9/28/2018 – The Olympiad in Batumi witnessed its most exciting round as India took on USA. While this was the biggest encounter, the match turned into something pretty one-sided as Fabiano Caruana beat Vishy Anand and took home the match with the score of 2½:1½. The real action was witnessed in the match between Poland and Russia, as the Poles managed to beat the mighty Russian team. The two decisive wins were scored by Jacek Tomczak, who beat Kramnik, and Kamil Dragun, who got the better of Dmitry Jakovenko. A report filled with pictures, videos and GM analysis.
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France winning against Vietnam was expected. Israel beating Sweden (in spite of Boris Gelfand losing) was also expected. But the really unexpected result was Poland's win against the Russians!
Poland shocks Russia
The Polish team played some fine bit of chess to beat the Russians. After Wojtaszek lost to Nepomniachtchi, it didn't seem as if Poland would be able to win the match, but then Jacek Tomczak managed to beat Vladimir Kramnik and Kamil Dragun got the better of Dmitry Jakovenko. On the top board, Duda managed to draw his game against Karjakin.
Sergey Karjakin has not been able to show his best chess in this tournament | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Tense moments of the match: Kramnik and Jakovenko losing, as a worried manager Andrey Filatov looks on | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Annotations by GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly
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1.e4
1,186,706
54%
2421
---
1.d4
960,560
55%
2434
---
1.Nf3
286,913
56%
2440
---
1.c4
185,115
56%
2442
---
1.g3
19,902
56%
2427
---
1.b3
14,609
54%
2428
---
1.f4
5,959
48%
2376
---
1.Nc3
3,919
50%
2383
---
1.b4
1,791
48%
2379
---
1.a3
1,252
54%
2406
---
1.e3
1,081
49%
2409
---
1.d3
969
50%
2378
---
1.g4
670
46%
2361
---
1.h4
466
54%
2382
---
1.c3
439
51%
2425
---
1.h3
289
56%
2420
---
1.a4
118
60%
2461
---
1.f3
100
47%
2427
---
1.Nh3
93
66%
2506
---
1.Na3
47
62%
2476
---
Please, wait...
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.d4exd44.Nxd4Nf65.Nxc6bxc66.e5Qe77.Qe2Nd58.h4Morozevich was playing this line heavily and then it was recently played
by Nepo and Hikaru. I had a look from white side and 8...Qe6 bothered me which
was played by Grischuk and Kramnik as black in 2018Qe69.g3Nb4!? Novelty and a strong one. Tomczak sank into deep thought immediately
after this move.9...d6Earlier both Grischuk and Kramnik opted for this.10.c4Ba611.Bf411.a3Bxc4!is the tactical justification12.Qxc4Qxc413.Bxc4Nc2+14.Ke2Nxa1Turns out that it won't be easy to trap the
knight on a1.15.Nc315.b4a515...Rb816.b4a511.b3Would have
been a better choice.11...d5!As early as move 11 Kramnik managed to
get a clear advantage. At this stage it looked like it will be a repetition of
how he crushed on round 3.12.a312.exd6Nd3+12...Bxc413.Qd1Bxf1?!
I wonder what made Kramnik reject either Qg6 or Qf5 here13...Qg614.Bxc4dxc414...Qe4+15.Be215.0-0Now among many strong
alternatives most natural and human would be to play Nd3.Nd315...Nc2
Engine prefers this16.Qf3Qe6!? In order not to
calcualte any complex line16...Bc5This is stronger!17.Nd20-0-0!18.Nxc4Nxf419.Qxf4Rd420.Qc1Rxh4-+13...Qf5also with similar lines14.Kxf1Na6Now black is not better anymore15.Nc315.Nd215...Nc5!16.b4d4!Once again Kramnik got the initiative back.17.bxc517.Qxd4Nb317...dxc318.Qd418.Rc1Qc4+18...Rd8?!18...Qd5!One of the simplest ways to keep the advantage and it is also typical
Kramnik kind of move.19.Qxd5cxd519.Qxc3Qd519...Be7 I still prefer black here20.Kg1Bxc521.Rc1Bb622.h522.e6fxe623.Qxg7Bd424.Qxc7c522...0-023.h6Rfe824.hxg7Re6There is nothing wrong with black's position. In
fact, it’s still slightly better.25.Bg5Qa2?!Based on oversight.
