Round 7 report, 8th World Team Chess Championship 2011 Ningbo, China
- Sunday, 24 July 2011 20:51 Waqas Ahmad
Wang Hao of China won the decisive game against KarjakinArmenia moved one step closer to winning the 8th World Team Championship in Ningbo, China after a narrow win against Hungary. It might have been different as Almasi threw away an advantage before losing the only decisive game of the match to Movsesian. Although Sargissian missed a two move combination to win his game. Armenia moved further clear of the field as second place Russia lost to hosts China. Wang Hao beat Karjakin in a game that could have gone either way and the only decisive game of the match. China are now in 2nd place. Ukraine are third after beating Israel. USA beat Azerbaijan and India beat Egypt. With two rounds to go Armenia are three points clear although they are still to meet bitter rivals Azerbaijan and 3rd placed Ukraine, not easy matches.Armenia 2.5-1.5 Hungary
Hungary lost to Armenia Armenia extended their lead with a narrow 2.5-1.5 win against Hungary. Leko drew with white against Aronian on top board. The only decisive game was on board 2 and Zoltan Almasi again wrecked a good position, this time as black against Sergei Movsesian to go on to lose. In particular he would almost certainly have won had he found 29...Bc1, his 37...Bd2 (37...Nxh3) which loses to both Rxc4 and the even better Nf3 cost him the game. Polgar-Akopian was a balanced draw. Gabriel Sargissian should have beaten Csaba Balogh, which would have happened if he had found the relatively simple 26.Ra3. Instead he pressed for a long time before having to settle for the draw.
Movsesian vs. Almasi (1-0) Almasi for black cops obviously the best prospects. If this position has found a Hungarian tactical trick 29 ... Bc1!, Most likely, now in the championship was a different affair. After 30.Rxc1 Rxf2 white would play 31.Qxd3 Bxd3 32.Rxd3 with not the most promising prospects. However, the party was followed by 29 ... Re8 30.Bc5 , and in the further struggle is just wrong Almasi that allowed Movsesian realize extra money.
China 2.5-1.5 Russia
China beats Russia ( 2.5-1.5) China beat Russia 2.5-1.5 to move into second place in a match which saw the decisive game on the top board where Wang Hao beat Sergey Karjakin in a fluctuating struggle. Karjakin was pushing for a win with black for some time but on the run up to the first time control there were a number of errors (35...Qe8?, 38.d5?, 40.Qd5? losing for white, 40...Ba6?? losing for black, both Bxe5 and e2 win) with Karjakin's final error costing him the game. Grischuk-Wang Yue and Li Chao-Nepomniachtchi were drawn without much action, Peter Svidler had a big advantage against Yu Yangyi but couldn't convert it and probably should have found a way to avoid the bishops of opposite coloured ending that saved black.
Ukraine 2.5-1.5 Israel
Ukraine wins against Isreal (2.5-1.5) Ukraine moved into 3rd place with a 2.5-1.5 win against Israel. There isn't much compromise in Emil Sutovsky's play and he went into a complex position against Vassily Ivanchuk which was pretty brave, probably he started to go astray on move 17 where 17...c5 was probably best, and he was lost after 19....Bc2? Ivanchuk didn't make a mistake in converting. Michael Roiz beat Pavel Eljanov with white. Black seemed more than fine in the opening but his 28...Qc7 lost the exchange for nothing so he resigned, both 28...Ne4 or 28...Qd5 would have held the balance. Evgeny Postny was fine as black against Alexander Moiseenko and was pressing at some point. The position was level at first time control but Moiseenko had a decisive advantage only four moves later. Nabaty drew with Areshchenko on bottom board.
USA 2.5-1.5 Azerbaijan
USA beats Azerbaijan ( 2.5-1.5) The US Team beat Azerbaijan 2.5-1.5 in an interesting match. Teimour Radjabov pressed against Gata Kamsky for some time but Kamsky is a very tough customer. Kamsky turned the position around to a win just before the first time control. Alexander Onischuk against Vugar Gashimov was an interesting game that was drawn once they reached a position with bishops of opposite colours. I'm guessing endings aren't Yuri Shulman's great love as he lost another almost equal position by being ground down, this time against Rauf Mamedov in the final game to finish. Yasser Seirawan took his score to a very creditable 3.5/5 beating Shakhriyar Mamedyarov whose opening of 1.d4 c5 2.d5 f5 as black suggested he wasn't that respectful of Seirawan's current ability and he got the whooping he so richly deserved.
India 2.5-1.5 Egypt
India beats Egypt (2.5-1.5 ) India beat Egypt 2.5-1.5 with wins for Harikrishna and Ganguly for India and a win for Ezat for Egypt.
