But after struggling with 20th seed Moldova in the first round and dominating the Czechs in round 2, the Russians could only draw with the Dutch in the third and were almost wiped out by the Bulgarians in the next round. Russia won the rest of its matches but lost to the defending champ, Azerbaijain, and ended in fifth place. The last time Russia won this nine-round Swiss event, which used to be dominated by the Soviets, was in 2007.
Bulgaria as well as the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia each took the lead, but once the proverbial dust settled it was the 10th seed Germans who emerged victorious. Coached by former FIDE champ Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan, the German squad was composed of GM’s Naiditsch (2712), Meier (2659), Fridman (2661), Gustafsson (2633) and Buhmann (2612). They beat Montenegro, Hungary, Ukraine, Italy, Romania, Azerbaijan and Armenia, drawing only to Israel and losing 1-3 to Bulgaria.
Says an online commentator, “Germany showed in this event great team effort, with no ‘weak link’ — all the five players over-performed their ratings, and were extremely solid and reliable (they didn’t lose a single game in 8 out of their 9 matches).”
Led by former FIDE champ Topalov, the Bulgarians were doing quite well before imploding against Azerbaijan, 5-3.5, and Hungary, 0-4.
Azerbaijan took the silver while Hungary won the bronze.
Game of the week. The 1997 champ, England, did not do particularly well, finishing 22nd, although its top board and reigning champ Michael Adams won the gold on the top board. Also playing for England is veteran GM Nigel Short who won 2, lost 3 and drew 2 games. Here is the former challenger to the world crown against Latvia’s Evgeny Sveshnikov in first round action. IM Malcolm Peinn annotates.
White: N. Short (2698)
Black: E. Sveshnikov (2514)
Catalan Opening
ETC, Porto Carras 2011
1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Nbd7 6.Qxc4 c5 7.d3 a6 8.Qb3 Bd6 9.0-0 Rb8 10.a4 b5 (10…b6) 11.axb5 axb5 12.Nc3 0-0 (12…b4!?) 13.Bg5 h6 14.Ne4! hxg5 15.Nxd6 g4 16.Ng5 c4 (16…Qe7 17.Nxb5 is risky but17.Ndxf7 Rxf7 18.Nxf7 Qxf7 19.Ra5 b4 20.Qc4 Qe7 21.Rfa1 is promising) 17.dxc4 Nc5 18.Qd1 bxc4 19.Ra7 (Black is under pressure and cracks immediately) 19…Qb6? (19…Nfd7) 20.Rxf7 Ba6 (If 20…Rd8 21.Qc2 Qxd6 22.Qg6) 21.Qc2! 21…Rxf7 22.Ndxf7 Qxb2 23.Qg6 Rf8 (23…c3 24.Nh6+ Kh8 25.Ngf7#) 24.Rb1 c3 25.Nh6+ Kh8 26.Ngf7+ Rxf7 27.Nxf7+ Kg8 28.Rxb2 cxb2 29.Qc2 Kxf7 30.Qxb2 1-0.
Puzzler.
White: Ka5, Nb5, Qc1, Bd3, pawn on d4
Black: Kd5, Ne5, pawns on a6 and f3
White to play and mate in three moves.
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