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Bulletin Round 1

02.03.14

Chess Olympiad Tromsø 2014 - Bulletin

The Minister of Culture Thorhild Widvey making the first move in the game GM Simen Agdestein vs IM Basheer Al Qudaimi Photo: Paul Truong

Round One - Delay, drama and nerves The first round of the Tromsø Olympiad got off to a slightly delayed start, one result of the teething pains expected when an event of this size actually goes live. Security measures for the record field meant that even with teams turning up early for play, not everyone could be processed by the scheduled 3 p.m. start.

By GM Einar Gausel and GM Jonathan Tisdall

Deputy Tournament Director Morten Sand said: "The security crew now understands the scope of the challenge, and the players as well. Entry to the hall will begin from an hour before play, and we all know from experience that things go smoother from day two. The tournament directors will oversee the work done at the entrance and cooperate closely with security personnel to make sure this is as efficient as possible."

Unexpected excitement With the field divided in half for the first round pairings, there were heavy mismatches, and spectators were on the lookout for upsets of any form. Fighting spirit in unexpected form erupted briefly in the playing hall - veteran journalist and Australian grandmaster Ian Rogers reported that a scuffle broke out that was apparently linked to a

serious disagreement related to FIDE politics, but order was quickly restored.

As play developed on the boards, there appeared to be an astonishing range of massive upsets in progress in the lower half of the women's event, but this was quickly traced to a glitch with the set-up of the game feed and the electronic boards, which caused some match results to be reversed.

But there was plenty of pure chess drama as well. The match of the day in the Open section had to be the inspired resistance given by team Japan against highly rated, and perennial Olympiad champions, Armenia. The final result was another 4-0 whitewash by a favorite - but at one point the match had the makings of a literal whitewash, with all players with the black pieces under heavy pressure. Most heartbreaking for the underdogs


was the missing of a forced mate by FIDE Master Shinya Kojima, who cracked in time pressure after a violent hunt for highly rated GM Sergei Movsesian's head.

Home team drama Norwegian fans could follow the fates of three local teams in both the Open and Women's events. These fans were doubtless a bit puzzled by the fact that the second and reserve teams in the Open section both posted better scores than the first team. Like many of the heavy first-round favorites, Norway rested their top board, anticipating that this would have little impact on the rating gap over their opponents. But Yemen produced one of the biggest sensations of Saturday's action, taking advantage of a Norway without their world champion. In fact, Norway narrowly escaped being held to a 2-2 draw thanks to GM Jon Ludwig Hammer surviving what appeared to be imminent defeat. The other two Norwegian teams, like very, very many of the favorites, recorded perfect scores.

The Women's event also featured a flood of brutal results. The Portugal team came closest to a sensational upset, with first board WFM Margarida Coimbra leading the charge with a win over WGM Guliskhan Nakhbayeva of Kazakhstan, and WCM Maria Ines Oliveira held WGM Dinara Saduakassova to a draw, but the favorites emerged victorious after managing to sweep the bottom two boards.

The women’s teams from Syria, Turkmenistan and Lebanon lost their matches on forfeit, but organizers were not certain if they still might arrive late for the event.

WIM Silje Bjerke, Norway – Photo : Georgios Souleidis

Women’s section – Norway In the women’s section Norway 1 faced off against South Korea. With an average rating advantage of nearly 600 points the home team was hoping to kick things off with a 4-0 shutout, and on board 2

WIM Silje Bjerke made short work of Hakyung Lim with the black pieces:

Hakyung Lim (1567) - Silje Bjerke (2187) 41st Chess Olympiad Tromsø (1), 02.08.2014

Annotations: Einar Gausel

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤c3 ¥b4 4.£c2 0-0 5.¤f3 c5 6.dxc5 ¤a6 7.e3 ¤xc5 8.¥d3 ¤xd3+ 9.£xd3 b6 10.0-0 ¥b7 11.¤d4 d5 12.cxd5 ¤xd5 13.¤ce2 e5 14.¤f3?

XABCDEFGHY 8r+-wq-trk+( 7zpl+-+pzpp' 6-zp-+-+-+& 5+-+nzp-+-% 4-vl-+-+-+$ 3+-+QzPN+-# 2PzP-+NzPPzP" 1tR-vL-+RmK-! xabcdefghy

14...¤c3! A devastating blow which in the end

leaves White unable to defend the knight on

e2.

15.£c4 15.£xd8 ¤xe2+ 16.¢h1 ¦axd8 and

Black is simply a piece up.

15...£d5 16.£xb4 Allows Black to wrap things

up in spectacular fashion.

16...¤xe2+ 17.¢h1

XABCDEFGHY 8r+-+-trk+( 7zpl+-+pzpp' 6-zp-+-+-+& 5+-+qzp-+-% 4-wQ-+-+-+$ 3+-+-zPN+-# 2PzP-+nzPPzP" 1tR-vL-+R+K! xabcdefghy


17...£xf3! 17...£xf3 18.gxf3 ¥xf3#

0-1

Other games Alshouha Basil (2135) - Alexander Grischuk (2795) 41st Chess Olympiad Tromsø (1), 02.08.2014


1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¥c4 ¤f6 5.£e2 ¤c6 6.c3 ¥g4 7.cxd4 ¤xd4

XABCDEFGHY 8r+-wqkvl-tr( 7zpp+-zppzpp' 6-+-zp-sn-+& 5+-+-+-+-% 4-+LsnP+l+$ 3+-+-+N+-# 2PzP-+QzPPzP" 1tRNvL-mK-+R! xabcdefghy

8.¥xf7+? A tempting blow, but it turns out that

Black has everything under control.

8...¢xf7 9.£c4+ ¤e6 10.¤g5+ ¢e8 11.¤xe6

XABCDEFGHY 8r+-wqkvl-tr( 7zpp+-zp-zpp' 6-+-zpNsn-+& 5+-+-+-+-% 4-+Q+P+l+$ 3+-+-+-+-# 2PzP-+-zPPzP" 1tRNvL-mK-+R! xabcdefghy

11...¦c8! Probably what Black missed when he

sacrificed on f7.

12.£a4+ £d7 13.£xd7+ ¤xd7 Threatening to

take on both e6 and c1 − White is losing a

piece.

14.¤xg7+ ¥xg7 15.¤d2 ¤e5 16.f3 ¥d7 0-1

Shinya Kojima (2373) - Sergei Movsesian (2672) 41st Chess Olympiad Tromsø (1), 02.08.2014


1.¤f3 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.d4 ¥g7 4.g3 0-0 5.¥g2 c6 6.¤c3 d6 7.0-0 £b6 8.h3 £a6 9.b3 b5 10.cxb5 cxb5 11.a4 b4 12.¤b5 £b7 13.¤e1 d5 14.¥f4 ¤bd7 15.¦c1 a6 16.¤c7 ¦a7 17.¤d3 £b6 18.¤xd5 ¤xd5 19.¥xd5 ¥xd4 20.¥h6 ¦d8 21.¤xb4 ¤f6 22.e4 ¥xh3 23.¤c6 ¥xf1 24.¢xf1 e5 25.¥g5 ¦d6 26.¤xa7 £xa7 27.¦c8+ ¢g7

XABCDEFGHY 8-+R+-+-+( 7wq-+-+pmkp' 6p+-tr-snp+& 5+-+Lzp-vL-% 4P+-vlP+-+$ 3+P+-+-zP-# 2-+-+-zP-+" 1+-+Q+K+-! xabcdefghy

28.£c1! ¤xd5 29.¥h6+ ¢f6 30.¥g5+ ¢g7 31.¥h6+ ¢f6 32.exd5 White now threatens

Qg5 mate. Under normal circumstances

Black's postion might warrant resignation, but

at this stage White was in desperate time

trouble.

32...¢f5 33.f3 Or 33.g4+ ¢e4 34.¢e2 ¢xd5

35.£c4+ ¢e4 36.f3#


33...¦xd5 34.£g5+ The quickest way to seal

the deal was 34.¦c6 threatening both Qg5

mate and g4 mate.

34...¢e6 35.¦e8+ ¢d6 36.¥f8+ ¢c7

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+RvL-+( 7wq-mk-+p+p' 6p+-+-+p+& 5+-+rzp-wQ-% 4P+-vl-+-+$ 3+P+-+PzP-# 2-+-+-+-+" 1+-+-+K+-! xabcdefghy

37.£c1+? 37.£e7+ ¦d7 38.£b4 threatening

Qc4+ was fatal.

37...¢b6 38.¦c8? White should have settled

for a draw with 38.£c4 £d7 39.£b4+ ¢c6

40.£c4+

38...£d7 39.£c4? 39.¦b8+ ¢a7 40.£c8 was

the lesser evil, but Black's extra pawn should

be enough to win the ending.

39...£h3+ 40.¢e2 £g2+ 40...£g2+ 41.¢d1

£xf3+ 42.¢c1 £h1+ 43.¢c2 £g2+ 44.¢c1

¥e3+ 45.¢b1 ¦d1+

0-1


Blunders, upsets and knockouts

Evgeny Postny (2651) - Melis Mamatov (2106) 41st Olympiad Open 2014 Tromso NOR (1.4),

02.08.2014

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.¤f3 ¤f6 4.¤c3 e6 5.¥g5 ¥e7 6.e3 ¤bd7 7.¦c1 a6 8.a3 b6 9.¥d3 ¥b7 10.0-0 b5 11.c5 0-0 12.e4 ¤xe4 13.¥xe7 ¤xc3

XABCDEFGHY 8r+-wq-trk+( 7+l+nvLpzpp' 6p+p+p+-+& 5+pzPp+-+-% 4-+-zP-+-+$ 3zP-snL+N+-# 2-zP-+-zPPzP" 1+-tRQ+RmK-! xabcdefghy

14.¥xh7+! ¢h8 14...¢xh7 15.¤g5+ ¢g6

(15...¢h6 16.¦xc3 £xe7 17.¦h3+ ¢xg5 18.£h5+ ¢f4 19.¦f3+ ¢e4 20.£g4#) 16.£d3+

¤e4 17.¥xd8

15.¦xc3 £xe7

XABCDEFGHY 8r+-+-tr-mk( 7+l+nwqpzpL' 6p+p+p+-+& 5+pzPp+-+-% 4-+-zP-+-+$ 3zP-tR-+N+-# 2-zP-+-zPPzP" 1+-+Q+RmK-! xabcdefghy

16.¤e5! ¤xe5 17.¦h3 g6 18.¥xg6+ ¢g7 19.¦h7+! ¢g8 19...¢xg6 20.£h5+

20.dxe5 1-0

Basher Iyti (2263) - Parimarjan Negi (2645) 41st Olympiad Open 2014 Tromso NOR (1.1),

02.08.2014

1.d4 d5 2.¤f3 ¤f6 3.e3 g6 4.c4 e6 5.¤bd2 ¥g7 6.¥d3 0-0 7.0-0 b6 8.b4 ¥b7 9.£c2 dxc4 10.¥xc4 ¤bd7 11.¦b1 ¦c8 12.b5 ¤d5 13.£b3 ¦e8 14.a4 ¤5f6 15.¥a3 ¤e4 16.¦fd1 ¤xd2 17.¦xd2 £f6 18.d5 e5 19.e4 ¥f8 20.¥b2 ¥d6 21.¦e2 ¦a8 22.¤e1 ¤c5 23.£c2 a6 24.¤d3 axb5 25.¤xc5 ¥xc5 26.axb5 ¥c8 27.¢h1 ¥d7 28.f3 h5 29.¦ee1 h4 30.¦f1 g5 31.h3 £d6 32.£d2 f6 33.¦a1 ¢g7 34.¥c3 £f8 35.¦xa8 ¦xa8

XABCDEFGHY 8r+-+-wq-+( 7+-zpl+-mk-' 6-zp-+-zp-+& 5+PvlPzp-zp-% 4-+L+P+-zp$ 3+-vL-+P+P# 2-+-wQ-+P+" 1+-+-+R+K! xabcdefghy


36.¥xe5! fxe5 37.£xg5+ ¢h7 38.£h5+ £h6 39.£f7+ £g7 40.£h5+

XABCDEFGHY 8r+-+-+-+( 7+-zpl+-wqk' 6-zp-+-+-+& 5+PvlPzp-+Q% 4-+L+P+-zp$ 3+-+-+P+P# 2-+-+-+P+" 1+-+-+R+K! xabcdefghy

40...¢g8? 40...£h6=

41.d6++- ¢f8 42.f4 cxd6 43.fxe5+ ¢e7 44.¦f7+? 44.£xh4+ ¢e8 45.¥f7++-

44...¢d8 44...¢d8 45.¦xg7 ¦a1+ 46.¢h2

¥g1+ 47.¢h1 ¥f2+=

½-½

Simen Agdestein (2630) - Basheer Al Qudaimi (2396) 41st Olympiad Open 2014 Tromso NOR (1.1),

02.08.2014

1.c4 e5 2.¤c3 ¤f6 3.¤f3 ¤c6 4.e3 d5 5.cxd5 ¤xd5 6.¥b5 ¤xc3 7.bxc3 e4 8.¤e5 ¥d7 9.¤xd7 £xd7 10.f3 a6 11.¥a4 £e6 12.0-0 ¥d6 13.¥c2 £h6 14.h3 exf3 15.¦xf3 0-0 16.d4 ¦ad8 17.e4 £h4 18.¥e3 ¤a5 19.e5 ¥e7 20.£d3 g6 21.¦f4 £h5 22.¦af1 ¥g5 23.¦g4 ¥xe3+ 24.£xe3 ¤c4 25.£f4 h6 26.£g3 ¢h7 27.¦h4 £e2

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-tr-tr-+( 7+pzp-+p+k' 6p+-+-+pzp& 5+-+-zP-+-% 4-+nzP-+-tR$ 3+-zP-+-wQP# 2P+L+q+P+" 1+-+-+RmK-! xabcdefghy

28.¦xf7+! 28.¦xf7+ ¦xf7 29.£xg6+ ¢h8

30.¦xh6+ ¦h7 31.£xh7#

1-0 Toms Kantans (2496) - Mariano Madrigal (2156) 41st Olympiad Open 2014 Tromso NOR (1.4),

02.08.2014

1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 g6 5.¤c3 ¥g7 6.¥e3 ¤f6 7.¥c4 £a5 8.0-0 0-0 9.¥b3 d6 10.h3 ¥d7 11.¦e1 ¦ac8 12.¤f3 £a6 13.¥g5 ¦fd8 14.¤d5 ¦e8 15.¤xf6+ exf6 16.£xd6 ¥e6 17.¥e3 ¦ed8 18.£g3 ¥xb3 19.axb3 £b5 20.¦ad1 f5 21.£h4 ¦e8 22.exf5 £xf5 23.c3 a6 24.b4 ¦e4 25.£g5 £e6

XABCDEFGHY 8-+r+-+k+( 7+p+-+pvlp' 6p+n+q+p+& 5+-+-+-wQ-% 4-zP-+r+-+$ 3+-zP-vLN+P# 2-zP-+-zPP+" 1+-+RtR-mK-! xabcdefgh

26.£a5?? ¤xa5 0-1


Matej Sebenik (2537) - Fy Antenaina Rakotomaharo (2253) 41st Olympiad Open 2014 Tromso NOR (1.3),

02.08.2014

1.d4 ¤f6 2.¤f3 d5 3.c4 c6 4.e3 e6 5.¥d3 ¤bd7 6.¤bd2 ¥d6 7.0-0 0-0 8.e4 dxe4 9.¤xe4 ¤xe4 10.¥xe4 h6 11.¥c2 b6 12.£d3 ¤f6 13.£c3 £e7 14.a3 a5 15.b3 ¥b7 16.¦e1 ¦fe8 17.¥b2 ¦ad8 18.h3 £f8 19.£e3 ¥a8 20.¤e5 c5 21.dxc5 ¥xc5 22.£f4 ¤h5 23.£c1 £e7 24.¥e4 ¥xf2+ 25.¢xf2 £h4+ 26.¢g1 ¥xe4 27.£e3 f5 28.¤g6 £g5 29.£xg5 hxg5 30.¦ad1 ¢h7 31.¤e5 ¤f4 32.¤f7 ¦xd1 33.¦xd1 ¥xg2 34.¦d7 ¢g6 35.¤e5+ ¢h6 36.¤f7+ ¢h5 37.¥xg7 ¥c6 38.¦c7 ¥e4 39.¢h2 ¦g8 40.¤e5 g4 41.hxg4+ fxg4 42.¢g3 ¤e2+ 43.¢f2 ¤c1 44.¢e3 ¥b1 45.b4 axb4 46.axb4 ¦a8 47.¢d2 ¤d3 48.¤xd3 ¦d8 49.¥e5 ¦xd3+ 50.¢c1 ¦e3 51.¥d4 ¦e4 52.¥xb6 ¥a2 53.¥f2 ¥xc4 54.b5 ¥d5 55.b6 ¦b4 56.¢c2 ¢g5 57.¥c5 ¦b3 58.¦d7 ¦b5 59.¦g7+ ¢f5 60.¥d4 ¢f4 61.¢d2 ¢f3 62.¦f7+ ¢e4 63.¥f2 ¦b2+ 64.¢c1 ¦b3 65.¦g7 ¢f3 66.¦f7+

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-+-+( 7+-+-+R+-' 6-zP-+p+-+& 5+-+l+-+-% 4-+-+-+p+$ 3+r+-+k+-# 2-+-+-vL-+" 1+-mK-+-+-! xabcdefghy

66...¢g2 66...¢e2!-+ 67.¦f4 (67.¥d4 e5) 67...e5 68.¦f6 (68.¦xg4 ¢xf2) 68...¥e4

67.¥d4 e5 68.¦g7 ¢f3 68...exd4 69.¦xg4+

¢f3 70.¦xd4=

69.¥xe5 ¦xb6 70.¢d2 ¥e4 71.¦f7+ ¢g2

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-+-+( 7+-+-+R+-' 6-tr-+-+-+& 5+-+-vL-+-% 4-+-+l+p+$ 3+-+-+-+-# 2-+-mK-+k+" 1+-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy

72.¦f2+ ¢xf2 73.¥d4+ ¢f1 74.¥xb6 ¥b7 ½-½

All games are available here: https://chess24.com/en/olympiad2014/live

Bulletin Round 2

03.08.14

Chess Olympiad Tromsø 2014 – Bulletin Round 2 – 03.08.14

Let the upsets begin... The local teams continue to make the job of including reportage of interest to a Norwegian audience a straightforward task. Less than three hours into the session, it became clear that Norway's second team would be increasing its time in the spotlight, while the main squad for the home nation again gripped viewers by not quite meeting expectations.

Norwegian champion Frode Urkedal, 21, evened up Norway 2's tussle with second ranked Ukraine by defeating the renowned Vassily Ivanchuk, a feat which immediately catapulted the youngster into the media hot seat and the NRK TV studio.

By GM Jonathan Tisdall

Ivanchuk just collapsed. He probably overlooked something and his king was quite weak. He

probably thought I had to go for his knight. It obviously feels good

to beat a strong player such as Ivanchuk - Frode Urkedal

Not long afterwards, World Champion Magnus Carlsen agreed to split the point against Finnish GM Tomi Nybäck, a result that symbolizes the slow start to the high hopes for Norway's A-team. Nybäck's draw carried some extra sting as Carlsen was undoubtedly eager for revenge, having lost to the Finn in the 2008 Olympiad in Dresden. Norway 2 completed their upset by holding Ukraine 2-2, a result that would have pleased the first stringers. Norway 1 had to settle for 2-2 against Finland, a repeat of their 2008 meeting.

Frode Urkedal (2500) - Vassily Ivanchuk (2744) 41st Olympiad Open 2014 Tromso NOR (2.1),

03.08.2014


1.¤f3 f5 2.d3 ¤c6 3.d4 White is claiming that

the knight on c6 will leave Black with an inferior

version of the Dutch defence.

3...e6 4.g3 d5 5.¥g2 ¦b8 A slightly odd choice

aiming for early queenside activity. A more

natural way to develop was

5...¤f6 6.0-0 ¥e7 7.c4 0-0

6.0-0 ¤f6 7.¥f4 b5 8.b3 ¥a6 9.£c1 ¥d6 10.¤bd2 0-0 11.e3 ¤e4 12.¦e1 £e7 13.a3 ¤a5 14.¥f1 ¦b6 15.c3

Photo: Georgios Souleidis / Chess 24


XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-trk+( 7zp-zp-wq-zpp' 6ltr-vlp+-+& 5snp+p+p+-% 4-+-zPnvL-+$ 3zPPzP-zPNzP-# 2-+-sN-zP-zP" 1tR-wQ-tRLmK-! xabcdefghy

15...g5!? After the game, Urkedal said he was

happy to see this move since the weakening of

Black's kingside might be a source of

counterplay later on.

16.¥xd6 cxd6 17.b4 ¤b7 Trying to keep

things clogged up with 17...¤c4 may have

been preferable.

18.a4 ¦c8 19.¤xe4 fxe4 20.¤d2 ¤d8 21.axb5 ¥xb5 22.¥xb5 ¦xb5 23.¦a3

XABCDEFGHY 8-+rsn-+k+( 7zp-+-wq-+p' 6-+-zpp+-+& 5+r+p+-zp-% 4-zP-zPp+-+$ 3tR-zP-zP-zP-# 2-+-sN-zP-zP" 1+-wQ-tR-mK-! xabcdefghy 23...¦xb4? With three pawn islands and

weaknesses on both wings, Black was

definitely worse, but this goes down without a

fight.

24.cxb4 ¦xc1 25.¦xc1 £b7 26.¦ac3 ¤f7 27.¦c8+ ¢g7 28.¦1c7 £xb4 29.¤f1

29.¤f1 a5 30.¦e8 ¢g6 31.¦g8+ ¢f6 32.¦f8

and White will easily convert his material

advantage to a full point.

1-0

Big guns Many of the top matches were again characterized by healthy rating gaps between top and bottom half, but the atmosphere was noticeably more tense and the duels more closely fought. The start of serious business was also evident from the appearance of nearly all of the big guns who rested up on day one. The heavyweight teams rolled out their muscle on top, with a few notable exceptions - England's Michael Adams has not been spotted yet, and the USA's Hikaru Nakamura has made his frustration with travel problems well known via Twitter, and had not yet arrived after getting stuck in London.

Tardiness and tears Zero tolerance claimed several casualties today - the Burundi men's team, and most of the Palestinian teams - one of their men played a few moves before giving up, perhaps in sympathy with his forfeited teammates.

One tragic enforcement of the zero tolerance rule ended in tears when Layola Murara Umuhoza, the 10-year-old first board for the Rwandan women's team, lost without play. One has to question the point of a rule that prevents games being played in an event that has so much importance, especially for smaller nations, because of what is often just minor tardiness.

Notable moments - The top Baltic battle between Alexei Shirov and Sarunas Sulskis was a modern interpretation of a rarely seen romantic classic, a Fried Liver attack. Latvian attacking legend Shirov didn't need to be asked twice, and successfully set off the sacrificial fireworks. Another household name, Alexander Beliavsky, was forfeited on board one for Slovenia versus Iran for late arrival, a casualty of FIDE's Draconian 'zero tolerance' rule.

Upsets abound Veteran Scottish GM Colin McNab held his own with the world elite, splitting the point with Azerbaijan's number one Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.


World number two Levon Aronian was held by Australian GM David Smerdon, and Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi drew with untitled Hamad Al-Tamimi from Qatar. Hungary had a tough time with Venezuela, and only edged out a 2½-1½ victory, with young star Richard Rapport losing to IM Juan Rohl Montes. On top of this, Judit Polgar's fine combinational finish came after her opponent missed a winning opportunity, so Venezuela was near the sensation of the day.

Andres Guerrero Vargas (2318) - Judit Polgar (2676) 41st Olympiad Open 2014 Tromso NOR (2.4),

03.08.2014


1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤c6 5.¤c3 a6 6.f4 ¤ge7 7.¤f3 b5 8.a3 ¥b7 9.¥d3 ¤g6 10.0-0 £c7 11.¤g5 f6 12.¤h3 ¥c5+ 13.¢h1 0-0-0 14.£h5 ¤ce7 15.£e2 e5 16.fxe5 ¤xe5 17.¤f4 h5 18.a4 g5 19.axb5 gxf4 20.bxa6 ¥c6 21.¥xf4 ¦dg8 22.¥c4 ¦g4 23.¤d5 ¥xd5 24.¥xd5 ¤xd5 25.exd5 ¢b8 26.¦f3 ¢a8 27.h3

XABCDEFGHY 8k+-+-+-tr( 7+-wqp+-+-' 6P+-+-zp-+& 5+-vlPsn-+p% 4-+-+-vLr+$ 3+-+-+R+P# 2-zPP+Q+P+" 1tR-+-+-+K! xabcdefghy 27...¦hg8!? 28.d6! Not surprisingly, taking the

bait was suicide: 28.hxg4 hxg4 29.¦c3 (29.¦e3 ¦h8+ 30.¢g1 ¤f3+ 31.gxf3 £xf4) 29...¦h8+

30.¥h2 ¦xh2+ 31.¢xh2 ¤f3+ 32.¢h1 £h2#

28...£c6? Objectively Black's best seems to

be 28...£xd6 29.hxg4 hxg4 30.£e4+ £c6

31.£xc6+ ¤xc6 32.¦d3 ¦h8+ 33.¥h2 ¥f2 with

good compensastion for the exchange.

29.hxg4 hxg4 30.¦c3 ¦h8+ 31.¥h2 £xd6 32.£e4+ ¤c6 33.g3?

XABCDEFGHY 8k+-+-+-tr( 7+-+p+-+-' 6P+nwq-zp-+& 5+-vl-+-+-% 4-+-+Q+p+$ 3+-tR-+-zP-# 2-zPP+-+-vL" 1tR-+-+-+K! xabcdefghy

Both players missed the blocking move

33.¦h3! which gives White a decisive edge

after 33...¦xh3 (33...gxh3 34.¥xd6) 34.gxh3 g3

35.¥g1

33...¦xh2+! 34.¢xh2 £d2+ 34...£d2+ 35.¢h1

(35.£g2 £h6+) 35...£h6+ 36.¢g2 £h3#

0-1

Most top teams shed board points, but France, Netherlands, Germany, Cuba and Italy of the top 20 ranked teams kept their perfect records.

In the Women's event, the picture was similar - the big favorites continued to gather steam - though there was an interesting contrast in their deployment of heavy artillery. Top ranked China continue to reserve World Champion Yifan Hou for use at a later date, while rivals Russia have put their controversial new acquisition, former Ukrainian GM Kateryna Lagno, into action from round one.

Even with the champ still on the sidelines the powerful Chinese team rolled to another 4-0 win, this time over Venezuela, and Russia kept pace by blanking Brazil. Armenia was the only other top ten team that managed to extend a perfect score.

Ukraine and Georgia each dropped a point today - Ukrainian GMs Anna Muzychuk and Anna Ushenina were held to draws by significantly outrated IM Irina Berezina and WFM Thu Nguyen of Australia. Georgia had their bid for continued perfection derailed after WFM Marija Stojanovic beat IM Salome Melia in a violent battle.


The Egyptian team came close to nicking a match point against 12th seeded Germany, managing a 1½-2½ result despite being massively outgunned on every board. Norway's women impressed with a 4-0 win over Ecuador, in a match that looked to be close on paper.

The round three pairings reveal the beginning of some heavyweight duels, with 7th ranked USA facing China and Russia meeting 9th seed France.

Other notable games Alexei Shirov (2709) - Saruns Sulskis (2544) 41st Olympiad Open 2014 (2.36), 03.08.2014


1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥c4 ¤f6 4.¤g5 d5 5.exd5

XABCDEFGHY 8r+lwqkvl-tr( 7zppzp-+pzpp' 6-+n+-sn-+& 5+-+Pzp-sN-% 4-+L+-+-+$ 3+-+-+-+-# 2PzPPzP-zPPzP" 1tRNvLQmK-+R! xabcdefghy

5...¤xd5?! A highly dubious choice.

6.¤xf7 It's hard to convince a computer that

White's long−term initiative gives him sufficient

compensation for the sacrificed piece, but in

practical play white does extremely well.

However, this might be the first time two

grandmasters decide to discuss this razor−

sharp line.

6...¢xf7 7.£f3+ ¢e6 8.¤c3 ¤cb4 9.a3 ¤xc2+ 10.¢d1 ¤xa1 11.¤xd5

XABCDEFGHY 8r+lwq-vl-tr( 7zppzp-+-zpp' 6-+-+k+-+& 5+-+Nzp-+-% 4-+L+-+-+$ 3zP-+-+Q+-# 2-zP-zP-zPPzP" 1sn-vLK+-+R! xabcdefghy

11...¢d6? The computer still prefers Black

after 11...£h4 12.¤xc7+ ¢d7 , but to the

human eye this just looks like a complete

mess. At any rate, this is preferable to the text

move, which gives White time to strengthen his

attack.

12.d4 ¥e6 13.¦e1 b5 14.¤b4 bxc4 15.£c6+ ¢e7 16.¥g5+ ¢f7 17.¥xd8 ¦xd8 Black is up

material, but he never gets time to coordinate

his pieces.

18.£xc7+ ¦d7 19.£xe5 ¦d6 20.d5 ¥d7 21.£f4+ ¢g8 22.£xc4 a5 23.¤d3 a4 24.¤c5 h5 25.¤xd7 ¦xd7 26.d6+ ¢h7 27.¦e6 g6

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-vl-tr( 7+-+r+-+k' 6-+-zPR+p+& 5+-+-+-+p% 4p+Q+-+-+$ 3zP-+-+-+-# 2-zP-+-zPPzP" 1sn-+K+-+-! xabcdefghy

28.¦xg6! 28.¦xg6 ¢xg6 29.£e6+ ¢h7

30.£xd7+ ¥g7 31.£f5+ ¢h6 32.£e6+ ¢h7

33.d7 ¤b3 34.£e7 and White gains a decisive

material advantage.

