Wednesday, November 03, 2004
A look @ Chess Olympiad 2004
Whew, what a month October has been! With the heavy weights Kramnik & Leko fighting it out for the Dannemann World Championship title, I have to admit, I didn't pay that much attention to the first 3 - 5 rounds of this year's olympiad. Of course, there were so many elite players playing including my favorite Chucky. But, more than Kramnik, I needed a break after those nerve-wrecking final 2 games of the WCh :)
When I finally caught up with it, 5 rounds had finished. Russians have won the gold since time immemorial, so, naturally they were the favorites for the Gold again. There were other strong teams to look for too, like Ukraine, Israel, USA (with Russian GMs in all boards), India, Armenia et al. India, with Vishy (Vishawanathan Anand) in board 1, was the strongest of all the Indian olympiad teams ever. India had 14 points and was placed 6th, after 5 rounds. Not bad! That too, when you have someone like Anand in the team, we already have got a psychological edge over all our opponents. But India started with an unimpressive score of 2.5 - 1.5 over Uruguay. Anand rested that day (why do you need rest in the first round?!). At the end of 5th round, Ukraine was at the top with 14.5 points and they had already played Russia! So, unless they blundered against some low-rated team, they had a chance to be in the top-3.
In the sixth round, Russia kicked Israel's butt, a 3.5 - 0.5 result. This is not surprising considering that even with out Kasparov/Kramnik & Svidler, the Russian team was one of the highest avg-ELO teams. Their average ELO was 2724 !!! Morozevich was in board 1. He crushed Korchnoi in round 2 in just 13 moves. Ok, "crushed" is too cruel a word! Korchnoi, a 73 yrs old veteran, blundered and Moro exploited it. Svidler was supposed to fly in and join the team from Brissago, where he was acting as the second for Kramnik. So, naturally, Russia looked all set to take Gold this year also! Ukraine continued to be in the lead with 19 points with Ivanchuk performing at 3000+ rating. Cuba was playing excellantly too.
Round 7 was crucial, as India played the leader - Ukraine!! That meant Anand would be playing Ukraine board 1, Ivanchuk. If a list of best players is produced based on the Chess understanding of the players, there is no doubt that Ivanchuk will be at the top in that list. Kasparov admitted once in the 90's that the only player he'd feel uncomfortable playing against would be Ivanchuk. He practically can play any opening. You just have to see him playing a game; He hardly ever sees the board. He stares directly at the audience or stares at the ceiling, anywhere else except the board. I always have wondered how he resembled a modern Intel processor, with 4 or more execution pipelines running simultaneously analyzing the variations! I tell you, these elite GMs are really aliens :) Biggest surprise of Round 7 was Bulgaria beating Russia. As expected (!?), India lost to Ukraine 1.5 - 2.5. Ivanchuk - Anand was a draw. Karjakin provided the only point beating Kunte in board 4. Armenia defeated Israel 3 - 1. England lost to Netherlands 1.5 - 2.5. Ukraine maintained its lead with 21.5 points, 2 points ahead of Russia & Bulgaria.
Round 8 saw India defeating Spain - A by 2.5 - 1.5. No major changes in the toppers list. Ukraine was still leading after beating Bulgaria 3.5 - 0.5. In round 9, India played Russia. Anand beat Moro in a complex Sicilian line, which I haven't yet understood fully. Probably, never will ! Harikrishna missed a tactics against Dreev as early as move 27 in his game and went on to lose the game. India lost to Russia 1.5 - 2.5. Spain-A, in which Shirov was playing, was soundly beaten 3.5 - 0.5 by USA (actually, Russia - B. All the players are either from former USSR or Russia) . Ukraine slowed down a bit and tied 2-2 with Armenia. Former FIDE champion Ponomariov lost again :) This fellow sometimes makes you wonder how he beat Ivanchuk in the FIDE WCh finals ! Round 10 saw India losing to Cuba by 1.5 - 2.5. Anand didn't play that day, which was a surprise considering that Cuba was performing very well so far. Ukraine was still leading Russia by 2 points. But, with 4 rounds to go, Russia once again became the favorites for Gold. Svidler beat Lautier in a nice game. Round 11 saw Ukraine playing Cuba. Ponomariaov lost again, this time to Lazaro! India defeated Canada 3.5 - 0.5. IM Bluvshtein of Canada is one of the talented upcoming players to watch out for. Russia defeated USA 2.5 - 1.5. Ukarain was still in the lead with 29 points.
