Batumi Olympiad Round 9: Poland stuns USA

Initial moments of round 9 along with explanations of different openings that were played 

Results of Round 9 (Open)

Complete list

Round nine saw the clash of two of the best performing teams at the Batumi Olympiad 2018 — Team USA and Poland. Although players from both the sides are playing really well, there is a big difference in the way both the teams are made up. Team Poland has team spirit and unity which would be difficult to match for just about any team. They spend time together. They go to the swimming pool in the evening and have their meals together. USA on the other hand is powering ahead on the basis of individual brilliance. All of their players are big stars and team unity doesn't mean much when each one can do his best on the board. Yet, in team events sometimes it is this synergy which is developed from team bonding, the fact that the player sitting next to you gives you energy and encouragement to fight harder helps ordinary teams achieve extraordinary things.

Poland is by no means ordinary, but in front of USA they are clearly weak. Jan-Krzysztof Duda is young and talented but falls short of the World Championship Challenger Fabiano Caruana. Wojtaszek has played many super tournaments and has beaten the best, but when it comes to consistency Wesley So is miles ahead. The biggest mismatch was perhaps on board three where one of the finest players in the world Hikaru Nakamura was going to fight it out against Kacper Piorun. On the fourth board Jacek Tomczak, although has been having a great tournament, is weaker when compared to Sam Shankland.

Team spirit versus individual brilliance. Which one would triumph? | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Strike first with the Scandinavian

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.

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The match became interesting in the first hour itself when Sam Shankland made a move to sacrifice his queen in the opening!

Tomczak was surprised and he had to move his bishop back to d7 as taking the queen would lose to Nxc6 with big threats. To Jacek's credit he didn't give up. He brought his bishop back to d7 and continued the fight as if nothing had happened. The game later ended in a draw. 

Nakamura tried the Scandinavian against Kacper Piorun, retreating his queen back to d8, and was in a slightly inferior position out of the opening. There were a few equalizing chances like the one below, but Naka wanted to win the game at all costs and that's the reason why he made certain poor decisions.

Black should have taken on d4 with his rook. After Bxf5 Rxd1! Qxd1 exf5 the position is round about even. Instead of Rxd4 Nakamura took Bxe4 and after Rxe4 White was better. Kacper managed to keep his cool and calmly converted the rook endgame where he had two extra pawns.

It must be reminded to our readers that Piorun is five-time World problem-solving champion!

Radoslaw Wojtaszek playing on board two had a very comfortable opening position out of the opening with the black pieces. However, towards the endgame, he didn't really play so well and soon landed in a difficult opposite coloured bishop endgame. Wojtaszek defended this very well and finally, the game was drawn after nearly five hours of play.

The focus of the entire match shifted to the top board clash between Fabiano Caruana and Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Out of the opening things progressed normally, but at some point, Duda moved into a tough position. Rather than defending passively he decided to sacrifice a piece and go for an active defence.

But the position is not at all drawn. 

Chess Endgames 9 - Rook and Minor Piece

Endings with rook and minor piece against rook and minor piece occur very frequently, even more often than rook endings, yet there's not much literature on them. This endgame DVD fills this gap. The four different material constellations rook and knight vs rook and knight, rooks and opposite coloured (and same coloured ) bishops and rook and bishop vs rook and knight are dealt with. In view of the different material constellations Karsten Mueller explains many guidelines like e.g. "With knights even a small initiative weighs heavily".

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Caruana had to play ...Be4!! and put his king on e3. He instead went for ...Bg4 and put his king on g3 which was incorrect. After that Duda defended really well and a draw was agreed.

With this draw, the Polish team managed to beat USA with a score of 2½-1½.

The English Opening Vol. 1

Williams main teaching method behind this set of two DVDs is to teach you some simple yet effective set ups, without the need to rely on memorising numerous complicated variations.

