Round 5

Armenia finally halted the Russian chess machine, holding the top seeds to a 2-2 draw in the fifth round of the 35th Chess Olympiad being held at Bled in Slovenia. In recent years the Armenians have been a formidable force with strong young players complemented by the experience of 1999 Fide finalist Vladimir Akopian and the immensely talented Smbat Lputian. They have achieved great results without having a player in the world's top twenty.

Garry Kasparov's winning streak came to an end as he had to defend carefully against Akopian on top board but the draw improved over his disastrous loss to the same opponent at the Russia v Rest of the World match last month. Alexander Morozevich won with a nice sacrifice but Lputian played a model game in the French Defence and outplayed Alexander Grischuk.

"Lputian is an absolute master of the French Defense. I consider him belonging to that exclusive club of French Defense experts like Mikhail Botvinnik, Wolfgang Uhlmann and Viktor Korchnoi," said press room commentator GM Miso Cebalo of Croatia. Russia were overtaken by Bosnia who defeated Poland 3-1.

England finally got in touch with the leaders thanks to a 4-0 win over Chile and moved up to equal fifth but face Ukraine next who will field 2002 Fide champion Ruslan Ponomariov and defeated finalist Vassily Ivanchuk.

In the Women's Olympiad the defending champions China were defeated 1-2 by the USA after they rested their world champion Zhu Chen following her defeat the previous day. However the US were denied the lead by the Georgians who won 3-0 and reached 12/15, half a point clear. The USA's young guns Jennifer Shahade and Irina Krush both won from bad positions but Elena Donaldson lost. Ms Donaldson famously eloped and defected in a cloak and dagger operation at the Saloniki Olympiad in 1984.

Leading results Russia 2-2 Armenia; Poland 1-3 Bosnia; Czech Rep 2-2 Ukraine; Hungary 2.5-1.5 Moldova; Romania 3-1 France; Netherlands 2-2 Cuba; England 4-0 Chile; Adams 1-0 Valenzuela, Speelman 1-0 Toloza; McShane 1-0 Salas; Conquest 1-0 Christian; Scotland 4-0 Barbados; Ireland 1-3 Bulgaria; Wales 2-2 Iraq; Jersey 1.5-2.5 Liechtenstein; Guernsey 1.5-2.5 Macau; Leaders after 5 rounds: 1 Bosnia and Herzegovina 15½; 2-3 Russia, Armenia 15; 4 Romania 14½ ; 5-10 Czech Republic, Hungary, Ukraine, England, Switzerland, Poland 14; 11-14 Georgia China Lithuania Slovakia 15-22 Moldova Netherlands Belarus Sweden Cuba Argentina Yugoslavia Bulgaria Ireland 11, Scotland 9½, Wales 6½, 111th Jersey 6.5, 131st Guernsey 5

A cracking game from the veteran who plays for his adopted country of Switzerland. Black was relying on 24.Rxe7 dxc4 regaining the piece with equal chances but 24.c5! wins a pawn and Black's attempts to mix it are met with a swift sacrificial attack.

Korchnoi,V (2634) - Kotsur,P (2579) [E38]
Olympiad Bled SLO (5), 30.10.2002

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 c5 5.dxc5 Bxc5 6.Nf3 Qb6 7.e3 Qc7 8.Nb5 Qd8 9.a3 [ 9.Be2 a6 10.Nbd4 b6 11.0-0 Bb7 12.b3 Be7 13.Bb2 h6 14.Ne5 0-0 15.Rad1 d6 16.Bf3 Qc8 17.Ng4 Nbd7 18.Nxh6+ gxh6 19.Nxe6 Bxf3 20.gxf3 Ne5 21.Nd4 Nxf3+ 22.Kh1 Qh3 23.Rg1+ Kh8 24.Rg2 Rg8 0-1 Touzane,O-Relange,E/Auxerre 1996 (24). ] 9...a6 10.Nbd4 b6 11.b4 Be7 12.e4 d6 13.Bd3 Bb7 14.0-0 Nbd7 15.h3 Rc8 16.Qb1 0-0 17.Re1 Rc7 18.Ra2 Qa8 19.Bf4 Rd8 20.Nb3 Rcc8 21.Bd2 Nf8 22.a4 d5 23.exd5 exd5 24.c5! Black was relying on: [ 24.Rxe7 dxc4 winning his piece back.] 24...Ne6 25.cxb6 d4 26.Ng5 Bxg2 27.Bxh7+ Kf8 28.Rxe6 Bxh3 [ 28...fxe6 29.Qg6 wins.] 29.Be4 Nxe4 30.Qxe4 Bxg5 31.b7 Qb8 32.bxc8Q Rxc8 33.Re5 f5 34.Rxf5+ 1-0