Olympics, Round 6: Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine Lead; Carlsen Loses Again
Let's start with results. Coming into the round Georgia, Armenia and Hungary were tied for first with perfect 10 point scores. Now, all the perfect scores are gone. The Armenia-Georgia match was drawn, while Hungary was defeated by Ukraine 3-1, led by Ivanchuk's win over Leko. (Ivanchuk is a perfect 5-0 so far, and his victory is examined in today's game selection.) Georgia, Armenia, and Ukraine are now tied for first with 11 points.
The Netherlands, like Ukraine, started the day with 9, but they were defeated by 8-pointer Russia 2 (3-1). Other 8-pointers winning today were Russia 1 (over the Czechs 2.5-1.5), Azerbaijan (3-1 over India), the US (2.5-1.5 winners over Vietnam) and Poland (3-1 victors against Estonia).
Here are the leading pairings for round 7:
1. Ukraine (11) - Georgia (11)
2. Armenia (11) - Azerbaijan (10) (Two countries with some bad blood.)
3. Russia 2 (10) - Russia 1 (10) (Ha ha.)
4. USA (10) - Poland (10)
5. Brazil (9) - Hungary (10)
Today's game selection includes Ivanchuk-Leko, mentioned above, along with the very interesting Kramnik-Navara draw, Magem-Vocaturo (for the funny king march), Ragger-Vachier Lagrave (White comes up with an interesting and unusual anti-Hippo plan), and one other game.
That last game is Adams-Carlsen, which was very convincingly won by the English grandmaster. This game went 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Nf6?!, and - shock! - Carlsen never managed to equalize. White's advantage wasn't huge, but it was comfortable, and when the Norwegian played for some dark square control with 18...g5 Adams succeeded in executing a very strong light-squared attack that eventually won the game.
Reader Comments (7)
Dennis, in your correct criticism of Carlsen (for his choice of opening) you forgot to mention the main point- that he's supposed to be playing not for himself but for his country. I don't know whether there has been any tension between him and his teammates and/or the Norwegian national organisation, but his performance thus far would suggest that is the case...
[DM: An excellent point, Nick. In fact, Norway was outrated on the other three boards - significantly on boards three and four - and yet the other three games were drawn. Carlsen's loss cost them the match.]
In Adams- Carlsen, doesn't 39.Qg5+ win as well? Kh7 Qh4+ Nh5 Bxh5
[DM: Sure, that works too.]
I'd sure love to be a fly on the wall for Kasparov's "Chess is not skittles" lecture to young Magnus. (Kasparov once wrote this in a footnote to 1 c4 g5"+/-" in Batsford Chess Openings - BCO1.)
[DM: Maybe Carlsen lost Kasparov's number - perhaps Liv Tyler took GK's spot on his speed dial?]
Aside from the team issue, let's not forget that Carlsen is very young and most likely has a long way to go: cf Kasparov's comments about how he is going to transform the game of chess before he is done. Isn't it at least possible that experimenting with a wide range of dodgy openings is part of a well thought out learning strategy? After all, he is already renowned for being able to play just about any type of position. It may also be that playing weird openings is part of staying fresh and having fun, and not getting overwhelmed by who he is and what's expected of him.
I think there is no need to search for or propose conflicts between Carlsen and his federation or teammates - different from e.g. Kramnik he is in a rather comfortable position: he can afford to have some fun because Norway in any case isn't a medal candidate!? Carlsen might want to hide his opening preparation for forthcoming events: Bilbao, Nanjing, London (Adams again). Of course this doesn't explain his strange choice which almost looks like a "fingerfehler": Did he want to do a Kramnik and play the Pirc, but got the move order wrong??
Chessbase mentioned that only the "notorious opening mavericks" Morozevich, Miles, Hodgson and Hillarp Persson played this "line" before. Did we see Moro in disguise? Yesterday Magnus Morozevich for Norway, today Morovanchuk for Ukraine - with a happy end this time.
David: Trying out junk is what blitz, rapid and training games are for. In the Olympiad against elite opponents? Not so much.
Thomas: I think his choosing a hideous opening to hide his prep for other events is, at the very least, extremely rude to his teammates. Also, I don't see the Olympics as a less prestigious stage than the super-events you mention. The only event that should really trump this would be the Candidates. Finally, are the choices limited to showing one's best preparation and playing 1...g6 with 2...Nf6?
P.S. For all Morozevich's originality, I'd rate Ivanchuk ahead of him when it comes to creativity in the opening. The man plays almost everything!
Dennis: There are two issues which need to be distinguished. One is whether there is some kind of longer term value to playing junk at top events against elite opponents. There certainly might be: in addition to getting experience with all sorts of positions, it makes him harder to prepare for. These effects are going to be much less significant if the junk is restricted to less serious games. The other issue is whether it is somehow inappropriate (e.g. because rude, contemptuous of the event etc.) to play junk in such situations. My guess would be that there's something to be said both for the value of playing junk and for the inappropriateness of playing it, in which case there is at least a debate to be had.
[DM: I think I've addressed both aspects, but maybe not (wrt the first point) as clearly as possible. On the first, I think it's entirely possible to have a wide opening repertoire (and Carlsen does) without scraping the bottom of the barrel. It's possible for a businessman to reasonably value having a nice collection of outfits to keep his "look" fresh and sharp for his clients, but this diversity can be achieved without coming to work dressed like Lady Gaga.]