1-0


Richard Rapport (2704) - Juan Armando Rohl Montes (2390) 41st Olympiad Open 2014 Tromso NOR (2.3),

03.08.2014


1.¤f3 d5 2.b3 ¥g4 3.¤e5 ¥f5 4.e3 ¤d7 5.¤xd7 £xd7 6.¥b2 e6 7.d3 ¤f6 8.¤d2 0-0-0 9.¥e2 ¢b8 10.a3 ¥d6 11.c4 £e7 12.b4 c6 13.£a4 ¥c7 14.¥d4 b6 15.¦c1 e5 16.¥b2 d4 17.e4 ¥d7 18.£b3 ¥e6 19.a4 ¤d7 20.a5 b5 21.0-0 ¥d6 22.£c2 ¦c8 23.c5 ¥c7 24.f4 f6 25.¤f3 g5 26.fxe5 fxe5 27.¤d2 g4 28.¦ce1 h5 29.¥d1 ¤f8 30.£b1 ¤g6 31.¥b3 ¦cf8 32.¥xe6 £xe6 33.¥c1 h4 34.£b3 £e7 35.£d1 £e6 36.¦xf8+ ¦xf8 37.¦f1 ¦xf1+ 38.£xf1 ¥d8 39.£f5 £xf5 40.exf5 ¤f4 41.¢f1 ¤xd3 42.¥a3 ¤f4 43.¤e4 ¤d5 44.¥c1 ¢c7 45.¥d2 ¢d7 46.¢e2 ¤f6 47.¤g5 e4 48.¤e6 d3+ 49.¢e3 ¥c7 50.¤xc7 ¢xc7 51.¢f4 ¢d7 52.¢e5 ¢e7 53.a6 ¢f7 54.¢f4

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54...h3! 55.g3 55.gxh3 gxh3 56.¥e1 e3

57.¢xe3 ¤g4+ 58.¢f3 ¤xh2+ 59.¢g3 d2

60.¥xd2 ¤f1+ 61.¢xh3 ¤xd2-+

55...¢e7 56.¢e5 ¤h5 57.¥g5+ ¢f7 58.¢d6 ¤xg3 59.¢xc6 59.hxg3 h2

59...¤xf5

0-1

Alexander Moiseenko (2707) -

Aryan Tari (2440) 41st Olympiad Open 2014 Tromso NOR (2.4),

03.08.2014

Annotations Einar Gausel

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.¤c3 d5 4.cxd5 ¤xd5 5.¥d2 ¤b6 6.e3 ¥g7 7.f4 c5 8.dxc5 ¤6d7 9.¤e4 0-0 10.¤f3 ¥xb2 11.¦b1 ¥g7 12.¥c4 ¤c6 13.0-0 ¤f6 14.¤eg5 h6 15.¤xf7 ¦xf7 16.¤e5 e6 17.¤xf7 ¢xf7 18.£c2 £c7 19.f5 gxf5 20.¦xf5 ¢e7 21.¦f4 ¤e5 22.¥c3 ¥d7

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23.¦xf6! ¥xf6 24.£h7+ ¢d8 25.£g8+ ¢e7 25...¥e8 26.¦d1+ was no improvement for

Black.

26.£xa8 ¥c8 27.¥e2 ¢f7 Black could have

prolonged the struggle with 27...¤c6 , but the

white queen will escape after 28.¥xf6+ ¢xf6

29.¥f3

28.£xa7

1-0


Blunders, upsets and knockouts

Radoslav Dimitrov (2461) - Fareed Ahmed (1899) 41st Olympiad Open 2014 Tromso NOR (2.4),

03.08.2014

1.¤c3 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.d4 exd4 4.¤xd4 £f6 5.¤db5 ¥c5 6.¤xc7+ ¢d8 7.e3 ¦b8 8.¤7d5 £h4 9.g3 £h6 10.e4 £g6 11.¥h3 ¤ge7 12.¤f4 £f6 13.0-0 h5 14.¤fd5 £g6 15.¥f4 ¦a8 16.¥f5 ¤xf5 17.exf5 £xf5 18.¥c7+ ¢e8 19.¤e4 ¤e7 20.¤xe7 ¥xe7 21.¦e1 ¢f8 22.¥d6 £g6 23.£d5 ¥xd6 24.¤xd6 ¢g8

XABCDEFGHY 8r+l+-+ktr( 7zpp+p+pzp-' 6-+-sN-+q+& 5+-+Q+-+p% 4-+-+-+-+$ 3+-+-+-zP-# 2PzPP+-zP-zP" 1tR-+-tR-mK-! xabcdefghy

25.¤xf7! 25.¤xf7 £xf7 26.¦e8+ ¢h7 27.£xf7

1-0

Ali Ahmed Al Mashikh Mohammed - Yimam Abera Belachew (2194) 41st Olympiad Open 2014 Tromso NOR (2.3),

03.08.2014

1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.d4 exd4 4.¤xd4 ¥c5 5.¥e3 £f6 6.¤b5 ¥xe3 7.fxe3 £h4+ 8.g3 £xe4 9.¤xc7+ ¢d8 10.¤xa8 £xh1 11.£d6 ¤ge7 12.¤d2 £d5 13.£c7+ ¢e8

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14.£xc8+!+- ¤xc8 15.¤c7+ ¢d8 16.¤xd5 ¦e8 17.0-0-0 ¤8e7 18.¤xe7 ¦xe7 19.¤c4 ¢c7 20.¥h3 f6 21.e4 g6 22.c3 a6 23.¤e3 ¦xe4 24.¤d5+ ¢b8 25.¤xf6 ¦e2 26.¦d2 ¦e1+ 27.¢c2 d6 28.¦xd6 ¤e5 29.¦d2 ¤f3 30.¦f2 ¤g5 31.¥g2 ¦e7 32.h4 ¤e6 33.¤d5 ¦e8 34.¤b6 ¢c7 35.¤c4 ¤d8 36.¢d2 b5 37.¤e3 ¦e6 38.¦e2 ¦d6+ 39.¢c2 ¢b8 40.¤d5 ¤e6 41.¦f2 ¤g7 42.¦f8+

1-0

Marija R Stojanovic (2100) - Salome Melia (2475) WCO2014 Tromso (2.11), 03.08.2014

1.e4 c5 2.b3 a6 3.¥b2 ¤c6 4.f4 e5 5.¤f3 exf4 6.¥c4 b5 7.¥d5 ¤f6 8.0-0 ¥e7 9.c4 bxc4 10.bxc4 ¦b8 11.¥c3 0-0 12.e5 ¤xd5 13.cxd5 ¤b4 14.d6 ¥g5 15.¥xb4 cxb4 16.d4 ¥h6 17.¤bd2 f6 18.£b3+ ¢h8 19.¦ac1 ¦b5 20.¦c7 ¥b7 21.¦fc1 £e8 22.¦1c5 ¦xc5 23.¦xc5 fxe5 24.dxe5 g5 25.h3 £g6 26.£xb4 ¥c6


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27.¦xc6! dxc6 28.£e4 £e6 29.¤d4 £xa2 30.e6 £a3 31.d7 £e7 32.¤xc6 £c5+ 33.¢h2 g4 34.£e5+ £xe5 35.¤xe5 g3+ 36.¢g1 ¥g5 37.¤c6 ¢g7 38.¤e4 ¥d8 39.¢f1 f3 40.gxf3 ¦xf3+ 41.¢g2 ¦e3 42.¤xd8 ¦xe4 43.¤c6 ¦e2+ 44.¢xg3 ¦d2 45.e7

1-0

Katerina Nemcova (2315) - Wiebke Barbier(1944) [C41] WCO2014 Tromso (2.3), 03.08.2014

1.e4 d6 2.d4 ¤f6 3.¤c3 e5 4.¤f3 ¤bd7 5.¥c4 ¥e7 6.0-0 0-0 7.¦e1 c6 8.a4 a5 9.b3 £c7 10.h3 h6 11.¥b2 ¦e8 12.£d2 ¥f8 13.¦ad1 exd4 14.¤xd4 ¤c5 15.f3 ¥d7 16.£f2 ¦ad8 17.¥c1 ¥c8 18.¥f1 d5 19.e5 ¦xe5 20.¥f4 ¥d6 21.¤db5 cxb5 22.¤xb5 ¦xe1 23.¦xe1 £c6 24.¤xd6 ¦xd6 25.¥b5 £b6 26.¥xd6 £xd6 27.¦d1 ¤e6 28.c3 ¤f4 29.¥f1 ¥e6 30.¦d4 ¤g6 31.b4 axb4 32.¦xb4 £c6 33.£d4 ¤e7 34.¦b6 £c7 35.£b4 ¥c8 36.a5 ¤c6 37.£a3 d4 38.cxd4 ¤xd4 39.¦d6 ¤c6 40.¥b5 ¤xa5 41.£d3 £c5+ 42.¢f1 ¥f5 43.¦d8+ ¢h7 44.£xf5+ £xf5 45.¥d3 ¢g6 46.¢e2 ¤c6 47.¦d6 £xd3+ 48.¦xd3 ¢f5 49.¢d2 ¤e5 50.¦b3 ¤c4+ 51.¢d3 ¤d6 52.¢d4 ¢f4 53.g4 ¢g3 54.¢e5 ¤fe8 55.f4+ ¢h4 56.¢d5 f6 57.¢e6 h5 58.gxh5 ¢xh5 59.f5 ¢g5 60.¦b1 b5 61.¦b2 ¢f4 62.¦g2 ¢e4 63.¦g4+ ¢f3 64.¢d7 ¢e3 65.¢e7 ¢d3 66.h4 ¢c3 67.h5 b4 68.¦g3+ ¢c2 69.¦g2+ ¢d3 70.¦g3+ ¢c4 71.¦g4+ ¢c5 72.¢f8 b3 73.¦g3 ¢b4

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+nmK-+( 7+-+-+-zp-' 6-+-sn-zp-+& 5+-+-+P+P% 4-mk-+-+-+$ 3+p+-+-tR-# 2-+-+-+-+" 1+-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy

74.¦xg7 ¤xg7 75.h6 ¤dxf5 76.h7 b2

0-1

Ana Matnadze (2385) - Olga Hincu (2027) WCO2014 Tromso (2.38), 03.08.2014

1.c4 e6 2.¤f3 d5 3.d4 ¤f6 4.g3 ¥e7 5.¥g2 dxc4 6.¤e5 0-0 7.0-0 ¤c6 8.¥xc6 bxc6 9.¤xc6 £e8 10.¤xe7+ £xe7 11.£a4 e5 12.dxe5 £xe5 13.¤c3 ¥e6 14.£b5 c5 15.¥f4 £h5 16.f3 ¦fd8 17.¦fd1 h6 18.¥d6 ¦ac8 19.£b7 a5 20.a4 £f5 21.¦ac1 ¤e8 22.¥f4 ¦xd1+ 23.¦xd1 ¤f6 24.e4 £h3 25.£b6 £h5 26.g4 £h3 27.¥g3 h5 28.¤e2 g5 29.¦d8+ ¦xd8 30.£xd8+ ¢g7 31.e5 ¤h7 32.gxh5 £xh5 33.¢f2 £g6 34.£xa5 g4 35.f4 £c2 36.£xc5 £xb2 37.£d4 £b7 38.£c3 £a7+ 39.¤d4 £xa4 40.f5 ¤g5 41.¢e3 ¥d5 42.e6 ¤e4 43.£b2 f6


XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-+-+( 7+-+-+-mk-' 6-+-+Pzp-+& 5+-+l+P+-% 4q+psNn+p+$ 3+-+-mK-vL-# 2-wQ-+-+-zP" 1+-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy

44.¥e1? £d1 45.£b4 £d3+ 46.¢f4 £f1+ 47.¢e3 £d3+ 48.¢f4 ¤d6 49.¥d2 £e4+ 50.¢g3 £g2+ 51.¢f4 £f2+ 52.¢xg4 £xd4+ 53.¥f4 £d1+ 54.¢g3 £f3+ 54...£f3+ 55.¢h4

¤xf5#

0-1

Shushanna Sargsyan (2109) - Sharmin Shirin Sultana (1984) 41st Olympiad Women 2014 Tromso NOR

(2.4), 03.08.2014

1.c4 c6 2.¤f3 ¤f6 3.g3 d5 4.¥g2 g6 5.b3 ¥g7 6.¥b2 0-0 7.0-0 ¥g4 8.d3 £c8 9.¦e1 ¥h3 10.¥h1 ¤a6 11.¤bd2 ¦d8 12.¦c1 £d7 13.a3 ¥h6 14.£c2 ¦ac8 15.¦cd1 dxc4 16.dxc4 £f5 17.e4 £h5 18.e5 ¥f5 19.£c3 ¦d3 20.£a5 ¤d7 21.¤h4

XABCDEFGHY 8-+r+-+k+( 7zpp+nzpp+p' 6n+p+-+pvl& 5wQ-+-zPl+q% 4-+P+-+-sN$ 3zPP+r+-zP-# 2-vL-sN-zP-zP" 1+-+RtR-mKL! xabcdefghy

21...¤dc5!-+ 22.¥f3 ¥g4 23.h3 b6? 23...¥xd2!

24.¥xg4? 24.£xa6 ¤xa6 25.hxg4²

24...£g5? 24...£xg4 25.hxg4 bxa5-+

25.£xa6!+- ¤xa6 26.¤e4 ¦xd1 27.¥xd1

1-0

Bulletin Round 3

04.08.14


GM Hikaru Nakamura played his first game for the American team. Photo: Georgios Souleidis / chess24

All eyes on top The last missing stars appeared as more evenly matched teams faced off against each other. Hikaru Nakamura's painfully slow trip to Tromsø was over, and he led the USA against the Netherlands. Although his duel against Anish Giri was over relatively quickly, it was tense while it lasted


Nakamura may have regretted putting off his exertions as the match took a dramatic turn after the USA went out in front thanks to GM Alexander Onischuk downing Dutch colleague Loek van Wely. First GM Erwin L'Ami evened the match with a nice technical grind over the nearly indestructible Gata Kamsky, and GM Robin van Kampen completed the comeback by cracking GM Varuzhan Akobian. The defending champions and 4th seeds Armenia stumbled in today's round, losing 1.5-2.5 to 3rd seeded France. World number two Levon Aronian

was again held to a draw, despite pressing long and hard against rapidly rising star Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The only decisive result came on board three, where sometime Magnus Carlsen second Laurent Fressinet defeated Sergei Movsesian with black. The other grudge match on the top boards was Germany-England, and while not reaching football fever pitch, it was a tense affair. The 10th seeded English held two Berlin Defences with the black pieces, but could only trade wins in their white games.


While attention was focused on the top clashes, the quirks of the pairing system had floated the powerhouse Russian team down the table, where they met - and blanked - Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). The only other team to post a huge win in the upper levels was Uzbekistan, who won 3.5-0.5 over very slightly higher seeded Brazil, and will rise high up the standings. Bulgaria moved up to 10 game points by edging out Spain 2.5-1.5. Former world champion Veselin Topalov, playing his first game of the event, won a nice game against Spanish top gun Francisco Vallejo Pons despite the distraction of still waiting for his suitcase to arrive. China pulled a narrow 2.5-1.5 win out of a magician's hat - Hungary's Zoltan Almasi was safe pawn up in an ending but managed to fritter away the full point in tragic fashion.

Other news The Czech Republic edged out Iran 2.5-1.5 in a match that featured plenty of spectator-friendly play, including a neat finish by GM Viktor Laznicka after a blunder by GM Elshan Moradiabadi. Norway's World Champion shrugged off yesterday's disappointment of a draw, winning against Montenegrin GM Nikola Djukic. Norway 1 finally recorded a business-like result, winning 3-1 after GM Jon Ludvig Hammer also won with white for the Norwegians. Norway's second team followed up their spectacular 2-2 result against Ukraine with another split decision, this time against Bosnia & Herzegovina. This too was an upset, but one of only minor proportions. One notable shocker of the day was Sudan's victory over Ireland, where the hugely outrated African team's margin of victory was CM Samir Nadir's win over GM Alexander Baburin on board one.

Women's event The battle at the top of the Women's event sharpened as well, with the favorites having to work hard at last. Second seed Russia looked to be struggling against 9th seed France, but former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk squeezed out the only win of the match for the favorites. Not only was it a slender victory, but French IM Sophie Milliet agreed a draw in an extremely promising position against GM Valentina Gunina - who is well known to the locals as a frequent tournament visitor from Murmansk.

The USA put up stiff resistance against mighty China, who finally played their ace, World Champion Yifan Hou. Hou, who is closing in on Judit Polgar's top spot on the women's rating list, was the last to finish, after her teammates established a 2-1 lead, with WGM Wenjun Ju supplying the only win up til then. US top board Irina Krush finally had to abandon her grim defensive task, and Hou maintained China's position as pace-setters by making it 3-1. The sensation of the women's event was also hidden slightly below what appeared to be the focus of attention. Iran's 4-0 demolition of Bosnia & Herzegovina catapulted them to the top of the table. WGM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh's display of aggressive attacking chess against WIM Elena Boric was a highlight of both the match, and the round.

Local news

Elise Sjøttem Jacobsen, Norway 3 Photo: Georgios Souleidis / chess24

13-year-old Elise Sjøttem Jacobsen from Norway 3 - and Tromsø - made local Olympiad history in round three - the youngest ever Norwegian women's player, and today, also the youngest ever to win a game in the event.

Excitement to come The fourth round pairings will see the upstart Iranian team on first board against 18th seed Slovakia. China will face 22nd seed Azerbaijan, Russia meets 12th seeds Germany and third seeded Ukraine have 33rd ranked Turkey to overcome.


Annotated games Annotations: GM Einar Gausel

Elshan Moradiabadi (2598) - Viktor Laznicka (2676) WCO2014 Tromso (3.27), 04.08.2014

1.¤f3 d5 2.d4 ¤f6 3.c4 c6 4.e3 a6 5.¥d3 ¥g4 6.¤bd2 e6 7.£c2 dxc4 8.£xc4 ¤bd7 9.h3 ¥h5 10.b4 ¥d6 11.0-0 £e7 12.¦b1 0-0 13.e4 e5 14.dxe5 ¥xe5 15.¤h4 ¦ad8 16.¤f5 £e8 White now turns up the heat by setting his

kingside pawn majority in motion.

17.f4

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-trqtrk+( 7+p+n+pzpp' 6p+p+-sn-+& 5+-+-vlN+l% 4-zPQ+PzP-+$ 3+-+L+-+P# 2P+-sN-+P+" 1+RvL-+RmK-! xabcdefghy

17...¥xf4!? This counterblow leads to some

mind−boggling tactical complications. White

apparently doesn't like the looks of them.

18.¤f3? After 18.¦xf4 ¤e5 White has the

incredible resource 19.£c5!! ¤xd3 20.¤xg7!

You would expect someone to have a forced

win with so many pieces hanging, but all lines

seem to lead to fairly balanced positions. For

example 20...¤xc5 (20...¢xg7 21.£g5+ ¥g6 22.£xf6+ ¢g8 23.¤f3!) 21.¤xe8 ¦fxe8

22.bxc5

18...¥b8 19.¥c2 ¥g6 20.¥b2? White should

have tried 20.¤3h4 . The text move allows

Black to execute a devastating attack on the

dark squares.

20...¥xf5 21.exf5 £e3+ 22.¢h1 ¤h5 23.¦fe1 ¤g3+ 24.¢h2 ¤e4+ 25.¢h1 ¤f2+ 26.¢g1 ¤xh3+ 27.¢h1

XABCDEFGHY 8-vl-tr-trk+( 7+p+n+pzpp' 6p+p+-+-+& 5+-+-+P+-% 4-zPQ+-+-+$ 3+-+-wqN+n# 2PvLL+-+P+" 1+R+-tR-+K! xabcdefghy

27...£g1+ 27...£g1+ 28.¤xg1 ¤f2#

0-1

Erwin L'Ami (2631) - Gata Kamsky (2706) WCO2014 Tromso (3.22), 04.08.2014

1.d4 f5 2.¤c3 ¤f6 3.¥g5 d5 4.e3 e6 5.¤f3 ¥e7 6.¥d3 0-0 7.0-0 ¤bd7 8.¤e2 h6 9.¤f4 ¤b6 10.¥xf6 ¦xf6 11.¤e5 ¥d6 12.¤h5 ¦f8 13.f4 c5 14.c3 ¥d7 15.g4 ¥xe5 16.fxe5 £g5 17.¦f4 ¥e8 18.¤g3 fxg4 19.£xg4 £xg4 20.¦xg4 ¦c8 21.¦f4 cxd4 22.cxd4 ¦f7 23.b3 ¤d7 24.h4 ¤f8 25.¢f2 ¦fc7 26.¢e2 ¦c1 27.¦f1 ¦xa1 28.¦xa1 ¥g6 29.¦f1 ¥e8 30.¢d2 ¦c7 31.¤e2 ¤g6 32.h5 ¤f8 33.¤f4 ¥c6 34.¦c1 ¢f7 35.b4 ¦c8 36.b5 ¥d7 37.¦f1 ¢e7 38.a4 b6 39.¦a1 ¦c7 40.a5 bxa5 41.¦xa5 ¦b7 42.¢c3 ¥e8 43.¢b4 ¥f7 44.¦a2 ¥e8 45.¢a5 ¢d8 46.¦c2 ¦c7


XABCDEFGHY 8-+-mklsn-+( 7zp-tr-+-zp-' 6-+-+p+-zp& 5mKP+pzP-+P% 4-+-zP-sN-+$ 3+-+LzP-+-# 2-+R+-+-+" 1+-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy

47.¦c5 White is in complete control. In addition

to a substantial space advantage and more

active pieces, he has juicy targets on a7 and

e6. All Black can do, is defend passively and

hope for the best.

47...¥d7 48.e4 dxe4 49.¥xe4 ¥c8 50.¦c2 ¦xc2 51.¥xc2 ¥b7 52.¥d1 ¢e7 53.¥g4 ¢f7 54.¤d3 g6 54...¢e7 55.¤c5 ¥c8 (55...¥a8 56.¢a6) 56.¤e4 g6 57.¤d6 amounts to the

same thing.

55.¤c5 ¥d5 55...¥c8 56.¤e4 ¢e7 57.¤d6

¥d7 58.¢a6 and a7 drops.

56.¢a6 ¥c4 57.¤e4 gxh5 58.¥xh5+ ¢g7

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59.¤d6 ¥d5 60.¢xa7 and Black resigned as

there's no stopping the b−pawn.

1-0

Sergei Movsesian (2672) - Laurent Fressinet (2708) WCO2014 Tromso (3.27), 04.08.2014

30...f4!

XABCDEFGHY 8-+l+-trk+( 7+psn-+-vlp' 6p+ptr-+p+& 5tR-+-sN-+-% 4-+PzP-zp-+$ 3+P+-+-zP-# 2-zPN+-+LzP" 1+-+-tR-mK-! xabcdefghy

31.gxf4 31.b4 ¥f5 32.¥e4 fxg3 33.hxg3 ¤e6

34.¥xf5 ¦xf5 35.¦e4 ¤xd4 36.¤xd4 ¦xe5 also

leads to an ending where Black will be a

healthy pawn up, but White might have some

practical drawing chances after 37.¦axe5 ¥xe5

38.¦xe5 ¦xd4 39.¦e8+ ¢f7 40.¦b8; 31.¢h1

31...¤e6 32.c5 ¦dd8 33.d5 33.¦a4 ¤xf4 also

looks extremely pleasant for Black.

33...cxd5 34.c6 ¤xf4 35.c7 ¦d6 36.¤b4 ¦e8 37.¤bd3 ¤xd3 38.¤xd3 ¥d4+ 39.¢h1 ¦xe1+ 40.¤xe1 ¥b6 41.¦xd5 ¦xd5 42.¥xd5+ ¢g7 43.¤d3 White continues his resistance, but he

is unable to escape his fate. Black will soon be

a pawn up, and White's doubled pawn will be

an obvious target for the two bishops.


43...¢f6 44.¢g2 ¥xc7 45.h4 ¥d6 46.¢f3 b6 47.¤f2 ¥e7 48.¢f4 ¢g7 49.¢g3 ¥f6 50.¤d3

XABCDEFGHY 8-+l+-+-+( 7+-+-+-mkp' 6pzp-+-vlp+& 5+-+L+-+-% 4-+-+-+-zP$ 3+P+N+-mK-# 2-zP-+-+-+" 1+-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy

50...¥f5 51.¤f4 ¥xb2 52.¢f3 ¥f6 53.h5 ¥e5 54.¤e6+ ¢f6 55.¤f8 gxh5 56.¥e4 ¥g4+ and

White finally decided to throw in the towel.

0-1

Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (2324) - Elena Boric (2196) WCO2014 Tromso (3.10), 04.08.2014

1.d4 f5 2.c4 ¤f6 3.¤c3 g6 4.h4!? c6 White

scores well after 4...¥g7 5.h5 ¤xh5 6.e4 , but

it's not clear how dangerous this attack really

is. The point of the text move is to bring the

queen out and vacate d8 for the king.

5.h5 ¤xh5

XABCDEFGHY 8rsnlwqkvl-tr( 7zpp+pzp-+p' 6-+p+-+p+& 5+-+-+p+n% 4-+PzP-+-+$ 3+-sN-+-+-# 2PzP-+PzPP+" 1tR-vLQmKLsNR! xabcdefghy

6.¦xh5!? White decides to unleash the dogs

without further ado.

6.e4 was also tempting.

6...gxh5 7.e4 £b6? 7...d6 8.£xh5+ ¢d7

9.£xf5+ ¢c7 would have provided Black's king

with a relatively safe hiding place. Now both

the king and queen end up in dire straits.

8.£xh5+ ¢d8 9.c5 £b4 10.¤f3 b6 If this is

Black's best, her position was already beyond

salvation.

11.a3 £b3 12.¤e5 ¢c7 13.¥c4 £c2 14.¤d3 Now White threatens to trap the black queen

with Nb4.

14...bxc5 15.¥f4+ d6 16.dxc5 fxe4 17.cxd6+ exd6 18.£a5+ ¢b7

XABCDEFGHY 8rsnl+-vl-tr( 7zpk+-+-+p' 6-+pzp-+-+& 5wQ-+-+-+-% 4-+L+pvL-+$ 3zP-sNN+-+-# 2-zPq+-zPP+" 1tR-+-mK-+-! xabcdefghy

19.¤c5+! 19.¤c5+ dxc5 20.£c7#

1-0


Zoltan Almasi (2690) - Yangyi Yu (2668) WCO2014 Tromso (3.7), 04.08.2014

81.¢e2?

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-+-+( 7+-+-+-mk-' 6-+-+-zp-+& 5zp-wq-+-zP-% 4-+-+-wQ-zP$ 3+-+-+-+-# 2-+-+K+-+" 1+-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy

This slip allows Black to force a winning pawn

ending.

81...£e5+ 82.£e3 £xe3+ 83.¢xe3 f5! 84.h5 a4 85.¢f4 a3

0-1

All games and the previous bulletin are available here: https://chess24.com/en/olympiad2014/games/pgn

Blunders, upsets and

Knockouts By GM Einar Gausel

Nava Starr (2145) - Luzia Pires (1538) WCO2014 Tromso (3.24), 04.08.2014

1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¤c3 ¥c5 4.¤xe5 ¥xf2+ 5.¢xf2 ¤xe5 6.d4 £f6+ 7.¢g1 ¤e7

XABCDEFGHY 8r+l+k+-tr( 7zppzppsnpzpp' 6-+-+-wq-+& 5+-+-sn-+-% 4-+-zPP+-+$ 3+-sN-+-+-# 2PzPP+-+PzP" 1tR-vLQ+LmKR! xabcdefghy

8.dxe5?? £b6+

0−1


Dlamini Sbonelo - Tandin Wangchuk WCO2014 Tromso (3.37), 04.08.2014

49.¦d1?

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-+-+( 7+-+-+p+-' 6-+-+-zp-zp& 5+k+-+K+P% 4p+-+P+P+$ 3+r+-+-+-# 2-+-+-+-+" 1+-+R+-+-! xabcdefghy

49.¦d5+ ¢b4 50.¦d4+ ¢a5 51.¢xf6÷

49...¦f3#

0-1

Zaheeruddeen Asefi (1996) − Basheer Al Qudaimi (2396) WCO2014 Tromso (3.48), 04.08.2014

22.¤d6+?

XABCDEFGHY 8-snq+-+n+( 7+lvl-+kzp-' 6-+-sNp+p+& 5tr-+-+p+-% 4-+pzP-+-+$ 3+-+-zPL+Q# 2-zP-+-zPPzP" 1tR-+-mK-+R! xabcdefghy

22...¥xd6 23.¦xa5 ¥b4+ 24.¢e2 ¥xa5 25.¦a1

XABCDEFGHY 8-snq+-+n+( 7+l+-+kzp-' 6-+-+p+p+& 5vl-+-+p+-% 4-+pzP-+-+$ 3+-+-zPL+Q# 2-zP-+KzPPzP" 1tR-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy

25...c3! 26.¦xa5 £c4+ 26...£c4+ 27.¢e1

cxb2

0-1

Bulletin Round 4

05.08.14


Sarasdat Khademalsharieh playing board 2 for Iran. Photo: Georgios Souleidis / chess24

Round 4: Azerbaijan! Iran! France came down to earth with a slight thud today, unable to repeat the form that overcame defending champions Armenia in round three. Number eight Azerbaijan edged out a solid and impressive victory over the third seeds, drawing three and producing a win with Black on board one. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, whose recent run of good form has lifted him into the world top ten.


Russia-China was the kind of grim duel expected of a top clash, closely fought even when team members found themselves under pressure. The top two boards were the most eventful, with Kramnik and Yue Wang drawing an extremely lively game, with the ex-world champion pressing, while the fate of the match eventually came to rest on Grischuk's ability to steer to safety against rising star Liren Ding, which he managed after a long defensive slog.

Tough infighting With the top half of the table now featuring largely even pairings, the matches were close affairs. One notable exception was Turkey's 3.5-0.5 dismantling of slightly higher seeded Italy. Only world number three Fabiano Caruana survived for Italy. England vaulted back into the fray with an

impressive 3-1 win over Latvia, and GM Matthew Sadler racked up his fourth win in a ferocious comeback for his country.

Photo: Georgios Souleidis / chess24


Serbia maintained a perfect match record by narrowly upsetting the Czech Republic, Bulgaria edged out Romania thanks to a grinding win from leader Veselin Topalov and a flashy and brutal attacking knockout from GM Valentin Iotov. Cuba also took a fourth match win, a bottom board victory the only decisive result against India.

Netherlands-Israel looked like a close one on paper, and there was no separating them afterwards, trading wins on the top two boards, and drawing the rest. Germany also fought to a 2-2 draw, this time against Uzbekistan.

The surprise losers of the previous round rebounded with predictable fury. Armenia shredded Costa Rica 4-0 and world number two Levon Aronian finally started winning for the defending Olympiad champions. The USA shrugged off disappointment vs. France and cruised to a 3-0 lead over South Africa, though Gata Kamsky finally went down to a shock defeat against IM Henry Robert Steel.

Hungary also recovered from their frustrating loss to China the day before, dispatching Portugal 3.5-0.5, with IM Paulo Dias holding Hungarian ace Peter Leko on board one.

Home team excitement Norwegian hopes were high when Magnus Carlsen showed his full class, sweeping aside a player like Radoslaw Wojtaszek with bone-crushing simplicity. When Simen Agdestein built up a sizeable advantage with Black, Jon Ludvig Hammer created winning chances on board three and Kjetil Lie neutralized Mateusz Bartel, Poland's favorite on board four, national news outlets began predicting a rout, but all remaining games gradually fizzled out in draws - still, an encouraging result for Norway 1 against their toughest opposition so far.

