There weren't much major upsets in the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin on day eight as the games crossed the midway point. Armenia retain one point lead ahead of Russia. It seems those two will struggle for gold.

The Dutch doom was sealed today as Aronian scored a thumping brisk win with black pieces over Ivan Sokolov. Sargissian's win over L'ami added to Armenia's success. The Russians were the first to stop Belarus and won 3-1 too. Kramnik scored another quick victory to improve his overall performance to 4/5 which is equivalent to sky-high 2914 Elo. Ukraine-India was a battle of the two teams possibly to threaten the leading duo. Ukraine won narrowly 2.5-1.5 courtesy to Karjakin who beat yesterday's hero Harikrishna. India are now down in 18th, unlikely to recover for the third time.

Surprise Sweden held USA to retain top 10 position. Gutsy Uzbekistan are back on top as they defeated Brazil 3-1. The Czech Republic gave pleasure to their fans wiping out sixth seeds Israel 3-1. Cuba unexpectedly emerged near the top of the table sweeping out Indonesia 3.5-0.5.

Spain failed to break Vietnamese guard to go on to a four draw tie. England play badly from the very beginning and today they lost to Norway 2.5-1.5. Perhaps biggest upset of the day was delivered by Mongolia who beat Latvia 3-1 (their board 2 player rated 2124 beat the 2482 Latvian GM). The Virgin Island derby was convincingly won by the British part by 3-1.

The only team to win all of its matches is Zambia who late-joined on day four and won four consecutive matches since then. Unfortunately they are only lying in 112th, so they are unlikely to get the top honours regardless they might win remaining six matches. Best individual results hitherto are recorded by Czech GM Laznicka 6/6, and Belorussian GM Zhigalko 5/5.

In the women's section Russia strengthened their lead wiping out Slovakia 3-0 as Ukraine dropped a fraction with Romania. USA beat India 2.5-0.5 and are lying in third.

Standings:
Men: Armenia 21; Russia 20; Cuba 19.5; Uzbekistan, Georgia, Ukraine, Czech Rep. 19
Women: Russia 17.5; Ukraine 16.5; USA 15.5; Hungary, Georgia 15

Crucial pairings for tomorrow: Cuba-Armenia; Czech Rep.-Russia; Uzbekistan-Georgia; France-Netherlands; Bulgaria-India (no Topalov-Anand though...)

Recommended links:
Detailed results and statistics at Wiener Zeitung page
Dennis Mokronoussos' blog
IM Jimmy Liew's blog focused on Malaysian team

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

1. Sokolov (NED, 2676) - Aronian (ARM, 2756)
Sokolov has just played dubious 10. Bxb8?! in a (not so well) known, sharp Nimzowitsch line. There followed 10... Qf6! 11. Bg3 Nxc3 12. a3 Bf5!? Expected was 12... Ba5 13. b4 Bc7 and White cannot capture because of Ne4 threatening Ra1 and f2. The move played could certainly well surprise Sokolov but it can probably be refuted. 13. Qd2 Ba5 14. b4?? Loses immediately. The only chance for White was 14. e3 0-0-0 15. Bd6 d4 16. Ne2 unclear. 14... Ne4 15. Qc1 Rc8!! Now White cannot capture because of Rxc5 which is a threat anyway since pb4 is pinned. 16. Ra2 Rxc5 17. Qa1 Qc6 18. Qe5+ Kd8! Giving away a Rook and a tempo, but this doesn't matter. 19. Qxh8 Kd7 0-1 Mate cannot be avoided. Most spectacular catastrophe in Turin.


7. Morozevich (RUS, 2730) - Azarov (BLR, 2592)
I don't know what will Miso Cebalo's choice for "Game of round 7" will be in the official bulletin, but this game certainly does deserve to be picked. A very instructive game with Moro unleashing deep strategic visions. 13. e5! An extremely strong, positional move cuts communication between the wings and leaves black pieces uselessly aiming at white Queenside while the King is forced to castle. Seemingly this move weakens crucial d5 and f5 squares but Black pieces can find no way to get there. 13... Ndb8 14. Qc4! Another neat manoeuvre. White Queen aims at g4 14... 0-0 15. Qg4 Rfe8 16. h4 Bf8 17. h5 Nd7 18. Bf4 += White has good prospects for attack while Black is missing counterchances. Morozevich forced g7-g6 weakening dark squares and soon won exchange to score easy win. 1-0 after 45 moves. Please do not forget to study the rest of the game (please find the game file below)!