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Jan-Krzysztof Duda speaks to ChessBase India after his historic draw

Final moments of the Polish team beating USA

The man who provided China with the win against Azerbaijan was Bu Xiangzhi on the last board against Eltaj Safarli | Photo: Amruta Mokal

If you want to learn what chess preparation is at the highest level, you must pay close attention to the game between Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Ding Liren | Photo: Amruta Mokal

This video gives you a flow of the entire game and also has a post game interview with Ding Liren at the end

Naiditsch had a completely better position against Wei Yi but messed it up towards the end | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Vishy failed to fire with the white pieces against Aronian. It was a quick draw under an hour. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The key game that sealed India's fate at this event. Haik Martirosyan managed to beat GM Krishnan Sasikiran to give Armenia a 2.5-1.5 win over India. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Analysis by GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly

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.

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Germany managed to hold France to a 2-2 draw thanks to Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu beating Maxime Vachier Lagrave on board one. The equalizing win for France came from Christian Bauer on board four against Rasmus Svane. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Analysis by GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly

Power Strategy 1

The first DVD deals with the initial phase of the game, when the all the reigning principles can be crystalized into just one: DEVELOPMENT!

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The English team beat Norway and with 15.0/18 have moved to fifth position | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The Russians have won their last two matches and are now on seventh position with 14.0/18. Are we looking at a strong comeback?

Ranking in the Open section (top 20)

Complete list

Women's section

China is now the sole leader in the women's section with 16.0/18. They beat Kazakhstan. They are followed closely by USA and Armenia who are on 15.0/18.

Results of Round 9 (Women)

Complete list

The Kazakh women proved to be no match for the Chinese team as China won 3-1 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Ukraine versus Azerbaijan was a hard fought match that ended in a 2-2 draw. Anna Muzychuk's win on top board was balanced by Gulnar Mammadova's win on board three! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The match between USA and Hungary was moving towards a draw, but Irina Krush showed some unparalleled tenacity to hold Ticia Gara and score a 2½-1½ win for America. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Lilit Mkrtchian and the Armenian women lost to Ukraine yesterday but came back strongly to beat Iran with a score of 3-1 and keep their medal chances alive | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Ranking in the Women section (top 20)

Complete list

Photo Gallery by Amruta Mokal

Can you guess who this famous chess personality is? | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The art gallery at the expo is definitely worth your time! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Some very nice chess themed paintings | Photo: Amruta Mokal

It was a pleasure to be invited to the commentary room to replace GM Ivan Sokolov for a few hours and commentate with IM Sopiko Guramishvili | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The live commentary by IM Sagar Shah begins at 4 hours and 30 minutes.

That's the dining table at the Hilton hotel and of course, it is chess-themed! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

GM Maurice Ashley with Tania Sachdev. Can you give it a nice caption? | Photo: Amruta Mokal

New in Chess publishing director Remmelt Otten, DGT CEO Hans Pees and New in Chess Magazine Editor-in-Chief Dirk Jan Ten Geuzendam | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Team from Gabon! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

There is Gambia everywhere in that picture! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

That's Jamaica! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

In a team competition, you are quite often distracted by what is going on in your teammate's game! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The passage that connects hall one to two has Georgian chess history on both its walls. It is really well done and a walk through the passage looking at the posters can give you all the information you need about Georgian chess history. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

A video that takes you back in time, into the Georgian chess history

Replay all the games from round 9 (Open)

Replay all the games from round 10 (women)

Pairings for Round 10 (Open)

Pairings for Round 10 (Women)

• Official website
• Round 1: Li Chao is the biggest casualty
• Round 2: Improve your chess with the Olympians
• Round 3: Top seeds sail through!
• Round 4: Poles beat the mighty Russians!
• Round 5: Chinese men stunned, USA women are sole leaders
• Round 6: Poland, Azerbaijan lead in open and USA, Armenia in the women's
• Round 7: Batumi Olympiad Round 7: The medals are not too far away!
• Round 8: Batumi Olympiad Round 8: USA beats Azerbaijan in a thriller
• The best ever chess opening ceremony!
• ChessBase India Youtube Channel