World Team Ch. Rd7 – Lightning strikes twice

by ChessBase
7/24/2011 – They say lightning never strikes the same place twice, but not only did it in Ningbo, but it was a storm of unexpected results. Russia lost dramatically to China when Karjakin lost a won game against Wang Hao. However, the biggest surprise was USA's win over Azerbaijan with Kamsky beating Radjabov and Seirawan defeating Mamedyarov for a 2800+ performance. Round seven report.

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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 seven report


China's win over Russia not only knocked out Russia's chances for a medal, but now
placed China in prime contention.

They say that lightning never strikes the same place twice, but not only did it do exactly that in Ningbo, but it was a veritable storm of unexpected lightning bolts. The first was Russia's loss to China which represented a change in the guard as Russia no doubt still hoped to fight Armenia for the gold. It was a double lightning bolt of sorts, since it was not just a surprise loss by Russia, though China is certainly strong enough, but all the more since they had every reason to believe they were going to win the match.


Nepomniachtchi finds time to give a broad smile to photographer WGM Gu Xiaobing

Karjakin was Black against Wang Hao, and was doing extremely well, so much that the real question was how he would convert his advantage: in the middlegame, or an endgame? Somehow he failed to find the continuation, and in time trouble panicked and swung from won to lost to won to lost. A dramatic ending to a tough match.


Wang Hao's unexpected victory over Karjakin was a giant windfall to China


Russian captain, Evgeny Bareev with Peter Svidler

Armenia beat Hungary, putting an end to their rise, and cementing a huge lead in the rankings, probably good for the gold. The biggest shock result of the round however was not the Russia-China match, but the USA's astonishing win over second seed Azerbaijan. On board one, Kamsky faced Radjabov and it was hard fought with a strange and dramatic end in and of itself. Radjabov managed to create serious threats against Kamsky, but at the crucial moment failed to find the most precise way to victory and the double-edged position went from much better to worse in the space of a couple of moves. Yet, on move 39 he lost in a worse, but not resignable position, so the question is whether he had a moment of blindness by resigning unnecessarily, or whether he simply lost on time seeking the only move whilst his pieces were hanging left and right.

[Event "8th World Teams"] [Site "Ningbo CHN"] [Date "2011.07.24"] [Round "7"] [White "Radjabov, Teimour"] [Black "Kamsky, Gata"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C45"] [WhiteElo "2744"] [BlackElo "2741"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "2011.07.17"] [WhiteTeam "Azerbaijan"] [BlackTeam "USA"] [WhiteTeamCountry "AZE"] [BlackTeamCountry "USA"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nb3 Bb6 6. Nc3 Nge7 7. Bg5 O-O 8. Qd2 f6 $146 (8... d6 9. O-O-O f6 10. Bh4 a5 11. Bb5 Be6 12. f4 Qe8 13. Kb1 Qf7 14. Rhe1 Bc4 15. Bxc4 Qxc4 16. Nd5 Nxd5 17. Qxd5+ Qxd5 18. exd5 a4 19. dxc6 axb3 20. axb3 bxc6 21. Re2 Rfe8 22. Rde1 {1/2-1/2 (22) Rublevsky,S (2686) -Anand,V (2782)/Dortmund 2004/CBM 102}) 9. Bh4 a5 10. Bb5 Ne5 $1 {Certainly not the knight Radjabov was expecting to go to g6.} 11. f4 N5g6 12. Bf2 Bxf2+ 13. Qxf2 c6 14. Bc4+ Kh8 15. a4 Qc7 16. O-O d6 17. h4 Bg4 18. Nd4 Qb6 19. Be6 f5 20. exf5 Nxf5 21. Bxf5 Bxf5 22. h5 Ne7 23. Rae1 Rae8 24. Nb3 Qb4 25. g4 $1 Bd3 $1 {This is the only move since a retreat would fall prey to the same move as Bxg4?} ({The pawn is about as poisoned as they get, and} 25... Bxg4 $4 { would lose the queen after} 26. Re4) 26. cxd3 Qxb3 27. h6 Qf7 28. f5 ({ Radjabov missed an opportunity to play} 28. Ne4 $1 {when after} Qg6 29. Qg3 Qxh6 30. f5 Ng8 31. Kg2 {Black is in trouble.}) 28... d5 29. Qd4 Qf6 30. hxg7+ Kxg7 31. Qf4 Kh8 32. Re2 Rg8 33. Re6 Qh4 34. Qd4+ $2 {So close, yet so far!} ( 34. Qe5+ $1 Rg7 35. Rf2 Rf8 (35... Qxg4+ 36. Kf1 d4 37. Ne2) 36. Kf1 Kg8 37. f6 Qh3+ 38. Ke1 Ng6 39. Qd4 Rgf7 $14) 34... Rg7 35. Rf4 c5 36. Qe5 Reg8 37. Kg2 $2 Nc6 38. Qf6 Qxf6 39. Rxf6 Ne5 {One presumes Radjabov's clock fell, since resignation would make no sense here.} (39... Ne5 {After} 40. Nxd5 Nxg4 { threatening Ne3+ winning the knight.} 41. Rd6 {Black is certainly better, but the game is far from over.}) 0-1


It was a rollercoaster ride, but Kamsky came through in the end

On board three, Shulman lost to Mamedov, which tied the score up, and then lightning chose to strike twice in the same place, as Seirawan showed he was feeling inspired, and he beat Mamedyarov (2765) when the latter chose to face him with a highly offbeat opening, perhaps expecting to prevail by superior play. It is a debatable decision since Seirawan has been away from high level competition for so many years, he cannot possibly be up to speed in highly theoretical lines so soon after his return. Either way, it was a thunderous result, ensuring there was little to no chance of a medal for Azerbaijan anymore.

