Batumi Olympiad Round 5: Chinese men stunned, USA women are sole leaders

Let's have a quick look at the results on the top board matches for fifth round in the open section: 

Important results of round 5 (open):

Complete list

Azerbaijan wins the grudge match against Armenia

It was the most critical match of the entire round. When the games were about to begin both the teams looked extremely motivated and focused. Azerbaijan players have their own way of standing together away from their board. Often they are not even talking to each other but just standing together as if showing some sort of solidarity and support. On the other hand, Armenia has a nice mix of young and experienced players who sit at the board without talking much to each other. They are all on their boards, but one look and you just feel instantly that they are all a team. These two teams have the best team spirit and it was extremely interesting to see them in action, especially as the two countries share such a rivalry with each other that goes beyond the chess board!

Armenia versus Azerbaijan has begun. Aronian against Mamedyarov was the game to look forward to.

Initial moments of the match between Armenia and Azerbaijan

Instead of Be7-d6 Black could have also played axb3 axb3 and Bb7, to which GM Ganguly writes, "Once again possible and could easily be the best in computer or correspondence chess, but clearly Mamedyarov didn't want a position like this where White has zero risk. True to his style he opted for the most aggressive way and got into a position which might be worse but gives White much more difficult options to choose."

The idea is to force the rook to d2 and then sacrifice the bishop on g2. When that happens, the white king which will start running from the kingside towards the centre and the queenside will not have the d2 square to hide.

Have a look at this amazing game by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov analyzed by GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly:

Ruy Lopez Powerbook 2018

Once again we have used exclusively games from the engine room on playchess.com for the Ruy Lopez Powerbook 2018. The tremendous number of 1.8 million games in the Ruy Lopez allows meaningful statistical analyses even amongst side variations.

With this win, Azerbaijan took lead in the match. Armenia pulled one back when Melkumyan beat Naiditsch on board three. But Radjabov was able to score another victory for Azerbaijan by beating Sargissian. Mamedov drew his encounter against Haik Martirosyan and Azerbaijan was able to win the match with a score of 2½-1½.

Aronian and his love for cats!

Power Play 23: A Repertoire for black with the Queen's Gambit Declined

On this DVD Grandmaster Daniel King offers you a repertoire for Black with the QGD. The repertoire is demonstrated in 10 stem games, covering all White's major systems: 5 Bg5, 5 Bf4, and the Exchange Variation.

Extremely depressed was Aronian when he realized that there was absolutely no way to save the match

The unstoppable Poles!

The Polish team seems to be in great spirits at this Olympiad. It's not that just Duda and Wojtaszek are playing some high-quality chess. Their lower boards consisting of Tomczak, Piorun and Dragun have achieved something special here. Each one has beaten a srong opponent. In the fifth round against France, although Duda lost his game to MVL, the French team could not capitalize on the early lead. They lost all the three remaining games giving Poland a 3-1 victory.

The hero for Poland until now has been Jacek Tomzcak — apart from beating Vladimir Kramnik, he also beat Christian Bauer

Radoslaw played a great positional game in the fifth round to beat GM Etienne Bacrot. He spoke to us after the game and tells us how Poland beat France and also why the Polish team is doing so well. "All the members in the team are good guys", he said. What exactly does that mean? And how does Radoslaw keep a good level of play in spite of being a second of Vishy Anand for so many years we ask him in this interview.

Here's an Instagram post from Wojtaszek which shows the team camaraderie:

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Radoslaw Wojtaszek Official (@radek_wojtaszek) on Sep 29, 2018 at 5:02am PDT

The Czech Mate!

On the outside, the Czech team looks pretty ordinary. But in an event like the Olympiad, it's not the rating of the participants but their camaraderie and friendships that determine how a team fares. In the case of Czech Republic, all of the players have been showing some phenomenal bit of chess, especially Viktor Laznicka and Jiri Stocek. The Chinese team look invincible in team tournaments. They have Ding Liren on the top board followed by Yu Yangyi, Wei Yi, and Bu Xiangzhi. Where is the weak spot in their camp? But the Czech Republic team simply destroyed the Chinese wall. Ding Liren was held to a draw by David Navara. On board two Viktor Laznicka got the better of Yu Yangyi. Wei Yi made a mistake from the white side of the Sicilian against Jiri Stocek. Peter Michalik on the last board held Bu Xiangzhi to a draw.

Jiri Stocek has been the find of the tournament for Czech Republic. He has scored 4½/5 against decently strong opposition, but beating Wei Yi with the black pieces was a fantastic achievement.

The Czech team was able to beat the Chinese with a convincing 3-1 score. What an upset!

A lifetime repertoire: Play the Nimzo Indian

This DVD provides everything you need to know to be able to play one of the most classical openings with Black, the Nimzo-Indian, arising after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4. Nearly every World Championship and top tournament features the Nimzo-Indian.

Viktor Laznicka explains his win over GM Yu Yangyi. He also tells us the secret of how Czech Republic is doing so well and mentions that if it were an individual event it would have scared him to play against these opponents. But in the team event, his confidence levels are very high.

