World Team Chess Championship: Englands Ties With Russia
Russia still leads the World Team Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan even though it was held to 2-2 by England today. China and Russia are still going strong in the women's section.
Women's section:
Let's look at the women's section first, for a change. It's International Women's Day, after all!
For this occasion, the organizers had arranged a large bunch of roses, and every female participant could choose to take one.
After its excellent win over Armenia yesterday, India couldn't repeat another success story. Russia was too strong: 3.5-0.5.
| Bo. | Fed | 2 | Russia | Rtg | - | Fed | 3 | India | Rtg | 3½: ½ |
| 5/1 | GM | Lagno, Kateryna (w) | 2559 | - | IM | Karavade, Eesha (b) | 2357 | 1 - 0 | ||
| 5/2 | GM | Kosteniuk, Alexandra (b) | 2545 | - | WGM | Soumya, Swaminathan (w) | 2401 | ½ - ½ | ||
| 5/3 | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra (w) | 2504 | - | IM | Tania, Sachdev (b) | 2400 | 1 - 0 | ||
| 5/4 | WGM | Girya, Olga (b) | 2456 | - | WGM | Kulkarni, Bhakti (w) | 2322 | 1 - 0 |
Kateryna Lagno reached a winning position against Eesha Karavade in a Sicilian, but then spoiled it all in time trouble. Karavade was an exchange up, but just before the time control she missed a combination leading to checkmate:
In a tough match with Armenia, China eventually scored a win to remain atop of the standings with Russia. (The two teams will meet tomorrow!)
| Bo. | Fed | 1 | Armenia | Rtg | - | Fed | 4 | China | Rtg | 1½:2½ |
| 4/1 | GM | Danielian, Elina (w) | 2402 | - | GM | Tan, Zhongyi (b) | 2513 | ½ - ½ | ||
| 4/2 | IM | Mkrtchian, Lilit (b) | 2390 | - | WGM | Huang, Qian (w) | 2441 | ½ - ½ | ||
| 4/3 | WFM | Sargsyan, Anna M. (w) | 2340 | - | GM | Lei, Tingjie (b) | 2477 | ½ - ½ | ||
| 4/4 | WIM | Ghukasyan, Siranush (b) | 2221 | - | WGM | Ding, Yixin (w) | 2432 | 0 - 1 |
This time it was the 27-year-old WGM Ding Yixin who decided the match on board four against the 21-year-old WIM Siranush Ghukasyan, who miscalculated shortly after the time control. Before that, White had played an instructive endgame in which she just kept on improving her pieces, all the time.
Egypt is still on zero match points after a narrow 1.5-2.5 loss to Hungary, and USA lost to Kazakhstan with the same score.
| Bo. | Fed | 9 | Kazakhstan | Rtg | - | Fed | 5 | United States of America | Rtg | 2½:1½ |
| 3/1 | IM | Abdumalik, Zhansaya (w) | 2469 | - | WGM | Abrahamyan, Tatev (b) | 2377 | 1 - 0 | ||
| 3/2 | IM | Saduakassova, Dinara (b) | 2462 | - | WGM | Nemcova, Katerina (w) | 2315 | 0 - 1 | ||
| 3/3 | FM | Assaubayeva, Bibisara (w) | 2374 | - | FM | Yip, Carissa (b) | 2279 | 1 - 0 | ||
| 3/4 | WIM | Dauletova, Gulmira (b) | 2263 | - | WGM | Foisor, Sabina-Francesca (w) | 2276 | ½ - ½ |
FM Carissa Yip suffered her first loss, falling to FM Bibisara Assaubayeva. Tatev Abrahamyan threw in the towel against Zhansaya Abdumalik just before her kingside was about to get torn apart.
The match between two strong outsiders, Georgia and Ukraine, ended 2-2. Both teams scored one win.
| Bo. | Fed | 8 | Georgia | Rtg | - | Fed | 6 | Ukraine | Rtg | 2 : 2 |
| 2/1 | GM | Khotenashvili, Bela (w) | 2474 | - | GM | Muzychuk, Mariya (b) | 2560 | ½ - ½ | ||
| 2/2 | IM | Arabidize, Meri (b) | 2392 | - | GM | Muzychuk, Anna (w) | 2555 | 1 - 0 | ||
| 2/3 | IM | Javakhishvili, Lela (w) | 2455 | - | GM | Ushenina, Anna (b) | 2443 | ½ - ½ | ||
| 2/4 | GM | Batsiashvili, Nino (b) | 2454 | - | IM | Gaponenko, Inna (w) | 2427 | 0 - 1 |
GM Anna Muzychuk blundered a pawn in the opening against IM Meri Arabidze and never got it back.
Ukraine was still doing well in this match that was important to the fight for medals, but it wasn't a good day for the Annas. The former women's world champion Anna Ushenina Spoiled a winning endgame vs Lela Javakhishvili:
World Teams (Women) | Round 4 standings
| Rk. | Fed | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | Russia | 3½ | 3 | 3½ | 4 | 8 | 14,0 | 0 | |||||||
| 2 | China | 2½ | 2½ | 2½ | 3½ | 8 | 11,0 | 0 | |||||||
| 3 | Ukraine | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 11,0 | 0 | |||||||
| 4 | Georgia | 1½ | 2 | 2 | 3½ | 4 | 9,0 | 0 | |||||||
| 5 | India | ½ | 2 | 2 | 2½ | 4 | 7,0 | 0 | |||||||
| 6 | Kazakhstan | 1 | 1½ | 2 | 2½ | 3 | 7,0 | 2 | |||||||
| 7 | USA | 2 | ½ | 1½ | 3 | 3 | 7,0 | 0 | |||||||
| 8 | Armenia | ½ | 1½ | 1½ | 4 | 2 | 7,5 | 0 | |||||||
| 9 | Hungary | ½ | 1 | 1 | 2½ | 2 | 5,0 | 0 | |||||||
| 10 | Egypt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1½ | 0 | 1,5 | 0 |
Pairings for round five: India-Egypt, China-Russia, USA-Armenia, Ukraine-Kazakhstan, Hungary-Georgia.
