Two teams top Chengdu

by Alejandro Ramirez
7/10/2014 – It was the teams of Zhu Chen and Yasser Seirawan and Yu Shaoteng and Xu Yuhua. The rating favorites, Hou Yifan and Nigel Short, took a stumble on day three as they were able to score only 0.5/2 in rounds three and four, something that put them too far behind in a tournament that was only five rounds long. We bring you final impressions of a fun and unique event.
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Last Rounds

The tournament had clear favorites. Rating wise, it was Hou Yifan and Nigel Short that were to beat, but certainly Zhu Chen and Seirawan were powerful contenders.

Despite being the pre-tournament favorites, Hou Yifan and Nigel Short couldn't claim first place

The top rated team started the tournament well with two victories without problems. However they really stumbled in the next two rounds. The solid team of Yu Shaoteng and Xu Yuhua held them to a draw but the real disaster came in round four against Zhu Chen and Seirawan:

Yasser Seirawan and Zhu Chen stepped up to take advantage of their opponent's mistakes

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 Up to now both of these teams looked very well in the tournament. Zhu Chen and Seirawan had positionally crushed their opponents while Short and Hou Yifan had played some powerful chess to win two games. Both teams had already drawn Xu Yuhua and Yu Shaoteng, so the winner of this game had a great chance at sharing first. 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 Qxd5 6.Nf3 Qf5 And old but solid line of the Nimzo-Indian. Here White is supposed to take on f5 and play the long endgame, but Zhu Chen was not interested in that. 7.Qb3 This has gained popularity in the last year or so. Nc6 8.e3 8.Bd2 is the theoretically dangerous move. 8...a5 9.a3 a4 10.Qd1 Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 e5 It seems that Black has no problems from the opening. They have been able to liberate all their pieces and White has very little to show for it. The pawn center is not that strong and the bishops dont have good diagonals yet. 12.Be2 0-0 13.0-0 Re8 14.Bb2 e4 15.Nh4 Qg5 16.g3 Bg4! It is very common that when playing against the pair of bishops exchanging one of your opponents bishops is a good idea. Here this is no exception, and as an added bonus all the light squares become exceptionally weak. 17.c4 Na5 18.Bxg4 Qxg4 19.Qxg4 Nxg4 20.Rac1 Ra6 21.Rc2 Rc6 22.Rfc1 Nb3 23.Rd1 b5 24.c5 With Black's maneuvers they have secured a strong light-squared blockade. White's bishop on b2 is doomed to be passive and everything is going Black's way. Rd8 25.Rf1 Re6 26.Ng2 c6?! already strange. 26...g5! was an important move to retian the advantage. The point is that the knight on g2 is particularly bad. 27.f3 exf3 28.Rxf3 h6 27.Nf4 Ree8 28.d5! White wastes no time in opening lines for his pieces. Now it is Black that has to be careful. cxd5 28...f6 was a much better move. 29.d6 29.dxc6 Rc8= 29...Ne5 29.c6 d4 30.c7 Rc8 31.Bxd4 Nxd4? An ugly mistake by Short. Hou Yifan still thought the position was ok but her partner didn't see how to save the position. 31...Re7! 32.Nd5 32.h3 Nxd4 33.exd4 Nf6 34.Rb1 34.Rfc1 g5 35.Ne2 Nd5= 34...Rcxc7 35.Rxc7 Rxc7 36.Rxb5= the endgame is approximately equal. 32...Rd7 no longer works as White has to give up the knight or the c7 pawn. 32.exd4 Re7 33.Nd5 Rd7 34.Rc5 This important move was not available when the knight was on b3. Now the game is over as Black has no good way of preventing Rfc1 followed by Nb6. h6 34...Nf6 35.Nb6 Rdxc7 36.Nxc8+- It is also important that on c5 the rook is defended. 35.Rfc1 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Zhu,C-Hou Yifan:Short,N-1–02014E34Star Mixed Pair 20144

After this loss it was nearly impossible to catch the top teams. A full point behind Zhu Chen and Seirawan and half a point behind Xu Yuhua and Yu Shaoteng with only one round to go meant that the standings were basically set.

