Chess (#1018)

The Olympiad ended with crazy shenanigans in the last three rounds. The vagaries of Swiss pairings and tiebreaks played their part. In the Open section, the Russians went down to USA in the ninth round. The Philippines lost to China; Armenia and the Ukraine knocked off Germany and France respectively. That left Russia, China, Armenia and the US tied for the lead (15 points each), with Ukraine (14) sharing 5-7 with Holland and Argentina. In the tenth, China beat the US, Russia beat Argentina, Armenia beat Holland and Ukraine beat Azerbaijan. So China, Armenia and Russia shared the lead with Ukraine, fourth.

In the 11th and final round, Russia beat Germany, Armenia beat Hungary. China had the best tiebreak but lost to the Ukraine. In tiebreaks, Armenia (19) pipped Russia (19) to take their third gold in the last four Olympiads. The Russians took silver, while the Ukraine (18) took bronze.

The Indian men drew in rounds IX and X. Then they lost to Azerbaijan in the final round, ending 35th (+3,=7,-1) when it looked like they would set an odd record by being the only undefeated team.

In the women's section, round nine saw China beating France, Russian beating India, Ukraine beating US and Kazakhstan beating Uzbekistan. China (16) was narrowly ahead of Russia (15), and Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Poland, Armenia (all 14). In round 10, China drew Kazakhstan, Russia beat Armenia and Ukraine beat Poland. India beat Israel.

In the final round, Russia beat Kazakhstan and China beat Bulgaria. The Ukraine beat Germany and the Indians beat France. That gave Russia gold on tiebreak, from the Chinese (both 19). Ukraine (18) took bronze. The Indian women (17) had their best-ever result, for clear fourth. It was heartbreak for China, which was well-placed for a golden double and ended with one silver.

The Diagram, WHITE TO PLAY, (Ivanchuk Vs Wang,Hao, Olympiad 2012) is from Board 1, Match 1, in the last round. Ivanchuk seized his chance with 20.Bxc4! dxc4 21.f5! f6. This is won anyway - 21...exf5 22.Rxf5 Bd5 23.Raf1 Rf8 24.Qg5 looks crushing with Rf6, R1f4, etc. 22.fxg6! fxe5 Ivanchuk ripped off the next six moves in a minute. 23.Rf7 Qc6 24.gxh7+!! Maybe black can hold 24.Raf1? Qxg2+! 25.Qxg2 Bxg2 26.gxh7+ Kh8 27.Kxg2 exd4 28.exd4 e5 but he doesn't get to try. 24...Kxf7 25.Rf1+ Ke7 26.h8Q! Alternatively 26. Qg7+ Kd8 (or Kd6) 27. h8=Q. The bailout Qxg2+ is useless - white has two queens.

The play ended 26...Rxh8 27.Qg7+ Kd6. Or 27...Kd8 28.Qxh8+ Qe8 29.Rf8. 28.dxe5+! Kd5 29.Rd1+ Ke4 30.Qg5 (1-0). Checkmate on either d4 or f4. The alternate 28...Kc5 29.Qe7+ Kd5 30.Rd1+ Ke4 31.Qg5 is equally convincing.

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player