2010 Chess Olympiad: Mamedyarov beats Ivanchuk; Ukraine prevails

The 2010 Chess Olympiad takes place from September 21st to October 3rd in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. It is an 11-round Swiss System team event, in which each team has four players with one reserve. Time control: 90 minutes/40 moves + 30 minutes + 30 seconds/move as of move one. Game start: rounds 1-10 at 9 AM UTC (5 AM New York / 2 AM Pacific daylight), and round 11 at 5 AM UTC (1 AM New York / 10 PM Pacific daylight) Rest day: September 26th (after round 5) and October 2nd (after round 10).

2010 Chess Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk

Round 9

The playing hall with the display boards for the public.

The ninth round brought several surprises and could have cost the leaders of both the men’s and women’s sections. The foremost was the match between Ukraine and Azerbaijan, the latter who had spent a good deal of the tournament playing catch-up after their surprise loss to Vietnam. The highest profile match was between Ivanchuk, who had thus far played irreproachably, and Mamedyarov, a very imaginative player whose only fault lies in his occasional impatience to make things happen. Ivanchuk played a provocative Benoni with black, and Mamedyarov seemed ready for it as he played a strong novelty.

The Azerbaijani team (Mamedyarov, Mamedov, and Radjabov) in good spirits before
their match.

Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar (2756) - Ivanchuk,Vassily (2754) [A79]
39th Olympiad Men Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (9.1), 30.09.2010

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 d6 5.Nc3 exd5 6.cxd5 g6 7.Nd2 Bg7 8.e4 0-0 9.Be2 Na6 10.0-0 Re8 11.f3 Nc7 Ivanchuk`s ability to not only play any opening, but any type of position due to his sheer versatility makes it almost impossible to really prepare against him. Vassily's choice of the Benoni shows that he is willing to take chances in this game and it is quite fitting that the first game with this line as black was played by Tal. 12.a4 Nd7 13.Kh1 b6 14.Ra3 Qe7 15.a5 Previously 15.Nb5 had been played in Kramnik-Topalov (2001) and 15.Nc4 in Eljanov-Oleksienko (2004). 15...Bb7 16.Nb5 Nf6?! Better was 16...Nxb5 17.Bxb5 Red8 18.Re1 17.Nxc7 Qxc7 18.Bb5 Reb8 19.Nc4 There is no question it is far easier to find good squares for the white pieces than for black, which says a lot about the position. 19...bxa5 20.Bf4 Bf8.

21.e5! Classic and perfectly timed. 21...Nxd5 22.exd6 Qd8 23.Bg3 Nb4 24.d7 Bd5 25.Bxb8 Rxb8 26.Ne3 Be6 27.Ba4 Bg7.

28.f4!! Brilliant. With the d7 pawn splitting the black forces, white goes for the jugular. 28...Bxb2 Although this seems to ignore white's obvious threats, it doesn't seem as though black had any good moves left to protect himself. If black were to try and cover the d-file with 28...Bd4 white would still follow up with 29.f5! Bxd7 30.Bxd7 Qxd7 (30...Bxe3 31.Rxe3) 31.Ng4! threatening Nf6+. If 31...Nd5 32.fxg6 fxg6 33.Rd3 Rb7 34.Nh6+ (Also possible is 34.Rxd4 cxd4 35.Qxd4 h5 36.Qxd5+ Qxd5 37.Nf6+ Kg7 38.Nxd5+-) 34...Kg7 35.Rf7+ Qxf7 36.Nxf7 Rxf7+- 29.f5 Bxd7 30.fxg6 hxg6 31.Qb3.

31...Bxa3? An error though finding the computer's defense is far from obvious. 31...Nd5! was best. While 32.Qxd5 Be6 33.Qxd8+ Rxd8 34.Rb3 Bxb3 35.Bxb3 Rd7 is hardly inspiring, it was still black's best chance. 32.Qxf7+ The rest is a mop up. 32...Kh8 33.Bxd7 Qg8 34.Qf6+ Qg7 35.Qh4+ Qh7 36.Qf4 Ra8 37.Qf3 Rb8 38.Qf4 Ra8 39.Be6 Bb2 40.Nc4 Bd4 41.Nd6 a4 42.Nf7+ Kg7 43.Ng5 Qh5 44.g4! The quickest path to mate. 44...Qh4 45.Qc7+ Kh8 46.Nf7+ Kh7 47.Ne5+ Kh6 48.g5+ 1-0 [Click to replay]

Azerbaijan against Ukraine in round nine.

