Today was a murrain day for the favourites. It seemed like only Israel and the Netherlands are still in the battle for gold, but suddenly nothing can be said for sure yet. Israel, the leaders, ended the round with harsh humours as they sensationally lost to rampart Georgia. More than 100 ELO point advantage at each board did not help the Israelis who drew three games and lost one. Israel's slip-up did not help the Dutchmen much since they only halved vs speeding Georgia. Poland created another sensation of the day as their no. 1 GM Robert Kempinski beat Etienne Bacrot with black pieces to lead his team to a prescious 2,5-1,5 win over France. Now Poland face Holland on the last day to defend their bronze medal position or, in case of a win, take a paralell duel with Israel in the race for gold. Ukraine and Russia won 3-1 both, but this is not enough to go back to the nose of the group of course.

In the women's section Poland are holding firm. Today they ran over Ukraine despite Socko's loss vs Lahno. Joanna Zawadzka took decisive point after 5 hours of play in the minor piece ending vs Inna Gaponenko. Alexandra Kosteniuk lost to former World Champion Maia Chiburdanidze of Georgia and Russia lost 1,5-2,5. The hopes of Russian ladies dashed today definitely. With last round to go Poland are a single step from heaven holding one match point advantage over Georgia who are safe in second too.

Standings
Men: Holland - 13; Israel, Poland and Georgia - 12; Greece, Czech Republic, Serbia & Montenegro and France - 11
Women: Poland - 14; Georgia - 13; Russia and Bulgaria - 11

Now you can watch games of both men's and women's section round 1-8 online via well known OlimpBase format!
15th men's ETCh info page.
15th women's ETCh info page.
(Please note: history statistics are not available yet. Olympic statistics are used instead)

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

Van Wely (NED, 2655) - Kotronias (GRE, 2587)
Black has an extra piece but his position seems squeezed and pair of white free pawns seems to be mortal threat. 31. ... Ng4! perhaps one should say that it is black Queen that is under the pin but it is quite opposite in fact. If fxg4 then Qxg2# 32. Kg1 Qxf3 followed by Rxh2# was threatening 32. ... Nc6! preparing d4 for black Bishop 33. Qc4 Bd4+ 34. Rxd4 Nxd4 35. c6 if Qxd4 then Rxg2+ and Qa2+ will follow 35. ...Rc2 36. Qxd4? loses at once 36. ... Rxg2+! 37. Kxg2 Qa2+ 38. Kg1 Qh2+ 39. Kf1 Qh1+ 40. Ke2 Rxe6+ -+. Holland's only loss in the entire Championship!


Tiviakov (NED, 2678) - Banikas (GRE, 2548)
Pawn d6 makes Black's position a bit cramped. This is why Banikas decided to get rid of white Knight moving f7-f5? 23. Qf4! h6 24. Rae1 what a nasty Knight it is, still stays under attack and doesn't seem to take care 24. ... g5 25. Qf3 Rf8 26. h3 Ne5 27. Qh5 Nxd3? Rh7 was a must, though the position was hardly tolerable for Black 28. Qg6+ resigns. He first takes Be6 and then Bd3. Ne4 is untouchable because of a pin on Rf8.


Berkes (HUN, 2619) - Navara (CZE, 2663)
Berkes' extravagant treatment of the opening soon made White's position critical. Watch how strongly Black squeezed the White. 9. ... Qf6! 10. h3 Be2 fails because of e4! 10. ... Bh5 11. g4 e4! still 12. d4? 12. Nd2 was the only choice followed by 12. ... Nxc3 13. gxh5! Nxd1 14. Bxg6 Nxe3 15. Bxg7 Nxf1 16. Rxf1 Rg8 and White is still alive 12. ... exf3 13. gxh5 0-0-0 14. h4 Rhe8 15. Bh3+ the Bishop goes to nowhere 15. ... Kb8 16. 0-0 Bxc3 17. Bxc3 Re4! -+ Black won in 21 moves since the Bishop is lost and mate in inevitable.


Stocek (CZE, 2592) - Balogh (HUN, 2537)
The position is extremely sharp. Black is a pawn up but the Knight is hopelessly pinned. On the other hand Black has serious mate threats on the Kingside 33. ... Bf2+! 34. Kf3 Rg8?? a blunder. There was a great winning move here 34. ... Bb6! and if Rxa4 then Rf2+ follows the trade of Rooks, and the Rf2+ and Rg8+ sequence is another threat for White. Now Black wins unless... 35. Bd6! the only move to refute Black's threats and protect crucial g3 square 35. ... Bg3 36. Bxg3 Rh3 37. Rg1 resigns. Czech won 3-1, a result that let them play Israel on the next day...


Solak (YUG, 2557) - Lupulescu (ROM, 2542)
Is there any way for White to break Black's defensive shield? 26. f5! Bf8 taking the pawn was not a bad choice for Black, e.g. 26. ... gxf6 27. Ng5 Bxg5 28. Bxg5 Qf8 and there is no clear way to win for White 27. Qh3 exf5?! paradoxically gxf5 was better 28. Ng5 Bg7 29. e6! fxe6 30. Qh7+ Kf8 31. Nxe6+ Rxe6 32. Rxe6 Qd7? 33. Rf6+ resigns. Qg8+ will follow Ke8. Well done but Black could have defended way better than this.

by d.pullens@hi.nl @ 07 Aug 2005 03:42 pm

Where can I find the games of to-day ?