Chess Improvement

Guest Article Supplied by MyChessBlog.com

One of the many types of openings, which has gained much popularity and as such played in tournaments by grandmasters, is the French Defense.

The opening has its own relative merits and demerits and the amount of variation and challenges it poses to the players is fascinating.  The challenge in French variation, especially for the black pieces, is the light-squared bishop or the bishop on the queenside.

The initial moves of black in French variation, viz., e6 and d5, literally block the development of the light-squared bishop, and, if not taken care of in the initial stages by way of a sacrifice as part of development, then black is literally handicapped and, if effectively exploited by White, might lead to a loss.

This is one of the reasons for the light squared bishop to be called as bad French Bishop.  This does not deter many exponents of the French Defense variation to play this opening and, as such, the opening has its pride of place in the list of various openings.

Application of effective tactics might help turn the bad French bishop or the light-squared black bishop into a very effective piece and aid in the prospective development and attack of the opponent’s King, especially in the middle game stage.

One of the games played in Bundesliga tournament between two grandmasters is an excellent example for the effective use of bad French bishop, which, at the conclusion of the game, can be rightly referred to as the most healthy and effective piece in the game.  Only thing that needs to be done is to switch the queenside bishop or the light-squared black bishop to the kingside.

Let us analyze this fascinating game, and, at the end, we can conclude with confidence that bad French bishop need not always be bad and can gain its rightful place in black’s armory.

The position of the board after the 15^th move by White is given below:

(Black to move)

Black’s light-squared bishop is presently at d7. The pawn at e6 and the Knight at c5 are effectively blocking the movement of the light-squared bishop, and as such, the bishop is passively supporting the c5 and e6 squares. Another cursory look indicates that the diagonal e8-h5 is open and can be exploited and black exactly did that one.

15. …… Be8

16. Bb5 Bh5   Bad French bishop has been moved to kingside

17. Bxc6 bxc6
18. Qd3 Nd7
19. Ng5 ……   White succeeded in breaking away the pin on f3 and now threatens h7 square

19. ….. Bg6   The light-squared bishop, which is now free from the shackles, is used effectively to thwart the threat

20. Qe3 e5
21. dxe5 Qxe5
22. Qd2 d4
23. Ne2 h6
24. f4 Qd5
25. Nf3 c5
26. Qa5 Be4

The position after 26 moves is given below:

(White to move)

A cursory look at the position reveals that the light-squared bishop of black is no more a bad French bishop and is playing an active part in the game, occupying the e4 square in the a8-h1 diagonal.

The game proceeded further as follows with decisive victory for the black.

27. Nd2 Bd3
28. Rf2 Rae8
29. Re1 Rf7
30. Nf1 Rfe7
31. Qd2 c4
32. 0-1

The black emerged winner convincingly, thanks to the support of the light-squared bishop. This is a good example for transforming the bad French bishop to an active piece in the kingside.

One more important fact that emerges out of this example and in general for players opting to play the French variation is that the light squared bishop should get top priority and should not be allowed to remain inactive.

Guest Article Supplied by MyChessBlog.com

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Brian Wall once wrote:

In the Ultimate Fighting Championship, there are two groups of fighters – The Boxers and the Grapplers. Who do you think is more powerful? In the ones I saw Royce Gracie and his Brazilian wrestling team beat the boxers. Royce would absorb a few punches and then wrap his python body around the Karate guys and squeeze them to death.

The Chess analogy here is the Olympic Armenian team, 2006 Gold medal winners. The Armenian way (Petrosian, Aronian, Gelfand, Akopian, Akobian, Sargissian) is not to smash you with tactical blows or well prepared opening innovations, their method is slow strangulation, to always place their pieces better than you do, torment you in the endgame, win by attrition.

They rarely lose – how can they lose when they play such sound Chess? – they don’t trust tactical messes – they will do their best to avoid them or make sure they see the tactics all the way through.

