exd5!

15.01.2010
– Our endgame blog started the New Year on the subject of barriers. Just a week later, we can offer you two more examples on this important theme. In Getz-O'Toole, played in the Masters in Hastings, White won in exemplary fashion with the help of a horizontal barrier. A vertical barrier could be seen in Sasikiran-Aronian, where a draw would have been the correct result. But the world class Armenian GM went wrong, allowing Sasikiran to win with flawless technique. Would you have found the correct move in the diagram? Black to play and draw! The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

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Yasser Seirawan:
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Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan began playing chess in the summer of 1972 and by 1979 he had won the World Junior Championship and in January of 1980 earned his final Grandmaster norm. What had he learned in seven and a half years that propelled him so far so quickly?
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Position after 53.Kg5
Black to move and draw

Chessbase.com

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13.01.2010
– Going into the final round with a one match point lead Russia cleared all doubts by defeating Israel 3-1. USA drew Azerbaijan on all four boards and came second, while India trounced Brazil 3.5:0.5 to overtake the Azeris and win Bronze. Best performers were Mamedyarov and Vitiugov, the best on the top boards was Hikaru Nakamura. Final report.

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Yasser Seirawan:
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Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan began playing chess in the summer of 1972 and by 1979 he had won the World Junior Championship and in January of 1980 earned his final Grandmaster norm. What had he learned in seven and a half years that propelled him so far so quickly?
More information...

World Team Championship 2010

The World Team Championship, which is organised every four years, but was delayed
by one year this time, took place in Bursa from January 3rd to 14th 2010. The
teams were from Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Israel, USA, India, Brazil, Egypt,
Turkey and Greece.

Round nine report (final)

By IM Gavin Crawley

Going into this round Russia were leading by one match point, so if they won
2.5-1.5 they would be champions. Russia were also leading on game points, but
if they drew 2-2 and the USA won 3-1 the Americans would take the title. The
Russians took a risk by dropping Morozevich and Jakovenko and playing two lower
rated players. The USA played the same team as the previous round.

Israel vs Russia

Gelfand-Grischuk was a sharp opening, White got an edge but the position was
full of tension and hard to play for both sides. The game was drawn. In Tomashevsky-Roiz
White got a pleasant position out of the opening, two bishops and more space
and no risk.

Tomashevsky,E (2705) - Roiz,M (2657) [D12]
7th World Team Championship Bursa TUR (9), 13.01.2010
1.c4 c6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 d5 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Nxg6 hxg6 8.a3
Nbd7 9.g3 Be7 10.b3 e5 11.Bg2 dxc4 12.bxc4 Nb6 13.Qd3 0-0 14.0-0 exd4 15.exd4
c5 16.d5 Ne8 17.Ne4 f5 18.Nd2 Nd6 19.h4 Bf6 20.Ra2 Re8 21.Rc2 Qd7 22.Nb3 Na4
23.Bf4 Rac8 24.Nd2 Nb6 25.h5 gxh5 26.Bxd6 Qxd6 27.Qxf5 h4 28.Ne4 Qe5 29.Qg6
Nd7 30.Re2 Be7 31.Rfe1 Nf8 32.Qg4 1-0. [Click
to replay]

Sutovsky-Malakhov was another sharp opening. Black took a risk with Be7 instead
of the drawish Nd6 and it worked out. The game was drawn. Vitiugov-Rodshtein
was a sharp opening, very fashionable at the moment, but very hard to understand
without computer help. White sacrificed a rook, but the computers were giving
him a slight edge after 22.Bxc4. This looked to be one of the key games, very
sharp and could go either way.

Vitiugov,N (2692) - Rodshtein,M (2622) [A11]
7th World Team Championship Bursa TUR (9), 13.01.2010
1.c4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.d4 b5 6.b3 Bg4 7.h3 Bxf3 8.Qxf3
e5 9.dxe5 Bb4 10.Bd2 Bxc3 11.Bxc3 Ne4 12.Bb4 bxc4 13.Qg4 c5 14.f3. Currently
very fashionable at the top level, e.g. 14...cxb4 15.fxe4 0–0 16.exd5
cxb3 17.Qd4 Nd7 18.axb3 Qg5 19.Qf4 Qxe5 20.Qxe5 Nxe5 21.Bxa6 Rfc8 22.Kd2 Rc3
23.Rhb1 f5 24.Ra4 Rc5 25.e4 fxe4 26.Ke3 Rc2 27.Bd3 Rxa4 28.Bxc2 Ra2 29.Bxe4
Kf7 30.Rc1 Kf6 31.Rc2 Ra1 32.Kd4 Rd1+ 33.Kc5 h5 34.Rf2+ Ke7 35.Re2 Nd7+ 36.Kc6
Rc1+ 37.Bc2+ Kd8 38.Kd6 Nf6 39.Ke6 h4 40.d6 Rf1 41.Re5 Rf2 42.Bf5 g6 43.Bxg6
Nd7 44.Rg5 Rf6+ 45.Kd5 Nb6+ 46.Kc6 Nc8 47.Kc5 Nxd6 48.Bd3 1-0, Kramnik,V (2772)
- Ni Hua (2665) Chess Classic London ENG (2), 09.12.2009. 14...Nc6 15.fxe4
Nxb4 16.Qxg7 Rf8 17.exd5 Qh4+ 18.Ke2 Qe4

Probably this was prep from both players, but from now on Black seems to lose
the thread. I expect this position will be crunched by thousands of computers
in the next few months. My feeling is in practice White will score well, as
its always harder to defend. One slip and you are dead.

