CHESS #565

ARMENIA came through with a splendid performance to retain gold at the Dresden Olympiad. Despite losing to Israel, the Caucasians logged a remarkable score of 19 points from a possible 22. The Armenians beat the Chinese in the last round while Israel, led by veteran Boris Gelfand (ex-USSR, ex-Belarus), got past Holland to take silver with 18. The USA pulled off a stunning upset, beating Ukraine to take bronze with both teams tied on 17. The Ukrainians would have tied for 1-2 if they had won the last round.

Armenia proved team spirit is decisive. The defending champions were seeded ninth. On board one, Aronyan was good. But it was hard-bitten veteran GMs Gabriel Sargissian, Tigran L Petrosian and Vladimir Akokjan who sealed gold. Together, they drew Germany, lost to Israel and beat everyone else.

Top-seeded Russia failed to grab a medal for the second time in succession — unthinkable for those who remember 60 years of Soviet and Russian domination. However, every player in the top four squads apart from Hikaru Nakamura (US born of Japanese-Sri Lankan extraction) was born in the former USSR! India ended 12-17 suffering losses to Russia, France and USA to score 15 points. Par, for the 13th seeds.

The women’s section was tighter. Georgia and Ukraine tied for 1-2 with 18 points each and Georgia was better-placed on the tie-break, despite Ukraine being the only unbeaten team. The USA, Russia and Poland were tied for 3-5 with tie-breaks in that order. Defending champions China were battered down to eighth place. The Indian women did well enough tying from 13-23 with 14 points, again, near-par for seed#11.

The best Indian squad in rating terms would be Anand, Sasikiran, Harikrishna, Humpy, Ganguly and Negi. Anand didn’t play, for understandable reasons (Kramnik had a lacklustre performance). Humpy didn’t play due to a dispute with the Federation.

Negi didn’t get a chance and neither did Abhijeet Gupta (another potential super GM who is rated higher than squad-members Gopal and Chanda). The selection places great emphasis on performance in the national championships. Time to review?

The diagram WHITE TO PLAY, Petrosian Vs Li Chao (Armenia Vs PRC, Olympiad 2008) was the key to the gold medal. Not all rook endings are drawn — white is winning here due to the active king and the strong pressure on a5,f7. Play went 35. Kc3 Re3+ 36.Kc4 Rd4+ 37.Kb5!

Now, white has mate threats and takes material at his convenience after 37— Kg7 38.Rfxf7+ Kg6 39.Rg7+ Kh6 40.Rxh7+ Kg6 41.Rag7+ Kf6 42.Rf7+ Kg6 43.Rhg7+ Kh6 44.g4 Rxa3 45.f4 Raa4 46.Rh7+ Kg6 47.f5+ Kg5 48.Rfg7+ Kf4 49.c3 Re4 50.f6 Ra1 51.f7 1-0.