07-08-2014, 11:04 PM
Round 5 – attack, attack!
Br. 33 Turkey (TUR) Elo - 52 Scotland (SCO) Elo 2 : 2
22.1 WGM Yildiz, Betul Cemre 2296 - GM Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan 2394 0 - 1
22.2 WGM Ozturk, Kubra 2291 - WFM Bamber, Elaine 2077 0 - 1
22.3 WIM Isgandarova, Khayala 2190 - Roy, Ali 1913 1 - 0
22.4 WIM Topel, Zehra 2156 - WFM Groves, Carey 2027 1 - 0
The Olympiad is a colourful event in so many ways. Despite a small number of no-shows there are still 172 open and 134 women’s teams from all over the world. FIDE requires participants to be suitably dressed which is interpreted widely and many countries have opted for a uniform approach. Tracksuits are popular amongst both established and developing countries: Bhutan’s open team have an eye catching yellow and orange number. Somewhat more refined examples can be found: Kuwaiti women accessorise with checked scarfs whilst Magnus looks rather corporate in a restrained suit with the sponsor’s name on the lapel of his crisp white shirt. Scotland, without a sponsor, wears whatever feels comfortable. Former Scottish team member Jacob Aagaard takes this a step further and is spotted playing in a top with Scotland emblazoned across the back provoking discussion back in Denmark. Today’s opponents from Turkey are clearly well funded with famous trainer GM Adrian Mikhalchishin as their coach. Each player wears a top with details of event, date and their name stitched in.
The popularity of chess in Turkey is rising and the standard at junior and senior level is rising. Turkey is our highest seeded opponents so far. I tell the players one massive effort and they can have the next day off. It is my generous side coming though...The match starts well as a number of promising opening positions appear. Elaine’s opponent has persisted in playing a passive line with ...c6 against the Bishop’s Opening, certainly not something to avoid. Over its brief life the game bore some resemblance to a Philidor and then a Ruy Lopez. Elaine initiated a flank attack with Qf3 which should have been met by central action with ...d5. Black chose continued passivity and was blown away on the kingside. [As an aside, there must have been something in the air today. A number of the Scots decided to really go for it. Terrific attacking play from Andrew Greet in the open event as he blasted apart Dizdarevic’s defences in just 25 moves against Bosnia]. Ali showed good understanding of which pieces to exchange to equalise easily in an Accelerated Dragon. Probably she should have expanded quickly on the queenside but she was still fighting until a miscalculation meant she left White’s e6 pawn alive and this decided the game.
Keti had previously beaten Turkey’s board 2 in a Vaganian Gambit so it was surprising when board 1 Yildiz allowed it and started to consume time in the opening. Although Black had free development and more space for a pawn the position required heavy calculation on each move to maintain the initiative. As so often happens when there is so much tension in the position, one slip proves fatal. For the second time today we crashed through to Black’s king. Carey looked to be doing fine against her opponent’s Leningrad Dutch set-up. Opposite side castling made it into a race which swung Black’s way when Carey missed ...c5 forcing the jettisoning of her black squared bishop. Identifying her king as the worst placed pieced she quickly ran back to the kingside with it. Despite her pawn deficit she had reasonable central control and even had chances of taking over the initiative. In a mutually difficult position Black set up some tricks which Carey fell for. Still 2-2 is a tremendous result against a much higher rated team. Going into the free day there are so many positives to take from the team’s play so far.
Bermuda Party and Seminar result
The Bermuda Party is where the chess world meets to dance, drink and chat. It’s a time to make new relationships and catch up with old friends. No doubt any scandals will reveal themselves soon enough. Upstairs in “Driv” the dance floor was heaving to the sounds of pounding beats. Topalov appeared to have already forgotten his loss to Kramnik (no handshake today but then you knew that already). Magnus may be World Champion but he also has to party. Downstairs in the cafe was more sedate, a hubbub of exchanged tales, much more suited to the likes of Keti and myself. It was still light when we left in the wee small hours to make the one minute stroll home.
I checked my e-mails on return as Grivas indicated he would send the results from the first Training Seminar which had finished earlier in the day. Three of us, two strong Icelandic players and myself, were awarded the FIDE Trainer Title whilst others would get the FI, NI or DI titles. Designed for a spread of abilities the seminars contained thought provoking material even for GM Jon Arnason the strongest of the attendees. Definitely worth doing especially as FIDE becomes stricter about only licensed trainers being allowed free accommodation and access to the playing hall at its events. Although the new regulations were announced over 3 years ago many of the nations’ trainers seem oblivious of the impact of the 1 July regulations. One for the IJD to be thinking about in advance of the World Youth et al.