19.Kf2 Nc2 20.Qh6 Qg6 21.Qf4 Nxa1 22.Bxc4 Nc2 23.d6 Rg8 24.g4.
This just seems to be an unpleasant position for Black, who has all the danger,
while White has all the fun. 24...Ra7 25.Rd1 Qg5 26.Qe4 Rg6 27.Ke2 h5
28.Rd5

28...Kd8? 28...Qh4 was better but I would expect White to
win anyway. 29.Qxc2 hxg4 30.e6 Qh6 31.e7+ Ke8 32.Qf5 Rd7

Now White finishes in style. There are many ways to win but its always nice
to win a gold medal with a queen sac: 33.Qxf7+ 1-0 because
of 33...Kxf7 34.Rf5+ Kg7 35.Rf7+ Kh8 36.e8Q+. [Click
to replay]

USA vs Azerbaijan: Onischuk and Akobian agreed quick draws
with black. This left Nakamura and Shulman trying to convert a small edge in
drawish positions, which in the end both drew, which was a bit surprising as
they both has a small edge and it took some pressure off the Russians. But in
pure chess terms it was fair enough.

With that Russia had won the Gold and USA Silver. India beat Brazil 3.5-0.5
and overtook Azerbaijan to take third place ( Harikrishna and Geetha won nice
games, and by move 40 it was clear Ganguly was probably going to win too). A
very good result for a team that replaced the Chinese at short notice.

Greece beat Turkey 2½-1½, thanks to a spectacular game on board four:

Firat,B (2413) - Mastrovasilis,A (2510) [C74]
7th World Team Championship Bursa TUR (9), 13.01.2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.c3 f5 6.exf5 Bxf5 7.0-0 Bd3 8.Re1
Be7 9.Qb3 b5 10.Qd5 bxa4 11.Qxd3 Nf6 12.Qc4 Qd7 13.Qxa4 0-0 14.d3 Nd4 15.Qd1
Nxf3+ 16.Qxf3

After a fun opening White has emerged with the usual slight plus, but Black
finds a nice pawn sac. 16...d5! White should probably decline
with 17.Qd1 or 17.h3, but Black has nice play anyway. 17.Rxe5 Bd6 18.Rf5
Ng4 19.Qxg4 Rxf5 20.Be3 Re8 21.h3 h5 22.Qd1

22...Rxe3! 23.fxe3 Qe7 24.Nd2 Qxe3+ 25.Kh1 Qg3 26.Qg1 Rf2 27.Rd1 g5
28.Nf1 Qf4 29.Nh2 g4 30.hxg4 hxg4

The official score ends here, but in my opinion Black is only slightly better
after 31.g3. Was this a premature resignation? Maybe White was so impressed
with Black's swashbuckling style he thought he deserved to win. Or maybe Black
actually played 30...h4, which does seem to be winning, though a resignation
is still surprising. 0-1. [Click
to replay]

Individual results of round eight

All round results

Final standings (after nine rounds)

#	Team	win	draw	loss	MP	BP	Res.	SB
1	Russia	7	1	1	15	24	0	127.75
2	USA	6	1	2	13	21½	0	103.00
3	India	6	1	2	13	21	0	103.25
4	Azerbaijan	5	2	2	12	22	0	93.75
5	Armenia	5	2	2	12	20½	0	97.00
6	Greece	4	0	5	8	18	0	68.50
7	Israel	3	1	5	7	17	0	53.50
8	Brazil	2	0	7	4	12½	0	23.50
9	Egypt	1	1	7	3	12	0	23.75
10	Turkey	1	1	7	3	11½	0	23.00

Congratulations to Russia – a strong finish and a convincing win. Good
fighting chess combined with genuine top quality gave them a fully deserved
gold medal.

Top performances at the World Team Championship 2010

As you can see the highest performances were achieved on the lower boards,
where players have weaker opponents but cannot afford any missteps. Shakhriyar
Mamedyarov scored eight points in nine games for a 2950 performance, while Nikita
Vitiugov had 5.5/6 for a 2939 performance. The best performance of any of the
top boards was by Hikaru Nakamura, who finished with 6.0/8 with a 2851 level
of play. Onischuk, Radjabov and Ganguly are the other GMs with a 2800+ performance.

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games were 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!

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13.01.2010
– All good things come to an end, and Hikaru Nakamura's 3061 was dampened by a loss to Levon Aronian (Hikaru is now playing at a modest 2894 level). Armenia beat USA 2½-½, while Russia crushed Egypt 3½-½ to take the lead with 13 match points to 12 for the US. Two teams are in striking distance before the last round, which starts three hours earlier. Report and games.

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Yasser Seirawan:
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Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan began playing chess in the summer of 1972 and by 1979 he had won the World Junior Championship and in January of 1980 earned his final Grandmaster norm. What had he learned in seven and a half years that propelled him so far so quickly?
More information...

World Team Championship 2010

The World Team Championship, which is organised every four years, but has been
delayed by one year this time, is taking place in Bursa from January 3rd to
14th 2010. The teams are from Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Israel, USA, India,
Brazil, Egypt, Turkey and Greece. Top players are Levon Aronian (2786), Vugar
Gashimov (2758), Boris Gelfand (2758), Alexander Morozevich (2750), Teimour
Radjabov (2748), Alexander Grischuk (2736), Dmitry Jakovenko (2736), Shakhriyar
Mamedyarov (2719), Hikaru Nakamura (2715), Evgeny Tomashevsky (2708), Vladimir
Malakhov (2706), Vladimir Akopian (2700), Nikita Vityugov (2694), Gabriel Sargissian
(2676), Pentala Harikrishna (2672), Alexander Onischuk (2672), Emil Sutovsky
(2666) and Krishnan Sasikiran (2653).

Round eight report

By IM Gavin Crawley

The most exciting game looked to be Aronian-Nakamura, two players that like
sharp positions, with the Armenians needing to win and Nakamura on great form.
They played a sharp line of the KID, and Aronian produced a TN with the weird
looking 19.Ncd1. This worked quite well: White didn’t get a huge advantage
but he avoided Nakamura’s prep and left Black in a position where it was
hard to generate an attack.

