Tromso 09: No changes at top

by Alejandro Ramirez
8/11/2014 – The top match in the Women's section could have gone either way. Armenia held a strong advantange in three boards at a certain point, but they could not hold on to them and at the end Russia even won the match and keep their lead. In the Open section China and Ukraine drew while Azerbaijan was also held to a draw by a very surprising Romania. One report, many quickchats.

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Round Nine Report

Bo. 7 China (CHN) Rtg - 2 Ukraine (UKR) Rtg 2 : 2
1.1 GM Wang, Yue 2718 - GM Ivanchuk, Vassily 2744 ½ - ½
1.2 GM Ding, Liren 2742 - GM Ponomariov, Ruslan 2717 ½ - ½
1.3 GM Yu, Yangyi 2668 - GM Eljanov, Pavel 2723 ½ - ½
1.4 GM Wei, Yi 2638 - GM Moiseenko, Alexander 2707 ½ - ½
Bo. 16 Czech Republic (CZE) Rtg - 3 France (FRA) Rtg 1½:2½
2.1 GM Navara, David 2716 - GM Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2768 ½ - ½
2.2 GM Laznicka, Viktor 2676 - GM Bacrot, Etienne 2720 0 - 1
2.3 GM Hracek, Zbynek 2634 - GM Fressinet, Laurent 2708 ½ - ½
2.4 GM Petr, Martin 2530 - GM Edouard, Romain 2680 ½ - ½
Bo. 14 Norway (NOR) Rtg - 26 Turkey (TUR) Rtg 2 : 2
3.1 GM Carlsen, Magnus 2877 - GM Solak, Dragan 2632 1 - 0
3.2 GM Agdestein, Simen 2630 - GM Can, Emre 2529 0 - 1
3.3 GM Hammer, Jon Ludvig 2628 - GM Yilmaz, Mustafa 2569 ½ - ½
3.4 GM Johannessen, Leif Erlend 2528 - GM Ipatov, Alexander 2614 ½ - ½
Bo. 8 Azerbaijan (AZE) Rtg - 32 Romania (ROU) Rtg 2 : 2
4.1 GM Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2743 - GM Lupulescu, Constantin 2625 ½ - ½
4.2 GM Radjabov, Teimour 2724 - GM Parligras, Mircea-Emilian 2574 ½ - ½
4.3 GM Mamedov, Rauf 2659 - GM Jianu, Vlad-Cristian 2579 ½ - ½
4.4 GM Guseinov, Gadir 2613 - GM Nevednichy, Vladislav 2554 ½ - ½
Bo. 9 Israel (ISR) Rtg - 5 Hungary (HUN) Rtg 1 : 3
5.1 GM Gelfand, Boris 2753 - GM Leko, Peter 2740 ½ - ½
5.2 GM Rodshtein, Maxim 2671 - GM Balogh, Csaba 2637 0 - 1
5.3 GM Smirin, Ilia 2656 - GM Almasi, Zoltan 2690 ½ - ½
5.4 GM Sutovsky, Emil 2624 - GM Rapport, Richard 2704 0 - 1
Bo. 18 Bulgaria (BUL) Rtg - 13 Cuba (CUB) Rtg 2½:1½
6.1 GM Topalov, Veselin 2772 - GM Dominguez Perez, Leinier 2760 1 - 0
6.2 GM Cheparinov, Ivan 2681 - GM Bruzon Batista, Lazaro 2664 ½ - ½
6.3 GM Iotov, Valentin 2553 - GM Quesada Perez, Yuniesky 2649 1 - 0
6.4 GM Rusev, Krasimir 2548 - GM Ortiz Suarez, Isan Reynaldo 2603 0 - 1
Bo. 27 Belarus (BLR) Rtg - 11 Netherlands (NED) Rtg 2 : 2
7.1 GM Zhigalko, Sergei 2678 - GM Giri, Anish 2745 ½ - ½
7.2 GM Zhigalko, Andrey 2580 - GM L'Ami, Erwin 2631 ½ - ½
7.3 GM Aleksandrov, Aleksej 2595 - GM Tiviakov, Sergei 2664 ½ - ½
7.4 GM Stupak, Kirill 2514 - GM Van Kampen, Robin 2638 ½ - ½
Bo. 35 Argentina (ARG) Rtg - 19 India (IND) Rtg 2 : 2
8.1 GM Peralta, Fernando 2574 - GM Negi, Parimarjan 2645 ½ - ½
8.2 GM Mareco, Sandro 2574 - GM Sethuraman, S.P. 2590 ½ - ½
8.3 GM Felgaer, Ruben 2564 - GM Sasikiran, Krishnan 2669 ½ - ½
8.4 GM Flores, Diego 2562 - GM Adhiban, B. 2619 ½ - ½
Bo. 6 United States of America (USA) Rtg - 12 Germany (GER) Rtg 2 : 2
9.1 GM Nakamura, Hikaru 2787 - GM Naiditsch, Arkadij 2709 ½ - ½
9.2 GM Kamsky, Gata 2706 - GM Meier, Georg 2646 0 - 1
9.3 GM Akobian, Varuzhan 2653 - GM Fridman, Daniel 2639 1 - 0
9.4 GM Shankland, Samuel L 2624 - GM Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 2689 ½ - ½
Bo. 4 Armenia (ARM) Rtg - 29 Serbia (SRB) Rtg 2 : 2
10.1 GM Aronian, Levon 2805 - GM Ivanisevic, Ivan 2613 ½ - ½
10.2 GM Sargissian, Gabriel 2686 - GM Perunovic, Milos 2602 ½ - ½
10.3 GM Movsesian, Sergei 2672 - GM Sedlak, Nikola 2554 ½ - ½
10.4 GM Akopian, Vladimir 2655 - GM Indjic, Aleksandar 2539 ½ - ½