Open section:
England is still without a loss, even after facing Russia today. The team won two matches, then drew with USA and today it went 2-2 again, drawing all four matches against its higher-rated opponent. In neither game was there was real fireworks.
| Bo. | Fed | 9 | Russia | Rtg | - | Fed | 5 | England | Rtg | 2 : 2 |
| 3/1 | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian (w) | 2771 | - | GM | Adams, Michael (b) | 2708 | ½ - ½ | ||
| 3/2 | GM | Grischuk, Alexander (b) | 2771 | - | GM | Mcshane, Luke J (w) | 2661 | ½ - ½ | ||
| 3/3 | GM | Andreikin, Dmitry (w) | 2725 | - | GM | Howell, David W L (b) | 2693 | ½ - ½ | ||
| 3/4 | GM | Artemiev, Vladislav (b) | 2736 | - | GM | Jones, Gawain C B (w) | 2681 | ½ - ½ |
Excellent 2-2 draw with Russia today for England at #worldchessteam in #Kazakhstan great to be here excellent playing conditions @ecfchess
— Malcolm Pein (@TelegraphChess) March 8, 2019
Gawain Jones and Vladislav Artemiev drew in just a few minutes, and in a very similar way as Alexander Grischuk had done two days before against Egypt's Ahmed Adly.
India's 2-2 was a good result as well, as it was against pre-tournament favorite, and the winner of the last two editions, China. The latter's chances for a gold medal are very slim now.
| Bo. | Fed | 1 | India | Rtg | - | Fed | 4 | China | Rtg | 2 : 2 |
| 4/1 | GM | Adhiban, B. (w) | 2683 | - | GM | Ding, Liren (b) | 2812 | ½ - ½ | ||
| 4/2 | GM | Ganguly, Surya Shekhar (b) | 2633 | - | GM | Yu, Yangyi (w) | 2761 | 1 - 0 | ||
| 4/3 | GM | Sethuraman, S.P. (w) | 2637 | - | GM | Wei, Yi (b) | 2733 | ½ - ½ | ||
| 4/4 | GM | Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr. (b) | 2599 | - | GM | Bu, Xiangzhi (w) | 2731 | 0 - 1 |
Baskaran Adhiban drew his game with Ding Liren on board one, and when you are playing a 2800 that tends to be good for your rating. In fact, today Adhiban became only the fifth Indian player in history to break 2700!
Congrats for crossing 2700! @adhibanchess . Well deserved 💪 pic.twitter.com/3OlouED1qW
— Vidit Gujrathi (@viditchess) March 8, 2019
The best game from this match, however, was Surya Ganguly's black win against Yu Yangyi. The latter suffered his second loss in a row.
In the open section, Egypt has also lost all its matches; today's defeat was vs Iran. The USA tied with Kazakhstan. In that match, Dariusz Swiercz and Rinat Jumabayet reached a remarkable occupation of the f-file by move 34!
After three losses, Sweden scored its first upset win against Azerbaijan.
| Bo. | Fed | 10 | Sweden | Rtg | - | Fed | 7 | Azerbaijan | Rtg | 3 : 1 |
| 1/1 | GM | Grandelius, Nils (w) | 2694 | - | GM | Naiditsch, Arkadij (b) | 2710 | 1 - 0 | ||
| 1/2 | GM | Tikkanen, Hans (b) | 2510 | - | GM | Mamedov, Rauf (w) | 2701 | 0 - 1 | ||
| 1/3 | GM | Blomqvist, Erik (w) | 2488 | - | GM | Guseinov, Gadir (b) | 2664 | 1 - 0 | ||
| 1/4 | IM | Johansson, Linus (b) | 2479 | - | GM | Safarli, Eltaj (w) | 2662 | 1 - 0 |
Although the wins on board three and four were even more impressive, here's the top board since it had a very nice moment at the end as pointed out online by GM Peter Heine Nielsen:
World Teams (Open) | Round 4 standings
| Rk. | Fed | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | Russia | 2 | 2½ | 2½ | 3 | 7 | 10,0 | 0 | |||||||
| 2 | India | 2 | 2 | 3½ | 3½ | 6 | 11,0 | 0 | |||||||
| 3 | USA | 2 | 2 | 2½ | 3 | 6 | 9,5 | 0 | |||||||
| 4 | England | 2 | 2 | 2½ | 2½ | 6 | 9,0 | 0 | |||||||
| 5 | Iran | 1½ | 2 | 3½ | 3 | 5 | 10,0 | 0 | |||||||
| 6 | Kazakhstan | 2 | 1½ | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8,5 | 0 | |||||||
| 7 | China | 1½ | 2 | 1½ | 3½ | 3 | 8,5 | 0 | |||||||
| 8 | Sweden | ½ | ½ | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5,0 | 0 | |||||||
| 9 | Azerbaijan | 1½ | 2 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5,0 | 0 | |||||||
| 10 | Egypt | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3,5 | 0 |
Pairings for round five: Egypt-Sweden, China-Iran, England-India, Kazakhstan-Russia, Azerbaijan-USA.
You can follow the games of the tournament live at Chess.com/events.
Previous reports:
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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