Senior Team Champions: USA and Russia

USA wins 50+

All's well that ends well, our captain and team leader Alexander Shabalov posted on our WhatsApp group as the author of these words was about to board a Minneapolis-bound plane at Frankfurt Airport. My plans were made far in advance, and my teammates were aware they would have to cover for me in the last round. (The bad things is, I'm MIA on the Championship photo!) But cover they did, defeating Canada by the count 3-1.

The North American derby: USA vs Canada

It wouldn't have been enough, however, had the English team not stumbled at the finish line by losing to Germany 1. The decisive margin was provided by IM Karsten Volke who beat James Plaskett in a smooth game. The Germans actually held an advantage on all boards except for board one, where GMs Schlosser and Speelman drew quickly.

Considering that fact that even a tie in that match would see our team finishing first on tie-breaks (most board points scored), it wasn't really such a nail-biting wait for the US team. My teammates took advantage of the free hours between the end of their games and the closing ceremony to take another short car trip to downtown Dresden.

Final standings

Pl.	Mannschaft		ELO	Man.Pkt.	Brt.Pkt.	SoBerg
1.		United States		16:2	28	310
1.		Alexander Shabalov	2567	7.5:0.5	43.5	37.25
2.		Joel Benjamin	2544	6:2	46.5	34.5
3.		Jaan Ehlvest	2536	5.5:2.5	47.5	30.25
4.		Alex Yermolinsky	2505	6:1	44	29.25
5.		Sergey Kudrin	2468	3:2	42.5	17.5
2.		England 1		15:3	26.5	282.5
1.		Jon S Speelman	2493	4.5:2.5	46.5	24
2.		John M Emms	2488	5:2	45.5	26.75
3.		H James Plaskett	2455	5.5:2.5	44.5	27.75
4.		Mark L Hebden	2423	5:2	47	27.25
5.		Keith C Arkell	2406	6.5:0.5	43.5	30.5
3.		Lasker Schachstiftung GK		15:3	26	268.5
1.		Alexander Graf	2561	6:2	43.5	28.25
2.		Artur Jussupow	2580	5:3	44.5	25
3.		Felix Levin	2468	6.5:1.5	43.5	33.75
4.		Jakob Meister	2432	6:2	47	30.75
5.		Dr. Gerhard Koehler	2181	2.5:1.5	39.5	12.5
4.		Germany 1		14:4	24.5	245.5
1.		Philipp Schlosser	2501	6:3	41	26
2.		Uwe Boensch	2560	4.5:2.5	44	22.5
3.		Klaus Bischoff	2510	4:2	45	19.5
4.		Karsten Volke	2474	5:2	43.5	25.5
5.		Raj Tischbierek	2436	5:2	47	29.25
5.		Thüringen		13:5	23	226
1.		Peter Enders	2445	5.5:3.5	45	24
2.		Thomas Paehtz	2347	3.5:1.5	42	16.5
3.		Joachim Brueggemann	2293	6.5:2.5	41.5	30.75
4.		Thomas Casper	2354	5:2	43.5	26.75
5.		Rudolf Ruether	2118	2.5:3.5	44	11.5

...67 Teams

In terms of individual board winners, Shabalov won on first board with 7½/8, and I captured the fourth board with 6 out of 7. Aside from losing against England in Round 4, the US team won their remaining matches by at least the count of 3 : 1, including decisive wins over the Lasker team and Germany 1, where the score was 3½ : ½.

The English played very well, and they could have won it, but there's no doubt in my mind our team was the class of the field.

Alexander Shabalov had a stellar event

Going back to round-by-round coverage, I mention that Round 7 didn't give us any grounds for optimism. Both teams that were ahead of us, England 1 and Lasker Schachstiftung, whitewashed their opponents, while we surrendered one point to the Thuringen team thanks to a rare Ehlvest loss.

Unfazed, we took a car ride to one of the numerous castles in the Dresden area and surveyed the hunting grounds about.

At the castle | Photo: Alex Yermolinsky

The next day was to answer if we were to stay in contention. The US team rose to the occasion by defeating the Lasker team. The only draw was given on board three, where Ehlvest couldn't get the game off the ground against the determined Felix Levin. The rest of the games went massively our way.

Then there was a nice win for Benjamin over Jussupow. After the game, Joel expressed his surprise at Artur's opening choice of a horribly passive line in the French Defense. I hoped to get Joel's notes to the game, but I guess Daddy was missed too much for the last couple of weeks for the kids (9 and 7) to let him sit at chess the first day back home.

I chipped in with a solid effort of my own.

