2010 Chess Olympiad: Ivanchuk 5/5, Adams beats Carlsen

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

Round 6

The men’s section saw three teams on top with 100%, and two of them facing each other. Heavy-scoring Georgia, and certainly the surprise of the event so far, faced two-time gold-winners Armenia, with no predictions possible despite the comfortable Elo  advantage for the title-holders. The reason lies very much in the very impressive showings by the Georgian team members, with top-board Jobava and his now famous win against Carlsen, not to mention his third board teammate, GM Pantsulaia, who is on a sterling 5.0/5, including a key victory today.

Georgia's top-board Baadur Jobava against Armenian GM Levon Aronian.

Regarding the loss to Baadur Jobava, Magnus Carlsen had this to say in his blog:

"In the 4th round we were to face Georgia on board 6, our first serious test. And how miserably we failed... I was black against GM Baadur Jobava (2710), a very dangerous and creative opponent, who I've played many interesting games with before. Initally things went very well, and after an unorthodox opening I was facing a promising queenless middlegame. However, I quickly went wrong, missing a key tactical point on move 20. As a result, it all turned around, and I was forced to find a way to stay in the game rather than fight for the initiative. Jobava continued to play very energetically, and I made a further couple of errors in serious time-trouble, and by the time control on move 40 my position was quite hopeless. I decided to continue for i bit, and got an unexpected chance for a draw on move 50, which he had completely missed. Alas, it was not my day, and it turned out that with a few accurate moves the win was still his for the taking. 1-0 after 64 moves."

(Click here to read the rest of the blog entry)

The second top lineup was between undefeated Hungary against second-seed Ukraine, who trailed by a half match point. If Peter Leko  and Judit Polgar had both swapped moments to keep their team victorious, today was not their day, and both lost their games, against Ivanchuk and Eljanov respectively. This was Ivanchuk’s fifth win in five games, and he tops the leaderboard of top performers until now. Russia 2 beat the Netherlands quite handily by 3-1, with wins by Nepomniachtchi over Van Wely, and Timofeev over Stellwagen. Right after were Russia 1, who also bounced back from their loss from the previous round, edging out the Czech Republic by 2.5-1.5, with Karjakin clinching the match.

Vladimir Kramnik drew against Czech David Navara

The news of the round, aside from the team results, was Carlsen’s second loss in the tournament, this time against English GM Michael Adams. In his loss against Georgian GM Jobava, his opponent had surprised him with an extremely offbeat opening choice. In the sixth round, it was he who chose an extremely odd line as of move two!

Michael Adams concentrating before the start of his game against Magnus Carlsen.

Adams,Michael (2728) - Carlsen,Magnus (2826) [B06]
39th Olympiad Men Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (6.18), 27.09.2010

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Nf6 3.e5 Nh5

Avoiding question marks, or any other form of punctuation to evaluate this opening position, suffice it to say that the only games of grandmasters on record, of which there are four, were played by notorious opening mavericks: Morozevich, Miles, Hodgson, and Hillarp Persson. 4.Be2 d6 Both Morozevich and Miles preferred to fianchetto their knight with 4...Ng7 here. 5.Nf3 Nc6 Other than the oddly placed knight on h5, the structure and pieces are identical to an Alekhine defense. 6.exd6 exd6 7.d5 Ne7 8.c4 Bg7 9.Nc3 0-0 10.0-0 Bg4 11.Re1 Re8 12.h3 Bxf3 13.Bxf3 Nf6 14.Bf4 Nd7 15.Rc1 Ne5 16.b3 a6 17.g3 Nf5 18.Bg2 g5 19.Bxe5 Bxe5 20.Ne4 Ng7 21.Qd2 h6.

Black is still struggling to find a good plan and while his bishop looks strong on e5, it won't be able to stay there for long, while the knight on g7 is still seeking a suitable home. 22.f4 gxf4 23.gxf4 Bf6 24.Kh2 Nh5. 24...Bh4 25.Rg1 f5 26.Ng3 Bxg3+ 27.Kxg3 Nh5+ 28.Kh2 Kf7 25.Rg1 Kh7?! This imprecision could lead to serious trouble due to the myriad of threats that can be combined on the b1-h7 diagonal. 26.Rcf1 Rg8 27.Qe2 Ng7 28.Qd3?! Not the most precise. 28.Nxf6+! was white's strongest continuation. 28...Qxf6 29.Be4+ Kh8 30.Bb1 Qd4 31.Qg4 Threatening Qh4. 31...Qf6 (31...Qb2+ 32.Kh1 Qf6 33.Qf3 Qd4 (33...h5 With the idea of protecting h7 with Qh6. 34.Rg5 Qh6 35.Rfg1 and black is lost.) 34.Rd1 Qb2 35.Rg2 Qf6 36.Qe4) 32.Qf3 Ne8 33.Qd3+- 28...Kh8 29.Bf3

