The Chinese Chess Association with the patronage and support of the Ningbo
Municipal Government and Ningbo Sports Bureau is staging the 2011 World Team
Chess Championship in Ningbo, China. The event is being held from July 15 2011
(arrival) to July 26 2011 (Departure) at the playing venue in the five-star
New Century Grand Hotel Ningbo.
Round six report
Judit and Yasser share a laugh before the game
There were no major changes in the team rankings in round six, with draws between Russia and Ukraine, and Israel against Azerbaijan. The most remarkable result was perhaps the drawn match between the USA and Hungary, not so much because the Hungarians were obvious favorites, but how the Americans achieved it. Whereas Almasi (2726) beat Shulman (2617), it was Yasser Seirawan who saved the team by beating Judit Polgar in a gutsy game, his first win over a 2700 player in... a long time. And it could not have been better timed.
Judit Polgar celebrated her birthday today
[Event "8th World Teams"]
[Site "Ningbo CHN"]
[Date "2011.07.23"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Seirawan, Yasser"]
[Black "Polgar, Judit"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2635"]
[BlackElo "2699"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2011.07.17"]
[WhiteTeam "USA"]
[BlackTeam "Hungary"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "HUN"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d6 7. Bg5 Nbd7 8.
e3 b6 9. Ne2 Ba6 10. Qc2 c5 11. dxc5 bxc5 12. Nc3 Qb6 13. O-O-O {It takes a
mix of moxy and madness to castle long here, right under an open file, while
not having begun to activate play of his own.} Bb7 14. e4 Rab8 15. Rd2 Rfc8 16.
Be2 Ne8 17. f4 Nf8 18. Rhd1 f6 19. Bh4 Ng6 20. g3 Rd8 21. Bg4 e5 22. Be6+ Kf8
23. f5 Ne7 (23... Nxh4 $2 {would be a serious mistake, opening the file on the
king and facilitating White's work to generate threats.} 24. gxh4) 24. g4 h6
25. Bf2 Nc6 26. Nd5 Qa5 27. h4 Nd4 28. Bxd4 cxd4 29. g5 Bxd5 30. exd5 (30. Bxd5
$1 Nc7 31. gxf6 gxf6 32. Rg2 Nxd5 33. exd5 Rb7 34. Rg6 {was stronger, but
Black still has not solved her king safety issues.}) 30... hxg5 $2 (30... Rb7 {
was Black's best chance.} {After} 31. Rd3 (31. gxh6 {doesn't work as can be
seen after} gxh6 32. Rg1 Rdb8 33. Rg8+ Ke7 34. Qd3 (34. Qd1 $2 Rxb2 $1 35. Rxb2
Qxa3 36. Qc2 d3 $1 {followed by d2+.}) 34... Rb3 35. Qe4 {and Black can draw
with} Rxb2) 31... Rdb8 32. gxh6 gxh6 33. b4 {White is slightly better, but
nothing is decided.}) 31. hxg5 {White is winning.} fxg5 32. f6 $1 {A decisive
opening of lines to bring the queen in.} Rxb2 33. Kxb2 Nxf6 34. Ka2 Qc7 35. Rg2
Rc8 36. Bxc8 Qxc8 37. Rxg5 Nxd5 38. Qf5+ Qxf5 39. Rxf5+ Nf6 40. c5 Ke7 41. c6
Nd5 42. Rg1 d3 43. Kb3 Ke6 44. Rfg5 1-0
Though China beat Egypt handily, it was once more IM Samy Shoker who was the surprise of the team, holding GM Li Chao (2669) to a draw. It is worth mentioning that IM Shoker has the second lowest rating in the tournament with 2475, but has a 2663 performance until now, and has done his team proud. Armenia overcame India thanks to a nice win by Aronian against Harikishna, employing an interesting novelty in the QGD.
In spite of his second round loss to Kamsky, Aronian's 3.5/5
and
2875
performance has been crucial to his team's success.
[Event "8th World Teams"]
[Site "Ningbo CHN"]
[Date "2011.07.23"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D56"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[BlackElo "2669"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2011.07.17"]
[WhiteTeam "Armenia"]
[BlackTeam "India"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ARM"]
[BlackTeamCountry "IND"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 Ne4 8. Bxe7
Qxe7 9. Rc1 c6 10. h4 $5 $146 {An interesting novelty that yielded Aronian a
very good game. Sometimes these moves are more about space than planning a
flat out pawn roller. Which is it?} (10. g4 f5 11. gxf5 Qf6 12. Bg2 Qxf5 13.
