

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.

According to FIDE Regulations the following Federations are entitled to send
a team:
- China (host country)
- Russia (winner 2009)
- Ukraine (Olympiad 2010)
- Israel (Olympiad 2010)
- Hungary (Olympiad 2010)
- Azerbaijan (Europe qualifier)
- India (Asia qualifier)
- USA (America's qualifier)
- Egypt (African qualifier)
- Armenia (FIDE President's nomination)
Each team consists of five players (including one reserve) and one coach/captain
of the team, for a total of six participants, who are provided with full hospitality
including lodging, accommodation in a single room of in the five-star hotel.
The team composition for each round must be delivered to the arbiters at 9:00
am in the morning.
System and scoring
The championships is a round robin, with each team playing a match against
all other teams. The time control is: 90 min for 40 moves, then 30 min for the
rest of the game, with a 30 second increment per move, staring from move one.
The scoring is as in the FIDE Chess Olympiads: the winner gets two points, a
draw gives each team one point, and a loss is scored as 0 points. If any teams
finish with equal match points, the tie is resolved as follows:
- by board points in total;
- in case of a tie by the scores obtained by the tying teams against each
other; if the tie is still not broken;
- by the Berger system;
- if it is still equal by board count (Berlin System) as follows: a win on
Board 1 = 4 points, a win on Board 2 = 3 points, a win on Board 3 = 2 points,
a win on Board 4 = 1 points. In case of drawn games these points are shared.
If the board-count does not results in the tie being broken then the board
points of Board 4 are cancelled, and so on upwards until the tie is broken.
- If a tie still results between teams in contention for medals, these teams
play a match against each other at a fast time-rate (15 minutes per player
for the entire game);
- if this match is indecisive, then lots are drawn (with a collective sigh
of dismay by the arbiters).
Chief Arbiter is Panagiotis Nikolopoulos (Greece). One Deputy Chief Arbiter
and three arbiters are from China.
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 |
Opening ceremony

Digitaries and players during the national anthem at the opening ceremony

Costume and dance performance Chinese style

At this we excel: Chinese gymnastics

Chinese GM Wang Yue singing!

Then a musical recital by US GM Ben Finegold and Tony Rich
of the St. Louis Chess Club

and one with Tian Hongwei, a.k.a. Abigail, Vice General Secretary
of the Chinese Chess Association (we will try to get videos!)

A well-known collector of musical instruments, playing the world's largest flute...

...and then the world's
smallest (less than 3 cm) – check out the faces of the guests!
Yan Fuxing is one of China’s most acclaimed folk musician and artist.
Since his youth, he has performed songs on the finger whistle, and imitated
the calls of birds. He is skilled in flute, cow horn flute, the xun (hollow
wind instrument), the gourd zither and more than 40 Chinese musical instruments.
Not only has he performed on the 3.6 meter long flute, but he can also play
on the tiny 3 cm bone flute, the shortest in the world. He can converse with
birds, and is thus dubbed Chinese Culture’s Remarkable Man; children refer
to him as “Bird Uncle”, “Multi-skilled player of flutes”,
“Bird king” and other flattering titles. [Source: Arboretum]

Drawing of lots with Chinese fans: Ivanchuk drew eight for the Ukrainian
team

The pairings put up on the scoreboard
Round one report

Defending champion Russia beat the US team 3-1 to celebrate a great opening
round; the Armenian team went even higher and scored 3.5-0.5 against the Israeli
team (sans Gelfand); Ukraine beat Egypt 1.5-2.5, Hungary (with Leko on board
one – welcome back Peter!) drew against India 2-2, while the host Chinese
team scored the same against Azerbaijan. Here's what happened on board four
in the match Ukraine vs Egypt:

[Event "8th World Teams"]
[Event "8th World Teams"] [Site "Ningbo CHN"] [Date "2011.07.17"] [Round "1"]
[White "Areshchenko, A."] [Black "Shoker, S."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2682"] [BlackElo "2475"] [PlyCount "56"] [EventDate "2011.07.17"]
1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 c6 5. h3 Nbd7 6. Nf3 Qc7 7. Bd3 e5 8.
Qd2 exd4 9. Nxd4 Bg7 10. Bh6 Bxh6 11. Qxh6 b5 12. O-O-O b4 13. Nb1 Bb7 14.
Nd2 Qb6 15. N4b3 Ba6 16. Bxa6 Qxa6 17. Kb1 c5 18. Nf3 c4 19. Nc1 Ne5 20. Rd4
c3 21. Rhd1 cxb2 22. Nb3 Nc4 {[#]Instead of taking an easy win with 23.Qg7
GM Alexander Areshchenko, rated 2682, blundered with} 23. e5 $4 (23. Qg7 Rc8
24. Ne5) {This gives his opponent, IM Samy Shoker, more than two hundred points
below him, a chance to get in} 23... Rc8 24. exf6 Na3+ 25. Kxb2 Rxc2+ 26.
Ka1 Nc4 27. Re4+ Kd8 28. Nc1 Qa3 {and mate to follow} 0-1