Olympiad, Round 6
Just results for now; I'll leave game selection to all of you. The Azeris and the Poles share the lead with perfect scores, at least one of which will come to an end when they face off tomorrow. Azerbaijan defeated the hitherto surprisingly successful Czech team 3-1, with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov defeating David Navara on board 1 and Arkadij Naiditsch defeating Zbynek Hracek on board 3. Jiri Stocek had a chance to win one back against Rauf Mamedov on board 4, but didn't manage to pull it off.
Poland defeated Ukraine by the minimum margin, 2.5-1.5, drawing three games while Jan-Krzysztof Duda beat Vassily Ivanchuk on board one. Anton Korobov probably should have won against Kamil Dragun on board 4, but before Ukranian fans despair about what could have been, they can console themselves in the knowledge that Kacper Piorun had an even more winning position against Yuriy Kryvoruchko that he failed to convert.
The board three match was a draw between Israel and Germany. Israel was the favorite, but was never close to winning the match.
On board 4, the U.S. had an easy time against the heavily outrated Bosnia & Herzegovina team, winning 3.5-.5.; only Hikaru Nakamura failed to win on board 3, despite outrating his opponent by almost 400 points.
China eked out a win against Iran, 2.5-1.5, and Russia-India and England-France finished in 2-2 draws - and all eight games were drawn. Unfortunately, there was no match between Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik. Both played in the match, but Kramnik is playing board three for the Russians. (Board two in this match, as Alexander Grischuk took the round off, but with Anand on board one it didn't matter.) [UPDATE/correction: It was Sergei Karjakin, not Alexander Grischuk who took the round off. Grischuk has taken the entire Olympiad off.]
Here are the top pairings for round 7:
- Poland (6) - Azerbaijan (6)
- Croatia (5) - USA (5.5)
- Ukraine (5) - China (5)
- Germany (5) - Netherlands (5)
- Czech Republic (5) - Israel (5)
- Belarus (5) - Armenia (5)
- India (4.5) - Egypt (5)
In the Women's section, the U.S. women faced the top seeded Indians, and were outrated on every board - by more than 100 points on boards 1 and 4. And yet they survived with a draw, with White winning every game. The Indians' white games were massacres, but Irina Krush and Jennifer Yu outplayed their opponents in longer games to save the match. Well done!
Board 2 was a bit of a farce, as Ukraine drew with China. It was a very even match in terms of ratings, but when Mariya Muzychuk won on board 2 while the boards 1 and 4 games were drawn, Ukraine had the match in the bag. All that was needed was for Anna Ushenina to draw a routine rook and one pawn vs. rook and two pawns ending against Huang Qian. Maybe a club player could lose it on a bad day or in time trouble, but surely not a grandmaster and former women's world champion. Right? Well, she found a way - and it's more interesting than you might suspect.
If you look at the game with engine evaluations you might be inclined to blame 119.Rb8, and it is indeed the losing move, objectively speaking. There's a "but" coming, however, and it has three parts. First, while I'm sure Ushenina spotted 119.Rb3 Rg2 120.Kd4, it's not really something you want to play, allowing the king to be cut off from the kingside. Second, in the game continuation, it's very possible to miss the nasty trick 124.Kf4 Re4# back on move 119 (or earlier), and if not for that Ushenina gets her draw. The third point is that the really bad idea, to my mind, was putting the king on e3. Leaving it on f2, and when it's forced to quit the second rank to go back to f1, would have kept her out of trouble. Playing 116.Kf2 would let her draw in her sleep, e.g. 116...Ra2+ 117.Kf1 Rd2 (to block side checks when the king advances) 118.Ra8 (a "pass" move to prove the point) 118...Ke4 119.Ra5 and there's just nothing for Black. 119...f4 120.gxf4 is a trivial draw; 119...Rd5 120.Ra4+ (just not 120.Ra3+?? Rd3-+) 120...Kf3 (120...Rd4 121.Ra5) 121.Ra3+ keeps Black at bay, and in case of 119...Kf3 White avoids the temptation of the taking on f5 and kicks Black's king back with 120.Ra3+. It's a draw. So while the engine-question marks go on move 119, White's 116th move was a poor practical decision. Errare humanum est.
Back to the overview: Russia lost again, 3-1 to Armenia; Azerbaijan beat Latvia 2.5-1.5; Italy beat Cuba 3-1; and the top Georgian team eked out a 2.5-1.5 win over the Georgia 2 squad. The U.S., Georgia 1, and Armenian teams are tied for first with 5.5/6, and here are the leading pairings for round 7:
- Armenia (5.5) - USA (5.5)
- India (5) - Georgia 1 (5.5) (For some reason Georgia 1 is on board 6. I assume it has something to do with their being the home team, but I don't know what the exact explanation is, especially since they're the fourth seeds, not sixth.)
- China (5) - Netherlands (5)
- Iran (5) - Ukraine (5)
- Italy (5) - Azerbaijan (5)
- Romania (5) - Uzbekistan (5)
Reader Comments (7)
Round 6:
11. Nabaty - Fridman, Bishop's Opening 3...c6
13. Kadric - Caruana, Kan Sicilian 5 Nc3 Qc7; Fabi goes ...h5, ...0-0-0
45. Repka - Amin, KID 5 h3/6Be3 turned Benko
115. Kantans - Beukema, Closed Ruy turned KID Mar del Plata
[DM: I'm mostly interested in games for their middlegame or endgame content, at least in this context. But I can see how openings would catch your eye - the Olympiad is a feast for this sort of thing! (It may be part of the reason why Carlsen is taking the Olympiad off, so he can fully process the opening ideas here in a way that Caruana can't as a participant.)]
In may be worth to mention that In Ushenina - Huang 115.Rxd5+ was a trivially drawn pawn endgame (and quite useful position to remember).
I don't think Grischuk is playing this time. Rather it's Karjakin who took the day off.
The finish of Tiger Hillarp Persson – Tomas Laurusas (rd 7) was really something
https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2018-batumi-chess-olympiad/07-Hillarp_Persson_Tiger-Laurusas_Tomas
In the Kan, like the Taimanov, often Black plays ...h5 so that he gets g4 for the knight rather than getting kicked back. Regarding ...h5, ...0-0-0, ...Ng4, ...Bc5, etc., this way of playing became popular back in the 1970s and was known in Colorado at the time as the "Psychedelic Sicilian," presumably because the ideas are so far out that you have to be on drugs to play them!
[DM: Given that it's a 40-year-old idea, why did you highlight the game then? Just curious.]
Because Fabiano played it! Whether a game is theoretically relevant is all in the details. Given that the middlegame developed like clockwork, the question arises did Fabi play a hyper-accurate move order in the opening and have everything all worked out? Did white play halfway decent in the opening and get sloppy later or did he screw up early? Would Fabi play the Kan against Carlsen? Can't wait for that match!
Mammadova - Krumina had a nice trick at the end. White to move after black's 47...e4.