Ukraine Slips Past Russia in World Team Championship

Oct. 26, 2001

Position No. 5661: Black to play and win. From the game Martin Gonzalez-Teran Alvarez, Spain 2001.

Solution to Position No. 5660: White wins the Queen with 1 Ng5, threatening 2 Rh7 mate. If 1 ... fxg5, then 2 Qc3+ mates.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

The team from Ukraine completed an astonishing comeback in the fifth World Team Championship, which ended Saturday in Yerevan, Armenia. In third place with two matches remaining, Ukraine scored 21/2-11/2 wins against the leaders, Armenia and Russia, to finish first at 211/2-101/2. Ukraine’s second board, 18-year-old GM Ruslan Ponomariov, provided the decisive point in both matches. His personal result of 51/2-11/2 was the best in the tournament.

Russia settled for second at 21-11, followed by Armenia at 20-12. Other scores: Germany, 181/2-131/2; Hungary, 161/2-151/2; Uzbekistan, 151/2-161/2; Cuba, 141/2-171/2; Macedonia, 91/2-221/2; and Iran, 7-25.

Teams of four players compete in the World Team Championship, the format popularized by the biennial Chess Olympiad. But the World Team Championship is limited to 10 elite teams and occurs only every fourth year. The Soviet Union and Russia have dominated, although the U.S. took the gold medals in 1993. This year, the U.S. team (which skipped the Continental Americas Championship and finished tied for 26th place in the 2000 Olympiad) failed to qualify.

The tournament started as a battle between Russia (favored despite the absence of its greatest stars) and the host country. Armenia took a substantial lead after a 3-1 thrashing of the Russians in the fourth round, but immediately suffered a 3-1 loss to Germany. Russia moved into first place by trouncing Germany, 31/2-1/2, and Cuba, 3-1, setting the stage for Ukraine’s dramatic rally.

Garry Kasparov, still the world’s top-ranked player, defeated a team of Czech grandmasters in a pair of four-board simultaneous exhibitions in Prague. Kasparov won the first exhibition, 21/2-11/2, on Oct. 18, despite losing to Tomas Oral. On Saturday, he improved to 3-1 and collected the $40,000 prize offered by Eurotel.

Kasparov performed at 2738 strength to achieve “+3” against opponents averaging 2588 in rating. Only five GMs, including Kasparov himself, maintain ratings above 2738 in individual games. Evidently Kasparov can reach this exalted level while being distracted by three other games.

Organizer Jerry Weikel was delighted with the turnout of 385 players, including 11 GMs, in the 19th annual Western States Open in Reno last weekend. He had scaled down his expectations after the Sept. 11 tragedy, considering 300 players a success. Top-rated GM Alexander Onischuk (Colorado), GM Alexander Ivanov (Massachusetts) and IM Enrico Sevillano (Illinois) shared first place with undefeated scores of 5-1, collecting $1,700 apiece. Next at 41/2-11/2 were IM Igor Ivanov (Arizona), GM Sergey Kudrin (Connecticut), Cyrus Lakdawala (San Diego), GM Igor Novikov (Ukraine), GM Gregory Serper (Ohio) and IM Rashid Ziatdinov (now living in Orange County).

Alan Bishop of Ventura won six straight games to take first prize in the Class A section. His final victim was Kmel Knight. As everyone knows, a Bishop usually outplays a Knight.

LOCAL NEWS

State champion Levon Altounian and IM Varuzhan Akobian tied for first place with scores of 51/2-1/2 in the San Gabriel Valley Open at the Pasadena Chess Club. Class prizes went to Robert Eilbacher, Artho-Ter Matevosyan and Dave Matson, tied for best under 2000; Alan LaCombe, best under 1800; Thomas L. Schneider, best under 1600; Cary Johnson, best under 1400; and Emmanouil-Panagiotis Fitrakis and Theofilos Strinopoulous, tied for best unrated. The tournament attracted 33 entrants.