In Round 12, Georgia defeated Russia 2.5 - 1.5. This was more shocking, more so for the Russians, who probably were already dreaming of celebrating the Gold with vodka in the comfort of their motherland ! Ukraine once more ukrained a team, Poland, to push their point count to 34.5. Literally unreachable by Russia & Armenia, who both were at 31. India had one more less-than-impressive performance, losing by 1.5 - 2.5 to Israel. Unfortunately for India, Cuba beat Slovenia by 4 - 0, pushing Cuba up in the standings chart. Still 2 more rounds to go. Ukraine looked all set to take Gold. So, the dog race was in full swing for the silver and bronze medals. Armenia threatened to overtake Russia for Silver. If it happened, it'd be a big blow for Russia. So, the final 2 rounds became very important. In Round 13, Ukraine went for a draw with Georgia. Russia beat Cuba by a negligible margin of 2.5 - 1.5. Svidler won a nice game against Lazaro Bruzon, though. India beat Poland by the same margin (2.5 - 1.5). Sasi played a brilliant Queen-sac game winning against Krasenkow and Anand won with Black. FIDE champion Kasimdzhanov displayed fine technique by beating Shirov, who is a great endgame player. Eventually, Spain lost to Uzbekistan. So, after round 13, Ukraine was at the top (36.5), Russians in the second position (33.5) and Armenia in the third (33). Israel with its 32.5 was fighting for the bronze too.
In Round 14, Ivanchuk came back to board 1 after a rest day. Ukraine didn't allow for any last-minute surprises and made sure they get the Gold by beating France 3-1. Russians, who hadn't lost an Olympiad since 1978, had to settle for Silver. Armenia tied with Russia in terms of points. Both of them were 36.5, but based on the tiebreak scores, Armenia got only bronze. India got a victory against Bulgaria with 2.5 - 1.5 and took 6th. The final standings are
When I finally caught up with it, 5 rounds had finished. Russians have won the gold since time immemorial, so, naturally they were the favorites for the Gold again. There were other strong teams to look for too, like Ukraine, Israel, USA (with Russian GMs in all boards), India, Armenia et al. India, with Vishy (Vishawanathan Anand) in board 1, was the strongest of all the Indian olympiad teams ever. India had 14 points and was placed 6th, after 5 rounds. Not bad! That too, when you have someone like Anand in the team, we already have got a psychological edge over all our opponents. But India started with an unimpressive score of 2.5 - 1.5 over Uruguay. Anand rested that day (why do you need rest in the first round?!). At the end of 5th round, Ukraine was at the top with 14.5 points and they had already played Russia! So, unless they blundered against some low-rated team, they had a chance to be in the top-3.
In the sixth round, Russia kicked Israel's butt, a 3.5 - 0.5 result. This is not surprising considering that even with out Kasparov/Kramnik & Svidler, the Russian team was one of the highest avg-ELO teams. Their average ELO was 2724 !!! Morozevich was in board 1. He crushed Korchnoi in round 2 in just 13 moves. Ok, "crushed" is too cruel a word! Korchnoi, a 73 yrs old veteran, blundered and Moro exploited it. Svidler was supposed to fly in and join the team from Brissago, where he was acting as the second for Kramnik. So, naturally, Russia looked all set to take Gold this year also! Ukraine continued to be in the lead with 19 points with Ivanchuk performing at 3000+ rating. Cuba was playing excellantly too.
