Bursa: Russia wins Gold, USA Silver, India Bronze

World Team Championship 2010

The World Team Championship, which is organised every four years, but was delayed by one year this time, took place in Bursa from January 3rd to 14th 2010. The teams were from Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Israel, USA, India, Brazil, Egypt, Turkey and Greece.

Round nine report (final)

By IM Gavin Crawley

Going into this round Russia were leading by one match point, so if they won 2.5-1.5 they would be champions. Russia were also leading on game points, but if they drew 2-2 and the USA won 3-1 the Americans would take the title. The Russians took a risk by dropping Morozevich and Jakovenko and playing two lower rated players. The USA played the same team as the previous round.

Israel vs Russia

Gelfand-Grischuk was a sharp opening, White got an edge but the position was full of tension and hard to play for both sides. The game was drawn. In Tomashevsky-Roiz White got a pleasant position out of the opening, two bishops and more space and no risk.

Tomashevsky,E (2705) - Roiz,M (2657) [D12]
7th World Team Championship Bursa TUR (9), 13.01.2010
1.c4 c6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 d5 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Nxg6 hxg6 8.a3 Nbd7 9.g3 Be7 10.b3 e5 11.Bg2 dxc4 12.bxc4 Nb6 13.Qd3 0-0 14.0-0 exd4 15.exd4 c5 16.d5 Ne8 17.Ne4 f5 18.Nd2 Nd6 19.h4 Bf6 20.Ra2 Re8 21.Rc2 Qd7 22.Nb3 Na4 23.Bf4 Rac8 24.Nd2 Nb6 25.h5 gxh5 26.Bxd6 Qxd6 27.Qxf5 h4 28.Ne4 Qe5 29.Qg6 Nd7 30.Re2 Be7 31.Rfe1 Nf8 32.Qg4 1-0. [Click to replay]

Sutovsky-Malakhov was another sharp opening. Black took a risk with Be7 instead of the drawish Nd6 and it worked out. The game was drawn. Vitiugov-Rodshtein was a sharp opening, very fashionable at the moment, but very hard to understand without computer help. White sacrificed a rook, but the computers were giving him a slight edge after 22.Bxc4. This looked to be one of the key games, very sharp and could go either way.

Vitiugov,N (2692) - Rodshtein,M (2622) [A11]
7th World Team Championship Bursa TUR (9), 13.01.2010
1.c4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.d4 b5 6.b3 Bg4 7.h3 Bxf3 8.Qxf3 e5 9.dxe5 Bb4 10.Bd2 Bxc3 11.Bxc3 Ne4 12.Bb4 bxc4 13.Qg4 c5 14.f3. Currently very fashionable at the top level, e.g. 14...cxb4 15.fxe4 0–0 16.exd5 cxb3 17.Qd4 Nd7 18.axb3 Qg5 19.Qf4 Qxe5 20.Qxe5 Nxe5 21.Bxa6 Rfc8 22.Kd2 Rc3 23.Rhb1 f5 24.Ra4 Rc5 25.e4 fxe4 26.Ke3 Rc2 27.Bd3 Rxa4 28.Bxc2 Ra2 29.Bxe4 Kf7 30.Rc1 Kf6 31.Rc2 Ra1 32.Kd4 Rd1+ 33.Kc5 h5 34.Rf2+ Ke7 35.Re2 Nd7+ 36.Kc6 Rc1+ 37.Bc2+ Kd8 38.Kd6 Nf6 39.Ke6 h4 40.d6 Rf1 41.Re5 Rf2 42.Bf5 g6 43.Bxg6 Nd7 44.Rg5 Rf6+ 45.Kd5 Nb6+ 46.Kc6 Nc8 47.Kc5 Nxd6 48.Bd3 1-0, Kramnik,V (2772) - Ni Hua (2665) Chess Classic London ENG (2), 09.12.2009. 14...Nc6 15.fxe4 Nxb4 16.Qxg7 Rf8 17.exd5 Qh4+ 18.Ke2 Qe4

Probably this was prep from both players, but from now on Black seems to lose the thread. I expect this position will be crunched by thousands of computers in the next few months. My feeling is in practice White will score well, as its always harder to defend. One slip and you are dead.

19.Kf2 Nc2 20.Qh6 Qg6 21.Qf4 Nxa1 22.Bxc4 Nc2 23.d6 Rg8 24.g4. This just seems to be an unpleasant position for Black, who has all the danger, while White has all the fun. 24...Ra7 25.Rd1 Qg5 26.Qe4 Rg6 27.Ke2 h5 28.Rd5

28...Kd8? 28...Qh4 was better but I would expect White to win anyway. 29.Qxc2 hxg4 30.e6 Qh6 31.e7+ Ke8 32.Qf5 Rd7

Now White finishes in style. There are many ways to win but its always nice to win a gold medal with a queen sac: 33.Qxf7+ 1-0 because of 33...Kxf7 34.Rf5+ Kg7 35.Rf7+ Kh8 36.e8Q+. [Click to replay]

USA vs Azerbaijan: Onischuk and Akobian agreed quick draws with black. This left Nakamura and Shulman trying to convert a small edge in drawish positions, which in the end both drew, which was a bit surprising as they both has a small edge and it took some pressure off the Russians. But in pure chess terms it was fair enough.

With that Russia had won the Gold and USA Silver. India beat Brazil 3.5-0.5 and overtook Azerbaijan to take third place ( Harikrishna and Geetha won nice games, and by move 40 it was clear Ganguly was probably going to win too). A very good result for a team that replaced the Chinese at short notice.

Greece beat Turkey 2½-1½, thanks to a spectacular game on board four:

Firat,B (2413) - Mastrovasilis,A (2510) [C74]
7th World Team Championship Bursa TUR (9), 13.01.2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.c3 f5 6.exf5 Bxf5 7.0-0 Bd3 8.Re1 Be7 9.Qb3 b5 10.Qd5 bxa4 11.Qxd3 Nf6 12.Qc4 Qd7 13.Qxa4 0-0 14.d3 Nd4 15.Qd1 Nxf3+ 16.Qxf3

After a fun opening White has emerged with the usual slight plus, but Black finds a nice pawn sac. 16...d5! White should probably decline with 17.Qd1 or 17.h3, but Black has nice play anyway. 17.Rxe5 Bd6 18.Rf5 Ng4 19.Qxg4 Rxf5 20.Be3 Re8 21.h3 h5 22.Qd1

22...Rxe3! 23.fxe3 Qe7 24.Nd2 Qxe3+ 25.Kh1 Qg3 26.Qg1 Rf2 27.Rd1 g5 28.Nf1 Qf4 29.Nh2 g4 30.hxg4 hxg4

The official score ends here, but in my opinion Black is only slightly better after 31.g3. Was this a premature resignation? Maybe White was so impressed with Black's swashbuckling style he thought he deserved to win. Or maybe Black actually played 30...h4, which does seem to be winning, though a resignation is still surprising. 0-1. [Click to replay]

Individual results of round eight

All round results

Final standings (after nine rounds)

Congratulations to Russia – a strong finish and a convincing win. Good fighting chess combined with genuine top quality gave them a fully deserved gold medal.

Top performances at the World Team Championship 2010

As you can see the highest performances were achieved on the lower boards, where players have weaker opponents but cannot afford any missteps. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov scored eight points in nine games for a 2950 performance, while Nikita Vitiugov had 5.5/6 for a 2939 performance. The best performance of any of the top boards was by Hikaru Nakamura, who finished with 6.0/8 with a 2851 level of play. Onischuk, Radjabov and Ganguly are the other GMs with a 2800+ performance.

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games were broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!