[Event "8th World Teams"] [Site "Ningbo CHN"] [Date "2011.07.24"] [Round "7"] [White "Seirawan, Yasser"] [Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A43"] [WhiteElo "2635"] [BlackElo "2765"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "2011.07.17"] [WhiteTeam "USA"] [BlackTeam "Azerbaijan"] [WhiteTeamCountry "USA"] [BlackTeamCountry "AZE"] 1. d4 c5 2. d5 f5 {Mamedyarov is known for his offbeat opening choices at times, but perhaps it was best to actually go for a highly theoretical line against Seirawan, since the latter cannot possibly be up-to-date in his theory so soon after his very long hiatus.} 3. e4 $1 fxe4 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. g4 h6 6. h3 d6 (6... Qb6 7. Nge2 e6 8. Bg2 Kf7 9. O-O Na6 10. Ng3 Nb4 11. dxe6+ dxe6 12. Ncxe4 Be7 13. Nxf6 Bxf6 14. Ne4 Rd8 15. Qe2 Bd7 16. g5 hxg5 17. Nxg5+ Ke7 18. Qh5 Rh8 19. Qg6 {1-0 (19) Rashkovsky,N (2560)-Gormally,D/Hastings 1995/CBM 048 ext}) 7. Nge2 e5 8. Ng3 Be7 9. Bg2 Na6 10. Ncxe4 Bd7 11. O-O Nxe4 12. Bxe4 O-O 13. f4 $5 {Seirawan announces his ambitions.} exf4 14. Bxf4 Bg5 15. Qd2 ({The question that beckons is what was wrong with} 15. Bxd6 {since} Rxf1+ 16. Qxf1 Qb6 17. Be5 $16) 15... c4 16. Bxg5 Qxg5 17. Qxg5 hxg5 18. Bf5 Bxf5 19. Nxf5 Nb4 20. Ne3 Rxf1+ 21. Rxf1 c3 22. bxc3 Nxa2 23. c4 a5 $2 {This move is based on either faulty evaluation or calculation.} 24. Nf5 a4 $2 {Consistent, but it was still time to try and recover with Rd8. Shak either hasn't seen the problem yet, or refuses to acknowledge it and is seeking a win at all costs.} 25. Nxd6 a3 26. Nxb7 Nb4 27. c3 Nd3 28. c5 Nf4 29. d6 1-0


Many of the pictures have been courtesy of the charming WGM Gu Xiaobing

Pictures by Gu Xiaobing and FIDE

Results of round seven

Bd
4
  China
Rtg
2½:1½
10
  Russia
Rtg
1.1
GM
Wang Hao
2718
1 - 0
GM
Karjakin Sergey
2788
1.2
GM
Wang Yue
2709
½ - ½
GM
Grischuk Alexander
2746
1.3
GM
Li Chao B
2669
½ - ½
GM
Nepomniachtchi Ian
2711
1.4
GM
Yu Yangyi
2672
½ - ½
GM
Svidler Peter
2739
Bd
5
  India
Rtg
2½:1½
3
  Egypt
Rtg
2.1
GM
Harikrishna Pentala
2669
1 - 0
GM
Amin Bassem
2609
2.2
GM
Sasikiran Krishnan
2681
½ - ½
GM
El Gindy Essam
2510
2.3
GM
Ganguly Surya Shekhar
2627
1 - 0
IM
Shoker Samy
2475
2.4
GM
Gopal G.N.
2576
0 - 1
IM
Ezat Mohamed
2430
Bd
6
  Hungary
Rtg
1½:2½
2
  Armenia
Rtg
3.1
GM
Leko Peter
2717
½ - ½
GM
Aronian Levon
2805
3.2
GM
Almasi Zoltan
2726
0 - 1
GM
Movsesian Sergei
2700
3.3
GM
Polgar Judit
2699
½ - ½
GM
Akopian Vladimir
2667
3.4
GM
Balogh Csaba
2643
½ - ½
GM
Sargissian Gabriel
2663
Bd
7
  Azerbaijan
Rtg
1½:2½
1
  USA
Rtg
4.1
GM
Radjabov Teimur
2744
0 - 1
GM
Kamsky Gata
2741
4.2
GM
Gashimov Vugar
2760
½ - ½
GM
Onischuk Alexander
2675
4.3
GM
Mamedov Rauf
2679
1 - 0
GM
Shulman Yuri
2617
4.4
GM
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
2765
0 - 1
GM
Seirawan Yasser
2635
Bd
8
  Ukraine
Rtg
2½:1½
9
  Israel
Rtg
5.1
GM
Ivanchuk Vassily
2768
1 - 0
GM
Sutovsky Emil
2700
5.2
GM
Eljanov Pavel
2697
0 - 1
GM
Roiz Michael
2669
5.3
GM
Moiseenko Alexander
2715
1 - 0
GM
Postny Evgeny
2618
5.4
GM
Areshchenko Alexander
2682
½ - ½
GM
Nabaty Tamir
2584

Rank table

Rk.
Team Gms   +    =    -   Pts   BPts   TB3 
1
Armenia
7
5
2
0
12
18.5
0
2
China
7
4
1
2
9
17.0
0
3
Ukraine
7
4
1
2
9
15.0
0
4
Russia
7
3
2
2
8
15.5
0
5
Hungary
7
3
2
2
8
15.0
0
6
USA
7
3
2
2
8
14.5
0
7
Azerbaijan
7
2
2
3
6
14.5
0
8
India
7
2
1
4
5
12.0
0
9
Israel
7
2
1
4
5
11.5
0
10
Egypt
7
0
0
7
0
6.5
0

Schedule

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

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 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.


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