29...b5. The engines initially suggest 29...Bh4 as an improvement, but deeper analysis shows that it still loses after 30.Qd4 Qe7 (30...Kh7 31.Ng5+! hxg5 32.fxg5 Bxg5 33.Be4+ f5 34.Bxf5+ Nxf5 35.Rxf5 Rg6 36.Qg4)

31.Rg4! f5 32.Rg6! Kh7 33.Rfg1 Rae8 (33...fxe4 34.Bxe4) 34.c5! The knight cannot be touched, and as a result, black is now overwhelmed. 34...dxc5 (34...fxe4 35.Bxe4 leads to mate. 35...Qxe4 36.Rxg7+) 35.Qb2 Ref8 36.d6! cxd6 37.Qg2 Qf7 38.Nxd6 This is the point of the double pawn push. Without it, black could still defend against the Qb2-Qg2 maneuver, which threatens Rxh6+ followed by mate. Now the queen can no longer help and the fort collapses. 30.Bd1 bxc4 31.bxc4 Bh4 32.Bc2 f5 33.Rg6 Kh7 34.Rfg1 Qe7.

35.Ng3? 35.c5! was more expeditious. 35...Rad8 (35...fxe4 36.Qxe4 Qxe4 37.Bxe4) 36.Qe2 Qf8 37.cxd6 cxd6 38.Nc5! dxc5 39.Qxa6+- 35...Bxg3+?! 35...Raf8 would resist longer but still looks grim after 36.Qd4 Bxg3+ 37.R1xg3 Qf7 38.Qg1 Nh5 39.Rxg8 Rxg8 40.Rxg8 Qxg8 41.Bxf5+ Kh8 42.Bg4 Nf6 (42...Nxf4 43.Qd4+) 36.Qxg3 Qf7. 36...Nh5 loses after 37.Qf3 Rxg6 38.Bxf5 Rag8 39.Rxg6 Rxg6 40.Qxh5 37.Bd1 Rae8 38.Rxh6+ 1-0 [Click to replay]

The women’s section saw the giants Ukraine and Russia 1 meet, determining whether either would be able to still claim a 100% run going into the seventh round. Ukraine’s top board, Kateryna Lahno, beat Tatiana Kosintseva in an important game, while Nadezhda Kosintseva, Tatiana´s sister, managed to save a very difficult game against Zukhova.  The turning point, however, were the key victories by both world champion Kosteniuk, and IM Galliamova on boards three and four, squeezing out a 2.5-1.5 victory for the Russian women.

Alexandra Kosteniuk was one of the key winners in Russia 1's victory over Ukraine.

The seventh round will see Ukraine take on Georgia in what promises to be a an exciting match, followed by Armenia against Azerbaijan, and Russia 2 against Russia 1. The women’s section’s top match is Russia 1 against Hungary, who trail by only a half match point.

Men's team pairings for round 7
Women's team pairings for round 7

After six rounds, a few statistics are certainly worth looking at, such as the top performers. The top men with at least five games played are Vassily Ivanchuk and Georgian GM Levan Pantsulaia, both of whom are 5.0/5. Among those with slightly less than absolute scores, are American GM Hikaru Nakamura, with 4.5/5 and a 2964 performance, followed by Russian GM Sergey Karjakin, also on 4.5/5 and a 2939 performance. Of those with six games played, Sweden’s GM Nils Grandelius (2500) is deserving of special mention with 5.5/6 and a remarkable 2822 performance.

Top men's performers (minimum five games)

Top women's performers (minimum five games)

In the Women’s section, the top performing players with at least five games played, are German WIM Judith Fuchs, who despite not exactly facing stellar opposition is nonetheless on  5.0/5, followed by Georgian GM Nana Dzagnidze, who has score 4.5/5 and is on a 2701 performance. Armenian IM Elina Danielian and Georgian IM Salome Melia are both on 5.5/6 and have 2682 and 2638 performances respectively.

Photographs by FIDE and CNC.

Watching the games

It goes without saying that the options to watch the games live are wide and varied. You can watch them at no cost on Playchess, enjoying the software's new options to display multiple boards at the same time, and if you are a Premium member, live grandmaster commentary will be provided on Playchess for every round by GM Daniel King, author of the best-selling Power Play series, and GM Yasser Seirawan. If you miss the live games, you can always watch the commentary after the fact, or get an abridged tale via the Daily Roundup show also hosted on Playchess at 6 PM UTC (2 PM New York). Again, if you miss the show, it remains available on the server at your disposal.

Video reports

We received video reports by both Elmira Mirzoeva and Europe Echecs which we are sharing with their kind permission.

 
The sixth round report includes an interview of Topalov who is asked about the Bulgarian team's
result, as well as his individual one.

 
The sixth round report includes a post-game interview by Karjakin and impressions by Chu Bo, the
president of the Chinese Chess Federation.

Top men's results

Current men's standings (after six rounds)

Top women's results

Current women's standings (after six rounds)

Sponsors

Links Official tournament site Men's games in PGN (zipped) Women's games in PGN (zipped) 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!