They believe in Chess logic, they abhor chance in Chess. The Armenians make their own luck. They come to the table emotionally prepared for zero opening advantages, for long grueling games. It’s siege warfare – they surround your fortress and wait for your cut off supply lines to make you desperate. In Chess, they occupy all the right squares until you can’t fight anymore. It has nothing to do with the right opening – it’s a philosophy of Chess very difficult to combat.

Who else plays like an Armenian? Karpov. The Indian team, especially Harikrishna and Sasikiran. Maybe Kramnik but he has many theoretical novelties.

I covered the Chess Olympiad for Internet Chess Club Chess.FM broadcasts for 2 weeks with IMs Bill Pashcall and Cyrus Lakdawala. My interest was mostly on the Russians with Kramnik, Svidler, Grischuk and Morozevich playing.

I saw Kramnik was playing awesome Chess right away and did quick emails on his first two wins. He ended up with the highest performance rating in the whole Olympiad, 2850 roughly. India with Anand was fascinating. Right off the bat, on Armenia’s Board 4, Sargissian’s first round win was deeply impressive.

Kramnik even explained after the Olympiad that such events are won on Board 4 – Armenia had Sargissian while Russia’s Board 4 was a disaster area, costing them all medals despite Kramnik’s sterling performance. I will give some of my favorite Armenian Olympic games below so you can see how they play.

Mostly 99% positional and 1% tactics. For some reason the whole time I was playing Daoud I was telling myself – Play like an Armenian. No tactics. Just place your pieces perfectly and squeeze, squeeze, slowly squeeze Zupa to death.

There was an old saying that Korchnoi was Tal turned inside out. An Armenian is a Latvian turned inside out. Korchnoi is not an Armenian
but he plays like one. When Korchnoi had to play Petrosian he said his strengths are my strengths, his weaknesses are my weaknesses.
————————————————————————
————————————————————————
[Event "Southern Colorado Open"]
[Site "Masonic Lodge, Manitou Springs, CO"]
[Date "2006.06.11"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Daud Zupa"]
[Black "brianwall"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White checkmated"]
[WhiteElo "1938"]
[BlackElo "2212"]
[Opening "King's Indian Defense, Fianchetto Variation
[ECO "A40"]
[NIC "KI.75"]
[Time "14:05:34"]
[TimeControl "Game/90 plus 5 second delay"]
2006 Southern Colorado Open
Masonic Lodge, Manitou Springs, Colorado
Round 5
Opening – King’s Indian Defense, Fianchetto Variation
Game/90 minutes plus 5 second delay
June 11, 2006
White – Daoud Zupa 1938
Black – Brian Wall 2212

1. d4 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2! Nf6
The mother-in-law variation – 3 … Nh6-f5 does not seem as tempting here without c4 in plus 4 e4 coming to prevent … Nf5.

4. c4 O-O 5. Nf3 d6 6. O-O c6 7. Nc3 Nbd7
Grandmaster Roman Dzindizchashvili’s influence again – I saw him play many blitz games with the Kavalek system – … Qa5-h5 or with a system he invented – Nd7-b6 followed by … d5.

8. e4! a6
This … a6 idea I borrowed from a game I lost to Perry Youngworth in California 30 years ago in an American Open. I was used to attacking the dark squares with … c5 or … e5 but Perry attacked my light squares with a6 …, … c6 and … b5 like the Robert Byrne system against the Saemish. I quickly became confused and remember wondering – how did he get a knight on d3? Perry completely outplayed me tactically and positionally and had great knights on c5 and e5 aimed at d3.

It was a very painful loss for me on the White side of the King’s Indian – I felt like I didn’t understand why I lost. I tried to transfer that decades old pain to Zupa.

9. Re1!
I was trying to get in … b5 but 9 Re1! or 9 Qe2! lends added force to 10 e5 so I have to prevent that first.

9 … e5! 10. h3 Qc7
I was Black against Mulyar in an Old Indian about 5 years ago – I could have sacced 3 pieces for a brilliant draw as given in my www.Walverine.com email “Mulyar” – I remember Fritz kept saying … ed! was best. It’s happening again – Fritz believes only in 10 … ed!

