Olympiad ABC: Argentina, Belarus and Colombia on a roll
Friday, September 3rd, 2021 – Rounds four through six of the Division 2 Online Olympiad were disputed today. We are currently halfway through the event, and emotions are running high. Practically all of the pools in this Division are very closely fought and many of them will be decided tomorrow in last-round match-ups. The first three teams qualify directly to the Top Division, where they will join the twenty-five best teams of the world, seeded directly into Stage Four of the tournament. Division 2 – Pool A Clearly, this group will not be decided until tomorrow, after the final three rounds have been played. Although after today’s games Indonesia (11/12) is still in the lead, only one match point separates them from the second-placed Philippines (10/12). Although they dropped a point against Bangladesh (3-3), Indonesia defeated the Philippines in round five by a clear 4.5-1.5 and, barring something very unfortunate happening tomorrow, should qualify for the Top Division. The top scorer in this group is Indonesia’s board three, IM Sukandar Irine Kharisma, with 5.5/6. In the following diagram, Sukandar’s advanced passed pawn on c2 should be the decisive factor. However, her precise play was admirable. Her first move was 32…Bh5! to exchange the knight on f3. After 33.Kf1 Bxf3 34.gxf3 Be5! the other bishop occupies the square controlled by the exchanged knight. Now 35.Kg2 Ra1! 36.Kf1 Bc3 forced resignation. White has been left with no space at all. The oldest player record was broken today: 77-year-old WIM Rani Hamid, playing for Bangladesh, debuted today in round four against Chelsie Monica Ignesias Sihite from Team Indonesia. Hamid has won three British Women’s Championships and twenty (!) Bangladeshi Women’s Championships. Right behind, in third place, Olympiad partners Shenzhen China (9/12) had a great day, overtaking Australia (8/12), who have dropped to fourth place. As mentioned yesterday, today’s pairings were very favourable for them, and they won all three matches handily, including a 6-0 against Ireland. With only one point separating these four teams, tomorrow’s Philippines-Shenzhen and Australia –Shenzhen match-ups will decide which teams qualify along with Indonesia. Two Shenzhen China players are also on 5.5/6: GM Zeng Chongsheng and WFM Li Xinyu. Curiously, Shenzhen China and Chinese Tapei are the only two teams of the pool using their six main players (no reserves). Division 2 – Pool B As predicted, Italy made a comeback this afternoon and scored 5/6, completing a three-way tie for first place with Latvia and Uzbekistan, all on 9/12. Latvia has 2.5 extra board points, which for the moment gives them the lead on tiebreak. However, Moldova (8/12) and Estonia (7/12) are both in striking distance and tomorrow’s last three rounds feature several direct encounters between these five teams. With six match points still to be played for, anything can happen. Surprise contender Uzbekistan – their 1735 is the lowest medium rating of the ten – has slightly better pairings (they face two of the teams at the bottom of the table). In any case, the last round match between Latvia and Italy will most likely decide two of the qualifying spots, and maybe even the winner of the group. The next diagram comes from the Round 6 match between Uzbekistan and Latvia. White played 33.Re6! sacrificing a rook for the attack. After 33…fxe6 34.Rxe6 Black should have played 34…Ra5 35.Rxd6 Rxd6 36.Ng3 and White is better, but instead opted for 34…Kg7? and White found the killer move 35.Ng3! heading for h5 with an unstoppable attack. WGM Laura Rogule is performing unbelievably on board three for Latvia, and with 6/6 is the top scorer in the pool. Division 2 – Pool C Two teams are way ahead of the rest in this group: Belarus (12/12) and Israel (11/12). Belarus crushed through all three of their opponent’s today with a 4.5 minimum score. Israel basically did the same but dropped an unfortunate 3-3 tie against 4th placed Sri Lanka – a match in which they were more than 300 rating points favourites on every board. The leaders will face each other tomorrow in the last round to decide the winner, but it seems highly unlikely that either of the two will miss the qualification. The third spot should be for Sweden (7/12) or Sri Lanka (6/12), although both Portugal and Albania (both on 5/12) still have an outside chance to qualify. One of the anecdotes of the day, reported by principal arbiter Alex Holowczak, occurred precisely in the match between Sweden and Scotland. Sweden’s GM Ferdinand Hellers was playing Scotland’s GM Jacob Aagaard. Unfortunately, Ferdinand had connection challenges and had lost almost half his time. Therefore, Jacob sportingly offered a draw, which was accepted. Something that would probably never happen in an OTB Chess Olympiad! Montenegro and Scotland, who were sharing 4th place after the first three rounds, both lost their three matches today and are now out of the running: they have dropped down to 7th-9th place in the standings. The top scorer for Belarus is WFM Yana Ilyuchyk, who has won all of her games on board four (5/5). Also doing very well on board two for Sweden is GM Pia Cramling (5/6). Finally, Israel’s first two boards GM’s Tamir Nabaty and Ilia Smirin are both on 4/4 with solid performances. Division 2 – Pool D Argentina is on a roll! They lead the group with a perfect 100% score (12/12) after