World Team CC, Rd 1: Ukraine beats Russia

by André Schulz
4/20/2015 – On Sunday, 19th April 2015, the 10th World Team Championship began in Tsaghkadzor, Armenia - with a number of small surprises. Ukraine won 2.5-1.5 against Russia, and with the same result Israel, led by Boris Gelfand, won against Armenia, and China against the USA. India won 3-1 against Egypt while Hungary drew against Cuba. Impressions...

ChessBase 15 - Mega package ChessBase 15 - Mega package

Find the right combination! ChessBase 15 program + new Mega Database 2019 with 7.6 million games and more than 70,000 master analyses. Plus ChessBase Magazine (DVD + magazine) and CB Premium membership for 1 year!

More...

World Team Championship in Tsaghkadzor

In contrast to the Chess Olympiad where all nations of the world can participate only ten teams take part in the World Team Championship. Usually these are the best teams in the world - plus teams that qualified by winning Continental Championships. However, such teams - in this year Egypt - are usually outsiders in a very strong field.

Azerbaijan qualified for the World Championship but waived its right to play because of political tension between Aserbaijan and its neighbouring country Armenia.

The very first round brought a match between two favorites - Ukraine had to play against Russia. Ukraine won 2.5-1.5. Matchwinner was Pavel Eljanov who beat Evgeny Tomashevsky in an endgame queen and rook vs. queen and rook.

 

 

The "Technical Meeting" before the start of the tournament

Levon Aronian

Peter Leko

Boris Gelfand

Chess historian John Donaldson, who captains the American team, is reading a book

The venue: the Golden Palace Zakhkadzor Hotel  (Photo: Barev Armenia)

Results

1.1 1 Egypt     1   -  3 10 India
1 GM Shoker Samy 2482      0   :  1 GM Harikrishna P. 2731
2 IM Ezat Mohamed 2479      1   :  0 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2634
3 GM Adly Ahmed 2595      0   :  1 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2630
4 IM Farahat Ali 2389      0   :  1 GM Sengupta Deep 2576


 

1.2 2 Israel 2½ - 1½ 9 Armenia
1 GM Gelfand Boris 2747     ½  : ½ GM Aronian Levon 2770
2 GM Sutovsky Emil 2628 ½  : ½ GM Sargissian Gabriel 2674
3 GM Smirin Ilia 2652 ½  : ½ GM Movsesian Sergei 2665
4 GM Rodshtein Maxim 2667 1  : 0 GM Akopian Vladimir 2656


 

1.3 3 Ukraine 2½ - 1½ 8 Russia
1 GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2713 ½  : ½ GM Grischuk Alexander 2794
2 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2731 ½  : ½ GM Karjakin Sergey 2757
3 GM Eljanov Pavel 2733 1  : 0 GM Tomashevsky Evgeny 2745
4 GM Kryvoruchko Yuriy 2686 ½  : ½ GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2744


 

1.4 4 Cuba 2 - 2 7 Hungary
1 GM Dominguez Perez Leinier 2729 ½  : ½ GM Leko Peter 2713
2 GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro 2691 ½  : ½ GM Almasi Zoltan 2698
3 GM Quesada Perez Yuniesky 2629 1  : 0 GM Rapport Richard 2710
4 GM Ortiz Suarez Isan Reynaldo 2612 0 : 1 GM Balogh Csaba 2651

 

1.5 5 China 2½ - 1½ 6 USA
1 GM Ding Liren 2751 1  : 0 GM Shankland Samuel L 2661
2 GM Yu Yangyi 2724 ½  : ½ GM Lenderman Aleksandr 2617
3 GM Bu Xiangzhi 2681 ½  : ½ GM Onischuk Alexander 2665
4 GM Wei Yi 2703 ½  : ½ GM Akobian Varuzhan 2622

 

 

Standings after the first round

Rank Team Gam. + = - MP Pts.
1 India 1 1 0 0 2 3
2 Israel 1 1 0 0 2 2½
3 Ukraine 1 1 0 0 2 2½
4 China 1 1 0 0 2 2½
5 Cuba 1 0 1 0 1 2
6 Hungary 1 0 1 0 1 2
7 USA 1 0 0 1 0 1½
8 Russia 1 0 0 1 0 1½
9 Armenia 1 0 0 1 0 1½
10 Egypt 1 0 0 1 0 1

Replay the games from the first round

 

Pictures from the opening ceremony

The team spirit of the Armenian team is famous

The Russian team

Boris Gelfand, Israel's number one, chats with Emil Sutovsky

The officials including the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, and Smbat Lputjan.

The national anthems are played

A chess performance opened the tournament

Pictures: Official tournament site

 

Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

 

<< Nigel Short wins Thai Open
Shamkir R4: 3.5/4! >>
Topics: World Team Championship
André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.
Discussion and Feedback Join the public discussion or submit your feedback to the editors

See also

Tata Steel Chess - Round 13 Round-up

1/27/2019 – The 81st Tata Steel Chess Tournament takes place from January 12th to 27th in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands (and two "on tour" locations). The "Masters" has an average Elo of 2753. The "Challengers" weighs in at 2582. Both are 14-player round-robin tournaments. Round-up show live at 20:00 UTC (21:00 CET, 3:00 PM EST) Live commentary by IMs Sopiko Guramishvili and GM Robert Hess from 12:30 UTC (13:30 CET, 7:30 am EST) | Photo: <a href="http://TataSteelChess.com">TataSteelChess.com</a>
More...
 58

See also

World Championship 2018 - Closing Ceremony LIVE

11/28/2018 – The moment we've all been waiting for! Live games (for Premium members) from the 2018 World Championship match in London. Every two games will be followed by a rest day until Game 12 (if necessary) on November 26th which will be preceded by an additional rest day. All rounds start at 15:00 UT (London time) / 16:00 CEST / 10:00 EST. If needed there would be a rapid tiebreak match on Wednesday, November 28th. | Photos: Patricia Claros
More...
 83

Video

Beat the Slav the classical way

The Slav has become one of the most popular defences against the advance of the d-pawn on the first move, and every ambitious d4-player faces the question how to successfully tackle this opening in tournament practice. The strongest attempt is considered to be the move 4. Nf3, leading to interesting positions which promise White good chances to get an advantage. Black's main replies are 4. dxc4 and 4. e6. On this DVD Rustam Kasimdzhanov investigates in detail the line 4. dxc4, in which he has great experience. Showing selected grandmaster games, the ex-world champion shares his knowledge with the viewer to explain how White has to place his pieces and which plans he has at his disposal.Learn the secrets of the dxc4-line and improve your chances of success with 1.d4

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register

chessdrummer chessdrummer 4/20/2015 05:48
Egypt looks to be doing well against Israel. This is why you never make comments like "However, such teams - in this year Egypt - are usually outsiders in a very strong field." While it may be true, it's an unnecessary comment and adds nothing to the article.
1