11. b3 exd4 TN Wall
This is typical of all my relationships – Fritz recommends the move I wanted to play, … 11 … b5!! but I play the move I THINK Fritz would recommend, … ed!! I can’t get it right.

12. Nxd4 Nc5
Played to blunt Ba3 -

13. Bf4! Rd8 14. Nde2

Zupa – “I must have had a dream position out of the opening, one the Grandmasters win and make it look easy. In reality, It’s a difficult position to play.”

I felt the same way against Dmitry Agrachov – you have a great position and then, wham, it falls apart. I had the same experience losing to IM John Donaldson’s hedgehog 15 years ago.

I watched a Kasparov video on the Najdorf and he commented on forcing a knight away from d4 – Black does this sometimes with the Benko idea … Qb6-c7 or the Kan-Paulsen idea … Bc5-e7. The removal of the d4-knight takes all the tactical sacrifices out of the position so Black can develop in peace.

14 … b5!!
Back to the Perry Youngworth plan of c4-pressure.

15. cxb5
Humans are incapable of admitting mistakes over the Chessboard which blocks good moves sometimes like 15 Nd4!!

15 … axb5! 16. b4!!
Played by Zupa and recommended by Fritz but I was starting to get that ideal King’s Indian feeling. I use my victories as training tools for students so that more than just my opponents can learn the invaluable lessons I bring to the Chessboard. 10 year old Thomas Farley correctly identified a4 and c4 as good knight outposts for me.

Fritz likes 16 Nd4! next. From a human point of view the Fritz recommendations are amusing – Why would Zupa play Nd4 right after playing Nd4-e2? Why should Zupa grant me two knight outposts with 16 b4?

16 … Ne6! 17. Be3! Nd7!!
Headed for my outposts.

18. f4
This is what I did against Dmitry – just kept pushing his knights back
and they kept regrouping to better squares like little Terminator robots.

Dickens had a great character in Oliver Twist called the Artful Dodger, a young pickpocket that teaches innocent young Oliver how to survive rough times. My knights twists reminded me of the Artful Dodger running top speed in the streets of London avoiding English bobbies and always landing on his feet.

I liked my a8-rook pressure on the backward a2-pawn and always afraid Daoud would end it with a4!, the Fritz recommended move here. That’s why I walk around to the other side of the board sometimes – little things like this become obvious if you use prophylactic thinking, putting yourself in your opponent’s shoes.

18 … Nb6!!
Headed for my outposts.

19. f5!!
Played by Zupa and recommended by Fritz. I believe Daoud Zupa was referring to moves like 19 f5 and 21 g4 when he made Anthea Carson Martinez and Samik Dusgapta laugh on the way home by saying:
Daoud – I wasn’t sure what to do so I decided to let Brian clarify the position for me.

Thomas Farley correctly identified … e5 as a new knight outpost for me. Individually 16 b4 and 19 f5 seem reasonable but look what happens.

19 … Nc4!!
Rounding home plate. Gaining a critical tempo on the e3-bishop. Very Aremenian – perfect piece placement.

GM Dzindi to me – Knights need outposts, Brian

20. Bf2! Nf8!!
Headed for … e5.

21. g4
Typical desperate play from an Armenian’s opponent. Sensing no real plan against logical pressure they lash out wildly before they die. I once read where an Indian was tracking a puma, cougar, mountain lion. The puma tried everything for a while, speeding away, doubling back, following a river to disguise his tracks, every trick he knew.

The Indian stayed on his trail relentlessly. Finally the exhausted, panting puma just stood still and let the Indian plunge his knife into him. The cougar was out of ideas and it cost him his life.

At this point the Zupa puma is still alive and kicking, growling, baring his teeth and sharpening his claws but in his heart he knows the end is near.

