2016 Baku Rd4: Russia succumbs to Ukraine

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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Round four

The colorful figures in the Expo Zone show they know how to strike a pose (photo by David Llada)

What a dramatic round it was! Until now, we had mostly been trying to drum up the excitement based on some cool moves, the occasional minor upset (granted Georgia’s loss to Philipinnes was not ‘minor’), but really we were holding our breaths until the big boys began to bump horns. Today was that day, and my-oh-my was the wait worth it.

There is no point beating around the bush, it was all about top-seed Russia facing off against Ukraine. The reasons this was enough to hands rubbed in anticipation are manifold, and all worthy ones. The geopolitical tensions between the two nations recently are far beyond mere diplomatic spats, and what is more: the two countries are crazy about chess, with enormous national pride invested in the game, so you can be sure, the audience in their respective homes was huge.

Always cordial, always smiling... before the unsheathe their blades (photo by David Llada)

Russia’s stake is curiously a bit bigger since they have not won a gold medal in 14 years in spite of being the outright Elo favorites each and every time. For a country that boasts more grandmasters than any nation, a deeper culture and infrastructure around the game, it does strike one as slightly curious. Especially since the event does take place every two years, so it isn’t for lack of opportunities. In fact, with the absence of Armenia, one of the top rivals, and a debilitated Israel, this should be a golden chance, even if the US and China are obviously heavy-hitting contenders.

The match certainly started well for the Russians as Ian Nepomniachtchi drew first blood with a fairly painless win over Anton Korobov, but this was soon negated when Andrei Volotikin beat Alexander Grischuk on board four when the latter lost the thread of his game and went down in flames.

Caught napping, the Russian team went down (photo by David Llada)

This left two games: Pavel Eljanov who had some very small chances against Vladimir Kramnik but would require a small miracle to really break him down, and Ruslan Ponomariov against Evgeny Tomashevsky. In spite of being the lowest-rated of the four Russians playing, the decision to put him on board two, hoping to face Ponomariov must have seemed a clever one in view of the 7-3 score the Russian had against Ruslan (blitz games included).

Evgeny Tomashevksy - Ruslan Ponomariov (analyzed by GM Elshan Morodiabadi)

As soon as the Ukrainian won, Eljanov quit his attempts to keep the game against Kramnik going and quickly agreed to a draw. Their victory was secured. After the game, whether out of a psychological jab, or cold analysis, Ponomariov said he thought it a strange choice as he thought Tomashevsky was a poor pressure player. A wonderful result for the Ukrainians no doubt, but it bears remembering this was but the 4th round of eleven, and the entire tournament still lies ahead. Round five promises fireworks once more as they will take on China!

The American Steamroller was stymied by the Czech Stonewall (photo by Paul Truong)

The United States faced the Czech Republic, a strong team with David Navara on board one, but otherwise outclassed by the Americans, at least on paper. Paper was all it was though as Fabiano Caruana was placed on board one against Navara, and while this might seem normal in view of his higher rating, his overall score against the Czech is actually worse, compared to Nakamura’s significant positive tally. Hindsight is always 20/20 it is true, but as it were the result of the match was four draws and the US’s unblemished record was broken.

India faced a very strong Cuban lineup with players of nearly identical ability, and it was young GM Vidit Gujrathi, who recently won Lake Sevan, who continued his superb run. The Indian is 4.0/4 so far and has already faced three grandmasters. Fantastic. (photo by Paul Truong)

Speaking of sizzling form: the Azerbaijani team continues to stomp and trample as they defeated Romania 3-1 including a fourth win in four games by… you guessed it: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, crushing Lupulescu with black. In the fifth round they will face the very strong Indian team.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave has been unable to shine so far, much like his Norwegian colleague in the Top 10, and has played three draw so far. (photo by David Llada)

The reigning gold medalists from the 2014 Olympiad in Tromso also had no trouble. China beat Italy with relative ease, thoroughly dominating affairs on all boards and finishing with 3-1. Wang Yue on board one defeated his third grandmaster in three games in his usual display of positional class. (photo by Paul Truong)

Wang Yue - Danyyl Dvirnyy (annotated by GM Elshan Moradiabadi)

If much was made of the upset by Ukraine over Russia, a similarly surprising result took place between 6th seed England against 11th seed Netherlands. It isn’t that the Dutch are somehow significant weaker than the English in any way, as they are not, but who could have predicted the slaughter that took place with the Dutch taking it by 3.5-0.5!