O-O Nxc3 14. Rxc3 Nd7 15. Qc2 {and though not worse, it is hard to believe
this was what White hoped to achieve. (46) Halkias,S (2578)-Fridman,D (2645)/
Warsaw 2010/CB00_2011 (46)}) 10... Nd7 11. g4 {White is not kidding.} e5 {A
logical and principled continuation, but is it best?} 12. cxd5 Nxc3 13. Rxc3
cxd5 14. g5 h5 15. Bb5 exd4 16. Qxd4 Qe4 17. Qxe4 dxe4 18. Nd2 {Though one
could be wrong, this looks like it is still opening preparation.} Ne5 19. Nxe4
Be6 20. f4 Bd5 21. fxe5 Bxe4 22. O-O Bd5 23. Bd7 Rfd8 24. Rc7 a5 25. a4 Ra6 26.
Rf4 Rf8 27. Rd4 Bc6 28. e6 fxe6 29. Bxe6+ Kh8 30. Bf7 Rb6 31. b3 Bf3 32. g6 Rc6
33. Rxc6 bxc6 34. e4 Be2 35. e5 1-0
Pictures by Gu Xiaobing and FIDE
Results of round six
Bd |
10 |
Russia |
Rtg |
2 : 2 |
8 |
Ukraine |
Rtg |
1.1 |
GM |
Karjakin Sergey |
2788 |
½ - ½ |
GM |
Ivanchuk Vassily |
2768 |
1.2 |
GM |
Grischuk Alexander |
2746 |
½ - ½ |
GM |
Eljanov Pavel |
2697 |
1.3 |
GM |
Nepomniachtchi Ian |
2711 |
½ - ½ |
GM |
Efimenko Zahar |
2706 |
1.4 |
GM |
Vitiugov Nikita |
2733 |
½ - ½ |
GM |
Moiseenko Alexander |
2715 |
Bd |
9 |
Israel |
Rtg |
2 : 2 |
7 |
Azerbaijan |
Rtg |
2.1 |
GM |
Sutovsky Emil |
2700 |
0 - 1 |
GM |
Radjabov Teimur |
2744 |
2.2 |
GM |
Smirin Ilya |
2676 |
½ - ½ |
GM |
Gashimov Vugar |
2760 |
2.3 |
GM |
Postny Evgeny |
2618 |
1 - 0 |
GM |
Mamedov Rauf |
2679 |
2.4 |
GM |
Nabaty Tamir |
2584 |
½ - ½ |
GM |
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar |
2765 |
Bd |
1 |
USA |
Rtg |
2 : 2 |
6 |
Hungary |
Rtg |
3.1 |
GM |
Kamsky Gata |
2741 |
½ - ½ |
GM |
Leko Peter |
2717 |
3.2 |
GM |
Shulman Yuri |
2617 |
0 - 1 |
GM |
Almasi Zoltan |
2726 |
3.3 |
GM |
Seirawan Yasser |
2635 |
1 - 0 |
GM |
Polgar Judit |
2699 |
3.4 |
GM |
Hess Robert |
2609 |
½ - ½ |
GM |
Balogh Csaba |
2643 |
Bd |
2 |
Armenia |
Rtg |
2½:1½ |
5 |
India |
Rtg |
4.1 |
GM |
Aronian Levon |
2805 |
1 - 0 |
GM |
Harikrishna Pentala |
2669 |
4.2 |
GM |
Movsesian Sergei |
2700 |
½ - ½ |
GM |
Sasikiran Krishnan |
2681 |
4.3 |
GM |
Akopian Vladimir |
2667 |
½ - ½ |
GM |
Ganguly Surya Shekhar |
2627 |
4.4 |
GM |
Sargissian Gabriel |
2663 |
½ - ½ |
GM |
Negi Parimarjan |
2642 |
Bd |
3 |
Egypt |
Rtg |
½ :3½ |
4 |
China |
Rtg |
5.1 |
GM |
Adly Ahmed |
2631 |
0 - 1 |
GM |
Wang Hao |
2718 |
5.2 |
GM |
Amin Bassem |
2609 |
0 - 1 |
GM |
Wang Yue |
2709 |
5.3 |
IM |
Shoker Samy |
2475 |
½ - ½ |
GM |
Li Chao B |
2669 |
5.4 |
IM |
Ezat Mohamed |
2430 |
0 - 1 |
GM |
Ding Liren |
2654 |
| Friday |
15 July |
|
Arrival |
| Saturday |
16 July |
18:00h |
Opening Ceremony |
| Sunday |
17 July |
15:00h |
Round 1 |
| Monday |
18 July |
15:00h |
Round 2 |
| Tuesday |
19 July |
15:00h |
Round 3 |
| Wednesday |
20 July |
15:00h |
Round 4 |
| Thursday |
21 July |
15:00h |
Round 5 |
| Friday |
22 July |
|
Rest Day |
| Saturday |
23 July |
15:00h |
Round 6 |
| Sunday |
24 July |
15:00h |
Round 7 |
| Monday |
25 July |
15:00h |
Round 8 |
| Tuesday |
26 July |
10:00h |
Round 9, closing ceremony |
| Wednesday |
27 July |
|
Departure |
