Hungary edged Poland, defending champ Armenia drew with France, China gongedItaly, the U.S. nipped Cuba, the Philippines lost to Estonia, Iran surprised Vietnam, and India, which didn’t have world champ Anand as one of its players, bested Georgia.
Ukraine, which topped the Olympiad for the first time in 2004, won eight matches and drew three to collect 19 points, one more than Russia which, for the fourth straight Olympiad, failed to win gold.
The top 20 teams: Ukraine, Russia 1, Israel, Hungary, China, Russia 2, Armenia, Spain, U.S., France, Poland, Azerbaijan, Russia 3, Belarus, Holland, Slovakia, Brazil, India, Denmark and the Czech Republic.
The P.I. finished 50th, ahead of Norway whose top board player Magnus Carlsen didn’t play brilliantly, while Vietnam, which was doing well in the first four rounds only to eventually falter, landed in 52nd place. England, which had Adams, Short, McShane, Howell and Jones, was 24th, below Cuba, which finished 23rd.
Young Filipino GM Wesley So, who played on the top board, didn’t lose a game, winning three and drawing seven. In contrast, his Southeast Asian rival, Vietnam’s Le Quang Liem, won two, lost two and drew seven. Philippine legend Eugene Torre, who is already 59, won three, lost one and drew three, which is not bad for someone whose contemporaries are no longer playing for their countries’ Olympic teams. Still, it was the Philippines’ worst performance in the biennial event.
In the women’s division, the Russian ladies were simply dominant. China finished second, Georgia third, Cuba fourth and the U.S. fifth.
The 40th Olympiad will be held in 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey.
Game of the week. Ukraine’s MVP was its top player, the unpredictable chess genius Vassily Ivanchuk, 41, whose gold medal performance included winning six straight games before drawing with Russia’s Kramnik and losing to Azerbaijan’s Mamedyarov only to thump Vachier-Lagrave of France in round 10 and halve the point with Israel’s Gelfand in the last round.
Ivanchuk, the world’s former number 2 player, has an “incredible opening knowledge, sharp and unusual tactics and subtle positional play,” says GM Lubosh Kavalek, who annotates this week’s partie.
“Ivanchuk’s win against one of the best defenders, Peter Leko of Hungary, is a positional masterpiece,” says Kavalek. “William Steinitz, the first official world champion, loved to have his pawns on the original squares, since any pawn move weakens the position. It was a sound idea, not overlooked by world class players such as Bobby Fischer, Ulf Andersson or Michael Adams. Ivanchuk’s wonderful illustration would have made Steinitz happy. In the Semi-Slav Meran defense, using tactical themes and a delicate queen maneuver, the Ukrainian GM created many pawn weaknesses that Leko was unable to cover.”
White: V. Ivanchuk (2754)
Black: P.Leko (2724)
Semi-Slav Meran Defense
39th Olympiad, Khanty-Mansiysk 2010
