Twenty-one teams on 6/6

The top ten teams in the open section of the Chess Olympiad all maintained perfect 6/6 match scores after round three, although several of the favourites had considerable trouble against lower-seeded opposition on Friday.

France, seeded 9^th, were the only top-ten team to score a comfortable victory, beating 35^th-seeded Kazakhstan by 3½–½. There were no 4–0 wins on the top boards, while five of the ten matches involving the leading seeds ended in 2½–1½ victories for the favourites.

The United States, seeded 1^st, edged 25^th-seeded Denmark; Germany, seeded 5^th, beat Uzbekistan 2; the Netherlands, seeded sixth, defeated Australia; Hungary, seeded 8^th, got the better of Slovenia; and 10^th-seeded Armenia narrowly beat Sweden.

Master Class Vol.20 - Bent Larsen

In this video course experts examine the games of Bent Larsen. Let them show you which openings Larsen chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities!
Bent Larsen (1935–2010) was the greatest chess player in Danish history, and for a time, the second-strongest player in the Western world behind Bobby Fischer. Between 1954 and 1971, he won the Danish Championship six times, and achieved numerous international tournament victories throughout his career. 
Free video sample: Introduction to Bent Larsen by Peter Heine Nielsen
Free video sample: Introduction to the Opening Section

Fabiano Caruana was in trouble but escaped with a draw against Denmark's Jonas Buhl Bjerre | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE

Gukesh Dommaraju defeated Italy's Sabino Brunello and returned to the 2700 club in the live ratings list | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE

Germany and Armenia both secured their 2½–1½ victories with three draws and a single win. The United States, the Netherlands and Hungary, meanwhile, each had to recover from an individual upset defeat by scoring two wins on the remaining boards.

The United States once again saw Awonder Liang lose on board four, his second defeat in a row. Bjorn Moller Ochsner defeated Liang, while Fabiano Caruana also came under pressure against Jonas Buhl Bjerre before escaping with a draw. Wins by Wesley So and Hans Niemann ultimately gave the Americans the match victory.

The Netherlands had a similar experience against Australia. Loek van Wely lost on board three, but Jorden van Foreest won his game and Anish Giri eventually converted a drawish endgame with bishops of opposite colours to secure the second Dutch victory and the 2½–1½ match win.

Hungary lost on the top board, where Richard Rapport was defeated on his first appearance at this Olympiad. Wins by Tamas Banusz and Gleb Dudin on the bottom two boards nevertheless allowed the eighth seeds to beat Slovenia by the smallest possible margin.

Anish Giri trying to get the most of a very slight edge against Australia's Bobby Cheng | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE

Bobby Cheng was inches away from getting the draw that would have allowed his team to draw the strong Dutch squad | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

Liang 0-1 Ochsner

Liang had been in trouble at different points in the game, but managed to restore the balance and reach a drawable yet tricky endgame. Here, however, he faltered with 49.Ra7?

Necessary was to keep the h-pawn alive and play 49.Kg2 instead, as Black will need to deal with the passer on the kingside as he tries to make progress. Instead, after the text move, there followed 49...Rxh4 50.f3 Rd4, and Black had little trouble converting his advantage.

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White's d-pawn can be neutralised, while Black's passers are far away from the white king. Resignation came ten moves later.

Jonas Buhl Bjerre v. Fabiano Caruana still in play while Awonder Liang dealt with a tough position against Bjorn Moller Ochsner | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE

Rapport 0-1 Demchenko

Rapport, ranked 19^th in the world, rested in the first two rounds, and quickly faltered during his debut against former European champion Demchenko.

23.Kh2? fails immediately to 23...Qh4, with a double attack against the bishop on c4 and the now weakened pawn on f2. The best move for White was 23.h4, and the battle continues.

There followed 24.Bd5 Rxd5!

Rapport resigned. If 25.Qxd5, Black has checkmate in ten moves starting with 25...Qf4+ 26.Kg1 Qxf2+ 27.Kh2 Qf4+ 28.Kg1 Be4+ and the rook and bishop both attack the g2-pawn.

Richard Rapport | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE

England held, Norway and Brazil defeated

The 11_th seeds from England were held to a 2–2 draw by Lithuania. Luke McShane scored England's only victory, while Paulius Pultinevicius defeated Gawain Maroroa Jones to level the match for Lithuania. Croatia, seeded 17^th, were also held 2–2 by 45^th-seeded Moldova, while 18^th-seeded Iran drew with 46^th-seeded Belgium.

The two biggest upset match victories came from Singapore and Kyrgyzstan.

Singapore, seeded 50^th, defeated 21^st-seeded Norway by 2½–1½. Three games ended drawn, while Tin Jingyao scored the decisive victory on board one against Johan-Sebastian Christiansen (Magnus Carlsen is not participating this year).

Kyrgyzstan, seeded 79^th, produced a similar result against 31^st-seeded Brazil. The top three boards were drawn, leaving untitled Timur Daudov to decide the match by defeating Diego Di Berardino on board four.

Tin 1-0 Christansen

Although White is a pawn down in this rook endgame, it is Black who needs to be careful to keep the balance (engines evaluate the position as equal) due to the far-advanced passer, supported by the king, on the c-file.

Christiansen failed to find one of the continuations that maintained equilibrium here (43...Kd4 or 43...Ra1) as he erred with 43...Rf1?. After 44.Rd7, the Norwegian's 44...Rf6+ was not enough to deal with his opponent's main threat.

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In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
Free sample video: Introduction
Free sample video: Invisible moves

After 45.Kb7 g5, it turned out that White can both promote his passer quickly and defend against the counterplay on the kingside. Tin's eventual 52-move win over his higher-rated opponent meant Singapore remain among the co-leaders with 6/6 match points.

Tin Jingyao v. Johan-Sebastian Christiansen | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE

Stronger opposition awaits in round four

With three rounds completed, the leading teams will now begin to face considerably stronger opposition. Twenty-one teams enter round four with perfect 6/6 match scores, with 50^th-seeded Singapore the lowest-ranked team among the co-leaders.

The United States will face Ukraine, while defending champions India take on Spain in two matches that are likely to be very contested. The Spanish squad has a particularly compact lineup, with all five players rated between 2570 and 2632.

Uzbekistan will meet the young Turkish team, whose top two boards are occupied by the dangerous duo of 15-year-old Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus and 17-year-old Ediz Gürel. The pairings also include China against Serbia, Germany against Poland and France against Romania.

Vasyl Ivanchuk wore a Neymar Jr. jersey in round three - he drew his game, as Ukraine defeated Slovakia | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

A Supergrandmaster's Guide to Openings Vol.1 & 2

This video course includes GM Anish Giri's deep insights and IM Sagar Shah's pertinent questions to the super GM. In Vol.1 all the openings after 1.e4 are covered.

Faustino Oro, a.k.a. the Messi of chess, so far scored 2½ out of 3 playing on board one for Argentina | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

A beautiful setup for the fans in Samarkand! | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

• Official website
• Read the full regulations
• Full teams' compositions and pairings on Chess-Results: Open | Women's

Standings after round 3

...205 teams

All games - Round 3

Find all games on Live.ChessBase.com

• Official website
• Read the full regulations
• Full teams' compositions and pairings on Chess-Results: Open | Women's