2016 Baku Rd6: India takes sole lead in Open!

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 six

The sixth round saw players refreshed, walking with a slightly lighter step, having enjoyed not only a well-deserved rest day, but also the famous Bermuda Party. What is the Bermuda Party you might ask? Try to imagine a humongous bash with alcohol galore, snacks, music and over a thousand chess players, and you have the chess player’s dream. It is the Revenge of the Nerds in style. You know those stories of chess nerds being ostracized in normal high school environments, while the more ‘normal’ crowd is partying. This is the antithesis. And a joyous bash it is!

Many players will come all the way to the Olympiad for the sole purpose of the Bermuda Party, and one look at the one in Baku shows why. The timing is especially well-chosen as it falls the night before the rest day, so that those who over-indulged have the chance to recover… (click image for high-res)

Here are the Indians enjoying the day off. You may have read the cheerful account by IM Sagar Shah.

The Russian delegation also enjoyed a nice lunch together (photo by B. Dolmatovski)

As well as a nice day at the beach. Here Sergey Karjakin enjoys some beach volleyball with Natalija Pogonina. (photo by B. Dolmatovski)

The rest day came at a perfect time, since the midpoint is clearly where the heaviest action is going to take place. This isn’t to suggest the last rounds are in any way less important, but this is when the leaders are most likely going to meet. After that, whatever the standings, it will be a race to see who outscores who, but now is when the grudge fight between the leaders takes place.

Leyla Aliyeva, daughter of the Azerbaijan president, and well-known socialite in her country, plays the opening move for the cameras on Magnus Carlsen's board. It may seem incredible to read, but Magnus was in deep trouble in his game and can consider himself fortunate to have drawn. What was surprising is that his opponent was... (photo by David Llada)

... GM Julio Sadorro from the Philippines, rated 2560, but far from a rating one would expect Carlsen to break a sweat over. (photo by Paul Truong)

At this point, the Open section had three teams left with unblemished scores: Ukraine, Netherlands, and India. The four top seeds, Russia, USA, China, and Azerbaijan, had all drawn or lost a match by now. Ukraine came carrying the greatest momentum, if only because they had just defeated the almighty Russians and then the Chinese. For that reason alone, they were the team to beat.

A glimpse at the massive playing hall. In the center at the bottom, you can make out the Georgian team, and slightly aboe to the right is Caruana facing Eljanov with Hikaru Nakamura watching, knowing it is all down to his colleague now. (click on the image for a high-res look) (photo by Paul Truong)

Their opponents in round six were none other than the American Dream Team, and if they passed this hurdle, it seemed as if nothing could hold them. Note that small, but rather important ‘if’. Boards two, three, and four were essentially good scores for them, draws against the American players. This is by no means to besmirch the Ukrainians in any way, but there was no question they were still the underdogs in spite of their previous successes.

It came down to board one, where Fabiano Caruana faced Pavel Eljanov, a former Top 10 himself, and who had shined especially brightly in his last visit to Baku during the World Cup when he started with 6.0/6 and earned almost 40 Elo by the end. (photo by David Llada)

Fabiano Caruana - Pavel Eljanov (annotated by Elshan Moradiabadi)

The King is dead, long live the king!? Not quite. While it was a setback for the Ukrainians, there are still five rounds to go, but so far no one is running away with the tournament. Even when China took a historic gold in Tromso in 2014 they had drawn three of their matches on the way. As to the US team, they move up to sole second with only a single drawn match conceded, but now is the true test of fire as they meet all the leaders, such as China, Russia, and tomorrow: India.

While Russia has been playing catchup after the unexpected loss in round four to Ukraine, one player who has been helping greatly in that mission is Ian Nepomniachtchi, who is the top-scoring player in the evennt so far with 6.0/6! (photo by David Llada)

The other top match of the day was between the two other leaders: India and Holland, and what a campaign both have had until now. While it is true, the Netherlands had not faced the list of top teams Ukraine had contended with, the one they did face, England, they carpet bombed. Belligerant war metaphor? How else should one describe a match where the no.11 beats the no.6 by a score of 3.5-0.5? Furthermore, their board one player, Anish Giri, whose results had not been terribly awe-inspiring of late, had scored a fantastic 4.0/5, and there was nothing drawish about his play.

