Batumi Olympiad Round 7: The medals are not too far away!

by Sagar Shah
10/2/2018 – With just four rounds to go, we are now closing in on the last lap of the 43rd Batumi Chess Olympiad 2018. The seventh round of the women's event saw the lead change hands. Armenia beat the USA and are now the sole leaders. In the men's section, Poland and Azerbaijan drew their games to stay at the top but are now joined by the USA. Armenia is standing solely on the second position with 12.0/14 in the open section. Read on for some instructive positions, exciting pictures and videos that tell you more details about the matches. | Pictured: It was the first time that all the three Polgar sisters (L-R: Judit, Sofia and Susan) were commentating together | Photo: Amruta Mokal

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Everything to play for

The story unfolds with each round as we get closer to the finish line. "Our team can win all their matches and still stand on the podium at the end of the tournament." This is the way in which most of the fans from 189 countries around the world are thinking right now. But for people who are watching the event from close quarters realize how difficult it is to fight for even two match points! Each and every team is giving it their all and winning a match takes a tremendous amount of effort and hard work. One top team who might just be out of the medal race is Russia, who drew their match in the seventh round against Serbia! With heavyweights like Karjakin, Kramnik, Vitiugov and Jakovenko not being able to provide a win, you can imagine how tough it must be out there!

The players make their way to the playing hall as the round is about to begin in a few minutes!

Let's have a look at how the results panned out in the seventh round of the open section.

Results of Round 7 (Open)

Team Team Pts. MP Res. : Res. MP Pts. Team Team
POL Poland 18½ 12 2 : 2 12 19 Azerbaijan AZE
CRO Croatia 17 10 1 : 3 11 17½ United States of America USA
UKR Ukraine 15 10 2 : 2 10 16½ China CHN
GER Germany 16½ 10 2 : 2 10 19 Netherlands NED
CZE Czech Republic 16 10 2 : 2 10 18 Israel ISR
BLR Belarus 15 10 1 : 3 10 16½ Armenia ARM
IND India 17½ 9 : 10 15 Egypt EGY
HUN Hungary 15 9 1 : 3 9 17 France FRA
ALG Algeria 15 9 ½ : 9 17 Spain ESP
SRB Serbia 15 9 2 : 2 9 16 Russia RUS

Complete list

Poland and Azerbaijan deadlock

Both Poland and Azerbaijan have been playing phenomenal chess at this event and it was an evenly matched encounter when they both clashed against each other in the seventh round. Three boards ended in quick draws and it was the top board of both the teams trying hard for the full point. Both Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov fought until the very end before agreeing to a draw. Mamedyarov was slightly better through most part of the game, but the Polish youngster never let his opponent's advantage increase.

After three draws, it all hinged on the game between Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

Chess can become boring and dull for a man who is in the best form of his life!

Azerbaijan and Poland have now been joined by USA on the top of the table with 13 points.

USA too strong for Croatia

USA had no real difficulties in dispatching Croatia as Shankland and Wesley So won their games quite early. Nakamura was never really better in the game, but was not worse as well. The person under some pressure was Fabiano Caruana who played on the top board against GM Ivan Saric. Fabi found some critical moves and drew the game.

Different players have different ways to prepare for their game!

Lotis Key, Wesley's foster mother, likes to find her space in the stands, sit alone and read

Wesley So who was playing with the white pieces against Marin Bosiocic found the move h4! which has never been played from the 1333 games that have reached the above position!

 
What is the novelty that White came up with in this position?

It just shows how rich and diverse chess is and how playing h4! in the opening can make any position interesting!

Israel and Czech Republic exchange blows

Navara beat Gelfand on board one and Hracek beat Nabaty on board three, but the Israeli players pulled it back with Rodstein getting the better of Laznicka and Smirin defeating Michalik.

Smirin 1-0 Michalik

How to play the KID? GM Ilya Smirin explains!

