BusinessWorld
June 9, 2006 Friday
CHESS PIECE;
Armenia is champion
by Bobby Ang
2006 Turin Chess Olympiad
Men’s Olympiad
20 May – 04 June 2006
Top Final Standings
1. Armenia, 36.0/52
2. China, 34.0/52
3-4. USA, Israel, 33.0/52
5. Hungary, 32.5/52
6-10. Russia, France, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Spain, 32.0/52
Total of 150 teams participating
Armenia closed out with a quick 2-2 draw with Hungary to officially
claim supremacy over the chess world until 2008 at least. The silver
medals went to the Chinese who beat the Netherlands while Israel (a
surprise 3-1 victor over Russia) and the USA (by virtue of a 3.5-0.5
massacre over Norway) finished in a dead heat for third place. The
Buccholz tie-break system gave the bronze medal to the Americans.
The Armenians were without a doubt deserving champions, not only did
they win the most matches, 10, but they also finished undefeated,
something no other country was able to do. Also, for someone like me
who has seen his fair share of intra-team rivalries and petty
jealousies, it was gratifying to see that these guys from the
Caucasus know something about team play – their individual players
sacrificed personal ambition for the sake of the team. Several rounds
before the end Akopian, who had a performance of 2928 in his first
eight games, could ensure an individual medal in board 2 and
Sargissian in board 5 as well by the simple expedient of sidelining
themselves in favor of their reserves. But they continued playing, at
the expense of some possible draws or losses that could hamper their
individual standings.
What happened to the Philippines?
In the last two rounds we needed five points to have a chance at a
decent finish, but instead we drew with Switzerland (2-2) and lost to
Brazil (1.5-2.5). As a result, our final placing was 44th – the worst
finish in recent history.
What excuse can we give now, that we were unlucky? I am afraid we
cannot even say that. We only won four matches drew five and lost
four. Two years ago in Calvia we won eight matches! The only bright
spot in this year’s campaign was the 3.5-0.5 whitewash we
administered Iceland, but is it really that big a deal? Iceland used
to be a very strong country, but many of its top players are either
fully or semi-retired. They finished in 45th place, so what are we so
joyful about?
Can we use our favorite excuse “no money?” I always hate it when I
hear that. Our SEA Games team was properly funded, and yet came away
with not a single gold medal. This Olympiad team was also funded well
– what happened to it?
One day, the chess-powers-that-be will realize that smiling at our
chess players, paying for their living expenses, giving them nice
rooms to stay in one week before departure, and encouraging them to
“do their best” will NOT get us medals.
Our best performances were achieved with starving and freezing teams.
Get them all to train properly – all this “we will train at home just
give us the money to buy books” nonsense must stop.
Our players have to learn to train on the Internet. Accounts have to
be created for them in the Internet Chess Club. They have to be
encouraged to work on their openings for a few hours, and then try
out the fruits of their research in online combat, and someone must
be going over their games (Internet games are saved automatically, of
course) to review what is going on.
If you want to give them special coaches, then fine. But make sure
these are professional coaches, and not retired players who need the
money and therefore “I am a coach.” If you think they need special
openings analysts, then excellent! But get real experts, and not
players who need the job and therefore “I am an analyst.”
I know most people do not like unsolicited advice, so as much as
possible I avoid giving it. But there are too many hangers-on now. It
is about time someone gave Messrs. Go Teng Kok and Rep. Pichay good
advice.
GORMALLYGATE. Arianne Caoili played top board for our women’s team in
the 2000 Istanbul Olympiad. She was only 14 at that time and by now
has blossomed to be quite a beauty. A few years ago her parents
separated and she left for Australia with her mom.
Arianne went to Turin as board 3 for the land from down under. Our
Australian correspondent Amiel Rosario wrote about quite an
interesting incident during the Bermuda dinner socials held after the
10th round of Turin Olympiad.
