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The 7th China vs Russia Chess Match is taking place from August 4th-15th, 2010 in Yinzhou, Ningbo, China. These matches have taken place between Russia and China since 2001. The first, in 2001 was in Shanghai, the next, in 2004 in Moscow, in 2006 in Argun, 2007 in Nizhni Novgorod, 2008 in Ningbo, and in 2009 in Sochi.
The match is a 'Scheveningen' team event between China team and Russia team. All members of each team play all members of the other team once. The games start on August 5th 2010 and continue until August 9th, 2010. The time control: 90 minutes for 40 moves + 30 minutes to the end of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move one.
From August 11th to August 14th, there will be four days of rapid games, with five rounds each day. First round starts at 10:30 and four rounds start at 14:00, 15:40 17:20 19:00, The time control: 25 minutes end of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1.
FIDE's draconian zero-tolerance rule for late arrivals is not in effect and a ten-minute window is provided for the players, also, the Sofia rules are not in effect here, since obviously team strategy brings in other factors.
The final games
The last day of the rapid games, and the final day of the epic match between China and Russia, lived up to its billing. In both the men's and women's matches, it went to the wire with ample nail-biting for bvoth sides. There seemed little chance the Russians would be able to overcome the significant deficit accumulated pover the course of the competition, but even so, both sides came guns ablazing as the Chinese wanted to end it on the same note they had imposed throughout, and the Russians wanting to finally take the day, something that had eluded them thus far.
Tense moments in the last day of the match.
In the men's match the first round was won convincingly by the Russians by a score of 3.5-1.5, but the Chinese then took the next round by the same score. Finally the Russians struck back with 3-2 scores in both the thirds and fourth rounds, and a finally 2-3 score in the fifth left it their way.
Ju Wenjun and Tan Zhongyi tally the results and statistics.
Would the women hold true? Until now, they had been the real stars, managing to consistently eke out the win, except the one day, ironically, the men actually won, which had led to a day's draw. This time the Slavic ladies stayed the course, and the visitors saved the honor at the end.
Describing the match as epic is not an understatement. All in all, the match ran 250 games, 50 at tournament time controls and 200 rapid games. Overall, the Chinese took both modalities, with a narrow 101-99 win in rapid games, and 27-23 in slow games, for an overall 128-122. Here was the breakdown for the prize distribution:
Best male player: GM Wang Hao 16.0/25
Best female player: IM Nadezhda Kosintseva 16.0/25
Best men team: China ($10,000)
Best women team: Russia ($10,000)
China won the 7th China vs Russia Chess Match and the $10,000 prize.
Bu Xiangzhi and Huang Qian holding the winner's trophy
The beautiful Yinzhou trophy
The Russian men's team
in a post-mortem
Such events would not be possible without the team of arbiters
and the tireless technical crew.
Young fans find a quiet spot to follow the action without any distracting adults around.
Sometimes it is so hard to find a comfortable position until you hit upon that magic one.
WGM Gu Xiaobing follows the game between Wang Yue and Vitiugov.
Photographs by WGM Gu Xiaobing, WGM Zhang Jilin and sports.sina.com.cn
Links
The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009! |
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