Clearly Kramnik wanted to keep his rook on 'd' file and also wanted to stop
any Qc2-Qf5 idea hence Qa2 made sense. It gains a tempo and also allows black
to keep the rook on 'd' file. Unfortunately, all of a sudden the attack
doesn't come on 'h7' but the 'f8' square becomes vulnerable!25...Bd4!
Not a very obvious move. Why would black force white to move the queen when
anyways white wants to move it eventually? Point is that white queen is right
now protecting g3 square and hence it had to be moved! This feels absurd! Why
on earth g3 has to be protected? With engines on it is very easy to say how
come Kramnik didn't see this two-move tactic but that is not the way human
brain functions. Somehow this move Bd4 looks like an idiotic move just helping
white to get into a better square unless the forthcoming tactics is spotted.26.Qc2Rg6! The point! Now suddenly it appears that black
need not save the d8 rook after all! g3 hangs!26.Rh2So now black can
keep the rook on 'd' file. White also cannot approach the h7 pawn easily.
Important question is which square to choose?Rd5??26...Rd4still worse
but not lost yet27.Qf3Qd528.Qh5Qe429.Bf627.Qb4 Out of nowhere threat on 'f8' square came which was not even a threat
all this while.c527...Kxg728.Qh4+-28.Qh4Now its all over.h629.Bxh6Qb330.Bd2Kxg731.Qh8+Kg632.Qh7#1–0
In this DVD, Parimarjan Negi looks at the latest revolution in Scotch theory that has completely changed white’s plans, and once again brought back the interest of the world’s elite.
Interview with Dragun after he beat Jakovenko in an extremely complicated game. The young Polish GM discusses some of the lines and variations he calculated during the game.
For Bartosz Socko, the coach and captain of the Polish team, it was a proud moment
USA scored a convincing win against India
The score of 2½-1½ might mislead you into thinking that this was a close encounter. Quite the contrary. Both of India's players with the white pieces drew their games within two hours. Vishy Anand was outplayed by Fabiano Caruana and Vidit got no real edge against Nakamura and had to draw the game.
Some inside moments of the match between India and USA | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Caruana, Nakamura and the entire USA team come to the round in their van from the Hilton Hotel | Photo: Amruta Mokal
We were also in the same bus! As Wesley So jokingly said, "Stop spying on us!" | Photo: Amruta Mokal
One of India's main problems was that Harikrishna and Sasikiran could not find any traction with White and agreed to draws in less than two hours | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Caruana created chances with shrewd opening preparation | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The Catalan is one of the most solid openings for White. It forms part of the large and strong fianchetto family in which White builds his strategy mainly around the bishop on g2. Grandmaster Victor Bologan covers all of Black’s replies to the Catalan, some of which can even transpose to other openings such as the Tarrasch System and the Queen’s Indian. Suffice it to say that the Catalan rules!
Be3!? a new idea in the Catalan
Nh3!? the unconventional development of the knight looks artificial but was very effective.
Fabiano Caruana versus Vishy Anand, annotated by GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly
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1.d4Nf62.c4e63.g3d54.Bg2dxc45.Qa4+Nbd76.Qxc4a67.Be3!?NFabiano comes up with a very interesting novelty as early as move 7 in a
popular line of Catalan system. The idea is as obvious as it looks. White
stops c5 for the moment. Anand already had this position as black against
Anish in 2018 Wijk where Anish played the most popular move 7.Qc27.Qc2c58.Nf3b59.Ne5Nd510.Nxd7Bxd711.Bxd5exd512.dxc5Bc6Anand came up
with this nice pawn sac idea in that game and drew comfortably. ½-½ (20)
Giri,A (2752)-Anand,V (2767) Wijk aan Zee 20187...Bd6In order to have
the e5 option in future.7...Nd58.Bxd5Nb6doesn't work due to9.Bc6+7...b5in order to exploit the fact that white queen is still on c48.Qc18.Qc2Nd58...Rb8is another way of playing which needs further tests.8...Nd59.Bg57...Be7!?∆8.Qc2Nd59.Bd2c5in this particular
line black bishop is better placed on e7 than on d68.Qc20-09.Nh3!?
