39th Chess Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 (2)
Poor showing for England in Round 2
IM Malcolm Pein - Friday 24th September 2010
England out-rated Bosnia on every board but nevertheless lost 2.5-1.5 in Round 2. Malcolm Pein takes a look.
Ivan Sokolov beat Michael Adams in Round 2. Photo © Albran. | http://www.chess.co.uk/twic
England were defeated 1.5-2.5 by Bosnia in the second round of the Chess Olympiad at Khanty Mansisk in Siberia. This was a rather poor result as the Bosnians were out-rated on every board.
Michael Adams lost to Ivan Sokolov on board one after turning down some opportunities to reach to a level position. Adams sacrificed a pawn and never obtained any compensation. The veteran Bojan Kurajica calmly defused Luke McShane with white and Davd Howell, playing white, could not exploit a small edge.
Scotland won 4-0 over Burundi in round one but lost by the same score to the second seeds Ukraine. Wales have had a similar yo yo experience. They lost 4-0 to India and defeated the US Virgin Islands 4-0 in round 2. The latter are missing their former captain and board one, Bill Hook, who died in May.
A couple of the favourites wobbled. Israel were held 2-2 by Indonesia and Azerbaijan, seventh seeds, lost to Vietnam. The Azerbaijani team lacks Vugar Gashimov, who has a long-running dispute with his national federation.
Poland, Ukraine and Georgia are the only teams to have scored two 4-0 wins.
Judit Polgar is playing on board three for Hungary and played a nice combination in round one. The opening looks like a Ruy Lopez : 1.e4. e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 but Black has not had to play Nc6-a5-c6 and so is comfortably placed.
AF Samhouri - J Polgar
Jordan v Hungary
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.0-0 Bd7 5.c3 Nf6 6.Re1 a6 7.Ba4 b5 8.Bc2 e5 9.d3 Be7 10.Nbd2 0-0 11.Nf1 Re8 12.d4?!
(12.Ng3; 12.h3)
12...cxd4 13.cxd4 Bg4 14.dxe5
(14.d5 Nd4)
14...Nxe5 15.Ne3 Bh5 16.h3 Rc8 17.g4 Bg6 18.Nd2
(18.Nxe5 dxe5 19.Nf5)
18...Qb6! 19.f4 Nd5!
Judit Polgar
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Samhouri Fawzi
Position after 19...Nd5!
20.exd5 Bxc2 21.Qe2 Nd3 22.Nf3
(22.Rf1 Bh4)
22...Nxf4 23.Qh2 Nd3 24.Re2 Bd1 0-1
V Georgiev - HD Punongbayan
Budapest Gambit
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.Nc3 Nxe5 5.e4 Bb4 6.f4 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 Ng6 8.h4 Qe7
(8...Nxh4 9.f5! d6 10.Qh5 Qf6 11.Ne2 winning the knight)
9.Qd4 Nc6
(Black is still fighting after
9...f6 10.h5 Nc6 11.Qd5 Nf8 12.Nf3)
10.Qxg7 Qxe4+ 11.Ne2 h5 12.Rh3! Qf5
(12...Rf8 13.Re3 wins the queen)
13.Nd4! Nxd4 14.cxd4 Kd8 15.Bd3 Re8+ 16.Kf2 Qg4 17.f5! Nf4 18.Qxg4 hxg4 19.Bxf4 1-0
in view of 19.Bxf4 gxh3 20.Bg5+ Re7 21.Re1
HD Punongbayan
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Vladimir Georgiev
Position after 19.Bxf4
