World Team Ch. – Armenia gold, China silver, Ukraine bronze

The Chinese Chess Association with the patronage and support of the Ningbo Municipal Government and Ningbo Sports Bureau is staging the 2011 World Team Chess Championship in Ningbo, China. The event is being held from July 15 2011 (arrival) to July 26 2011 (Departure) at the playing venue in the five-star New Century Grand Hotel Ningbo.

Round eight

The playing hall two minutes after the start of round eight

Although the eighth round provided few surprises, contrary to most of the topsy-turvy event, it did provide the first and only 4-0 whitewash of the event. One might expect the victim to be Egypt as they were easily the weakest team overall, but they always managed to score at least a half point no matter how tough the opposition. No, the John Doe of the round was Israel versus Russia. The Israeli team may not be the highest rated either, but their track record in the Olympiads shows that they are singularly successful in team events. Still, deprived of Gelfand, who may already be dedicating himself to preparing for his forthcoming World Championship against Anand, they were run over by the Russians, desperate to keep their chances for a medal alive.

Li Chao on board three is greeted by Yu Yangyi, sitting out that round

The Chinese won their match against India, their third in a row, keeping a lock on silver, while another set of statistics began to manifest itself, a change in the best scoring players. In the final sprint, the top Chinese players, Wang Hao on board one, and Wang Yue on board two, began a winning streak that was truly heroic, with Li Chao on board three outdoing himself as well.

Armenia in the meantime drew against Azerbaijan, though not without a fight, and kept their grip on the gold.

Results of round eight

Round nine

Crunch time, and the real scramble was for silver and bronze. China faced Hungary and both teams came with their heaviest hitters. whereas a slip might give Ukraine a chance to snatch silver if they somehow managed to beat Armenia. Just below, Russia desperately needed a win over India, while hoping Ukraine screwed up enough to let them snatch the bronze instead. A veritable dog-eat-dog round.

Nikita Vitiugov (2733) playing board four for Russia

Armenia took no chances and held Ukraine to a draw securing the gold, a deserved conclusion to their brilliant campaign, with a 2826 performance by Aronian on board one, a no less impressive Movsesian with a 2824 performance, and Akopian who also overperformed with a 2784 performance on board three.

Russia soon had their issues laid clear after Svidler, clearly out of sorts, came crashing to resignation in just 24 moves against Ganguly. This placed extreme pressure on the rest of the team, and Nepomniachtchi bit the bullet and took inordinate risks in his game to try and make up for it. The Russians needed 2.5/3 in the other three boards to win the match. Though he cannot be blamed under the circumstances, it did not work out, and as often the case when trying to force chances the position does not justify, he also ended up losing, and the Russians chances were ended.

China's match against Hungary was no less bloody, with Yu Yangyi losing on board four, but both Wang Yue and Li Chao beating Zoltan Almasi and Judit Polgar respectively.

Wang Yue was an absolute star with a huge 7.0/9 and a 2916 performance

With their fourth straight victory, the Chinese not only managed to take silver, but Wang Hao won the gold medal for board one with 6.0/9 and a 2854 performance, while Wang Yue scored 7.0/9 with a 2916 performance, the highest of the event. In spite of the last-round loss, in which he tired eveyrthing for his team, Ian Nepomniachtchi still won gold for third board with 6.0/9 and a 2808 performance while Ukraine's Alexander Moiseenko scored 6.0/8 on board four with a 2818 performance.

Gata Kamsky fulfilled his obligations as US champion on board one, and was
undefeated with 5.5/9 and a 2807 TPR.

Yasser Seirawan surprised many with his strong showing including wins over Judit Polgar
and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and a 2773 performance.

On a side note, those following the reports may recall a shock win by Egyptian IM Samy Shoker in round one, after benefiting from a blunder, but his tale did not end there. The young IM rated 2475 proceeded to take full advantage of his opportunity against so many top players, and despite not playing a single player below 2609, scored 4.0/9 for a 2632 performance and GM norm, including a superb win over Mamedyarov (2765) in the last round.

Pictures by Gu Xiaobing, Fan Lulu, Wang Liang and FIDE

Results of round nine

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN 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 a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.