World Team Rd4: Cuba takes lead

by Johannes Fischer
4/23/2015 – After four rounds Cuba leads the field at the Men's World Team Championship. In the fourth round Cuba won 3-1 against Egypt and took the sole lead because Israel lost 1.5-2.5 against Ukraine. China won 3.5-0.5 against Armenia and Hungary narrowly defeated India 2.5-1.5. The match USA and Russia ended in a 2-2 draw - but not a peaceful one.

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World Team Chess Championship in Tsaghkadzor: Cuba leads

So far the World Team Championship has been full of surprises. The fourth round was no different. Thus Russia, though nominally clear favorite, could not win their match against the USA and had to content themselves with a bitterly fought 2-2 draw. Daniel Naroditsky won against Dmitry Jakovenko, Evgeny Tomashevsky equalized by beating Varuzhan Akobian. The two other games (Sergey Karjakin against Alexander Onischuk and Alexander Grischuk against Sam Shankland) ended in a draw.

Alexander Grischuk, Russia's first board.

Sam Shankland, first board for the US

Even more surprising was the clear 3.5-0.5 victory the Chinese scored against Armenia. Aronian drew on first board against Ding Liren, but the three other Armenians all lost their games.

Ding Liren vs Levon Aronian

Yu Yangyi

China's number one Ding Liren is currently number 12 on the live elo-list.

Bu Xiangzhi

Gabriel Sargissian from Armenia

A rare situation arose in the game between China's young talent Wei Yi and Armenian Hrant Melkumyan: After 19 moves an absolutely symmetrical middlegame was reached. Then Melkumyan went astray and Wei Yi could win.

 

India narrowly defeated Hungary 2.5-1.5. Indian GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, playing with Black against Richard Rapport, scored the decisive point - in a game with a number of unusual knight maneuvres by both sides. However, only a few moves after the last knights vanished from the board Black spotted a small combination that gave him a winning position.

 

Richard Rapport

Ukraine against Israel

Ukraine won 2.5-1.5 against Israel and in this match the game between Alexander Moiseenko and Evgeny Postny a queenless middlegame suddenly became tactical and showed how helpless bishops sometimes can be.

 

In the match between Cuba and Egypt a tactical melee could be seen in the game between Lazaro Batista Bruzon against Samy Shoker from Egypt. Shoker, who was playing with Black, felt tempted to play a speculative piece sacrifice on move 20 but the Cuban kept jos calm. He won the game and helped Cuba to win the match 3-1 and to take the lead in the table.

 

Samy Shoker

Leinier Dominguez, Cuba's board one

Results

4.1 10 India   2½ - 1½ 7 Hungary
1 GM Harikrishna P. 2731 ½ : ½ GM Leko Peter 2713
2 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2634 ½ : ½ GM Erdos Viktor 2612
3 GM Sasikiran Krishnan 2654 ½ : ½ GM Almasi Zoltan 2698
4 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2630 1 : 0 GM Rapport Richard 2710

 

4.2 8 Russia 2 - 2 6 USA
1 GM Grischuk Alexander 2794 ½ : ½ GM Shankland Samuel L 2661
2 GM Karjakin Sergey 2757 ½ : ½ GM Onischuk Alexander 2665
3 GM Tomashevsky Evgeny 2745 1 : 0 GM Akobian Varuzhan 2622
4 GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2744 0 : 1 GM Naroditsky Daniel 2640

 

4.3 9 Armenia ½ - 3½ 5 China
1 GM Aronian Levon 2770 ½ : ½ GM Ding Liren 2751
2 GM Sargissian Gabriel 2674 0 : 1 GM Yu Yangyi 2724
3 GM Movsesian Sergei 2665 0 : 1 GM Bu Xiangzhi 2681
4 GM Melkumyan Hrant 2651 0 : 1 GM Wei Yi 2703

 

4.4 1 Egypt 1 - 3 4 Cuba
1 GM Amin Bassem 2634 ½ : ½ GM Dominguez Perez Leinier 2729
2 GM Shoker Samy 2482 0 : 1 GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro 2691
3 IM Ezat Mohamed 2479 0 : 1 GM Quesada Perez Yuniesky 2629
4 IM Farahat Ali 2389 ½ : ½ GM Ortiz Suarez Isan Reynaldo 2612

 

4.5 2 Israel 1½ - 2½ 3 Ukraine
1 GM Gelfand Boris 2747 ½ : ½ GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2713
2 GM Sutovsky Emil 2628 0 : 1 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2731
3 GM Rodshtein Maxim 2667 1 : 0 GM Eljanov Pavel 2733
4 GM Postny Evgeny 2636 0 : 1 GM Moiseenko Alexander 2697

Replay games of the fourth round

 

 

Standings

Rank Team Gam. + = - MP Pts.
1 Cuba 4 3 1 0 7 10
2 Ukraine 4 3 0 1 6 10½
3 China 4 2 2 0 6 10
4 Israel 4 2 1 1 5 9½
5 India 4 2 1 1 5 8
6 Hungary 4 1 2 1 4 8
7 Russia 4 0 2 2 2 7
8 USA 4 0 2 2 2 7
9 Armenia 4 1 0 3 2 6
10 Egypt 4 0 1 3 1 4

 

Pictures: Arman Karakhanyan on the the 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".