The danger of writing blog posts about current news (and especially chess news) is that they tend to become outdated quickly. However, there’s one thing that I don’t think will change anytime soon, and that is the sadness and frustration of Aaron the a-pawn. Here he is.
Why is Aaron sad? The answer is that tickets are still not on sale for the World Chess Championship. This makes him worried, because the poor organization to this point might make a championship difficult.
However, his compatriot Beaufort is more excited.
Why is Beaufort excited? He is an actual pawn, not a metaphorical pawn. He plays in chess games for the United States team. And so the Chess Olympiad means he is played with! Below is Beaufort on b2, proudly winning the game for one Sam Shankland.
Samuel Shankland–Joan Fernandez Lopez Chess Olympiad 2016
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 {White has weakened dark squares in exchange for clamping down on d5.} Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Nc3 {Shankland protects the center, hoping to consolidate a small space advantage. One interesting possibility is 7…Nxg4 8. Qxg4 Nxd4, trading a pair of knights.} d6 8. Be2 Nxd4 {However, Black finds another, more prosaic, way to trade knights. This alleviates the discomfort caused by White’s strong center.} 9. Bxd4 0-0 10. 0-0 a5 11. b3 {Beaufort gets his first move. Though it’s not a two-square leap forward, it’s a preparation for getting to move again…} Bd7 12. Qd3 {In anticipation of further attacks on e4, White overprotects it.} Bc6 13. a3 {Beaufort the b-pawn gets ready…} Nd7 {Black prepares a knight leap to c5 or e5.} 14. Bxg7 {White eliminates the dark-squared Black bishop, slightly weakening his king.} Kxg7 15. b4 {Another great step into the unknown for Beaufort!} Qb6 {A mistake by Fernandez Lopez. Shankland pounces.}16. c5 {The queen is forced to retreat.} Qc7 17. cxd6 exd6 18. Qd4+ {Now either the bishop is trapped, or Black falls prey to another tactic.} Nf6 19. b5 {1-0. Beaufort seals off the game. If the bishop retreats, then 20. Qxf6 Kxf6 21. Nd5+ wins a piece.}
The team which just played Beaufort and his United States compatriots was India, who started off with a better start than the U. S. (who were nicked for a draw by the Czech Republic in the third round.) One key game by the Indian team to ensure their perfect start was GM Adhiban’s win against GM L’Ami in the sixth round, which pit them against the United States in the seventh.
Erwin L’Ami–Baskaran Adhiban Chess Olympiad 2016
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14. f4 {White hopes to leverage his central presence into a more open game wherein his bishops would flourish.} Nbd7 15. Rae1 Re8 {After fifteen moves of opening, we’ve now gotten to the meat of the game. White has a slight advantage owing to his bishop pair, but Black’s pieces are also actively coordinated.} 16. Bf5 c6 {Now it’s Black’s turn to challenge the White center, hoping to dislodge the pawn on d5 and expand his own center.} 17. dxc6 bxc6 {Black is now in prime position to push to d5.} 18. Ne4 Nxe4 19. Bxe4 {White hopes to compensate for the stronger Black center with his kingside pressure.} Ra6 {Bb7 was preferable, as it helps play d5.} 20. Rd1 Nf6 21. Bf3 c5 {This looks like a very strange choice, as it weakens the d6-pawn and the d5-square. However, the pawn is difficult to blockade, and if Black can push his pawn to d6, the weakness disappears, leaving him with a central advantage.} 22. Rxd6 {White sacrifices the exchange, relying on the ensuing pawn fork and better coordination.}
Rxd6 23. fxe5 Rd7 24. exf6 Qxe3+ 25. Kh1 {White could have hoped for a repetition with 25. Rf2, but decides to avoid the checks and seek a win.} Qd3 26. Qxd3 {He now accepts the queen trade, but doesn’t factor in Black’s ability to attack the weak White pawns with both rooks.} Rxd3 27. fxg7 Ba6 28. Bc6 Re2 {The Black rooks become more powerful, penetrating into the Black position, but the bishops are able to repel them.} 29. Bd5 Re7 30. Bf6 Re8 31. Rc1 {All the pawns are protected, and so it looks to be heading for a draw.} Re2 32. Kg1 Red2 {Some aimless shuffling follows as both sides try to come up with a plan.} 33. Bf3 Re3 34. Bc3 Rd6 35. Bd5 Re7 36. Rd1 {And finally L’Ami cracks, allowing Adhiban to snatch a pawn. More importantly, he can also trade off the bothersome White rook.} Bxc4 {! If White tries to be sneaky with 37. Bxf7+ Rxf7 38. Rxd6, Rf1# awaits him.} 37. Bf3 Rxd1+ 38. Bxd1 Bb5 39. Bf3 Re6 40. Kf2 Bc6 {With such an easy plan (trade off a pair of bishops and squeeze the White position, it’s now a matter of time for a grandmaster.} 41. Bg4 Rd6 42. Be5 Rd2+ {L’Ami struggles for activity, but only gives up another pawn. Adhiban kept squeezing until …0-1. India went to round six with a 6/6 score.}
This win (with Black!) was especially important as his teammate Santosh Gujrathi on board four drew (with White!) against Loek van Wely of the Netherlands. In the same round, Sethuraman and Harikrishna both also drew, making Adhiban’s win the decisive game of the match.