Fabiano was still blitzing out all these weird looking moves which shows the
depth of his preparation. The knight on h3 might look odd for the moment but
in return the bishop on g2 remains open thus black will not be able to develop
normally on queenside easily.e59...Ng410.Bg59...Rb810.0-0b511.Nc310.0-0h6now threatening Ng410...Ng411.Bg5f611...Ndf612.f3h613.Bc1Nxh2leads nowhere14.Kxh2exd415.e4!12.dxe5Ndxe513.Bd2c6An interesting computer suggestion. I somehow still like white's
position more here.11.dxe5Nxe512.Nc3Qe712...Neg413.Bf4g514.Bc113.Rad1For the first time Fabi started to think. It showed a
great amount of preparation starting with an uncommon setup form white side.Re813...Ng6In order to keep the h3 knight out of the game for a while14.Bd4Be515.Bxe5Nxe516.Nf4c6similar to the game but
without the dark square bishops which reduces white's advantage a bit.14.Nf4c615.Bd4g5?!After 15min of thought Anand took this decision. Clearly
his first choice would have been just to play Bd7 but something bothered him
there hence he opted for this desperate solution. Or perhaps he just wanted to
change few pieces to reduce white's advantage.15...Bd716.Ne416.Na4g5now that the other knight is in corner g5 becomes strong.16.e4even
here moves are not that easy for black but at least he has no obvious weakness.
b516...Nxe417.Bxe4White still maintains some pressure16.Nd3Nxd317.Rxd3!Be517...Bf5loses on the spot18.Bxf6!Qxf619.Rxd6+-18.Qd2 After a very long thought. White goes for f4 ideas in
order to open up the kingside.18.Re3Ng418.Bxe5Qxe519.e4was also
possible18...Bf5Ideally black wouldn't want to lock his bishop on g6 but
how else to develop?19.e4Bg620.f4!20.Bxe5Qxe521.f4Qc5+20...gxf4?This turns out to be a big mistake based on some nice tactics.20...Bxd4+The line looks ugly but this was more or less the only decent option
black had.21.Rxd4Rad822.e5Nh523.f523.Rd6gxf423...Rxd424.Qxd4Bh7looks horrible at first sight. Engine as usual doesn't think about how it
looks and says black is not that worse after all! During a game it could be
very frustrating to aim for this position.25.Bf325.Re1?Bxf526.g4Rd8!is a nice tactical point25...Ng726.g4Qxe527.Qxe5Rxe5
at some point black will sac the piece and will be able to hold21.Bxe5Qxe522.gxf4Qc5+23.Kh1Now everything comes down to one single question. Can
black take on e4 or not? If he can’t then it is surely lost. Both players
were looking this form far and lines are not trivial to calculate with so many
options. Especially overt the board during game.Nxe423...Rxe424.f5!Bxf525.Qxh6+-24.Nxe4Rxe4Here too it is not that obvious how white is
better. Fabiano finds the only precise way to win the game.24...Bxe425.Bxe4Rxe426.Qg2+is one of the tactical point that had to be foreseen long
back25.Rg3!25.f5looks super tempting but spoils the advantage
immediately.Bxf526.Qxh6Bg6!27.Rg327.Rh3?Qd427...Re6Only
move but good enough to hold the balance.25...Rd4Here too white had to
find the only way to win....26.Qe3!Now black loses a piece. Anand
resigned. Great preparation and great game by Fabiano.26.Qf2?Kh826.Qe3!Kh726...Kh827.f527.f5Bxf527...Bh528.Rh3+-28.Rxf5Qxf529.Qxd4Qb1+30.Qg1+-1–0
Le Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc Truongson are strong players but Vietnam's last two boards were clearly weaker than their opponents.
