WITH ARONIAN LEADING THE WAY, ARMENIA TAKES THE OLYMPIAD
By Robert Byrne
The New York Times
June 11, 2006 Sunday
Late Edition – Final
After capturing third place in the last two Olympiads, Armenia’s men’s
team leapt to victory at this year’s event, held in Turin, Italy,
from May 20 to June 4. The team, which had an undefeated score of
10-3, was heavily reinforced by its new first board, Levon Aronian,
who is now third in the FIDE ratings.
The Soviet Union, and then Russia, won all the Olympiads from 1952
to 2002 except the one in 1976, which it boycotted, and in 1978,
when it lost to Hungary. But this time the Russians were way out of
the running, losing four matches outright.
The Chinese showed off their solid play by taking second place,
although some commentators felt they had benefited from a good helping
of luck. The United States broke a tie for third place with Israel.
In the 11th round, Vlastimil Babula of the Czech Republic, playing
against Karen Asrian of Armenia, thought to free his game early and
headed into what was really a weakened game with great endgame trouble
ahead. He had to skip any thought of conserving his material because
the only way to do that was to enter into a bad endgame, one in which
his opponent would have two bishops and considerable advantage in
space. He tried to defend his knights with his rook, but in the long
run, his remaining knight became completely immobilized.
In the final stages, Babula desperately gave up his knight, but when
he saw that he would have to lose his rook too, he called it quits.
With 5 e6, Black introduced the Scheveningen Variation of the Sicilian
Defense. It was named after the Dutch resort where a prestigious
tournament was held in 1923. Players like Max Euwe helped to establish
it as a solid, reliable defense.
The purpose of 9 Nb3 was to avoid an exchange of knights to keep the
game complicated.
With 9 a6, Black prepared a queenside advance, his standard strategy.
And with 10 a4, White put an obstacle in the way.
With 10 Na5 11 Nd2, Asrian again escaped a knight exchange.
Perhaps, instead of 13 b5, 13 Rfb8 might have been better. Babula
did not spot Asrian’s clever underlying combination.
After 15 Nb5, if 15 Bb5 16 Bb5 Qc2 17 Qb1, Black would save a pawn
but concede a strong bishop pair in the endgame to Asrian.
After 16 Qc1 Qc1 17 Rfc1, the threat was 18 Nc7.
And after 19 Nc4, Asrian’s threat was to win material with 20 Nb6.
After 27 Rd8, the material was still even, but Babula could hardly
move.
And after 43 Rh6, Babula saw that 43 Kf5 44 Nd6 Kf4 45 Rf6 Ke3 46
Nf5 would lose and gave up.