Armenia beat China in the top match of round 10 to strengthen their lead while Russia rose from scratch sweeping out declining Ukraine to move up to third. Today will be the rest day, and on Friday Armenia will test rampart Czech team at top table.

There wasn't much dispute today about who is going to prove its supremacy in the match of top two teams. The Chinese were in deep defence all along and honestly cannot complain about the outcome. Etienne Bacrot, head of French team, once again proved his indispensability as he brilliantly tore up Kamsky's position to compensate Bauer's loss at bottom board and level match score. France tied with USA and both teams stay undefeated lying in fifth and sixth respectively.

Ukraine are totally ruined as they did not make a stand today and lost 3-1 to Russia and top three seems to be out of their reach. It is quite strange that a team to readily sweep out the rest of the World in Calvia now struggle to get into top 10 although there is only one player missing from the winning team from 2004 (Ponomariov, who contributed least by the way). The Czech Republic made best use of lucky pairing wiping out Slovenia to climb to tied third. Now they face real test as they will play Armenia in the next round and excited Czech fans have already been calculating who bin a margin of a win should be to retain Czech hopes for gold (which, with all respect, appears to be a pious wish). India do not seem to be determined to pave their way to the top as today they conceded another dull draw vs Cuba. It is sorry to note, but Anand is still of no avail. Uzbekistan proved once again they have been fairly underrated as today they beat Germany and are in eighth. Azerbaijan recover after nightmare of first day and climb up the table day by day. Today we saw them defeat Norway 3-1 (Carlsen-Radjabov draw) to move up to 15th. Of top seeded teams Bulgaria are doing striving; they conceded another unexpected loss today vs Vietnam.

Tomorrow will be the rest day and we are on a straight way to finish. Armenia are one foot in heaven and no more than 8 or 9 teams may still be hoping of medalling. A lot of major nations are out: Ukraine, England, India, Israel... while there are teams fighting for top honours that hardly anyone would bet a penny on: Czech Republic, Cuba, Uzbekistan. We shall see. Stay tuned!

In the women's section Ukraine beat third seeds Georgia 2-1 and have now clear way to go. Russia keep the pase as today the defeated Bulgaria 2-1 (Kosteniuk lost to Stefanova). China ran over Armenia to lie in third.

Standings:
Men: Armenia 29; China 27; Russia and Czech Rep. 26.5; France 26; USA 25.5; Cuba and Uzbekistan 25
Women: Ukraine 23; Russia 22.5; China 20.5; Georgia 20; Bulgaria 19.5, India and Greece 19.5

Key pairings for tomorrow: Armenia-Czech Rep.; China-France; Uzbekistan-Cuba; USA-Russia; Azerbaijan-Ukraine; India-Israel

Recommended links:
Detailed results and statistics at Wiener Zeitung page
chessgames.com - a lot of comments and analyses
Fiji at the Olympiad - a very interesting Olympiad-related blog

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

5. Bacrot (FRA, 2708) - Kamsky (USA, 2671)
Black's Queenside is reasonably weaken so he should protect it rather than provoke. 15... c5? too much of a risk. 16. axb5 cxd4 17. Nxd4 Nxe4 18. Nxe4 Qxd4 19. Be3 Qxe4 now White cannot capture the Rook since Be2 is hanging 20. Bf3 not any more 20... Qe5 21. Bxa7 +- White won exchange and went on for a victory after 64 moves. 1-0


7. Fressinet (FRA, 2633) - Nakamura (USA, 2664)
No other player is more often guest starring in the highlight section than Fressinet (see also news archive from 2005). Unfortunately today he shows up in faded colours. White's position is won: 38. Qa7! Qf7 (only move) 39. Ra8+ Bf8 40. Qxf7+ Kxf7 41. Bf4 and White wins exchange. Fressinet's move was one step too far: 38. Qa8? Qxa8 39. Bxa8 Nxd5 40. Rb8+ Bf8 41. Nc6 += In the endgame White was two pawns up but he failed to nip off rival's counterchances. 1/2-1/2 after 82 moves.


