Game of the Week 8

England’s achievement in finishing second in the World Team Championship is even more impressive when one considers that most members of the team suffered from various degrees of illness during the tournament. In the match against Iran the first reserve, Jonathan Speelman, played on board 4 instead of Gawain Jones who was too ill to play. What is less well known is that Speelman himself was also unwell but he played because he was less unwell than Jones. The fact that the veteran Speelman was playing at all is a reflection on the difficulty the England captain Malcolm Pein had in raising a team at such short notice as he explained in his interview. Michael Adams’ disappointing tournament is partly attributable to his not feeling 100% but he did manage to win a crucial game in the Iran match after Speelman’s early defeat. His opponent was Parham Maghsoodloo, winner of the World Junior Championship last year and featured on this site (click here). From 1-0 down, England fought back to win 3-1 which provided the springboard for their late surge to silver. Malcolm Pein described this as ‘a great win’. See what you think.

White:   Parham Maghsoodloo (2673)     Black:  Michael Adams (2708)

World Team Championship 2019 

England win silver medal

Congratulations to the England team on achieving a silver medal in the World Team Championship which concluded in Astana today. With two rounds remaining, there were hopes of a gold medal but while Russia maintained their position in first place with a win over Sweden, England lost 3-1 to China so a silver was the best we could hope for. That still depended on results in the final round and what drama there was….England were in third place on board points going into their last match but faced potentially easier opponents in Sweden whereas India had to play Russia. A win for England would secure second place unless India beat the hitherto unbeaten Russians.

First to finish for England was David Howell who had an excellent tournament, winning and drawing four and losing only to our good friend Wei Yi in the penultimate round. Howell gained a small advantage early on and built on that. After 39…e4?, while the game was already lost, Howell now had mate in 7 but after 40. Bxg7 Kg8?? it was mate in one which I guess you don’t often see at the top level.

White:   David Howell (2693)     Black:  Axel Smith (2487)

World Team Championship 2019 

              GM Gawain Jones

Michael Adams finished on 3½/9, disappointing by his standards but he was after all on board 1 and therefore always playing the strongest opponents. His game was level for a long time but after 32…e5 he was ‘much better’ and six moves later he was ‘winning’ and he duly won after 47 moves. Gawain Jones on board 4, like Howell also had a very successful tournament with only one defeat in the match against India. He was ahead from an early stage in his game today and the way he converted a slight advantage of an extra pawn but with opposite coloured bishops into a winning position is a lesson to us all.

White:   Linus Johansson (2479)     Black:  Gawain Jones (2681)

World Team Championship 2019 

        GM Luke McShane: unbeaten

On board 2 Luke McShane had an excellent tournament, finishing unbeaten with three wins and six draws. His final game was equal for a long time, especially after most of the major pieces were exchanged. In the final position he was ahead but a draw was sufficient once a 3-0 lead was established and a win for England confirmed. What was especially impressive was that McShane had made the long journey to Kazakhstan from Germany where he had recently been playing in the Bundesliga. After Round 4 he gave an interview to the tournament organisers in which he explained how much he was looking forward to the rest day!

McShane’s draw gave England a convincing 3½-½ victory but second place was not yet confirmed. After draws on boards 1,2 and 4, India needed to win their last game to beat Russia. No doubt it would be doubly satisfying for Jones if Alexander Grischuk could hold out for at least a draw because his opponent was S.P.Sethuraman, who beat Jones in the England-India match. Having won a pawn early on, Grischuk appeared to be in a strong position. As the clock ticked away, however, he seemed to be making little progress but a draw would be enough for England. He then sacrificed his extra pawn and after 60…Re7 he was winning.  As with the other games, converting a winning position into victory was a masterclass in endgame play and Sethuraman resigned after 85 moves. Defeat for India was doubly disappointing as a win for China enabled them to overtake India and so the team which had hopes of a silver medal with one board to go could only finish fourth. One suspects that the entire English team must have queued up to shake Grischuk by the hand.

White:   Alexander Grischuk (2771)     Black:  S.P.Sethuraman (2637)

World Team Championship 2019 

A silver medal in the World Team Championship is a tremendous achievement for England and it is to be hoped that it is given the acknowledgement it deserves. Apart from the players – and that includes Jon Speelman as reserve – Malcolm Pein, who has done so much for British chess in recent years with the emergence of the London Chess Classic and the Chess in Schools and Communities initiative, deserves enormous credit for managing to raise so strong a team in such a short space of time. During the tournament he gave an interview to the organisers in which he touched on the difficulties England faced.

