

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 |
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 |