 
Gelfand (Black) has just pushed his pawn to f5 to get some space for his king. How do you like this move?
 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 0-0 8.Bb3 Re8 9.f3 d5 10.exd5 Nb4 11.Nde2 e6 12.Bd4 exd5 13.Qd2 Nc6 14.0-0-0 Nxd4 15.Nxd4 Bd7 16.g4 Bc6 17.Kb1 Nd7 18.h4 Nc5 19.h5 a5 20.a4 Qb6 21.hxg6 hxg6 22.g5 Nxb3 23.cxb3 Qxd4 24.Qxd4 Bxd4 25.Rxd4 Kg7 26.f4 Re3 27.Ka2 Ra6 28.Nxd5 Bxd5 29.Rxd5 Rb6 30.Rd8 Rexb3 31.Rh2 The position is just even. But here Gelfand self destructs. f5?? Unbelievable, how a player of Gelfands calibre can play this. 32.Rd7+! Kg8 33.Rc2 A forced mate! 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Navara,D2740Gelfand,B27031–02018B3543rd Olympiad 20187.1

What's wrong with Russia?

Russia has already dropped four match points in this tournament. Two against Poland, one against India and now one more against Serbia. The seventh round draw against Serbia was quite a big blow to the team's medal chances. Karjakin and Vitiugov took quick draws with the black pieces. Perhaps this was their strategy, but if things went wrong in one of the two remaining games, they would lose a match point. This is exactly what happened. Although Kramnik won his game, Jakovenko lost to Marko Nenezic. 

Karjakin and Kramnik

Sergey Karjakin (left) couldn't fire on the top board against Serbia | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Kramnik played a great game of chess to beat Milos Roganovic | Photo: Niklesh Jain

 
All the action is taking place on the kingside, but the white queen is misplaced on the queenside. How did Kramnik get it back into the game?
 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Nd5 Nxd5 8.exd5 Ne7 9.c4 Ng6 10.Qa4 Bd7 11.Qb4 Bf5 12.h4 a6 13.h5 Nf4 14.Nc3 Be7 15.Be3 Nd3+ 16.Bxd3 Bxd3 17.h6 0-0 18.Rd1 a5 19.Qb5 e4 20.hxg7 Re8 All the action is taking place on the kingside. Kramnik decides to bring his queen back to the game! 21.Rxd3! exd3 22.c5! Bg5 23.Qxd3 Great play by Vlad. The position remains complex, but he has excellent attacking chances. h6 24.Ne4 dxc5 25.Kf1 Rxe4 26.Qxe4 Bxe3 27.fxe3 Ra6 28.Rh5 Rg6 29.Kg1 Kxg7 30.Rf5 b5 31.Qe5+ Kg8 32.e4 c4 33.Qf4 Qd7 34.a3 Qa7+ 35.Kh2 b4 36.e5 Qd7 37.e6 fxe6 38.Rf8+ Kg7 39.Ra8 Kh7 40.Qd4 Qd6+ 41.Kh1 e5 42.Qxc4 bxa3 43.bxa3 Qxa3 44.Qc7+ Rg7 45.Qc2+ Rg6 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Kramnik,V2779Roganovic,M25271–02018B3343rd Olympiad 20187.2

Jakovenko was the casualty for team Russia. He went down deep into the endgame. But his opponent had a chance to finish him off sooner with a beautiful combination. Check out what Nenezic missed:

 
It is quite clear that Black was afraid that to his d1=Q, his opponent would play e8=Q. But what exactly did Black miss after those two moves?
 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Na6 8.Re1 c6 9.Be3 exd4 10.Nxd4 Re8 11.f3 Nc5 12.Bf1 a5 13.Qd2 Qe7 14.Rad1 Nfd7 15.Nde2 Be5 16.Ng3 a4 17.Bg5 Qf8 18.Bh6 Qe7 19.Bg5 Qf8 20.Bh6 Qe7 21.f4 Bh8 22.a3 Nb6 23.f5 Be5 24.Bf4 Nbd7 25.Nce2 Nf6 26.Bxe5 dxe5 27.Nc1 b6 28.Qb4 Qc7 29.Bd3 Ba6 30.Bc2 Qa7 31.Rd6 b5 32.Kh1 Ng4 33.h3 Nf2+ 34.Kh2 bxc4 35.Qd2 Nfd3 36.Bxd3 Nxd3 37.Nxd3 cxd3 38.Rf1 Qe7 39.Rxc6 Bb5 40.f6 Qf8 41.Rc3 Re6 42.Qe3 Rd8 43.Rc5 Ba6 44.Rd5 Red6 45.Rxe5 d2 46.Rd1 Bc4 47.Re7 Bb3 48.e5 Rd3 49.Qa7 Bxd1 50.e6 Bb3 51.Rxf7 Qh6 52.Rxh7 Qxh7 53.f7+ Kh8 54.Qe7 Qh6 55.Qf6+ Kh7 56.e7 Yes it's true that the pawns on e7 and f7 are scary, but Black can easily win by queening his pawn. Bxf7?! 56...d1Q! 57.e8Q This is what Nenezic would have been afraid of. But what did he miss? 57.exd8Q Rxd8 is just game over. 57...Qxh3+‼ 58.Kxh3 58.gxh3 Rd2+-+ 58...Qh1+ 59.Kg4 R8d4+ And it is game over! 57.exd8Q Rxd8 58.Qxd8 Qf4 59.Qd7 Kg7 60.Kg1 Qxg3 61.Qd4+ Kh7 62.Qxd2 Qc7 63.Qd4 Qc4 64.Qf6 Kg8 65.Kh2 Qe4 66.Qd8+ Be8 67.Qb8 Kf7 68.Qc7+ Ke6 69.Qc8+ Kd5 70.b3 Qe5+ 71.Kh1 Qe1+ 72.Kh2 axb3 73.Qb7+ Kc4 74.Qa6+ Bb5 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Jakovenko,D2747Nenezic,M24950–12018E9443rd Olympiad 20187.4

