#Chess1321

Poland, led by the 20-year-old Jan Kryzsztof Duda, backed up by Radek Wojtaszek, Kacper Piorun, Kamil Dragun and Jacze Tomczak, started as the 11th seed in the Olympiad with a rating average of 2673. They beat USA (top seed), Russia (#2), The Ukraine (#6) and France (#7) and drew Armenia (#8) and Azerbaijan (#4) to lead with 16 match points after 9 rounds. Apart from Duda, who’s done a great job, Piorun, Dragun and Tomszak have pulled off a string of upsets.  

China, Russia and the USA tied for first to third (18 points each) in the Olympiad with the tiebreaks likely to favour China (gold) and Russia (silver). Poland and England (17 each) missed out on medals as did India (16). In the women’s event, China (17) could score gold if they tie their last match against Russia. The Ukraine (18) is assured of silver and maybe, gold, if the Chinese lose. 

Poland, led by the 20-year-old Jan Kryzsztof Duda, backed up by Radek Wojtaszek, Kacper Piorun, Kamil Dragun and Jacze Tomczak, started as 11th seeds. They pulled off several upsets to lead with 16 match points after 9 rounds.

In round 10, China beat the Poles. The USA beat Armenia. That leaves USA and China (17 each) sharing the lead with one round to go. Poland, Russia and France (16 each) share third-fifth spots. India (15) is out after a ninth round loss to Armenia, when Sasikiran went down in time trouble.

The Indian women (14) suffered an upset 8th-round loss to Hungary where they held a rating advantage on every board.

The Fide elections produced a surprise. Arkady Dvorkovich, the former Russian prime minister, pulled off a last-minute coup. GM Nigel Short withdrew his candidacy in favour of Dvorkovich after making a campaign speech lambasting Georgios Makropoulos. In the end, the Russian candidate beat Makropoulos 103-78. 

Dvorkovich’s campaign promises to build “a professional, efficient and transparent institution”. He will look for corporate sponsorship. He promised an annual budget of €3 million for developing countries and a total annual budget of €5 million.

Naturally, there have been lots of epic games. The Diagram, BLACK TO PLAY (White: Aronian VBs Black: Duda, Armenia Vs Poland, Olympiad 2018) features an amazing tactical battle. Black can’t defend c6, e6, e8, etc.  But there’s an old saying — “Three pieces equal mate”. Duda played 23. — Ra2!? 24.Nxc6 Nxc6 25.Bxc6 Rxf2! [ Now 26. Re8+Qxe8 27. Bxe8 Bd4!! 28. Bxf7+ Kxf7 29. Qe1 (what else?) Rb2+ 30. Kf1 Nxg3+ 31. Qxg3 Rxb1+ 32. Ke2 Rxb6 wins for black]. 

White tried 26.Kxf2 Bd4+ 27.Kg2 Nxf4+! 28.Kf1 [ Another idea is 28.gxf4 Qh4! 29.Rh1 Qf2#] and black found 28...Bb7!! 29.Bxb7 Nh5 [If 29.Re8+ Qxe8 30.Bxe8 Rh7! 31.gxf4 Rh1+ 32.Ke2 Bf3+ 33.Kd2 Rh2+ 34.Kc1 Be3+] 30.Kg2 Nf4+ 31.Kf1 Nh5 32.Kg2 Nf4+ (½–½)White loses with 32. Bd5 Nxg3+ 33. Kg2 Qh4. Perpetual check.

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player