Armenian captain Arshak Petrosian anxiously follows the game Aronian-Nakamura

Aronian,L (2781)-Nakamura,Hi (2708) [E98]
7th World Team Championship Bursa TUR (8), 12.01.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5
Ne7 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.Nd3 f5 11.Bd2 Nf6 12.f3 f4 13.c5 g5 14.cxd6 cxd6 15.Nf2 Ng6
16.Qc2 Rf7 17.Rfc1 Ne8 18.a4 h5 19.Ncd1!

A good TN, now blacks attack is hard to play and white has time to organise
his pieces slowly. 19...Bf8 20.Ra3 a6 21.Qc3 Bd7 22.Qa5 b6 23.Qb4 Rg7
24.Rac3 Nh4 25.h3 Be7 26.Be1 Qb8 27.Kf1 Bd8 28.Rb3 Bc7 29.Qa3 Qd8 30.Rbc3 Bb8
31.b4 Ra7 32.Rc6 b5 33.axb5 axb5 34.Ra6 Rb7 35.Rcc6 Bxc6 36.dxc6 Ra7 37.Nc3

Black has a difficult position. White has lots of obvious ways of improving
his position, but Black's normal g4 break in the KID hasn’t happened.
Maybe Black's next move is a bit hyperactive, but its not easy to suggest anything
better. 37...d5 38.Nxd5 Nf5 39.exf5 Qxd5 40.Ne4 Rgc7. White
had a winning position. It is not easy to pinpoint Black's mistake, its just
hard to defend a slightly worse but complicated and unbalanced position against
Aronian. 41.Nxg5 Ng7 42.Rb6 Nxf5 43.Rxb8+ Kg7 44.Qb2 Ra2 45.Qb1 Rc2
46.Rxb5 Qd6 47.Rb7 Kh6 48.Kg1 Qxc6 49.Nf7+ Rxf7 50.Rxf7 Ne3 51.Ra7 Qd5 52.Qa1
Nxg2 53.Qa6+ 1-0. A very good game from Aronian, its not easy to contain
Nakamura and keep control, but he made it look smooth. [Click
to replay]

Pashikian got a promising position against Shulman, but the game fizzled out
to a draw. Akobian-Petrosian was a very correct game where white didn’t
get much and they agreed a quick draw in a drawish middlegame. Onischuck lost
the advantage as white but still managed to liquidate to a drawn rook ending
a pawn down. Akopian played on but never had any real winning chances.

Russia vs Egypt ended in a 3.5:0.5 sweep, but Bassem drew Grischuk on board
one

Vitiugov won quickly on board four for Russia, after that it was always clear
Russia would win their match. Grischuk kept pressing against Amin, but he couldn’t
break down Black's solid fortress, and the game ended in a draw.

Malakhov-Abdelnabbi was a tense game. Malakhov created a very complicated position,
with positional pawn sacrifices, that was more or less equal, and Black collapsed
on move 40, falling into a nice mating net.

Malakhov,V (2716)-Abdelnabbi,I (2448) [A40]
7th World Team Championship Bursa TUR (8), 12.01.2010
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Bb4+ 3.Bd2 Bxd2+ 4.Qxd2 d6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.g3 0-0
8.Bg2 Qe7 9.0-0 Re8 10.Nh4 a6 11.e4 Rb8 12.a4 Nf8 13.b4 Ng6 14.Nf3 e5 15.d5
a5 16.bxa5 Nd7 17.Ne1 Nc5 18.Ra3 Ra8 19.Nb5 Rd8 20.Nd3 c6 21.Nxc5 dxc5 22.Nc3
Qc7 23.Ne2 Rxa5 24.Nc1 b5 25.Qe3 bxc4 26.Ne2 cxd5 27.exd5 Bd7 28.Nc3 Rb8 29.Qd2
Ra6 30.Rc1 Rb3 31.Ra2 Rb4 32.Bf1 Qa7 33.Qe3 f6 34.Rd2 Ne7 35.Ne4 Ra5 36.Rxc4
Nf5 37.Qc3 Rxc4 38.Qxc4 Nd4 39.Rb2 Bxa4 40.Nd6

40...h5? 41.Nb7 Rb5 42.d6+ Kh7 43.Bd3+ f5 [43...Kh6 44.Qg8!
wins] 44.d7 Qxb7 45.Bxf5+ Kh6 46.d8Q Nf3+ 47.Kh1 Nd4+ 48.Qcd5 Qxd5+
49.Qxd5 Rxb2 50.Qd6+ Kg5 51.Qg6#

1-0. [Click to
replay]

Jakovenko equalised easily but then allowed his opponent to reach a very drawish
position. He played on and in the end managed to grind out a win.

Ezat,M (2471)-Jakovenko,D (2730) [D80]
7th World Team Championship Bursa TUR (8), 12.01.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Ne4 5.cxd5 Nxg5 6.h4 Ne4 7.Nxe4 Qxd5 8.Qd3 Bg7
9.Nf3 Nc6 10.Nc3 Qa5 11.e3 0-0 12.Qb5 Qb4 13.Qxb4 Nxb4 14.0-0-0 c6 15.h5 a5
16.a3 Na6 17.Na4 b5 18.Nb6 Rb8 19.Nxc8 Rfxc8 20.Kb1 a4 21.hxg6 hxg6 22.Be2 c5
23.dxc5 Nxc5 24.Rh4 Nb3 25.Rb4 Rc5 26.Nd2 Nxd2+ 27.Rxd2 e6 28.Rc2 Rg5 29.g4
Bf8 30.Rd4 b4 31.axb4 Bxb4 32.Ka2 Ra5 33.Rdc4 Kg7 34.Rc8 Rxc8 35.Rxc8 Be1 36.f4
Bd2 37.Rc4 Bxe3 38.Re4 Bf2 39.Bd1 Kh6 40.Rc4 Bg3 41.Bxa4 f5 42.Kb1 fxg4 43.Bd1
Kh5 44.Re4 Rf5 45.Rxe6 Rxf4 46.Bc2 Rf1+ 47.Ka2 Rf5 48.Bd1 g5 49.Re7 Bf2 50.b4
Rd5 51.Rh7+ Kg6 52.Bc2+ Kf6 53.Kb3 Re5 54.Rh6+ Ke7 55.Rh7+ Kd6 56.Rh6+ Kd5 57.Bd1
g3 58.Bf3+ Kd4 59.Bg2 Be1 60.Rd6+ Ke3 61.Rf6 Rb5 62.Rf3+ Ke2 63.Ka3 Rb8 64.Rf5
Bxb4+ 65.Kb3 Bd2+ 66.Kc4 Bf4 67.Ra5 Rb2 68.Kc3 Bd2+ 0-1. [Click
to replay]

So Russia got a very useful 3.5-0.5 win, putting them into first place.