The day's results set up some juicy fifth round pairings; Serbia's fine start earns them a top board face-off against Azerbaijan, Russia meets Bulgaria, which could mean another installment of the bitter rivalry between Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov, and World Champion Magnus Carlsen will likely meet world number two Levon Aronian when Norway 1 take on Armenia.

Iran! If the perfect score of the Iranian women's team after three rounds was newsworthy, then perhaps the best way to angle the headline for round four is - Iranian women drop first half point! The Olympiad sensations, seeded 21st, defended their

right to the top table with a resounding 3.5-0.5 win over slightly higher rated Slovakia. Only Slovakian top board IM Eva Repkova survived, and the magical Iranians continue to outpace the clear pre-tournament favorites, China.

Turkey – Italy Photo: Daniel Skog / COT2014

On paper, China should have steamrolled over 22nd ranked Azerbaijan, but the first result was a quickish draw from Chinese WGM Wenjun Ju with WGM Gulnar Mammadova. The favorites had a roughly 200 point advantage on the bottom three boards, and over twice as much on board one, where world champion Yifan Hou put China ahead early. WGM Zhongyi Tan extended the gap to two points with White on board three, and WGM Qi Guo made the final result 3.5-0.5, but only after a topsy-turvy brawl with WIM Sabina Ibrahimova on board four.

If Iran has been the surprise of the event so far, the shock of the day has to go to Indonesia, who handed tenth seeded Armenia an incredible 3.5-0.5 drubbing. Seeded only 23rd, the Indonesians were outrated on all four boards.

Tougher going Russia is still looking to hit top form, and although they kept a perfect match record, they had to settle for a minimal 2.5-1.5 win over 12th seed Germany, WGM Melanie Ohme beat Russian colleague Olga Girya, and German WGM Sarah Hoolt drew WGM Nina Pogonina. Fourth seeds Georgia dropped a match point, only drawing 2-2 with Netherlands.

Fifth seeds India were upset by Serbia, 1.5-2.5, making the fourth round a cheery double for the Eastern Europeans. The Ukraine, led by the


Muzychuk sisters, turned in a solid 3-1 win over Turkey, but the third seeds must make up for a dropped match point against Spain in round three.

The 13th seeds Hungary produced another solid match victory, beating Cuba 3-1 - a result that sends them up to meet the red-hot Iranians. Due to the vagaries of the pairing system, Round 5's top match will be between Indonesia and China, despite Iran having a full game point lead at this stage of the event. The top match according to the rating list will be Russia-Georgia.


Magnus Carlsen (2877) − Radoslaw Wojtaszek(2735) WCO2014 Tromso (4.29), 05.08.2014

1.e4 c5 2.¤c3 d6 3.g3 Enough mainline

theory for today.

3...¤c6 4.¥g2 g6 5.d3 ¥g7 6.¥e3 e5 7.¤h3 ¤ge7 8.f4 ¤d4 9.0-0 0-0 10.£d2 ¥d7 11.¤d1 £c8 12.¤df2 ¤dc6 13.c3 b5 14.fxe5 ¤xe5 15.¥h6 ¤7c6 16.¥xg7 ¢xg7 17.¤f4 £d8 18.¦ad1 ¦c8 19.£e2 h5 20.d4 cxd4 21.cxd4 White now has both central domination and a

superior pawn structure.

21...¤g4 22.h3 ¤xf2 23.£xf2 ¤e7 24.¦d3 b4 25.¦f3 White cranks up the pressure on the

kingside by piling up the heavy artillery along

the f−file. Black has no source of counterplay

and must now proceed with extreme caution.

25...£e8?!

XABCDEFGHY 8-+r+qtr-+( 7zp-+lsnpmk-' 6-+-zp-+p+& 5+-+-+-+p% 4-zp-zPPsN-+$ 3+-+-+RzPP# 2PzP-+-wQL+" 1+-+-+RmK-! xabcdefghy

26.g4!? 26.d5 , grabbing more space and

threatening to whip off a7, also looked

tempting.

26...hxg4 27.hxg4 ¥b5 27...¥xg4 28.¦g3 £d7

29.¥h3 ¥xh3 30.¤h5+ and White wins the

house.

28.¦e1 £d8 29.g5 £b6? 29...¥d7 would have

put up more of a fight.

30.¥h3 ¦cd8

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-tr-tr-+( 7zp-+-snpmk-' 6-wq-zp-+p+& 5+l+-+-zP-% 4-zp-zPPsN-+$ 3+-+-+R+L# 2PzP-+-wQ-+" 1+-+-tR-mK-! xabcdefghy

31.¥e6! ¥e8 31...fxe6 32.¤xe6+ ¢h7 33.¦f7+

¦xf7 34.£xf7+ ¢h8 35.£g7#

32.¤d5 ¤xd5 33.¥xd5 33.¥xd5 £c7 34.¦h3

¦g8 (34...¦h8 35.£f6+) 35.¦h7+! ¢f8

(35...¢xh7 36.£h2+ ¢g7 37.£h6#) 36.£h4

¢e7 37.¦f1 ¦f8 38.¥xf7 ¦xf7 39.¦fxf7+ ¥xf7

40.¦xf7+ ¢xf7 41.£h7+ ¢e8 42.£xc7+-

1-0


Allan Stig Rasmussen (2522) − Lenin Guerra Tulcan (2374) WCO2014 Tromso (4.19), 05.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8r+l+-trk+( 7+-+-+p+p' 6-+p+-+p+& 5+p+-+-+-% 4p+-+Pwq-sn$ 3zP-sN-+-tR-# 2LzPK+QzP-zP" 1tR-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy

29...¤f5! 30.exf5? 30.¦d3 was the lesser evil,

but Black's positional advantage and extra

pawn should be enough to bring home the

bacon after a sensible move like. 30...¦e8

30...¥xf5+ 31.¢d1 After 31.¦d3 simply

31...¦ad8 32.¦ad1 ¦xd3 33.¦xd3 ¦d8 and

Black gains a decisive material advantage.

31...¦fe8 32.¦e3

XABCDEFGHY 8r+-+r+k+( 7+-+-+p+p' 6-+p+-+p+& 5+p+-+l+-% 4p+-+-wq-+$ 3zP-sN-tR-+-# 2LzP-+QzP-zP" 1tR-+K+-+-! xabcdefghy

32...¥g4 As the other three games ended in

draws, Ecuador pulled off an upset win against

the higher rated Danish squad.

32...¥g4 33.f3 ¦xe3

0-1

Maxime Vachier−Lagrave (2768) − Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2743) WCO2014 Tromso (4.25), 05.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-+-+( 7+-+-+pmk-' 6P+-+-+p+& 5+p+-+-+-% 4-zPp+-+-+$ 3+-+-+-+q# 2Q+-+-+-+" 1+-+-+-mK-! xabcdefghy

44...c3 45.£a1 45.a7 £e3+ 46.¢f1 £c1+

47.¢e2 c2 48.a8£ £d1+ 49.¢f2 £d4+

50.¢g2 c1£ and Black will deliver checkmate

in the not too distant future.

45...£g4+ 46.¢f1 £f3+ 47.¢g1 £e3+ 48.¢f1 ¢h7 48...¢h7 49.a7 c2 50.a8£ c1£+ 51.£xc1

£xc1+ and Black will be three pawns up after

he picks off b4.

0-1


Antoaneta Stefanova (2505) − Monika Socko (2470) WCO2014 Tromso (4.5), 05.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8r+-wq-mk-tr( 7+-+nsnp+-' 6-+p+-+p+& 5zp-+pzP-zPp% 4P+-zP-zP-+$ 3vL-+QsN-+-# 2-+-+-mKP+" 1+R+-+-+R! xabcdefghy

29.e6! This thrust blows Black's kingside to

smithereens.

29...fxe6 30.£xg6 Notice how the bishop on

a3 makes a major contribution to White's

attack.

30...c5 31.£xe6 £c7 32.g6 £xf4+ 33.¢e2 ¢e8

XABCDEFGHY 8r+-+k+-tr( 7+-+nsn-+-' 6-+-+Q+P+& 5zp-zpp+-+p% 4P+-zP-wq-+$ 3vL-+-sN-+-# 2-+-+K+P+" 1+R+-+-+R! xabcdefghy

34.£xe7+! Forcing an ending where White will

be a piece up.

34...¢xe7 35.¤xd5+ ¢e6 36.¤xf4+ ¢f5 37.g7 ¦hg8 38.¢f3 cxd4 39.¦xh5+ ¢f6

40.¥b2 ¤e5+ 41.¢e4 41.¢e4 ¤c6 42.¦h6+

and White wins another piece.

1-0

Blunders, upsets and knockouts Annotations: GM Einar Gausel

Akshaya Kalaiyalahan (2016) − Maria Nevioselaya (2032 WCO2014 Tromso (4.15), 05.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8-vl-trr+k+( 7zpp+n+pzpp' 6-+pwq-snl+& 5+-+p+-+-% 4-+-zP-+-sN$ 3+P+-zP-zPP# 2PvL-sNLzP-+" 1+-tRQtR-mK-! xabcdefghy

17...¦xe3! 18.fxe3 £xg3+ 19.¤g2 ¤e4 20.¤xe4 ¥xe4 21.¥f3 21.¥f1 £h2+ 22.¢f2

¥g3+ 23.¢e2 ¥xg2-+

21...¥xf3 22.£d2 £h2+ 22...£h2+ 23.¢f1

£h1+ 24.¢f2 £xg2#

0-1


R S Kalugampitiya (2121) − Mphungt Gerrard (1930) WCO2014 Tromso (4.24), 05.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8r+l+-mk-+( 7zpp+ptrp+-' 6-+-+pvlL+& 5+-zp-wq-zpQ% 4-+P+-+P+$ 3+-sNP+R+-# 2PzP-+PzP-+" 1tR-+-mK-+-! xabcdefghy

23.¤e4! fxg6 24.£h8+ ¢f7 25.¦xf6+ 25.¦xf6+ £xf6 26.¤d6#

1-0

Nca Garcia Ricardo (2215) − John Rodgaard (2361) WCO2014 Tromso (4.27), 05.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-vLrmk( 7+-+-+Rzp-' 6-zp-+-vlQzp& 5+-+-zp-+-% 4-+-+-+-zP$ 3+P+-+-zP-# 2P+-wq-zP-mK" 1+-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy

32.¦xf6! gxf6 33.£xf6+ ¢h7 34.£f5+ ¢h8 35.£xe5+ ¢h7 36.£f5+ ¢h8 37.£f6+ ¢h7 38.£f7+ ¢h8 39.¥e7 ¦g7 40.£f5 ¢g8 41.¥f6 ¦f7 42.h5 ¦d7 43.¥c3 £d6 44.£g4+ ¢f7 45.£g7+ ¢e8 46.£g8+ ¢e7 47.¥g7 £d1 48.¥f8+ ¢f6 49.£g6+ ¢e5 50.¥xh6 £f3 51.£e8+ ¢f6

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+Q+-+( 7+-+r+-+-' 6-zp-+-mk-vL& 5+-+-+-+P% 4-+-+-+-+$ 3+P+-+qzP-# 2P+-+-zP-mK" 1+-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy

52.¥g5+! ¢xg5 53.£g6#

1-0

Marat Dzhumaev (2510) − Daniel Fridman (2639) WCO2014 Tromso (4.15), 05.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8R+-+ltrk+( 7+-+-+-+p' 6-+-+pzPp+& 5+-wqp+-+r% 4-snP+-+N+$ 3+-+-+-vLP# 2-+p+QzPP+" 1+-+-tR-mK-! xabcdefghy

33.f7+! ¥xf7 34.¤f6+ ¢g7 35.¤d7 £c6 36.¥e5+ ¢h6 37.£d2+ g5 38.¦xf8 £xd7 39.£xb4 dxc4 40.£c3 £e7 41.¥d6 £xd6 42.¦xf7

1-0


Christian Jeitz (2189) − Jorge Cori (2630) WCO2014 Tromso (4.26), 05.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8-+r+-+n+( 7zp-+-+nmk-' 6-zp-vLp+pzp& 5+-+pzP-+-% 4-+rzP-wQP+$ 3+-+-+N+R# 2-+q+-zPK+" 1+-+-+-+R! xabcdefghy 31.¦xh6! ¤gxh6 32.£f6+ ¢g8 33.¦xh6! ¤xh6 34.£xe6+ ¢h8 35.£f6+ ¢g8 36.£e6+ ¢h8 37.£f6+ ¢g8

½-½

Mahmood Lodhi (2335) − Frode Urkedal (2500) WCO2014 Tromso (4.1), 05.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8r+-tr-+k+( 7+-+-vlp+p' 6p+-+-snp+& 5+-+-+-+-% 4Pzp-+-+-+$ 3+N+q+PzP-# 2-zPQsN-+KzP" 1+-tRR+-+-! xabcdefghy

24.¤c4?? £xc2+ 24...£xc2+ 25.¦xc2 ¦xd1+-

0-1

Bulletin Round 5

06.08.14


Veselin Topalov playing board 1 for Bulgaria. Photo: Georgios Souleidis / chess24

Deadlocks and escapes Despite Kramnik's imposing play against Topalov on board one, Bulgaria actually took the lead in their match versus Russia, man in form Valentin Iotov torpedoed heavy favorite Sergei Karjakin with the black pieces on board three. But the decision in the battle of the ex-world champions went to Kramnik, who won a nice game over his rival to even things up. Ian Nepomniachtchi could not make an impression on GM Krasimir Rusev in the last game to finish, and the Russians were held to a draw for the second day in a row.


The duel between teams with perfect Olympiad records, Azerbaijan-Serbia, also looked set to end in a deadlock after GM Milos Perunovic pulled Serbia even by beating former Azerbaijan number one Teimour Radjabov on board two. The final game to conclude, Mamedov-Markus on board three, saw the Azerbaijan GM unable to convert an extra pawn as white against his Serbian colleague, and the 2-2 draw means that all teams have now dropped match points in the Olympiad.

Other top matches were predictably long, grim and close – China-Netherlands saw four draws, Cuba edged out Israel 2.5-1.5 and Armenian GM Gabriel Sargissian ground out a slow win over GM Simen Agdestein to beat Norway by one - but there were some surprises. Kazakhstan, ranked 49th, beat Turkey soundly 3-1 despite being

outrated on every board, and Georgia moved up the table by beating Belgium by the same margin.

Qatar continues to have a fine event, the 57th seeds holding Germany 2-2, and England also had to split their match vs. Vietnam, with Michael Adams winning a crisp game against Quang Liem Le. English anchor Matthew Sadler was held to a draw for the first time. Third seed France sailed up the points table with a resounding 3.5–0.5 win over Argentina.

Local news The Norwegian media had been getting progressively more optimistic about the chances of the first team, but while they were clinging on to hopes of a 2-2 split with Armenia, encouraging attention could have been spent on Norway 2 –


they are undefeated, including a spectacular 2-2 draw against second seeds Ukraine. In round 5 they won again, four IMs beating four Slovenian GMs 2.5-1.5.

Ranked 58th, Norway 2 has now won three matches and drawn two, have a better match score than the first team, and they have been comprehensively outrated in the three matches where they faced stronger opposition. They may be led by a Norwegian rather than world champion, but they have earned the attention of an increasingly chess-crazy nation.

Upsets and accidents The USA benched an out of form Gata Kamsky for their grudge match against North American neighbors Canada, but things are still not going smoothly for the 6th seeds. Canada took the lead thanks to a win by GM Bator Sambuev over GM Varuzhan Akobian, and US number one Hikaru Nakamura was held by GM Anton Kovalyov. US hopes for a split decision rested on GM Sam Shankland, who delivered the necessary point over IM Aman Hambleton.

Ukraine are another big team struggling to find form, and today the second seeds had a tragic result, losing 1.5-2.5 after Ivanchuk crashed to defeat against Rustam Kasimdzhanov, and GM Anton Korobov got tricked and imploded while trying to convert a pawn advantage.

Handshake extra: In the interim round report, we noted that as well as traditionally refusing to shake hands with Topalov, Kramnik had puzzled Carlsen by offering his hand as they passed each other while strolling around just after the start of play - the Norwegian hesitated before smiling and accepting.

Magnus: He said hello. I thought it was funny, because he didn't have any reason to say hello.

Women: China rolled to a 3.5-0.5 win over Indonesia, but not without some nervous moments. WIM Chelsie Sihite had GM Xue Zhao completely at her mercy after the Chinese grandmaster made a serious error, but let victory slip after trying to cash in too quickly in an overwhelming position.

Iran’s hot streak finally came to an end vs. Hungary. GM Thanh Trang Hoang put the 13th seeded Hungarians in front with a win on top board over WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan. Hungary pressed for a bigger margin after the bottom boards were drawn, but had to settle for 2.5 points.

Russia-Georgia was the kind of tough battle one would expect from a meeting between the second and fourth seeds. Very closely fought, and coming down to one key game after three draws. Nela Khotenashvili looked set to seal the match for Georgia against GM Valentina Gunina on board two, but the Russian escaped and then stole the full point after it appeared her opponent could not readjust to the new situation.

GM Valentina Gunina, Russia Photo: Georgios Souleidis / chess24

This bit of good fortune means that three teams remain with a perfect match record as the Olympiad heads into its first rest day; China, Hungary and Russia.

Ups and downs Times are tough for the Ukrainian teams, while the sun is shining on Serbia. Third seeded Ukraine stumbled to defeat, like their compatriots in the Open event, while the mood in the Serbian camp will definitely be cheery tonight. Wins on boards 2-3 and a comfortable draw from first board IM Natasa Bojkovic against Ukraine’s GM Anna Muzychuk clinched the match for Serbia.

Netherlands upset 11th ranked Spain 2.5-1.5 despite GM Zhaoqin Peng being upended on board one by IM Sabrina Vega Gutierrez, and 8th seed Poland downed 17th ranked Kazakhstan 3-1, thanks to an efficient duo on the bottom boards.

Poland, Serbia and the Netherlands are therefore the chasing trio, with 9/10 match points.



Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2743) − Ivan Ivanisevic (2613) WCO2014 Tromso (5.25), 06.08.2014

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤c3 ¥b4 4.£c2 ¤c6 5.¤f3 d6 6.g4 e5 7.dxe5 dxe5 8.g5 ¥xc3+ 9.bxc3 ¤d7 10.¥a3 ¤b6 11.¦d1 ¥d7 12.¥h3 ¥xh3 13.¦xd8+ ¦xd8 14.£e4 ¤a4 15.£e3 ¦d7 16.¤d4 ¥g2 17.¦g1 ¢d8 18.¤f5 ¥e4 19.¤xg7

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-mk-+-tr( 7zppzpr+psNp' 6-+n+-+-+& 5+-+-zp-zP-% 4n+P+l+-+$ 3vL-zP-wQ-+-# 2P+-+PzP-zP" 1+-+-mK-tR-! xabcdefghy

19.£xe4? ¦d1+! 20.¢xd1 ¤xc3+ 21.¢c2

¤xe4

19...¥g6 20.£h3 ¤b6 21.¤h5 f5 22.gxf6 ¤xc4 23.¥e7+ ¤xe7 24.fxe7+ ¦xe7 25.¤f6 ¥f7 26.¦g7 ¥e6 27.£h6 ¤d6 28.¦xe7 ¢xe7 29.¤e4 ¤xe4 30.£g7+

1-0

Sergey Karjakin (2786) − Valentin Iotov (2553) WCO2014 Tromso (5.23), 06.08.2014

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 £xd5 3.¤c3 £d8!? This

humble retreat has been making a bit of a

comeback lately.

4.d4 ¤f6 5.¤f3 ¥g4 6.h3 ¥xf3 7.£xf3 c6 8.£d3 e6 9.¥e2 ¤bd7 10.0-0 ¥d6 11.¥g5 £c7 12.¤e4 ¥h2+ 13.¢h1 ¥f4 14.¤xf6+ ¤xf6 15.¥xf6 gxf6 16.c4 0-0-0 17.¥f3 ¢b8 18.¦ad1 h5 19.b4 ¦d7 20.b5 c5 21.d5 ¥e5

22.¦de1 h4 23.a4 £a5 24.£a3 £d2 25.¦e3 £b4 26.£a2 exd5

XABCDEFGHY 8-mk-+-+-tr( 7zpp+r+p+-' 6-+-+-zp-+& 5+Pzppvl-+-% 4PwqP+-+-zp$ 3+-+-tRL+P# 2Q+-+-zPP+" 1+-+-+R+K! xabcdefghy

27.¦d3? White could have maintained a small

advantage with 27.¥xd5 ¦xd5 28.cxd5 £f4

29.¦xe5 fxe5 30.¦d1

27...¦hd8 28.¦c1 28.¥xd5 ¦xd5! 29.¦xd5

(29.cxd5 £f4 30.g3 £e4+ 31.¢g1 £xd3) 29...¦xd5 30.cxd5 £f4 31.g3 £f3+ 32.¢g1

hxg3 33.fxg3 ¥d4+ 34.¦f2 £xg3+ 35.¢f1

£xh3+ 36.¢e1 £e3+ 37.¢f1 (37.¦e2 £c1#) 37...£xf2+ 38.£xf2 ¥xf2 39.¢xf2 ¢c7 and

Black wins the pawn ending.

28...dxc4 29.¦xd7 ¦xd7 30.£c2 The pawn on

c4 was taboo: 30.£xc4 ¦d1+! 31.¦xd1

(31.¥xd1 £e1+) 31...£xc4 and Black

effortlessly converts his extra material to a full

point.

30...c3 This monster decides the game.


31.¦d1 £b2 32.¥e4

XABCDEFGHY 8-mk-+-+-+( 7zpp+r+p+-' 6-+-+-zp-+& 5+Pzp-vl-+-% 4P+-+L+-zp$ 3+-zp-+-+P# 2-wqQ+-zPP+" 1+-+R+-+K! xabcdefghy

32...¦d2! 33.¦xd2 cxd2 34.£d1 £d4 and

White resigned.

34...£d4 35.f3 (35.¢g1 ¥g3) 35...£f2 36.¥c2

£e1+ 37.£xe1 dxe1£#

0-1

Bela Khotenashvili (2494) − Valentina Gunina (2524) WCO2014 Tromso (5.14), 06.08.2014

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.¤f3 ¤f6 4.e3 ¥f5 5.¤c3 e6 6.¤h4 ¥g6 7.¥e2 ¤bd7 8.0-0 ¤e4 9.g3 ¤d6 10.cxd5 exd5 11.f3 ¥e7 12.¤xg6 hxg6 13.e4 0-0 14.¥e3 dxe4 15.fxe4 ¥g5 16.¥f2 b5 17.¥d3 ¤b6 18.b3 b4 19.¤a4 ¤xa4 20.bxa4 f5 21.exf5 gxf5 22.£b3+ ¢h8 23.¦ae1 ¥d2 24.¦e5 £d7 25.£d1 ¥h6 26.¦fe1 £f7 27.£c2 ¦ad8 28.¦e7 £h5 29.¦1e5 ¥g5 30.¦7e6 ¥f6 31.¦xd6 ¦xd6 32.¦xf5 £e8 33.£c5 ¦d5 34.¦xd5 cxd5 35.£xd5 g6 36.£c5 ¢g7 37.£xa7+ ¦f7 38.£a6 ¦c7 39.£b5 £e6 40.d5 £g4 41.¢g2 £d1 42.d6 ¦c1

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-+-+( 7+-+-+-mk-' 6-+-zP-vlp+& 5+Q+-+-+-% 4Pzp-+-+-+$ 3+-+L+-zP-# 2P+-+-vLKzP" 1+-trq+-+-! xabcdefghy

43.d7 43.a5 £h1+ 44.¢h3 £a8 45.a6 and

White's passed pawns decide the game in her

favor.

43...£h1+ 44.¢h3 £a8 45.£xb4 £d5 46.£b5 £e6+ 47.¢g2 ¦c7 48.a5 ¦xd7 49.a6 ¥d4 50.£c4 £b6 51.£c8 ¦f7 52.¥xd4+ £xd4 53.£c2 ¦d7 54.¥e2 £e3 55.£c4 ¦f7 56.¢h3 ¦f2

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-+-+( 7+-+-+-mk-' 6P+-+-+p+& 5+-+-+-+-% 4-+Q+-+-+$ 3+-+-wq-zPK# 2P+-+Ltr-zP" 1+-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy

57.£c7+? White could still have a secured a

draw with 57.¥d3 £h6+ (57...£d2 58.£d4+ ¢h7 59.£h4+) 58.£h4 £xh4+ 59.¢xh4 ¦xh2+

60.¢g4 ¦xa2 61.¢f3

57...¢h6 58.¥c4 £g5 Now White's king bears

a striking ressamblance to the proverbial sitting

duck.


59.g4 ¦f3+ 60.¢g2 £xg4+ 61.¢h1 ¦f2 62.£g3 £e4+ 62...£e4+ 63.¢g1 £e1+ 64.¥f1

£xf1#

0-1

Bator Sambuev (2528) − Varuzhan Akobian (2653) WCO2014 Tromso (5.18), 06.08.2014

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤c3 ¥b4 4.e3 0-0 5.¥d3 d5 6.¤f3 c5 7.0-0 dxc4 8.¥xc4 ¤bd7 9.£e2 a6 10.a3 ¥a5 11.a4 b6 12.¦d1 ¥b7 13.d5 exd5 14.¤xd5 ¤xd5 15.¥xd5 £c7 16.e4 ¥xd5 17.¦xd5 ¦fe8 18.¥g5 ¤f8 19.¦ad1 h6 20.¥c1 £c6 21.¤e5 £xa4 22.£f3 ¦e7 23.h4 £e8 24.¤g4

XABCDEFGHY 8r+-+qsnk+( 7+-+-trpzp-' 6pzp-+-+-zp& 5vl-zpR+-+-% 4-+-+P+NzP$ 3+-+-+Q+-# 2-zP-+-zPP+" 1+-vLR+-mK-! xabcdefghy

24...¦xe4? Black still seems to have a

reasonably solid position after 24...¦e6

25.¥xh6! £e6 25...gxh6 26.¤f6+ and White

picks up the queen.

26.¦g5 White is a pawn down, but he now gets

the material back with interest.

26...¤g6 27.h5 ¦f8 27...gxh6 28.¤xh6+ ¢h7

29.hxg6+ fxg6 (29...¢xh6 30.£h5+) 30.¤f5

¦e1+ 31.¢h2 and there's no saving Black's

exposed king.

28.hxg6 fxg6 29.£g3 b5 29...gxh6 30.¤xh6+

¢h7 31.¦d6 was no improvement for Black.

30.¤e3 ¦f6 31.¤d5 ¦f5 32.¦xf5 £xf5

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33.¥g5 Simple and strong. White now simply

threatens Ne7+.

33...¢f7 34.¤e3 £e5 35.¦d7+ ¢g8 36.£f3 £e8 37.¦a7 ¢h7 38.¥f6

1-0


Blunders, upsets and knockouts Annotations: GM Einar Gausel

Elza Hoareau - Ama Edoh WCO2014 Tromso (5.48), 06.08.2014

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16.¥d2? ¤d4 17.£e3 17.£g3 ¤fe2+ and

Black wins everything.

17...£xg2#

0-1

Bator Sambuev (2528) − Varuzhan Akobian (2653) WCO2014 Tromso (5.18), 06.08.2014

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤c3 ¥b4 4.e3 0-0 5.¥d3 d5 6.¤f3 c5 7.0-0 dxc4 8.¥xc4 ¤bd7 9.£e2 a6 10.a3 ¥a5 11.a4 b6 12.¦d1 ¥b7 13.d5 exd5 14.¤xd5 ¤xd5 15.¥xd5 £c7 16.e4 ¥xd5 17.¦xd5 ¦fe8 18.¥g5 ¤f8 19.¦ad1 h6 20.¥c1 £c6 21.¤e5 £xa4 22.£f3 ¦e7 23.h4 £e8 24.¤g4

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24...¦xe4? Black still seems to have a

reasonably solid position after 24...¦e6

25.¥xh6! £e6 25...gxh6 26.¤f6+ and White

picks up the queen.

26.¦g5 White is a pawn down, but he now gets

the material back with interest.

26...¤g6 27.h5 ¦f8 27...gxh6 28.¤xh6+ ¢h7

29.hxg6+ fxg6 (29...¢xh6 30.£h5+) 30.¤f5

¦e1+ 31.¢h2 and there's no saving Black's

exposed king.

28.hxg6 fxg6 29.£g3 b5 29...gxh6 30.¤xh6+

¢h7 31.¦d6 was no improvement for Black.

30.¤e3 ¦f6 31.¤d5 ¦f5 32.¦xf5 £xf5

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-+k+( 7+-+-+-zp-' 6p+-+-+pvL& 5vlpzpN+q+-% 4-+-+r+-+$ 3+-+-+-wQ-# 2-zP-+-zPP+" 1+-+R+-mK-! xabcdefghy

33.¥g5 Simple and strong. White now simply

threatens Ne7+.


33...¢f7 34.¤e3 £e5 35.¦d7+ ¢g8 36.£f3 £e8 37.¦a7 ¢h7 38.¥f6

1-0

Liem Le Quang (2710) − Michael Adams Michael (2740) WCO2014 Tromso (5.9), 06.08.2014

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.¥g2 ¥b4+ 5.¥d2 ¥e7 6.¤f3 c6 7.£b3 0-0 8.0-0 ¤bd7 9.¦c1 a5 10.¥g5 h6 11.¥xf6 ¥xf6 12.¤a3 £e7 13.e3 ¦d8 14.¦ab1 g6 15.£c2 ¥g7 16.¦d1 ¤f6 17.¤e5 ¥d7 18.¤xd7 ¦xd7 19.¦d2 e5 20.dxe5 £xe5 21.¦bd1 ¦ad8 22.cxd5 ¤xd5 23.¤c4 £e6 24.¥xd5 cxd5 25.¤xa5 d4 26.exd4 £xa2 27.¤b3 £a4 28.¦a1 £b4 29.£c3 £b6 30.¦a4 £e6 31.¤c5 £e1+ 32.¢g2 ¦c7 33.¦c2 £e8

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34.¦c4? b5-+ 35.¦b4 ¦xc5! 36.£xc5 ¥f8 37.£xb5 £e4+ 38.¢g1 £xc2 39.¦a4 £b1+ 40.¢g2 £e4+ 41.f3 £c2+ 42.¢h3 £d1 43.f4 h5 44.£c4

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44...¦xd4! 44...¦xd4 45.£xd4 £f1+ 46.¢h4

¥e7+

0-1

Dritan Mehmeti (2416) − Khalil Bengherabi (2170) WCO2014 Tromso (5.31), 06.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-+-mk( 7+-+-+-zp-' 6-zp-+-+-zp& 5+-+-+-+-% 4-zP-+QzP-mK$ 3zP-zP-zp-+-# 2-+-+-+P+" 1+-+-wq-+-! xabcdefghy 42.¢h5? 42.¢g4=

42...£g3! 43.a4 g6+! 43...g6+ 44.£xg6

(44.¢xh6 £h4+ 45.¢xg6 £h7+ 46.¢f6 £xe4) 44...£h2+ 45.¢g4 £xg2+ 46.¢f5 £xg6+

47.¢xg6 e2-+

0-1


Matej Sebenik (2537) − Aryan Tari (2440) WCO2014 Tromso (5.25), 06.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-+-+( 7tR-+-sNpzpk' 6-+-+-sn-zp& 5+-+-+-+-% 4-+-+-+-+$ 3+-+l+QzPP# 2-+-+r+LmK" 1+-wq-+-+-! xabcdefghy

33...¦xg2+! 33...¦xg2+ 34.£xg2 (34.¢xg2 ¥e4) 34...¥e4 35.£g1 £d2+ and mate next

move.

