9 September 2016
Another Encounter with Beduins
Round Five of the Baku Olympiad in the review of Vladimir Barsky.
Round five was extremely important from the psychological point of view because its outcome directly influenced the mood with which the teams would go into their only rest day.
The China - Ukraine match
The national men‘s team of Ukraine, which the day before defeated the rating favorite team of Russia, was faced off with the defending Olympiad champions from China. The first two boards Eljanov - Wang Yue and Ding Liren - Ponomariov saw very viscous fighting, which never deviated far from equality though; both games ended in draws quite naturally. On board four grandmasters also ended up signing a peace agreement, but following a lively “gunfight”.
Wei Yi (2717) – Volokitin (2647)
It might seem as if clouds gathered over Black’s position, but on closer examination it turns out that Andrei Volokitin has everything under control.
19…Bd8! 20. Nxd8 Bxf5 21. Nxf6+ gxf6 22. Nxc6 Rxe4 23. Nxb8 Bg4 24. 0-0 Rxe2
A tornado sweeps over the board, gobbling up with abandon each piece and pawn coming its way!
25. Rxb7
No difference would be made by 25. Rxf6 Rxb8 26. Bxg5 Bh3 27. Bf4 Rg2+ 28. Kh1 Rg7 29. Rxd6 Bg2+ 30. Kg1 Be4+, and Black restores the material balance after taking the c2-pawn.
25...Bc8 26.Rb6 Rxd2 27. Rxf6 Kg7 28. Rf2
28…Rd1+ 29. Rf1 Rd2 30. Rf2 Rd1+ 31. Rf1 Rd2 32. Rf2 Draw.
The fate of the match was sealed on board three.
Y. Kryvoruchko (2693) – Yu Yangyi (2725)
This is a funny-looking position as almost all Black’s pieces are lined up along the home rank. Meanwhile, the black b8-knight has managed to make it to d7 earlier, but then, for some unknown reason, decided to return home. In general, Black got off on the wrong foot with the opening, whereas his kingside counterplay attempts are easily parried by his opponent.
18…f5 19. f4! exf4
In the case of 19... e4 20. Be2 Black has literally no moves to make.
20. Bxf4 Qf7 21. 0-0 Nd7
The pawn is clearly untouchable – 21...Qxd5? 22. Bc4.
22. Be3 Bxa5 23. Rxa5 Qh5 24. Rxa6
Even stronger is 24. Qe2 - the a6-pawn will not run away, while taking care of the black queen's activities never hurts. Still, creating real threats on the kingside is beyond Chinese grandmaster’s capabilities anyway.
24... Rxa6 25. Bxa6 Ne5 26. Be2 Qg6 27. Kh1 h6 28. gxh6 Nf6
29. Bf4
White gained enough extra pawns already, so he just improves the position of his pieces.
29…Ne4 30. Qd4 Re8 31. Rg1 Ng4 32. Bxg4 fxg4 33. Qxg7+ Qxg7 34. hxg7, and White went on to convert his material advantage. The Ukraine won the match with a 2.5-1.5 score.
That day the Russian team was to face the Egyptians, who have for some time now been referred by us by the name of “Bedouins“. As Nikolai Gogol wrote, “The language of the Russian populace is always forcible in its phraseology!” Should someone be labelled with a nickname, then it will run in the family, he will take it along with him into service and into retirement, into St. Petersburg, and to the edge of the world. “
The Egypt - Russia match
The bottom line is, they are “Bedouins”. During five years that have passed since the World Team Championship in Ningbo, when this label was stuck to them by Ilya Levitov, the Egyptians have considerably improved, their leaders Bassem Amin and Ahmed Adly are nowadays strong grandmasters rated over 2600. Nevertheless, they find it difficult to compete with our heavyweights on an equal footing yet.
Karjakin (2769) – Bassem (2661)
Sergey handled the opening in a not entirely successful fashion and did not get any advantage, but then the disparity in class factor came into play.
36. e6! fxe6?!
Black would have been better off capturing with the queen instead - 36... Qxe6, and after 37. dxc5 Ra2 38. Qe5 Qxe5 39. Nxe5 Ra7 40. c6 Rc7 he has decent chances to make a draw.
37. Ne5 Qxd4 38. Qc7
Even stronger is 38. Nc6! with the idea of 38… Qd2 39. Qe8!, and the rook is untouchable in view of 39…Qxc1? 40. Ne7+ Kg7 41. Qg6+ Kh8 42. Qg8#.
38... Ra7 39. Qxa7 Qxe5 40. Qb7, and White went on to convert his extra exchange advantage.