Apparently the English board 4, GM Daniel Gormally, wanted to dance
with Arianne, but was quite annoyed that GM Levon Aronian had beaten
him to it. I am sure that ELO rating had nothing to do with this, of
course, nor the fact that Levon is the world no. 3. Anyway Gormally
went up to the dancing couple, punched Aronian in the face and shoved
him to the floor.
This incident was reported to the English delegation and by the next
morning their team captain apologized for his behavior to his
counterpart on the Armenian side (Times of London reports that he
also happens to be the Defense Minister of his country). Aronian is
treated like a god in Armenia, and all hopes that his followers were
appeased by this apology disappeared when some of them attacked
Gormally when he went out for coffee with friends. So as to avoid
further incident the Englishman was asked to take the next available
flight home.
Well, I was Arianne’s team captain during the 2000 Istanbul Olympiad
and noticed the impact she makes by simply walking into a room. On or
off the board she is a knockout!
VLADIMIR KRAMNIK. OK, back to chess. Kramnik wound up his first
appearance after medical treatment for arthritis by producing the
best performance in the Olympiad. He played nine games against
opposition with an average rating of 2681 and scored four wins and
five draws. The quality of the games was very high. We presented his
beautiful victory over Naiditsch in our first report, now let us see
another of his productions:
Kramnik, Vladimir (2729) – Bruzon Bautista, Lazaro (2652) [D52]
37th Olympiad Turin ITA (12), 03.06.2006
1.Nf3
In his quest to bring more aggression back into his play Kramnik
dabbled with 1.e4 last year. Now, on his comeback, he goes back to
his tried and true 1.Nf3.
1…d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 Qa5
The Cambridge Springs Defense. The main idea of that opening is to
immediately put pressure on White’s pinned Nc3. Sometimes Black can
also profit from insecure position of White’s Bg5.
7.cxd5
The most ambitious move. Another common line here is 7.Nd2 Bb4 8.Qc2
0n0 9.Be2 c5.
7…Nxd5 8.Qd2 Bb4 9.Rc1 h6 10.Bh4 0n0 11.a3 Bxc3 12.bxc3 Qxa3
Kramnik has given up a pawn for the bishop pair and attacking
prospects on the kingside. By the way, we are still in the books at
this point.
13.e4 Ne7 14.Bd3 Ng6 15.Bg3 e5
Otherwise Black would be passive forever.
16.0-0!
Here I can make a flip comment like “when in doubt, castle”, but it
would not be appropriate. Kramnik’s move is very deep; instead of
trying to recover his pawn investment right away he unhurriedly
completes his development – he has already seen how he is going to
lay out his troops.
16…Re8 17.Rfe1 Qa5 18.Qb2 Qd8 19.Bb1!
A great move. The bishop will be relocated to the a2-g8 diagonal.
19…a5 20.Rcd1 a4 21.Ba2 Qe7 22.Qc1 Ra5 23.Qd2
I really like the way Kramnik is conducting this phase – he seems to
be moving in slow motion, but at the same time Black is finding his
moves harder and harder to come by.
23…exd4?
Black was probably a bit frustrated with his planless situation and
strikes out rashly. It would have been better for him simply to
shuffle his pieces back and forth and wait for white to attack.
24.Nxd4
Now the white knight gets to f5 and the position becomes critical.
24…Qc5 25.Bc7!
This is not only an attack on the rook. You will see the real point
later.
25…Ra8? 26.Bxf7+! Kxf7 27.Qa2+ Kf8
We will see one point of Bc7 if Black plays 27…Kf6 because now
white has 28.Bd8+!! Rxd8 29.Qe6+ Kg5 30.Nf3+ Kf4 (30…Kh5 31.g4#)
31.g3+ Kxf3 32.Rd3+ mate next move.
28.Ne6+ Rxe6 29.Qxe6
Another point of Bc7: If White’s bishop was still on g3 Black could
now defend with …Nge5, but with the bishop on c7 this move is
impossible because of Bd6+.
29…Ne7 30.Re3 Ke8 31.Rf3 Qh5 32.Bd6 1-0
A beauty.