39th Chess Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 (11)
Ukraine take gold
IM Malcolm Pein - Tuesday 5th October 2010
Malcolm Pein reports on the Ukraine's gold medal in the Olympiad and looks at Magnus Carlsen's third loss in the event.
Ukraine take gold. Photo © | http://www.europe-echecs.com
Ukraine drew quickly with Israel to secure the gold medals at the Chess Olympiad. Russia were held to a 2-2 draw by Spain but took silver and Israel should be bronze medalists after the tie break calculations have been worked out.
Greece had an excellent Olympiad. Hristos Banikas uses an idea of Anand's here, if 11...Nxe3 12.Bxe3 Bxe3 13.fxe3 c3 14.b4! Anand - Wang Yue 2009. White picks up c3 and the Catalan bishop dominates. 12.Kf1! was clever, if 12.Bd2 c3 13.bxc3 Nxe3 14.fxe3 Be7=.
H Banikas - NTS Nguyen
Greece vs Vietnam
Catalan
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 c6 3.c4 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.a4 e6 6.g3 dxc4 7.Bg2 c5 8.dxc5 Qxd1+ 9.Nxd1 Bxc5 10.Ne5 Nd5 11.Ne3 Bb4+ 12.Kf1! 0-0 13.N5xc4 Nd7!?
(13...Nxe3+ 14.Bxe3 Nd7 15.Bf3 and Kg2 with strong pressure)
14.Bxd5 exd5 15.Nxd5 Nc5!? 16.Nxb4 Nb3 17.Ra3!
(17.Rb1 Bf5 18.Nd3 Rac8 limiting the damage to a pawn)
17...Nxc1 18.Kg2! Nxe2 19.Nb6 Rb8 20.Rd1!
(The knight is trapped)
20...Bf5 21.Re3 Rfe8 22.Re1 a5 23.N4d5 Rxe3 24.fxe3 Bd3 25.Kf2 h5 26.Rd1!
(White wants a whole piece)
NTS Nguyen
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Hristo Banikas
Position after 26.Rd1!
26...Ba6 27.Nc7 Kh7 28.Nb5 Nxg3 29.hxg3 g5 30.Rd5 1-0
One of the mysteries of the Olympiad has been the poor form of Magnus Carlsen who has lost three games in Siberia, more than he has in the last eighteen months. Sanan Sjugirov finished joint first at the World Junior and he has already humbled Peter Svidler in this line of the Caro Kann. Black's Bb4+-a5-c7 is designed to leave more squares for his pieces on the kingside.
S Sjugirov - M Carlsen
Russia III v Norway
Caro Kann
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 Bb4+ 6.Nbd2 Nd7 7.0-0 Ba5 8.Nb3 Bc7 9.Ne1! f6 10.Bh5+! g6
(10...Bg6 11.Qg4)
11.Be2
(Threat g2-g4 trapping the bishop)
11...g5
(11...h5!?)
12.Bd3 Bg6 13.exf6 Qxf6 14.Qg4 h6 15.f4
(Simple and strong)
15...Bxd3 16.Nxd3 0-0-0 17.Bd2 Qg6 18.fxg5 Ngf6?
18...hxg5 19.h3 Ngf6 20.Qxg5 Rdg8 21.Qxg6 Rxg6 is not enough for a pawn but this loses
Magnus Carlsen
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Sanan Sjugirov
Position after 18...Ngf6?
19.Rxf6! Bxh2+ 20.Kh1 Nxf6 21.Qxe6+ Kb8 22.gxf6 Bc7 23.Ne5 Qxc2 24.f7 Rhf8 25.Bb4 1-0
Final scores
1 Ukraine 18/20
2 Russia 17
3 Israel 16
4-8 Poland, Hungary, Armenia, Spain, France 15
21 England 13/20; 93 Scotland 9/20; 113 Wales 8/20.