This precipitous win might easily have changed the course of the men’s section had Ukraine lost the match as a result as well. However, Ivanchuk’s teammates rallied with verve, and Eljanov, came back from his loss to Karjakin in the previous round, to soundly beat Mamedov, while fourth board Efimenko also came through by beating Safarli, to win the match by 2.5-1.5 and keep the sole lead. Russia 1 stayed in the race by also winning a key match against Armenia also by 2.5-1.5, with Svidler winning his game against Sargissian. France is also firmly in contention, as the followed up their impressive win over Russia 2 with a win over Georgia, after Sebastien Feller, who had had a slow start, has won crucial games for his team. 

Georgia facing France, with Jobava against Vachier-Lagrave on board one.

Both Russia 1 and France are tied for second/third a half a match point behind Ukraine. Behind them are Israel, China, and the US, who all won tough matches. The US overcame Bulgaria thanks to Gata Kamsky who surprised Ivan Cheparinov with a very interesting novelty in a Najdorf.

Kamsky,Gata (2705) - Cheparinov,Ivan (2661) [B90]
39th Olympiad Men Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (9.6), 30.09.2010

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nf3 Qc7 8.a4 h6 9.Be2 Be6 10.0-0 Be7 11.a5 Qc6 12.Ne1!?N A fascinating novelty by Kamsky. Previously white had defended the e4 pawn with either Nd2 or Qd3. 12...Nxe4 13.Nxe4 Qxe4 14.Bf3 Qb4 15.c4!? A very interesting move with both tactical and positional justification. The positional idea is to prevent black from regrouping the queen via Qb5-d7. 15...Nd7 If 15...Bxc4 16.Ra4 Qb5 17.Rxc4 Qxc4 18.Bxb7 winning the rook. 16.b3 Black's queen may not be condemend, however, with it trapped in white's side of the board with so many pieces, his position is unenviable. 16...Rb8 17.Nd3 Qc3

18.Nf4! exf4? A mistake, which will cost Cheparinov his queen, and subsequently the game. Instead, he had to play 18...0-0! and if 19.Re1 (19.Nxe6 fxe6 20.Qb1 Nc5 21.b4 Nd3 22.Rd1 Nf4 black is ok.) 19...Nc5 (If 19...exf4 20.Bd4 Qb4 21.Ra4 Qxa4 22.bxa4 as in the game.) 20.Bxc5 dxc5 21.Nxe6 fxe6 22.Re3 Qd4 23.Qxd4 exd4 24.Rxe6 19.Bd4 Qb4 20.Ra4 Qxa4 21.bxa4 0-0 22.Re1 Ne5 23.Bxe5 dxe5 24.Rxe5

Kamsky's treatment of this technical phase is top-notch as he proceeds to convert his advantage. 24...Bf6 25.Re4 Rbd8 26.Qc1 Bd7 27.c5 Bc6 28.Rb4 Rfe8 29.Kf1 Rd3 30.Bxc6 bxc6 31.Qb1 Rd5 32.Rb8 Bd8 33.g3 Rxc5 34.gxf4 Rxa5 35.Qb3 Rf8 36.Qc4 Be7 37.Rb6 Rc5 38.Qxa6 Rc2 39.Qb7 Bc5 40.Rb2 Rc1+ 41.Kg2 Bd6 42.Ra2 Bxf4 43.a5 Rc5 44.a6 Bb8 45.h3 g6 46.Rd2 Rg5+ 47.Kf1 Rf5 48.Rc2 Kh7 49.Rxc6 Kg7 50.Qd7 Bg3 51.Qxf5 gxf5 52.fxg3 Rb8 53.Rc1 f4 54.gxf4 Kg6 55.a7 Ra8 56.Ra1 Kh5 57.Kf2 Kh4 58.Kf3 h5 59.Ra5 f6 60.Ra1 f5 61.Ra5 Kxh3 62.Rxf5 h4 63.Ra5 1-0 [Click to replay]

Another attractive short game worth seeing was in the Brazil-Italy match between top boards Rafael Leitao (2624) and Fabiano Caruana (2700).

