Armenia wins World Teams, China second

Armenia won the World Team Championship in Ningbo, China. In the last two rounds 2-2 twice, against Azerbaijan and Ukraine, was enough to finish clear first. Host country China finished strongly and won the silver medals.

General info

The World Team Championship took place July 15-26 in Ningbo, China. China, Ukraine, Israel, Hungary, Azerbaijan, India, USA, Egypt and Armenia played. Each team consisted of five players, one reserve and one coach/captain. The zero tolerance rule for appearing at the board was in effect, as well as a rule against draws before move thirty. The championship was a round-robin of nine rounds. The time control was 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes to finish the game with 30 seconds increment starting from move 1. More info here.

Round 8

On Monday a furious Russia fought very hard for a medal, and crushed Israel 4-0. The Grischuk-Roiz game was instructive for the 'bishop pair' theme: the ending started with a symmeterical pawn structure, but still the Russian outplayed his opponent with two bishops against bishop and knight.

Leading with three match points, Armenia could have decided matters with a round to spare but they were held to 2-2 by Azerbaijan. On top board, Teimour Radjabov used more of his impressive QGD preparation for Kazan to draw with Levon Aronian. Vugar Gashimov and Sergey Movsesian also drew, but then on board four Shakhriyar Mamedyarov scored a full point for Azerbaijan against Gabriel Sargissian. Eventually Vladimir Akopian saved the day for Armenia with a difficult win against Rauf Mamedov on three.



In this round China scored a good 3-1 win against India while Ukraine beat USA thanks to a win on the last board. Alexander Areshchenko played a nice exchange sac against Robert Hess in a Berlin Wall. Unsurprisingly, Hungary defeated Egypt.

Games round 8

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World Team Championship 2011 | Round 8 Results

Bo.	10	Russia	Rtg	-	9	Israel	Rtg	4 : 0
1.1	GM	Grischuk Alexander	2746	-	GM	Roiz Michael	2669	1 - 0
1.2	GM	Nepomniachtchi Ian	2711	-	GM	Smirin Ilya	2676	1 - 0
1.3	GM	Svidler Peter	2739	-	GM	Postny Evgeny	2618	1 - 0
1.4	GM	Vitiugov Nikita	2733	-	GM	Nabaty Tamir	2584	1 - 0
Bo.	1	USA	Rtg	-	8	Ukraine	Rtg	1½:2½
2.1	GM	Kamsky Gata	2741	-	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	2768	½ - ½
2.2	GM	Onischuk Alexander	2675	-	GM	Efimenko Zahar	2706	½ - ½
2.3	GM	Seirawan Yasser	2635	-	GM	Moiseenko Alexander	2715	½ - ½
2.4	GM	Hess Robert	2609	-	GM	Areshchenko Alexander	2682	0 - 1
Bo.	2	Armenia	Rtg	-	7	Azerbaijan	Rtg	2 : 2
3.1	GM	Aronian Levon	2805	-	GM	Radjabov Teimur	2744	½ - ½
3.2	GM	Movsesian Sergei	2700	-	GM	Gashimov Vugar	2760	½ - ½
3.3	GM	Akopian Vladimir	2667	-	GM	Mamedov Rauf	2679	1 - 0
3.4	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	2663	-	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	2765	0 - 1
Bo.	3	Egypt	Rtg	-	6	Hungary	Rtg	1 : 3
4.1	GM	Amin Bassem	2609	-	GM	Leko Peter	2717	½ - ½
4.2	GM	El Gindy Essam	2510	-	GM	Almasi Zoltan	2726	0 - 1
4.3	IM	Shoker Samy	2475	-	GM	Polgar Judit	2699	0 - 1
4.4	IM	Ezat Mohamed	2430	-	GM	Erdos Viktor	2613	½ - ½
Bo.	4	China	Rtg	-	5	India	Rtg	3 : 1
5.1	GM	Wang Hao	2718	-	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	2669	1 - 0
5.2	GM	Wang Yue	2709	-	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2681	1 - 0
5.3	GM	Li Chao B	2669	-	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2627	½ - ½
5.4	GM	Ding Liren	2654	-	GM	Negi Parimarjan	2642	½ - ½

Round 9

The tournament finished with an anti-climax as the top match Armenia vs Ukraine suddenly ended with four draws in positions where, here and there, there was something to play for. This way Armenia secured sole first place, and all was left was the fight for second place.