Pavel Eljanov drew his game as did everyone else in the China-Ukraine match. Some of the games were rather interesting but it doesn't seem as if any player missed a clear win at any point, or even some way of creating a strong advantage. Four solid draws is good for China.

Ivanchuk suffered a little against Wang Yue, but he kept the half point

Bacrot wins yet again a very important game as he dispatched Laznicka. This gave France an early lead in the match which proved to be decisive.

Romania played an incredible match against Azerbaijan. The Azeris had no problems holding draws on boards two and four, probably hoping for wins on one and three with the White pieces. Jianu's position on board three against Mamedov looked suspicious for a few moves, but he was able to sacrifice some material to achieve a fortress in a rook vs. queen endgame. Meanwhile on board one Lupulescu was the only one with winning chances against Mamedyarov, even missing a win at some point, and at the end the match was drawn.

The White pieces were of utmost importance for Hungary as both Balogh Csaba and Richard Rapport won against Maxim Rodshtein and Emil Sutovsky. This gave Hungary the win against Israel.

Bulgaria had another great match, this time against Cuba. Topalov won against Dominguez and Iotov did the same against Quesada. With Cheparinov's draw, the result was clear, even though Isan Ortiz won his game to make it only 2.5-1.5 for Bulgaria.

Smirin had a tough game against Zoltan Almasi

Rafael Leitao from Brazil; the South Americans beat Canada without problems

Finland had a tough opponent in Uzbekistan. Nyback

Stefansson drew his game on board one of Qatar vs. Iceland; a very close match that

We were able to grab a quick chat with Axel Bachmann as he was on his day off:

A tough match for the Netherlands! Van Kampen (pictured) drew his game against Stupak and Belarus vs. Netherlands was on a 1.5-1.5 tie with one game to go.

Carlsen won a very dubious game against Solak while Can beat Agdestein. With a draw on board three the fate of the match depends on the game Ipatov-Johanenssen in which the Norwegian is up a pawn in a queen endgame.

USA found themselves in a tough spot when Gata Kamsky blundered a piece in a bad position and lost his third game this tournament. Shankland held on in a worse situation against Nisipeanu while Akobian struck back for the Americans, leveling the score. Nakamura-Naiditsch at the top was a draw and the point was split.

Samuel Shankland's 7.5/8 is team America's star player at the moment:

 

However the top player in America is still certainly Hikaru Nakamura

The Russian team barely beat Norway Two. A result that is not really acceptable for the rating point difference.

Finally we had a chance to talk to Austria's number one: Markus Ragger

Rk. Team Team  TB1 
1 China CHN 15
2 France FRA 15
3 Ukraine UKR 14
4 Azerbaijan AZE 14
5 Bulgaria BUL 14
6 Hungary HUN 14
7 Romania ROU 14
8 United States of America USA 13
9 Russia RUS 13
10 India IND 13
11 Netherlands NED 13
12 Czech Republic CZE 13
13 Armenia ARM 13
14 Poland POL 13
15 Uzbekistan UZB 13
16 Serbia SRB 13
17 Vietnam VIE 13
18 Germany GER 13
19 Belarus BLR 13
20 Argentina ARG 13

France and China share the lead, the two countries will duke it out tomorrow for the lead.