In the other matches, the Azeris beat Greece 3-1, with wins from Radjabov
and Mamedyarov. India beat Israel with a good win by Ganguly after he won a
pawn in some complicated tactics. Sasikiran had winning chances against Gelfand,
but the Israeli managed to hang on with some tough defending.

Brazil beat Turkey 2.5-1.5 with wins from Lima and Leitao (foreground: Haznedaroglu-Vescovi
1-0)

Lima,Da (2481)-Esen,B (2513) [B50]
7th World Team Championship Bursa TUR (8), 12.01.2010
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 Nf6 4.Be2 Nbd7 5.d3 b6 6.Nbd2 Bb7 7.0–0
g6 8.d4 cxd4 9.cxd4 Nxe4. Although this is playable it might be wiser
to decline with Qc7. 10.Nxe4 Bxe4 11.Ng5 Bc6 12.d5 Bb7 13.Qd4 Rg8

14.Ne6 fxe6 15.dxe6 Ne5? 15...Rc8 was about equal. 16.Qxe5
Bg7 17.Qf4 Bf6 18.Qa4+ Kf8 19.Bh6+ Rg7 20.Rac1 d5 21.Qd7 Rb8 22.Rc7 Bxb2 23.Rxb7
Qxd7 24.Rxb8+ Qe8 25.Bxg7+ Kxg7 26.Rxe8 Kf6 27.Bf3 1-0. [Click
to replay]

The last round starts three hours earlier tomorrow, Russia have a lead in
both match points and game points and look like clear favourites to win the
title.

Individual results of round eight

In spite of the loss against Aronian, Hikaru Nakamura remains the top scorer
on board one and overall in this event. His performance is now at 2894. Behind
him is Alexander Onischuk with 6.0/8 and a 2824 performance on board two, with
Alexander Grischuk following at 4.0/6 and 2809 on board one. Two other players
are performing above the 2800 mark: Teimour Radjabov with 5.0/7 and 2808 on
board two and Nikita Vitiugov with 4.5/5 and 2887 on board six. The supreme
leader, however, remains Shakhriyar Mamedyarov with 7.5/8 on board four. His
performance: a cool 3034!

All round results

Standings after eight rounds

#	Team	win	draw	loss	MP	BP	Res.	SB
1	Russia	6	1	1	13	21	0	98.75
2	USA	6	0	2	12	19½	0	82.00
3	Azerbaijan	5	1	2	11	20	0	74.00
4	India	5	1	2	11	17½	0	81.25
5	Armenia	4	2	2	10	17½	0	76.75
6	Israel	3	1	4	7	16	0	48.50
7	Greece	3	0	5	6	15½	0	50.50
8	Brazil	2	0	6	4	12	0	21.00
9	Egypt	1	1	6	3	11	0	20.50
10	Turkey	1	1	6	3	10	0	21.50

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN 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!

Read Full Post »

12.01.2010
– The big surprise in round seven was Turkey's 2½-1½ win over Israel (Sutovsky and Rodshtein lost to Yilmaz and Esen). The USA beat Greece with the same score, while Russia drew Armenia. That meant that the US is now in the sole lead, with twelve match points to Russia's eleven. Azerbaijan and India follow with nine match points each. Two rounds to go.

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Yasser Seirawan:
My best games
Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan began playing chess in the summer of 1972 and by 1979 he had won the World Junior Championship and in January of 1980 earned his final Grandmaster norm. What had he learned in seven and a half years that propelled him so far so quickly?
More information...

World Team Championship 2010

The World Team Championship, which is organised every four years, but has been
delayed by one year this time, is taking place in Bursa from January 3rd to
14th 2010. The teams are from Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Israel, USA, India,
Brazil, Egypt, Turkey and Greece. Top players are Levon Aronian (2786), Vugar
Gashimov (2758), Boris Gelfand (2758), Alexander Morozevich (2750), Teimour
Radjabov (2748), Alexander Grischuk (2736), Dmitry Jakovenko (2736), Shakhriyar
Mamedyarov (2719), Hikaru Nakamura (2715), Evgeny Tomashevsky (2708), Vladimir
Malakhov (2706), Vladimir Akopian (2700), Nikita Vityugov (2694), Gabriel Sargissian
(2676), Pentala Harikrishna (2672), Alexander Onischuk (2672), Emil Sutovsky
(2666) and Krishnan Sasikiran (2653).

Round seven report

By Michael von Keitz

A new day, and a new tournament leader. With the Russians proving unable to
hold off the Armenians, allowing a drawn match, the Americans seized the opportunity
to climb atop the standings, taking Greece to task by a slim 2½-1½
margin. Lagging desperately behind the leaders, third-placed Azerbaijan saw
the need for wide margins, and beat Brazil soundly with a 3½-½
match score. Somewhat surprisingly, the Indian team had their hands full with
Egypt, ultimately squeaking by with a 2½-1½ result. The real surprise
of the round, however, was Turkey, which scored its first match victory of the
tournament over the much more experienced Israeli team, as Sutovsky finally
decided to show he is human in a loss at the hands of Yilmaz.

With yet another providential victory, Nakamura sits on a stellar score of
5.5/6, while Adly held a draw against Sasikiran to bring his individual tally
to 4.5/7. In addition, players like Mamedyarov, who sits at 6.5/7, are also
enjoying the consequences of being in excellent form. Some key games of the
round included Pashikian-Malakhov, Yilmaz-Sutovsky, Esen-Rodshtein, Abdel Razik-Gopal,
Mamedov-Diamant, Kotronias-Nakamura and Milos-Mamedyarov.