8. Ibragimov (USA, 2637) - Bauer (FRA, 2638)
Another ghoulish game from France-Russia match. One can hardly imagine White can save the dead lost game. But.... 43... Rd8? seems robust at first glance but is not, since White can infiltrate King's area. Qe5 was good 44. Qf6 Rd5 45. Qe6+ Qf7 = White has perpetual check 46. Qc8+ Qf8 47. Qe6+ Qf7 48. Qc8+ draw? 48... Kg7?? no draw pal, I play for a win... 49. Bc3! +- suddenly Black King find himself in a trap 49... Kg6 50. Qxa6+ Kh5 51. g4+ Kh4 52. Qe2 and soon 1-0. There is now a philosophical matter, whether White was just lucky or is it according to the Latin sentence fortuna favet fortibus (fortune favours the bold)?


10. Svidler (RUS, 2743) - Volokytin (UKR, 2660)
Ukraine's play is huge disappointment to the fans. Volokytin's position scatters to dust: 16... f6? position was hardly playable but the move seals the fate. 17. c4 Rfd8? another bad move. Black should take the piece. 18. Qh5 fxe5 too late, White's attack cannot be refuted anymore 19.Qxh7+ Kf8 20. cxd5 exd5 21. f4! Only move. Black pawn cannot avoid trade since e4 is blocked. Opening f file is mortal threat for Black. 21... exf4 22. Bg6 Qe6 23. Qh8+ Qg8 24. Rxf4+ Bf6 25. Rxf6+! 1-0 The Rook is untouchable because of Qxf6.


12. Bareev (RUS, 2701) - Efimenko (UKR, 2648)
This is our question to the readers rather than a game preview. Black is dead lost, promotion cannot be stopped. There comes a pre-mortal check 41... gxf4+ now what? Kxf4 wins on spot, but the notation shows 42. Ke4?? (so does live coverage site) which blunders mate in one after 42... Rc4+# Black resigned here 1-0. There is a question: is Ke4 (most probably) a misprint or perhaps a terrible blunder unnoticed by both sides?


14. Pavasovic (SLO, 2534) - Babula (CZE, 2583)
Slovenia were hammered by the Czechs but this game could be some consolation for them. Virtually everything wins here, e.g. 38. Bf3 or 38. Bg2 and Black gets mated. 38. fxg6?? too fast! 38... Rxf1+ 39. Rxf1 Qd4+ 40. Rf2 Qe1 41. Rf1 Qd4+ 1/2-1/2 a perpetual check. Never lose concentration.


23. Gareev (UZB, 2522) - Luther (GER, 2593)
TACTICS TEST (quite hard). White to move and win. Please drag your mouse between the brackets to find the answer.
[ 28. e6! fxe6 29. f6 in order to protect g5 from a check 29...Rd6? better was Qd6 30. Nf3 Rbb6 31. Ng5 Kf8 32. Nf7+ +- ]


300. Kosteniuk (RUS, 2540) - Stefanova (BUL, 2502)
Time for women's stuff. White sacrificed a piece and she seems to have good prospects for a game. 22. Qf3? Bxd5! Seemingly gives back the piece... 23. Bxf6+ Qxf6 24. Qxd5 Bxf2+ 25. Kh1 Rh8! more effective that capturing the Rook 26. h3 Qf5 threatens Rxh3 27. Rg1 X-raying Black monarch 27... Bg3! 0-1


303. Mkrtchian (ARM, 2453) - Zhao Xue (CHN, 2423)
Black has just played 21... Kh8?? blundering a piece. There is a very simple win here 22. Qb5 Nb4 23. Nxb4 and if 23... cxb4 then 24. Qxf5 +-. Instead White chose 22. Re5? Position is still far better for White but all in all she managed to lose anyway. 0-1 after 83 moves. No comments.


See online games from round 10

by peter @ 05 Jun 2006 11:02 pm

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