0-1

Lazaro Bruzon Batista (2664) − Maxim Rodshtein (2671) WCO2014 Tromso (5.43), 06.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+R+-+( 7+-+-+-mkp' 6-wq-+-vlp+& 5+-+p+rsN-% 4pzp-+-zP-zP$ 3+-+-+-zP-# 2P+P+Q+-+" 1+-+-+-+K! xabcdefghy 38.¦g8+! 38.¦g8+ ¢xg8 (38...¢h6 39.¤f7#) 39.£e8+ ¢g7 40.£f7+ ¢h8 41.£xh7#

1-0

Marcos Ortiz (2214) − Mircea−Emilian Parligras (2574) WCO2014 Tromso (5.22), 06.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8r+-vLR+-+( 7+p+P+-+-' 6-+-+p+-mK& 5+-+-mk-zP-% 4-+-+-+-zP$ 3+-+-+P+-# 2-+q+-+-+" 1+-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy 42...¢d6? 42...¦xd8 43.¦xd8 £c7 44.¦f8

£xd7 45.g6 £e7 46.g7 £xh4+ 47.¢g6 £g3+

48.¢h7 £h4+=

43.¥f6 ¢xd7 44.¦xa8 e5 45.g6 £c6

XABCDEFGHY 8R+-+-+-+( 7+p+k+-+-' 6-+q+-vLPmK& 5+-+-zp-+-% 4-+-+-+-zP$ 3+-+-+P+-# 2-+-+-+-+" 1+-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy 46.¦f8 [46.¦f8 £xf3 47.g7 £f4+ 48.¥g5+-]

1-0

Photos: Daniel Skog, COT 2014 (Carlsen and Seals) / David Martinez, chess24 (Gelfand)

Bulletin Round 6 -08.08.14

That Carlsen black magic

Blitz and chess playing seals

“Media attention is a tool to get people to chess”

Chess Olympiad Tromsø 2014 – Bulletin Round 6– 08.08.14

Fabiano Caruana and Magnus Carlsen before the start of round 6 Photo: David Llada / COT2014

That Carlsen black magic Norway 1 entertained the home fans with a clean 3-1 over Italy, and with Magnus Carlsen performing some of his patented minimalist magic to defeat a major rival. GM Kjetil Lie put the Norwegians ahead with the kind of robust aggression typical of his best form on board four, and the teams traded wins on boards two and three. All eyes were fixed on the Caruana-Carlsen clash, where Magnus presumably pulled off an opening surprise by adopting the offbeat variation that he himself had faced as White against Nikola Djukic of Montenegro in round three.


Caruana appeared to gain a small but comfortable advantage in a queenless middlegame, but as Carlsen has shown so many times before, the quieter the position, the deadlier he is. In typically hypnotic fashion, the position steadily swung Carlsen's way, and suddenly all of White's pawns were falling like overripe fruit. Carlsen's pleasure with today's work was obvious, as he stopped to high-five colleague Jon Ludvig Hammer on his way into the NRK TV studio.

Norwegian TV host Ole Rolfsrud asked Carlsen how it felt to beat young Caruana, and got a detailed answer.

Carlsen: Well, he's not that young anymore either. He's been around for a few years. But when Wei Yi from China comes up, he will be fun to beat! But

Caruana is number 3 in the world and someone I've lost against a few times, so it feels incredibly good to beat him.

On top board Azerbaijan continues to set the pace, clinching another match victory thanks to two wins with the white pieces, Mamedyarov beating Jobava in a bare-knuckle brawl, and with GM Rauf Mamedov nailing GM Gaioz Nigalidze with a steady technical performance. Radjabov's draw with black on board two provided the Azeris guaranteed match points, and on board four Eltaj Safarli finished the rout with his queen finally overcoming Konstantine Shanava’s rook and bishop in 101 moves.

Serbia-Bulgaria ended 2-2, with former world champion Veselin Topalov tying things up for


Bulgaria on board one in the final game to finish. The match also marked the end of Valentin Iotov's perfect run, after he drew as Black against GM Robert Markus.

The Uzbekistan-Russia match did indeed turn into a win with White contest. After Kasimdzhanov's win over Kramnik was answered by Grischuk's demolition of Filippov, the favorites completed their pair of White wins when Ian Nepomniachtchi beat IM Jahongir Vakhidov on board four.

“I don't think the Uzbek team has any targets. We just show up and we fight” - Rustam Kasimdzhanov on Uzbekistan Fighting chess

The match would be decided by whether GM Marat Dzhumaev could complete the set by converting his advantage against the formidable Peter Svidler. In the end the Russian escaped, and his team took the hard-earned match points.

There were a number of lopsided results, and several favored teams soared up the points table. Cuba nearly blanked Kazakhstan 3.5-0.5, China did the same to Egypt, as did India to Moldova. Croatia, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Latvia all won 3-1 today.

Highly seeded teams that got back to business were #2 Ukraine 3.5-0.5 over Switzerland, #4 Armenia 2.5-1.5-1 vs. 10th seed England, and #6 USA 3-1 against Paraguay. Third seeds France had to settle for four draws against 42nd ranked Bosnia & Herzegovina, and ninth ranked Israel split 2-2 with a tough Canadian team. One of the positive surprises of the event so far, Qatar, ranked only 57th, won again, this time 2.5-1.5 over Greece.

Tomorrow's highlights: The only teams with 11 match points face off on top board - Cuba will play white on the odd-numbered boards against Azerbaijan. There are 10 teams on 10 match points - including second seeded Russia, who meet the Czech Republic, and defending Olympiad champions Armenia, who meet the fifth seeds, Hungary.

Sanitation update: The Tromsø organizers have again responded to criticism of the toilet facilities at the Olympiad.

Press Chief Morgan Lillegård said:

“The 56 portable toilets are of the highest standards in porcelain, and have been shipped from Malmö in Sweden. Based on the feedback,

we realized we had to do something more. We have now doubled the number of cleaning staff - for the second time - and have also made sure that all toilets are much better marked and easier to find.”

Women The first news bulletin is that corrected results revealed that Iran did not in fact lose in this round - though a 2-2 result against lower ranked Greece was probably a disappointment for the over-performing Iranians.

The rest day seemed to have rejuvenated the top teams, and they won in style. China was all business, 3-1 and two white wins against Hungary, Russia deflated Serbia 3.5-0.5, third seed France downed Slovakia 3-1, 8th ranked Poland defeated Netherlands 3-1, 6th seed Romania bounced back with 4-0 over Switzerland, and number 7 USA beat Estonia 3-1 by winning both games with the black pieces.

The only 'perfect perfect' score in the Women's event also ended today, as Peruvian WGM dropped her first half point in six rounds, to English IM Jovanka Houska.

Tomorrow's pairings feature the showpiece of the event - Russia and China clash at last, and the second seeded Russians will have white on the odd numbered boards, possibly a crucial factor when thinking about how to handle the Chinese number one, Yifan Hou, who is in range of catching the formerly untouchable Judit Polgar on the women's rating list.


Annotated games By GM Einar Gausel

Fabiano Caruana (2801) - Magnus Carlsen (2877) WCO2014 Tromso (6.29), 08.08.2014 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 £xd5 3.¤c3 £d8!? Carlsen faced this slightly unusual move in round 3 against Montenergo's GM Nikola Djukic. I expect 3...Qd8 will be getting some serious attention after the present game. 4.d4 ¤f6 5.¤f3 ¥g4 6.h3 ¥xf3 7.£xf3 c6 8.¤e2 e6 9.g4!? £d5 10.¥g2 ¤bd7 11.£g3 £c4 12.£b3 £xb3 13.axb3 ¥d6 14.c4 a6 15.¥e3 0-0-0 16.0-0-0 White's bishops must give him a slight plus here. 16...¦he8 17.¤g3 ¤f8 18.¥f3 Grabbing more space with 18.g5 ¤g8 19.h4 also looked tempting. 18...¤g6 19.h4 ¥f4 20.h5 ¥xe3+ 21.fxe3 ¤e7 22.e4?! White can probably still claim a small edge after either 22.h6 or; 22.g5 ¤d7 23.¥g4 22...h6 Securing a future outpost on g5 for one of Black's knights. 23.e5 ¤h7 24.¤e4 ¦f8 25.¤d6+ This knight might look impressive, but it's actually not doing a whole lot once Black manages to break with f7-f6. 25...¢c7 26.¥g2 ¤g5 27.¦hf1?! In retrospect 27.¤e4 looked like a better idea. Black now slowly, but surely takes control over the proceedings. 27...f6 28.¢c2 fxe5 29.dxe5 ¤c8 30.c5 ¤e7

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-tr-tr-+0 7+pmk-sn-zp-0 6p+psNp+-zp0 5+-zP-zP-snP0 4-+-+-+P+0 3+P+-+-+-0 2-zPK+-+L+0 1+-+R+R+-0 xabcdefghy

31.b4? 31.¢d3 ¤d5 32.¥h1 looked like a better try for White. 31...¤d5 32.¥xd5 32.¢b3 ¤e3 33.¦xf8 ¦xf8 34.¦d2 ¤xg4 and White has no compensation for the missing pawn. 32...cxd5 Now Black's simple idea is Nf3 followed by Nxe5. 33.b5 axb5 34.¤xb5+ ¢c6 35.¤d6

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-tr-tr-+0 7+p+-+-zp-0 6-+ksNp+-zp0 5+-zPpzP-snP0 4-+-+-+P+0 3+-+-+-+-0 2-zPK+-+-+0 1+-+R+R+-0 xabcdefghy

35...¤f3 Carlsen converts his advantage to a full point with trademark precision.


36.b4 ¦a8 37.¦a1 ¦xa1 38.¦xa1 ¤xe5 39.¦a7 ¦b8 40.¦a3 b6 41.¦a7 bxc5 42.¦a6+ ¢c7 43.bxc5 ¤d7 44.¦a7+ ¢c6 45.g5 ¤xc5 46.¤f7 d4 47.¤e5+ ¢d5 48.¤d7 d3+ 49.¢c1 ¤xd7 50.¦xd7+ ¢e4 0-1 Alexander Grischuk (2795) – Anton Filippov (2615) WCO2014 Tromso (6.6), 08.08.2014 1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 ¥b4+ 4.¤bd2 0-0 5.a3 ¥e7 6.e4 d5 7.e5 ¤fd7 8.¥d3 c5 9.£c2 h6 10.0-0 ¤c6 11.¤b3 cxd4 12.¦e1 £b6 13.¥f4 a5 14.¦ad1 ¤c5 15.¤xc5 £xc5 16.£e2 ¦d8 17.h4 ¢f8 18.¦c1 £b6 19.cxd5 exd5

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+ltr-mk-+0 7+p+-vlpzp-0 6-wqn+-+-zp0 5zp-+pzP-+-0 4-+-zp-vL-zP0 3zP-+L+N+-0 2-zP-+QzPP+0 1+-tR-tR-mK-0 xabcdefghy

20.¤g5! White unleashes the dogs of war. 20...hxg5 21.£h5 ¢e8 22.e6! Renewing the threat of mate on h8. Black has no choice but to take on e6. 22...¥xe6 23.¦xe6 gxf4 23...g6 24.¦xg6 fxg6 25.¥xg6+ ¢d7 26.£g4# 24.¥f5! This seemingly quiet move seals the deal. White now threatens Qh8+ followed by Rexc6 mate.

24...g6

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-trk+-+0 7+p+-vlp+-0 6-wqn+R+p+0 5zp-+p+L+Q0 4-+-zp-zp-zP0 3zP-+-+-+-0 2-zP-+-zPP+0 1+-tR-+-mK-0 xabcdefghy

25.¦xg6! £c7 25...fxg6 26.£xg6+ ¢f8 27.¥e6 and White delivers mate on f7. 26.¦e1! White brings his last piece into the attack. 26...fxg6 27.£h8+ ¢f7 28.¥e6# 1-0


Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2743) – Baadur Jobava (2713) WCO2014 Tromso (6.25), 08.08.2014 1.d4 d6 2.¤f3 ¤f6 3.c4 c6 4.¤c3 ¥f5 5.d5 h6 6.g3 c5 7.¤h4 ¥h7 8.f4 ¦g8 9.¤f3 ¤e4 10.£c2 £a5 11.¥d2 ¤g5 12.£b3 ¤xf3+ 13.exf3 ¤d7 14.¥h3 0-0-0 15.¤b5 £a6 16.0-0 g5 17.¦fe1 ¢b8 18.a4 ¤f6 19.a5 g4 20.fxg4 ¤xg4 21.£a4 h5

XIIIIIIIIY 8-mk-tr-vlr+0 7zpp+-zpp+l0 6q+-zp-+-+0 5zPNzpP+-+p0 4Q+P+-zPn+0 3+-+-+-zPL0 2-zP-vL-+-zP0 1tR-+-tR-mK-0 xabcdefghy

22.b4 Both players are flinging pawns forward to open up lines against the enemy king. 22...h4 Black may have been able to put up more of a fight with 22...e6 , but he was already in serious trouble. 23.¦ac1! Now White simply threatens Nc7 followed by b5 trapping the black queen. 23...cxb4 24.¥xg4 ¦xg4 25.¥e3 b6 25...hxg3 26.¥xa7+ ¢c8 (26...¢a8 27.¤c7+) 27.c5 and White's forces come crashing through. 26.£d1 A tempting alternative was the brutal 26.¤c7 £b7 27.axb6 axb6 28.¤a6+ ¢c8 29.c5 bxc5 30.¥xc5+-

26...£c8 27.axb6 hxg3 28.h3 Keeping the kingside closed just long enough for White to finish the job on the other side of the board. 28...¦h4 29.£a4 £d7

XIIIIIIIIY 8-mk-tr-vl-+0 7zp-+qzpp+l0 6-zP-zp-+-+0 5+N+P+-+-0 4QzpP+-zP-tr0 3+-+-vL-zpP0 2-+-+-+-+0 1+-tR-tR-mK-0 xabcdefghy

30.c5 ¦xh3 30...dxc5 31.bxa7+ ¢a8 32.¦xc5 ¦c8 33.¦xc8+ £xc8 34.¤c7+ £xc7 35.£e8+ ¢b7 36.a8£# 31.f5 ¥xf5 32.c6 a5 33.£xa5 1-0


Rustam Kasimdzhanov (2700) – Vladimir Kramnik (2760) WCO2014 Tromso (6.5), 08.08.2014 1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 d5 4.¤c3 ¤bd7 5.¥f4 dxc4 6.e3 ¥d6 7.¥xd6 cxd6 8.¥xc4 a6 9.a4 d5 10.¥d3 b6 11.0-0 0-0 12.£b3 £e7 13.¦ac1 ¥b7 14.¦c2 ¦fc8 15.¦fc1 £d6 16.¤e5 ¤xe5 17.dxe5 £xe5 18.£xb6 ¦cb8 19.¤e2 ¤d7 20.£d4 £d6 21.f4 e5 22.fxe5 ¤xe5 23.£f4 £e7 24.¦c7 £e8 25.¥f5 ¤c4

XIIIIIIIIY 8rtr-+q+k+0 7+ltR-+pzpp0 6p+-+-+-+0 5+-+p+L+-0 4P+n+-wQ-+0 3+-+-zP-+-0 2-zP-+N+PzP0 1+-tR-+-mK-0 xabcdefghy

26.¥d7! £f8 26...£xe3+ 27.£xe3 ¤xe3 28.¤d4 a5 (28...¤c4 29.¤c6 ¥xc6 30.¥xc6) 29.b3 h5 30.h3 and the trapped knight on e3 will perish in enemy territory. 27.b3 ¤b6 28.¥f5 d4

XIIIIIIIIY 8rtr-+-wqk+0 7+ltR-+pzpp0 6psn-+-+-+0 5+-+-+L+-0 4P+-zp-wQ-+0 3+P+-zP-+-0 2-+-+N+PzP0 1+-tR-+-mK-0 xabcdefghy

29.¦xf7! ¢xf7 30.¥xh7+ 30.¥xh7+ ¢e8 (30...¢e7 31.£e5+) 31.¥g6+ ¢d7 32.£c7+ ¢e6 33.£xb6+ £d6 (33...¢e5 34.exd4+ ¢d5 35.¤c3#) 34.¤f4+ ¢e7 35.¦c7+ £xc7 36.£xc7+ ¢f6 37.£d6+ ¢g5 38.£e5+ ¢h6 39.£h5# 1–0


Blitz action on the rest day in the Polaria Museum next to the Olympiad venue.

Blitz and chess playing seals Many Olympiad participants were unable to stay away from chess even though it was a rest day. The Arctic experience centre Polaria hosted over 90 players at yesterday’s blitz – and showed off some chess-playing seals!

Text and Photos: Daniel Skog

If you're hooked, you're hooked – and several Olympiad participants and locals attended the chess day at Polaria, just a stone’s throw away from the Olympiad arena.

One of them was Sigurd Rushfeldt, a Norwegian football legend, chess enthusiast and official COT 2014 ambassador.

In the first round, Rushfeldt lost to Israeli GM Victor Mikhalevski. However, he got back on his feet in the second round and won his game against Wendell Meusa from Barbados. In the final standings Rushfeldt ended up with 3/9, while Jahongir Vakhidov from Uzbekistan won the whole event with 8/9, half a point ahead of GM Maxim Turov and FM Ulugbek Tillyaev.

The two chess-playing seals were also quite an attraction – demonstrating amazing chess prowess!


Boris Gelfand, Israel. Photo: David Martinez / chess24

Gelfand: “Media attention is a tool to get people to chess” Boris Gelfand is one of the true legends of the game. In Round 2 yesterday the 46-year-old made his Tromsø 2014 Olympiad debut. It was a success, and his win against GM Farrukh Amonatov (2590) helped Israel to victory against Tajikistan 3.5-0.5. Afterwards he gave an interview to the official website.

Interviewed by Tarjei Joten Svensen

We got a chance to ask the friendly world title challenger a few questions shortly after his game:

Tarjei J Svensen: Boris, what has been your impression of the event so far?

Boris Gelfand: It's my eleventh Olympiad! It's always good to be back. It's not just a big tournament. I’m sure that on the chess board whatever happens I’ll play the strongest opposition. But it’s also a unique opportunity to meet friends from all over the world who you may meet only once in two years.

You were here in August for the World Cup as well. How do you like Tromsø?

Tromsø is very nice! Last year I liked walking in the forest – it was incredible! From the Scandic Hotel to the forest. The forests, mountains and lakes are really unbelievable natural beauty. And the view

from my room – breathtaking! OK, that was last year, and now the construction of my room is a bit strange.

So what do you do in-between the games, do you get to see the city?

Yes, but I feel that the central part of the city I more or less know already from last year. I rest and have a walk, chat with my friends mostly.

What are the expectations for the Israeli team in this event?

I don't know! We are rated ninth, we were very successful in the Olympiads in Dresden and Khanty-Mansiysk and we have a good team. We’ll do our best.


As you probably know, the media attention for chess in Norway now is enormous - what do you think about that?

It's good, very good! But I think it's important to focus on chess, the game itself and not on the glamour and things, which I think in this sense can never compete with our activities. But in the public here I know more and more people are buying chess sets and that people are following

the games everywhere. This is really an achievement.

I have my ideas. It's not important if chess is mentioned if it doesn't have consequences. The consequences are important. Media attention in my opinion is a tool – to get people to chess, to show the beauty of our game, to show the advantages for people, and especially children, in life. This is the key. Attention for the sake of attention has no meaning for me.

Puzzles of the day By GM Einar Gausel

White to move and win

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+k+0 7+-+-+-zpp0 6-+r+q+-+0 5+-+-vL-+-0 4-+-zpn+-+0 3+Q+-+-+-0 2-+-+-+PzP0 1+-+-+RmK-0 xabcdefghy

1.¥d6!! ¦xd6 1...¤xd6 2.£xe6+; 1...£xb3 2.¦f8 mate 2.£b8+ and White mates. 1-0 (N.N. 1911)

White mates in 3 moves

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-mK-+-+0 7+-+-+-+-0 6-+-mk-+-+0 5+-+-+-+-0 4-+-zp-+-+0 3zP-+P+-+-0 2-+-+-+-+0 1+-tR-tR-+-0 xabcdefghy

1.¦c8! ¢d5 2.¢c7! ¢c5 3.¦e5 mate. 1-0 (Abbott 1890)


Blunders, upsets brilliancies By GM Einar Gausel

Michael Webb − Geoffrey Mwanyika (1922) WCO2014 Tromso (6.39), 08.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8Rsnktr-+-+( 7+-zp-+-+-' 6-zp-+-wq-+& 5+-+-+pzpQ% 4-+-zPr+-+$ 3+-zP-zP-zP-# 2-+-+NzPP+" 1tR-+-+-mK-! xabcdefghy

28.¦1a7? White must surely be winning after

28.¤c1

28...¦h8 29.£f3 g4 Now White's unfortunate

queen finds herself trapped.

30.£f4 ¦xf4 31.¤xf4 £h6 32.¢f1 £c6 33.¦a3 £c4+ 34.¢e1 ¦h1+ 35.¢d2 £f1 36.¦8a7 £d1#

0-1

Frode Urkedal (2500) − David Navara (2716) WCO2014 Tromso (6.5), 08.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8r+l+-tr-mk( 7zpp+n+p+p' 6-+-+-zp-+& 5+L+-wq-+-% 4-+-sNP+-+$ 3+-+Q+-+-# 2P+-+-zPPzP" 1tR-+-+K+R! xabcdefghy

16.¦e1? This slip loses a piece.

16...¤c5 17.£e3 ¤e6 17...¤e6 18.¤xe6

£xb5+ 19.¢g1 ¥xe6-+

0-1

Galina Melnik (2017) − Tiumi Yashora (1715) WCO2014 Tromso (6.15), 08.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8r+-+-+-mk( 7+p+q+-zpp' 6p+-zp-+r+& 5zP-zpPzp-+-% 4-+-+N+-sn$ 3+-zP-+P+-# 2-zP-wQ-+PzP" 1tR-+-+RmK-! xabcdefghy 20.¦f2? ¦xg2+! 20...¦xg2+ 21.¢h1 (21.¦xg2 ¤xf3+ 22.¢h1 ¤xd2) 21...¤xf3-+

0-1


Enrico Grassi (2020) − Joseph Caluag WCO2014 Tromso (6.12), 08.08.2014

1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥c4 ¥c5 4.b4 ¥xb4 5.c3 ¥c5 6.d4 exd4 7.0-0 d6 8.cxd4 ¥b6 9.¤c3 ¤ge7?! 10.¤g5 d5 [10...0-0 11.£h5+-]

11.exd5 ¤a5 12.d6! ¤xc4 13.£a4+ £d7 14.£xc4 ¤f5 15.¦e1+ ¢f8

XABCDEFGHY 8r+l+-mk-tr( 7zppzpq+pzpp' 6-vl-zP-+-+& 5+-+-+nsN-% 4-+QzP-+-+$ 3+-sN-+-+-# 2P+-+-zPPzP" 1tR-vL-tR-mK-! xabcdefghy

16.¦e7! ¤xd6 16...¤xe7 17.£xf7#

17.¦xd7 ¤xc4 18.¦d8+ ¢e7 19.¦xh8 The

smoke has cleared, and White is up a rook.

19...¥xd4 20.¤d5+ ¢d6 21.¦d8+ ¢c5 22.¤e4+

1-0

Kjetil A. Lie (2528) − Sabino Brunello (2560) WCO2014 Tromso (6.32), 08.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8-+r+kvl-tr( 7+-+-+pzpp' 6p+p+lsn-+& 5wqp+-zP-+-% 4-+-+-vL-+$ 3+-sN-+-wQ-# 2PzPP+L+PzP" 1+-mKRtR-+-! xabcdefghy 15...b4? Not surprisingly, allowing White to

open the center spells disaster for Black's king.

15...¤d5

16.exf6 bxc3

XABCDEFGHY 8-+r+kvl-tr( 7+-+-+pzpp' 6p+p+lzP-+& 5wq-+-+-+-% 4-+-+-vL-+$ 3+-zp-+-wQ-# 2PzPP+L+PzP" 1+-mKRtR-+-! xabcdefghy 17.¥c4! Now there's no saving Black's king.

17...gxf6 18.£g4 18.£g4 ¥e7 (18...f5 19.¦xe6+! fxe6 20.£h5+ ¢e7 21.¥g5#) 19.¦xe6! fxe6 20.£xe6 cxb2+ 21.¢b1 ¦f8

22.£d7#

1-0


Parimarjan Negi (2645) − Viktor Bologan (2654) WCO2014 Tromso (6.21), 08.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8r+-+-+rmk( 7zppzpq+n+p' 6-+-vllzp-+& 5+-zp-zpNzp-% 4-+-+P+P+$ 3+-+PvLNtRQ# 2PzPP+-zP-zP" 1+-+-+-tRK! xabcdefghy 24.£g2! White prepares to open the h−file with

a pawn break on h4.

24...£a4 25.h4 gxh4 26.¤5xh4 ¥e7 27.¤f5 £d7 28.£h2 ¥xf5 29.gxf5 29.gxf5 ¤g5

(29...¥d6 30.£xh7+! ¢xh7 31.¦h3+ ¤h6 32.¦xh6#) 30.¥xg5 fxg5 31.¤xe5+-

1-0



No day to be favorite… Arkadij Najditsch beat Norwegian World Champion Magnus Carlsen

securing the victory for Germany.


Favorites Russia are of course never far from the center of attention Photo: David Llada / COT2014

Not late, not here In yesterday's reports we mentioned the misadventures of the Burundi players - specifically the Women's team and board two from the Open team - who were absent at the start of play for Round 6. Today there were no 'normal' zero tolerance losses, as Chief Arbiter Takis Nikolopoulos created a grace period by making a series of announcements at the end of the countdown.


However, there were missing persons. The players from Burundi who missed the sixth round were again nowhere to be found at the start of play. The organizers are investigating.

Golden tickets One of the recent announcements was that the organizers of the Qatar Masters Open 2014 will be drawing 10 'golden tickets' to the event during the Olympiad. Men rated over 2300 and women over 2200 can enter at a table at the player exit. Five men rated above 2300 and 5 women over 2200 will get entry to the Qatar Open 2014, free accommodation with full board in a 5-star hotel (25th November to 5th December) plus air tickets provided by the organizers!

Norwegian state broadcasters NRK requested and received a shuffling of tables in order to get the pairings they wanted on camera today. This meant a surprising change of geography in the

top section of the playing hall, and I spotted one of the Chinese women arriving and automatically sitting down at the wrong, but usual table.

The table one Open match, between sole leaders Azerbaijan and Cuba, had been moved to the edge of the top playing area, and the Russia-China women's clash was shifted into the center, where there is room between the boards for cameras.

So today's live national TV coverage focused on Norway's top teams and the top Women's duel, with the Open event relegated to occasional checks - demonstrating that Norwegian audiences want maximum drama, and are not biased to expect this from the “men's” event.


Early action China was involved in the early drama of Round 7. In the Open section, leader Liren Ding delivered an early and violent knockout against Serbian board one Milos Petrunovic. Not long afterwards they doubled their lead when prodigy Yi Wei beat A Indjic on board four. In the crunch women's match, China's number one, Yifan Hou lost the exchange early against Russia's recent acquisition, Kateryna Lagno, and despite reacting resourcefully, did not appear to have full compensation.

Cuba have managed to work their way to the top of the table without attracting much attention, but GM Lenier Dominguez Perez changed all that by setting off a large amount of beautiful sacrificial fireworks in the face of Azeri number one Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. The Cuban world number 11 landed a left, then a right, and a knockout blow in a truly spectacular combinational finish.

The Iranian women took an early lead against the other surprise performer of the event, with WGM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh winning on board two against Indonesian WGM Medina Aulia. This

could be a key result as the Indonesians are higher rated on the top two, but lower on three and four - though the teams are very evenly matched.

Absent from India The 19th seeded Indian team has had a good start to the Tromsø 2014 Olympiad - their top four boards are all overperforming - and going into Round 7 they were in 14th place. But on a day where the reporting team has been looking at the halftime statistics, we wondered - how strong could India have been? If they were reinforced with their top missing players - former world champion Vishy Anand and current world number 26 Pendyala Harikrishna - India's average for their top four rated players would be 2706 - and make them the fourth seeds.

A query about their absence on Twitter gathered some reactions from Indian fans and players, including this from star chess app programmer Asim Perreira

“Anand has always disliked the "random" nature of the Oly format and rarely played. Hari has his own reasons, maybe AICF being one.”

Watch the Olympiad live with the chess24 app With more than 600 games each round it's a real challenge to keep up with the action from the Chess Olympiad, especially if you can't stay glued to your monitor all day long. The solution? chess24, the official broadcast partner of the Olympiad, has apps for both iOS and Android that provide by far the best mobile viewing experience. You can follow every single game live and even watch all the video commentary by Jan Gustafsson, Lawrence Trent, Einar Gausel and an array of star guests. And best of all: it's free


Arkadij Najditsch beat Norwegian World Champion Magnus Carlsen securing the victory for Germany. Photo: Georgios Souleidis / chess24

No day to be favorite… By GM Jonathan Tisdall

The decision of national Norwegian TV to showcase the women's event paid off with a dramatic showdown between the big favorites, China and Russia. Russia's new number one, Kateryna Lagno, brutally upset women's world number two Yifan Hou. With China under pressure on board four as well, it looked as if the fate of the gold medals could already be decided today, and WGM Olga Girya sealed a 3-1 win for Russia with a victory on the bottom table against WGM Zhongyi Tan.