defeating South Africa and Uruguay, as well as their neighbours Brasil by a clear 5-1 in the fifth round. Due to that defeat and a 3-3 tie against Mexico, Brasil (9/12) has dropped to third place in the group and has been overtaken by Slovenia (9/12), who crushed their opposition today. However, Venezuela (8/12) is just behind these three teams and still has to face Argentina tomorrow. Also, Slovenia will play against Argentina in the first of tomorrow’s three rounds. In fact, Brasil has the most favourable pairings: their last three opponents are Uruguay (8th), South Africa (9th) and Morocco (10th). With 6/6, Argentinean WFM Candela Be Francisco Guecamburu is the top scorer of her team and the group. WIM Urh Zala from Slovenia is also performing above expectation with 5.5/6 on board five. Division 2 – Pool E Colombia (12/12) pulled away from the pack today after winning their three
Iniyan clinches Noisiel International Open 2021
GM Panneerselvam Iniyan of India emerged as the winner of the Noisiel International Open (France). The 18-year old rating favourite clinched the title in quite a convincing manner scoring 8/9. GM Yuri Solodovnichenko of Ukraine finished just a half-point behind the winner. The local favourites Yannick Kambrath and Joseph Girel tied for third, with the former taking the last place on the podium thanks to better tiebreaks. Alicia Randrianarimanana of France netted 5 points and became the best woman the in Open A. The 9-round Swiss tournaments (A, B and C) took place at Noisiel in the eastern suburb of Paris and attracted 174 players from 13 counties. The prizes were awarded in the presence of Mathieu Viskovic, Mayor of Noisiel. Final standings Open A: 1 INIYAN P 8 2 SOLODOVNICHENKO, Yuri 7½ 3 KAMBRATH, Yannick 6½ 4 GIREL, Joseph 6½ 5 DEGARDIN, Sylvain 6 6 ALBARIC, Etienne 6 7 MULLER, Anthony 6 8 DEFROMONT, Benjamin 6 9 BUJISHO, Benjamin 5½ 10 PUCHER, Sebastien 5½ The Noisiel Open is becoming one of the most important open tournaments in France. The event received a financial backup from FIDE to the extent of about 15% of the total budget. It is important to note that organizers have reduced the entry fee for certain categories such as women, juniors and veterans above 50 years as per the recommendations of FIDE. Some additional prizes for the women and veterans category were established. Traditionally, the Seine et Marne Department and the President of Noisiel Chess Club Mr Oupindrin, who has organized all the six opens, were sponsors of the event. A blitz tournament organized during the event attracted 64 players, including 6 GMs. The winner of the open Iniyan tied for first but achieved a double thanks to superior tiebreaks over Yuri Solodovnichenko and Namig Guliyev. The dates of the 7th Noisiel open will be announced before October 21, 2021. The upcoming open promises to be the strongest event ever held in Noisiel.
Carlsen-Aronian on a knife-edge as Firouzja launches comeback
World Champion Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian held back the smiles today as day one of their Aimchess US Rapid semis ended on a knife-edge. Nothing could separate the two Meltwater Champions Chess Tour big beasts as they played out four consecutive draws. It leaves their match locked 2-2 going into the day two decider tomorrow. Aronian came closest to making the breakthrough – but Carlsen is known for his second-day prowess in Tour matches and will roar back. FTX Crypto Cup winner Aronian, who played in his favourite Lionel Messi shirt, said afterwards: “It was a tight match, I think I had chances in the second game, but after that, it was pretty solid.” Carlsen admitted he was under pressure in the second game but joked, “it was probably the least dramatic we’ve had, ever, in this tournament”. It was a different story in the other semi. Russian sensation Vladislav Artemiev was left kicking himself after he blew a comfortable lead against 18-year-old Alireza Firouzja. Artemiev broke through to win the opener and then skillfully frustrated Firouzja in the second and third games to leave the youngster in a must-win situation going into the final fourth. Then in a strong position, Artemiev fell for a trick and out of nowhere Firouzja was back in the game. It ended with a win for Firouzja and the match locked 2-2. It was a huge comeback. Artemiev was a late entry into the Tour but has an impressive record already, having made it to the semi-finals of all three events he has participated. Todays’s semi-final matches start at 17:00 CEST. All games will be played in the chess24.com playzone. Coverage with full commentary is available on www.championschesstour.com or www.chess24.com. For further information, please contact: Leon Watson, PR for Play Magnus Groupleon@chessable.com+44 7786 078 770
FIDE Online Olympiad: Division 2 starts strong
