Chess (#1108)

Seven teams share the lead in the Open section of the Tromsø Olympiad. They all have 9 points (2 for a win, 1 for a draw) after five rounds. Valentin Yotov (also spelled "Iotov") of Bulgaria is the only man with a perfect 5/5 score. Azerbaijan (9) meets Georgia (9) on top board. Serbia (9) Bulgaria (9) and Cuba (9) Kazakhstan (9) are the clashes of leaders. Uzbekistan (9) meets Russia (8) in the other match featuring a leader. India is "two matches" off the lead with 7 points. Defending champion Armenia is on 8.

The women's section has three perfect scores. China (10) plays Hungary (10), while Russia (10) plays Serbia (9). Holland (9) plays Poland (9) in what could be another key match. The Indian women are on 7. There are six rounds to go in both events, and given Swiss pairings, the last two rounds are crucial.

Playing any team event can be a strange experience. It may be a fraught situation for a certain kind of free spirited player who has to rein in risk-taking for the team's sake. This can lead to major tensions. There are also credible rumours that Russia's underperformances in the past three team tournaments have occurred because five superstars cannot pull together or indeed, be controlled by an external authority (the team captain).

It may be inspirational to have Magnus Carlsen or Levon Aronian on top board but quite often, Olympiad matches tend to be decided on the lower boards because that is where depth counts. In practice, one formula that seems to work well is putting together a team with several strong players and one inspirational leader (Aronian, Vassily Ivanchuk in earlier eras), who is markedly stronger than the others. This can happen naturally of course since few teams are blessed with several players of the same strength.

The diagram, white to play, (White: Jobava Vs Black: Hoyos, Olympiad Tromsø 2014) features one of those potentially inspirational team leaders. Jobava is, by a distance, the strongest Georgian player and he's capable of extraordinary feats.

White should win here but he needs to prove his attack comes first. There are a mind-boggling number of lines and tactical themes. The key to the position is opening up the long a1-h8 diagonal and white bases his play on that.

31.Nxe5! Rxg3+ The alternative 31...dxe5 32.Bxe5+ Rg7 33.Rb8+ Nc8 34.Qh5 is as convincing.

32.Kf2 Qh3 The "easy" way may be 33. Nf7 ++ Kg8 34. Nxh6+ Kf8 35. Rb8 Nc8 36. Rxc8+ but white chooses another move order with 33.Rb8+ Nc8 (Or 33. - Kg7 34. Ng4+ Kf7 35. Nxh6#) 34.Rxc8+ Kg7 35.Nc6+ Kf7 36.Qh5+ (1-0).

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player