In the previous Olympiad Russia edged out China on tiebreak, both teams scoring 19 match points, but the 2010 Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk showed the kind of performance that might be required for gold, Russia posting a perfect 22 over the 11 rounds. Dresden 2008 was full of shock results, and ended with Georgia taking the gold from Ukraine on tiebreak, both scoring 'just' 18 match points.

Azerbaijan struck back to level the top Open match, winning on board four against Cuba to neutralize Dominguez' flashy win over Mamedyarov on board two. Azerbaijan then snatched both match points and moved into sole first by winning on board two, with Teimour Radjabov beating Lazaro Bruzon Batista in a deceptively tricky rook ending.

Even more dramatic were developments on the second table, where top seeds Russia were facing the 16th ranked Czech Republic. Disaster loomed for the favorites after David Navara toppled Alexander Grischuk in energetic fashion on board one, and Viktor Laznicka guaranteed the Czechs at least a draw by downing Peter Svidler with black to sweep the top boards. When Czech GM Zbynek Hracek liquidated to a draw against Sergei Karjakin, the match was secured for the underdogs, who closed out with another draw to make it 3-1.


Russia has now dropped four match points. Checking the statistics of the last three Olympiads, which share the 11-round format, the winner has never scored less than 19/22 match points - in Istanbul 2012 Armenia and Russia reached this total, and Armenia won on tie-break - in Khanty-Mansiysk only the Ukraine scored 19, and in Dresden 2008, only Armenia. Although there are signs that Tromsø could be an unusually even Olympiad, the pressure on the top seeds must now be immense, with 18 match points now being their maximum score.

The next sensation was the shaky collapse of World Champion Magnus Carlsen. Locals were glued to their TV sets in confused horror as their hero, playing White against German first board Arkadij Naiditsch, began gradually turning a clear advantage into a situation of real danger. The Norwegian's normally fearsome technique was absent, and it was clear at the end of the first session that he would need all his vaunted technical skills to avoid defeat. All the other games in the match were drawn, and Naiditsch clinched the match for Germany.

Naiditsch: He started to panic. It was a little bit strange to see him so nervous... I have been as lucky as Magnus Carlsen usually is.

How eventful was the 7th round of the Chess Olympiad? Well, how often do both top seeded teams, and both world champions lose on the same day?

In other action ... China's disappointment in the Women's event was avenged in full in the Open, with China adding a third win to complete a 3.5-0.5 mauling of Serbia. Bulgaria continue to fight at the top, beating the Netherlands 3-1, with their hot man Valentin Iotov running his score up to 6.5/7 by beating Sergei Tiviakov, and GM Krasimir Rusev downing Loek van Wely.

Defending champions Armenia dropped another match point, this one to Hungary, despite Levon Aronian's win over the usually indestructible Peter Leko. Csaba Bologh evened things up by beating Gabriel Sargissian and the other boards were drawn. Third seeds France took the up elevator, beating Georgia 3-1, boosted by a successful grinding win in a Q+a-pawn vs Q ending by Vachier-Lagrave over Baadur Jobava.

The 6th seeded USA began what could be a fight back to the top of the table - with GM Sam Shankland running up his score to 6/6 on fourth board, and with leader and world number five Hikaru Nakamura doubling their early lead over Uzbekistan by beating Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Down on table 12, Ukraine belatedly showed their strength by overrunning Kazakhstan by the same score.

The other top matches in the Women's section were grimly even. Poland-France, Armenia-USA, and Indonesia-Iran all ended in 2-2 deadlocks. The rest of the top seeds posted results that should return them to the thick of the fray: 3rd seed Ukraine and 4th seed Georgia won 3-1, against Kazakhstan and Serbia, respectively. The 5th seeded Indian team turned in an impressive 3.5-0.5 rout of 16th ranked Netherlands.

Burundi update The organizers have now issued a press release regarding the regularly absent players from Burundi - their women's team, and second board for their Open team, Tony Nininahazwe - face exclusion from the event. Norwegian newspaper VG reported that the location of the players is unknown, and that a security group from the organization were discussing the case.

The organizers said that a follow-up press conference would be convened if they learned anything more.



Magnus Carlsen (2877) - Arkadij Naiditsch (2709) WCO2014 Tromso (7.29), 09.08.2014 1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤c3 ¥b4 4.¤f3 c5 5.g3 0-0 6.¥g2 cxd4 7.¤xd4 d5 8.cxd5 ¤xd5 9.£b3 ¤c6 10.¤xc6 bxc6 11.0-0 £a5 12.¤e4 ¥a6 13.£c2 h6 14.a3 ¥e7 15.b4 £b5 15...¥xb4 16.axb4 £xa1 17.¥b2 £a2 18.¤d2 ¤xb4 19.£c3 e5 20.¦a1 £e6 21.£xb4 ¥xe2 22.¦e1 a5 23.£c3 ¥b5 24.¦xe5 leaves White with a clear edge. Black is doing OK in terms of material, but White's pieces are extremely active. 16.¦e1 £c4 17.£b2 c5 18.¤xc5 ¥f6 18...¥xc5 19.bxc5 £xc5 didn't look like much fun for Black as White's pair of bishops would give him a long−term advantage. 19.£a2 ¦ac8 19...¥xa1 20.£xa1 would give White excellent compensation for the exchange due to his two bishops and strong knight on c5. However, the ending after; 19...¤c3 20.£xc4 ¥xc4 21.¥xa8 ¦xa8 22.¥b2 ¤xe2+ 23.¦xe2 ¥xe2 24.¥xf6 gxf6 certainly looks better for Black than the game continuation. 20.e4 ¤c3 21.£xc4 ¥xc4 22.e5 ¥e7 23.¥d2?! White simply seems to be a healthy pawn up after 23.¥e3 23...¤e2+ 24.¢h1 ¤d4 25.¦ac1 ¥d5 26.¥xd5 exd5 This pawn might look weak, but Black manages to create an amazing amount of counterplay with it. 27.¤d7 ¦xc1 28.¦xc1 ¦d8 29.¤c5 ¥xc5 30.¦xc5 ¤f3 "Now the position is quite tricky", Naiditsch told Jan Gustafsson and Lawrence Trent in the Chess24 studio after the game. 31.¥c3 g5! Is it possible that Carlsen missed this? Now the knight becomes a permanent thorn in White's side. 32.h3 h5 33.¢g2 g4 34.b5 ¦d7 35.¦c8+ ¢h7 36.¥a5 d4 37.hxg4 hxg4

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+R+-+-+0 7zp-+r+p+k0 6-+-+-+-+0 5vLP+-zP-+-0 4-+-zp-+p+0 3zP-+-+nzP-0 2-+-+-zPK+0 1+-+-+-+-0 xabcdefghy

38.e6? At this stage Carlsen was in serious trouble on the clock. 38.¦c7 ¦xc7 39.¥xc7 d3 40.¢f1 ¤d4 41.¢e1 ¤xb5 42.¥d6 ¢g6 43.¢d2 ¢f5 44.¢xd3 ¢e6 45.¥b4 ¢xe5 46.a4 and a draw seems more

than likely. 38...fxe6 39.¦c7 ¦xc7 40.¥xc7 d3 41.¢f1 ¤d4 42.¢e1 ¤xb5 43.¥b8 ¤xa3 44.¢d2 44.¥xa7 ¤c4 45.¥c5 ¢g6 46.¥b4 ¢f5 47.¥c5 ¢e4 48.¥b4 ¢f3 49.¥c5 e5 50.¥a7 e4 51.¥d4 e3 52.fxe3 ¢xg3 leads to a trivial win for Black. 44...a5 45.¢xd3 ¢g6 46.¢e4 a4 47.¥e5 ¤c4 48.¥c3 a3 49.¢f4 ¢h5 50.f3 e5+ 51.¢e4

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+-+0 7+-+-+-+-0 6-+-+-+-+0 5+-+-zp-+k0 4-+n+K+p+0 3zp-vL-+PzP-0 2-+-+-+-+0 1+-+-+-+-0 xabcdefghy

51...¤d6+ 52.¢e3 52.¢xe5 gxf3 and one of the black pawns will queen.


52...¢g5 53.fxg4 e4 54.¢d2 ¤b5 55.¥e5 ¢xg4 56.¢e3 ¢f5 57.¥a1 ¤d6 58.¢d2 ¢g4 59.¢e3 a2 60.¥c3 ¢xg3 61.¥a1 ¢g4 62.¢d2 ¢f3 62...¢f3 63.¢e1 e3 64.¢f1 e2+ 65.¢e1 ¤e4 66.¥b2 ¤c5 67.¢d2 ¢f2 68.¥d4+ ¢f1 and the e−pawn queens. 0-1 David Navara (2716) - Alexander Grischuk (2795) WCO2014 Tromso (7.21), 09.08.2014 1.¤f3 c5 2.e4 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤f6 5.¤c3 a6 6.h3 e6 7.g4 h6 8.¥g2 ¥e7 9.¥e3 ¤c6 10.f4 ¤d7 11.0-0 ¤xd4 12.£xd4 0-0 13.£d2 ¦b8 14.¦ad1 b5 15.¤e2 £c7 16.f5 ¤f6 17.¤g3 ¦e8 18.¥d4 e5 19.¥e3 ¥b7

XIIIIIIIIY 8-tr-+r+k+0 7+lwq-vlpzp-0 6p+-zp-sn-zp0 5+p+-zpP+-0 4-+-+P+P+0 3+-+-vL-sNP0 2PzPPwQ-+L+0 1+-+R+RmK-0 xabcdefghy 20.¥xh6!? gxh6 21.£xh6 ¤h7 22.f6 ¥f8 23.£h5 £c5+ 24.¢h2 £e3 25.h4 £h6 26.£xh6 ¥xh6 27.g5 ¥f8? This leads to serious trouble. Black is still in the game after 27...¦ec8 28.g6! ¥h6? 28...fxg6 runs into 29.f7+; Black's best try was still 28...¦ec8 29.¤f5 ¥f4+

XIIIIIIIIY 8-tr-+r+k+0 7+l+-+p+n0 6p+-zp-zPP+0 5+p+-zpN+-0 4-+-+Pvl-zP0 3+-+-+-+-0 2PzPP+-+LmK0 1+-+R+R+-0 xabcdefghy

30.¦xf4! ¤xf6 30...exf4 esthetically pleasing 31.¤h6+ ¢h8 32.g7# 31.gxf7+ After massive exchanges White obtains a winning endgame. 31...¢xf7 32.¤xd6+ ¢e7 33.¤xe8 exf4 34.¤xf6 ¢xf6 35.¦d6+ ¢e5 36.¦b6 f3 37.¥xf3 ¦f8 38.¢g3 ¥xe4 39.¥xe4 ¢xe4 40.¦e6+ 1-0 Kateryna Lagno (2540) − Yifan Hou (2661) WCO2014 Tromso (7.25), 09.08.2014 1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 d5 4.¤c3 ¥b4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.¥g5 ¤bd7 7.£c2 c5 8.g3!? The most common continuations are 8.e3 and; 8.dxc5 . The text is quite logical, though, as Bg2 will put d5 under pressure. 8...h6 9.¥f4 0-0 10.¥g2 b6 11.0-0 ¥b7?! 11...¥a6 was clearly preferable. 12.¤b5 ¥c6? Now things go from bad to worse. 13.¤c7 White is winning material by force. 13...¦c8 14.a3 ¥a5


XIIIIIIIIY 8-+rwq-trk+0 7zp-sNn+pzp-0 6-zpl+-sn-zp0 5vl-zpp+-+-0 4-+-zP-vL-+0 3zP-+-+NzP-0 2-zPQ+PzPLzP0 1tR-+-+RmK-0 xabcdefghy

15.b4 ¤e4 16.dxc5 bxc5 17.bxa5 ¦xc7 18.¥xc7 £xc7 19.¤d2 f5 20.¦ac1 ¢h8 21.f3 ¤xd2 22.£xd2 f4 23.gxf4 ¦xf4 24.e3 ¦a4 25.f4 £xa5 26.¦fd1 ¤b6 27.£b2 ¦xa3 28.f5 ¦a2 29.£e5 £b4 30.e4 ¤c4 31.£c3 £b7 The grim alternative was a lost ending. 32.exd5 ¦xg2+ 33.¢xg2 ¥xd5+ 34.¢g1 ¥f7 35.f6 £e4 36.fxg7+ ¢h7

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+-+0 7zp-+-+lzPk0 6-+-+-+-zp0 5+-zp-+-+-0 4-+n+q+-+0 3+-wQ-+-+-0 2-+-+-+-zP0 1+-tRR+-mK-0 xabcdefghy

37.g8£+! ¢xg8 37...¥xg8 38.¦d7+ ¢g6 39.¦g7+ with a quick mate to follow. 38.¦d8+ ¢h7 39.¦h8+ ¢g6 40.£g3+ 40.£g3+ ¢f5 (40...¢h5 41.£h3+ ¢g5 42.£xh6+) 41.¦f1+ ¢e6 42.¦xh6+ ¢d7 43.¦xf7+ 1-0

Leinier Dominguez Perez (2760) - Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2743) WCO2014 Tromso (7.37), 09.08.2014 1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤f6 5.¤c3 a6 6.f3 £b6 7.g4 ¤c6 8.¤b3 e6 9.£e2 £c7 10.¥e3 b5 11.0-0-0 ¤d7 12.£f2 ¤ce5 13.¢b1 ¥e7 14.¦g1 g5 15.h4 h6 16.¦h1 ¦g8 17.hxg5 hxg5 18.¦h3 ¦b8 19.¤d4 b4 20.¤a4 ¤f6 21.b3 ¥d7 22.¥xa6 d5 23.£h2 ¥d6 24.£e2 £a5

XIIIIIIIIY 8-tr-+k+r+0 7+-+l+p+-0 6L+-vlpsn-+0 5wq-+psn-zp-0 4Nzp-sNP+P+0 3+P+-vLP+R0 2P+P+Q+-+0 1+K+R+-+-0 xabcdefghy

25.¦h6 ¢e7? 25...¥e7 looked like Black's best try. After the text move White's attack quickly becomes overwhelming. 26.exd5 ¥xa4 27.dxe6! fxe6 28.bxa4 ¤d5

XIIIIIIIIY 8-tr-+-+r+0 7+-+-mk-+-0 6L+-vlp+-tR0 5wq-+nsn-zp-0 4Pzp-sN-+P+0 3+-+-vLP+-0 2P+P+Q+-+0 1+K+R+-+-0 xabcdefghy

29.¤c6+! White puts an end to the proceedings with a series of brutal blows. 29...¤xc6 30.¥xg5+! ¢f8 30...¦xg5 31.£xe6+ ¢d8 32.£xd6+ ¢e8 33.¦e1+ ¤ce7 34.¦h8+ ¢f7


35.£e6+ ¢g7 36.¦h7+ ¢xh7 37.£f7+ ¢h8 38.¦h1+ ¦h5 39.¦xh5#

31.£xe6 31.£xe6 ¤c3+ 32.¢a1 £xg5 33.¦f6+ ¢g7 34.£f7+ ¢h8 35.¦h1+ and Black gets mated. 1-0

Press release: Burundi no-shows in rounds 6 and 7 of the Chess Olympiad Chief Arbiter Panagiotis Nikolopoulos and his staff will decide tonight if Burundi will be allowed to continue in the tournament. Today, for the third time in the event, they failed to appear for the start of play. In order to prepare the pairings for the next (8th) round, a decision about whether they may continue must be made tonight. It is likely that they will be excluded for the rest of the event.

One player on Burundi's Open team has also repeatedly failed to appear for play. It is likely that this individual will be excluded, but the team allowed to continue in the tournament, but with just three players.

The final decision will be taken by Chief Arbiter Panagiotis Nikolopoulos and his staff later this evening.

This press release was made public at the international press conference at 18:30 (6:30 p.m.) on Saturday, 9 August.


Blunders, upsets and brilliancies By GM Einar Gausel

Milos Perunovic (2602) − Liren Ding (2742) WCO2014 Tromso (7.1), 09.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8-mk-+rtr-+( 7zpp+n+-+-' 6-+pvl-wqp+& 5+-+p+-+p% 4Q+-+-+-zP$ 3+-+LvL-zP-# 2PzP-+-zP-+" 1+-tR-tR-mK-! xabcdefghy 26...¦xe3! 26...¦xe3 27.¦xe3 (27.fxe3 £f2+ 28.¢h1 £f3+ 29.¢g1 £xg3+ 30.¢h1 £h2#) 27...£xf2+ 28.¢h1 £xe3-+

0-1

Valentin Iotov (2553) − Sergei Tiviakov (2664) WCO2014 Tromso (7.7), 09.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-+k+( 7+-+-wq-+-' 6-+-+pvlp+& 5+p+-+-sN-% 4p+-zP-+-+$ 3+nvL-+RwQ-# 2-+r+-zPPmK" 1+-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy 35.¥b4! £c7 35...£xb4 36.¦xf6 and there's no

saving Black's king.

36.£xc7 ¦xc7 37.¦xf6 ¤xd4 38.¥d6 ¢g7 39.¦f4

1-0

Peter Svidler (2751) − Viktor Laznicka (2676) WCO2014 Tromso (7.22), 09.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-+k+( 7+-+-+p+p' 6R+-+p+p+& 5+-+-zP-+-% 4-vlrvLnzP-zP$ 3+-+-+N+-# 2-+-+-+PmK" 1+-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy 34...¤d2! 35.¦a8+ ¢g7 36.¥f2 36.¥e3 ¤f1+

37.¢g1 ¤xe3-+

36...¦xf4-+ 37.¢g3 ¦f5 38.¥e3 ¤xf3 39.gxf3 ¥e1+ 40.¢g2 ¥xh4 41.¥c5 h5

0-1

Gadir Guseinov (2613) − Reynaldo Ortiz Suarez Isan (2603) WCO2014 Tromso (7.40), 09.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8r+-+-+-mk( 7+-+-+Rzpp' 6p+-+-+-+& 5vll+-+-+-% 4-+LvL-zP-+$ 3+-+-+-+-# 2-+-+-+PzP" 1+-+-+-mK-! xabcdefghy

39.¦xg7! ¥xc4 40.¦g5#

1-0


Yi Wei (2638) − Aleksandar Indjic (2539) WCO2014 Tromso (7.4), 09.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-vl-+k+( 7+-+P+pzp-' 6-zp-+n+-+& 5zp-+-+-+-% 4q+-zp-+QzP$ 3+-+-+-vL-# 2-zP-+-zPP+" 1+-+-tR-mK-! xabcdefghy 31.¦xe6! £xd7 31...fxe6 32.£xe6+ ¢h7

33.£e4+ g6 34.£e8+-

32.¦e4 f5 33.¦xd4

1-0

Sevag Mekhitarian Krikor (2568) − Arturs Neiksans (2572) WCO2014 Tromso (7.3), 09.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-tr-trk+( 7zpl+-wqpzpn' 6-zp-+-+-zp& 5+Pzp-+-+-% 4-+-+PtR-sn$ 3zP-+P+-sN-# 2-vLQ+L+PzP" 1+-+-+RmK-! xabcdefghy 25.¦xh4! £xh4 26.¤f5 £g5 27.h4 and seeing

that his queens is trapped, Black resigned.

1-0

Elina Danielian (2490) − Irina Krush (2474) WCO2014 Tromso (7.9), 09.08.2014

XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-+-+( 7+-+-+-+-' 6-+P+r+-+& 5+-zP-+k+-% 4-+KvLp+-+$ 3+-+-+-+-# 2-+-+-zP-+" 1+-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy 58...¦xc6? 58...¦e8 and Black is probably

holding.

59.¢d5 ¦c8 60.c6 ¦d8+ 61.¢c5 ¢e6 62.c7 ¦c8 63.¢c6 ¦g8 64.¥e3 ¦c8 65.¥g5 ¢f5 66.¥h4 ¢g4 67.¥f6 ¢f5 68.¥e7 ¢e6 69.¥d8! 69.¥d8 ¦a8 70.¢b7

1-0



Trading blows Perhaps the man of the day - Paco Vallejo claimed the scalp of none

other than Vladimir Kramnik


Vassily Ivanchuk came to the board ready for a fight Photo: Georgios Souleidis / chess24

Round 8 interim report: Only the missing Today we finally saw no surprises in terms of zero tolerance forfeits, but a mystery about attendance remains. As mentioned in previous reports, one member of the Libyan Open team is paired though never here, and this arrangement now also applies to the Burundi Open team - their second board has now been excluded from the event, along with the Burundi Women's team, for repeated non-appearance.


The organizers have promised a statement at today's official evening press conference about the Burundians - who are not just not being paired, but actually missing. To sum up - it appears that everyone who is here arrived at the board on time today.

The attention-grabbing match in the Open section turned out to be second seeds Ukraine floating up to meet 18th ranked Bulgaria. The Bulgarians looked set to continue their brisk pace, with Topalov putting legend Ivanchuk under dangerous pressure with the Black pieces, while Ivan Cheparinov startled Ruslan Ponomariov with a tactical blow that won material on board two. Ukraine have been shaky in this event, and today could spell the end of any hopes of a comeback. The tension got turned up a few notches though, with Pavel Eljanov building up a winning

advantage against the hottest man in the Olympiad, Bulgaria's Valentin Iotov.

Two dull draws were recorded on the top half of the China-Azerbaijan match, and the remaining games looked better for the white players, so an evenly balanced and tense match. The Azeris lead the event on match points, the only team with 13/14, while China, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Romania are chasing with 12.

The sixth seeded USA's hopes of clawing their way back into the serious medals race suffered a blow when 5th seeded Hungary took first blood in their match - Richard Rapport won a piece on board three early after a gruesome tactical oversight from Alexander Onischuk.


Local news Although there have been no cheery headlines for the Norwegian teams lately, with world champ Magnus Carlsen crashing to defeat from a pawn up in the pivotal game of Norway 1's round 7 clash with Germany, there are still positive stories to be found about Norway 2. They continue to overperform, and players 1, 3 and 5 - IM Frode Urkedal, IM Torbjørn Ringdal Hansen, and untitled Johan Salomon are all performing well over 2600 - at this rate Urkedal would become Norway's next grandmaster. Ringdal Hansen has the required norms but needs to lift his rating over 2500, while Salomon looks guaranteed to gain some kind of international title norm if the team faces reasonable opposition the rest of the event.

The Women's event The script for the concluding rounds should be China aiming for perfection and hoping for

perennial champions Russia to slip up down the stretch. Russia appeared to know their lines, taking the lead against 13th ranked Hungary with a win on board three, and building up very comfortable positions on the bottom boards.

China were having trouble re-establishing their previous steamrolling rhythm against 8th ranked Poland. World Champion Yifan Hou seemed to have shrugged off her painful defeat against rival Kateryna Lagno from the day before, and was up the exchange against GM Monika Socko, but the remaining boards were evenly fought.

Other top matches were too close to call in the third hour of play.

Burundi players exit Olympiad The organizers of the Tromsø Olympiad have released further details about a number of players from Burundi who are no longer being paired in the tournament. A total of seven members of the Burundi delegation are now absent from the event. Their women's team, which had been staying in private accommodation rather than a Tromsø hotel, has not been seen for several days, and two officials and one of the Open team players are gone as well.

Olympiad Press Chief Morgan Lillegård commented:

Seven individuals from Burundi have left the Olympiad - five players - four women and one man, plus a team captain and a team leader. We are disappointed that they have not completed the event. The police were informed yesterday (Saturday) evening about their disappearance.

All of the missing persons have Schengen visas, which give them three months freedom of movement in the Schengen area. No laws have been broken and we have not heard anything back from the police and have no reason to suspect any trouble. The matter is now in the hands of the police, and not the Olympiad organization.


Round 8 report: Trading blows

Perhaps the man of the day - Paco Vallejo claimed the scalp of none other than Vladimir Kramnik. Photo: Georgios Souleidis / chess24

In the Open section, second seeds Ukraine got tough when they needed it most, turning what looked like impending defeat and the end of medal hopes into a crucial victory over 18th ranked Bulgaria. It was the opposite story for Russia, who fell out of contention for gold after suffering a demoralising draw against Spain, with Vladimir Kramnik losing with White to Paco Vallejo.

By GM Jonathan Tisdal

In the Ukraine-Bulgaria match Pavel Eljanov strung together a long series of crisp tactics to hand Valentin Iotov his first loss of the event, and to bring Ukraine level after Ivan Cheparinov had punished Ruslan Ponomariov on board two.

On first board Vassily Ivanchuk successfully weathered sustained pressure from Veselin Topalov to lessen the pressure on his team, and Anton Korobov delivered the decisive blow on board four, downing Bulgarian Krasimir Rusev to edge a vital 2.5-1.5 win.

The high-flying Czechs could not repeat the form that downed the Russians the day before, and with four draws against 32nd seed Romania, they dropped a valuable match point.

Boiling point China-Azerbaijan was on a slow simmer after quick and peaceful results on the top two boards. Black was on the defensive in the remaining games, but what looked like an even match exploded in the fifth hour of play. Yangyi Yu ground down Eltaj Safarli to put China in front, and then Azeri Gadir Guseinov overpressed in a tricky endgame, allowing Hua Ni to cement a surprisingly convincing 3-1 win and move the Chinese team into sole first place.

Although this could be an unusually even Olympiad, 19/22 match points have been necessary historically to take the gold medals. Using this as a benchmark, ambitious teams needed to make it to 13 today to keep pace. With that in mind, the multitude of incredibly even


matches were even more nerve-wracking. France edged out Poland thanks to a steady win from second board Etienne Bacrot, the only decisive game of the match.

Falling short Germany-Cuba and India-Armenia also began with three draws, and Hungary-USA was also tense, with an early win from Rapport looking likely to be erased by another rescue by American Sam Shankland, who was poised to maintain his perfect personal score by beating Judit Polgar on board four - and he did.

In the chess24 studio, Shankland revealed that he had actually prepared for this event with Wesley So and... Judit, and said he had been completely open since he did not anticipate that Polgar could be so far down the Hungarian team line-up, and that they might be discussing variations that could occur against each other

Unfortunately for both of these teams, the 2-2 result left both Hungary and the USA short of the magic 13-point mark.

India-Armenia ended with four draws, and left the defending champions - and India - a point off traditional gold pace. GM Parimarjan Negi held world no. 2 Levon Aronian to a draw.

Serbia shattered England 3-1 to revive their medal hopes – Michael Adams' win on board one kept him in the lead for the top individual gold medal, but his team's chances for metal must be more or less over.

Tomorrow’s top bout will be between China and the resurgent Ukraine. Local underdog lovers will doubtless find Russia-Norway 2 to be the day’s focal point.

Sergey Karjakin responded for the favorites by winning a brawl of a game against GM Ivan

Salgado Lopez to level the match, leaving the decision to fall on board two. Alexander Grischuk split the point, and the 2-2 result means that the top seeds have dropped a shocking five match points in the first eight rounds - medals of any valor will now be a big ask.

Local news Norway 1 hammered Bosnia & Herzegovina 3-1 in a drawless match. Magnus Carlsen resumed his business-like ways and ground down GM Borki Predojevic, as Norway swept the top three boards, winning both blacks.

The Women’s section Buoyed by their win over China yesterday, Russia maintained their match point lead with an imperious 3.5-0.5 result, though not without some nervous moments, as former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk was in real trouble for a while against Hungarian IM Anita Gara.

Top seeds China can only hope that the Russians stumble now. They turned in a solid 3-1 win over tough 8th seed Poland, but needed a bit of time to get their engines running at top speed.

This was a good day for Ukraine, as the third seeded women also bounced back into serious medal contention by edging out 4th seed rivals Georgia 2.5-1.5. Ninth seeds France swept the bottom boards to beat the 7th ranked USA 2.5-1.5 in a match filled with violent games. Armenia bashed Colombia 3.5-0.5 to vault back into the hunt.

Tomorrow’s top action: Armenia get the chance to create more drama for the event, getting a shot at the triumphant Russians on top board. France will face the top seeds China, the rebounding Ukrainians also have interesting opponents, having drawn fifth seeds India.



Pavel Eljanov (2723) - Valentin Iotov (2553) WCO2014 Tromso (8.3), 10.08.2014 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.¤f3 ¤f6 4.e3 a6 5.¤bd2 ¥f5 6.¤h4 ¥e4 7.¥e2 e6 8.0-0 ¥d6 9.g3 ¤bd7 10.¤xe4 ¤xe4 11.¥d3 ¤ef6 12.b3 0-0 13.¥b2 c5 14.cxd5 ¤xd5 15.dxc5 ¤xc5 16.¥c2 With both bishops ready for action, White is looking to strike before Black has time to reinforce his kingside. 16...¥e7? 16...£c7 was preferable, since Black then would be able to answer 17.£h5 with 17...g6 17.£h5 f5 Black gets mated in record time after 17...g6 18.¤xg6 fxg6 19.¥xg6

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-wq-trk+0 7+p+-vl-zpp0 6p+-+p+-+0 5+-snn+p+Q0 4-+-+-+-sN0 3+P+-zP-zP-0 2PvLL+-zP-zP0 1tR-+-+RmK-0 xabcdefghy

18.¤xf5! exf5 19.¦ad1 £d6 20.b4! ¤e6 20...¤e4 runs into 21.¦xd5 £xd5 22.¥b3 21.¥xf5 ¤g5 21...¦xf5 22.£xf5 ¤ec7 23.e4 ¦f8 24.£g4 ¥f6 (24...¤f6 25.¦xd6 ¤xg4 26.¦d7) 25.¥a3 and White wins his piece back with two extra pawns in the bank.