Once again, congratulations to all involved and it will be interesting to see what publicity England’s performance receives and whether it has any effect on promoting chess in this country and, most important of all, gaining financial support.

Stop Press: England also won three individual medals – McShane Gold, Howell Silver and Jones Bronze. Well done, indeed!

 

World Team Championship

The FIDE World Team Championship which began on Tuesday is a 10-team round-robin tournament that takes place every two years. This time it is being held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. The teams participating represent – as I understand it – ‘the ten countries whose chess federations dominate their continent’. However, as this information was gleaned from Wikipedia, I am in no position to guarantee its accuracy, especially as there does not appear to be a representative from South America. It is possible that a team was invited and declined to take part as top players may already be contracted to play elsewhere. This was the case with Poland, bronze medallists in 2017, who chose not to play as the date was confirmed too late for some of their players. Other teams who agreed to take part are not at full strength for the same reason e.g. India are without Anand and the US team is at best a B team with no Caruana, Nakamura, So or Shankland. The English representation is a strong one: Adams, McShane, Howell, Jones and Speelman with Malcolm Pein as captain. Matches take place on four boards, with two match points for a win and one for a draw.

After five rounds England are handily placed in third behind Russia and India, both of whom they have played and drawn 2-2 as they did with the USA who are in fifth place.  Russia, who are now the favourites to win, still have to play India (in the final round) and the USA while England’s toughest match is against China in Round 8. China, who won the tournament in 2015 and 2017, were probable pre-tournament favourites, especially with a team featuring Ding Liren, Yu Yangyi and Wei Yi, but defeats to Russia and the USA leave them in sixth place.  English scores at the half-way stage are Adams 1½/5, McShane 3½/5, Howell 3/5 and Jones 3/5. Today is a rest day and the tournament resumes tomorrow (Monday) and finishes on Thursday.

The American victory over China was a major surprise considering the relative strength of the two teams and with three of the four boards drawn, the match-winning result was the victory for Aleksandr Lenderman on board 4 over Ni Hua. The key move was 29….f6! but even after White was forced to give up a knight, the game still had to be won. Lenderman, however, kept his cool to secure a famous win for the USA and probably scupper China’s chances of a hat-trick of World Team gold medals.

White:   Ni Hua (2683)     Black:  Aleksandr Lenderman (2637)

World Team Championship 2019 

 

Aeroflot Open

The Aeroflot Open which has just finished in Moscow is traditionally a strong tournament and this year was no exception. Six players had ratings over 2700 and there were more than thirty above 2600 in the 100+ field. Incredibly, in such a strong tournament, first place went to a player seeded 62, the Estonian GM Kaido Kulaots. Today is his 43rd birthday so he and Vladimir Kramnik, who recently announced his retirement from competitive chess at the same age, must feel like ships passing in the night. Kaido’s victory has not gone unnoticed and one of the first to congratulate him was Magnus Carlsen:

“Congrats to Kaido Kulaots for an absolutely amazing underdog victory at the Aeroflot Open! 19 years ago, he shared a flat with my father and me at the Gausdal tournament, and inspired an unrated 9 year old by predicting that he would one day be rated 2650.”

The tournament got off to an extraordinary start when a bomb scare early in round one forced all the players and officials to vacate the venue and wait for hours outside in the freezing conditions while the organizers decided what to do. Eventually, once the players were allowed back in it was decided to begin round one again the next day with an adjusted time control. This proved to be a stroke of luck for Kaido for he admitted afterwards that ‘my position was not up to much at that point’ . The rearranged first game became the first of his five victories and he finished it in style. In the position below it is Black to play.

White:  Parham Maghsoodloo (2666)     Black:  Kaido Kulaots (2542)

Aeroflot Open 2019

36… Ra3+!

So, of the six players with ELO ratings above 2700, who was the top seed? Well, it’s our old – or not so old – friend, Wei Yi who, let’s not forget, is still only 19 although he seems to have been around forever. While it was no doubt disappointing not to win, he did manage to finish fifth with his only defeat to the eventual winner in round 7. He also played a couple of trademark sparkling games such as this one played in the final round.

White:  Wei Yi  (2733)     Black:  Daniil Yuffa (2578)

Aeroflot Open 2019

Game of the Week 7

This Game of the Week features the player making all the running in the Broadstairs club championship and the only man to take so much as half a point off him. Clearly, mention in the Club News article of Richard’s 100% record acted as a minor jinx (although it did not prevent him from bouncing back to form in his next match). For Andy, it was another good result in what has been a fine season for him. The comments are Richard’s.

White:   Richard Clement (145)     Black:  Andy Flood (113)

Goodall Cup 2019