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.d4 c6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 (Avoiding the straight Meran defense 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5.) 6…Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0 dxc4 9.Bxc4 a6 10.Rd1 b5 11.Bd3 (Karpov’s 11.Be2 is more modest, but also more popular.) 11…Qc7 (Leko tries to move his queen from the d-file, but 11…Bb7 seems preferable.) 12.Bd2 (Ivanchuk is anticipating a queenside scramble and plans to shut down black’s counterplay with 13.b4! [13… Bxb4 14.Nxb5!]. Pavel Eljanov, another strong Ukrainian grandmaster, won games with 12.a4 and 12.Ne4.) 12…c5 13.dxc5 Qxc5 14.a4! (Undermining the queenside.) 14…bxa4 (After 14…b4 15.Ne4 Qxc2 16.Bxc2 Be7 17.Nxf6+ Nxf6 18.Ne5 is pleasant for white. Black could have tried 14…Bb7 15.axb5 Bxf3 to shatter white’s kingside.) 15.Rxa4 Bb7 16.Rc4 Qa7?! (And just like that the game turns. Black had to try 16…Bxf3 17.Rxc5 Bxd1 18.Nxd1 Nxc5 with roughly equal chances.) 17.Ne4 Nxe4 18.Bxe4 Bxe4 19.Qxe4 (The light squares are more accessible to white.) 19…Rac8?! 20.Qd4! (Ivanchuk begins to dominate in the center, driving the black queen back. Leko has problems on the d-file and can’t exchange the queens. After 20…Qxd4? 21.Rxd4 Rc6 22.Bc3 white wins a piece.) 20…Bc5?! (20…Bb8 was a better alternative, but after 21.Bc3 Qxd4 22.Rcxd4 Nc5 23.g3 Rfe8 24.Rc4 white still has a slight edge.) 21.Qc3! (Pinning the bishop and threatening 22.b4.) 21…Rcd8 (After 21…Rc7 22.Qc2 Rfc8 23.Bc3 the black king may not be comfortable.) 22.Qc2! (Freeing the square c3 for his bishop and threatening to weaken black’s kingside with 23.Ng5.) 22…Rfe8? (Allowing Ivanchuk to increase his advantage by weakening the dark squares. Leko had to try 22…h6 23.Bc3 Rfe8 to meet 24.Rg4 with 24…Bf8!) 23.Ng5! g6 24.Ba5 (The modest 24.Be1 has more venom, for example 24…Be7 25.Nxe6 fxe6 26.Rc7 wins; or 24…Bb6 25.Ne4 Kg7 26.Rc6!, threatening to win with Ne4-d6-c8.) 24…Bb6 25.Bc3! (Ivanchuk forced the black bishop out of play. More holes are creeping into black’s position.) 25…e5 26.Ne4 Re6 27.Bb4 Kg7 28.Rc6! Nf6 (Black is in trouble. After 28…Nf8 comes 29.Bd6!; and after 28…Rxc6? 29.Qxc6 white is threatening to win with 30.Be7.) 29.Rxe6 fxe6 (Black is left with a weak double pawn and Ivanchuk begins to zero in.) 30.Nxf6 Kxf6 (Black gets mated after 30…Rxd1+ 31.Qxd1 Kxf6 32.Qf3+ Kg5 [On 32…Kg7 33.Qf8 mates.] 33.Bf8!, threatening either 34.g3 and 35. h4 mate; or 34.h4+ Kxh4 35.Bh6! g5 36.Qh3 mate.) 31.Ra1 (Ivanchuk decides to keep the rooks, tickling the a6- weakness. White could have also played 31.Bd6!? threatening 32.Qe4, for example 31…Qa8 32.Qa4 Kf7 33.Bxe5 with a healthy pawn up.) 31…Qb7 32.Bc3 (Pinning the e5-pawn.) 32…a5 (After 32…Rd5 33.Qe2 Rb5 34.Qg4 the black king is left alone.) 33.Qa4 g5? (After 33…Qd5+ 34.Qf4+ Ke7 35.Qg5+ Kf7 36.h4 black can’t survive.) 34.h4! h6 35.Qg4 Qh7 36.Qh5 (Threatening to win a pawn with 42.hxg5+ and black has to give up something. Another way to attack was with 36.Qf3+ Qf5 37.Qc6 Rb8 38.Qd6 Rb7 39.Ra4 black is tied up and the white rook threatens to sneak into black’s position via the square c4.) 36…Qg6? (Blundering, but after 36…Rg8 white has two ways to conclude the game: 37.Bxa5 Bxa5 38.Rxa5 Qb1+ 39.Kh2 Qg6 40.hxg5+ hxg5 41.Qxg6+ the rook endgame is hopeless; or 37.b4 axb4 38.Bxb4 Qg6 39.Qf3+ Qf5 40.Qb7 gxh4 41.Be7+ Kg6 42.Qxb6 h3 43.e4 Qg4 44.g3 wins.) 37.Bxe5+ Kf7 38.Qf3+ Kg8 39.Qc6 (The black bishop has nowhere to go and 39…Bxe3 40.fxe3 gxh4 41.Kh2 is not good enough.) Black resigned.
Puzzler.
White: Qa8, Nd5, Bg5, Kh7
Black: Ke5
White to play and mate in three.
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 [email protected].
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