The many great players who struggled (Gelfand, Gashimov and Morozevich were all below 50 percent) is testimony to how difficult the event was. Russia was a deserving winner with their depth the deciding difference. This was my eleventh time as US captain, and although the teams have been pretty successful (1 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze team medals) I cannot ever recall anything resembling the performances of Hikaru and Alex on boards one and two. They played exceptionally well with Hikaru showing yet again that he is among the best in the world and Alex that he plays like a 2700 player.

front: GM Robert Hess, GM Varuzhan Akobian, GM Hikaru Nakamura, middle: GM Ray Robson, GM Yury Shulman and GM Alexander Onischuk with captain IM John Donaldson in the back. Photo Tony Rich of CCSCSL.

Board Medals

After Russia pulled atop the field yesterday, the question was not whether they would win, but by how much. Bloggers on chess servers were analyzing all the possible scenarios, but Russia ended all speculation by soundly beating a beleaguered Israeli team 3-1 to win the gold. It capped an exciting tournament with many surprises. One of the most prominent surprises was Russia’s loss to Greece, the only one they would suffer. Russia’s deep lineup was able to compensate for Morozevich’s poor form.

Alexander Grischuk (front) leading Team Russia to gold.

This win for Russia was extremely important since the federation had not won a team honor since the World Team Championship in 2005. They have been shut out of medals the past three Olympiad despite having powerful teams. The upcoming Olympiad should be interesting since the Russia squad will add Kramnik and perhaps Karjakin. This formidable team will still have to work very hard to avoid the occasional lapse seen in the Olympiad.

The USA took the silver medal by drawing with Azerbaijan. It is certainly an improvement over their two bronze medals in the last two Olympiad. The last round was uneventful as all the games were decided just after the 30-move requirement. It would have taken a complete collapse for Russia to lose the gold.

The “new age” team is led by Nakamura with Onischuk providing a solid reinforcement. We may be witnessing the changing of the guard as the USA presented GMs Hess and Robson as the future competitors. While they didn’t get much playing time, the experience must have been valuable. With Kamsky added to the Olympiad team, the USA could pose a serious threat in the Siberian Olympiad this fall.

GM Surya Ganguly
Gold Medallist, board #3
(Score: 5/7, TPR: 2804)

India shined throughout the tournament with solid performances by Sasikiran (5½/9) and Ganguly (5/7). The key to India’s success appeared to be competitive in each match. Only the U.S. team was able to snatch three points from them and this stability helped them against the strong teams. Sasikiran finally showed the leadership that had been lacking in other team events where he appeared stuck in “draw mode”. His inspired play will be needed if Anand doesn’t play in the Olympiad. India has an immense pool of talent and with Geetha Gopal, Parimarjan Negi, Arun Prasad and Abhijeet Gupta, they have one of the most impressive young GM corps in the world.

Azerbaijan was an outside favorite to win this event, but Gashimov was in poor form and Mamedyarov’s stellar performance (8/9) would not compensate. The strategy of using Mamedyarov on board #4 is questionable. Certainly he demolished his weaker opponents, but he would have been more effective on top boards against the elite players. The Azeris have a young, but experienced team and they have a young talent in 17-year old Eltaj Safarli (2594) who hopes to be in Siberia this fall.

Greece has an interesting tournament. First, it was a wildcard selection which was most likely due to lobbying by FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropulos. Some criticized the choice citing the Ukraine, Spain and Cuba as more suitable choices, but the Greeks were able to make an impression by upsetting both Russia and Armenia. This result again shows how the gap has closed in the information age where preparation plays a major role.

Brazil, Egypt and Turkey brought up the rear, but each were able to draw some experience from the event. The Brazilian team got a strong performance from Rafael Leitao (4.5/8, 2677 TPR), but it wasn’t enough to offset Vescovi’s poor form (1/7). The Brazilians have a promising talent in Diamant and hopefully will be at full strength in Siberia.

Egypt had a strong performance by Ahmed Adly who was in medal contention until the last round loss to Aronian. He had beaten Gashimov earlier. Abdel-Razik got redemption by crushing Armenia’s Petrosian in the last round in a beautiful attack. The Egyptians were missing GM Essam El-Gindy and relied on Sarwat and Abdelnabbi who primarily serve as trainers these days.

The host team Turkey was the face of the tournament. Each day they were dressed in uniforms and were diplomatic despite being overmatched. Turkey has a lot to cheer about having beaten Israel, the Olympiad silver medalists. The world also got to see a nice sacrificial idea from IM Emre Can in his game against Yury Shulman.

IM Emre Can appears to be part of the future of Turkish chess. The 19-year old showed great creativity in his game with GM Yury Shulman.

Things are looking well for Turkey’s future and Ali Nihat Yacizi’s ambitious plan to popularize chess in Turkey seems to be successful. We look forward to bigger and better things in 2012 when Turkey will host the Olympiad!

All Games
Results from Round #9
Standings

Round #9 Pairings (13 January 2010)

Egypt – Armenia
Israel – Russia
Brazil – India
Greece – Turkey
USA – Azerbaijan

Russia took care of business today by blasting Egypt off the boards to edge back into 1st. The USA missed a golden opportunity to hold the lead and lost to defending Olympiad champions Armenia.