China and Ukraine had draws on all four boards of the open section

Belarus gives a tough fight to Armenia

Belarus is a strong team with Kovalev on top board followed by Zhigalko, Aleksandrov and Fedorov and gave the Armenians a run for their money, but in the end, lost out due to Hovhannisyan scoring a win over Fedorov

It's pretty rare to see Aronian getting outprepared in this manner in the opening

The Hungarian team is strong, but it was no match for France which won the match 3-1

'MVL' managed to trick Peter Leko in an extremely complex game, after it seemed the Frenchman was worse out of the opening

Analysis by GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly
 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 What else to expect from the brave MVL! 6.f3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Be3 h5 9.Qd2 Nbd7 10.Nd5 Bxd5 11.exd5 g6 12.Be2 Bg7 This is one the main position in h5 system of the Najdorf English attack. Huge number of top games have reached here and exclusively white always went for 13.0-0 while few players tried 13. Na5. MVL himself had this position as black twice and one of them was against Magnus in 2018 Biel. Peter shows an entirely different approach to play from white side. 13.0-0-0!? It was never seen at top level before although there are many games at correspondence chess. 13.0-0 a5 14.a4 0-0 15.Bb5 Qc7 16.c4 1/2-1/2 (49) Carlsen,M (2842)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2779) Biel 2018 13...0-0N Both 13...b5 and 13...Qc7 are critical reply and mostly will gain more popularity in future. 14.g4 14.Kb1 All correspondence games that reached this position went this way. 14...a5 14...e4 15.gxh5 exf3 16.Bxf3 Ne5 17.Be2 White is faster here. 15.a4 Nb6 16.gxh5 Nxh5 17.Bb5 Peter was playing very fast till here showing the depth of his preparation. Outcome of the opening has been a clear success for Peter who now enjoys an overwhelming position with almost no risk. Nf6? Problem with this move is it doesn’t really create a threat and Peter after a long thought comes up with an excellent antidote. 17...Qc7 would have been better 18.Qc3!? Unsual way to swap the queens. 18.Qd3 Rfc8 18...Qxc3 19.bxc3 Nc8 20.Nd2 White keeps some pressure 18.h4! Peter thought for an impressive 48min here and found the strongest move. Qc7 18...Nbxd5 runs into 19.Bg5± and black must either allow h5 or simply give up d6 pawn and get into a horrible endgame. 18...Nfxd5 There are simply too many options for white to crush through. 19.Bxb6 19.Bh6± 19.Bf2± 19...Nxb6 20.Qxd6 Would be the perfect Leko-way to win the game. 19.h5! Another 18min of thought and once again the strongest move. Now white is winning Nxh5 20.Bh6? Ironically Peter just spent less than one minute to play this move while he could have finished the game right away with a Non-Leko move. 20.Rxh5! It’s true that Peter doesn't sacrifice much in his games but in this particular case it all came down if he could spot one particular move..... gxh5 21.Bh6 f5 It is for sure that Peter considered 20. Rh5 but didn't see a concrete way here. 21...f6 also leads to the same tactics mentioned below. 22.Bxg7 Qxg7 23.Qe3 Qc7 24.Rg1+ Kh8 25.Bd3!+- 22.Bxg7 22.Rg1 Rf7 22...Qxg7 While considering 20.Rh5 unless the following trick is spotted it is not possible to enter this line. 22...Kxg7 Clearly this didn't bother Peter 23.Qg5+ Kh8 24.Qh6+ Qh7 25.Qxd6+- 23.Qe3! 23.Qf2? Qh6+ allows black to get away from the pin with a check! 23...Qc7 24.Rg1+ Kh7 25.Rg5!+- Unless this is seen it is not really possible to enter the Rh5 line. 20...Nf4 21.Bxf4 exf4 22.Qxf4 White is still better but very slightly. Rfc8 22...Qe7!? 23.c3 Qe5 24.Qd2 23.Qe4 no other ways to protect Nxa4 After 16 min of thought MVL went for the human way. This indeed looks very tempting. Machine has other way to solve black's problem but psychologically it is almost impossible to find such ideas during a game. It is much more easy to find Na4 which comes more naturally. 