Budapest R1: The chess extravaganza begins, a few escapes by strong GMs

The return of China, Russia still out

Once again, a participation record has been broken at the Chess Olympiad. While the 2022 edition in Chennai featured 188 teams in the open, a total of 197 teams are registered to play the open section in Budapest. Both events had big absentees, though, as the Chess Federations of Russia and Belarus remain banned from participating in FIDE events. Unlike in the previous edition, however, China did send teams to Budapest, with the open squad featuring world champion Ding Liren on the top board.

Not all teams managed to make it in time (or maybe at all) for the first round of the massive tournament. A total of 20 squads in the open section, mostly from Africa and the Middle East, were not paired on opening day, 15 of which also appear as not paired for round 2.

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Still, Wednesday saw 89 matches being played in the open and 81 matches taking place in the women's section. All but one encounter favoured the rating favourites - in the open section, Vanuatu (197^th seeds) defeated the Democratic Republic of the Congo (182^nd) by the smallest of margins. Curiously, this was one of only two cases in which the rating underdogs scored 1½ points or more in either section. The one other exception was Liberia (133^rd seeds) losing to Brazil (43^rd) by a 2½-1½ score in the women's tournament.

Lu Miaoyi, aged 14, is playing for the Chinese women's team | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Aronian, Mamedyarov, Yakubboev escape

Though none of the top teams were in danger of losing their round-1 matches, a few strong GMs were inches away from suffering upset losses on Wednesday.

Levon Aronian, playing on board 3 for the United States, opted for an overly optimistic line with the black pieces - including 4...g6, 8...h6 and 11...g5 out of a Sicilian Defence. However, his opponent, André Méndez from Panama (rated 2122), failed to react correctly when Aronian began to create complications on the queenside.

Méndez erred with 26.Na5, when 26.Qa5 was the way to go. It is somewhat understandable for the Panamanian to have faltered here, though, as after the correct 26.Qa5 there is 26...Bb4 27.Qxb4 c5, attacking the queen and threatening checkmate on g2. In that line, White is still better after 28.Rxh3 cxb4, but it surely looks complicated.

In the game, the queens were traded and the ensuing position was balanced. The ever-tricky Aronian, however, not only swindled his way out of trouble but also went on to outplay his opponent in a double-rook endgame.

André Méndez (Panama) playing white against Levon Aronian (United States) | Photo: FIDE / Maria Emelianova

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, on his part, is playing on board 4 for Azerbaijan despite being the highest-rated player in the lineup - surprisingly, Teimour Radjabov, the country's number 2, is the team's captain and is not playing.

Marshalling the black pieces against Khwaira Anas from Jordan (rated 1994), the Azerbaijani star found himself in deep trouble after his untitled opponent played a great positional manoeuvre.

After 24.Nd5, Black cannot play 25...Nxd5 due to the queen being overloaded defending both the knight on c4 and the rook on e8. Mamedyarov went for 24...Nh5 and lost an exchange after 25.Rc2 Rc8 26.Ne7+

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White had a clear advantage with his extra exchange, but Anas nonetheless agreed to a draw on move 49, perhaps finding it difficult to convert his advantage into a win against such a famed and tricky opponent. Mamedyarov lost 4.2 rating points in this game.

Azerbaijan's Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Rauf Mamedov | Photo: FIDE / Maria Emelianova

Similarly, Nodirbek Yakubboev, playing on board 2 for the defending champions from Uzbekistan, saw his opponent agreeing to split the point by entering a threefold repetition while having a clearly advantageous position.

Quinn Cabralis from Trinidad & Tobago (rated 2169) repeated the position with Qf6-g5-f6 here, when his queen, rook and two extra pawns are clearly stronger than Black's rook and three minor pieces - especially given White's attacking chances on the kingside.

These were not the only encounters that saw super-GMs struggling. For example, Arjun Erigaisi went for a speculative piece sacrifice against Jacques Elbilia from Morocco (rated 2343), but much like Aronian, ended up getting a full point after his opponent faltered in the ensuing complications.

Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Yakubboev escaped with a draw | Photo: FIDE / Maria Emelianova

All games mentioned in this section

We are likely to see many more surprises in Thursday's round 2, as the top teams in both sections are paired up against stronger opposition.

In the open section, the United States, Hungary and India are paired up against Singapore, Peru and Iceland respectively, while in the women's category, India, Hungary and Georgia are paired up against the Czech Republic, Ecuador and Montenegro (the local teams from Hungary will play on board 2 in all rounds of the event). The fun is just beginning in Budapest!

Round 2 pairings - Open

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...91 boards

Round 2 pairings - Women

...83 boards

• Full pairings and standings on Chess-Results: Open | Women
• All games on Live.ChessBase.com: Open | Women

All games - Round 1 (Open)

All games - Round 1 (Women)