XIIIIIIIIY

8r+-+-trk+0 7+p+-vl-zpp0 6p+-wq-+-+0 5+-+n+LsnQ0 4-zP-+-+-+0 3+-+-zP-zP-0 2PvL-+-zP-zP0 1+-+R+RmK-0 xabcdefghy

22.¦xd5! £xb4 22...£xd5 23.¥xh7+ ¢h8 24.¥e4+ ¢g8 25.¥xd5++- 23.¥d4 ¦ad8 24.¦xd8 ¥xd8 25.£g4 £c4 26.h4 £d5 27.¥xh7+ ¢xh7 28.hxg5 £xg5 29.£e4+ £g6 29...£g6 30.£xb7 and Black has nothing to show for the missing pawns. 1-0 Krasimir Rusev (2548) - Anton Korobov (2680) WCO2014 Tromso (8.4), 10.08.2014 1.d4 ¤f6 2.¤f3 e6 3.c4 d5 4.¤c3 c6 5.e3 ¤bd7 6.£c2 b6 7.b3 ¥b7 8.¥b2 ¥d6 9.¥e2 0-0 10.0-0 ¦e8 11.¦ad1 £e7 12.¦fe1 c5 13.dxc5 bxc5 14.cxd5 exd5 15.¤b5 ¥b8 16.¤c3 d4 17.¤a4 a6 18.£f5 ¥e4 19.£h3 dxe3 20.¥d3 ¥xd3 21.¦xe3 ¥e4 22.¤g5 ¥e5 23.¤xe4 ¥xb2 24.¤xf6+ £xf6 25.¦xe8+ ¦xe8 26.£xd7

XIIIIIIIIY


8-+-+r+k+0 7+-+Q+pzpp0 6p+-+-wq-+0 5+-zp-+-+-0 4N+-+-+-+0 3+P+-+-+-0 2Pvl-+-zPPzP0 1+-+R+-mK-0 xabcdefghy

26...£e5 27.£d3 ¥d4 This monster bishop certainly outclasses the white knight on the rim, but the game is far from over. 28.£xa6 h5 29.£d3 ¦e6 30.b4? True, ¤a4 is not a happy horsey, but panicking only makes matters worse. Black wins by force after 30.h3 ¦f6 31.¦f1 ¦xf2! , but White can still put up a fight after; 30.¦f1 h4 31.h3 30...£f4 31.£f3

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+k+0 7+-+-+pzp-0 6-+-+r+-+0 5+-zp-+-+p0 4NzP-vl-wq-+0 3+-+-+Q+-0 2P+-+-zPPzP0 1+-+R+-mK-0 xabcdefghy

31...£d2! 32.g3 32.¦xd2 ¦e1# 32...£xb4 33.£b3 ¦e1+ 34.¦xe1 £xe1+ 35.¢g2 £xf2+ 35...£xf2+ 36.¢h3 £f1+ 37.¢h4 ¥f6+ 38.¢xh5 £f5# 0-1

Vladimir Kramnik (2760) - Francisco Vallejo Pons (2698) WCO2014 Tromso (8.36), 10.08.2014 1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 d5 4.¤c3 dxc4 5.e4 ¥b4 6.¥g5 c5 7.¥xc4 cxd4 8.¤xd4 £a5 9.¥d2 £c5 10.¥b5+ ¥d7 11.¤b3 £c7 12.¦c1 ¤c6 13.0-0 0-0 14.£e2 ¦fd8 15.¥g5 ¥e7 16.¥e3 a6 17.¥d3 ¥e8 18.f4 ¤g4 19.£xg4 ¦xd3 20.¥f2 £d8 21.e5 ¤b4 22.¤c5 ¦d2 23.¤3e4 ¦xb2 24.¦fd1 ¤d5

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-wql+k+0 7+p+-vlpzpp0 6p+-+p+-+0 5+-sNnzP-+-0 4-+-+NzPQ+0 3+-+-+-+-0 2Ptr-+-vLPzP0 1+-tRR+-mK-0 xabcdefghy

25.¤f6+?! White's best was probably 25.¥d4 ¦xa2 26.¤xb7 £d7 27.¤bd6 with some piece activity for the pawn. 25...¥xf6 26.exf6 g6 27.¥d4 ¦xa2 28.£h4 White's attack is looking dangerous, but Black is just in time with counter play along the second rank.


28...¥c6 29.¤e4 ¦e2 30.¤g3

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-wq-+k+0 7+p+-+p+p0 6p+l+pzPp+0 5+-+n+-+-0 4-+-vL-zP-wQ0 3+-+-+-sN-0 2-+-+r+PzP0 1+-tRR+-mK-0 xabcdefghy

30...¤xf4! 31.£xf4 31.£h6 ¦xg2+ 32.¢f1 ¥b5+ 33.¢e1 £f8 34.£xf4 £b4+ 35.¦c3 ¦g1+ 36.¢d2 ¦d8 and White loses the farm. 31...£d5 32.¤e4 As mate on g2 was threatened, White had no other choice but to return the piece. 32...£xe4 33.£xe4 ¦xe4 34.¥b6 g5 Black is three pawns up and should win easily as long as he avoids tricks on the back rank. 35.¦d2 h6 36.¥d8 a5 37.¥e7 a4 38.¦c3 ¢h7 39.h3 ¢g6 40.¢h2 ¦f4 0-1 Gadir Guseinov (2613) - Hua Ni (2666) WCO2014 Tromso (8.28), 10.08.2014 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.¤d2 dxe4 4.¤xe4 ¥f5 5.¤g3 ¥g6 6.h4 h6 7.¤f3 e6 8.h5 ¥h7 9.¥d3 ¥xd3 10.£xd3 ¤f6 11.¥d2 ¥e7 12.0-0-0 c5 13.¤e4 ¤c6 14.¥c3 £d5 15.¤xf6+ gxf6 16.dxc5 £xd3 17.cxd3 ¦g8 18.g3 ¥xc5 19.d4 ¥e7 20.d5 ¤b4 21.¥xb4 ¥xb4 22.dxe6 fxe6 23.¦h4 ¥c5 24.¦e4 e5 25.¦d2 ¢f7 26.¤h4 ¢e6 27.g4 ¦ac8 28.¢d1 ¦gd8 29.¦xd8 ¦xd8+ 30.¢e2 a5 31.¦c4 ¥b4 32.¦c2 ¦d4 33.f3 e4 34.¤f5 exf3+ 35.¢xf3 ¦d2 36.¦xd2 ¥xd2 37.¢e4 ¥c1 38.b3 b6 39.¢d4 ¥d2

40.¢d3 ¥g5 41.¢e4 ¥c1 42.¤d4+ ¢d6 43.¢f5 ¢c5 44.¤c2 ¢d5

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+-+0 7+-+-+-+-0 6-zp-+-zp-zp0 5zp-+k+K+P0 4-+-+-+P+0 3+P+-+-+-0 2P+N+-+-+0 1+-vl-+-+-0 xabcdefghy

45.¢xf6 45.a4 may have been an improvement. White is in full control, and there's no need to initiate complications before conditions to do so are optimal. 45...¢e4 46.¢g6 b5 47.a4 b4 48.¢f6 ¥g5+ 49.¢g6 ¥d2

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+-+0 7+-+-+-+-0 6-+-+-+Kzp0 5zp-+-+-+P0 4Pzp-+k+P+0 3+P+-+-+-0 2-+Nvl-+-+0 1+-+-+-+-0 xabcdefghy

50.¤e1? White could have secured a draw with 50.¢g7 ¢d3 51.¤xb4+ axb4 52.a5 ¢c3 53.a6 ¥e3 54.¢f7 ¢xb3 55.g5 ¢c4 56.gxh6 b3 57.h7 b2 58.h8£ b1£ 59.£c8+ , but since China were up 2-1 at this stage, I imagine Guseinov felt obliged to press for a win at all costs. 50...¥xe1 51.¢xh6 ¥d2+ 52.¢g6 ¢f4 53.g5 ¢g4 54.h6 ¥c3 55.¢f7 ¢xg5 0-1


Announcements

Doping Control: The Chess Olympiad in Tromsø has made preparations for the Norwegian Antidoping Association to perform doping tests. According to Olympiad Press Officer Morgan Lillegård, the checks may be performed on Monday and Tuesday after the round:

“Players may be contacted shortly after their game and taken to a room on the 4th floor.

For obvious reasons, it is not known which players will be asked to submit a sample, but in other sports they select some of the top performers and some others chosen randomly.”

The Qatar Masters Open raffle: The first lucky winners of flights and accommodation to attend the 2014 Qatar Masters Open in Doha are WGM Ticia Gara (rated 2321, Hungary) and GM John Paul Gomez (2526, Philippines). Our congratulations! Olympiad participants can still enter the draw by using the boxes in the players' entrance.


Blunders, upsets and brilliances By GM Einar Gausel

Ivan Cheparinov (2681) - Ruslan Ponomariov (2717) WCO2014 Tromso (8.2), 10.08.2014

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-tr-mk-+0 7zp-trlvlpzpp0 6-zpnsNpsn-+0 5+-zP-+-+-0 4-+-+-+-+0 3vLN+-+-zP-0 2P+-+PzPLzP0 1tR-+R+-mK-0 xabcdefghy

18...¤b8? 19.¤b5! ¦cc8 19...¥xb5 20.¦xd8+ ¥xd8 21.cxb6+ ¢e8 (21...¦e7 22.bxa7) 22.bxc7+- 20.¤xa7 ¦c7 21.cxb6 White is simply two pawns up and winning. 21...¦c2 22.¤d4 ¦c4 23.¦ac1 ¦xc1 24.¥xe7+ ¢xe7 25.¦xc1 ¢d6 26.¤db5+ ¥xb5 27.¤xb5+ ¢e7 28.a4 ¦d2 29.¤c3 ¤fd7 30.a5 ¦b2 31.¦a1 ¦c2 32.¦a3 ¦c1+ 33.¥f1 ¤c6 34.¤b5 ¤ce5 35.b7 ¤c4 36.a6 ¤xa3 37.¤xa3 1-0

Richard Rapport (2704) - Alexander Onischuk (2659) WCO2014 Tromso (8.38), 10.08.2014

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-+-trk+0 7+p+-+pzpp0 6p+pzp-+-+0 5zP-+-snPwq-0 4R+-+-+l+0 3+P+-zP-sN-0 2-vLPzP-tR-zP0 1+-+-+QmK-0 xabcdefghy

20...f6? 20...¦fe8 21.¥xe5 21.¥xe5 dxe5 22.£c4+ ¢h8 23.£xg4 leaves White with an extra piece. 1-0


Silje Bjerke (2189) - Khayala Isgandarova (2190) WCO2014 Tromso (8.34), 10.08.2014

XIIIIIIIIY 8-wq-+-trk+0 7+-+-+-zp-0 6p+-+-+-zp0 5+-+-zpP+P0 4-zp-zpR+Q+0 3+-+-+-+-0 2PzP-+-tr-+0 1+K+-+-tR-0 xabcdefghy

39...£c8?? 39...£c7-+ 40.£xg7# 1-0 Novendra Priasmoro (2250) - Ilia Smirin (2656) WCO2014 Tromso (8.7), 10.08.2014

8-+r+-+k+0 7zp-+-+pvlp0 6-+q+-+p+0 5+-+-zP-+-0 4-+p+-wQ-+0 3+-vLr+N+l0 2PtR-+-zPP+0 1+-tR-+-mK-0 xabcdefghy

27...¥xg2! 28.¢xg2 ¥h6! 29.£xh6 £xf3+ 30.¢g1 ¦xc3 31.¦e1 £g4+ 32.¢h2 ¦f3 33.¦e3 c3 34.¦c2 ¦c4 35.¦xf3 £xf3 35...£xf3 36.£h3 £f4+ 37.£g3 (37.¢g1 £d2!) 37...£f5 38.¦c1 £h5+ 39.¢g2 ¦g4-+ 0-1

Art Christopher (1668) - Mdluli Meluleki WCO2014 Tromso (8.23), 10.08.2014

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+lwqrsnk+0 7zp-zp-sn-vl-0 6-zp-+p+p+0 5+-+pzPpsNp0 4-+-zP-zP-zP0 3+-sN-vL-+-0 2PzPPwQL+P+0 1+-mK-+-tRR0 xabcdefghy

14.g4! fxg4 15.¥xg4 hxg4 16.¦xg4 ¥h6 17.h5 ¢g7 18.£h2 ¤f5 19.¥d2 ¤xd4 20.hxg6 ¤f5 21.¤f7 £e7 22.¤xh6 ¤xg6 23.¦xg6+ ¢h7 24.¤xf5+ ¢xg6 25.¤xe7+ ¹25.£h5# 25...¦xe7 26.£h5+ ¢g7 27.£h7+ ¢f8 28.£h8+ ¢f7 29.¦h7+ ¢g6 30.¦xe7 ¥b7 31.£f6+ ¢h5 32.£g5# 1-0


Hamda Al−Hajri - Ul Ummi Nameeqa WCO2014 Tromso (8.4), 10.08.2014 1.e4 e5 2.¤c3 ¤c6 3.f4 ¥c5 4.¤f3 exf4 5.d4 ¤xd4!? 6.¤xd4 £h4+ 7.g3?! 7.¢e2 d5÷ 7...fxg3 8.¤f3? ¥f2+? 8...g2+ 9.¤xh4 gxh1£-+ 9.¢e2 £g4 10.hxg3 ¥xg3 11.¦g1 b6

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+l+k+ntr0 7zp-zpp+pzpp0 6-zp-+-+-+0 5+-+-+-+-0 4-+-+P+q+0 3+-sN-+Nvl-0 2PzPP+K+-+0 1tR-vLQ+LtR-0 xabcdefghy

12.£e1? 12.¥e3+-

12...¥a6+ 13.¢e3 £f4+ 14.¢d4 c5+ 15.¢d5 ¤f6# 0-1 Ildiko Madl (2347) - Valentina Gunina (2524) WCO2014 Tromso (8.38), 10.08.2014

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+k+-tr-tr0 7zppwqn+-wQ-0 6-+pvl-snp+0 5+-+-+-+p0 4-+Lzp-zP-+0 3+-zP-+-sN-0 2PzP-vL-+PzP0 1tR-+-+RmK-0 xabcdefghy

18...£b6! 19.¢h1 h4 20.¤e2 h3 21.£xg6 ¦hg8 22.¥xg8 ¦xg8 0-1


Chess Puzzles White to move and win

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+n+k+0 7+-+-+-+-0 6-+-sNN+K+0 5+-+-+-+-0 4-+-+-+-+0 3+-+-+-+-0 2-+-+-+-+0 1+-+-+-+-0 xabcdefghy

1.¤f7! 1.¤xe8? ¢h8 and there's no way White can force mate. 1...¤d6 2.¤h6+ ¢h8 3.¤g5! Zugzwang! 3...¤c4 4.¤gf7 mate. (Berger 1921)

White to move and win

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+ksn0 7+p+-+qzp-0 6-+-+-zp-+0 5+-+-+-zPp0 4-+-+-mK-zP0 3+-+-+-+-0 2R+R+-+-+0 1+-+L+-+-0 xabcdefghy

1.¦a8+ ¢h7 2.¦xh8+! ¢xh8 3.¦c8+ ¢h7 4.g6+! ¢xg6 4...£xg6 5.¥c2 and White wins the queen. 5.¥xh5+! ¢xh5 6.¦h8+ ¢g6 7.h5 mate. (Grzeban 1958)

Photo: David Llada , COT2014


Trading blows Today saw the first blemish on Kateryna Lagno's impressive debut

tournament as a Russian citizen - tomorrow her new team faces her old team, Ukraine


Round 9 interim report: Election focus Today's play would have a hard time living up to the energy and excitement levels displayed in the FIDE presidential election. Even the players in action were fascinated by what they might be missing during the rounds, and one top GM wondered if it was possible to find out the latest voting news during the game.


The story could be told in two tweets by Georgios Souleidis, the official Olympiad photographer present at the FIDE General Assembly. This was the scene as former World Champion Garry Kasparov made some final efforts to hold back the tide before the vote:

And here he is after the count was over and incumbent Kirsan Ilyumzhinov had again won by a landslide:


The chess NRK TV had a board reshuffle request arranged, so that Norway 2 could also be on main cameras today, since they were facing number one seeded Russia. This means that there was a smorgasbord of local chess action for Norwegian viewers, even if very few dared hope for the kind of upset the second squad pulled off against Ukraine in round two. They did have early grounds for encouragement when young IM Aryan Tari held Ian Nepomniachtchi to a draw on board four.

It was time to cast worried glances towards the world champion's board again. Magnus Carlsen appeared to be inviting real trouble against Turkish GM Dragan Solak, playing surprisingly risky chess with the white pieces.

More early action There were few results in top matches in the first half of the session, but there were definitely some eye-catching moments. One of the quickest was from the always tricky Spanish GM Miguel Illescas Cordoba, who lured Latvian IM Toms Kantans into an absolutely wicked trap disguised as a combination.

Hungarian talent Richard Rapport was again involved in early violence. Yesterday he picked up a point when US GM Onischuk blundered a piece early, today Rapport sacrificed one to get some quick punches in against Israeli GM Emil Sutovsky, and looked to be on the way to another win against a top team.

Top board Open match China-Ukraine had three draws recorded in the first three hours of play - the decision would come on board four, where teenager GM Yi Wei sacrificed a rook for perpetual check against Ukrainian GM Alexander Moiseenko, to shake off pressure and draw the match. The dropped match point means China can be caught by France, Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic or Romania.

The Women's group continues to be a pure duel - favorites China built up very dominating positions on their white boards to set the stage for another convincing match win against the 9th seeds France, but the front-running second seeds Russia were having a harder time with 10th ranked Armenia, with many sharp games - though still with every chance to come out on top again.

Auction action One of the most photographed scenes in Tromsø during the Olympiad has been the chess themed display window in the Fretex charity shop. Today

the items in the window were auctioned off, but the people in charge of the shop did not seem to understand that holding the event at 10 in the morning was not the way to capture the maximum chess audience.

The auction, carried out using a gavel and a pot lid to deliver the final 'Gone!', sold off a few of the prime items, including an Asian style chess set for NOK 850 from an asking price of 150, but many of the unusual pieces are still available due to the low early morning turn-out. Some of the items still on offer are a Coca-Cola themed set and a pair of pink and black checked high-heeled shoes - as well as an assortment of other sets and a few books.

Local news Tomorrow there will be plenty of local excitement - the Norwegian Prime Minister, the Conservative Party's Erna Solberg, will be in Tromsø to make the first move to open the penultimate round. She will also do a brief session with NRK TV, so there will be commentary from the highest level of the nation on Tuesday.

Olympiad action actually kicks off on Tuesday morning, 09:00 at the Tromsø courthouse, where a judge will hear the Russian Chess Federation’s lawsuit and assess the petition for seizure to guarantee that the organization holds sufficient assets to deal with any eventual legal action.

Luggage woes The organizers had another milestone – the problems with baggage handling at Oslo Gardermoen Airport seem to have finally been solved, at least as far as the Olympiad is concerned; no new or ongoing complaints were registered on Sunday.

The Tromsø Olympiad information desk has been praised for their efforts to deal with what they could, and arrange insurance and compensation


claims for those who have had to put up with horrific delays and needed to buy emergency wardrobes. The 'suitcase mountain' piling up at Oslo's international airport has been the subject of national TV coverage, and the Olympiad is just a high profile victim of this bottleneck.

Toms Kantans (2496) − Miguel Illescas Cordoba (2618) WCO2014 Tromso (9.29), 11.08.2014

Annotations: GM Einar Gausel

1.¤f3 c5 2.g3 g6 3.¥g2 ¥g7 4.d4 cxd4 5.¤xd4 ¤c6 6.¤b3 d6 7.¤c3 ¥e6 8.0-0 ¥xc3 9.bxc3 £d7 10.¦e1 ¥h3 11.¥h1 h5 12.¤d4 h4 13.¦b1 hxg3 14.hxg3 ¦c8 15.¤xc6 bxc6 16.£d4 e5 17.£a4 ¥e6 18.¥g2 ¤f6

XABCDEFGHY 8-+r+k+-tr( 7zp-+q+p+-' 6-+pzplsnp+& 5+-+-zp-+-% 4Q+-+-+-+$ 3+-zP-+-zP-# 2P+P+PzPL+" 1+RvL-tR-mK-! xabcdefghy

19.¦b8? Very tempting, but Black has a

brilliant counterstroke up his sleeve.

19...¦xb8 20.¥xc6

XABCDEFGHY 8-tr-+k+-tr( 7zp-+q+p+-' 6-+Lzplsnp+& 5+-+-zp-+-% 4Q+-+-+-+$ 3+-zP-+-zP-# 2P+P+PzP-+" 1+-vL-tR-mK-! xabcdefghy

20...¦h1+! 21.¢xh1 ¥d5+ 22.¢g1 £xc6 Black emerges from the tactical scuffle with an

extra knight.

23.£h4 £xc3 24.¦f1 ¤h5 25.g4 ¦b4 26.f3 ¤f4 27.£h8+ ¢d7 28.¥xf4 ¦xf4

0-1

Chess puzzles White to move wins

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+-+0 7+-+-+-+-0 6-+-+-+-+0 5+-+-+-+p0 4-+-+-+-+0 3+-+-zp-+L0 2-mK-mk-+-+0 1+-+-+R+-0 xabcdefghy

1.¦f3! Threatens Bf1. 1...e2 2.¥f1! e1£ 3.¦d3 mate. (N.N. 1923)

White to move wins

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+-+0 7+-+-+p+-0 6-zp-+-zp-+0 5+K+-+-+p0 4-+-+-zP-mk0 3+-+-+P+-0 2-+-+-zPP+0 1+-+-+-+-0 xabcdefghy

1.¢c4! 1.¢xb6? f5 2.¢c5 f6 3.g3+ (3.¢d6 stalemate) 3...¢h3 4.¢d4 ¢g2 5.¢e3 ¢f1 and Black draws. 1...b5+ 2.¢d3 b4 3.¢e2 b3 4.¢f1! b2 5.¢g1 b1£+ 6.¢h2 Threatens 7.g3 mate. 6...£h1+ 7.¢xh1 f5 8.¢h2 f6 9.g3 mate. (Bachtadze 1987)


Round 9: Fraying nerves?

Today saw the first blemish on Kateryna Lagno's impressive debut tournament as a Russian citizen - tomorrow her new team faces her old team, Ukraine | photo: David Llada

Signs of accumulating fatigue or shaky nerves could be seen as Round 9 of the 2014 Chess Olympiad headed towards the first time control. New hope for the Chinese women's team gold medal chase appeared as top board Kateryna Lagno was the first to crack in Russia's tense match against number 10 ranked Armenia… although there was eventually a happy ending for Team Russia. It was also tight in the men's event, as 9 of the top 14 matches finished drawn.


In the crucial women’s match GM Elina Danielian won a piece when Lagno erred under pressure, and more surprises looked likely to follow. The Russians caught a lucky break, however, when GM Valentina Gunina managed to escape serious trouble.

The same story was repeated with WGM Olga Girya, and the potential Armenian upset had turned into a 2.5-1.5 win for the frontrunners.

China did what they could to mount psychological pressure on their rivals, rolling to a smooth 3.5-0.5 win over France, and that with world champion Yifan Hou being held to a draw.

Third seeds Ukraine continued their comeback, edging out India 2.5-1.5, a result that moves them into third place - at the moment the top three have carved out their own spot at the top.


Who's in form? In the Open section, third seeded France applied pressure early over the Czechs after Bacrot produced a sparkling win over man-in-form Viktor Laznicka.

The Czechs could not mount a reply, and lost 2.5-1.5, a result that puts France into a tie for first with China. China lost the sole lead in the event after trading four draws with 2nd seeded Ukraine

Bulgaria look determined to have a memorable Tromsø Olympiad, their hot men Topalov and Iotov delivering a win each over the tough Cubans. Cheparinov's draw on board two was all the Bulgarians needed - and all they got - to clinch both match points.

Romania seem to have established themselves as the discovery of the event. Ranked 32nd, they remain in the thick of the medals battle, turning in another solid upset performance, today drawing all games against the next hosts of the Olympiad, Azerbaijan.

Hungary are also right in the thick of things after being able to rest Judit Polgar and still roll over Israel, with Richard Rapport winning a nice game against Emil Sutovsky.

13 teams, including pre-tournament favorites Russia, are a point back on 13

There are two other teams that are playing well over their heads. Argentina are seeded 35th, but could have joined the tie for third place with a win today - but four draws against India, while a good result, makes both of them outsiders for any kind of medal. 29th ranked Serbia continue to impress, and pulled off a 2-2 upset of defending champions and fourth seeded Armenia. The loss of a match point puts a serious dent to any kind of medal hopes for these teams, which must be terribly painful for Olympiad specialists Armenia.

Levon Aronian said afterwards that the Armenian team was "like a locomotive" and struggles when they meet strong teams early on as they did this time round.

Streak snapped US GM Sam Shankland's long winning streak came to an end against German acquisition Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, but Shankland is presumably still content with his 7.5/8 score. Less satisfyingly for him, Germany's board two, Georg Meier, made Gata Kamsky's tournament even worse. Meier, who is studying in the USA, turned an advantage into an instant win after a tactical oversight from

Gata. The match was still finely balanced, and Varuzhan Akobian leveled the scores with a win over Daniel Fridman, but the split decision likely means the end of the medals race for both sides.

Local news Norway 1 had a rollercoaster day against Turkey, with Magnus Carlsen being unusually reckless, coming under serious attack before emerging from mutual time trouble with a very promising ending. Turkey took the lead with GM Emre Can beating Simen Agdestein on board two, and the world champion’s eventual win on board one only evened the score, since Norwegian GM Leif Erlend Johannessen was unable to turn an extra pawn into a tangible advantage in a queen ending. Another disappointing result for the ambitious home side.

Norway 2 steadily notched up half points against Russia, working their way up the match boards. After teenager Aryan Tari drew Ian Nepomniachtchi, Torbjørn Ringdal Hansen held Sergei Karjakin with the black pieces on board three, and Frode Elsness neutralized Peter Svidler on two, but young Norwegian champion Frode Urkedal could not repeat the upset he produced against the Ukraine. Top Russian Alexander Grischuk capped a strong performance with a neat tactical finish to give the top seeds a narrow 2.5-1.5 victory.

Norway’s first women’s team are now overperforming, lying in 25th place (=15-25th) after nine rounds, and ranked just 38th. Consecutive 2.5-1.5 wins over Turkey and Estonia have earned them a shot at 22nd seeds Azerbaijan in round ten.

Norway 1 in the Open section were hoping for a top ten placing in front of a home crowd, but they will have to finish with a real flourish to achieve this. Today’s 2-2 draw against 22nd seeded Turkey leaves them in 26th place (=21-36th).

Tomorrow's Round 10 is already the penultimate round, and sees France-China and Ukraine-Azerbaijan in the Open event. All eyes are likely to be fixed, however, on the battle between first and second seeds Russia and Ukraine in the Women's section - a match that of course has more than pure chess interest. Full team pairings are here.

Golden ticket update: IM Belouadah Saad (Algeria, 2320) and WGM Katerina Nemcova (USA, 2315) were today's winners of a free ticket to the Qatar Masters Open.



Toms Kantans (2496) - Miguel Illescas Cordoba (2618) WCO2014 Tromso (9.29), 11.08.2014 1.¤f3 c5 2.g3 g6 3.¥g2 ¥g7 4.d4 cxd4 5.¤xd4 ¤c6 6.¤b3 d6 7.¤c3 ¥e6 8.0-0 ¥xc3 9.bxc3 £d7 10.¦e1 ¥h3 11.¥h1 h5 12.¤d4 h4 13.¦b1 hxg3 14.hxg3 ¦c8 15.¤xc6 bxc6 16.£d4 e5 17.£a4 ¥e6 18.¥g2 ¤f6

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+r+k+-tr0 7zp-+q+p+-0 6-+pzplsnp+0 5+-+-zp-+-0 4Q+-+-+-+0 3+-zP-+-zP-0 2P+P+PzPL+0 1+RvL-tR-mK-0 xabcdefghy

19.¦b8? Very tempting, but Black has a brilliant counterstroke up his sleeve. 19...¦xb8 20.¥xc6

XIIIIIIIIY 8-tr-+k+-tr0 7zp-+q+p+-0 6-+Lzplsnp+0 5+-+-zp-+-0 4Q+-+-+-+0 3+-zP-+-zP-0 2P+P+PzP-+0 1+-vL-tR-mK-0 xabcdefghy

20...¦h1+! 21.¢xh1 ¥d5+ 22.¢g1 £xc6 Black emerges from the tactical scuffle with an extra knight.

