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So, participation in the first World School Chess Championships for twenty Ukrainian teams has already finished.
Certainly, it is a pity that none of these teams reached the tournament final, but all the same, the WSCC is far from the highest level in sports. The main consequence of the tournament - the guys have experienced in large measure the pleasure and benefits of competition; for many of them, the championship was their first acquaintance with the Internet and international play. We polled the participants of the
tournament during the second round, when some of teams had already tasted a loss, but in reply to a question «Is it fun to play against youth in other countries?» the only answer - «Yes» was invariable received!
OUR RESULTS
From March 5 - May 18, the Ukrainian schools played as many as 43 Internet matches against opponents from Israel, Hungary, Russia, Austria and South Africa. The best result was achieved by Elementary School Intellect (Odessa). They advanced to the semifinal of the European-Asian-African Zone, winning their first four matches. Only in the fifth round did the powerful team, Elkana (Israel), stop their progress... The Intellect team's success was certainly not a matter of chance. Instead, for many years the school's management supported a special chess class organized by coach Mikhail Konstantinovich Stasiukevich.
After competing in the WSCC, the Intellect team will next participate in an over-the-board team tournament in Kiev. I hope for their success, knowing that the experience from their on-line battles will prove very useful to them.
Three more Ukrainian teams reached the fourth round.
Undoubtedly, the Zhitomir Liceum team could have achieved a better result. In a key match during the fourth round, the advantage shifted away from the Ukrainians to the Israeli team, Ort Rogozin, who won the match with the score of 4-2.
The good performance of the 54th Odessa school could be predicted, since they also have a chess class, just like the Intellect school. An interesting result occurred during the third round match between School 54 and a team, Reim, from Israel. All six games were won by the players with the Black pieces! But the victory from their first board allowed the 54th Odessa school to advance to the next stage.
In contrast, the successful result of the Odessa School 100 was a surprise. In the Junior High category they managed to defeat their opponents from Israel, Austria and Hungary. In two of these matches, with the score tied at 3-3, School 100 achieved victory only through the success of their 1st Board, Alexander Garifullin.
It was difficult to avoid being photographed together with such persistent and successful team!
One of the Odessa School 100 leader's wins:
Alexander Garifullin (School 100, Odessa Ukraine)
Yvonne_B (Europa Gymnasium, Klagenfurt Austria)
WSCC 2nd Round (9.4.2000)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Bb5 Bb4 5.d3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 0-0 7.0-0 a6 8.Bxc6 dxc6 9.Nxe5 Be6 10.h3 Qe7 11.Nf3 Rad8 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bd2 Qd7 14.Kh2 Rfe8 15.Qe2 b5 16.Rfe1 c5 17.Ne5 Qd6 18.f4 c4 19.d4 a5 20.Rad1 Qa3 21.f5 Bd7 22.Qf2 Qxa2 23.Qg3 Qxc2 24.Bxh6 Kf8 25.Qxg7+ Ke7 26.Qxf7+ Kd6 27.Qxf6+ Be6 28.Bf8+ Rxf8 29.Qxe6# Black checkmated 1-0
THE MOST EXOTIC MATCH
A unique moment in the tournament was experienced during our May 3rd match versus the Pretoria Boys High School (South Africa). The Odessa School 29 team's first board player, Rustem Gorbenko, was in Crimea. So with the arbiter's permission, he played his game from the Simferopol Internet club. Simultaneously his five teammates played against South Africa from Odessa. On the sixth computer, we observed Rustem's game in a real time mode.
Rustem found some really brilliant moves, but unfortunately, time trouble prevented him from finishing with a victory:
Wikus van der Hoven (Pretoria Boys High School, South Africa) (1850)
Rustem Gorbenko (School 29, Odessa Ukraine)
WSCC 3rd Round (3.5.2000)
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Ndf3 Nc6 7.Ne2 Qb6 8.c3 cxd4 9.Nexd4 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 Nc5 11.g3 Bd7 12.Kf2 Na4 13.Qd2 Rc8 14.Kg2 Bc5 15.Nb3 Be7 16.Bd3 Nc5 17.Bc2 Nxb3 18.axb3 d4 19.Rd1 Bc6+ Rustem outplayed his opponent and thus stands slightly better. 20.Kh3 dxc3 21.bxc3 Rd8 22.Qe3 Bc5 23.Rxd8+ Kxd8 24.Qd3+ Kc7 24...Kc8!? 25.b4
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29...g4+! An extremely strong move. 30.Qxg4 Qf2! 31.Rxg1 Bf3! Objectively, Black is winning. Rustem, however had only 2 minutes left... 32.Qg5 (other moves lose immediately) 32...Bxh5! After the game, Rustem said that he thought that he had insufficient time for the prosaic but long win with 32...Rxh5. 33.Bh7!? The best practical chance (33.Qg7 Bg4+ 34.Kxg4 Qxg1+ -+; 33.Qe7+ Kb8 34.Qf6 Bg4+! 35.Kxg4 Qxg1+ 36.Kf3 Qh1+ (36...Rh3+ -+) 37.Ke3 Rh3+ 38.Ke2 (38.Kd4 Qd5#) 38...Rxh2+ 39.Kd3 Qd5+ -+; 33.Qh4 Qf3+ 34.Rg3 Bg4#). 33...Rxh7?? The first and, at the same time, last serious mistake. After 33...Bg6!! White is completely lost. After 33...Rxh7??, White is now winning! 34.Qe7+! +- Kb6 35.Qd8+ Kb5 Or 35...Kc6 36.Qd6+ Kb5 37.c4+ 36.Qd3+ 36.c4+! 36...Ka4 (36...Kc6 37.Qd6+ Kb5 38.c4+! +-) 37.Ra1+ Kb3 38.c4+ Kb2 39.Qc3# 1-0
 OUR OPPONENTS
Certainly the match against South Africa was an unforgettable event, in spite of playing more frequently against teams from Israel and Hungary. The greatest impression was made on me by the Hungarian team, Dienes Valeria (Elementary School), who managed to beat as many as three of our teams in the first three rounds.
Our Odessa School 53 had some chances against Dienes Valeria, but unfortunately, the absence by illness of its leader weakened the Ukrainian team. The match was won by the Hungarians, 4.5-1.5.
The power of Dienes Valeria can be illustrated with one very small fragment from the last (sixth) board game:
Papp_K (Dienes Valeria, Hungary)
Yuri Doskevich (School 53, Odessa Ukraine)
WSCC 3rd Round (3.5.2000)
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Of course, White is winning, but what is the clearest way? Many players would continue 40.Ke3, 40.Kc3 or 40.f6. 40.a4! Now Black is denied playing ...b7-b5. 40...Ke7 41.Ke3 Kf6 42.Kf4 a5 43.Ke4 b6 44.Kf4 Black has no more waiting moves and White's King can advance to e5. White won in a few moves. (1-0).
The participation of the Ukrainian teams in the first World School Chess Championships is now reflected in the results, games and photos on pages of the World Wide Web, thus becoming part of recorded history. We hope for further successes for our teams in the next championship!
Thanks to Steve Ham for his help in preparing this article.
© Chess-Sector.odessa.ua
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