Le Quang Liem drew his game against MVL on board one. The person making the first move is Jabka Futkaradze, the minister of economy and finance in Adjara | Photo: Amruta Mokal
GM Le Quang Liem is a thoroughly accomplished GM. Apart from being a strong GM with a rating of 2715, he also has a "Summa Cum Laude" degree in Finance and Management from the Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He is also a tremendous blitz player and was World Blitz Champion in 2013. We asked Liem about all of these important points in his life and also wanted to know how to become such a strong blitz player.
Christian Bauer (right) won with a fantastic attack on his opponent's king
The Scandinavian is a rarely employed opening on the hightest level und guides your opponent on much less familiar terrain than for example the Sicilian, French or any 1.e4 e5 system. After 1.e4 d5 Black fights for the initiative from move one.
Azerbaijan too strong for England
The Azerbaijanis just seem to be too strong for now. Especially because their top board Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is playing some phenomenal bit of chess! Shakh beat Michael Adams on the top board. Teimour Radjabov also joined in and beat Luke Mcshane. Thus Azerbaijan managed to beat England with a score of 3-1.
The top two boards of Azerbaijan mean business! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Mamedyarov's win against Adams, analyzed by GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly
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1.d4Nf62.c4e63.Nf3d54.Nc3c55.cxd5Nxd56.e4Nxc37.bxc3cxd48.cxd4Bb4+9.Bd2Bxd2+10.Qxd20-011.Bc4Nd712.0-0b613.Rad1Bb714.Rfe1Rc815.Bb3A well-known position of the Semi Tarrasch system. Black has
tried different kind of move orders here and white also tried number of
different plans. Theory have become pretty vast in this simple looking
position.h6Started by Kramnik at top level somewhere in 201515...Re8
Picked up popularity recently.16.h3Nf6Was seen twice in Berlin
Candidates and one of the games was Mamedyarov - Ding where black played a
nice game and won.16.h3Re8Surprisingly there are not that many games in
this position.17.Re3Qf6A typical move in this line after white plays Re3.
Black now immediately wants to get his queen to f4 thus not letting white
transfer his rook so easily to kingside.17...Nf618.Qe2Rc7is also
doing okay for black18.Qe2Qf419.g3Qc7The point. Now that g3 has been
played black doesn't have to bother about any future Rg3 ideas.20.d5
Basically after committing with g3 white had only one play at his disposal.exd521.exd5Rxe322.Qxe3Qc5My computer suggests the 'inhuman'...22...Rf8 It does make sense. Black's main problem is the 'f7' pawn and
now it is secured. Would be immensely difficult to find such move during a
game. It would have been much easier to play the same move if black rook was
on a8 instead of c8 :)23.Qf4Qc323...Nf624.Nd4
Slowly white is building pressure in the center.Re825.d6Keeps control25.Nb5white could have won a pawn this wayRe1+25...Qe526.Qxe5Nxe527.Nxa725...Qf626.Qxf6Nxf627.Nxa726.Kh2Qxb327.axb327.Rxe1??Qxd5-+27...Rxd128.Nc3Rd329.Qc7Nf830.Qxb7Rxc331.Qxa7Rxb3
It could easily be possible that Mamedyarov simply didn't want to get here and
didn't bother to spend time on assessing if this is fortress or not.25...Nf625...Re1+26.Kh2Qxb327.Rxe1!+-26.Kh2!Qb226...Be427.Nc227.d7!A move that Mamedyarov
played after repeating once27...Qc327...Bc6is an additional option
now.28.Nd4Qb229.d7!Rd830.Nf5Be4All white's pieces look very
nicely placed with a pawn on d7. Still it is not clear how to progress further.