How to play the Queen's Gambit

Garry Kasparov took to the Queen’s Gambit at a relatively late stage of his chess career, but then had the best training anyone could imagine: in his first match for the world championship against Anatoly Karpov, this opening appeared on the board no less than 19 times. Now he shares his knowledge with you.

This crushing win all but assured the US team of finishing at least second. The rest of the day was split between watching the third-place match of the World Cup and a nice dinner in a downtown Dresden cafe “Alyonushka”, which features Russian cuisine.

The US Team headquarters | Photo: Alex Yermolinsky

Actually, I got lucky with my choice of room. Having what used to be called a "Murphy bed" proved useful when my room was used for team gatherings and meals.

On the morning of the last round, Shabalov drove me to Dresden Hauptbahnhof, where I boarded a fast train to Frankfurt, leaving my teammates to finish the business. 

The Sicilian Tajmanov-Scheveningen

The Sicilian has been known for decades as the most reliable way for Black to obtain an unbalanced but good position. Among the most popular Sicilians at the top level the two that certainly stand out are the Najdorf and the Paulsen.

All games

The World Cup 65+ Russia wins with 18 : 0

The over 65 age group was a clear and unambiguous affair. The Russian team won with 9 wins and 18 : 0 points tally. The gap to the following teams, St. Petersburg and Germany 1 is a whopping four points. "Germany 2" with Vlastimil Hort on board 1 finished fourth.

The winners of the 65+ group, Russia in the back row | Karsten Wieland

Final standings

Pl.	Mannschaft		ELO	Man.Pkt.	Brt.Pkt.	SoBerg
1.		Russia		18:0	27	282
1.		Evgeny Sveshnikov	2464	7.5:1.5	41	33.75
2.		Yuri S Balashov	2423	5.5:1.5	42.5	25.75
3.		Nukhim Rashkovsky	2483	5.5:1.5	43	27
4.		Vladimir V Zhelnin	2453	3.5:2.5	44	18.5
5.		Nikolai Pushkov	2311	5:2	46	26.25
2.		Saint-Petersburg		14:4	23.5	242.5
1.		Vadim Z Faibisovich	2312	5:4	41	24.25
2.		Nikolai M. Mishuchkov	2311	5:4	45	25.5
3.		Vladimir I Karasev	2337	6:3	45.5	31.75
4.		Vladimir Shushpanov	2198	7.5:1.5	39.5	31
3.		Germany 2		14:4	22	233.5
1.		Jefim Rotstein	2318	4:4	44	20
2.		Yuri Boidman	2358	7.5:1.5	40.5	34.75
3.		Anatoly Donchenko	2301	2.5:3.5	41	13.25
4.		Boris Khanukov	2273	5:3	42	24.25
5.		Boris Gruzmann	2176	3:2	43	12.25
4.		Germany 1		13:5	22	212.5
1.		Vlastimil Hort	2421	5.5:2.5	42	24.5
2.		Bodo Schmidt	2344	5:4	44.5	26
3.		Stephan Buchal	2329	4:4	45	19.5
4.		Ulrich Schulze	2313	5.5:1.5	45	25.5
5.		Juergen Haakert	2302	2:2	36.5	9
5.		England 1		13:5	21.5	224
1.		Robert Bellin	2333	3.5:4.5	45	17.75
2.		Stephen H Berry	2298	4:3	42	20.5
3.		Nigel E Povah	2245	7:1	41	33.25
4.		Anthony J Stebbings	2257	5:2	45	25
5.		Roger Emerson	2211	2:4	40	9.75
6.		Schwäbische Franken		13:5	21	196.5
1.		Klaus Klundt	2318	5:4	37	22.75
2.		Rainer Oechslein	2228	3.5:3.5	42	15.5
3.		Prof. Dr. Peter Krauseneck	2147	4.5:2.5	38.5	19.25
4.		Dr. Hubert Seibold	2113	4:3	42	19.75
5.		Horst Weisenburger	2096	4:2	41.5	17
7.		France		12:6	24.5	248.5
1.		Anatoly Vaisser	2502	5.5:1.5	45	30.25
2.		Mehrshad Sharif	2353	5.5:1.5	39.5	24
3.		Jean-Luc Seret	2353	3.5:3.5	41.5	18.25
4.		Nicolas Giffard	2260	5:2	41	22.5
5.		Christophe Bernard	2253	5:3	41.5	23.75

...61 Teams

All games

Links

• Official website
• Yermo's travels: World Team Championship 50+
• Yermo's travels: Dresden, old and new
• More of "Yermo's travels"