The big game was Aronian taking the white pieces against Nakamura who was in form and had won a brilliant game in the King’s Indian against Gelfand. The two would have another theoretical argument in the KID and Aronian sidestepped Nakamura’s preparation with a Karpovian 19.Ncd1. This manuever help to bolster the kingside defense to prevent the type of kingside avalanche that crushed Gelfand.

Nakamura and Aronian battling! Akopian on the move.

The game entered into tremendous complications, but it became clear that the U.S. Champion wouldn’t have his way on the kingside. Nakamura tried to counter in the center, but never got an attack going. Aronian offered a couple of exchange sacrifices and burrowed through on the queenside. After weathering the complications, the Armenian had a winning advantage and this decided the match.

There was not much to say about Russia’s beatdown of Egypt. It appears that Egypt presumably rested Adly so he can vie for medal contention tomorrow. However, Egypt put up resistance on board #1 where Grischuk and Amin agreed to a draw in an opposite-colored bishop ending. It was the lone bright spot of the match. If Russia gets the probable 2-2 draw with Israel, the USA would need to beat Azerbaijan with a 4-0 score to win the gold. There is not a bookmaker in Las Vegas who would take that bet!

Vugar Gashimov kibitzes Athanasios Mastrovasilis-Rauf Mamedov. The game was draw, but the Azeri team won 3-1 putting them in joint 3rd with India place for medal contention.

Azerbaijan meted out similar punishment on a Greece team that had defeated both Russia and Armenia. This time Azerbaijan woke up and delivered crushing wins on boards #2 and #3 for a 3-1 victory. Gashimov played to bare kings with Kotronias and will go into tomorrow’s match having broke a four-game winless streak. Radjabov and Mamedyarov (7½/8) won their games and Rauf Mamedov held a draw an exchange down against Mastrovasilis.

India beat a slumping Israel and remains in medal contention. They will get the easiest pairing when they face Brazil on tomorrow. Armenia faces Russia and Azerbaijan faces the USA. Ganguly got the deciding win by beating Postny and munching all of his pawns reminiscent of the old video game, “Pac Man.” Israel is winnless in the last four matches (+0 =1 -3) and will get Russia in the last round. Will the Israelis try to go out with a bang or will they sue for peace?

Turkey battled Brazil today riding a two-match unbeaten string. However they were unable to carry momentum from win over Israel. Haznedaroglu did beat Vescovi on board #1, but Brazil took wins on boards #2 and #3. Board #4 was drawn between two young stars. The six-time Brazilian championship Vescovi has had a tough tournament.

Everything rides on this crucial penultimate round!!

Who would have thunk it!? Turkey about to dish out the biggest upset of the tournament as a team of IMs vanquish the #3 federation in the world.

The drama continues at the World Team Championship as Israel is the latest team to feel the wrath of an underdog. Turkey had just won their first point by drawing with Egypt last round, but the 2½-1½ victory was unexpected. Israel rested Gelfand and perhaps felt that any combination they had would be enough against a team of IMs. Their only GM was resting.

Ilya Smirin’s win put Israel up 1-0, but after a couple of losses (including a one-move blunder by Sutovsky), an upset was brewing. Postny-Can was an exciting draw, but when Rodshtein dropped his game on board #4, the upset was complete. Turkey will have a lot to celebrate. They are without their top players GMs Mikhael Gurevich and Suat Atalik and were outrated on each board by at least 100 ELO points.

The Americans bested the “giant-killers” in a close match. Greece had upset Armenia in the previous round and the USA took no chances and fielded the strongest lineup. The match was close on the bottom three boards and the fate would lie in the Kotronias-Nakamura game.

The Greek player tried hard to drum up an attack even leaving a piece en prise for several moves. He then sacrificed a rook for an all-out attack, but the plan was refuted and USA got the win. With two rounds remaining the USA leads the field, but will have Russia on its heels. The USA is hoping that Egypt’s dynamic duo of Adly and Amin will be able to slow down Russia while they fight the tough Armenia squad.

There was an interesting occurrence that took place in round #7. Two identical positions were in progress at the same time… R+B vs. R.

In Russia-Armenia, Pashikian had the extra piece against Malakhov. The Russian defended accurately and Paskhikian failed to drive the black king to edge of the cliff. The Russian invoked the 50-move rule and the match was drawn. Holding the draw kept Russia in a reasonable position for the medal. They play Egypt tomorrow and will be heavy favorites, but Russia must win at least 3-1 to put pressure on the Americans.

The ill-fated game for Egypt. Abdel-Razik (left) fails to hold in R+B vs R ending against Gopal.

In India-Egypt, Gopal had the extra bishop and was trying to trap Abdel-Razik’s king. The last pawn was captured on 73…Kxd6, so the Egyptian only had to play until move 124 for the 50-move draw. Unfortunately, he defended improperly and the game ended on move 122 one move before mate. Many on the chess servers chastised the Egyptian for not repeating the success of the Russian in defending the position. The draw was certainly within reach. Tough loss.

Azerbaijan-Brazil was basically a case where the weaker team did not show up. In the 3½-½ shellacking, Brazil lost three games in less than 40 moves. One of the game lasted only 25 moves when the young Brazilian star Diamant got lost in the complications and overlooked an in-between move.