Br. 33 Turkey (TUR) Elo - 52 Scotland (SCO) Elo 2 : 2
22.1 WGM Yildiz, Betul Cemre 2296 - GM Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan 2394 0 - 1
22.2 WGM Ozturk, Kubra 2291 - WFM Bamber, Elaine 2077 0 - 1
22.3 WIM Isgandarova, Khayala 2190 - Roy, Ali 1913 1 - 0
22.4 WIM Topel, Zehra 2156 - WFM Groves, Carey 2027 1 - 0
The Olympiad is a colourful event in so many ways. Despite a small number of no-shows there are still 172 open and 134 women’s teams from all over the world. FIDE requires participants to be suitably dressed which is interpreted widely and many countries have opted for a uniform approach. Tracksuits are popular amongst both established and developing countries: Bhutan’s open team have an eye catching yellow and orange number. Somewhat more refined examples can be found: Kuwaiti women accessorise with checked scarfs whilst Magnus looks rather corporate in a restrained suit with the sponsor’s name on the lapel of his crisp white shirt. Scotland, without a sponsor, wears whatever feels comfortable. Former Scottish team member Jacob Aagaard takes this a step further and is spotted playing in a top with Scotland emblazoned across the back provoking discussion back in Denmark. Today’s opponents from Turkey are clearly well funded with famous trainer GM Adrian Mikhalchishin as their coach. Each player wears a top with details of event, date and their name stitched in.
The popularity of chess in Turkey is rising and the standard at junior and senior level is rising. Turkey is our highest seeded opponents so far. I tell the players one massive effort and they can have the next day off. It is my generous side coming though...The match starts well as a number of promising opening positions appear. Elaine’s opponent has persisted in playing a passive line with ...c6 against the Bishop’s Opening, certainly not something to avoid. Over its brief life the game bore some resemblance to a Philidor and then a Ruy Lopez. Elaine initiated a flank attack with Qf3 which should have been met by central action with ...d5. Black chose continued passivity and was blown away on the kingside. [As an aside, there must have been something in the air today. A number of the Scots decided to really go for it. Terrific attacking play from Andrew Greet in the open event as he blasted apart Dizdarevic’s defences in just 25 moves against Bosnia]. Ali showed good understanding of which pieces to exchange to equalise easily in an Accelerated Dragon. Probably she should have expanded quickly on the queenside but she was still fighting until a miscalculation meant she left White’s e6 pawn alive and this decided the game.
Keti had previously beaten Turkey’s board 2 in a Vaganian Gambit so it was surprising when board 1 Yildiz allowed it and started to consume time in the opening. Although Black had free development and more space for a pawn the position required heavy calculation on each move to maintain the initiative. As so often happens when there is so much tension in the position, one slip proves fatal. For the second time today we crashed through to Black’s king. Carey looked to be doing fine against her opponent’s Leningrad Dutch set-up. Opposite side castling made it into a race which swung Black’s way when Carey missed ...c5 forcing the jettisoning of her black squared bishop. Identifying her king as the worst placed pieced she quickly ran back to the kingside with it. Despite her pawn deficit she had reasonable central control and even had chances of taking over the initiative. In a mutually difficult position Black set up some tricks which Carey fell for. Still 2-2 is a tremendous result against a much higher rated team. Going into the free day there are so many positives to take from the team’s play so far.
Bermuda Party and Seminar result
The Bermuda Party is where the chess world meets to dance, drink and chat. It’s a time to make new relationships and catch up with old friends. No doubt any scandals will reveal themselves soon enough. Upstairs in “Driv” the dance floor was heaving to the sounds of pounding beats. Topalov appeared to have already forgotten his loss to Kramnik (no handshake today but then you knew that already). Magnus may be World Champion but he also has to party. Downstairs in the cafe was more sedate, a hubbub of exchanged tales, much more suited to the likes of Keti and myself. It was still light when we left in the wee small hours to make the one minute stroll home.
I checked my e-mails on return as Grivas indicated he would send the results from the first Training Seminar which had finished earlier in the day. Three of us, two strong Icelandic players and myself, were awarded the FIDE Trainer Title whilst others would get the FI, NI or DI titles. Designed for a spread of abilities the seminars contained thought provoking material even for GM Jon Arnason the strongest of the attendees. Definitely worth doing especially as FIDE becomes stricter about only licensed trainers being allowed free accommodation and access to the playing hall at its events. Although the new regulations were announced over 3 years ago many of the nations’ trainers seem oblivious of the impact of the 1 July regulations. One for the IJD to be thinking about in advance of the World Youth et al.