Mamedyarov finds a very nice maneuver to improve his apparently nicely placed
knight on f5.31.Nd6!Bg632.Nc4!Qe233.Ne5Now its all over.Kh734.g4completely restricted. rest is simple.b535.Qe3Qb236.Kg1b437.Nxg61–0
A funny incident that happened in the England vs Azerbaijan match was Gawain Jones playing on when he had a lone king against Mamedov's bishop and knight! Check out Mamedov's technique in the video below:
Mamedov checkmates Gawain Jones with a bishop and knight
Czech team without Navara beats Iran
The Iranian team has always looked very threatening. More so after the World Juniors where Parham Maghsoodloo managed to win the event with one round to spare and a score of 9½/10. Everyone was looking forward to the performance of the young Iranian team. And they started well winning their first three matches. In round four Iran faced a real challenge in the form of Czech Republic. But the Czech team played without its top board David Navara who did not feel well and decided to take a rest. Viktor Laznicka took held the fort on board one. He played an excellent game to beat Parham Maghsoodloo. The rest of the three players stayed solid on the remaining boards and Czech Republic — in spite of being the higher seeds — "surprisingly" won the match against Iran.
Viktor Laznicka gets a kiss from his wife Eva after winning the game! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Amruta Mokal interviews Viktor Laznicka after the game
But we should not discount the Iranian team. They are determined and will fight back in the rounds to come. | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Masterclass in the Scheveningen Sicilian by GM Anish Giri
Anish Giri has been very gracious with his time for our readers and we are very grateful. He joined us after round four to show us his win over GM Farrukh Amonatov with the black pieces in a Sicilian Najdorf. Going over Anish's analysis is sure to enhance your understanding of the opening and it will also give you a lot of interesting points as to how a 2780+ GM calculates. We also analyze the games of Caruana — Anand and Nakamura — Vidit. Towards the end, Anish quipped in typical fashion that he was glad to have three fans now! Don't miss the blooper at the end of the video!
World Champion Ju Wenjun helped China to a 3-1 win against Uzbekistan | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The Uzbek team lost to China in round four but beat Russia in round two | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The Indian team played some fighting chess and managed to beat the strong Polish team with a score of 3-1. You can hear how the girls did in an interview with coach Jacob Aagaard. | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The first and second board of the Iranian team: Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (standing) and Mitra Hejazipour (sitting). Iran did well in the first three rounds, but lost to Mongolia in round four. | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The youngest participant at the Olympiad — 10-year-old Samantha Edithso from Indonesia | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Samantha Edithso, the girl who will be making waves in the chess world in the years to come | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Can you guess the name of the team that is wearing this colourful attire? | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The official broadcast and video team is extremely professional. You have wired drones moving above the playing venue to catch the perfect shot! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The legend of Georgian chess — Nona Gaprindashvili | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Security at the entrance of the playing hall | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Sitting on top of the stands and watching the Olympiad unfold before your eyes is a great feeling for a chess player | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Managing the transport of over 1500 people from the venue back to various hotels is not an easy task! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The branding of this tournament has been done extremely well | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The chess expo is the perfect place for all people who are interested in chess. There is something here for everyone, right from the casual chess player to the GM to the one interested in FIDE politics! Check out this video for more info. | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The press room, filled with media people from all over the world! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The Russian journalists who are present at just about every important tournament — IM Vladimir Barsky and Eteri Kublashvili | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The President of Georgian Chess Federation, Giorgi Giogardze, with Nino Maisuradze. Nino is interviewing players after their games for the official website. | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Susan Polgar and her husband Paul Truong are always working hard during a mega event like the Olympiad | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Sagar ShahSagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India, the biggest chess news portal in the country. His YouTube channel has over a million subscribers, and to date close to a billion views. ChessBase India is the sole distributor of ChessBase products in India and seven adjoining countries, where the software is available at a 60% discount. compared to International prices.
ChessBase is re-releasing this timeless classic in the modern ChessBase Media format - complete with brand-new training features. Get ready to rediscover a masterpiece of chess instruction!
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