Rank Table after round 7
| Rk | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Armenia | * | 2½ | 2 | 2½ | 2 | 2½ | 3½ | 3½ | 12 | 18.5 | 0 | ||
| 2 | China | 1½ | * | 2½ | 2½ | 3½ | 2 | 1½ | 3½ | 9 | 17.0 | 0 | ||
| 3 | Ukraine | 1½ | * | 2 | 1½ | 2½ | 2½ | 2½ | 2½ | 9 | 15.0 | 0 | ||
| 4 | Russia | 2 | 1½ | 2 | * | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 15.5 | 0 | ||
| 5 | Hungary | 1½ | 2½ | 1 | * | 2 | 2½ | 2 | 3½ | 8 | 15.0 | 0 | ||
| 6 | USA | 2 | ½ | 1 | 2 | * | 2½ | 3 | 3½ | 8 | 14.5 | 0 | ||
| 7 | Azerbaijan | 2 | 1½ | 3 | 1½ | 1½ | * | 3 | 2 | 6 | 14.5 | 0 | ||
| 8 | India | 1½ | 1½ | 2 | 1 | 1 | * | 2½ | 2½ | 5 | 12.0 | 0 | ||
| 9 | Israel | ½ | 2½ | 1½ | ½ | 2 | 1½ | * | 3 | 5 | 11.5 | 0 | ||
| 10 | Egypt | ½ | ½ | 1½ | 1 | ½ | 1½ | 1 | * | 0 | 6.5 | 0 |
| Results round 7 on 2011/07/24 at 15:00 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bo. | 4 | China | Rtg | - | 10 | Russia | Rtg | 2½:1½ |
| 1.1 | GM | Wang Hao | 2718 | - | GM | Karjakin Sergey | 2788 | 1 - 0 |
| 1.2 | GM | Wang Yue | 2709 | - | GM | Grischuk Alexander | 2746 | ½ - ½ |
| 1.3 | GM | Li Chao B | 2669 | - | GM | Nepomniachtchi Ian | 2711 | ½ - ½ |
| 1.4 | GM | Yu Yangyi | 2672 | - | GM | Svidler Peter | 2739 | ½ - ½ |
| Bo. | 5 | India | Rtg | - | 3 | Egypt | Rtg | 2½:1½ |
| 2.1 | GM | Harikrishna Pentala | 2669 | - | GM | Amin Bassem | 2609 | 1 - 0 |
| 2.2 | GM | Sasikiran Krishnan | 2681 | - | GM | El Gindy Essam | 2510 | ½ - ½ |
| 2.3 | GM | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | 2627 | - | IM | Shoker Samy | 2475 | 1 - 0 |
| 2.4 | GM | Gopal G.N. | 2576 | - | IM | Ezat Mohamed | 2430 | 0 - 1 |
| Bo. | 6 | Hungary | Rtg | - | 2 | Armenia | Rtg | 1½:2½ |
| 3.1 | GM | Leko Peter | 2717 | - | GM | Aronian Levon | 2805 | ½ - ½ |
| 3.2 | GM | Almasi Zoltan | 2726 | - | GM | Movsesian Sergei | 2700 | 0 - 1 |
| 3.3 | GM | Polgar Judit | 2699 | - | GM | Akopian Vladimir | 2667 | ½ - ½ |
| 3.4 | GM | Balogh Csaba | 2643 | - | GM | Sargissian Gabriel | 2663 | ½ - ½ |
| Bo. | 7 | Azerbaijan | Rtg | - | 1 | USA | Rtg | 1½:2½ |
| 4.1 | GM | Radjabov Teimur | 2744 | - | GM | Kamsky Gata | 2741 | 0 - 1 |
| 4.2 | GM | Gashimov Vugar | 2760 | - | GM | Onischuk Alexander | 2675 | ½ - ½ |
| 4.3 | GM | Mamedov Rauf | 2679 | - | GM | Shulman Yuri | 2617 | 1 - 0 |
| 4.4 | GM | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | 2765 | - | GM | Seirawan Yasser | 2635 | 0 - 1 |
| Bo. | 8 | Ukraine | Rtg | - | 9 | Israel | Rtg | 2½:1½ |
| 5.1 | GM | Ivanchuk Vassily | 2768 | - | GM | Sutovsky Emil | 2700 | 1 - 0 |
| 5.2 | GM | Eljanov Pavel | 2697 | - | GM | Roiz Michael | 2669 | 0 - 1 |
| 5.3 | GM | Moiseenko Alexander | 2715 | - | GM | Postny Evgeny | 2618 | 1 - 0 |
| 5.4 | GM | Areshchenko Alexander | 2682 | - | GM | Nabaty Tamir | 2584 | ½ - ½ |