In facing one of the frontrunners in this tournament, the Armenians showed
steadfast resolve in holding the match even. Unfortunately, it looked as though
they may have missed out on an opportunity for more in the form of a titanic
struggle on the fourth board. Following a relatively unexplored line in the
Slav Defence, it was Pashikian who chose to contribute to theory with 10.Bd3,
departing from the previously tried 10.Be2.

Armenian GM Arman Pashikian at the start of his traumatic round seven game

Pashikian,A (2647) - Malakhov,V (2716) [D15]
7th World Team Championship Bursa TUR (7), 11.01.2010
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.e3 b5 6.b3 Bg4 7.h3 Bxf3 8.Qxf3
e6 9.Qd1 Nbd7 10.Bd3 Bb4 11.Bd2 0-0 12.0-0 Qe7 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.a4 Rfc8 15.Qe1
bxa4 16.Rxa4 Rcb8 17.Qd1 Rb6 18.Qc2

Things seem to be going relatively smoothly for Malakhov, until he uncorks
18...Nb8??, allowing White to garner a pawn, in addition to
forcing a queenless simplification in which White had two bishops for Black's
two knights. 18...Nb8 19.Rxb4 Rxb4 20.Nxd5 exd5 21.Qc8+ Qe8 22.Qxe8+
Nxe8 23.Bxb4 Nc6 24.Bd2 Rb8 25.Rc1 Rb6 26.Rc5 Ne7 27.b4 f5 28.g4 g6 29.f3 Kf7
30.Be1 Ke6 31.Kf1 h5 32.Ke2 hxg4 33.hxg4 Nd6 34.gxf5+ gxf5 35.Bc2 Nb7 36.Rc7
Nd8 37.Ra7 Ndc6 38.Ra8 Nb8

39.Ra7? It seems White relieves some of the pressure with this move –
Fritz suggests activation of the king to be preferable. 39...f4 40.Bd3
fxe3 41.Kxe3 Nf5+ 42.Bxf5+ Kxf5 43.Rf7+ Rf6 44.Rb7 Nc6 45.Bd2 Rg6 46.Rc7 Rf6
47.Rd7 Ke6 48.Rb7 Kf5 49.b5 axb5 50.Rxb5 Ke6 51.Rb6 Kf5 52.Rb5 Ke6 53.Rb7 Kf5
54.Rh7 Ke6 55.Be1 Rf7 56.Rh5 Rf5 57.Rh6+ Rf6 58.Rh7 Rf7 59.Rh6+ Rf6 60.Rh5 Rf5
61.Rh8 Nxd4 62.Rh6+ Kd7 63.Kxd4 Rxf3 64.Kxd5

Here, at the cost of his knight, Black had rid the board of all pawns. Despite
continuing on in the bishop and rook versus rook ending that resulted, the issue
could not be forced beyond the theoretical draw, and Pashikian – reluctantly
– accepted that the fifty-move rule would inevitably come into effect
a few short moves after the 113th, the juncture at which the players ended it.
Draw. [Click
to replay]

A terrible blunder and a miracle escape: Russian GM Vladimir Malakhov

In order to pull off the upset over Israel today, Turkey required solid play
on the part of all their players, which they were more than happy to provide.
Yilmaz-Sutovsky, in particular, highlighted the extent to which these players
competed above their paltry ratings.

Yilmaz,M (2478) - Sutovsky,E (2657) [C02]
7th World Team Championship Bursa TUR (7), 11.01.2010
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.a3 f6 7.Bd3 fxe5 8.Nxe5
Nf6 9.0-0 Bd6 10.Nxc6. In an Advance Variation of the French, the game
has followed a line from the 2008 Belgian Championship, deviating on this move.
10...bxc6 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.b4 Bd6 13.c4 Qb8 14.h3 a5 15.cxd5 cxd5 16.bxa5
0-0 17.Nc3 Rxa5 18.Rb1 Bb7 19.Nb5 Bc5 20.Qe1 Qg3

21.Qxe6+. White exploits the opportunity to go up a pawn,
playing this move almost immediately. Yilmaz holds on to the pawn throughout,
demonstrating, as many of these players have, that maintaining a material advantage
can yield results. 21...Kh8 22.Be3 Bxe3 23.Qxe3 Qxe3 24.fxe3 Ba6 25.Rb3
h6 26.Rfb1 Nd7 27.Nc7 Bc4 28.Rc3 Ne5 29.Bc2 Ra7 30.Ne6 Rfa8 31.Nd4 Nd7 32.a4
Nc5 33.Ra3 Kg8 34.Rb4 Rf7 35.Nf3 Raf8 36.Ra1 Re7 37.Ra3 Ref7 38.Bd1 Nd3 39.Rb6
Re7 40.a5 Ra8 41.Nd2 Ne5 42.Rb1 Rea7 43.Rba1 Rb8 44.Nxc4 dxc4 45.a6 Rb6 46.Bc2
Nc6 47.Be4 Nb4 48.Rc3 Rbxa6 49.Rxa6 Rxa6 50.Rxc4 Rb6 51.h4 Kf7 52.Kf2 Rb5 53.Rd4
Ke7 54.Kf3 Rb6 55.Rc4 Na6 56.Bd5 Kd6 57.Rd4 Nc5 58.Bc4+ Ke7 59.Rg4 Rf6+ 60.Ke2
Kf8 61.Bd5 Nd7 62.Rb4 Rd6 63.Be4 Ke7 64.Bf5 Ne5 65.Bc2 Rc6 66.Be4 Rc4 67.Rb7+

67...Kf6? After 67...Kf8 Black should be able to hold. 68.Rb6+
Ke7 69.Bd5 Rxh4 70.Re6+ Kd7 71.Rxe5 Kd6 72.Re4 Rh2 73.Rd4 1-0. [Click
to replay]

The tea didn't help: Israeli GM Emil Sutovsky

In the other vital Turkish victory of the round, Esen took advantage of some
endgame trickery to score the full point. The game started off in the Panno
Variation of the King's Indian, following, for twelve moves, a line used by
Baburin in a white win at the 1996 Yerevan Olympiad. For a while, Black's position
looked rosy, but the position seemed largely drawish by his sixty-seventh move.