23.£h4 £xc3 24.¦f1 ¤h5 25.g4 ¦b4 26.f3 ¤f4 27.£h8+ ¢d7 28.¥xf4 ¦xf4 0-1 Igor Kovalenko (2650) - David Anton Guijarro (2624) WCO2014 Tromso (9.31), 11.08.2014 1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 b6 3.¤f3 ¥b7 4.g3 c5 5.d5 b5 6.¥g2 bxc4 7.¤c3 d6 8.¥g5 ¤bd7 9.£a4 ¤xd5!? This leads to some very sharp tactics indeed. 10.¤xd5 ¥xd5 11.0-0-0 h6 Also unclear was 11...¥b7 12.¦xd6 £c7 12.¦xd5 hxg5

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-wqkvl-tr0 7zp-+nzppzp-0 6-+-zp-+-+0 5+-zpR+-zp-0 4Q+p+-+-+0 3+-+-+NzP-0 2PzP-+PzPLzP0 1+-mK-+-+R0 xabcdefghy

13.¤e5! ¦c8 13...dxe5? 14.¦hd1 and White wins. 14.¦d2 ¦h6 15.¦hd1 ¦c7? Kicking the troublesome knight with 15...¦e6 made more sense. 16.¥c6 £c8? The best way to keep the struggle going was 16...¦xh2 17.¤xd7 ¦xd7 18.£xc4 £c7 19.¥xd7+ £xd7 20.£xc5 g6


17.¥xd7+ ¦xd7 18.£xc4? 18.¦d5 f6 19.¦xc5 dxc5 20.¦xd7 was devastating. 18...e6 19.¤xd7 d5

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+q+kvl-+0 7zp-+N+pzp-0 6-+-+p+-tr0 5+-zpp+-zp-0 4-+Q+-+-+0 3+-+-+-zP-0 2PzP-tRPzP-zP0 1+-mKR+-+-0 xabcdefghy

20.¦xd5! White refuses to give away his initiative. 20...exd5 21.¦xd5 ¥e7 Black manages to keep the fight going for a while, but in the end he is unable to avoid defeat. 22.¤e5 ¦e6 23.£a4+ ¢f8 24.£xa7 ¢g8 25.e3 g4 26.¤c4 ¥f8 27.£a5 ¦a6 28.£d8 £e6 29.¦xc5 ¦xa2 30.¦c8 ¦a1+ 31.¢d2 ¢h7 32.£xf8 £d5+ 33.¢c2 £e4+ 34.¢b3 £b7+ 35.¢c3 £d5 36.£e7 £f5 37.¦c5 ¦c1+ 38.¢b4 1-0 Valentina Gunina (2524) - Lilit Mkrtchian (2453) WCO2014 Tromso (9.38), 11.08.2014 1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤c3 ¥b4 4.£c2 d5 5.cxd5 £xd5 6.¤f3 £f5 7.£b3 ¤c6 8.a3 ¥a5 9.g3 ¤e4 10.¥g2 ¤xd4 11.£a4+ ¤c6 12.0-0 ¤xc3 13.bxc3 0-0 14.¤g5 h6 15.¥e4 £e5 16.¥f4 £c5 17.¥e3 £e5 18.¤f3 £h5 19.c4 ¥c3 20.¦ab1 e5 21.¥c5 ¦e8 22.¦fd1 ¥f5 23.¥xf5 £xf5 24.¦xb7 ¤d4 25.¥xd4 exd4 26.¦xa7 ¦ab8 27.¦b7 ¦a8 28.£c6 £c2 29.¦f1 £xe2 30.¦xc7 d3 31.£d5

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-+r+k+0 7+-tR-+pzp-0 6-+-+-+-zp0 5+-+Q+-+-0 4-+P+-+-+0 3zP-vlp+NzP-0 2-+-+qzP-zP0 1+-+-+RmK-0 xabcdefghy

31...¦ad8! 32.£xf7+ ¢h8 33.¦d7 ¦xd7 34.£xd7 d2 35.¤xd2 ¥xd2 36.c5 White has three pawns for the bishop, but only the a− and c−pawns can be advanced without putting the king at risk. 36...¥e1? 36...¥a5 with the idea of blockading and rounding White's queenside pawns, would have maintained Black's edge. 37.c6 ¦f8 38.£d4 £d2 39.£c5 ¦e8? It seems that Black could have secured a draw here with 39...¦xf2 40.¦xf2 ¥xf2+ 41.£xf2 £c1+ 42.¢g2 £xc6+ . For example 43.£f3 £c2+ 44.¢h3 £c8+ 45.£g4 £c1 46.a4 £f1+ 47.¢h4 £f6+ 48.¢h5 £e5+ leads to a draw by perpetual check. 40.c7 £d7? Black's last chance to offer resistance was probably 40...¦c8 41.£e5 ¥xf2+ 42.¦xf2 £d7 43.a4 ¦xc7 41.a4 £e6 42.a5 £c8 43.£b6 ¥d2 44.¦d1 £a8 45.a6 £f3 46.¦f1 h5


XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+r+-mk0 7+-zP-+-zp-0 6PwQ-+-+-+0 5+-+-+-+p0 4-+-+-+-+0 3+-+-+qzP-0 2-+-vl-zP-zP0 1+-+-+RmK-0 xabcdefghy

47.£b7 47.£b7 £f5 48.a7 £c8 49.£b8 and the a−pawn queens. 1-0 Etienne Bacrot (2720) - Viktor Laznicka (2676) WCO2014 Tromso (9.6), 11.08.2014 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.¤c3 ¤f6 4.e3 a6 5.¤f3 b5 6.b3 ¥g4 7.£c2 e6 8.¤e5 ¥f5 9.¥d3 ¥xd3 10.¤xd3 bxc4 11.bxc4 dxc4 12.¤e5 ¤bd7 13.0-0 £c7 14.¤xd7 ¤xd7 15.¤e4 ¤b6 16.¦b1 ¥e7 17.¤d2 0-0 18.¤xc4 ¤xc4 19.£xc4 ¦fc8 20.e4 c5 21.d5 exd5 22.exd5 ¥d6 23.g3 £a5 24.¦d1 ¦ab8 25.¥e3 h5 26.¢g2 ¦e8 27.¥d2 £a3 28.¦xb8 ¦xb8 29.¥c3 ¦e8 30.¦b1 ¦b8 31.¦e1 ¦d8 32.¦e3 £c1 33.£h4 f6

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-tr-+k+0 7+-+-+-zp-0 6p+-vl-zp-+0 5+-zpP+-+p0 4-+-+-+-wQ0 3+-vL-tR-zP-0 2P+-+-zPKzP0 1+-wq-+-+-0 xabcdefghy

34.¥xf6! ¦f8 34...gxf6 35.£xf6 ¦f8 (35...¦d7 36.¦e8+ ¢h7 37.¦h8#) 36.£g6+ ¢h8 37.£xd6 leaves White two pawns up with a decisive attack. 35.¥xg7! The bishop continues its mission of destruction. 35...¢xg7 36.£g5+ ¢h7 37.£xh5+ ¢g7 38.£g5+ ¢h7 38...¢h8 39.£h6+ ¢g8 40.£g6+ ¢h8 41.£xd6+-

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-tr-+0 7+-+-+-+k0 6p+-vl-+-+0 5+-zpP+-wQ-0 4-+-+-+-+0 3+-+-tR-zP-0 2P+-+-zPKzP0 1+-wq-+-+-0 xabcdefghy

39.¦e7+ 39.¦e7+ ¥xe7 40.£xc1 leaves White with a decisive material advantage. 1-0 Richard Rapport (2704) - Emil Sutovsky (2624) WCO2014 Tromso (9.8), 11.08.2014 1.d4 ¤f6 2.¤c3 d5 3.¥f4 c5 4.e3 cxd4 5.exd4 a6 6.¤f3 ¥g4 7.h3 ¥xf3 8.£xf3 ¤c6 9.0-0-0 e6 10.g4 ¥b4 11.¤e2 £a5 12.¢b1 ¤e4 13.¤c1 ¥d6 14.¤b3 £c7 15.¥e3 0-0 16.¦g1 b5 17.¥d3 f5?! This seriously weakens Black's pawn structure. Black still looks fairly solid after the more measured response 17...¤f6 18.g5 ¤d7 18.gxf5 exf5 19.¥h6 ¦f7?


XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-+-+k+0 7+-wq-+rzpp0 6p+nvl-+-vL0 5+p+p+p+-0 4-+-zPn+-+0 3+N+L+Q+P0 2PzPP+-zP-+0 1+K+R+-tR-0 xabcdefghy

20.¥xg7! ¦xg7 21.£xf5 ¢h8 21...£f7 22.¥xe4 dxe4 23.£xe4 £d7 24.£d5+ ¢h8 25.¦xg7 ¢xg7 26.¤c5 and White gets his piece back as 26...£c7 drops the queen to 27.¤e6+ 22.¦xg7 £xg7 23.£xd5 ¤xf2 24.£xc6 ¦f8 24...¤xd1 25.£xa8+ £f8 26.£xa6 was certainly no improvement for Black. 25.¦c1 ¤xd3 26.cxd3 £g3 27.a3 ¥f4 28.¦d1 £xh3 29.¤c5 White has only a small material advantage, but he has a firm grip on the middle of the board. Black's exposed king seriously limits his counterplay. 29...¥e3 30.£e4 £f3 31.£e5+ ¢g8 32.¦e1 ¥f2 33.¦e4 £f5 34.£c7 ¢h8 35.¤e6 ¦g8 36.d5 ¥h4 37.£c5 ¥f6 38.¢a2 h5 39.¦f4 £g6 40.d6 This passed pawn decides the game. 40...¥g7 41.£f5 ¢h7 42.d7 £xf5 43.¦xf5 ¢g6

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+r+0 7+-+P+-vl-0 6p+-+N+k+0 5+p+-+R+p0 4-+-+-+-+0 3zP-+P+-+-0 2KzP-+-+-+0 1+-+-+-+-0 xabcdefghy

44.¦f8! 1-0



Colletta Wakuruwarewa (1633) - Ellen Mpinganjira WCO2014 Tromso (9.5), 11.08.2014

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-+kvlntr0 7zpp+l+-zpp0 6-+-+pzp-+0 5+-+pzP-+-0 4-+-wq-+-+0 3+-+L+-+-0 2PzP-+-zPPzP0 1tRNvLQtR-mK-0 xabcdefghy

11.¥g6+! hxg6 12.£xd4 1-0 Nicole Miranda Gonzalez (1943) - Soledad Coro (1839) WCO2014 Tromso (9.24), 11.08.2014

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-+kvlntr0 7zpp+-zppzpp0 6-+n+-+-+0 5+-+q+-+-0 4-+-zP-+-+0 3+-+-+L+-0 2PzP-+-zPPzP0 1tRNvLQmK-+R0 xabcdefghy

8...£xd4?? 9.¥xc6+ 9.¥xc6+ bxc6 10.£xd4+- 1-0

Bader Al−Hajiri (2123) - Manish Hamal (2068) WCO2014 Tromso (9.48), 11.08.2014 1.e4 ¤f6 2.e5 ¤d5 3.d4 d6 4.¤f3 ¤c6 5.c4 ¤b6 6.e6 f6 7.¥d3 ¤b4 8.¥f5 g6 9.¤h4! ¥g7 9...gxf5 10.£h5# 10.d5 0-0

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+lwq-trk+0 7zppzp-zp-vlp0 6-sn-zpPzpp+0 5+-+P+L+-0 4-snP+-+-sN0 3+-+-+-+-0 2PzP-+-zPPzP0 1tRNvLQmK-+R0 xabcdefghy

11.¤xg6! hxg6 12.¥xg6 f5 13.£h5 ¦f6 14.£h7+ ¢f8 15.¥h6! 15.¥h6 ¦xg6 (15...¥xh6 16.£h8#) 16.£h8# 1-0


Georg Meier (2646) − Gata Kamsky (2706) WCO2014 Tromso (9.10), 11.08.2014

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+rtr-+-mk0 7+ptRn+-vlp0 6-+-+-+p+0 5+q+pzp-+-0 4-vL-+-+-+0 3+Q+NzP-+-0 2P+-+-zPPzP0 1+-tR-+-mK-0 xabcdefghy

27...¤b6? 28.¥f8! 28.¥f8 £xb3 29.¥xg7+ ¢g8 30.axb3+- 1-0 Elina Danielian (2490) - Kateryna Lagno (2540) WCO2014 Tromso (9.37), 11.08.2014 1.c4 g6 2.¤c3 c5 3.¤f3 ¥g7 4.g3 ¤c6 5.¥g2 e6 6.d4 ¤xd4 7.¤xd4 cxd4 8.¤e4 d5 9.cxd5 exd5 10.£a4+ ¢f8 11.¤c5 ¤e7 12.¥f4 ¥f6 13.¦c1 ¢g7 14.0-0 £b6 15.b4 a6 16.¦fe1 £b5 17.£b3 b6 18.¤d3 ¥f5 19.a4 £d7 20.¥c7 b5 21.¤c5 bxa4 22.¤xa4 ¦ae8 23.¤b6 £e6 24.¤xd5 ¤xd5 25.¥xd5 £d7 26.¥c6 £e6 27.¥d5 £d7 28.¥f4 ¥e6 29.¥xe6 £xe6 30.£f3 ¦c8 31.¦c5 ¦he8 32.h4 ¥e7 33.¥e5+ ¥f6 34.¥f4 ¥e7 35.¦e5 £c4 36.£e4

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+r+r+-+0 7+-+-vlpmkp0 6p+-+-+p+0 5+-+-tR-+-0 4-zPqzpQvL-zP0 3+-+-+-zP-0 2-+-+PzP-+0 1+-+-tR-mK-0 xabcdefghy

36...£xb4? 37.¦b1 f5 37...£a3 38.¦b7 38.¦xb4 fxe4 39.¦b7 ¢f6 40.¦exe7! 40.¦exe7 ¦xe7 41.¥g5+ ¢f5 42.¦xe7+- 1-0 Alexander Grischuk (2795) - Frode Urkedal (2500) WCO2014 Tromso (9.25), 11.08.2014

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-mk-+0 7+-+Rvlp+p0 6-+-+-+p+0 5+-+QzP-+-0 4-+L+-tr-+0 3+-zP-+-+P0 2-wq-+-+PmK0 1+-+-+-+-0 xabcdefghy

49.¦xe7! ¢xe7 50.£d6+ ¢e8 51.¥d5 51.¥d5 f6 52.e6 and Black gets mated. 1-0

Photo: Georgios Souleidis , chess24


Dragon gold?


Round 10 interim report: Lawyers & politicians

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg makes Magnus Carlsen's first move against Ivan Saric in Round 10. Photo: Daniel Skog / COT2014

Tromsø had two not-quite chess events in focus today - the 9 a.m. hearing at the local courthouse to assess the Russian Chess Federation's request that USD 200,000 of Olympiad funds be frozen for a lawsuit claiming that amount in legal fees incurred to get their women's team instated, and the arrival of Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, who became the top domestic political figure to grace the games.


The PM opened the round's play by making the first move for world champion Magnus Carlsen against Croatia’s GM Ivan Saric, before being shown around the playing hall by Norwegian Chess Federation official Gisle Bjugn. Later Solberg appeared in the NRK studio and said that it's important for Norway to organize big events like this.

Early action There were not many quick decisions in the top Open matches, but much notable action. Magnus Carlsen was in romantic mood, reviving the Bird's Defence against the Spanish, and did so in swashbuckling style, offering two pawns in order to gain a quick initiative and lead in development. There was widespread confusion about whether

this radical approach was actually sound, particularly when the champ began to slide into time trouble as well. Saric finished cleanly, handing the world champion his second defeat of the event.

Our man Tarjei J. Svensen interviewed the Croatian after his game:

What happened in your game today?

Saric: Well, he played quite aggressively with Black and sacrificed one pawn then another one and it turns out that his position was not so good. He didn't have enough compensation for two pawns and I played solid moves and eventually ended up with a clear advantage.


Was this something you had prepared in advance?

Saric: No, actually he surprised me on move 3 and the game started very early as I was out of theory on move 5, but it seems he was also improvising.

It seemed you were in control from the beginning until the end?

Saric: It's easy to play the world champion. Whatever you do, it can only be good. If you lose, nobody will say anything to you. I won the game and I'm very happy. It's one of the biggest victories of my career. Currently he's the best in the world, but maybe he's the best of all time, and I really respect him as a player.

Top board in Serbia-Russia also caught the eye, with GM Ivan Ivanisevic losing a pawn in grotesque fashion against Vladimir Kramnik as White in an Exchange Queen's Gambit. A surprising and surprisingly early result was Bulgaria's hot man Valentin Iotov crashing to earth with the white pieces against Polish teenager GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

Real action By the third hour of play, games started to reach boiling point all over the place. China moved closer to gold with a win with Black on board three against third seeded France, Yangyi Yu downing Laurent Fressinet. With draws in both their black games, French hopes rested on team leader Maxime Vachier-Lagrave being able to convert an endgame advantage against experienced Yue Wang to level the match. China held though, and move into clear first again, with just a rest day and one round remaining.

Bulgarian number one Veselin Topalov looked certain to even their match against Poland, and two tense games would remain, in another duel

where a split decision could well mean the end of medal chances for both.

Local fans could try to figure out the insane complications unleashed by Norwegian GM Kjetil Lie's double piece sacrifice against Zdenko Kozul. In the key Ukraine-Azerbaijan match, Vassily Ivanchuk's poor form reasserted itself, the Ukrainian simply blundering material against Mamedyarov. Pavel Eljanov struck back on board three for the Ukraine with a neat finish against Rauf Mamedov, and the fate of the match was left to Ponomariov and Radjabov to decide in an even ending after Moiseenko-Safarli was drawn on board four.

In the Women's section, Romanian IM Irina Bulmaga smashed German WGM Sarah Hoolt in a match where victory will be essential to keep any team medal hopes alive. 4th seeds Georgia jumped out to a 2-0 lead against 8th ranked Poland, in another result vital for teams hoping to vault into the medal position past Ukraine.

The two sprint teams were toiling as the time control approached, both Russia and China were being held 1-1 in tough matches, against Ukraine and Spain respectively.

Local zero tolerance The zero tolerance watch has evolved into a regular check of teams and players that may have gone missing. When one of the local teams has attendance issues, people combing the event must become especially curious.

Unfortunately, Norway 3 in the men's team was unable to field a full team today. Due to personal circumstances, GM Rune Djurhuus and FM Lars Oskar Hauge had to leave Tromsø, Hauge forfeiting on board two against Oman.


Tromsø Olympiad organizers vs. Russian Chess Federation

Russian Chess Federation President Andrey Filatov has been ever present at the Olympiad, here together with Women's Team Captain Sergei Rublevsky and players Alexandra Kosteniuk, Valentina Gunina and Kateryna Lagno Photo: Georgios Souleidis, chess24


The RCF sued the organizers for USD 200,000 for legal expenses connected to the dispute about the eligibility of their women's team which came into the spotlight before the event. The case was tried in the Tromsø courthouse, beginning this morning at 9 a.m.

The hearing's first point of focus was the request to freeze this amount, as the RCF feared the event's funds are such that there would be nothing to sue for after the Olympiad is over.

Brynjar Østgård, one of the lawyers representing the RCF, argued that the federation had incurred extra costs as a direct result of breach of regulations by the Tromsø organizing committee. This referred to the well-known dispute about deadlines for registration of teams, line-ups and also pointed to doubts raised by Tromsø's admission of finance problems before the Olympiad.

The organizers have questioned the amount and documentation of legal expenses, and argued that the disputed deadline was agreed by both FIDE and the organizers. Østgård commented to NRK:

I agree that the demand is high, but we don't know what it costs to hire lawyers at short notice in Moscow.

The decision fell this afternoon. In the ruling, the RCF's claims were dismissed, and the Russian Chess Federation was instructed to pay legal costs of NOK 123,500 (about 15,000 Euro).


Round 10: Dragon gold?

Yue Wang playing for Chinese team in the open section. His team is in the lead before the last round. Photo: Georgios Souledis / chess24

China's Open team will have the final rest day to mull over how best to bring home gold. Now the only undefeated team in the Open event, 7th seeded China have only lost one individual game over ten rounds. Despite having a clear lead, China can still be caught, and if they want to avoid the trauma of calculating infinite tiebreak variations, they really need one more team victory. What makes China's result even more remarkable - their team line-up in Tromsø omits three players with ratings over the 2700 mark - Hao Wang, Xiangzhi Bu, and Chao Li.


Round ten offered a chance for the top seeded women's team - from China - to resurrect their dreams of gold. The Ukrainian women continued a storming comeback with a win over Russia, in what had to be the grudge match of the entire event, after their acrimonious pre-Olympida battle over who would get to field Kateryna Lagno in Tromsø. The match ended 2.5-1.5 after three draws and GM Natalia Zhukova's win on fourth board against WGM Olga Girya.

Golden chance But could the favorites seize their opportunity? Although their world champion, Yifan Hou, steadily outplayed IM Sabrina Vega Gutierrez on top board, Spain hung tough. First drawing both of their games with White, and then with IM Ana

Matnadze grinding down WGM Zhongyi Tan on board three, Spain saved part of the day for Russia. Despite the misstep against Ukraine, Russia enter the final round with a one match-point lead over the field, with 18/20 and Ukraine catches China on 17. Germany is the sole team on 16 points.

In the final round Ukraine meets China, while Russia faces Bulgaria and Georgia plays Germany in the matches most likely to decide the medals.

Two clear In the Open event, 5th seeds Hungary found themselves alone in second place, a point behind China. They did this by puncturing the incredible Romanians, who started the day fighting for silver


position despite being seeded only 32nd. Another overperformer bit the dust today - the high-flying Bulgarians were edged out 2.5-1.5 by the 15th seeds, Poland. Former World Champion Topalov kept his hot streak going, beating Wojtaszek on first board, but his teammates could not maintain the pace. Poland struck back on the middle boards, Gajewski and Duda beating Cheparinov and man-in-form Iotov, respectively.

Top seeds Russia returned to the chasing pack with a 2.5-1.5 win over Serbia, Kramnik winning after a horrendous opening from Ivanisevic, and with the teams trading wins with White on the bottom two boards. The 6th seeds USA also made a late reappearance, edging out Argentina 2.5-1.5 thanks to wins by anchor Nakamura and the unstoppable Sam Shankland, who now has 8.5/9.

India handed Germany their first team defeat of the event, winning 2.5-1.5 on the strength of GM Krishnan Sasikiran’s victory with the Black pieces over Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu. Uzbekistan are the clear positive surprise after ten rounds, thanks to another upset, this time 2.5-1.5 over 11th ranked Netherlands, with IM Jahongir Vakhidov supplying the only decisive result, beating GM Robin van Kampen on board four.

The round's battles produced a log-jam of teams on 15 points, and since Hungary has already faced - and lost - to China, one of these must float up to first board. If the Chinese can be vanquished at the final hurdle, the destination of the medals will be an incredibly exciting and complicated affair. The protagonists with an uphill battle in the potentially wild final round are, all on 15 points: USA, Russia, Ukraine, France, Azerbaijan, Poland, rising India, and the latest high-fliers, 33rd seeded Uzbekistan.

The final showdowns: Poland-China, Hungary-Ukraine, Russia-France, Azerbaijan-USA, and India-Uzbekistan – these heavyweight matches will decide the medals.

Local news: Norway 1's Open match against Croatia was exciting, eventful and ultimately unfortunate. The world champion summed up his loss on board one: "Today I deserved to be punished."

GMs Hammer and Lie seemed to have attractive positions, but both eventually went astray in radically different ways - Hammer being methodically rolled back, while Lie's sacrificial melee with Kozul was arguably the most spectacular and interesting game of the tournament, but in one of the oddest resulting

material imbalances I have ever seen in my life, the Norwegian's king turned out to be frighteningly exposed and impossible to defend in time trouble.

Norway 2 drew with Colombia 2-2, and though this was a very slightly disappointing result, they have now tied Norway 1 in match points. Norway 2 has 23 game points – Norway 1 only 21.5.



Kjetil Lie (2528) - Zdenko Kozul (2608) WCO2014 Tromso (10.32), 12.08.2014 1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 a6 5.c4 ¤f6 6.¤c3 d6 7.¥d3 £b6 8.¥e3 £c7 9.0-0 ¤bd7 10.f4 b6 11.¦c1 ¥e7 12.£f3 0-0 13.g4 g6 14.g5 ¤h5 15.b4 White has staked claims in the center and on both wings. Black either needs to counter with a pawn break or remain passive and hope White overextends. 15...¦e8? This sets the stage for later tactics on f7. Continuing the development with 15...¥b7 seemed more logical. 16.e5! White grabs his chance to strike before Black has managed to mobilize his forces. 16...dxe5 17.f5! ¥b7

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-+r+k+0 7+lwqnvlp+p0 6pzp-+p+p+0 5+-+-zpPzPn0 4-zPPsN-+-+0 3+-sNLvLQ+-0 2P+-+-+-zP0 1+-tR-+RmK-0 xabcdefghy

18.¤d5! White goes all−in. 18...exd5 19.fxg6 fxg6 20.£f7+ ¢h8 21.¥xg6 It was already too late to start caring about material. 21...hxg6 22.£xg6 ¤df6 23.£h6+ ¢g8 24.£g6+ ¢h8

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-+r+-mk0 7+lwq-vl-+-0 6pzp-+-snQ+0 5+-+pzp-zPn0 4-zPPsN-+-+0 3+-+-vL-+-0 2P+-+-+-zP0 1+-tR-+RmK-0 xabcdefghy

25.¤e6? This natural looking move turns out to be a mistake. the computer gives White a clear edge after 25.£h6+ ¢g8 26.¤e6 ¥c5 27.¤xc5 £h7 28.gxf6 £xh6 29.f7+ ¢h7 30.¥xh6 ¦g8+ 31.fxg8£+ ¦xg8+ 32.¢f2 bxc5 33.¥d2 . White will probably be able to make his extra exchange count in this ending. 25...¥c5 26.¤xc7 ¥xe3+ 27.¢g2 ¥xg5 28.¤xe8 ¦xe8 This is an incredibly difficult position to evaluate. Black has four pieces for queen and rook, and both kings are vulnerable. 29.£f7 ¥a8 30.c5 bxc5 31.bxc5 ¥c6 32.£c7 ¥b5 33.c6 ¦g8


XIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+rmk0 7+-wQ-+-+-0 6p+P+-sn-+0 5+l+pzp-vln0 4-+-+-+-+0 3+-+-+-+-0 2P+-+-+KzP0 1+-tR-+R+-0 xabcdefghy

34.¢h3? This fatal error was no doubt a result of desperate time trouble. A draw seems likely after 34.¢h1 ¥xc1 35.¦xc1 ¥d3 36.¦e1 ¥e4+ 37.¦xe4 ¤xe4 38.£xe5+ ¤hf6 39.£f5 ¦g7 40.£f4 ¤e8 41.h3 ¤c7. Black has a slight material advantage, but he needs to keep White's c−pawn at bay. And should his rook stray from the kingside, then White will probably be able to obtain perpetual check. 34...¥xc1 35.£xe5 ¥xf1+ 35...¥xf1+ 36.¢h4 ¦g4# 0-1 Irina Bulmaga (2354) - Sarah Hoolt (2318) WCO2014 Tromso (10.16), 12.08.2014 1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤c6 5.¤c3 £c7 6.¥e3 a6 7.£d2 ¤f6 8.f4 b5 Developing with 8...¥b4 seems more natural. 9.e5 b4

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10.¤cb5! axb5 11.¤xb5 £b8 12.exf6 gxf6 Material is equal, but Black has structural problems and no clear path to smooth development. 13.c4 bxc3 14.bxc3 ¥a6 15.¦b1 ¥xb5? This exchange only makes matters worse since it speeds up White's development. 16.¥xb5 £d6 17.£f2 £a3 18.0-0 ¥d6 18...£xa2 loses material after 19.£xa2 ¦xa2 20.¥xc6 dxc6 21.¦b8+ ¢d7 22.¦d1+ ¢c7 23.¦dd8. 19.¦fd1 ¥b8 20.¥xc6 dxc6 21.¥c5 £a6

XIIIIIIIIY 8rvl-+k+-tr0 7+-+-+p+p0 6q+p+pzp-+0 5+-vL-+-+-0 4-+-+-zP-+0 3+-zP-+-+-0 2P+-+-wQPzP0 1+R+R+-mK-0 xabcdefghy

22.£d4 22.£d4 £c8 23.£xf6 and Black gets mated. 1-0


Ivan Saric (2671) - Magnus Carlsen (2877) WCO2014 Tromso (10.29), 12.08.2014 1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥b5 ¤d4 4.¤xd4 exd4 5.¥c4 ¤f6 6.0-0 d5 The most common continuation is 6...c6 7.¦e1 d6 , but Carlsen wants something more dynamic. 7.exd5 ¥e7?! 7...¤xd5 8.£h5 c6 9.£e5+ ¥e6 10.£xd4 b5 looks more active for Black than the text move. 8.£f3 ¥g4?! Forcing White's queen towards the weak pawn on d4 doesn't look like a good idea. 9.£f4 0-0 10.h3 ¥d6 11.£xd4 c5? Black doesn't have much to show for the missing pawn after 11...¥e6 12.¤c3 c6 13.d3 ¤xd5 14.¤xd5 cxd5 15.¥b3 , but this still looks better than the game continuation. 12.£d3 ¥h5 13.¤c3

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-wq-trk+0 7zpp+-+pzpp0 6-+-vl-sn-+0 5+-zpP+-+l0 4-+L+-+-+0 3+-sNQ+-+P0 2PzPPzP-zPP+0 1tR-vL-+RmK-0 xabcdefghy

13...¦e8 After the game Carlsen told reporters that he had thought that he had reasonable compensation for the pawns at this point. Carlsen added that he had underestimated White's next move. 14.f4 a6 15.a4 £d7 16.£g3 ¤e4 17.¤xe4 ¦xe4 18.b3 £c7 19.d3 ¦e2 19...¦ee8 20.¥b2 ¥g6 21.£g4 f5 was preferable, but it's clear that Black does

not have enough play for the sacrificed material. 20.£g5 g6 21.¥b2 ¥e7 22.¥f6 h6 23.¥e5 £d8 24.£xh6 White is simply winning. Black manages to make of meal of it, but the final outcome is never in doubt. 24...¦xe5

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-wq-+k+0 7+p+-vlp+-0 6p+-+-+pwQ0 5+-zpPtr-+l0 4P+L+-zP-+0 3+P+P+-+P0 2-+P+-+P+0 1tR-+-+RmK-0 xabcdefghy

25.d6! ¦e2 26.dxe7 £xe7 27.f5 £h4 28.£f4 g5 The alternatives were equally hopeless for Black. 29.£xh4 gxh4 30.¦f4 ¦xc2 31.¦xh4 ¥e2 32.¦e4 ¦d2 33.¦e7 ¥xd3 34.¥xf7+ ¢f8 35.f6 ¦d8 36.¥h5 ¢g8

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-tr-+k+0 7+p+-tR-+-0 6p+-+-zP-+0 5+-zp-+-+L0 4P+-+-+-+0 3+P+l+-+P0 2-+-tr-+P+0 1tR-+-+-mK-0 xabcdefghy

37.¦e8+! 37.¦e8+ ¦xe8 38.f7+ ¢g7 39.fxe8£ leaves White a queen up. 1-0


Olga Girya (2484) - Natalia Zhukova (2468) WCO2014 Tromso (10.40), 12.08.2014 1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 d5 4.¤c3 ¥b4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.¥g5 h6 7.¥h4 c5 8.e3 c4 9.£c2 ¤c6 10.¤d2 ¥e6 11.¥e2 g5 12.¥g3 £d7 13.a3 ¥f5 14.£c1 ¥a5 15.0-0 a6 16.b4 ¥d8 17.f3 b5 18.¥f2 0-0 19.£b2 ¦e8 20.¦fe1 ¥c7 21.¦ad1 h5 22.e4 dxe4 23.¤dxe4 ¥xe4 24.fxe4 ¤xe4 25.¤xe4 ¦xe4 26.¥xh5 ¦ae8 27.¦xe4 ¦xe4 28.d5 ¤e5 29.£d2 ¥d8 30.d6 ¤d3 31.¥f3 ¦e8 32.¥g3

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-vlr+k+0 7+-+q+p+-0 6p+-zP-+-+0 5+p+-+-zp-0 4-zPp+-+-+0 3zP-+n+LvL-0 2-+-wQ-+PzP0 1+-+R+-mK-0 xabcdefghy

32...¥b6+ 33.¢h1 ¥e3 34.£c2 ¥f4 There goes the d−pawn. Black is now in complete control. 35.¥xf4 gxf4 36.¦f1 £xd6 37.h3 ¦e3 38.¥g4 £e5 39.¥f3 39.£b1 ¦e1 40.¦xe1 £xe1+ 41.£xe1 ¤xe1 and Black's c−pawn decides the game. 39...¦e1 40.¦xe1 £xe1+ 41.¢h2 ¤f2 42.g3 fxg3+ 43.¢xg3 ¤e4+ 44.¢f4

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+k+0 7+-+-+p+-0 6p+-+-+-+0 5+p+-+-+-0 4-zPp+nmK-+0 3zP-+-+L+P0 2-+Q+-+-+0 1+-+-wq-+-0 xabcdefghy

44...£g3+! 45.¢e3 45.¢xe4 £g6+ 46.¢e3 £xc2-+ 45...¤g5 45...¤g5 46.£g2 £xf3+ 47.£xf3 ¤xf3 48.¢xf3 f5 and Black wins the pawn ending. 0-1



Bayarsaikhan Gundavaa (2501) - Ravishen Singh (2104) WCO2014 Tromso (10.7), 12.08.2014

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+r+r+-mk0 7+pwqlvlpzpp0 6p+-+-sn-+0 5+-+p+-+-0 4-+-vL-zP-+0 3+-sNL+-+Q0 2PzPP+-+PzP0 1+-+-tRR+K0 xabcdefghy

