China Beats Russia At Women's World Team Chess Championship
Russia beat Kazakhstan 3-1 to maintain its lead at the World Team Championship despite a loss for Sergey Karjakin vs Rinat Jumabayev on board one. China grabbed sole lead in the women's section after beating Russia.
Open section
Kazakhstan's top player Jumabayev is having an excellent tournament so far. He is on plus two against five opponents who were all higher rated.
After beating Michael Adams and drawing with Nils Grandelius, Arkadij Naiditsch and Dariusz Swiercz, on Saturday he won his game against Sergey Karjakin. Russia avoided further damage as they won all other games.
| Bo. | Fed | 6 | Kazakhstan | Rtg | - | Fed | 9 | Russia | Rtg | 1 : 3 |
| 4/1 | GM | Jumabayev, Rinat (w) | 2609 | - | GM | Karjakin, Sergey (b) | 2753 | 1 - 0 | ||
| 4/2 | GM | Ismagambetov, Anuar (b) | 2545 | - | GM | Grischuk, Alexander (w) | 2771 | 0 - 1 | ||
| 4/3 | IM | Makhnev, Denis (w) | 2476 | - | GM | Andreikin, Dmitry (b) | 2725 | 0 - 1 | ||
| 4/4 | GM | Kostenko, Petr (b) | 2466 | - | GM | Artemiev, Vladislav (w) | 2736 | 0 - 1 |
It was Karjakin's first classical loss since his game with Fabiano Caruana on August 24, 2018 at the Sinquefield Cup. Normally known as the Minister of Defense, the Russian GM this time blundered in the endgame:
Jumabayev explained his game for the press.
Kazakhstan's top player Rinat Jumabayev received numerous phone calls to congratulate him for his victory against Sergey Karjakin. Next to him, Zhandos Abishev, the tournament director. #WTCC2019
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) March 9, 2019
📸: @davidllada #CHESS #шахматы pic.twitter.com/bUMPt0SuPF
England once again maintained its unbeaten status with their second 2-2 in a row, this time against India. The two teams are now trailing Russia by two match points.
| Bo. | Fed | 5 | England | Rtg | - | Fed | 1 | India | Rtg | 2 : 2 |
| 3/1 | GM | Adams, Michael (w) | 2708 | - | GM | Adhiban, B. (b) | 2683 | ½ - ½ | ||
| 3/2 | GM | Mcshane, Luke J (b) | 2661 | - | GM | Sasikiran, Krishnan (w) | 2678 | 1 - 0 | ||
| 3/3 | GM | Howell, David W L (w) | 2693 | - | GM | Ganguly, Surya Shekhar (b) | 2633 | ½ - ½ | ||
| 3/4 | GM | Jones, Gawain C B (b) | 2681 | - | GM | Sethuraman, S.P. (w) | 2637 | 0 - 1 |
Whereas Gawain Jones suffered his first loss to S.P. Sethuraman, Luke McShane outplayed Krishnan Saskiran and suddenly won a piece:
Team USA is in fourth place after losing its first match of the tournament in round five against a team that won its first match: Azerbaijan.
| Fed | 7 | Azerbaijan | Rtg | - | Fed | 8 | United States of America | Rtg | 3 : 1 |
| GM | Naiditsch, Arkadij (w) | 2710 | - | GM | Swiercz, Dariusz (b) | 2655 | 1 - 0 | ||
| GM | Mamedov, Rauf (b) | 2701 | - | GM | Sevian, Samuel (w) | 2642 | ½ - ½ | ||
| GM | Guseinov, Gadir (w) | 2664 | - | GM | Onischuk, Alexander (b) | 2647 | ½ - ½ | ||
| GM | Abasov, Nijat (b) | 2627 | - | GM | Lenderman, Aleksandr (w) | 2637 | 1 - 0 |
On board one, Arkadij Naiditsch defeated Dariusz Swiercz in a topical Anti-Berlin. The game was further proof of the theory that queen and knight make an excellent combination (which is basically because the knight move is the only missing dance step that the queen can make).
China beat Iran 2.5-1.5, but once again some of the rising stars showed that they are making steady progress. Whereas Parham Maghsoodloo held Ding Liren to a draw, Alireza Firouzja defeated Ni Hua in a Petroff.