Esen,B (2513) - Rodshtein,M (2622) [E62]
7th World Team Championship Bursa TUR (7), 11.01.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Nc3 Bf5 8.d5
Na5 9.Nd4 Bd7 10.Qd3 Ng4 11.f4 c5 12.Nc2 a6 13.Rb1 b5 14.b3 Rb8 15.Bd2 f5 16.h3
Nf6 17.Kh2 Re8 18.Bf3 Kh8 19.Ne3 b4 20.Ncd1 e5 21.dxe6 Bxe6 22.Nf2 Qd7 23.g4
Nc6 24.g5 Ng8 25.Rfe1 Nge7 26.Rbd1 Rbd8 27.Bc1 Nd4 28.Bg2 d5 29.cxd5 Nxd5 30.Nxd5
Bxd5 31.e3 Bxg2 32.Kxg2 Qc6+ 33.Kf1 Ne6 34.Qc2 Nc7 35.Rxd8 Rxd8 36.Rd1 Re8 37.Qc4
Nb5 38.Rd5 Rc8 39.Qd3 Qa8 40.Bd2 Nc3 41.Bxc3 bxc3 42.Rd7 Re8 43.Rxg7 Kxg7 44.Qxc3+
Kf7 45.Qc4+ Re6 46.Qxc5 Qc6 47.Qd4 Qf3 48.Qa7+ Re7 49.Qxa6 Qxe3 50.Qc4+ Kg7
51.a4 h6 52.h4 Qb6 53.b4 Rc7 54.Qd5 Kh7 55.Nd3 Re7 56.h5 hxg5 57.fxg5 Qe3 58.hxg6+
Kxg6 59.Nf2 f4 60.b5 f3 61.Qd3+ Kxg5 62.Qd5+ Kg6 63.Qd3+ Kg5 64.Qd5+ Kg6 65.Qd3+
Qxd3+ 66.Nxd3 Kf5 67.b6 Ke4 68.b7 Re8 69.Kf2

69...Kxd3?? Rodshtein falls for a thinly-veiled trap, capturing
Esen's proffered knight in exchange for two unstoppable connected passers on
the on the queenside. 70.a5 Ke4 71.a6 Rd8 72.a7 Rd2+ 73.Kg3 f2 74.b8Q
f1Q 75.a8Q+ Rd5 76.Qb4+ Ke3 77.Qe8+. With a mate-in-two on the board,
Rodshtein raised the white flag, clearly astonished at how he had allowed things
to take a turn for the worse. 1-0. [Click
to replay]

Coming off a crushing victory over Armenia, Greece was in high spirits, confident
they could hang tough with the Americans. For much of the round, they did just
that, but Kotronias let it slip when it counted. Having traversed the Atlantic
in search of adventure, Nakamura decided to go for the unexpected, as he chose
to have Kotronias contend with a Petroff Defence. The game followed well-tested
lines for nine moves, until the American introduced 9...c6.

Kotronias,V (2599) - Nakamura,Hi (2708) [C42]
7th World Team Championship Bursa TUR (7), 11.01.2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nd6 7.Bf4 Be7
8.0-0 0-0 9.Re1 c6 10.Nbd2 Be6 11.c3 Nd7 12.Qc2 h6 13.Nf1 Re8 14.Ng3 Bf8 15.Re2
Bg4 16.Rxe8 Nxe8 17.Ne5 Be6 18.Re1 Nef6 19.Ng6 Qb6 20.Nxf8 Nxf8 21.h3 Re8 22.Re5
N8d7 23.Re2 Nf8 24.Re5 N8d7 25.Re3 Qa5 26.a3 Nf8 27.Be5 Qd8 28.f4 Bd7 29.Qf2

29...N6h7? After this move Fritz heavily favours White's position,
as Kotronias' pieces were well-coordinated and poised for devastating blows
on the kingside. 30.Nh5 g6 31.Qg3 f5 32.c4 Kf7 33.cxd5 cxd5 34.Be2 Ne6
35.Qf3 Bc6 36.Kh2 Qb6 37.Ng3 Nxd4 38.Qf2 Nc2 39.Nxf5 Nxe3

White's chances have fizzled, prompting him to commit a major error: 40.Nxh6+??
40.Nxh6+ Kf8 41.Qg3 Bd7 42.Bc3 Nf5 43.Nxf5 Bxf5 44.Bf3 d4 and, being
a rook down proves too much to live with in the Greek's reckoning. 0-1.
[Click to replay]

Looking to gain ground on the tournament leaders, the Azeris pulled out all
the stops in their match-up with Brazil. Mamedov produced, perhaps, the most
appealing result of the round – a miniature on the white side of a Richter-Rauzer
Sicilian. In a position that seemed ripe for a novelty, Diamant counted on 8...Be7
proving a boon for Black in praxis. The new move was certainly not bad for the
Brazilian, but his excursion with the a-pawn proved to do more harm than good,
as his queen was kicked around for five moves of the next fifteen, ultimately
ending with an inextricable placement for her royal highness – and a win
for Mamedov on the twenty-fifth move.