23...Nc4 This is the very first move that anyone would consider 24.Nd4 However, upon seeing Nd4 one has to now justify the previous move as nothing seems to make big progress. Ne3 24...Qc5 25.c3 Nxb2 26.Kxb2 Qxc3+ 27.Ka2 Qb4 28.Qb1! white consolidates. 25.Rd2 25.Qxe3 Bxd4 This wont be an issue of course 25...Nc4 Weird move but still will come to mind just to see if this forces repetition. 26.Rg2! 26.Rdh2 Qc5 Now that d4 knight is hanging 27.Rd1 Qb4 28.c3 Na3‼ 29.Rc2 29.Bc6 bxc6 30.cxb4 cxd5+-+ 29...Nxc2 30.cxb4 Nxd4+ 31.Kb1 Nxb5 32.axb5 Re8 Not at all human way of thinking 26...Qc5 27.Rd1 27.Rxg6 also looks scary but not with the engine on. fxg6 28.Qe6+ Kf8 29.Rh4 Qxd4 27...Nb6 27...Qb4 28.c3 Na3 29.Bc6 bxc6 30.Rxg6! The point of having the rook on g2 instead of h2 28.Kb1 28.Ne6 Qb4 28...Qxd5 29.Qxd5 Nxd5 30.Nf5 Nf4 31.Rg4 gxf5 32.Rxf4 There are many more complex lines and it could easily be possible that white has improvement somewhere. What MVL did in the game is a practical choice where all of a sudden white now had to defend. 24.Bxa4 b5 25.Bxb5 a4 26.Nd4 a3 27.Bc6! Peter keeps his cool and starts defending. White is clearly better and just needs to consolidate further, something that Peter is extremely good at. axb2+ 27...a2 28.Kd2 Rab8 is once again some bizarre computer suggestion which makes zero sense in human brain. 29.b3± 28.Kd2 Ra2 28...Ra3!? 29.Rb1 Qa5+ 30.c3 Ra4! Not the best move but the best practical choice specially with time pressure approaching. 30...Ra3 31.Qd3 31.Bxa4 Qxc3+ 32.Kd1?! 32.Ke2! It would have been better to play this directly Qc4+ Tranposes to the game 32...Qc1+ 32...Bxd4! 33.Bc6 33.Bc2 Bf6 33...Rb8! Black's compensation is good enough to hold the balance. 34.Ke2 Qc5! 33.Ke2 Qc4+ 34.Qd3 Qxa4 Until now Peter played almost all the best moves and showed huge class but now things starts to drift a bit due to time pressure. 35.Nc6? 35.Rh4! would have sealed black's fate but this once again doesn't fit in to human logic easily. The point is as soon as once sees 35.Rh4 he also sees the counter 35...Rc4 Rc4 Why would someone voluntarily pin himself in such a way that the piece is lost immediately! 36.Rxb2! Bxd4 36...Rxd4 37.Rb8+ is not difficult to see 37.Rd2! This move however could be very difficult to spot in time pressure. Instead of giving a check on b8 white simply threatens the d4 bishop which can't be saved. Suddenly now black is pinned! 37.Rb8+ Kg7 37...Qe8+ 38.Re4+- The final touch. 35...Re8+ 36.Kf2 If the king gets to g3 it would be difficult to form any kind of counter play Qf4‼ Prophylaxis are important everywhere. Being a rook down black doesn't rush. First Kg3 is stopped and now Bf6-Bh4 is coming. All white's advantage has evaporated by now. 37.Rbe1? Probably already under time pressure and a bit frustrated by getting into this mess from total domination Peter now makes the final blunder after which there will be no return. 37.Rh3 was time to bailout. There are many moves to do so and this is one of them. Qc1 37...Bf6 38.Kg2 38.Rh1 Qf4 37.Rbg1!? 37...Rxe1 38.Rxe1 Qh2+ 39.Kf1 Qh1+ Professional approach. First getting rid of 40 moves and then deciding if to make a draw or look for something more! 40.Kf2 Qh2+ 41.Kf1 Bf6!-+ Now after consuming some more time MVL figured out he is now on driver’s seat. 42.Rd1 Bh4 43.Qd4 Bg3! Black now gets back the piece. Rest of the game was just mere formality. 44.Nb4 b1Q 45.Rxb1 Qh1+ 46.Ke2 Qxb1 47.Nd3 Qc2+ 48.Kf1 Qd2 49.Qe4 Bh4 50.f4 Qd1+ 51.Kg2 Qg4+ 52.Kf1 Kf8 53.Qe3 Qf5 54.Qf3 g5 55.Ke2 g4 56.Qg2 Qg6 57.Qh1 Bf6 58.Ke3 Kg7 59.Qg2 Bd8 60.Qb2+ Kh7 61.Qh2+ Kg8 62.Qb2 Ba5 63.Qg2 Bb6+ 64.Ke2 g3 65.Ne1 Ba5 66.Nd3 Kf8 67.Ke3 Bb6+ 68.Kd2 Qg4 69.Kc3 Be3 70.Kc2 Bxf4 71.Ne1 Be5 0–1
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Leko,P2690Vachier-Lagrave,M27800–12018B90Batumi Chess Olympiad | Open7.1

