2010 Chess Olympiad: Tactics, tactics, and more....

by Albert Silver
9/26/2010 – With so many games, and so many players, there has been plenty of tragedy and brilliance to go around. In order to celebrate the brightest moments of players of all strengths, we have selected sixteen positions for you to test your skills. All are accessible, and should give your neurons a good workout until the next round of action. Try our mid-tournament tactical quiz.
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The 2010 Chess Olympiad takes place from September 21st to October 3rd in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. It is an 11-round Swiss System team event, in which each team has four players with one reserve.

Time control: 90 minutes/40 moves + 30 minutes + 30 seconds/move as of move one.

Game start: rounds 1-10 at 9 AM UTC (5 AM New York / 2 AM Pacific daylight), and round 11 at 5 AM UTC (1 AM New York / 10 PM Pacific daylight)

Rest day: September 26th (after round 5) and October 2nd (after round 10).

2010 Chess Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk

In such a huge event, with so many games, there is a fantastic number of great games, shots, and blunders committed all around. None are remiss to it, whether it be the visiting 1600 Elo player, to the 2700 giant. We have selected sixteen tactical shots, all quite accessible (no 15-move grandmaster sequences here), and all that may tickle your fancy. The last two are slightly harder than the rest, just to work those 'little grey cells' as Hercules Poirot put it. Try your hand at them, and then check your answers with the solutions linked below.

Grandelius,Nils - Hanoeman,Suradj
White to play and win.
 

Kasimdzhanov,Rustam - Bluvshtein,Mark
White to play and win.
 

Svetushkin,Dmitry - Zhou,Jianchao
Black to play and win.
 

Montalvo,Alejandro - Smerdon,David
Black to play and win.
 

Salov,Sergej - Anuruddha,G C
White to play and win.
 

Eljanov,Pavel - Al-Ali,Hussein Ali Husse
White to play and win.
 

Diamant,Andre - Kassis,Antoine
White to play and win.
 

Luther,Thomas - Olubunmi,Olape
White to play and win.
 

Volpinari,Danilo - Samhouri,Bilal
Black to play and win.
 

Salgado Lopez,Ivan - Meijers,Viesturs
White to play and win.
 

Kobese,Watu - Short,Nigel D
Black to play and win.
 

Nepomniachtchi,Ian - Sasikiran,Krishnan
White to play and win.
 

Wang,Hao - Fier,Alexandr
White to play and win.
 

Pornariyasombat,Atippat - Jobava,Baadur
Black to play and win.
 

Boshku,Harallamb - Nitzborn,Max Baron
White to play and win.
 

Cu,Hor Winston - Alvarez,Marquez Johann
White to play and win.
 

[Click here for solutions]

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Born in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech.

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