Chess (#1218)
 "Chess (#1218)")
The US came to the Baku Olympiad with a dream team, including three top 10 players in Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So. They took the Open gold for the first time since the Haifa Olympiad in 1976 (when the USSR boycotted). But Ukraine (20) was just behind on tiebreak. Russia (18) managed third, failing to justify its top seeding yet again.
By the end, the Indians were wistfully humming that old standard, "with a little bit of blooming luck". Both teams missed medals by a whisker. In the Open, they tied for 4th-11th with the best tiebreak, scoring 16 points (7 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses). The one bad loss was a 3.5-0.5 thumping from the US in a match that should have been tied 2-2. Against Ukraine, India lost by a minimum margin of 2.5-1.5. The final round draw versus Norway should have been a win, and the other draw was against Russia.
S P Sethuraman is very aggressive and his instability on the fourth board was critical. Sethuraman was totally winning against Sam Shankland (US) and lost; he was better against Anton Korobov (Ukraine) but lost, and in the last round, he had a brainstorm and lost to Frode Urkedal (Norway) by sacrificing the wrong piece when he was better. In between, he won some lovely games, including a demolition of Nigel Short.
P Harikrishna was brilliant, with a rating performance of 2831 (5.5/9), including a win against Sergey Karjakin and draws against Caruana and Magnus Carlsen. Vidit Gujrathi was also excellent, starting with a 5/5 streak and finishing with 8/11. Baskaran Adhiban, who is a bit of a wild man did a fair job on board 2, except against Russia when he was clinically murdered by Vladimir Kramnik.
The women did quite as well. The women's section was won by China (20 that beat Russia (16) in a key last round encounter. Russia would have taken gold if the match had gone the other way. Poland (17) took silver while Ukraine (17) took bronze on the tiebreak. The Indian women tied for 4th-9th (all 16 points) and took fifth on the tiebreak behind Russia. The last round match with the US (16) was a draw after Padmini Rout lost from a completely winning position.
A win at that point, and a few points scattered here and there could even have seen the women take silver.
The diagram, BLACK TO PLAY, (White: Harikrishna Vs Black: Karjakin, Baku Olympiad 2016) is good for white with ideas like 26.- Kf8 27. Nxg7 Kxg7 28. f5 Ne4 29. Rxe4 dxe4 30 f5 Rh8 31. fxg6 with a big attack for the rook. Karjakin collapsed with 26. - Qf5?? 27.Nhf6+! Kh8 28.Nxe8 Rxe8 29.Rxc7 Nf4 and (1-0, 44 moves).
By the end, the Indians were wistfully humming that old standard, "with a little bit of blooming luck". Both teams missed medals by a whisker. In the Open, they tied for 4th-11th with the best tiebreak, scoring 16 points (7 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses). The one bad loss was a 3.5-0.5 thumping from the US in a match that should have been tied 2-2. Against Ukraine, India lost by a minimum margin of 2.5-1.5. The final round draw versus Norway should have been a win, and the other draw was against Russia.
S P Sethuraman is very aggressive and his instability on the fourth board was critical. Sethuraman was totally winning against Sam Shankland (US) and lost; he was better against Anton Korobov (Ukraine) but lost, and in the last round, he had a brainstorm and lost to Frode Urkedal (Norway) by sacrificing the wrong piece when he was better. In between, he won some lovely games, including a demolition of Nigel Short.
P Harikrishna was brilliant, with a rating performance of 2831 (5.5/9), including a win against Sergey Karjakin and draws against Caruana and Magnus Carlsen. Vidit Gujrathi was also excellent, starting with a 5/5 streak and finishing with 8/11. Baskaran Adhiban, who is a bit of a wild man did a fair job on board 2, except against Russia when he was clinically murdered by Vladimir Kramnik.
The women did quite as well. The women's section was won by China (20 that beat Russia (16) in a key last round encounter. Russia would have taken gold if the match had gone the other way. Poland (17) took silver while Ukraine (17) took bronze on the tiebreak. The Indian women tied for 4th-9th (all 16 points) and took fifth on the tiebreak behind Russia. The last round match with the US (16) was a draw after Padmini Rout lost from a completely winning position.
A win at that point, and a few points scattered here and there could even have seen the women take silver.
The diagram, BLACK TO PLAY, (White: Harikrishna Vs Black: Karjakin, Baku Olympiad 2016) is good for white with ideas like 26.- Kf8 27. Nxg7 Kxg7 28. f5 Ne4 29. Rxe4 dxe4 30 f5 Rh8 31. fxg6 with a big attack for the rook. Karjakin collapsed with 26. - Qf5?? 27.Nhf6+! Kh8 28.Nxe8 Rxe8 29.Rxc7 Nf4 and (1-0, 44 moves).
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player
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First Published: Sep 17 2016 | 12:15 AM IST