Sasikiran saves the day
Monday , July 18 , 2011 The Telegraph , calcutta, india
Ningbo: Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran wobbled before eventually defeating Zoltan Almasi to help India salvage a 2-2 draw against Hungary in the first round of the World Team Chess Championship that got underway here. P. Harikrishna had done well, earlier, to hold highly regarded Peter Leko on the top board while G. N. Gopal split the point with Csaba Balogh on the fourth. But Surya Shekhar Ganguly went down to world’s best woman player Judit Polgar to give Hungary the lead, which forced Sasikiran to play for a victory with black pieces. Meanwhile, Armenia emerged as the early leader in world’s premier team championship giving Israel a 3.5-0.5 drubbing. Without their star player Boris Gelfand, Israeli team lacked sting and Levon Aronian led from the front. The United States went down to Russia 1-3 losing with black pieces on second and fourth board while lowest ranked Egypt sprang a surprise knocking down 1.5 points off Ukraine. The other match in the 10-teams round-robin event was a 2-2 draw between China and Azerbaijan. Sasikiran had reasons to be worried in the middle game after Almasi seized the initiative out of a Breyer variation in the Ruy Lopez. It was a typical middle game with white striving for a king-side attack but Sasikiran did well to stay in the game after complicating matters a great deal. Almasi was on top for a while but let the game slip out of hand gradually after being an exchange up. Earlier, Harikrishna played his pet Catalan opening as white and apparently had a slight edge in the ensuing endgame against Peter Leko. Subsequent exchanges led to further simplifications and Harikrishna liquidated to a drawn rook endgame with three pawns on the same flank.
Armenia jump to early lead after first round of World Team Chess Championships
Mark Crowther - Sunday 17th July 2011
There was an exciting first round of the 8th World Team Championship in Ningbo, China with just 8 of the 20 games drawn. Armenia took an early lead with a thumping 3.5-1.5 win against Israel, Russia convincingly beat the USA 3-1 and Ukraine beat bottom seeds Egypt 2.5-1.5 but conceded a loss, the other 2 matches were drawn. Russia got off to a solid start with a convincing 3-1 win against the USA. Karjakin and Svidler held Kamsky and Shulman easily with black, Nepomniachtchi quickly outplayed Onischuk in the middlegame and Robert Hess' 14...Rf8 was new and he quickly got into trouble in a position his opponent probably knew better than him. Emil Sutovsky of Israel went for Levon Aronian with an unsound sacrifice with black on move 10. Aronian had to get a wandering king safe but once that happened the result was a formality. With wins from Akopian and Sargissian Armenia took an early lead. Ukraine beat bottom seeds 2.5-1.5 but they did have the consolation of Samy Shoker winning from a probably lost, but sharp position as black against Alexander Areschenko. Ivanchuk and Moiseenko won for Ukraine. Host China drew 2-2 with Azerbaijan with Wang Yue winning with black against Vugar Gashimov. Gashimov returned to the Azerbaijani team following the departure of Zurab Azaiparashvili as captain. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov had an easy win against the young Yu Yangyi to level things up. Ganguly blundered his position away just before second time control against Judit Polgar, a similar mistake cost Almasi his position against Sasikiran as Hungary and India drew 2-2.
| 8th World Teams Ningbo CHN Sun 17th Jul 2011 - Wed 27th Jul 2011 Round 1 (of 9) Standings: | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
| 1 | Armenia | * | 3½ | 2 | 3.5 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 2 | Russia | * | 3 | 2 | 3.0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 3 | Ukraine | * | 2½ | 2 | 2.5 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 4 | China | * | 2 | 1 | 2.0 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 5 | India | * | 2 | 1 | 2.0 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 6 | Hungary | 2 | * | 1 | 2.0 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 7 | Azerbaijan | 2 | * | 1 | 2.0 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 8 | Egypt | 1½ | * | 0 | 1.5 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 9 | USA | 1 | * | 0 | 1.0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 10 | Israel | ½ | * | 0 | 0.5 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 8th World Teams Ningbo CHN Sun 17th Jul 2011 - Wed 27th Jul 2011 | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round 1 on 2011/07/17 at 15:00 | ||||||||||||||
| Bo. | 1 | USA | Rtg | - | 10 | Russia | Rtg | 1 : 3 | ||||||
| 1.1 | GM | Kamsky Gata | 2741 | - | GM | Karjakin Sergey | 2788 | ½ - ½ | ||||||
| 1.2 | GM | Onischuk Alexander | 2675 | - | GM | Nepomniachtchi Ian | 2711 | 0 - 1 | ||||||
| 1.3 | GM | Shulman Yuri | 2617 | - | GM | Svidler Peter | 2739 | ½ - ½ | ||||||
| 1.4 | GM | Hess Robert | 2609 | - | GM | Vitiugov Nikita | 2733 | 0 - 1 | ||||||
| Bo. | 2 | Armenia | Rtg | - | 9 | Israel | Rtg | 3½: ½ | ||||||
| 2.1 | GM | Aronian Levon | 2805 | - | GM | Sutovsky Emil | 2700 | 1 - 0 | ||||||
| 2.2 | GM | Movsesian Sergei | 2700 | - | GM | Roiz Michael | 2669 | ½ - ½ | ||||||
| 2.3 | GM | Akopian Vladimir | 2667 | - | GM | Postny Evgeny | 2618 | 1 - 0 | ||||||
| 2.4 | GM | Sargissian Gabriel | 2663 | - | GM | Nabaty Tamir | 2584 | 1 - 0 | ||||||
| Bo. | 3 | Egypt | Rtg | - | 8 | Ukraine | Rtg | 1½:2½ | ||||||
| 3.1 | GM | Adly Ahmed | 2631 | - | GM | Ivanchuk Vassily | 2768 | 0 - 1 | ||||||
| 3.2 | GM | Amin Bassem | 2609 | - | GM | Efimenko Zahar | 2706 | ½ - ½ | ||||||
| 3.3 | GM | El Gindy Essam | 2510 | - | GM | Moiseenko Alexander | 2715 | 0 - 1 | ||||||
| 3.4 | IM | Shoker Samy | 2475 | - | GM | Areshchenko Alexander | 2682 | 1 - 0 | ||||||
| Bo. | 4 | China | Rtg | - | 7 | Azerbaijan | Rtg | 2 : 2 | ||||||
| 4.1 | GM | Wang Hao | 2718 | - | GM | Radjabov Teimur | 2744 | ½ - ½ | ||||||
| 4.2 | GM | Wang Yue | 2709 | - | GM | Gashimov Vugar | 2760 | 1 - 0 | ||||||
| 4.3 | GM | Li Chao B | 2669 | - | GM | Mamedov Rauf | 2679 | ½ - ½ | ||||||
| 4.4 | GM | Yu Yangyi | 2672 | - | GM | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | 2765 | 0 - 1 | ||||||
| Bo. | 5 | India | Rtg | - | 6 | Hungary | Rtg | 2 : 2 | ||||||
| 5.1 | GM | Harikrishna Pentala | 2669 | - | GM | Leko Peter | 2717 | ½ - ½ | ||||||
| 5.2 | GM | Sasikiran Krishnan | 2681 | - | GM | Almasi Zoltan | 2726 | 1 - 0 | ||||||
| 5.3 | GM | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | 2627 | - | GM | Polgar Judit | 2699 | 0 - 1 | ||||||
| 5.4 | GM | Gopal G.N. | 2576 | - | GM | Balogh Csaba | 2643 | ½ - ½ | ||||||