The U. S. is now leading the Olympiad, on 6.5/7. Here are a few of the games that got them there. As a sidenote, it’s quite strange for the U. S. not to be an ‘underdog’ team. Instead, they’re now very much an ‘overdog’ team, second seed, behind Russia. It’s insane that now they’re fielding Wesley So, top-ten ranked player, on
third board! IMO, they haven’t been this good relative to the world since the 1930s. It’s a very interesting thing to think about– one sudden influx of talent made up by a few players is all you need for a team of four.
Anyhow, one of these top-class players is Hikaru Nakamura, currently rated sixth in the world (on second board, behind Caruana.) He has demonstrated his class in this Olympiad by finding tactical blows against weaker players, forcing them to resign rather than be able to fight a difficult game.
Hikaru Nakamura–Robert Markus Chess Olympiad 2016
Black’s last move was 21…Qd8, retreating, and it appears reasonable. Hikaru now plays, however, 22. Nxg6! When Black retakes with the knight, 23. Qg3 pins the knight, and it can’t be defended well. 1-0.
Likewise, against John Shaw, in the first round, he uncorked another quality tactic after a suspect move by his weaker opponent.
Hikaru Nakamura–John Shaw Chess Olympiad 2016
Shaw’s last move, 20…Qd6, gives Black an opening– Nakamura played 21. Bd5. Neither Black’s bishop nor the queen could take back. Nakamura, on the next move, was able to simply capture and win a pawn to go with his dominating position. Or, he would have, had Shaw not resigned. 1-0.
Outside of the top three (Caruana, Nakamura, and So,) Sam Shankland and Ray Robson have so far this Olympiad competed for the fourth board. However, both have performed well, so far. Here is Shankland’s escape against S. P. Sethuraman, about which he commented “This is the first time in any of the Olympiad games in which I was just dead.”
Samuel Shankland–S.P. Sethuraman Chess Olympiad 2016
31…Rh2 is a beautiful zugzwang for Sethuraman.
If 32. Qd1, Qc4+ 33. Bxc4 dxc4#
If 32. Rb2, Ra3.
If 32. Rxe6, Ra3.
Every position makes White worse. However, Black played 31…Qf7, instead, and after he lost the thread of the game, White emerged with the victory.
Lastly, it must be mentioned that Ian Nepomniachtchi is on an incredible 7/7. Here are two of his games. Firstly, in the seventh round, to set up a match with the United States in the eighth, and continue his run of not giving up even a draw.