Ian Nepomniachtchi outsmarted his opponent and scored his fifth victory out of five games. A beautiful positional painting was created by Vladimir Kramnik, although he missed a winning maneuver and allowed his opponent building up a fortress at the end.
Adly (2603) – Kramnik (2808)
47... b3! wins here, as White can not save himself whichever way the bishop retreats:
1) 48. Bd1 Kc5! 49. Ke1 Kd5 or 49. Be2 Bxe2 50. Kxe2 Kc4;
2) 48. Bb1 h4! 49. gxh4 g3 50. Ke1 Ke7 – the white bishop is stuck on b1, which gives Black free play to claim the h-pawn;
3) 48. Bd3 Bxd3 49. Kxd3 Kd5, and a pawn endgame is an easily winning one: first Black carries out e6-e5 and then, following the exchanges on e5, maneuvers the king to g5 to break through with h5-h4.
47… Kd5 48. Bb1 Bb5 49. Bc2 Bd7 50. Kd3 Bb5+ 51. Kd2 Ba6 52. Bb1 b3 53. Ke1, and White succeeded in holding his position together.
However, Alexander Grischuk, playing on the lowest board, made his fans feel nervous with an overly sharp play for a win in an approximately equal position and thus running into significant challenges as a result. However, he was fortunate enough to be able to bail out by engineering a perpetual.
The final score is 3-1 in the Russian team’s favor.
In the women section developing completely unpredictable was the Serbia - Ukraine match: for a considerable period of time the Balkan chess players stood better on at least three boards (and with unclear play on yet another one), but in the end the more experienced and titled Ukrainians won with a 3-1 score.
Rapport (2318) – Muzychuk (2550)
19…f5!? 20. h6
Black was probably intending to meet 20. f4!? by a queen sacrifice – 20…Qxc3!? 21. Rxc3 Nxe4 22. Qc2 Bxc3+. The initiative is on her side, but it is not clear whether Black has enough compensation for missing the strongest piece.
20... fxg4!
This is an effective treatment of the position! After 20... Bh8? 21. gxf5 gxf5 22. f4 Black’s situation is grim.
21. hxg7 gxh3 22. gxf8Q+ Rxf8
23. f4?
This mistake is decisive. White could bail out with 23. Qd1!, e.g.: 23…h2 24. Kd2 Rf4 25. Qh1 or 23... Qh2 24. Rc1 Qg2 25. Kd2 Rxf3 26. Qg1.
23... Nxe4! 24. fxe5 h2
The pawn becomes a queen.
25. Qd4 h1Q+ 26. Bg1 Rf2 27. Nxe4 Qxg1+ 28. Kd2 Rxe2+ White resigns.
The Russian team defeated Kazakhstan in an apparently easy fashion - the final score is 3.5-0.5, and could have probably been even higher. The key match Russia - Ukraine takes place after the rest day.
Interview with Mahir Mamedov
During round five a press conference with the Olympiad Director Mahir Mamedov was organized. He said that the Chess Olympiad Operating Committee organized a special department to run parallel activities and create chess atmosphere in the city, the latter being its main task. “I think the department has coped with this mission. Our mascot strolls in the city center, the Olympiad buses are seen all over the city. Large-size chess boards have been installed around the city, people play chess and ask that they not be removed upon completion of the Olympiad. Baku can be said to go through a chess fever these days.”
It goes without saying that the Olympiad is a costly event and the SOCAR chess club will unfortunately not take part in the European Cup. Despite that, Mahir Mamedov claimed that Azerbaijan would continue its efforts towards organizing prestigious chess tournaments. “We have received an offer to host one of the FIDE Grand Prix stages. The Vugar Gashimov Memorial has become traditional and will continue in future.”
We continue acquainting readers with feedback of famous grandmasters on the Olympiad:
Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine):
– I think this is my fourth Olympiad. I don’t remember all my tournaments well and I can’t say which one was the best, but I can say that this Olympiad is very well organized. I am very glad to be here in Baku!
Anish Giri (Netherlands):
– I’ve been to Baku last year for the World Cup, and I was fortunate enough to stay here for quite a while. I was impressed by the mixed architecture; the modern part, such as the Flame Towers and other modern buildings, but also, when you go into the Old Town, you can see how well older architecture is taken care of. It’s a nice mix for the city, to have skyscrapers alongside traditional buildings. Also, it is very nice, for those of us chess players who like to walk, that there is a very nice boulevard from one end of the city to the other. Though sometimes it starts to smell too much like oil because of the wind, but I’m sure it’s healthy.
Pictures by Vladimir Barsky and Eteri Kublashvili
