

Being such overperformers, the Iranians, ranked 46th at the start, ended in 16th place, including a crushing win over Chile in the last round. It is clear they are very much on the rise, and can expect even more promising results in the future. As it stands, two of the players scored double grandmaster norms and can expect the title very soon.

First was untitled Parham Maghsoodloo, 16 years old, who more than justified his 2566 rating. He played all eleven rounds with 8.0/11 and a superb 2684 performance, facing nine grandmasters. (photo by Paul Truong)

17-year-old IM Shahin Lorparizangeneh (2478) also scored a double GM norm, adding 17 Elo to his rating as well. (photo by Paul Truong)

They were hardly the only ones, needless to say, such as Italy’s FM Luca Moroni, 16 years old, who finished with a double GM norm as well. (photo by M. Emelianova)

Finally, a special salute to IM Helgi Dam Ziska from the Faroe Islands, who is by far the highest rated player ever from the micronation (population under 50 thousand), and is now its first grandmaster thanks to his norms. Note that with a rating of 2546 FIDE, he has already fulfilled the ratings requirements by a healthy margin. In round four, Helgi (right) drew against Veselin Topalov. (photo by Paul Truong)

Daniel King has a quick chat with Yannick Pelletier (Switzerland) asking him his impressions of the team and more

GM Maurice Ashley explains how he became the coach of the Ivory Coast

Women’s Event

The Women’s competition really came down to the epic match on table one. It isn’t that other matches were utterly denuded of interest, but with China facing Russia in a showdown for the gold, it was easily the center of attention. China only needed to win or draw the match to secure gold, but if Russia were to pull off an upset, not nearly as farfetched as the top matches in the Open section, they could conceivably snatch gold, though tiebreaks would still decide their fate.

The match was certainly all the fans had hoped for with hard-fought games on all boards. Russia’s attempt to torpedo China’s gold was thwarted though, and it was a team gold for the first time in 14 years, and the first with Hou Yifan. (photo by M. Emelianova)

Although Hou Yifan never quite scored as heavily as her fans might have hoped, the overall team was made up for it, such as WGM Tan Zhongyi on board three, rated 2475, but finished with 9.0/11 and a 2565 performance. (photo by David Llada)

99 seconds with Yuanling Yuan (Canada)

While Ukraine certainly did well, finishing in third, the true surprise of the event was without question Poland. Although they were consistently in the top three in the standings from round eight onward, the expectation each time was that another team would take their place the next round or after. If this seems unjust, consider that they had never achieved better than bronze, and ranked seventh this time, 100 Elo behind Ukraine and Russia, and more than that behind China, there was no reason to expect a miracle. Yet, they pulled it off in the end, with a magnificent 3.5-0.5 defeat over Hungary, ranked 8th, edging out Ukraine on tiebreak and taking a historic silver.

Team Poland pulled off a small miracle in not only penetrating the podium ahead of the numerous much higher rated rivals, but taking silver (photo by Paul Truong)

Janelle Mae Frayna from the Philippinnes scored a double WGM norm (photo by David Llada)

Closing Ceremony

All photos by Maria Emelianova

Open event

Team USA with their historic gold: Hikaru Nakamura, John Donaldson (captain), Sam Shankland, Ray Robson, Wesley So, and Fabiano Caruana

The Russian team: Ian Nepomniachtchi, Andrei Filatov (captain), Alexander Motylev, Vladimir Potkin, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Sergey Karjakin, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Grischuk

Ukraine won the Gaprindashvili Cup, an award to the country with the best combined score of both Open and Women's teams

Gold Medal for Board one: Leinier Dominguez (silver), Baadur Jobava (gold), Fabiano Caruana (bronze)

Gold Medal for Board two: Vladimir Kramnik (gold), Jorge Cori (bronze), missing is Anton Kovalyov (silver)

Gold Medal for board three: Zoltan Almasi (silver), Wesley So (gold), Eugenio Torre (bronze)

The podium with Ukraine (silver), USA, (gold), and Russia (bronze) (click on photo for large version)

Women's event

China wins gold after a 14-year wait: Ju Wenjun, Tan Zhongyi, Guo Qi, Hou Yifan, Zhao Xue, Yu Shaoteng (captain)

Poland wins silver for their best result ever: Matlak Marak (captain), Mariola Wozniak, Klaudia Kulon, Karina Szczepkowska-Horowska, Jolanta Zawadzka, Monika Socko

Ukraine took bronze: Anna Ushenina, Natalia Zhukova, Mariya Muzychuk, Anna Muzychuk

Gold Medal for Board one: Hou Yifan (silver), Anna Muzychuk (gold), and Pia Cramling (bronze)

Gold Medal for Board two: Ju Wenjun (silver), Valentina Gunina (gold), Deimante Daulyte (bronze)

Final round games (with times per move)

Select games from the list below the board

Final Open standings