China also won their last match, against Hungary, to clinch the silver medals. Wang Hao held Leko to a draw on one while Wang Yue and Li Chao beat Zoltan Almasi and Judit Polgar respectively. Csaba Balogh saved Hungary's honour with a win against Yu Yangyi.

Russia finished on a disappointing 5th place after a last-round loss against India. Alexander Grischuk did all right with a nice, positional win in a 4.Bg5 Grünfeld against Pentala Harikrishna. However, in a slightly better position Ian Nepomniachtchi completely lost track and even lost against Krishnan Sasikiran. Then matters got even worse for Peter Svidler, who tried the Modern Defence against Surya Ganguly but was completely crushed. Parimarjan Negi held Nikita Vitiugov to a draw to secure the two match points.



The USA finished a good tournament with a win over Israel. In the last two rounds Yasser Seirawan drew with Alexander Moiseenko and Ilya Smirin and must be very satisfied. Peter Leko, who made his comeback in Ningbo, did fine too. His rating has dropped to 2717 but with a 2803 performance he seems to be on the way back. The best score was for Wang Yue - the Chinese grandmaster also looks back on a mediocre period but scored a superb 7/9 in Ningbo.

Games round 9

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World Team Championship 2011 | Round 9 Results

Bo.	5	India	Rtg	-	10	Russia	Rtg	2½:1½
1.1	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	2669	-	GM	Grischuk Alexander	2746	0 - 1
1.2	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2681	-	GM	Nepomniachtchi Ian	2711	1 - 0
1.3	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2627	-	GM	Svidler Peter	2739	1 - 0
1.4	GM	Negi Parimarjan	2642	-	GM	Vitiugov Nikita	2733	½ - ½
Bo.	6	Hungary	Rtg	-	4	China	Rtg	1½:2½
2.1	GM	Leko Peter	2717	-	GM	Wang Hao	2718	½ - ½
2.2	GM	Almasi Zoltan	2726	-	GM	Wang Yue	2709	0 - 1
2.3	GM	Polgar Judit	2699	-	GM	Li Chao B	2669	0 - 1
2.4	GM	Balogh Csaba	2643	-	GM	Yu Yangyi	2672	1 - 0
Bo.	7	Azerbaijan	Rtg	-	3	Egypt	Rtg	2½:1½
3.1	GM	Radjabov Teimur	2744	-	GM	Adly Ahmed	2631	1 - 0
3.2	GM	Gashimov Vugar	2760	-	GM	Amin Bassem	2609	1 - 0
3.3	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	2765	-	IM	Shoker Samy	2475	0 - 1
3.4	GM	Guseinov Gadir	2625	-	IM	Ezat Mohamed	2430	½ - ½
Bo.	8	Ukraine	Rtg	-	2	Armenia	Rtg	2 : 2
4.1	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	2768	-	GM	Aronian Levon	2805	½ - ½
4.2	GM	Eljanov Pavel	2697	-	GM	Movsesian Sergei	2700	½ - ½
4.3	GM	Efimenko Zahar	2706	-	GM	Akopian Vladimir	2667	½ - ½
4.4	GM	Moiseenko Alexander	2715	-	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	2663	½ - ½
Bo.	9	Israel	Rtg	-	1	USA	Rtg	1½:2½
5.1	GM	Sutovsky Emil	2700	-	GM	Kamsky Gata	2741	½ - ½
5.2	GM	Roiz Michael	2669	-	GM	Onischuk Alexander	2675	½ - ½
5.3	GM	Smirin Ilya	2676	-	GM	Seirawan Yasser	2635	½ - ½
5.4	GM	Postny Evgeny	2618	-	GM	Hess Robert	2609	0 - 1

World Team Championship 2011 | Round 9 (Final) Standings

Rk.	SNo	Team	#	+	=	-	TB1	TB2
1	2	Armenia	9	5	4	0	14	22.5
2	4	China	9	6	1	2	13	22.5
3	8	Ukraine	9	5	2	2	12	19.5
4	10	Russia	9	4	2	3	10	21.0
5	6	Hungary	9	4	2	3	10	19.5
6	1	USA	9	4	2	3	10	18.5
7	7	Azerbaijan	9	3	3	3	9	19.0
8	5	India	9	3	1	5	7	15.5
9	9	Israel	9	2	1	6	5	13.0
10	3	Egypt	9	0	0	9	0	9.0

Photos © WGM Gu Xiaobing, more here

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