Thursday, September 2nd, 2021 – Division Two of the FIDE Online Olympiad began today. Fifteen qualified countries from last weekend’s Division Three were joined by the thirty-five D2 seeds, setting up five groups – pools – with ten teams each. Most of the participating countries at this stage have world-class grandmasters leading their teams: Maxim Rodshtein (2684), Markus Ragger (2680), Tamir Nabaty (2658) and Ilia Smirin (2611) are the top-board +2600 players. The first three teams of each group – fifteen in total – will advance to the Top Division next week and play for the Olympic title. Division 2 – Pool A Most of the countries seeded into Pool A are from Asia: basically the Eastern time zone, with Ireland in the mix. This group seems to be fairly equal, at least between the five or six main favourites. Nearly all of them have one or two grandmasters leading the way and some of the teams are entirely filled up with titled players. It’s still very early to get a clear idea of which teams will advance to the Top Division, but Indonesia and Philippines have started very strong, with three wins each, while Bangladesh and Australia are just behind with two wins and one defeat (Bangladesh lost 4-2 to Australia and Australia 4-2 to Philippines). While Indonesia has only fielded their six main players – with excellent results – other teams have been mixing it up a little bit more: for example, Australia has used eleven of their twelve players in the first three rounds! Finally, the Shenzhen China team (Olympiad partners) is tremendously strong but somewhat underperformed in the first three rounds. However, despite losing an important match against Indonesia by 3.5-2.5, the team remains one of the main contenders for the three qualifying spots. Division 2 – Pool B A rather strong pool, with many European teams. Latvia, headed by GM Nikita Meshkovs, have won their first three matches (against Estonia, Iraq and Switzerland) and are leading the pool undefeated with 6/6. Division 3 qualifier Malaysia are also on a roll: two wins and a draw (against Austria) leaves them in undisputed second position with 5/6. There is a tie between three strong teams in third place, all of which have won two games and lost one: Italy, Estonia, and Uzbekistan. On paper, the best squad, captained by GM Loek van Wely, is Italy, with a medium rating of 2343. However, they have used eleven of their twelve players on Day 1 (only board one GM Luca Moroni has played all three games). Austria (with GM Markus Ragger on board one) and Moldova (headed by GM Victor Bologan and GM Viorel Iordachescu) have underperformed, but anything can happen with six rounds left. The following diagram is from the game between board one in Moldova vs Italy. White has just played 41.Rf7 and it’s Black to play. Moroni captured the pawn with 41…Rxd4, a big mistake, as after 42.e7! Kg8 43.Raf6! Black loses to 44.Rf8 and had to resign. Instead of the text move, 41…Kg8! would have kept the game going. Division 2 – Pool C Another tough group with many strong European countries. However, after the first three rounds, the leader with 6/6 is Israel, an excellent team with four seasoned GM’s and several other titled players: definitely one of the strongest teams of the division. For the moment, they have fielded all of their twelve players. Also on 6/6 is Belarus, headed by GM’s Kirill Stupak and Alexei Fedorov. Three wins by 4.5-1.5 against Sweden, Norway and Sri Lanka have placed them in an excellent position to take one of the three qualifying spots. Two teams share third place in the standings: Montenegro and Scotland. They have both won two matches and lost one (against Israel and Zimbabwe, respectively). Both Sweden and Norway have played below their expectations for now, and with only two points are in a dangerous situation. However, there are still six rounds to go, and both of them are capable of climbing their way back into the lead. Division 2 – Pool D Group D brings together mostly South American and African teams, rated 2000 at least and some of them much higher. Two of the favourites, Argentina and Brazil, have already taken the lead after the first three rounds with 6/6. With four OTB Olympic players plus strong titled female contenders, the powerful Argentinean squad started off by taking down Mexico in a very close match by 3.5-2.5 and then followed it up by convincingly defeating Algeria and Morocco. Meanwhile, Brazil, headed by GM’s Alexandr Fier and Felipe El Debs, beat Angola, Slovenia and Venezuela. These two teams share third and fourth place with 4/6, with two wins and one defeat. The following diagram is from the Algeria-Venezuela match. White has just played 24.Qc4 and was in for a surpise. Black took advantage of the pin on the h1-a8 diagonal and played 24…Nxe3+! 25.fxe3 Rxd2+! followed by 26…Qxf3, winning a piece and the game. Third-division top qualifiers Uruguay haven’t yet found their form in this stage of the event but with six rounds still to go – and direct matches with the other contenders – it’s very early to turn down their chance to qualify. Mexico is in the exact same situation. Division 2 – Pool E The last group to finish – South and Central American countries – might easily be the most evenly matched at the top. Three teams lead the pack with 6/6: Colombia, Cuba and Ecuador, in that order after tie-breaking with board points. However, Chile is just behind on 5/6, having only conceded a draw against Jamaica. On paper, it would be a big surprise if Colombia (with GM David Arenas and Andres Gallego) and Cuba (GM Carlos Albornoz and Yasser Quesada are their top boards) miss qualification for the top division, but the third spot is wide open. Chile, Paraguay Bolivia and Costa Rica could quickly close the gap and overtake Ecuador on Day 2 if they are fortunate on the board. In fact, Colombia-Ecuador and Paraguay-Bolivia are fourth-round match-ups that shouldn’t be missed by South American fans tomorrow! Pairings of the rounds, live games, PGN files and other useful information