American women unstoppable, American men stoppped

The American women's team consisting of (from top left): Tatev Abrahamyan, Anna Zatonskih, Irina Krush, Yu Jennifer, Sabina-Francesca Foiser.

Boris Gelfand tried hard but could not stop the World Championship Challenger Fabiano Caruana

Fabiano Caruana explains his win over Gelfand, his win against Anand and the upcoming World Championship Match

Wesley So was unable to get the better of Maxim Rodstein and Hikaru Nakamura also had to split the point with Tamir Nabaty. It was a must-win situation for Israel on board four and Emil Sutovsky delivered by defeating Samuel Shankland.

Chess Endgames 8 - Practical Rook Endgames

Rook endings are amongst the most frequently encountered endgames there are, and so your training effort will be quickly repaid in the form of half and full points. Knowing even a few rules of thumb and key methods makes life a great deal easier and provides a guiding light even in complex positions. This DVD focuses on the important themes which are to be found in common rook endings.

A move like a7 has to be made with great care. Either the position is now winning or completely drawn. Sutovsky had taken 30 minutes on his clock and had calculated all the variations. Check out what he had seen.

The first one in this tournament to beat an American, Emil sealed a 2-2 draw in the match between USA and Israel

Amazing fight back by Georgia! 

Somewhere around two hours into the match, the Georgian women's team were getting outplayed on nearly all the boards. But they kept their cool and the top two (Dzagnidze and Mkrtchian) boards drew their games. On board three Nino Batsiashvili lost her game to Anna Ushenina. Everything now hinged on the crucial final board clash between Bela Khotenashvili and Natalia Zhukova. 

Khotenashvili showed that she has the never say die spirit as she converted a completely losing position into a win and tied the scores 2-2

The Queen's Gambit Declined Exchange Variation

The Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation is one of the most important opening systems, having been played by most of the great players in history and from both sides of the board. The most outstanding specialists in this method of play include Garry Kasparov, Mikhail Botvinnik and Samuel Reshevsky. The Black side proponents include Anatoly Karpov, Boris Spassky and Paul Keres. It is truly an opening of champions!

Final moments of Zhukova losing the plot and losing the game against Bela

Important results of round 5 (Women):

Complete list

Photo gallery by Amruta Mokal

Armenia led by Elina Danielian were able to hold China to a 2-2 draw on the top board. Lei Tingje's win on board four was compensated by Lilit Mkrtchian's win on board two

"Bro, let's have some fun tonight!", Baadur Jobava and Markus Ragger making plans for the Bermuda party?!

Chinese players have this very nice design imprinted on their t-shirts

The founder of Russian Charity Foundation "Country of Talents" Polina Torochkova visited the tournament venue. She will organize the World Disabled Championships in 2019 in Moscow.

The Olympiad playing hall is one of the most confusing places you can ever be at the start of a round! Players, captains, journalists, photographers, arbiters and so many more people!

Ganguly's corner

Surya Sekhar Ganguly brings you his favourite positions from the round five of the event. We recommend that you spend some time with the positions and try to figure out the right way to play and then check the solutions. Doing so will help you improve your chess.

Ivanchuk realizes that he has the rooks well placed. However, his knight on e2 is not doing a great job So he manoeuvred it from e2 to f4. The idea is to get it to d3 followed by Nb4 with pressure on the c6 pawn.

Ivanchuk plays a great game under time pressure to beat his young opponent

David was able to find the best continuation and with a series of most accurate moves was able to finish off the game. 

What is a Bermuda Party?

As per our research, the first Bermuda party was held at the Olympiad in 1992. Players enjoyed it so much that it has become a part of the tradition at the Olympiads now. At every Olympiad, the night before the free day, a Bermuda party is held with music, alcohol and a lot of fun. It's basically an atmosphere of a pub, but here you have nearly 300 to 400 people from many different countries and the best of all, they are all chess players!

What happens in the Bermuda party, stays in the Bermuda party! But we bring you a short video that lets you understand the atmosphere of the Bermuda party!

Round 6 pairing in the open section

Complete list

The top two board clashes are extremely interesting. Azerbaijan seems to be much better than Czech Republic, but the Czech guys have never been so unrelenting. After beating Iran and China they are all set for the new challenge. Poland, after beating Russia and France seems to be the clear favourite against Ukraine, but you can never know. On board three I would put my money on Israel. USA has a relatively easier match against Bosnia and Herzegovina. China is the favourite against Iran, but the young guns from Iran — Maghsoodloo, Firouzja, Tabatabaei and others would be looking to prove themselves against world-class teams. Russia versus India is a match to watch out for. 

Round 6 pairing in the women's section

Complete list

The USA team will be facing India in round 6. It should be an exciting match to follow as the Indian team with Humpy and Harika are surely the stronger team on paper, but the Americans are in great form. Ukraine versus China will also be a close match to follow. Georgia 1 takes on Georgia 2!

Replay all games of open in round 5