The Pasadena Chess Club will host a quick chess tournament tonight and will begin the five-round Western Time Equipment Open on Nov. 2. The club meets at 7 p.m. Fridays in the Pasadena Senior Center, 85 E. Holly St. in Pasadena. For more information, call Neil Hultgren at (818) 243-3809.

The monthly Wilshire Chess Society tournament takes place Sunday in Community Room C of the Westside Pavilion, 10850 W. Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles. Each entrant plays three 45-minute games against similarly rated opponents. Register at the site at 10:30 a.m., or call Michael Jeffreys at (310) 473-6291.

The 12th annual SPA Fall Classic, held last Saturday at St. Paul the Apostle School, attracted 69 young competitors. Sean Yee swept the Championship (grades K-12) section with a perfect 4-0 score. Yanik Elkin led the Junior Varsity (grades K-6) section with 41/2-1/2, and Christopher Wang won the Novice (grades K-3) section with a perfect 5-0. The next SPA scholastic tournament is scheduled Dec. 22.

Former state champion Charles Van Buskirk and master Larry Smith will conduct simultaneous exhibitions from 1 to 5 p.m. this Sunday at The Gamekeeper in The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks. For details, call David Howard at (805) 499-5716.

For the 17th year, the La Habra Chess Club will host the Not for Turkeys tournament. The six-round event begins at 7 p.m. tonight in the Community Center, 101 W. La Habra Blvd. in La Habra.

The John Rowell Invitational begins Saturday in Century City. The 10-player round robin is the first local tournament since the 1980s to offer norms toward the title of International Master. Three IMs (Varuzhan Akobian, Melikset Khachian and Rashid Ziatdinov) will participate, along with Altounian, former state champions Cyrus Lakdawala and Armen Ambartsoumian, and four other norm-seekers.

TODAY’S GAMES

GM A. Ivanov -IM Ziatdinov, Western States Open, Reno 2001: 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 d6 The reliable Modern Steinitz Defense to the Ruy Lopez. 5 0-0 Bd7 6 d4 b5 7 Bb3 Nxd4 8 Nxd4 exd4 9 c3 Avoiding the ancient trap 9 Qxd4?? c5 10 Qd5 c4, which costs a Bishop. dxc3?! Risky. Theory claims that 9 ... d3 equalizes. 10 Qh5 Qf6 Also 10 ... g6 11 Qd5 Be6 12 Qc6+ Bd7 13 Qxc3 gives White more than enough compensation for the pawn. 11 Nxc3 g6 12 Qe2 Bg7 13 Nd5 Qd8 14 Qf3! Already White’s initiative appears unstoppable. He threatens 15 Nxc7+ Qxc7 16 Qxf7+. Be6 15 Bg5! Qb8 As good as any. If Black accepts by 15 ... Qxg5 16 Nxc7+ Kd7 17 Nxa8 Qd8, then 18 e5! rescues the Knight. Nor does returning the pawn by 15 ... f6 16 Nxf6+ Bxf6 17 Bxe6 provide any relief. 16 e5! Now Black has insoluble problems at c7, f6, and f7. Ra7 White refutes 16 ... c6 17 Nf6+ Bxf6 convincingly with 18 Bxe6 fxe6 19 Bxf6 Nxf6 20 Qxf6 Rf8 21 Qxe6+ Kd8 22 Rad1. 17 exd6 cxd6 18 Rae1 Be5 19 Rxe5! dxe5 20 Nf6+ Crushing. The natural 20 ... Nxf6 21 Qxf6 Rg8 (or 21 ... 0-0 22 Bh6) 22 Bxe6 fxe6 23 Qxe6+ Kf8 24 Bh6+ Rgg7 fails because 25 f4! e4 26 f5 activates White’s Rook. Kf8 21 Bxe6 Kg7 22 Nxg8 fxe6 23 Qf6+ Kxg8 24 Rd1, Black Resigns.

GM Yermolinsky -Tate, Western States Open, Reno 2001: 1 d4 c5 2 d5 e6 An unusual form of the Benoni Defense. 3 Nc3 exd5 4 Nxd5 Ne7 Fearing 4