Women's Section

Bo. 10 Armenia (ARM) Rtg - 2 Russia (RUS) Rtg 1½:2½
1.1 GM Danielian, Elina 2490 - GM Lagno, Kateryna 2540 1 - 0
1.2 IM Mkrtchian, Lilit 2453 - GM Gunina, Valentina 2524 0 - 1
1.3 IM Galojan, Lilit 2275 - WGM Girya, Olga 2484 ½ - ½
1.4 WGM Kursova, Maria 2313 - WGM Pogonina, Natalija 2479 0 - 1
Bo. 47 Estonia (EST) Rtg - 38 Norway (NOR) Rtg 1½:2½
2.1 WCM Narva, Mai 2205 - WIM Sahl, Sheila Barth 2216 1 - 0
2.2 WIM Tsiganova, Monika 2094 - WGM Dolzhikova, Olga 2166 0 - 1
2.3 WCM Narva, Triin 2068 - WGM Koskela, Niina 2213 ½ - ½
2.4 WIM Fomina, Tatyana 2216 - WIM Hagesather, Ellen 2182 0 - 1
Bo. 9 France (FRA) Rtg - 1 China (CHN) Rtg ½ :3½
3.1 GM Sebag, Marie 2480 - GM Hou, Yifan 2661 ½ - ½
3.2 IM Milliet, Sophie 2385 - WGM Ju, Wenjun 2559 0 - 1
3.3 WGM Guichard, Pauline 2375 - WGM Tan, Zhongyi 2468 0 - 1
3.4 WIM Congiu, Mathilde 2318 - WGM Guo, Qi 2453 0 - 1
Bo. 5 India (IND) Rtg - 3 Ukraine (UKR) Rtg 1½:2½
4.1 GM Harika, Dronavalli 2521 - GM Muzychuk, Anna 2555 ½ - ½
4.2 IM Sachdev, Tanya 2418 - IM Muzychuk, Mariya 2530 0 - 1
4.3 IM Karavade, Eesha 2392 - GM Ushenina, Anna 2487 ½ - ½
4.4 WGM Gomes, Mary Ann 2352 - GM Zhukova, Natalia 2468 ½ - ½
Bo. 11 Spain (ESP) Rtg - 24 Argentina (ARG) Rtg 3½: ½
5.1 IM Vega Gutierrez, Sabrina 2395 - IM Lujan, Carolina 2367 1 - 0
5.2 IM Alexandrova, Olga 2424 - WGM Amura, Claudia 2282 ½ - ½
5.3 IM Matnadze, Ana 2385 - WIM Fernandez, Maria Florencia 2218 1 - 0
5.4 WIM Aranaz Murillo, Amalia 2314 - WIM Zuriel, Marisa 2235 1 - 0
Bo. 6 Romania (ROU) Rtg - 20 Vietnam (VIE) Rtg 2½:1½
6.1 IM Peptan, Corina-Isabela 2422 - WIM Nguyen, Thi Mai Hung 2307 ½ - ½
6.2 IM Foisor, Cristina-Adela 2404 - WIM Hoang, Thi Nhu Y 2269 1 - 0
6.3 IM Bulmaga, Irina 2354 - WGM Hoang, Thi Bao Tram 2329 1 - 0
6.4 WGM Cosma, Elena-Luminita 2327 -   Luong, Phuong Hanh 2171 0 - 1
Bo. 12 Germany (GER) Rtg - 13 Hungary (HUN) Rtg 2½:1½
7.1 IM Paehtz, Elisabeth 2464 - GM Hoang, Thanh Trang 2485 1 - 0
7.2 WGM Schleining, Zoya 2369 - IM Madl, Ildiko 2347 0 - 1
7.3 WGM Melamed, Tatjana 2364 - IM Gara, Anita 2327 ½ - ½
7.4 WGM Hoolt, Sarah 2318 - WGM Gara, Ticia 2321 1 - 0
Bo. 8 Poland (POL) Rtg - 28 Mongolia (MGL) Rtg 2½:1½
8.1 GM Socko, Monika 2470 - IM Munguntuul, Batkhuyag 2410 0 - 1
8.2 WGM Zawadzka, Jolanta 2398 - WGM Batchimeg, Tuvshintugs 2346 1 - 0
8.3 WGM Szczepkowska-Horowska, Karina 2380 - WFM Bayarmaa, Bayarjargal 2109 1 - 0
8.4 WGM Bartel, Marta 2359 - WIM Ankhchimeg, Bayanmunkh 2123 ½ - ½
Bo. 23 Indonesia (INA) Rtg - 4 Georgia (GEO) Rtg ½ :3½
9.1 WGM Sukandar, Irine Kharisma 2396 - GM Dzagnidze, Nana 2550 0 - 1
9.2 WGM Aulia, Medina Warda 2397 - GM Khotenashvili, Bela 2494 ½ - ½
9.3 WFM Citra, Dewi Ardhiani Anastasia 2128 - IM Javakhishvili, Lela 2478 0 - 1
9.4 WFM Fisabilillah, Ummi 2029 - IM Batsiashvili, Nino 2435 0 - 1
Bo. 7 United States of America (USA) Rtg - 54 Montenegro (MNE) Rtg 2 : 2
10.1 GM Krush, Irina 2474 - WFM Milovic, Aleksandra 2170 0 - 1
10.2 IM Zatonskih, Anna 2466 -   Blagojevic, Tijana 2095 1 - 0
10.3 WGM Abrahamyan, Tatev 2366 - WFM Stojanovic, Marija R 2100 0 - 1
10.4 WGM Nemcova, Katerina 2315 -   Bacic, Kristina 1801 1 - 0