11. Harikrishna (IND, 2680) - Karjakin (UKR, 2661)
Black's only tangible advantage is passed b4 pawn. The game, however, should end in a draw. The Indian commits decisive mistake already after time control 42. Nf5? Allows Black to play Qd1 and win the pawn. 42... g6 43. Ne7+ Kg7 44. Nc6 He protected the pawn but it makes situation even worse. 44... Qe3+ 45. Kf1 Qd3+ 46. Kf1 b3 -+ The pawn can be stopped only at a high cost. 0-1 soon.


14. Berg (SWE, 2539) - Ibragimov (USA, 2637)
Swedish GM plays exceptionally well in Turin. The Rook ending is of course drawn (Black to move): 84... a3 85. Re7+ Rxe7 86. fxe7 a2 87. e8=Q a1=Q = but apparently Black was hoping for a win and recklessly played 84... Kg8?? +- Unfortunately he overlooked his King falling into the mating net. 85. Kg6 Kf8 85... Ra8 wouldn't be of help either 86. Rb6 Ra8 87. Rxb5 Kd8 88. Kg7 Ra7+ 89. Kg8 a3 90. Re5+ 1-0 For yet another time a 2600 blunders in a simple ending.


20. Iuldachev (UZB, 2480) - Fier Alexander (BRA, 2471)
Black was totally destroyed here. The time has come for White's pressure to explode 32. exd6 Bxb2 33. Nxc5 Bf6 34. Qxh6+ Bg7 35. Nxd7+ Bxd7 36. dxe7+ Rxe7 37. Rxe7 1-0 A massacre.


44. Palo (DEN, 2546) - Darbanvaighani (IRI, 2396)
White has a deficit of a Rook and Black threatens to mate in 1 but white pawn is about to be promoted and White has perpetual check at his disposal, which was optimal solution for both players. Obviously the Iranian decided to win the game 42... Kxf6?? 43. e8=N+ Oups! 43... Kg5 44. Qh4+ Kg6 45. Qg4 Kh6 46. Qg7+ 1-0 46... Kh5 would follow 47. Nf6+ and Black has to trade his Queen for a Knight. Nevertheless we have to praise Iranian chess players for their efforts in Turin all in all.


62. Lautier (FRA, 2682) - Cuartas (COL, 2458)
We rarely see Lautier playing OTB chess as he is involved in some political and management activities those days, but here he proves he did not forget his well-known endgame technique. White's only tangible advantage is weak pg6 but limited material and opposite coloured Bishops make it highly unlikely for White to win. 59. Rc8 Kh7 60. h4! Winning space 60... Be7 61. Rc6 Rc5 61... Bf6 wouldn't work due to 62. g4 62. Rxg6 Kg8 63. Rb6 g5 64. Rg6+ Kf7 65. h5! +- There is 200 point difference between the players so expected result of a two-game match is 1.5-0.5. The stronger player will either convert the small prevalence into a win or not. This time he did.


77. Carlsen (NOR, 2646) - Adams (ENG, 2720)
Both Norway and England play poorly in Turin so the two met on 20th table (!). Carlsen came late because of his school duties but once he arrived he strengthened his team considerably. Looking for counterchances Adams decided to sacrifice exchange and it is hard to find the winning plan for White since black castle seems to be hard to storm. Luckily for the Norwegian Black commits decisive mistake 56... Nc1? 57. Rb8+ Kc6 58. Ra8 wins the pawn. If 58... Kb5 then 59. Ra5+ and if 58... Bc2 then 59. Rc8+. Black could well resign here but he put up resistance for more than 10 moves yet. 1-0 after 73 moves. Well done by 15-year old Magnus.


78. Short (ENG, 2677) - Johannessen (NOR, 2559)
That is a sweet revenge taken by English board #2 GM Short who recently deeply involved in Bessel Kok's presidential campaign. The end is near: 22. Rxc6 bxc6 23. Nxg6! fxg6 24. Qxg6+ 24. Rxc6 is good too 24... Kd8 25. Rxc6 There wasn't much of a fight, was it?


83. Pacheco (PER, 2331) - Bachmann (PAR, 2414)
TACTICS TEST: Black to move and win. Drag your mouse through the brackets to reveal the answer.
[ 12... Bxd4 0-1 If White recaptures 13. Bxd4 then 13... Qg5! wins threatening Qg2# and Nh3+ ]


See online games from round 7