Mamedov,Rau (2640) - Diamant,A (2497) [B60]
7th World Team Championship Bursa TUR (7), 11.01.2010
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nf6 6.Bg5 Qb6 7.Nb3 e6
8.Qd3 Be7 9.Be2 0-0 10.Qg3 a5 11.Bh6 Ne8 12.Be3 Qc7 13.0-0 a4 14.Nd2 Bf6 15.Nc4
a3 16.Bb6 Qe7 17.Nxa3 d5 18.exd5 exd5 19.Rfe1 Be6 20.Nab5 Ra6 21.Qe3 Qb4 22.Bc5
Qxb2 23.Rab1 Qxc2 24.Bd3 d4 25.Qe4 1-0. [Click
to replay]

In another critical pairing for the Azeris, Mamedyarov sealed a beautiful win
in the middlegame against his 2600 foe. The game employed the Breyer Variation
of the Closed Ruy Lopez, following theory for sixteen moves, before Milos decided
on 17.dxe5. the position developed tolerably for the Greek, but he missed the
need to occupy a critical file, opting for 33.c4, prior to executing the needed
Rd2; thus, he allowed 33...Rd8, giving Mamedyarov control of the file, and,
by move thirty-six, unpleasant mating threats. Stuck between a rock and a hard
place, Milos surrendered.

Milos,G (2618) - Mamedyarov,S (2741) [C95]
7th World Team Championship Bursa TUR (7), 11.01.2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3
0-0 9.h3 Nb8 10.d4 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Bb7 12.Bc2 Re8 13.Nf1 Bf8 14.Ng3 g6 15.a4 c6
16.b4 Nb6 17.dxe5 dxe5 18.Qxd8 Raxd8 19.Bg5 Kg7 20.Nd2 Nxa4 21.Bxa4 bxa4 22.Nc4
c5 23.bxc5 Bxc5 24.Rxa4 Rd3 25.Be3 Bxe3 26.Rxe3 Rd1+ 27.Kh2 h5 28.f3 h4 29.Ne2
Bc6 30.Rb4 Bb5 31.Nb2 Bxe2 32.Rxe2 Rc1 33.c4 Rd8 34.g4 hxg3+ 35.Kxg3 Nh5+ 36.Kh2
Nf4 0-1. [Click to replay]

Individual results of round seven

Hikaru Nakamura continues to climb on the performance scale. With his 5.5/6
score he has now reached a 3061 level of play. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov has 6.5/7
with a 3038 performance. Alexander Onischuk has scored 5.5/7 and "dropped
to" a 2849 level. Some players have equally impressive performances but
with less games played. Alexander Grischuk has 3.5/5 with a 2859 performance,
and Nikita Vitiugov has scored 3.5/4 and with a 2892 performance.

All round results

Standings after seven rounds

#	Team	win	draw	loss	MP	BP	Res.	SB
1	USA	6	0	1	12	18	0	72.50
2	Russia	5	1	1	11	17½	0	75.50
3	Azerbaijan	4	1	2	9	17	0	50.75
4	India	4	1	2	9	15	0	58.00
5	Armenia	3	2	2	8	15	0	48.75
6	Israel	3	1	3	7	14½	0	43.00
7	Greece	3	0	4	6	14½	0	42.00
8	Egypt	1	1	5	3	10½	0	18.75
9	Turkey	1	1	5	3	8½	0	19.75
10	Brazil	1	0	6	2	9½	0	10.50

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN 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!

Read Full Post »

10.01.2010
– We single this round and this game in the World Team Championship in Bursa, Turkey, because of its sheer audacity. Hikaru Nakamura of the US, facing the world's number six, Boris Gelfan, with the black pieces, sacrificed a knight on move 23, left his queen hanging to a pawn and won in great style. After six rounds Russia and the US lead. Illustrated report.

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World Team Championship 2010

The World Team Championship, which is organised every four years, but has been
delayed by one year this time, is taking place in Bursa from January 3rd to
14th 2010. The teams are from Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Israel, USA, India,
Brazil, Egypt, Turkey and Greece. Top players are Levon Aronian (2786), Vugar
Gashimov (2758), Boris Gelfand (2758), Alexander Morozevich (2750), Teimour
Radjabov (2748), Alexander Grischuk (2736), Dmitry Jakovenko (2736), Shakhriyar
Mamedyarov (2719), Hikaru Nakamura (2715), Evgeny Tomashevsky (2708), Vladimir
Malakhov (2706), Vladimir Akopian (2700), Nikita Vityugov (2694), Gabriel Sargissian
(2676), Pentala Harikrishna (2672), Alexander Onischuk (2672), Emil Sutovsky
(2666) and Krishnan Sasikiran (2653).

Round five

No big surprises in this round, with Russia beating Turkey, Azerbaijan beating
Egypt, Greece beating Brazil, and Armenia drawing against India. Notable was
Aronian's loss to Indian GM Krishnan Sasikiran. The players entered into a Slav
Defence, reminiscent of the drawing effort Prudnikova-Stepovaia Dianchenko,
from the 1997 Russian Women’s Championship, where 14…Bb4 saw simplification
to a theoretical draw before the thirtieth move. Aronian opted to preserve his
bishop with the retreat, 14…Be7; however, after entering into a challenging
rook ending, Sasikiran managed to go up a pawn. Though the position was objectively
drawn, Aronian blundered with 53…Rg8+, and, with Lucena’s position
on the horizon, capitulated after 69…Kd6.

Now for the sensation of the round: the team US team beat the substantially
higher-ranked Israelis. And that encounter contained a sensation – the
game of the tournament.

Israel vs the US, with the fateful game Gelfand vs Nakamura in the foreground

Boris Gelfand had been having a bittersweet tournament experience, while Hikaru
Nakamura entered the fifth round having scored 2.5/3. With their respective
teams in contention for the top of the tournament table, it was a foregone conclusion
that these two players would seek to contribute to their teams’ success.
For the first twenty moves, the game followed a transposition of Arbakov-Gufeld
(Soviet Championship, 1986), which saw White pull through in a complicated struggle.
With 21.d6, Gelfand left the game referenced, leaving Nakamura to think on his
own for a few moves.