Leitao,Rafael (2624) - Caruana,Fabiano (2700) [E60]
39th Olympiad Men Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (9.13), 30.09.2010

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nb6 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.e3 0-0 9.0-0 Re8 10.Re1 a5 11.Qe2 Be6 11...e5 is the usual continuation. 12.Rd1 Bc4 13.Qc2 Nb4N 14.Qb1 e5.

15.a3 15.dxe5? Qxd1+!! 16.Nxd1 Bd3 wins the exchange. 15...exd4 16.axb4.

16...dxc3! 17.Rxd8 Raxd8 Threatening Rd1, while Bd2 or Nd2, covering the d-file, is prevented by the pawn. 18.Qc2 axb4 19.Nd2! White fights back, and well. 19...cxd2 20.Bxd2 Ra8 21.Rxa8 Rxa8 22.Bxb7 22.h4 was forced. 22...Ra1+

23.Bc1 Leitao realizes too late that the planned 23.Kg2 is met with 23...Bf1+ and both the king and queen are stuck in the crossfire of black's pieces. 24.Kf3 Nc4! 25.Bxb4 Ne5+ (25...Bd3 26.Qxd3 Ne5+ 27.Ke2 Nxd3 28.Kxd3 Bxb2) 26.Kf4 Nd3+ 27.Kf3 Rc1 28.Qa4 Ne5+ 29.Kf4 Rc4+ 30.e4 Nd3+ 31.Kf3 Nxb4 23...b3 24.Qd1 Bxb2 0-1 [Click to replay]

The women’s section could easily have been one of the greatest surprises of the event. Russia 1 had been on a perfect 100%, and had already played and beaten every one of the top-rated opponents. With a 1.5 match point lead over their nearest competitors, one would think it was smooth sailing from now on, yet the ninth round against 17th ranked Serbia came incredibly close to putting the gold back for grabs. 

Russia 1 against Serbia, who came tantalizingly close to doing the unthinkable.

While top-rated Tatiana Kosintseva drew against Natasa Bojkovic, and Valentina Gunina beat Jovana Eric, Kosteniuk stumbled against Stojanovic leaving the match drawn, to be decided by the game between Nadezhda Kosintseva (2565) and Irina Chelushkina (2325). The thing is that the Serb played virtually flawless chess for the first 30 moves and had an absolutely crushing position with mate threats left and right. She then had a string of mistakes, including leaving herself open to a mate missed by Kosintseva, and even though she went into the endgame with solid winning chances, Irina completely lost her focus and ended up actually losing the game, and thus the match. One strongly suspects that not a lot of sleep will be had after that. With it, the gold is pretty much decided for Russia 1, who lead by two full wins, while silver and bronze are strongly contested foremost by China, Bulgaria, India, Georgia, and Ukraine, followed by a further four teams just behind.

The tenth round will see Ukraine, with their experienced world-class lineup, playing against late-surging France, and their revitalized young team, followed by Russia 1 against China, and the United States against Israel.

Men's team pairings for round 10
Women's team pairings for round 10

Photographs by FIDE and CNC.

Watching the games

It goes without saying that the options to watch the games live are wide and varied. You can watch them at no cost on Playchess, enjoying the software's new options to display multiple boards at the same time, and if you are a Premium member, live grandmaster commentary will be provided on Playchess for every round by GM Daniel King, author of the best-selling Power Play series, and GM Yasser Seirawan. If you miss the live games, you can always watch the commentary after the fact, or get an abridged tale via the Daily Roundup show also hosted on Playchess at 6 PM UTC (2 PM New York). Again, if you miss the show, it remains available on the server at your disposal.

Video reports

We received video reports by both Elmira Mirzoeva and Europe Echecs which we are sharing with their kind permission.

 
The round nine report includes a presentation of traditional costume items from the region.

 
The ninth round report includes numerous impressions by players, such as American GM Nakamura,
Chinese Wang Yue, Chinese prodigy Hou Yifan, as well as French coach GM Arnaud Hauchard.

Top men's results

Current men's standings (after nine rounds)

Top women's results

Current women's standings (after nine rounds)

Sponsors

Links Official tournament site Men's games in PGN (zipped) Women's games in PGN (zipped) 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 the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!