The battle between two of the most solid teams Germany (left) and the Netherlands ended in a 2-2 draw, with draws on all four boards

The Indian team did have a few nervous moments — Vidit Gujrathi lost his game to Adham Fawzy — before crossing the finish line to beat Egypt 2½-1½

 
What should Vidit (White) have played here?
 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.e3 c5 5.a3 Nc6 6.dxc5 dxc4 7.Qxd8+ Kxd8 8.Bxc4 Bxc5 9.b4 Bd6 10.Bb2 Ke7 11.Nbd2 Rd8 12.Rc1 Bd7 13.Ke2 Rac8 14.Bd3 a6 15.Rhg1 h6 16.g4 g5 17.h3 Be8 18.Rgd1 Na7 19.Nc4 Ba4 20.Rg1 Bb5 21.Nd4 Bxc4 22.Bxc4 Bh2 23.Rgd1 Be5 24.Bd3 Nd7 25.Be4 Rb8 26.Rd2 f6 27.h4 gxh4 28.Rh1 Nb6 29.f4 Nc4 30.Rc2 Nxb2 31.fxe5 fxe5 32.Nf3 32.Nxe6! Kxe6 33.Rxb2± The h4 pawn will fall soon and White is clearly better. 32...Na4 33.Rc7+ Kd6 34.Rh7 Nc3+ 35.Kd3 Nab5! 36.Nxh4? 36.Nd2= 36...Nxe4 37.Kxe4 Nc3+ 38.Kd3 Rbc8 39.e4 Nb5 40.Nf3 Rf8 41.Rd1 Rxf3+ 42.Ke2+ Nd4+ 43.Rxd4+ exd4 44.Kxf3 Rc3+ 45.Kf4 e5+ 46.Kf5 Rh3 47.Kg6 Rh4 48.Kf5 Rh1 49.Rh8 Rf1+ 50.Kg6 Ke7 51.Rh7+ Ke6 52.Rh8 Rf4 53.Kh5 Rxe4 54.Rxh6+ Kd5 55.Rh8 d3 56.g5 Rd4 0–1
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Vidit,S2711Fawzy,A24310–12018E1043rd Olympiad 20187.3

GM Bassem Amin talks about the game with his idol Vishy Anand

(Women's Section) Armenians beat USA to snatch sole lead

Jennifer Yu has been the find of the tournament for USA — despite the US team losing to Armenia, she managed to win against Maria Kursova and has scored a stunning 6½/7 so far.