Gelfand,B (2761) - Nakamura,Hi (2708) [E97]
7th World Team Championship Bursa TUR (5), 09.01.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5
Ne7 9.Nd2 Ne8 10.b4 f5 11.c5 Nf6 12.f3 f4 13.Nc4 g5 14.a4 Ng6 15.Ba3 Rf7 16.b5
dxc5 17.Bxc5 h5 18.a5 g4 19.b6 g3 20.Kh1 Bf8. So far all theory. Now
Boris Gelfand plays a new move: 21.d6 axb6 22.Bg1 Nh4 23.Re1

23...Nxg2!! Double exclam for this beautifully unexpected
move, and for the courage to play this against the world's number six player,
who is 53 rating points above the American. 24.dxc7? We cannot
be sure – that has to be left to the next ChessBase Magazine – but
after 24.Kxg2 the white prospects look better than after the text move. 24...Nxe1
(threatens simply 25...g2 mate!) 25.Qxe1 g2+ 26.Kxg2 Rg7+ 27.Kh1 Bh3.

You may be forgiven for feeling a bit nervous about the white pawn poised to
take the black queen on d8, but White must attend to the threat of 28...Bxg2
mate first. 28.Bf1 Qd3 (threatening 29...Qxf3+ and mate in
one) 29.Nxe5 Bxf1 (threatening once again 30...Bg2#, which
is why the white knight cannot touch the hanging queen) 30.Qxf1 Qxc3
31.Rc1 Qxe5 32.c8Q Rxc8 33.Rxc8 Qe6

and White, a full knight down, resigned. 0-1. This game reminds
us that the US has another big star whom international organisers must consider
if they are interested in exciting fighting chess. [Click
to replay]

A cheerful Indian team at the beginning of round five

Round six

The Armenian team, which won the last Chess Olympiad, faced the Greeks, who
were on average almost a hundred points lower on the Elo scale. And still: Papaioannou
beat Akopian and Halkias beat Petrosian to produce a 3-1 team victory that nobody
could have expected.

The big upset in round six: Armenia loses to Greece 1-3. One astonishing
game was...

Aronian,L (2781) - Kotronias,V (2599) [D30]
7th World Team Championship Bursa TUR (6), 10.01.2010
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Be7 6.Bxe7 Qxe7 7.Nc3 Nf6
8.dxc5 Qxc5 9.e3 0-0 10.Be2 Nc6 11.0-0 Rd8 12.Rc1 Qb4 13.Na4 Bg4 14.a3 Qe7 15.Re1
Rac8 16.h3 Bh5 17.Nc3 h6 18.Nd4 Bxe2 19.Rxe2 Ne4 20.Rec2 Qe8 21.Nce2 Ne7 22.Rc7
Nd6 23.Nf4 Rxc7 24.Rxc7 Rc8 25.Qc2 Qd8 26.Rc5 Nc4 27.Rxc8 Qxc8 28.Qc3 Nb6 29.Qb4
Qc1+ 30.Kh2 Nc6 31.Nxc6 bxc6 32.Nh5 Nc4 33.Qb8+ Kh7 34.Qf8 Qxb2 35.Qxf7 Qe5+
36.Nf4 Nd2 37.Qg6+ Kg8 38.Qxc6 Nf1+ 39.Kh1 Qa1 40.Qxd5+ Kh7 41.Qd3+ Kg8 42.g3
Nxe3+ 43.Kh2 Nd1 44.h4 Nc3 45.Qd8+ Kh7 46.h5 Qb2 47.Qd4 Qxa3 48.Qd3+ Kg8

Levon Aronian has completely outplayed his opponent, who is 182 points below
him on the rating scale. Now he can play 49.Qc4+ with and advantage of 18.64
pawns, as Fritz 12 puts it. "Or at least 49.Ne2, winning a piece –
if calculating Qc4+ is too difficult" said an exasperated Garry Kasparov,
who is in training camp with Magnus Carlsen in Marakesh, Morocco. Aronian finds
the only move that draws: 49.Nd5?? 49...Qd6 ½-½. [Click
to replay]

The other results were "as expected", with the higher ranked teams
defeating the lower ranked ones with approximately the score the rating difference
would predict. Mamedyarov-Sutovsky was an encounter worthy of mention for those
looking for a titillating endgame study. The game started in known Gruenfeld
lines, deviating from theory with 14.g4, with White, soon after, seeming ready
for trouble in allowing a passed pawn on the a-file, in exchange for grabbing
a pawn. On 34...a2, Black spurned the potential of preparing a perpetual with
34...f6, and saw his position ostensibly begin to deteriorate a few moves later,
as White happily gobbled his pawns. In the bizarre aftermath, Black held an
extra queen to White's five pawns, but the position evaluates to a draw –
a fact which likely surprised the players that split the point as much as it
did some outside observers. [Click
to replay]

Hikaru Nakamura, USA, has so far scored 4.5/5, with a surreal rating performance
of 3035

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Azerbaijan, has scored 5.5/6 with a performance of 3005

Alexander Onischuk, USA, has scored 5.0/6 points and has a performance of
2903

All round results

Standings after six rounds

#	Team	win	draw	loss	MP	BP	Res.	SB
1	Russia	5	0	1	10	15½	2	56.50
2	USA	5	0	1	10	15½	0	49.50
3	Azerbaijan	3	1	2	7	13½	0	34.50
4	Armenia	3	1	2	7	13	2	34.25
5	Israel	3	1	2	7	13	0	37.75
6	India	3	1	2	7	12½	0	39.00
7	Greece	3	0	3	6	13	0	37.50
8	Egypt	1	1	4	3	9	0	16.00
9	Brazil	1	0	5	2	9	0	9.00
10	Turkey	0	1	5	1	6	0	4.50

Russia and the US have scored five wins, no draws and one loss each, with ten
match and 15½ board points. Russia leads on tiebreak, which specify that
in such cases the result of the match between the teams break the tie (Russia
beat the US in round three). We can see the system at work in the places 3-6,
where four teams have seven match points each, and two are tied in board points,
with one, Armenia, having beaten the other, Israel, in their individual encounter.

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN 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!

Read Full Post »