Ian Nepomniachtchi–Zybnek Hracek Chess Olympiad 2016
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 {This creates a hole on d5. However, when Black plays d6, he tries to make use of his extra central pawn, and the weakness on d6 isn’t much of a problem, despite its appearance.} 6. Ndb5
d6 7. Bg5 {White threatens to trade off a defender of d5, clearing it for the knight.} a6 8. Na3 b5 {Now, of course, Black threatens a fork with b4. Thus White has to move the knights.} 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c4 {White reinforces his hold on d5. However, he gives Black the d4-square.} b4 12. Nc2 0-0 {Black gives up the pawn, but, practically, it’s not a good decision for White to take it, as his uncastled king would be quickly exposed.} 13. g3 Be6 14. h4 {White prepares to trade off another defender of d5.} a5 15. Bh3 a4 16. Qd3 b3 {Black continues to attack the White queenside, attacking c2.} 17. Nce3 {Now Nd4 is perhaps the best move for Black, threatening to fork White on c2.} bxa2 18. Rxa2 Qa5+ 19. Kf1 {Black is now able to trade off the pieces occupying d5, eliminating it as a weakness. However, he is left with the worse bishop.} Bxd5 20. Nxd5 Nb4 21. Nxb4 Qxb4 22. Bd7 {The White bishop begins to march to d5.} Bd8 23. Bc6 Ra7 24. Qc2 a3 25. Kg2 {White ignores the Black attack and sets about readying all his pieces– here, he frees the rook.} Qc5 26. Bd5 g6 27. Rb1 {All the White pieces are now optimally placed, while Black’s rook and bishop are doing nothing to help his cause. This is the reason he loses.} axb2 28. Raxb2 Kh8 29. Rb5 {White begins to invade the Black position by chasing the queen around, gaining time to move in his rooks.} Qc8 30. Rb8 Qd7 31. Qd2 {Allowing 32. Qh6 would be costly, so Black must react.} Kg7 32. R8b7 {The choice of rook doesn’t matter, as Black must capture.} Rxb7 33. Rxb7 Qg4 34. Qa2 {White comes up with a brilliant maneuver, allowing Black to take an unimportant pawn in order to get the queen into the game.} Bxh4 35. Qa7 Kh6 36. Rxf7 Rxf7 37. Qxf7 Bg5 {What else is there to do?} 38. Qf8+ Kh5 39. Qxd6 Bf4 40. Qf6 Qg5 41. Qf7 {1-0.}
Previously, in round two, Nepomniachtchi helped his team coast to a 4-0 victory over Turkmenistan. In round one, they had also swept Nigeria 4-0. Unfortunately for the Russians, they (except for Ian) were unable to continue this start– they lost to rivals Ukraine by a 2.5-1.5 score in the fourth round (Nepomniachtchi being the sole win.) However, here’s the round two game.
Ian Nepomniachtchi–Saparmyrat Atabayev Chess Olympiad 2016
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 {This useful move allows the White bishop to develop to e3 without fear of being harassed by the Black knight on g4.} e5 7. Nde2 Be7 8. g4 {The knight hopes to re-locate to f5 via g3.} h6 9. a4 Be6 {Black hopes to play d5, releasing his pieces.} 10. Bg2 {Knowing this, White prevents it.} 0-0 11. 0-0 Nbd7 12. Ng3 {The knight continues his journey to the outpost on f5, where it will trouble the Black kingside.} Re8 13. Nf5 Qc7 14. Nxe7+ {This trade, seemingly a bad bishop for the knight, weakens d6, and misplaces the rook.} Rxe7 15. f4 exf4 16. Bxf4 {d6 is now under huge pressure, as it is isolated, and can be easily attacked.} Qc5+ 17. Kh1 Ne5 18. g5 hxg5 19. Bxg5 {White switches targets, now targeting similar weaknesses on the dark squares, which the bishop would have protected.} Neg4 {This is an mistake–the knight has no acceptable place to retreat to.} 20. Qd2 Nh5 21. hxg4 Ng3+ 22. Kh2 Nxf1+ 23. Rxf1 Rd7 {This is Black’s idea– he thinks he’s weakened White’s kingside, but the White pieces are well-placed both to defend and to counterattack.} 24. Be3 {White repeats moves to gain thinking time.} Qe5+ 25. Bf4 Qc5 26. Be3 Qe5+ 27. Kg1 Bxg4 28. Bd4 Qh5 29. Nd5 {The flaw in Black’s idea is revealed– White’s pieces spring into action, and Atabayev’s position collapses.} Rf8 30. Rf6 Kh7 31. Qf2 {As unexpected as it is, the Black pieces simply have no moves!} Bh3 32. Bxh3 Qxh3 33. Rf4 {Threatening 34. Rh4+.} g5 34. Nf6+ Kg6 35. Rg4 {1-0. Qf5# follows.}
That’s my round-up of the Olympiad so far. Now I’ll try to get this out before it’s obsolete!
–HikaruShindo
