
It was a big round with surprising results overall. Perhaps the biggest and most noteworthy was Ukraine's fall from grace as they lost to the USA, a team that had rivaled Russia for worst start.

It was very much helped by Aleksandr Lenderman, who has now scored
three consecutive wins, and made the US a contender for the bronze medal,
though Armenia remains the favorite.

Daniel Naroditsky has also been a key help, and is cruising on 3.5/6 with a 2723 performance

Ruslan Ponomariov has had a tough time with all draws and one loss, but he has also played
every game on board one and faced every heavy hitter the competition has had to offer.

After key wins by Armenia over Russia and now India, the home crowd has to be delighted
that its team is now sole third, and thus the favorite for bronze. Levon Aronian has been a
key figure, with 5.0/8.

Although his results have been hot and cold throughout the event, today Hrant Melkumyan
was the hero as he clinched the match for Armenia against India.

That Russia defeated Egypt by a crushing 3.5-0.5 is hardly a surprise,
less usual is that top-seed Alexander Grischuk has been unable to win
a game so far and is losing 14 Elo. Their top scorer has instead been
Evgeny Tomashevsky with 4.5/7.

China's win over the now floundering Cuban contingent with 3-1 has allowed them to wrest
sole control of the gold spot entering the last round. Though all the players have brought in
the bacon, the no.1 point bringer has been 15-year-old Wei Yi with 6.0/8.
Wei Yi - Yuri Gonzalez

[Event "10th World Teams 2015"] [Site "Tsaghkadzor ARM"] [Date "2015.04.27"] [Round "8.4"] [White "Wei, Yi"] [Black "Gonzalez Vidal, Yuri"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C88"] [WhiteElo "2706"] [BlackElo "2557"] [PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "2015.04.19"] [WhiteTeam "China"] [BlackTeam "Cuba"] [WhiteTeamCountry "CHN"] [BlackTeamCountry "CUB"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a4 b4 9. d4 Bg4 10. dxe5 dxe5 11. Qxd8+ Rxd8 12. Nbd2 O-O 13. h3 Bxf3 14. Nxf3 Bc5 15. Bc4 a5 16. c3 Rd6 17. Bb5 Rfd8 18. Be3 Bxe3 ({White's dastardly idea is that after} 18... Nxe4 {he does not play the obvious Bxc5, but rather} 19. Ng5 $1 Nxg5 (19... Bxe3 20. Nxe4 $1) 20. Bxc5 Rg6 21. Red1 $16) 19. Rxe3 Nd7 20. cxb4 $6 ({White misses a chance to win material with} 20. Bxc6 Rxc6 21. cxb4 axb4 22. Rd3 $1 Rd6 {More or less forced due to the threat of Rad1, doubling on the d-file.} 23. Rxd6 cxd6 24. Rd1 {and a pawn is going down since} Nc5 25. Nxe5 Nxa4 26. Nc6 Rd7 27. e5 Nc5 (27... Nxb2 $2 28. Rxd6 Rxd6 29. exd6) 28. exd6) 20... Nxb4 21. Rc1 c6 22. Bc4 h6 23. g3 g6 24. Kg2 Kg7 25. h4 f6 26. h5 g5 27. Be2 Nf8 28. Bc4 Nd7 29. Kh3 Nc5 30. Kg4 Nxa4 31. Ra3 {In time trouble, the position threatens to swing to Black's favor, but the young GM has an idea and successfully follows through with it.} Nc5 32. Rxa5 Nxe4 33. Kf5 Nxf2 34. Be6 {Objectively Black is now winning, but there are threats that must be seen and prevented with seconds on the clock.} e4 35. Ra7+ Kh8 (35... Kf8 {was forced.} 36. Rf7+ Ke8 37. Ra1 c5 38. Raa7 Nc6 39. Rg7 Nxa7 40. Rg8+ Ke7 41. Rg7+ {etc.}) 36. Nd4 Nbd3 $2 37. Rxc6 Rxc6 (37... Rxd4 38. Rcc7 {and Rh7 mate.} ) 38. Nxc6 Rf8 39. Kg6 {Threatening Rh7 mate.} 1-0