Round 7 was crucial, as India played the leader - Ukraine!! That meant Anand would be playing Ukraine board 1, Ivanchuk. If a list of best players is produced based on the Chess understanding of the players, there is no doubt that Ivanchuk will be at the top in that list. Kasparov admitted once in the 90's that the only player he'd feel uncomfortable playing against would be Ivanchuk. He practically can play any opening. You just have to see him playing a game; He hardly ever sees the board. He stares directly at the audience or stares at the ceiling, anywhere else except the board. I always have wondered how he resembled a modern Intel processor, with 4 or more execution pipelines running simultaneously analyzing the variations! I tell you, these elite GMs are really aliens :) Biggest surprise of Round 7 was Bulgaria beating Russia. As expected (!?), India lost to Ukraine 1.5 - 2.5. Ivanchuk - Anand was a draw. Karjakin provided the only point beating Kunte in board 4. Armenia defeated Israel 3 - 1. England lost to Netherlands 1.5 - 2.5. Ukraine maintained its lead with 21.5 points, 2 points ahead of Russia & Bulgaria.
Round 8 saw India defeating Spain - A by 2.5 - 1.5. No major changes in the toppers list. Ukraine was still leading after beating Bulgaria 3.5 - 0.5. In round 9, India played Russia. Anand beat Moro in a complex Sicilian line, which I haven't yet understood fully. Probably, never will ! Harikrishna missed a tactics against Dreev as early as move 27 in his game and went on to lose the game. India lost to Russia 1.5 - 2.5. Spain-A, in which Shirov was playing, was soundly beaten 3.5 - 0.5 by USA (actually, Russia - B. All the players are either from former USSR or Russia) . Ukraine slowed down a bit and tied 2-2 with Armenia. Former FIDE champion Ponomariov lost again :) This fellow sometimes makes you wonder how he beat Ivanchuk in the FIDE WCh finals ! Round 10 saw India losing to Cuba by 1.5 - 2.5. Anand didn't play that day, which was a surprise considering that Cuba was performing very well so far. Ukraine was still leading Russia by 2 points. But, with 4 rounds to go, Russia once again became the favorites for Gold. Svidler beat Lautier in a nice game. Round 11 saw Ukraine playing Cuba. Ponomariaov lost again, this time to Lazaro! India defeated Canada 3.5 - 0.5. IM Bluvshtein of Canada is one of the talented upcoming players to watch out for. Russia defeated USA 2.5 - 1.5. Ukarain was still in the lead with 29 points.
In Round 12, Georgia defeated Russia 2.5 - 1.5. This was more shocking, more so for the Russians, who probably were already dreaming of celebrating the Gold with vodka in the comfort of their motherland ! Ukraine once more ukrained a team, Poland, to push their point count to 34.5. Literally unreachable by Russia & Armenia, who both were at 31. India had one more less-than-impressive performance, losing by 1.5 - 2.5 to Israel. Unfortunately for India, Cuba beat Slovenia by 4 - 0, pushing Cuba up in the standings chart. Still 2 more rounds to go. Ukraine looked all set to take Gold. So, the dog race was in full swing for the silver and bronze medals. Armenia threatened to overtake Russia for Silver. If it happened, it'd be a big blow for Russia. So, the final 2 rounds became very important. In Round 13, Ukraine went for a draw with Georgia. Russia beat Cuba by a negligible margin of 2.5 - 1.5. Svidler won a nice game against Lazaro Bruzon, though. India beat Poland by the same margin (2.5 - 1.5). Sasi played a brilliant Queen-sac game winning against Krasenkow and Anand won with Black. FIDE champion Kasimdzhanov displayed fine technique by beating Shirov, who is a great endgame player. Eventually, Spain lost to Uzbekistan. So, after round 13, Ukraine was at the top (36.5), Russians in the second position (33.5) and Armenia in the third (33). Israel with its 32.5 was fighting for the bronze too.
In Round 14, Ivanchuk came back to board 1 after a rest day. Ukraine didn't allow for any last-minute surprises and made sure they get the Gold by beating France 3-1. Russians, who hadn't lost an Olympiad since 1978, had to settle for Silver. Armenia tied with Russia in terms of points. Both of them were 36.5, but based on the tiebreak scores, Armenia got only bronze. India got a victory against Bulgaria with 2.5 - 1.5 and took 6th. The final standings are
- Ukraine 39.5
- Russia 36.5
- Armenia 36.5
- USA 35.0
- Israel 34.5
- India 34.0
- Cuba 33.5
- Netherlands 33.0
- Bulgaria 32.5
- Spain A 32.5
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