39th Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 (the chess)

[James O'Fee]

Monday, September 27. 2010
Report the fourth, by C.J. de Mooi
Ed: C.J. De Mooi, President of the English Chess Federation, writes from the Chess Olympiad in Siberia;

He's not dead, he's just pining for the fjords!

A thirty something Cornish man is being questioned about mugging a Norwegian teenager. A Mr Michael Adams (who claimed to be unwell after a fall) beat up Mr Magnus Carlsen in what's been called the English Attack.

Surrounded by 3 more peaceably minded team mates, Mr Adams' onslaught was vicious, brisk and unmerciful... all in the best traditions of the British Bulldog. A 2.5-1.5 win over a Norway team included Hammer and the World's best player is a great result, backed up by the English Women's whitewash of UAE. Sarah Hegarty was again first to finish and thoughts of board prizes, norms or even titles must be omnipresent now.

Overall, today was a great day to be English... but isn't it always?

Link

http://www.impalapublications.com/blog/

[Maxim Devereaux]

Fantastic performance from Adams today, but I understand the big winner was an Indian bookmaker who was taken bets on the opening on board 1

It would have been very suspicious if anyone had gone with the North Sea at the bookies... probably find it was a Norwegian syndicate Though I assume it would have just come under "Something else" and the odds wouldn't have been that long anyway.

[Alex Holowczak]

A Mr Michael Adams (who claimed to be unwell after a fall)

Sounds like he needs to get in touch with one of those companies that advertise on daytime TV about giving you compensation if you've been injured at work!

[Michael Jones]

Oh dear. Are we going to get suspicious betting patterns on the number of pawn moves in the first 20 minutes, and accusations of spot fixing?

Yes, Azerbaijan and Armenia have played a few times without anyone shooting their opponent, but the fact that a tournament cannot be held in one country if a player from the other is due to participate tends to suggest that all is not entirely well between them.

[Alex Holowczak]

Yes, Azerbaijan and Armenia have played a few times without anyone shooting their opponent, but the fact that a tournament cannot be held in one country if a player from the other is due to participate tends to suggest that all is not entirely well between them.

It's my personal opinion that there really shouldn't be acrimony between the chess teams at all, including anything Israel is involved with. It's not as though Boris Gelfand is to blame for everything going on in that region. Similarly, it's not as if the political conflict in the Caucasus is the fault of anyone in either of the Armenian or Azeri chess teams. Most of these conflicts are generations old.

[Matthew Turner]

Alex,
I think you might have to be a bit carefrul here. The President of the Armenian Chess Federation is also the President of the Country.
Here is part of his wikipedia entry

"As tensions rose over Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, Sargsyan became chairman of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Self-Defense Forces Committee and was subsequently elected to the Supreme Council of Armenia in 1990.[4] He organized several battles in the Nagorno-Karabakh War and is considered to be one of the founders of Nagorno-Karabakh's and Armenia's armed forces"

I in no way seek to apportion blame but I can imagine that there would be tensions on both sides.

[Alex Holowczak]

Alex,
I think you might have to be a bit carefrul here. The President of the Armenian Chess Federation is also the President of the Country.
Here is part of his wikipedia entry

"As tensions rose over Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, Sargsyan became chairman of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Self-Defense Forces Committee and was subsequently elected to the Supreme Council of Armenia in 1990.[4] He organized several battles in the Nagorno-Karabakh War and is considered to be one of the founders of Nagorno-Karabakh's and Armenia's armed forces"

I in no way seek to apportion blame but I can imagine that there would be tensions on both sides.

Fair enough; I didn't know that. To be honest, I don't really care either. I'm just interested in the result of their match...

I like the idea of the President of the National Governing Body being President of the National Chess Federation. That's one way to secure government funding!

[Matthew Turner]

Alex,
I am just making the point that you cannot always assume that chess players are just sportsmen and are apolitical. I think it was totally unnecessary for Yemen to be paired against Israel in the first round and I agree with Stewart that the organisers should have been pragmatic.

[Mark Howitt]

Taking a quick look at the England stats right now (http://www.chess-results.com/tnr36795.a ... -1&wi=1000) got me thinking.

We've got quite good results as a team, without any of the players always playing to their full ability! Hopefully now two wins in a row can stand us in good stead, and we can reach top form. I think we're favourites to beat Belarus, but after we could be facing solely elite teams. So ideally now I really think we should aim to play our top four players in the remaining matches.

I really want this England team to do well! This is a great opportunity for us, so let's take it now!

[LozCooper]

Round 7 board pairings:

Bo. 8 Belarus (BLR) Rtg - 12 England (ENG) Rtg 0 : 0
8.1 GM Zhigalko Sergei 2640 - GM Adams Michael 2728
8.2 GM Teterev Vitaly 2511 - GM Short Nigel D 2690
8.3 Podolchenko Evgeniy 2506 - GM Howell David W L 2616
8.4 IM Stupak Kirill 2502 - GM Jones Gawain C B 2576

Bo. 39 England (ENG) Rtg - 77 Guatemala (GUA) Rtg 0 : 0
30.1 IM Houska Jovanka 2426 - WIM Mazariego-K Carolina 2086
30.2 WIM Lauterbach Ingrid 2169 - Figueroa Julissa 1792
30.3 WFM Grigoryan Meri 2099 - Sotomayor Villatoro Silvia 1777
30.4 Bhatia Kanwal K 2072 - Rodriguez Marxia 0

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Taking a quick look at the England stats right now (http://www.chess-results.com/tnr36795.a ... -1&wi=1000) got me thinking.

