World Team CC: Russia loses two in a row

by Johannes Fischer
4/21/2015 – After losing against Ukraine in the first round of the World Team Championship Russia also lost its second match - against Cuba - and now trails the table. Egypt hold Israel to a draw, Ukraine lost against Armenia, India and China drew against the USA and Hungary. India now leads, followed by China, Israel, and Cuba. But all in all the round was peaceful.

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World Team Championship in Tsaghkadzor: 
India leads, Russia is last

The World Team Championship started with a big surprise: after two rounds Russia is last. After losing in the first round against Ukraine, the Russians also lost against Cuba. Leinier Dominguez scored the decisive point by winning against Alexander Grischuk, showing that knight and queen often work better together than bishop and queen. All other games of the match were drawn.

 

 

Leinier Dominguez

Alexander Grischuk

The three draws in the match Cuba-Russia were typical and the drawing percentage in the second round was rather high. Only four games of 20 had a decisive result.

Ponomariov conceding defeat against Aronian

GM Boris Gelfand, Israel's board one (left), drew with Egyptian GM Amin Bassem

And Egypt's board two, Samy Shoker (2482), won a sharp tactical battle against Emil Sutovsky (2628)

USA versus India

Pavel Eljanov

 

Results of the second round

2.1 10 India 2 - 2 6 USA
1 GM Harikrishna P. 2731 ½ : ½ GM Shankland Samuel L 2661
2 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2634 ½ : ½ GM Onischuk Alexander 2665
3 GM Sasikiran Krishnan 2654 ½ : ½ GM Akobian Varuzhan 2622
4 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2630 ½ : ½ GM Naroditsky Daniel 2640

 

2.2 7 Hungary 2 - 2 5 China
1 GM Leko Peter 2713 ½ : ½ GM Ding Liren 2751
2 GM Erdos Viktor 2612 ½ : ½ GM Yu Yangyi 2724
3 GM Rapport Richard 2710 ½ : ½ GM Bu Xiangzhi 2681
4 GM Balogh Csaba 2651 ½ : ½ GM Wei Yi 2703

 

2.3 8 Russia 1½ - 2½ 4 Cuba
1 GM Grischuk Alexander 2794 0 : 1 GM Dominguez Perez Leinier 2729
2 GM Karjakin Sergey 2757 ½ : ½ GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro 2691
3 GM Tomashevsky Evgeny 2745 ½ : ½ GM Quesada Perez Yuniesky 2629
4 GM Vitiugov Nikita 2736 ½ : ½ GM Gonzalez Vidal Yuri 2557

 

2.4 9 Armenia 2½ - 1½ 3 Ukraine
1 GM Aronian Levon 2770 1 : 0 GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2713
2 GM Sargissian Gabriel 2674 ½ : ½ GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2731
3 GM Movsesian Sergei 2665 ½ : ½ GM Eljanov Pavel 2733
4 GM Melkumyan Hrant 2651 ½ : ½ GM Moiseenko Alexander 2697

 

2.5 1 Egypt 2 - 2 2 Israel
1 GM Amin Bassem 2634 ½ : ½ GM Gelfand Boris 2747
2 GM Shoker Samy 2482 1 : 0 GM Sutovsky Emil 2628
3 IM Ezat Mohamed 2479 ½ : ½ GM Smirin Ilia 2652
4 GM Adly Ahmed 2595 0 : 1 GM Rodshtein Maxim 2667

 

 

Replay games of the second round

 

 

Standings

Rank Team Gam. + = - MP Pts.
1 India 2 1 1 0 3 5
2 China 2 1 1 0 3 4½
3 Israel 2 1 1 0 3 4½
4 Cuba 2 1 1 0 3 4½
5 Hungary 2 0 2 0 2 4
6 Armenia 2 1 0 1 2 4
7 Ukraine 2 1 0 1 2 4
8 USA 2 0 1 1 1 3½
9 Egypt 2 0 1 1 1 3
10 Russia 2 0 0 2 0 3

 

The arbiters

 

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.

 

Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".