In pic; Russia lost to China despite Goryachkina scoring her fifth win, vs Ding Yixing on board four. | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
PeterDoggers <www.chess.com/member/peterdoggers> <www.chess.com/about> Mar 10, 2019, 6:22 AM|
|Chess Event Coverage <www.chess.com/news/chess-events>
Russia beat Kazakhstan 3-1 to maintain its lead at the World Team Championship <wteams.astana2019.fide.com/en/home/> despite a loss for Sergey Karjakin vs Rinat Jumabayev on board one. China grabbed sole lead in the women’s section after beating Russia.
Open section
Kazakhstan’s top player Jumabayev is having an excellent tournament so far. He is on plus two against five opponents who were all higher rated.
After beating Michael Adams and drawing with Nils Grandelius, Arkadij Naiditsch and Dariusz Swiercz, on Saturday he won his game against Sergey Karjakin. Russia avoided further damage as they won all other games. Bo. Fed 6 Kazakhstan Rtg – Fed 9 Russia Rtg 1 : 3 4/1 GM Jumabayev, Rinat (w) 2609 – GM Karjakin, Sergey (b) 2753 1 – 0 4/2 GM Ismagambetov, Anuar (b) 2545 – GM Grischuk, Alexander (w) 2771 0 – 1 4/3 IM Makhnev, Denis (w) 2476 – GM Andreikin, Dmitry (b) 2725 0 – 1 4/4 GM Kostenko, Petr (b) 2466 – GM Artemiev, Vladislav (w) 2736 0 – 1
It was Karjakin’s first classical loss since his game with Fabiano Caruana on August 24, 2018 at the Sinquefield Cup. Normally known as the Minister of Defense, the Russian GM this time blundered in the endgame.
England once again maintained its unbeaten status with their second 2-2 in a row, this time against India. The two teams are now trailing Russia by two match points. Bo. Fed 5 England Rtg – Fed 1 India Rtg 2 : 2 3/1 GM Adams, Michael (w) 2708 – GM Adhiban, B. (b) 2683 ½ – ½ 3/2 GM Mcshane, Luke J (b) 2661 – GM Sasikiran, Krishnan (w) 2678 1 – 0 3/3 GM Howell, David W L (w) 2693 – GM Ganguly, Surya Shekhar (b) 2633 ½ – ½ 3/4 GM Jones, Gawain C B (b) 2681 – GM Sethuraman, S.P. (w) 2637 0 – 1
Whereas Gawain Jones suffered his first loss to S.P. Sethuraman, Luke McShaneoutplayed Krishnan Saskiran and suddenly won a piece.
Team USA is in fourth place after losing its first match of the tournament in round five against a team that won its first match: Azerbaijan. Fed 7 Azerbaijan Rtg – Fed 8 United States of America Rtg 3 : 1 GM Naiditsch, Arkadij (w) 2710 – GM Swiercz, Dariusz (b) 2655 1 – 0 GM Mamedov, Rauf (b) 2701 – GM Sevian, Samuel (w) 2642 ½ – ½ GM Guseinov, Gadir (w) 2664 – GM Onischuk, Alexander (b) 2647 ½ – ½ GM Abasov, Nijat (b) 2627 – GM Lenderman, Aleksandr (w) 2637 1 – 0
On board one, Arkadij Naiditsch defeated Dariusz Swiercz in a topical Anti-Berlin. The game was further proof of the theory that queen and knight make an excellent combination (which is basically because the knight move is the only missing dance step that the queen can make).
China beat Iran 2.5-1.5, but once again some of the rising stars showed that they are making steady progress. Whereas Parham Maghsoodloo held Ding Liren to a draw, Alireza Firouzja defeated Ni Hua in a Petroff. Bo. Fed 4 China Rtg – Fed 2 Iran Rtg 2½:1½ 2/1 GM Ding, Liren (w) 2812 – GM Maghsoodloo, Parham (b) 2673 ½ – ½ 2/2 GM Wei, Yi (b) 2733 – GM Idani, Pouya (w) 2604 1 – 0 2/3 GM Bu, Xiangzhi (w) 2731 – GM Tabatabaei, M.Amin (b) 2600 1 – 0 2/4 GM Ni, Hua (b) 2683 – GM Firouzja, Alireza (w) 2657 0 – 1
Egypt also lost its fifth match. Its top player Bassem Amin had started badly with three losses and a draw, but he finally won a game that couldn’t prevent team loss though: Bo. Fed 3 Egypt Rtg – Fed 10 Sweden Rtg 1½:2½ 1/1 GM Amin, Bassem (w) 2709 – GM Grandelius, Nils (b) 2694 1 – 0 1/2 GM Adly, Ahmed (b) 2611 – GM Blomqvist, Erik (w) 2488 ½ – ½ 1/3 IM Fawzy, Adham (w) 2461 – GM Smith, Axel (b) 2487 0 – 1 1/4 GM Hesham, Abdelrahman (b) 2450 – IM Johansson, Linus (w) 2479 0 – 1
World Teams (Open) | Round 5 standings Rk. Fed Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 TB1 TB2 TB3 1 Russia 2 2½ 2½ 3 3 9 13,0 0 2 India 2 2 2 3½ 3½ 7 13,0 0 3 England 2 2 2 2½ 2½ 7 11,0 0 4 United States of America 2 2½ 2 1 3 6 10,5 0 5 Iran 1½ 2 1½ 3½ 3 5 11,5 0 6 China 1½ 2 1½ 2½ 3½ 5 11,0 0 7 Kazakhstan 1 1½ 2 3 2 4 9,5 0 8 Sweden ½ ½ 1 3 2½ 4 7,5 0 9 Azerbaijan 1½ 3 ½ 2 1 3 8,0 0 10 Egypt 1 ½ 1 1 1½ 0 5,0 0
Pairings for round six (Monday): Russia – Azerbaijan, Iran – England, India – Kazakhstan, Egypt – China, Sweden – USA.
Women’s section:
Also in the women’s section the most important match-up of the tournament was the one between China and Russia. It was a tough battle, as expected, and without its top players Hou Yifan and Ju Wenjun China still managed to win it.
Tan Zhongyi and Lei Tingjie won their White games against Kateryna Lagno and Valentina Gunina respectively, and as Huang Qian held the draw against Alexandra Kosteniuk, the match was decided. Bo. Fed 4 China Rtg – Fed 2 Russia Rtg 2½:1½ 2/1 GM Tan, Zhongyi (w) 2513 – GM Lagno, Kateryna (b) 2559 1 – 0 2/2 WGM Huang, Qian (b) 2441 – GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra (w) 2545 ½ – ½ 2/3 GM Lei, Tingjie (w) 2477 – GM Gunina, Valentina (b) 2515 1 – 0 2/4 WGM Ding, Yixin (b) 2432 – GM Goryachkina, Aleksandra (w) 2504 0 – 1
Tan played a theoretical pawn sacrifice in the opening that worked out perfectly. She got a strong attack on the queenside and didn’t give her opponent a chance to get into the game.
For more infor visit: www.chess.com/news/view/world-team-chess-championship-round-5