The World Champion Hou Yifan chose a bizarre way of simplication in the opening and she ended up with a rook and a pawn against two pieces. Normally this is a disadvantage, but Black never seemed to get into any problems at all and the draw in the top board was all China needed to win the match as Ju Wenjun crushed Millet and Guo Qi did the same with Congiu. Tan Zhongyi finished the French off 3.5-0.5

The Russia-Armenia match was very, very close. Kateryna Lagno dropped a full point to Danielian, and things started to look really bad as Llit Galojan obtained a crushing position against Girya. Gunina struck back for the Russians as did Pogonina, leaving the Galojan-Girya as the last game of the match. A miraculous draw by Girya saved the 2.5-1.5 and Russia keeps the lead.

Marie Sebag couldn't beat Hou Yifan, the Chinese Women took the match easily against France

Ju Wenjun crushed Millet after the French player inexplicably lost a tempo in the opening

WIM Aranaz from Spain

The Spaniards were absolutely merciless against Argentina. With wins on boards one, three and four there was no doubt at all of which was the better team. Poland suffered a small hiccup when Socko lost against Batkhuyag.

Georgia finally put a stop to Indonesia. In a complex position Sukandar pushed too hard against Dzagnidze, probably trying to take advantage of her opponent's time trouble. With early losses on boards one and four the match went to Georgia without problems.

In an almost incredible result the American women were unable to beat Montenegro. Losses by Abrahamyan and Krush (who has a horrible 3.5/8 and is losing over 20 rating points), both with White, gave Montenegro a 2-2 tie.

In India-Ukraine Mariya Muzychuk won a huge game against Tania Sachdev. The game was a clean positional game by the Ukrainian. The match boiled down to Mary Ann Gomes playing against Zhukova. The Indian player had an extra pawn and the better position but drew at the end so the match ended in favor of Ukraine.

Rk. Team Team  TB1 
1 Russia RUS 18
2 China CHN 16
3 Ukraine UKR 15
4 Spain ESP 14
5 Germany GER 14
6 Romania ROU 14
7 Poland POL 14
8 Georgia GEO 13
9 France FRA 13
10 Bulgaria BUL 13
11 Armenia ARM 13
12 Slovakia SVK 13
13 Croatia CRO 13
14 Kazakhstan KAZ 13
15 India IND 12
16 Czech Republic CZE 12
17 United States of America USA 12
18 Vietnam VIE 12
19 Azerbaijan AZE 12
20 Hungary HUN 12

Russia keeps their implacable pace while China is the only one within striking distance. Can Ukraine change this story tomorrow?

 

Photos by Alejandro Ramirez, Pascal Simon and André Schulz


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Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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