19.¦xe7! ¦xe7 19...¥xh3 20.¦xc7 ¥xg2+ 21.¢xg2 ¦xc7 22.¥xf6 gxf6 23.¤xd5 and White's two pieces will outclass the rook. 20.£h4 h6? Black was already lost, but this loses instantly. 21.¥xf6 ¦ee8 22.£xh6+ 22.£xh6+ ¢g8 23.£xg7 mate. 1-0

Vassily Ivanchuk (2744) - Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2743) WCO2014 Tromso (10.21), 12.08.2014

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-+-+-+0 7+-+-+p+p0 6-+k+n+p+0 5+pzPp+-+-0 4r+-+-+R+0 3zP-+-vLP+-0 2-zP-mK-zP-zP0 1+-+R+-+-0 xabcdefghy

25.¢c3? d4+! 26.¥xd4? 26.¥xd4 ¦c4+ 27.¢b3 (27.¢d3 ¤xd4 28.¦xd4 ¦xd4+ 29.¢xd4 ¦d8+ 30.¢c3 ¦xd1) 27...¦d8 and Black wins a piece. 0-1 Pavel Eljanov (2723) - Rauf Mamedov (2659) WCO2014 Tromso (10.23), 12.08.2014

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+-+0 7zp-+-+-+-0 6q+p+ptrpmk0 5+-+p+-+-0 4-+-zP-+-zP0 3+-zP-zPP+-0 2P+Q+-+-+0 1+-+-+-tRK0 xabcdefghy

29.h5! 29.h5 g5 (29...gxh5 30.£g2) 30.£g2 ¦f5 31.e4 dxe4 32.fxe4 ¦a5 33.e5 and White mates. 1-0


Laurent Fressinet (2708) - Yangyi Yu (2668) WCO2014 Tromso (10.27), 12.08.2014

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-tR-+-+0 7zp-+P+pmk-0 6-+-+-+p+0 5+-+-+-+p0 4-+-+-+-zP0 3+-+-+-tr-0 2-+-tr-+-+0 1tR-+-+K+-0 xabcdefghy

37.¢e1? White can still put up a struggle after 37.¦xa7. 37...¦xd7! 37...¦xd7 38.¦xd7 ¦g1+ 39.¢f2 ¦xa1 and Black easily converts his extra pawns to a full point. 0-1

Leinier Dominguez Perez (2760) - Baadur Jobava (2713) WCO2014 Tromso (10.32), 12.08.2014

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+l+-+0 7+-+k+-zpp0 6-+-zp-zp-+0 5+-+N+-+-0 4p+rzP-+-+0 3tR-zP-+P+-0 2P+-+-+PzP0 1+-+-+-mK-0 xabcdefghy

29...¢c6! Black sacrifices an exchange to obtain a positional fortress. 30.¤e3 ¢b5 31.¤xc4 ¢xc4 32.¢f2 d5 33.¢e3 ¥d7 34.h4 g6 35.¢d2 h6 36.¢e3 ¥e8 37.g3 ¥d7 38.¢e2 ¥e8 39.¢d2 ¥c6 40.¢e3 ¥d7 41.f4 f5 42.¢d2

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+-+0 7+-+l+-+-0 6-+-+-+pzp0 5+-+p+p+-0 4p+kzP-zP-zP0 3tR-zP-+-zP-0 2P+-mK-+-+0 1+-+-+-+-0 xabcdefghy

42...h5 43.¢e3. ½-½


Hassan S Al Mutairi (2075) - Ragul Pillay (1312) WCO2014 Tromso (10.38), 12.08.2014

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+k+0 7+-+-+-+l0 6-+-+-+-+0 5+-sNp+-zpL0 4-+-zP-zp-+0 3+-vl-+P+P0 2-+-+-+P+0 1tr-vL-+RmK-0 xabcdefghy

39.¤e6? 39.¢h2 and White keeps his extra piece. 39...¥d3 40.¦f2? 40.¤xg5 ¥xd4+ 41.¢h2 ¥xf1 42.¥xf4 and White should draw. 40...¦xc1+ 41.¢h2 ¥e1 42.¤xg5 ¥xf2 43.g4

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+k+0 7+-+-+-+-0 6-+-+-+-+0 5+-+p+-sNL0 4-+-zP-zpP+0 3+-+l+P+P0 2-+-+-vl-mK0 1+-tr-+-+-0 xabcdefghy

43...¥g3+ 44.¢g2 ¥f1+ 44...¥f1+ 45.¢g1 ¥xh3# 0-1

Jo−Kai Liao (1606) - Joslin Bazil (1911) WCO2014 Tromso (10.37), 12.08.2014

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+l+-mk-tr0 7+-vlpsn-wq-0 6p+-+p+-zp0 5+-sN-zPpzpL0 4-zp-+-zP-+0 3+-sN-+-zPP0 2PzPPwQ-+-+0 1+-mKR+R+-0 xabcdefghy

20.¤xe6+! 20.¤xe6+ dxe6 (20...¢g8 21.¤xg7+-) 21.£d8+ ¥xd8 22.¦xd8# 1-0

Photo: David Llada, COT 2014


Russia and China claim gold!


Round 11 interim report: China and Russia claim gold!

The Russian women team won the women’s section for the third time in a row. Photo: David Llada/ COT2014

The leaders in both divisions turned up looking confident, the Russian women in particular, who were dressed for success, giving off a celebratory air. The Chinese men's team were energetic on the board, and they looked intent on guaranteeing themselves the long coveted gold medal, Liren Ding and Yangyi Yu hitting fast and hard on boards two and three. Ding put China ahead in the third hour, and a 3-1 win and Olympiad gold at last seemed just a matter of time.


And so it proved! China could settle their nerves as Ding Liren's board two win over Grzegorz Gajewski was followed by draws on top and bottom boards. The one remaining game was an absolutely unloseable bishops of opposite colors ending where hot man Yangyi Yu had all the chances and eventually brought home the bacon to give the majestic Chinese men's team a first Olympiad gold.

All of the matches between medal candidates were open, but the USA had some setbacks - first

board Nakamura appeared to be losing against Azerbaijan, and their 'bottom gun', Sam Shankland, could not convert an advantage against Eltaj Safarli on board four - this result means that the US GM had to 'settle' for a final personal score of 9/10.

India supporters noted that the not completely outlandish combination of a China win, draws in the Russia-France and Azerbaijan-USA matches, and an Indian win over Uzbekistan would bring them a medal. The first part quickly looked


plausible, and the other matches were predictably close and tense.

Armenia-Czech Republic was a tough last round match with a heavyweight battle on first board. Both teams had hopes for a better result in Tromsø, and although Levon Aronian ended the event with a powerful win over David Navara he was far from satisfied.

Tarjei J. Svensen talked to the world no. 2 afterwards, with Aronian giving a brief response when asked to describe Armenia's performance in Tromsø:

Levon Aronian: Dreadful!

What about your own performance?

Very average.

Do you have any explanation for the result of the Armenian team?

I think we were missing too many chances. After we played quite badly against France we kind of continued. We started playing strong teams early on, which is normally bad for our team because we are slow starters. We need some time to warm up. If you look at the tournaments that we played, every time we've played somebody strong early on, normally the tournament didn't end so well for us.

How did you like Tromsø?

I love it here. I was here a year ago and I like being in Norway. In general it fits my needs.

And how did you like the organization?

I think it was okay. I would be lying if I said it was perfect, but it was okay.

What did you like and what did you not like?

Generally it's a bit too hot in the playing hall. That's one of the problems. I like that every Olympiad is a celebration and Tromsø is a lovely place and I like that we were not playing somewhere outside the city in some boring place. We were in the middle of the town, so that was good.

Tarjei also had a chance to talk to the other side:

How would you sum up the tournament for the Czech team?

David Navara: Unfortunately the tournament did not end very well. We are playing against Armenia, but I lost very quickly so we are

disappointed. We were playing quite well in the first seven rounds, but then it became worse and our result depends on the outcome of the final match.

What about your own performance in Tromsø?

Up to a certain moment it was almost perfect, but since then rather bad. If you combine this, it's still a decent result, but nothing special.

How did you like Tromsø, and the organization here?

I like Tromsø. Frankly speaking, some things could be organized better – for example the rest rooms were not perfect – but I liked this Olympiad, as I liked most of the other Olympiads.

Three in a row for Russia The Russian women did not open as strongly as the Chinese men, and the matches in the women's section were still up for grabs in the third hour of play, with Bulgaria definitely having chances to produce the most dramatic of last round upsets against the leaders.

Alexandra Kosteniuk always looked like delivering a full point for the leaders, but the Bulgarians had good winning chances on the top two boards. GM Valentina Gunina conjured up a winning attack from a not completely convincing position on board two to seize control of the match for Russia, and when the bottom board was drawn the first official team medals of the event were recorded.

The chasing Chinese had their hands full with the third seeds, Ukraine, but gradually took over the initiative on the middle boards in a match that’s still too close to call.

Elsewhere the Germans were locked in a sharp battle with 4th seeds Georgia, but their chances to leap into the medals list looked grim as they had uphill climbs on several boards, and Georgia drew first blood with a win on second board from IM Lela Javakhishvili.

Spain had an outside chance of medals after an impressive tournament, but things quickly went wrong against Armenia, with Maria Kursova winning a miniature against Amalia Aranaz – it could have been over even sooner (see annotated games)


Olympiad wrap-up: India snatch bronze By GM Jonathan Tisdall

The 2014 Chess Olympiad in Tromsø is over. As we reported in our interim report, the Chinese men and the Russian women made short work of securing their predicted golds. That still left a lot to be decided, though, both in terms of teams and individual medals. In a final session that was overshadowed by the tragic collapse of a player from the Seychelles (and an ensuing panic that saw many players flee for the exit), Hungary eventually took silver in the men’s section. The bronze medal was a tiebreak cliffhanger, with India sensationally edging out Russia and Azerbaijan after beating Uzbekistan 3.5:0.5. In the women’s event China took silver and Ukraine bronze, after drawing their match today

Two by four China’s quickfire victory over Poland left them a full two points ahead of the field, but while their chess looked nerveless you only had to see their reaction afterwards to realise how much it meant to them.

That still left everything to play for, and in the end there was a log-jam on 17 points, with four teams left biting their nails as the tiebreaks were finalised. The first team to reach that the 17-point mark was Azerbaijan, who edged out the USA thanks to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's first board win over Hikaru Nakamura.

Hungary, who entered the round in sole second, were reduced to hoping that their board two, Csaba Balogh, would hold a grimly passive knight ending and leave them in the medals pool. Only a win by Pavel Eljanov in that ending would be enough for Ukraine to reach 17 points - but the Hungarian GM did his job, and his team joined the tiebreak sweepstakes. They would be richly-rewarded in the final Olympiad for the retiring Judit Polgar.

Top seeded Russia drew their white games against 3rd ranked France, but the favorites ground away with black, gaining the upper hand on the bottom board, still straining for a result that would add them to the medals tiebreak mix. Ian Nepomniachtchi finally brought home the only full point of the match, and Russia's comeback was complete.

The surprising Indians, seeded 19th and entering the event without their star players Vishy Anand and Pendyala Harikrishna, pulled off a massive 3.5-0.5 rout against the last of the big upstarts, 33rd ranked Uzbekistan. Would it be enough?

he answer was a resounding yes, with Hungary finishing 2nd, India 3rd and the heavy-hitting Russia and Azerbaijan leaving Norway empty-handed. The fact that the only Top 10 seeded team that India encountered were 4th seeds Armenia (a 2-2 draw) may provide ammunition for critics of the tiebreak and pairing system.

Men’s individual results Although the Olympiad is a team event chess is an individual sport and we’re always fascinated by individual results. So who stood out at the Olympiad? Let’s look at the medalists board by board:

Board 1: Bulgaria may have ended badly after a fine start, but Veselin Topalov was back in the form of old, not even letting a loss to Vladimir Kramnik get him down. Anish Giri moved up to no. 11 in the world on the live ratings.

Board 2: 7 wins and three draws for Ngoc Truong son Nguyen couldn't lift the Vietnamese team above expectations, but Csaba Balogh was the powerhouse behind Hungary's surge to silver, meaning the Hungarian captain could contemplate leaving out Judit Polgar.

Board 3: Yu Yangyi had the best performance rating of anyone in the Olympiad and gained 32 rating points. In the final round he defeated 16-year-old Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who had also been having a phenomenal event.

Board 5: Ian Nepomniachtchi completely justified the faith put in him when he was selected ahead of Dmitry Jakovenko despite a disastrous outing in his last event, even if his final round win wasn't quite enough to rescue Russia's tournament.


Sam Shankland, meanwhile, talked to Tarjei J. Svensen after playing the tournament of his life:

What can you say about USA's performance in this event?

It's a shame we never got to fight for gold. I think we could've done better, but you can only control what you can control. Hopefully next time we will do better.

And your own performance has been amazing, how did that happen?

After I played in Edmonton, Ivanchuk won the tournament with 8 out of 9. But I was telling a friend of mine who doesn't play chess about it and he replied, "8 out of 9, why is that so impressive? Couldn't he go 9?" I said, "Nobody ever gets 9 points in one event!" I've never been happier to be corrected. 9 out of 10, I am just so happy. It's fair. I think I should have won today, but I also think I should have lost the game I drew. It's a fair result on the whole. I’m pretty happy – I’m going to get a medal and a lot of rating points.

Are you surprised yourself by your score?

Of course. If someone had told me... there's a reason I’m not 2900. I didn't expect to play a 2900 performance. I just wanted to play at my best, and it's been great.

How did you find the city and the organization and everything? Did any of that contribute to your result?

I’m not sure exactly. I mean, it's lovely here, but it's my first Olympiad so I don't have anything to compare it to. The only thing I have to complain about is the ridiculous prices in Norway. But that’s absolutely not the organisers’ fault. Everything else they did great.

Shankland is already heading on his way to Latvia where Riga Open starts tomorrow.

China held again, but hold on for silver In the women’s event Ukraine left it late, but fought tenaciously for their medal chances, with Natalia Zhukova top-scoring on Board 4.

The top-seeded Chinese women were unable to break Ukraine down, and a 2-2 all draws tie meant that both teams ended on 18 points. When Georgia battered the fourth place German squad the medal nations were clear - but would the tiebreak edge for China stand up to the final round of results, and at least give them the silver?

Or would the events of the 11th round boost the Ukraine above the bronze medals? The answer was no – China held on for silver.

That was still a disappointment for World Champion Hou Yifan’s hopes of winning a first gold medal with China, but at least the first and second places in the Open and Women’s sections ensured China ran away with the overall Gaprindashvili Cup (Russia were second, Ukraine third).

Individual results It's no surprise, of course, to see that World Champion Hou Yifan made the medals table, but Pia Cramling's 10/11 is an extraordinary feat for a 51-year-old, even one of her legendary chess longevity. The one controversy on this list is the fact that Nana Dzagnidze (7 wins, 2 draws) didn't risk her performance rating by playing the final round - though her team's 4:0 rout of Germany defused that bomb!

Valentina Gunina took gold on Board 2, while Alexandra Kosteniuk did the same on Board 3, powering the Russian women to overall victory - all the board medalists can be found on the official website.

Notable results The list of medals does not tell all the stories of the Olympiad, and there are surely more hidden in the vast array of statistics for the event. Most chess players love a good rummage in the tables of numbers that catalog the tournament's adventures.

English GM Jonathan Speelman pointed out the impressive performance of young untitled Cypriot Andreas Kelires, who scored a GM norm with 7 wins and 4 draws, and 13-year-old Australian FM Anton Smirnov completed his IM title in Tromsø, getting the needed rating points and adding a fourth norm to his collection. Padmini Rout won the women's fifth board goal medal to spread some Indian Olympiad joy to the women's team, while a special shout out should go to Egypt - they won category prizes in both the Open and Women's sections!

Local news In the end, it was not the easiest task to find a positive spin on the Norwegian Open team's performance here. With Magnus Carlsen, pumped up crowds and immense TV coverage, expectations were exospheric, with top ten and possible medals being discussed by somewhat overheated national media. The pressure seemed


to be too much; thanks to a last round blanking of Malaysia, Norway 1 soared up the table to a still disappointing 29th, and the best thing that could be said is that this was at least the top Nordic result.

Norway's top women could make the same claim, and with more pride. Ranked 38th, they were also the top Nordic team in their event, finishing 25th after beating Montenegro 3:1 in the final round.

We shouldn't leave the local news without another mention of Norway 2 - four of the five

performed markedly above their ratings, first board Frode Urkedal beat Ivanchuk and narrowly missed taking his final GM norm, and Torbjørn Ringdal Hansen had a Norwegian rating performance only bettered by Magnus Carlsen. They drew against second seeds Ukraine and lost to favorites Russia by the smallest margin. There are advantages to being away from the spotlights.

All that remained before bidding farewell to the 2014 Olympiad was the closing ceremony, and the handing out of well-earned rewards.


Levon Aronian (2805) - David Navara (2716) WCO2014 Tromso (11.36), 14.08.2014 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.¤c3 ¤f6 5.¥f4 ¤c6 6.e3 ¥f5 7.£b3 ¤a5 8.£a4+ ¥d7 9.£c2 e6 10.¤f3 ¥e7 11.¥d3 ¤c6 12.a3 ¤h5 13.¥e5 f6 14.¥f4 ¦c8 15.h3 ¤xf4 16.exf4 £b6 17.¦d1 f5 18.¥b5 ¥d6 19.g3 ¤a5 20.¥xd7+ ¢xd7 21.0-0 ¦he8 22.¦d3 ¤c4 23.¤a4 £c6 24.¦c3

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+r+r+-+0 7zpp+k+-zpp0 6-+qvlp+-+0 5+-+p+p+-0 4N+nzP-zP-+0 3zP-tR-+NzPP0 2-zPQ+-zP-+0 1+-+-+RmK-0 xabcdefghy

24...b5? Black is still in the game after 24...b6 since 25.b3 is met with 25...¤xa3. 25.¤c5+ Now White is winning material by force. 25...¥xc5

25...¢c7 26.b3 ¤xa3 27.£a2 b4 28.¤a6+ ¢b7 29.¦xc6 with a winning material advantage for White.

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+r+r+-+0 7zp-+k+-zpp0 6-+q+p+-+0 5+pvlp+p+-0 4-+nzP-zP-+0 3zP-tR-+NzPP0 2-zPQ+-zP-+0 1+-+-+RmK-0 xabcdefghy

26.¦xc4! bxc4 27.¤e5+ 27.¤e5+ ¢c7 28.¤xc6 and Black only has a rook for the queen. 1-0 Alexandra Kosteniuk (2531) - Adriana Nikolova (2325) WCO2014 Tromso (11.39), 14.08.2014 1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤f6 5.¤c3 d6 6.¥g5 a6 7.£d2 ¤xd4 8.£xd4 £a5 9.h4 h6 10.¥d2 £c7 11.¥c4 e6 12.¥b3 ¥d7 13.0-0-0 ¥c6 14.¦he1 e5 15.£d3 b5 16.f4 ¤d7 17.¤d5 ¥xd5 18.¥xd5 ¦c8 19.¦f1 ¥e7 20.g4 exf4


21.¥xf4 ¦f8 22.¦f3 g5 23.hxg5 ¥xg5 24.¢b1 ¥xf4 25.¦xf4 ¤e5 26.£d2 £e7 27.¦h1 ¦g8 28.¦xh6 ¦xg4

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+r+k+-+0 7+-+-wqp+-0 6p+-zp-+-tR0 5+p+Lsn-+-0 4-+-+PtRr+0 3+-+-+-+-0 2PzPPwQ-+-+0 1+K+-+-+-0 xabcdefghy

29.¥xf7+! ¤xf7 30.¦xg4 ¤xh6 31.£xh6 White is only a pawn up, but Black's troubled king makes the material balance almost irrelevant. 31...£f7 32.¦g1 £c4 33.£h8+ ¢d7 34.¦g7+ ¢e6 35.£h6+ ¢e5 36.¦g5+ ¢d4 37.c3+ ¢d3 38.£h3+ ¢xe4 39.£h4+ ¢d3 40.¦g3+ ¢d2 41.£h2+ £e2

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+r+-+-+0 7+-+-+-+-0 6p+-zp-+-+0 5+p+-+-+-0 4-+-+-+-+0 3+-zP-+-tR-0 2PzP-mkq+-wQ0 1+K+-+-+-0 xabcdefghy

42.¦g2 and Black resigned. 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2743) - Hikaru Nakamura (2787) WCO2014 Tromso (11.5), 14.08.2014 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.¤c3 dxc4 4.e3 b5 5.a4 b4 6.¤e4 £d5 7.¤d2 c3 8.¤df3 £a5 9.¤e5 ¤f6 10.¤gf3 e6 11.¥d3 ¥a6

12.bxc3 bxc3 13.0-0 ¤bd7 14.¤xc6 £b6 15.¤fe5 ¥b7 16.a5 £c7 17.£a4 ¥d6 18.a6 ¥xc6 19.£xc6 0-0 20.£xc7 ¥xc7 21.¤xd7 ¤xd7 22.¥a3 ¦fd8 23.¦fc1 e5 24.¥e4 ¦ab8 25.¦xc3 ¥a5 26.¦cc1 ¥b4 27.¥xb4 ¦xb4 28.¦c7 exd4 29.¦xa7 dxe3 30.¦xd7 ¦xd7 31.a7 exf2+ 32.¢xf2 ¦xa7 33.¦xa7 g6 34.¢e3 ¦b6 35.¥d5 ¦f6 36.g4 h6 37.¢e4 ¢g7 38.h4 ¦f1 39.¦b7

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+-+0 7+R+-+pmk-0 6-+-+-+pzp0 5+-+L+-+-0 4-+-+K+PzP0 3+-+-+-+-0 2-+-+-+-+0 1+-+-+r+-0 xabcdefghy

39...¦f2 39...g5 40.h5 ¦f2 41.¦xf7+ ¦xf7 42.¥xf7 ¢xf7 43.¢f5 ¢g7 44.¢e6 ¢g8 45.¢f6 ¢h7 46.¢f7 ¢h8 47.¢g6 and White mops up the kingside pawns. 40.g5 hxg5 41.hxg5

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41...¦e2+ and Black resigned as the upcoming pawn ending is still lost for him: 41...¦e2+ 42.¢d4 ¦d2+ 43.¢e5 ¦e2+ 44.¢d6 ¦f2 45.¦xf7+ ¦xf7 46.¥xf7 ¢xf7


47.¢d7 ¢f8 48.¢e6 ¢g7 49.¢e7 ¢g8 50.¢f6 ¢f8 51.¢xg6 ¢g8 52.¢h6 ¢h8 53.g6 ¢g8 54.g7 ¢f7 55.¢h7 and the g−pawn queens. 1-0 Liren Ding (2742) - Grzegorz Gajewski (2659) WCO2014 Tromso (11.26), 14.08.2014 1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 ¥b4+ 4.¥d2 ¥e7 5.¥g2 d5 6.¤f3 0-0 7.0-0 c6 8.£c2 ¤bd7 9.¦d1 b6 10.b3 a5 11.¥c3 ¥a6 12.¤bd2 b5 13.e4 bxc4 14.bxc4 ¤xe4 15.¤xe4 dxe4 16.¤e5 f5 17.¤xc6 £e8 18.¥xa5 ¤f6 19.d5 ¥b7 20.¤xe7+ £xe7 21.¥c3 exd5 22.¦ab1 ¦f7 23.¥xf6 £xf6 24.cxd5 ¦d8 25.d6 ¥a6 26.£c6 ¥d3

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-tr-+k+0 7+-+-+rzpp0 6-+QzP-wq-+0 5+-+-+p+-0 4-+-+p+-+0 3+-+l+-zP-0 2P+-+-zPLzP0 1+R+R+-mK-0 xabcdefghy

27.¦xd3! 27.¦b6 ¦fd7 and Black will save the game by liquidating the passed d−pawn. 27...exd3 28.¥d5 ¢f8 29.¥xf7 £xf7 30.¦d1 £xa2 31.£c7 £a8 32.d7 d2 33.¦xd2 £a1+ 34.¢g2 £f6 At this point it looked as though White might be facing some technical problems, but Ding wraps things up in convincing fashion. 35.¦e2 f4 36.£c5+ ¢f7 37.£h5+ £g6 38.£d5+ ¢f8

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39.¦e5 fxg3 40.hxg3 40.hxg3 h6 41.£c5+ ¢g8 42.£c8 £f6 43.¦e8+ and White wins the house. 1-0 Jan−Krzysztof Duda (2576) - Yangyi Yu (2668) WCO2014 Tromso (11.27), 14.08.2014 1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤f6 5.¤c3 a6 6.¥e2 e5 7.¤b3 ¥e7 8.¥g5 ¥e6 9.¥xf6 ¥xf6 10.£d3 0-0 11.0-0-0 ¥e7 12.¢b1 ¤d7 13.¤d5 ¥xd5 14.£xd5 b5 15.£b7 ¤f6 16.f3 ¦e8 17.c4 ¥f8 18.£c6 £b8 19.¤a5 £a7 20.c5 dxc5 21.£b7 c4 22.£xa7 ¦xa7 23.¦c1 ¦c7 24.¤b3 ¦d7 25.¤a1 ¦d2 26.¦c2 ¦ed8 27.b3 c3 28.a4 bxa4 29.¥xa6 a3 30.¥b5 h5 31.h4 g6 32.¦e1 ¥b4 33.¦ec1 ¢g7 34.¢a2 ¤g8 35.¦xd2 ¦xd2+ 36.¦c2 ¤e7 37.¦xd2 cxd2 38.¥e2 ¤c6 39.¤c2 ¤d4 40.¤xd4 exd4 41.f4 d3 42.¥f3 ¢f6 43.g4 hxg4 44.¥xg4 ¢e7 45.e5 ¢d8


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46.f5 46.h5 gxh5 47.¥xh5 ¢d7 48.f5 ¢c6 49.¥g4 ¢d5 50.e6 fxe6 51.fxe6 ¢e4 and Black simply runs his king to e1. 46...gxf5 47.¥d1 ¢e7 48.h5 ¢f8 49.¥f3 ¢g7 50.¥d1 ¢h6 51.¥f3 ¢g5 52.¥d1 f4 53.¢b1 ¢f5 54.¥f3 ¢xe5 55.¢a2 ¥f8 56.h6 ¢f6 57.¥h5 ¥b4 58.¢b1

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58...f3 58...f3 59.¥xf3 ¢g6 60.¥d1 ¢xh6 and Black wins easily by using his king to escort the f−pawn. 0-1



Elshan Moradiabadi (2598) - Patrick Aizpurua (2172) WCO2014 Tromso (11.39), 14.08.2014

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+k+0 7zpptr-+-zp-0 6-zP-+p+-+0 5+-+p+-zPq0 4-sn-zP-+-+0 3+-sN-zP-+-0 2-zP-mK-zp-+0 1tR-vL-+Q+-0 xabcdefghy

28...£g6! 28...axb6 29.¦a8+ ¢h7 30.£xf2 and Black has little to show for the missing bishop. 29.e4 29.bxc7 £c2# 29...£xg5+ 30.¢e2 £g4+ 31.¢d2 £f4+ 32.¢e2 £g4+ White has no sensible way of avoiding perpetual check. ½-½

Amalia Aranaz Murillo (2314) - Maria Kursova (2313) WCO2014 Tromso (11.12), 14.08.2014

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-+r+-mk0 7+-zp-+pzp-0 6pzp-+-+-+0 5+-vl-+-+n0 4P+P+-sn-+0 3+-+LzPP+q0 2-+Q+-tR-zP0 1tR-vLN+-+K0 xabcdefghy

22...¦ad8 Black is still winning, but she missed a beautiful finish: 22...¤g3+ 23.¢g1 £g2+! 24.¦xg2 ¤h3# 23.¥f1 ¤g3+ 24.¢g1 ¤xf1 25.¦xf1 ¦e6 26.¦f2 ¦g6+ 27.¢h1

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27...¦g2! 27...¦g2 28.¦xg2 ¦xd1+! 29.¦g1 (29.£xd1 £xg2#) 29...£xf3+ 30.£g2 £xg2# 0-1


Tatjana Melamed (2364) - Lela Javakhishvili (2478) WCO2014 Tromso (11.14), 14.08.2014

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+l+r+k+0 7zpp+-+pzpp0 6-+-vl-+-+0 5wq-+PvL-+-0 4-+-+-+-+0 3+-+L+-+-0 2P+-+QzPPzP0 1tR-+-tR-mK-0 xabcdefghy

19.£h5? 19.¥c3 ¦xe2 20.¥xa5 ¦xe1+ 21.¦xe1 ¥d7 leave the position fairly balanced. 19...g6 20.£g5 ¥f5! 21.¥xf5 ¥xe5 22.¦ab1

XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-+r+k+0 7zpp+-+p+p0 6-+-+-+p+0 5wq-+PvlLwQ-0 4-+-+-+-+0 3+-+-+-+-0 2P+-+-zPPzP0 1+R+-tR-mK-0 xabcdefghy

22...¥f4! 22...¥f4 23.¦xe8+ ¦xe8 24.£xf4 ¦e1+ 25.¦xe1 £xe1# 0-1

Ellen Hagesæther (2182) - Kristina Bacic (1801) WCO2014 Tromso (11.36), 14.08.2014

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+l+rtr-mk0 7+-+-+-zpp0 6p+p+p+-wq0 5+-+-tR-+N0 4-+-+-+Q+0 3+-+-+-+-0 2PzP-+-zPPzP0 1+-+R+-mK-0 xabcdefghy

22...¦f5?? 23.£xf5! g6 23...exf5 24.¦xe8# 24.£f6+ ¢g8 25.¤g3 ¦f8 26.¦d8 and Black resigned. 1-0 Francisco Vallejo Pons (2698) - Le Quang Liem (2710) WCO2014 Tromso (11.40), 14.08.2014

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34.¦e7! This leaves Black unable to relieve the pressure through exchanges. 34...¦c6 35.f7+ ¢g7 36.¤e8+ ¢h6 37.¦xd8 ¥xe7


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38.¤d6! 38.¤d6 ¢g7 39.¦g8+ ¢h6 40.¦e8 and the f−pawn decides the game. 1-0 Hansen Eric (2593) - Gomez John Paul (2526) WCO2014 Tromso (11.47), 14.08.2014

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According to the endgame tablebases this position is a win for White in 92 moves. This means that Black could probably claim a draw after 50 moves with reasonable defense. Since Canada didn't have much to play for, Hansen decided to call it a day. 82.¤xh4 ½-½

Aryan Tari (2440) - Vilka Sipila (2425) WCO2014 Tromso (11.3), 14.08.2014

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139.¦e3+ ¢xe3 stalemate. ½-½

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