Anna Sargsyan provided an important victory by overpowering her out of form opponent Sabina Foisor

Armenia is now the sole leader after Elena Danielian and Anna Sargsyan helped Armenia beat USA 2½-1½.

The women in orange posed no threats to the Chinese women. China won against Netherlands 3-1.

The Muzychuk sisters. Mariya (right) managed to beat Mitra Hejazipour to give Ukraine a 2½-1½ win over Iran

The match between Indian women players and Georgia ended in a 2-2 deadlocked as Indian team captain GM Jacob Aagaard reviews the match

The Russian women did manage to beat Greece 3-1, but it was only after Valentina Gunina lost her game to a 2260 rated opponent Anastasia Avramidou in just 20 moves! 

 
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1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 a6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Bg5 Be6 7.e3 h6?! 7...Nbd7 is the correct move in this position with an interesting game ahead. 8.Bxf6 Qxf6 9.Qb3 Ra7 The a6 move comes to good use, but does the rook really want to be on a7? 10.Be2 Bd6 11.e4 dxe4 12.Nxe4 Qd8? A horrible error. 12...Bxb3 13.Nxf6+ gxf6 14.axb3 is around equal. 13.d5! Bxd5 14.Nxd6+! 14.Qxd5? Bb4+-+ 14...Qxd6 15.Qe3+! loose pieces drop off! Kd7 16.Qxa7 Gunina would have never imagined that she would lose the rook in such a manner. Nc6 17.Qe3 Re8 18.Qd2 Bxf3 19.gxf3 Nd4 20.Qxd4 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Avramidou,A2260Gunina,V25281–02018D31Olympiad Women 20187.3

Results of Round 7 (Women)

Team Team Pts. MP Res. : Res. MP Pts. Team Team
ARM Armenia 17½ 11 : 11 17½ United States of America USA
CHN China 17 10 3 : 1 10 17½ Netherlands NED
IRI Iran 17 10 : 10 17½ Ukraine UKR
ITA Italy 17 10 2 : 2 10 18 Azerbaijan AZE
ROU Romania 17 10 : 10 16½ Uzbekistan UZB
IND India 18½ 10 2 : 2 11 17 Georgia 1 *) GEO1
PHI Philippines 16 9 1 : 3 9 17 Georgia 2 GEO2
KAZ Kazakhstan 16½ 9 : ½ 9 15½ Argentina ARG
PER Peru 17½ 9 2 : 2 9 16 Lithuania LTU
SRB Serbia 15½ 9 ½ : 9 16 Hungary HUN

Where things stand

Azerbaijan, Poland and USA are leading the tournament with 13.0/14. Armenia lost to Azerbaijan, but apart from that they have won all their games and are on the second spot. After that, there are ten teams on 11.0/14. Based on their performance in this tournament, all of these teams are dangerous and can fight for the medals. Iran and Russia are two more teams on 10.0/14 who can really make a dash towards the top.

Ranking in the Open section

Rk. Team Team
1 Azerbaijan AZE
2 Poland POL
3 United States of America USA
4 Armenia ARM
5 India IND
6 Spain ESP
7 Israel ISR
8 France FRA
9 China CHN
10 Ukraine UKR
11 Germany GER
12 Czech Republic CZE
13 Netherlands NED
14 England ENG
15 Iran IRI
16 Russia RUS
17 Sweden SWE
18 Norway NOR
19 Vietnam VIE
20 Turkey TUR

Complete list

It must be mentioned that the first tiebreak is the match points (2 for win, 0 for loss, 1 for draw), the second one is Sonneborn-Berger, which essentially is the points your opposing team has scored multiplied by your result against them. And the third tiebreak is game points. With this order of tiebreak, it becomes more important that you have played stronger opposition than scoring a lot of game points against them.

Ranking in the Women section

The Armenian team looks really dangerous at this point. Ukraine, China, Georgia 1 and Romania are on 12.0/14, one point behind Armenia. Romania has been the big surprise of this event. USA, India, Azerbaijan and others on 11.0/14 are strong teams but it seems they would really need to push harder in order to fight for the gold. 

