In the first round, China struggled to defeat the Philippines 2.5-1.5 after the world”s youngest GM Wesley So defeated Ni Hua in what our annotator IM Malcolm Pein described as beautiful game. Defending champ Armenia, for its part, crushed Italy 4-0.
In this Swiss tournament, each men’s team can only have five, and not six, players. Pein says this has prevented many fine players from participating. Each women’s teams, however, can have up to 54 (!) players not four, “ensuring plenty more players — around 2,000 are there.” All matches are over four boards, but match, not game, points will be counted so winning the match rather than running up big scores is more important. Here’s what Pein calls a FIDE nonsense rule: All players must be seated by 1500 hours or they will be defaulted irrespective of local traffic conditions, security checks, weather, acts of god or car crashes. “Has this actually been enforced?” he asks.
Games of the week. Two from the first round.
White: GM Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2757)
Black: GM Fabiano Caruana (Italy, 2640)
Queen’s Gambit Declined Semi-Slav
Dresden Olympiad 2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Ne5 Bb7 10.h4 g4 11.Nxg4 Nxg4 12.Qxg4 Qxd4 13.Rd1 Qg7 14.Qf4 In an endgame White would be a pawn down for no compensation but with queen’s on, Black’s king is vulnerable. 14…Na6 15.Be2 Be7 16.0-0 Nc5 17.e5 Qg6 18.Rd4 Rd8 19.Rfd1 Rd5! 20.Qe3 20.Nxd5 cxd5 gives Black a very strong pawn center and White’s rook are blocked 20…h5 21.Bf3 a6 22.b4! cxb3 22…Nd3 23.Be4 Qh6 24.Qxh6 Rxh6 25.Nxd5 exd5 26.Bxd3 cxd3 27.R1xd3 23.axb3 a5 23…Nxb3 24.Nxd5 Nxd4 25.Nc7+ Kd8 26.Nxb5 axb5 27.Qxd4+ Kc8 28.Qd7+ 24.Ne4 Nxe4 25.Bxe4 Qh6 26.Bf4 Qg7 27.Bxd5 exd5 28.Bg5 Rg8 29.f4 Qg6 29…Bc5 30.Kh2 Qf8 30.R4d2 c5 31.Bxe7 d4 32.Bg5! 1-0
White: GM Wesely So (Philippines, 2610)
Black: GM Ni Hua (China, 2710)
Ruy Lopez Berlin Wall
Dresden Olympiad 2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Nc3 Ke8 10.h3 b6 11.Ne4 11.Bf4 Bb4 12.Ne4 Ba6 13.Rfc1 Be2 is very annoying, Shirov-Kramnik Moscow Blitz 2007 11…Be6 12.g4 Ne7 13.Re1 h6?! 13…h5 14.Nd4 Bd5= 14.Nd4 Bd5 15.Bf4 Kd7 16.Rad1 Kc8 17.Bg3 Kb7 18.e6! Rd8 18…fxe6 19.Nc3 Ng6 20.Nxe6 19.Nc3 f6 20.Nxd5 cxd5 21.Nb5 Rc8 22.c4! a6 23.Nxc7 Rxc7 24.cxd5 Nc8 25.Bxc7 Kxc7 26.Rc1+! Kd8 27.Rxc8+! Kxc8 28.e7 Bxe7 29.Rxe7 Rd8 30.Rxg7 Rxd5 31.Rg6 White wins easily by creating three connected passed kingside pawns 31…Rd2 32.Rxh6 Rxb2 33.Rxf6 Kd7 34.a4 Ke7 35.g5 Rb4 36.Kg2 a5 37.Kg3 Rxa4 38.Rxb6 Ra1 39.Ra6 a4 40.Kg4 a3 41.f4 a2 42.Kf5 1-0
Puzzler.
White — pawns on a2, c3, f3; Ba6, Ra7, Ne4, Kg3
Black — pawn on c6, Ke3
White to play and mate in four moves.
Send your answers to “64” c/o Marianas Variety, P.O. Box 500231, Saipan MP 96950. Our fax no. is 670-234-9271. You can also e-mail idlasts @lycos.com or [email protected].