With 4.0/5, Anish Giri is turning on the heat at precisely the right time: when his team needs him the most. He has played solid, but enterprising chess, and has been rewarded for his efforts so far. (photo by M. Emelianova)

India's team has something few others have as deeply: a team spirit that is second to none. The players are friends, supportive, and have a positivity that you cannot fake. This is not to suggest it is to make up for technical deficiencies at the board, but rather that somehow the sum is greater than the parts. On board one is Pentala Harikrishna, rated 2752, and no one could descirbe as anything less than elite. He faced three 2700+ players with no losses, and defeated Mamedyarov when the latter seemed unstoppable. WHile he is that cneter no one can knock down, the heavy scorers have been GM Adhiban and Gujrathi. How heavy?

After six rounds, Vidit Gujrathi is on 5.5/6 with a staggering 2951 performance, and five of those opponents were grandmasters. (photo by David Llada)

Nevertheless, the hero of the day was Baskaran Adhiban, who scored the key victory. Adhiban, rated 2671, is currently on 5.0/6 with a superb 2820 performance. (photo by David Llada)

Erwin L'Ami - B. Adhiban(annotated by Elshan Moradiabadi)

A heartbreaking loss for the Dutch player, whcih at the same time had Indian fans around the world cheering, not believing their nation has taken the sole lead. Of course... now comes the wave of elite teams, starting with the US in round seven. (photo by M. Emelianova)

The Azeri team seems to have lost a bit of their mojo after their loss to India in round five. They were in danger of losing to Greece in round six had it not been for fourth board Eltaj Safarli's key win to save the draw. (photo by David Llada)

China is another top team on the comeback (so to speak) after taking a hit from Ukraine. In round six they beat Argentina, though not unscathed as the South American team drew blood when Sandro Mareco unexpectedly beat Wang Yue on board one. (photo by David Llada)

Eric Hansen (Canada) - Andrei Zhigalko (Belarus)

White would be the first to agree it had not been his best game (a polite way of saying he was in big trouble), but he played his opportunistic best and was rewarded when Black fell for a trap he had set. White to play and win.

IM Semetey Tologontegin hails from Kyrgyzstan, a small former Soviet republic, deeply mountainous and located in central Asia between Kazakhstan on the north (south of Russia) and China to the south. Although the men have mostly adopted western style clothes, the traditional Kolpok hat, worn by all the Kyrgyz players, remains their traditional standout to this day. (photo by David Llada)

After a bitter defeat to the Dutch, the English team has been hitting back with a vengeance and has defeated Vietnam and Chile by 3-1 scores. Both David Howell and Nigel Short were on the lineup in round six. Round seven will be a do-or-die round possibly as they face the powerful Chinese team. (photo by David Llada)

The mammoth playing hall also has mammoth displays so that spectators and players can follow the action on the other boards. (photo by Paul Truong)

GM Eugenio Torre from the Philippines is on a record 23rd participation in an Olympiad (photo by David Llada)

The Women’s event saw their own clash of the titans with the much awaited match between Russia and Ukraine, the two sole leaders left by round six. It was an extremely tense match with crazy swings all over. By all means Ukraine should have taken the day considering the board positions. This is not due to their players holding ‘an advantage’ but rather outright winning games. Somehow, things did not quite pan out however, and the wiley Russians managed to save the day through resourcefulness, and not a bit of luck.

An example of the former came in the following game between GM Valentina Gunina and Mariya Muzychuk. It was an absolute massacre, and White was staring at a minus 10 score by the engines. Really. White set up a clever tempter as the time control approached, a last desperate try, and a few moves later, Black fell for it and the game was saved. See for yourself:

Valentina Gunina (Russia) - Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine)

The real clincher though was the last game running between Russian Olga Girya and Ukrainian Anna Ushenina. Olga Girya had had a large advantage in most of the game, but had squandered it and the position was effectively balanced and equal. As time eroded away, the position got out of control. Everyone watched it closely. Here the Russian team captain Sergey Rublevsky clearly was praying to whatever chess gods were willing to listen. (photo by M. Emelianova)

By no small miracle, the Ukrainian began to lose control of her position, and Olga Girya (above) seized her chance with a fury and won the day, saving the match for a 2-2 draw. (photo by David Llada)

As to the Chinese, they let Hou Yifan rest this round, no doubt expecting a painless victory, and were instead rewarded with a shock draw with Romania.

Among those who have helped make the live broadcasts such a pleasure to watch, is Anna Rudolf, ever-smiling and ever-spunky, with her enjoyable presentations. (photo by David Llada)

Anastasiya Karlovich has been conducting interviews also shared during the live transmissions (photo by M. Emelianova)

Speaking of whom, Maria Emelianova has been an invaluable source of fine portraits during the coverage, many of which you will find in the reports. (photo by David Llada)

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 six games (with times per move)