Rk. Team Team
1 Armenia ARM
2 China CHN
3 Ukraine UKR
4 Georgia 1 GEO1
5 Romania ROU
6 United States of America USA
7 India IND
8 Azerbaijan AZE
9 Italy ITA
10 Hungary HUN
11 Georgia 2 GEO2
12 Kazakhstan KAZ
13 Russia RUS
14 Iran IRI
15 Poland POL
16 Mongolia MGL
17 Vietnam VIE
18 Uzbekistan UZB
19 Czech Republic CZE
20 Lithuania LTU

Complete list

Photo Gallery by Amruta Mokal

What do the players do before the start of the round?! Talk and smile!

GM Ivan Cheparinov became a proud father today; his wife GM Antaoneta Stefanova had their first baby, Melissandra.

The thoroughly supportive Elshan Moradiabadi is present at the Olympiad as the coach of Papua New Guinea. He pumps up his fiancé Sabina Foisor before the game.

Here's some footage captured by Amruta Mokal!

Red is everywhere I

Red is everywhere II

Red is everywhere III

As election date comes closer, more gifts are being distributed. These bags are being given by the Dvorkovich team to all the participants.

Kema Goryaeva with match arbiter Mohammed Faizal

The water consumption each day is mammoth when you have nearly 2,000 people under the same roof

Video Gallery

The Indonesian team has an extremely strong youngster on the top board Novendra Priasmoro. We speak to him about his sudden rise in the world of chess. From a rating of 2300, Novendra has reached an Elo of 2498 in nearly a year and has two GM norms. We also talk to his team mates Jodi Azarya Setyaki, Sean Winshend Cuhendi and Andyka Pitra. Get to know more about the Indonesian team at the Batumi Olympiad 2018.


What do you know about Malawi? It lies in southeastern Africa. IM Sagar Shah got in touch with three players from Malawi - Chilly Chipanga, Ellen Mpinganjira, and Richard Chiona. We talk to them about the chess culture in Malawi and also the efforts they are taking to make the sport popular in the country. At the same time, we try to get more insights into the lives of Chipanga, Ellen and Richard.


We were talking to Franklin Kouya about chess in Ivory Coast and he tells us that the country has recently introduced the program of Chess in Schools. We ask him why did the schools agree. At this point, Franklin calls out Marie who is standings a few metres away and tells us Marie's (and other boys and girls) story which motivated the shools to pick up chess. 

Just have a look at Marie when she speaks. The fire in her eyes, the smile on her face the excitement of becoming the best women chess player in the world. These are expressions which have to be preserved and nurtured and facilities have to be made available to people in Ivory coast.


Pairings for Round 8 (Open)

Team Team Pts. MP Res. : Res. MP Pts. Team Team
USA United States of America 20½ 13   :   13 21 Azerbaijan AZE
ARM Armenia 19½ 12   :   13 20½ Poland POL
CZE Czech Republic 18 11   :   11 20 India IND
ESP Spain 20½ 11   :   11 18½ Germany GER
ISR Israel 20 11   :   11 17 England ENG
FRA France 20 11   :   11 17 Ukraine UKR
CHN China 18½ 11   :   11 21 Netherlands NED
CRO Croatia 18 10   :   10 20 Iran IRI
RUS Russia 18 10   :   10 16 Belarus BLR
SWE Sweden 19 10   :   10 17½ Austria AUT

Pairings for Round 8 (Women)

Team Team Pts. MP Res. : Res. MP Pts. Team Team
UKR Ukraine 20 12   :   13 20 Armenia ARM
CHN China 20 12   :   12 19½ Romania ROU
USA United States of America 19 11   :   11 19 Italy ITA
HUN Hungary 19½ 11   :   11 20½ India IND
GEO2 Georgia 2 20 11   :   11 20 Azerbaijan AZE
GEO1 Georgia 1 *) 19 12   :   11 20 Kazakhstan KAZ
NED Netherlands 18½ 10   :   10 19½ Russia RUS
IRI Iran 18½ 10   :   10 19½ Peru PER
POL Poland 19½ 10   :   10 18½ Mongolia MGL
VIE Vietnam 21 10   :   10 19 Cuba CUB

Sagar 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.

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