Genna Sosonko chatting with Nigel Short, who had been given a day off, and could not believe what he was seeing. (photo by M. Emelianova)

Benjamin Bok - Gawain Jones

In spite of the interest in watching the top players and top matches, what makes the Olympiad so special is the way it brings together players from all corners on the planet. Here is Hashim Darwish, who has scored 1.5/4 for Bahrain. (photo by M. Emelianova)

Rani Hamid is in traditional attire from Bangladesh (photo by E. Kublashvili)

And let's not forget the fans who also come such as these Bermuda supporters! (photo by M. Emelianova)

Meet Fiorina Berezovsky who just turned nine and plays for Monaco (photo by David Llada)

Fiorina Berezovsky, interviewed here by Susan Polgar, speaks five languages: English, German, French, Russian, and a bit of Ukrainian!

In the Women’s competition there were plenty of surprises, some big, some small, but none that overshadowed the jawdropping defeat of world no.1 Hou Yifan, rated 2658 (a low), to WGM Dana Reizniece-Ozola who came in over 400 Elo less at 2243 FIDE. It wasn’t simply that the Latvian won, since blunders happen to the best of us, but that it was not due to a simple blunder. No, the World Champion was quite simply smashed by the Latvian, whose CV does not describe her as “professional chess player” it reads (seriously) “Latvian Minister of Finance”. Absolutely incredible!

Hou Yifan probably could not believe what was happening (photo by E. Kublashvili)

Video highlights of round four by GM Daniel King

In the video, you will see notes on the Russian games, Magnus Carlsen, and Hou Yifan's defeat

WGM Dana Reizniece-Ozola has a curriculum that is even more jaw dropping than her win over Hou. See her Bio at her Wikipedia page. (photo by M. Emelianova)

Luckily for the Chinese, they still claimed the match by 2.5-1.5, but one thing is certain: the dreams of invulnerability on the top board were subject to the coldest of showers in round four.

The highest profile match in the Women again involved the Russians, this time against Hungary, and though they won, it must be said it was a close affair. While Pogonina won on board four, boards two and three were draws and top-board Alexandra Kosteniuk was in serious trouble against GM Thanh Trang Hoang (originally from Vietnam, but long based in Hungary). Eventually she managed to defend, and this allowed Russia to stay unbeaten.

The team from Kazakhstan started 31st in the ranks, but is tied for first with a perfect score so far. From left to right: Zhansaya Abdumalik, Gulmira Dauletova, Sholpan Zhylkaidarova, and Aisezym Mukhit. (photo by David Llada)

Second seed Ukraine defeated the French team by an impressive 3.5-0.5, though it should be noted that France is missing their top two players, GM Marie Sebag and IM Almira Skripchenko. IM Sophie Millet was given a day off, but it is doubtful that would have swung the balance of power.

India on the other hand, fifth seed and going strong, was unexpectedly held to a 2-2 draw by the Israeli team.

It is all in the family when it comes to Sweden. GM Juan Bellon is the captain of the Women's team, as well as spouse to GM Pia Cramling, playing on board one, and Anna Carmling Bellon, their daughter, who is playing on fourth board. (photo by Davida Llada)

Video impressions of round four by Vijay Kumar with an interview of Tania Sachdev (see 11:40)

About GM Elshan Moradiabadi 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. You can contact him at his email or follow him on Twitter.

Round four games (with times per move)