We've got quite good results as a team, without any of the players always playing to their full ability! Hopefully now two wins in a row can stand us in good stead, and we can reach top form. I think we're favourites to beat Belarus, but after we could be facing solely elite teams. So ideally now I really think we should aim to play our top four players in the remaining matches.

I really want this England team to do well! This is a great opportunity for us, so let's take it now!

There is a possibility England may still face one more team seeded below them after this round (if they win this round), but yes, it could be a tough run-in if they start winning consistently and avoid defeat in their remaining matches (but that is what they will need to do to finish in the medals or high in the top 10). The last round, as always, will be critical.

BTW, I know most attention will be focused on today's match, but I was wondering if anyone would have time to comment on a few things from the Norway match. The expectation had been that we would do well on the bottom two boards and try to hold them on the top two boards, though in the end it seemed to be the other way round.

Am I right in saying that Jones had winning chances? Was he winning at any point, or did his opponent play well to get the draw (did Jones have to allow Nxa4?), or did Jones take the draw for the team. In the final position, it seems that he moved the bishop to force the perpetual and offered a draw that his opponent accepted. What might have happened if he had played Qc6 instead of Bc6?

And is there a reason why the board 3 game (with McShane) went on so long and White didn't claim a draw earlier? Was it a case of hoping Black might overpress or waiting to see what the results would be on the other boards? From what I remember, White (McShane) could have claimed a draw by repetition *after* all the other matches had finished, but the game went on and on. Is it possible that both players were short of time and/or there was a problem with the arbiters and claiming the draw? Maybe there is a simple explanation, but I found it difficult to see why the draws by repetition weren't being claimed.

Not sure what was happening in Short's game. The Adams-Carlsen game was great to watch!

[LozCooper]

Taking a quick look at the England stats right now (http://www.chess-results.com/tnr36795.a ... -1&wi=1000) got me thinking.

We've got quite good results as a team, without any of the players always playing to their full ability! Hopefully now two wins in a row can stand us in good stead, and we can reach top form. I think we're favourites to beat Belarus, but after we could be facing solely elite teams. So ideally now I really think we should aim to play our top four players in the remaining matches.

I really want this England team to do well! This is a great opportunity for us, so let's take it now!

There is a possibility England may still face one more team seeded below them after this round (if they win this round), but yes, it could be a tough run-in if they start winning consistently and avoid defeat in their remaining matches (but that is what they will need to do to finish in the medals or high in the top 10). The last round, as always, will be critical.

BTW, I know most attention will be focused on today's match, but I was wondering if anyone would have time to comment on a few things from the Norway match. The expectation had been that we would do well on the bottom two boards and try to hold them on the top two boards, though in the end it seemed to be the other way round.

Am I right in saying that Jones had winning chances? Was he winning at any point, or did his opponent play well to get the draw (did Jones have to allow Nxa4?), or did Jones take the draw for the team. In the final position, it seems that he moved the bishop to force the perpetual and offered a draw that his opponent accepted. What might have happened if he had played Qc6 instead of Bc6?

And is there a reason why the board 3 game (with McShane) went on so long and White didn't claim a draw earlier? Was it a case of hoping Black might overpress or waiting to see what the results would be on the other boards? From what I remember, White (McShane) could have claimed a draw by repetition *after* all the other matches had finished, but the game went on and on. Is it possible that both players were short of time and/or there was a problem with the arbiters and claiming the draw? Maybe there is a simple explanation, but I found it difficult to see why the draws by repetition weren't being claimed.

Not sure what was happening in Short's game. The Adams-Carlsen game was great to watch!

I think Gawain was better after his exchange sacrifice and certainly had winning chances and was disappointed not to win. At the end he took the draw to give us a 2-1 lead confident that Luke would at least draw.

Luke certainly had a good look at his scoresheet whilst the repetitions were happening but with only a couple of minutes on his clock didn't want to risk an incorrect claim and was fairly confident that his opponent didn't have any serious alternatives. I was obviously happy when they did agree the draw though.

I don't think Nigel had an problems in his game, maybe fractionally worse but nothing serious.

I think we all enjoyed the board 1 game and it is obviously a real confidence booster for Mickey.

[Mark Howitt]

Hmm... a bit unsure on resting McShane today. I know he's played all the games so far but still, with this line up I think a draw is more of a possibility than it is with him in the team. We'll have to see how the results pan out!

[Mick Norris]

Luke had the longest game yesterday, Howell is rested and Jones in form

Belarus seem in form apart from their top 2 boards

Seems the obvious thing to do

[Mark Howitt]

Actually... just rechecked the teams on Belarus have left their second best player out! So we should still win hopefully!