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The format of the Russia - China match is unusual for chess matches: Each team has five players and the line-up has to be established before the match. In every round one, and only one, player of each team plays against the corresponding player from the other team. The players on the first board begin the match. The winner of this mini-match then plays against the player of the opposite team who follows next in the line-up.
View from the tournament venue
The line-up of the Chinese team:
1. Wei Yi
2. Ding Liren
3. Ni Hua
4. Yu Yangyi
5. Wang Yue
Indeed - this is the team that won gold at the Chess Olympiad in Tromsö 2014.
And this is the line-up of the Russian team:
1. Sergey Karjakin
2. Evgeny Tomashevsky
3. Alexander Morozevich
4. Ian Nepomniachtchi
5. Dmitry Andreikin
The time-limit is 90-30/30 seconds per move. Only one game is played. Should this game end in a draw, two blitz games with a time-limit of 5+3 will follow. Should there still be no winner, the mini-match will be decided by a final game in sudden death mode.
The match began on 29. July and in the first round Sergey Karjakin drew the regular game against Wei Yi but then went on to win the blitz-match 2-0.
Russian captain Vladimir Potkin opens the match by playing
Wei Yi's first move in his game against Sergey Karjakin.
In the second round Karjakin had to play against China's number one, Ding Liren, and again won in blitz. The regular game was drawn and the blitz ended in a 1-1 tie, but then Karjakin won the match because he drew the decisive game in sudden-death format which Ding Liren had to win.
The arbiters: Hou Yifan, Chief Arbiter Zhang Jilin, and Deputy Chief Arbiter Yang Ning
Round two: Ding Liren plays against Sergey Karjakin
In the third round Karjakin played against Ni Hua, and this time no blitz-match was necessary. Karjakin won the regular game and thus eliminated the third Chinese player in a row. The Chinese team (and the players of the Russian team who would like to join the match and play some serious chess) can only hope that Yu Yangyi or Wang Yue can stop Karjakin's winning streak.
Sergey Karjakin vs. Ni Hua
Ni Hua could not stop Karjakin
Sergey Karjakin on his way to win his third match in a row.
On Saturday Karjakin will play against Yu Yangyi. Then the match will be interrupted and continued in December in Harbin City.
29. July: 1. Round
30. July: 2. Round
31. July: 3. Round
01. August: 4. Round
The event is played in two parts. The first four rounds are played in Hei Xiazi, after that follow five (or less) additional rounds in December (12. to 17) in Harbin City. The winning team receives 50.000 USD, the losing team receives nothing. Each player of the winning team receives 5.000 USD starting fee, while each player of the losing team receives a starting fee of 3.000 USD.
Organizers of the match are the Chinese Chess Association and People's Government of Fuyuan County. Host of the event is the Culture, Radio, Film, Television, Press and Publication Bureau of Fu Yuan County and the Education and Sports Bureau of Fuyun County.
Photos: Fan Lulu