Israel drew its match against Hungary, and while it has stopped the rot, it is still a contender
for bronze if Armenia slips on the last day. No heavy results by Boris Gelfand who has scored
draws throughout, but has also neutralized the highest rated dangers.
Photos by Arman Karakhanyan
Results of round eight
Bo. |
10 |
India |
Rtg |
FED |
- |
9 |
Armenia |
Rtg |
FED |
1½:2½ |
1.1 |
GM |
Harikrishna, P. |
2731 |
IND |
- |
GM |
Aronian, Levon |
2770 |
ARM |
½ - ½ |
1.2 |
GM |
Sethuraman, S.P. |
2634 |
IND |
- |
GM |
Sargissian, Gabriel |
2674 |
ARM |
½ - ½ |
1.3 |
GM |
Sasikiran, Krishnan |
2654 |
IND |
- |
GM |
Movsesian, Sergei |
2665 |
ARM |
½ - ½ |
1.4 |
GM |
Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi |
2630 |
IND |
- |
GM |
Melkumyan, Hrant |
2651 |
ARM |
0 - 1 |
Bo. |
1 |
Egypt |
Rtg |
FED |
- |
8 |
Russia |
Rtg |
FED |
½ :3½ |
2.1 |
GM |
Amin, Bassem |
2634 |
EGY |
- |
GM |
Grischuk, Alexander |
2794 |
RUS |
½ - ½ |
2.2 |
GM |
Shoker, Samy |
2482 |
EGY |
- |
GM |
Tomashevsky, Evgeny |
2745 |
RUS |
0 - 1 |
2.3 |
IM |
Ezat, Mohamed |
2479 |
EGY |
- |
GM |
Jakovenko, Dmitry |
2744 |
RUS |
0 - 1 |
2.4 |
GM |
Adly, Ahmed |
2595 |
EGY |
- |
GM |
Vitiugov, Nikita |
2736 |
RUS |
0 - 1 |
Bo. |
2 |
Israel |
Rtg |
FED |
- |
7 |
Hungary |
Rtg |
FED |
2 : 2 |
3.1 |
GM |
Gelfand, Boris |
2747 |
ISR |
- |
GM |
Leko, Peter |
2713 |
HUN |
½ - ½ |
3.2 |
GM |
Smirin, Ilia |
2652 |
ISR |
- |
GM |
Erdos, Viktor |
2612 |
HUN |
½ - ½ |
3.3 |
GM |
Rodshtein, Maxim |
2667 |
ISR |
- |
GM |
Almasi, Zoltan |
2698 |
HUN |
½ - ½ |
3.4 |
GM |
Postny, Evgeny |
2636 |
ISR |
- |
GM |
Balogh, Csaba |
2651 |
HUN |
½ - ½ |
Bo. |
3 |
Ukraine |
Rtg |
FED |
- |
6 |
USA |
Rtg |
FED |
1½:2½ |
4.1 |
GM |
Ponomariov, Ruslan |
2713 |
UKR |
- |
GM |
Shankland, Samuel L |
2661 |
USA |
½ - ½ |
4.2 |
GM |
Ivanchuk, Vassily |
2731 |
UKR |
- |
GM |
Lenderman, Aleksandr |
2617 |
USA |
0 - 1 |
4.3 |
GM |
Eljanov, Pavel |
2733 |
UKR |
- |
GM |
Onischuk, Alexander |
2665 |
USA |
½ - ½ |
4.4 |
GM |
Kryvoruchko, Yuriy |
2686 |
UKR |
- |
GM |
Naroditsky, Daniel |
2640 |
USA |
½ - ½ |
Bo. |
4 |
Cuba |
Rtg |
FED |
- |
5 |
China |
Rtg |
FED |
1 : 3 |
5.1 |
GM |
Dominguez Perez, Leinier |
2729 |
CUB |
- |
GM |
Ding, Liren |
2751 |
CHN |
½ - ½ |
5.2 |
GM |
Bruzon Batista, Lazaro |
2691 |
CUB |
- |
GM |
Yu, Yangyi |
2724 |
CHN |
0 - 1 |
5.3 |
GM |
Quesada Perez, Yuniesky |
2629 |
CUB |
- |
GM |
Bu, Xiangzhi |
2681 |
CHN |
½ - ½ |
5.4 |
GM |
Gonzalez Vidal, Yuri |
2557 |
CUB |
- |
GM |
Wei, Yi |
2703 |
CHN |
0 - 1 |
Current standings
Rk |
Team |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
TB1 |
TB2 |
TB3 |
1 |
China |
* |
2 |
3½ |
2 |
2½ |
2½ |
2 |
3 |
|
2½ |
13 |
20.0 |
309.8 |
2 |
Ukraine |
2 |
* |
1½ |
2½ |
2½ |
1½ |
|
2½ |
2½ |
4 |
11 |
19.0 |
285.8 |
3 |
Armenia |
½ |
2½ |
* |
2½ |
1½ |
2½ |
2 |
1½ |
2½ |
|
9 |
15.5 |
260.0 |
4 |
Russia |
2 |
1½ |
1½ |
* |
|
2 |
3½ |
1½ |
2½ |
3½ |
8 |
18.0 |
267.8 |
5 |
Israel |
1½ |
1½ |
2½ |
|
* |
1½ |
2 |
2½ |
3½ |
2 |
8 |
17.0 |
260.3 |
6 |
USA |
1½ |
2½ |
1½ |
2 |
2½ |
* |
1½ |
|
2 |
3 |
8 |
16.5 |
257.3 |
7 |
Hungary |
2 |
|
2 |
½ |
2 |
2½ |
* |
2 |
1½ |
2½ |
8 |
15.0 |
230.0 |
8 |
Cuba |
1 |
1½ |
2½ |
2½ |
1½ |
|
2 |
* |
1½ |
3 |
7 |
15.5 |
235.8 |
9 |
India |
|
1½ |
1½ |
1½ |
½ |
2 |
2½ |
2½ |
* |
3 |
7 |
15.0 |
222.0 |
10 |
Egypt |
1½ |
0 |
|
½ |
2 |
1 |
1½ |
1 |
1 |
* |
1 |
8.5 |
142.5 |
Tie Break 1: Matchpoints (2 for wins, 1 for draws, 0 for losses)
Tie Break 2: points (game-points)
Tie Break 3: FIDE Sonneborn-Berger