ARMENIA STAY IN FRONT
by Malcolm Pein
The Daily Telegraph (LONDON)
May 30, 2006 Tuesday
Armenia stayed at the head of the field at the 37th Chess Olympiad
in Turin with an impressive 3-1 win over the Netherlands. World No 3
Levon Aronian bounced back from his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik and
dispatched Ivan Sokolov before the latter had developed any of his
kingside. This victory set the tone for the match and the Armenians
stretched their lead to a full point.
Russia also won 3-1 against Belarus, with Kramnik demolishing the
Berlin Wall, an opening variation he popularised by confounding
Garry Kasparov with it in their world title match in London in
2000. This game also finished rapidly after a bizarre blunder by
Alexey Alexandrov.
England lost to Norway as the teenage prodigy Magnus Carlsen ground
down Michael Adams in a long endgame. Nigel Short played superbly
and has now drawn three with black and won three with white, but
Jon Speelman’s switch from solidity to creativity failed and a pawn
sacrifice never worked out.
Scotland are the leading British team again after defeating
Finland 2.5-1.5. Jon Shaw now has 4/4, quite a way to celebrate the
ratification of his GM title. Jonathan Rowson outplayed Tommy Nyback
and missed a difficult win.
Leaders: 1 Armenia 21; 2 Russia 20; 3 Cuba 19.5; 4-7 Uzbekistan,
Ukraine, Georgia, Czech Rep 19; 8-13 Netherlands, Germany, Denmark,
France, USA, Sweden 18.5. (36 Scotland 16.5; 38 England 16; 68 Ireland
14.5, 84 Wales 14, 126 Guernsey 10.5 130 Jersey 10; 148 teams.)
N Short – LE Johannessen
37th Olympiad Turin (7)
Caro Kann Advance
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 h5 5.c4 (Nigel plays a straightforward
attacking line that Boris Spassky also favoured.) 5…e6 6.Nc3
Nd7 7.cxd5 cxd5 8.Bd3 Bxd3 9.Qxd3 Ne7 10.Nf3 Nc6 11.0-0 Be7 12.Bg5
(Safeguarding the h4 pawn and threatening Nc3-b5-d6+) 12…a6 13.Rac1
Nb6 14.Ne2 Qd7 15.Nf4 Nc4 (Not satisfactory but Black has no safe
place for his king if 15…0-0-0 16.Rxc6+ bxc6 17.Qxa6+ Qb7 18.Qxb7+
Kxb7 19.Bxe7 or 15…g6 16.Bf6 Bxf6 17.exf6 Qd6 18.Nxe6 fxe6 19.Qxg6+
Kd8 20.Qg7 Rf8 21.Qxb7 or 15…Rc8 16.Bxe7 Qxe7 17.Ng5 Rc7 18.Ngxe6
fxe6 19.Ng6) 16.b3 Na3 17.Rfd1 Rc8 18.Bxe7 Qxe7 19.Rc5 Rc7 20.Rdc1
(White has two plans, Nf3-g5 with sacrifices on e6 or g6 and Qd3-c3-b2
and a queenside pawn advance) 20…g6 21.Ng5 Rd7 22.Rxc6! bxc6
23.Nxg6! fxg6 24.Qxg6+ Kd8 25.Rxc6 1-0
Johannessen
Short
Final position after 25.Rxc6, 26.Nxe6+ will win the queen.