Despite the high rating combination of Arthur Jussupow and Maia Chiburdanidze, it seems that their styles were too clashing and they never got along on the chessboard

Zhu Chen and Seirawan took no risks and chose a super-solid variation in the last round against Jussupow and Chiburdanidze; a team that never found any momentum but certainly posed real danger. The draw suited them fine, but it allowed Xu Yuhua and Yu Shaoteng to catch up with them by beating the relatively weak team of Liu Shilan and Xie Jun.

Ye Jiangchuan and Alisa Maric had their glory moment with their win on round two, but no other big successes

Yu Shaoteng (left) and Xu Yuhua played solid, good chess al through-out. Their styles truly matched!

Final round ready to begin

In the team of Xie Jun and Liu Shilan it was Xie Jun that was given the honorary "man" role in the pair, which basically meant she played first.

Overall the event was very fun to watch. The high ratings didn't mean that the teams would do well. Things such as style, coordination and general knowledge of openings were key to success. For example, Alisa Maric prefers to play the Caro-Kann but has never played a Sicilian... the opening that her partner preferred! It was a great way to blur the traditional rating lines and to create a new and interesting way of playing chess. Hopefully next year's event is slightly longer.

Standings

Photos by Liang Ziming from the Official Website

Replay all rounds

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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.Re1 Nf6 6.e5 Nd5 7.Nc3 Nc7 8.Bxc6 dxc6 9.Ne4 Ne6 10.d3 0-0 11.Be3 b6 12.Qd2 Re8 13.Bh6 Bh8 14.Neg5 f6 15.Nxe6 Bxe6 16.Qf4 Qd7 17.Re3 Bd5 18.Rae1 Bxf3 19.Rxf3 Qe6 20.b3 Rad8 21.Qc1 fxe5 22.Rfe3 Qf7 23.R3e2 Rd5 24.Qa3 a5 25.Qa4 Qf6 26.Qg4 Rd4 27.Re4 Qf5 28.Qg3 Rxe4 29.dxe4 Qd7 30.h4 Rd8 31.h5 Qe6 32.Bc1 Bg7 33.Qf3 Qf7 34.Qe2 gxh5 35.Qa6 Rf8 36.Re2 Rd8 37.Bd2 Rb8 38.Qa7 Qe8 39.Bg5 Rd8 40.Qxb6 Rd1+ 41.Kh2 Qg6 42.Rd2 Rxd2 43.Bxd2 Qxe4 44.Qxc5 Bf6 45.Bxa5 Qf4+ 46.g3 Qf3 47.Qe3 Qd5 48.Bb4 h4 49.gxh4 Bxh4 50.a4 e4 51.Bc3 Qf5 52.Bd4 Bg5 53.Qh3 Bf4+ 54.Kg2 Qg5+ 55.Kf1 e5 56.Bc5 Qd8 57.Qe6+ Kh8 58.Bd6 h6 59.Bxe5+ 1–0
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
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  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Xu,Y-Maric,A-1–02014B31Star Mixed Pair 20141
Zhu,C-Liu,S-1–02014D55Star Mixed Pair 20141
Hou Yifan:Short,N-Chiburdanidze,M-1–02014C10Star Mixed Pair 20141
Maric,A-Chiburdanidze,M-1–02014C10Star Mixed Pair 20142
Liu,S-Hou Yifan:Short,N-0–12014C03Star Mixed Pair 20142
Xu,Y-Zhu,C-½–½2014C10Star Mixed Pair 20142
Zhu,C-Maric,A-1–02014E32Star Mixed Pair 20143
Hou Yifan:Short,N-Xu,Y-½–½2014C10Star Mixed Pair 20143
Chiburdanidze,M-Liu,S-½–½2014A24Star Mixed Pair 20143
Maric,A-Liu,S-½–½2014C97Star Mixed Pair 20144
Xu,Y-Chiburdanidze,M-1–02014C10Star Mixed Pair 20144
Zhu,C-Hou Yifan:Short,N-1–02014E34Star Mixed Pair 20144
Hou Yifan:Short,N-Maric,A-1–02014C00Star Mixed Pair 20145
Chiburdanidze,M-Zhu,C-½–½2014D04Star Mixed Pair 20145
Liu,S-Xu,Y-0–12014C03Star Mixed Pair 20145

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games. Note: It seems the last round games have some relay errors.

Links

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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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