| Bo. | Fed | 4 | China | Rtg | - | Fed | 2 | Iran | Rtg | 2½:1½ |
| 2/1 | GM | Ding, Liren (w) | 2812 | - | GM | Maghsoodloo, Parham (b) | 2673 | ½ - ½ | ||
| 2/2 | GM | Wei, Yi (b) | 2733 | - | GM | Idani, Pouya (w) | 2604 | 1 - 0 | ||
| 2/3 | GM | Bu, Xiangzhi (w) | 2731 | - | GM | Tabatabaei, M.Amin (b) | 2600 | 1 - 0 | ||
| 2/4 | GM | Ni, Hua (b) | 2683 | - | GM | Firouzja, Alireza (w) | 2657 | 0 - 1 |
Egypt also lost its fifth match. Its top player Bassem Amin had started badly with three losses and a draw, but he finally won a game that couldn't prevent team loss though:
| Bo. | Fed | 3 | Egypt | Rtg | - | Fed | 10 | Sweden | Rtg | 1½:2½ |
| 1/1 | GM | Amin, Bassem (w) | 2709 | - | GM | Grandelius, Nils (b) | 2694 | 1 - 0 | ||
| 1/2 | GM | Adly, Ahmed (b) | 2611 | - | GM | Blomqvist, Erik (w) | 2488 | ½ - ½ | ||
| 1/3 | IM | Fawzy, Adham (w) | 2461 | - | GM | Smith, Axel (b) | 2487 | 0 - 1 | ||
| 1/4 | GM | Hesham, Abdelrahman (b) | 2450 | - | IM | Johansson, Linus (w) | 2479 | 0 - 1 |
World Teams (Open) | Round 5 standings
| Rk. | Fed | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | Russia | 2 | 2½ | 2½ | 3 | 3 | 9 | 13,0 | 0 | ||||||
| 2 | India | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3½ | 3½ | 7 | 13,0 | 0 | ||||||
| 3 | England | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2½ | 2½ | 7 | 11,0 | 0 | ||||||
| 4 | United States of America | 2 | 2½ | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 10,5 | 0 | ||||||
| 5 | Iran | 1½ | 2 | 1½ | 3½ | 3 | 5 | 11,5 | 0 | ||||||
| 6 | China | 1½ | 2 | 1½ | 2½ | 3½ | 5 | 11,0 | 0 | ||||||
| 7 | Kazakhstan | 1 | 1½ | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9,5 | 0 | ||||||
| 8 | Sweden | ½ | ½ | 1 | 3 | 2½ | 4 | 7,5 | 0 | ||||||
| 9 | Azerbaijan | 1½ | 3 | ½ | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8,0 | 0 | ||||||
| 10 | Egypt | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1½ | 0 | 5,0 | 0 |
Pairings for round six (Monday): Russia – Azerbaijan, Iran – England, India – Kazakhstan, Egypt – China, Sweden – USA.
Women's section:
Also in the women's section the most important match-up of the tournament was the one between China and Russia. It was a tough battle, as expected, and without its top players Hou Yifan and Ju Wenjun China still managed to win it.
Tan Zhongyi and Lei Tingjie won their White games against Kateryna Lagno and Valentina Gunina respectively, and as Huang Qian held the draw against Alexandra Kosteniuk, the match was decided.
| Bo. | Fed | 4 | China | Rtg | - | Fed | 2 | Russia | Rtg | 2½:1½ |
| 2/1 | GM | Tan, Zhongyi (w) | 2513 | - | GM | Lagno, Kateryna (b) | 2559 | 1 - 0 | ||
| 2/2 | WGM | Huang, Qian (b) | 2441 | - | GM | Kosteniuk, Alexandra (w) | 2545 | ½ - ½ | ||
| 2/3 | GM | Lei, Tingjie (w) | 2477 | - | GM | Gunina, Valentina (b) | 2515 | 1 - 0 | ||
| 2/4 | WGM | Ding, Yixin (b) | 2432 | - | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra (w) | 2504 | 0 - 1 |
Tan played a theoretical pawn sacrifice in the opening that worked out perfectly. She got a strong attack on the queenside and didn't give her opponent a chance to get into the game.
Lei played a powerful game as well. Her 30th move was easy to miss (if Black takes, White takes on d8 with check) and after that it was almost impossible to defend Black's position.
Aleksandra Goryachkina's win vs Ding Yixing didn't matter anymore, but it should be noted that it was Goryachkina's fifth win in the tournament!
Russia is still in second place, two points behind China. Ukraine is now third with one match point less after they were held to 2-2 by the young local team. All games ended in draws there.
World Teams (Women) | Round 5 standings
| Rk. | Fed | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | China | 2½ | 2½ | 2½ | 2½ | 3½ | 10 | 13,5 | 0 | ||||||
| 2 | Russia | 1½ | 3½ | 3 | 3½ | 4 | 8 | 15,5 | 0 | ||||||
| 3 | Ukraine | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 13,0 | 0 | ||||||
| 4 | Georgia | 1½ | 2 | 2 | 3½ | 3 | 6 | 12,0 | 0 | ||||||
| 5 | India | ½ | 2 | 2 | 2½ | 4 | 6 | 11,0 | 0 | ||||||
| 6 | United States of America | 2 | ½ | 1½ | 3 | 3 | 5 | 10,0 | 0 | ||||||
| 7 | Kazakhstan | 1½ | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2½ | 4 | 9,0 | 0 | ||||||
| 8 | Armenia | 1½ | ½ | 1½ | 1 | 4 | 2 | 8,5 | 0 | ||||||
| 9 | Hungary | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2½ | 2 | 6,0 | 0 | ||||||
| 10 | Egypt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1½ | 0 | 1,5 | 0 |
Pairings for round six (Monday): India – China, Russia – USA, Armenia – Ukraine, Kazakhstan – Hungary, Egypt – Georgia.
As any true star, Alexandra Kosteniuk @chessqueen always spends time with fans and children#WTCC2019 #worldchessteam #chess #star #autograph pic.twitter.com/zUpihTF3zt
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) March 9, 2019
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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