21 … Nd7!!
headed for … e5. A knight on it’s perfect square is worth a rook so
I gave that my highest priority. 21 … Ra3!! is a close second to prevent a4, disturbing Outpost Central.

22. Qc2
It’s hard to comment on Daoud’s movements – does it really matter which shrub he hides behind when he is being tracked by an Armenian?

22 … Nde5!!
Very Aremenian – perfect piece placement.

GM Dzindi to me -
Knights need outposts, Brian
I marveled at the beautiful symmetry and symbiotic nature of the pawns b5-c6-d6 and the knights on c4 and e5 protecting one another.

The knights are like giant oak trees and the pawns are like beneficial mushrooms eating harmful bacteria.

23. g5
best analogy here is Daoud’s son Nandi pounding his father’s chest with his fists for attention.

23 … f6!!
I considered allowing 24 f6 Bf8 but saw no good reason to.

24. fxg6 hxg6 25. gxf6! Bxf6! 26. Nd4
Making amends for 14 Nde2 but it was better to disturb the mushroom tree with 26 a4!

26 … Kg7
I did not want my delicate lady to soil her pretty hands on a truffle like h3 after 26 … Qh7!! 27 a4 B:h3!
I thought my rook was better suited for such grimy work.

27. Nce2
God gave Zupa TWO backward rook pawns on open files hoping he would take the hint and get rid of one of them with 27 a4!! but Zupa puma feels the hot breath of the Armenian tracker on his neck and concocts a desperate plan to plant a knight on e6.

27 … Rh8
Both rooks bearing down on hapless rook pawns, imperious knights, snug King, the whole construct smacks of Olympic Gold.

28. Nf4
looks like something a Board 4 Russia-A team might try. 28 a4!! is still the right idea.

28 … Qf7!!
Time out to prevent Ne6+ and scratch the puma’s ears before plunging the knife in.

29. Nf5+!?
One last snarl before standing still.
A Shaun MacMillan moment. Shaun tries to play loyal Bardwick Chess,
insisting on only the English Opening and French Defense for decades but some glitch in his programming forces him to sac a piece unsoundly right before he is going to cap off dozens of subtle positional moves.

Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
- Sun Tzu, 6th century B.C.

29 … gxf5! 30. exf5! Ra3
I was very proud of this Armenian squeezing move – Tyler Hughes, age 15, told me – “it was a cool way to activate a rook.”

I had been wanting to play … Ra3 for a very long time.

31. h4!
The cougar is done running and just remains still, breathing heavily from the hopeless chase.

31 … Bxh4! 32. Bxh4 Rxh4! 33. Ng6 Qa7+
Plunging in the knife. I have at least 16 crushers, including
33 … B:f5!!!, … Rg4!!! and … N:g6!!!
I chose 33 … Qa7+ because of the line 33 … Qa7+ 34 Kf1 N:g6 35 f6 Rf4+ mating 33 … Qa7+ 34 Qf2 Q:f2+ 35 K:f2 Nd3+
36 Kg1 N:e1 37 N:h4 N:g2 is just a simple piece up ending.

0-1 Zupa resigns

We had a friendly postmortem where I sympathized with Daoud’s plight of having a great position but not knowing what to do with it. I have walked in his moccasins.
————————————————————————-
————————————————————————-
[Event "Southern Colorado Open"]
[Site "Masonic Lodge, Manitou Springs, CO"]
[Date "2006.06.11"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Daud Zupa"]
[Black "brianwall"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White checkmated"]
[WhiteElo "1938"]
[BlackElo "2212"]
[Opening "Modern defense"]
[ECO "A40"]
[NIC "KI.75"]
[Time "14:05:34"]
[TimeControl "Game/90 plus 5 second delay"]

1. d4 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. c4 O-O 5. Nf3 d6 6. O-O c6 7. Nc3 Nbd7 8.
e4 a6 9. Re1 e5 10. h3 Qc7 11. b3 exd4 12. Nxd4 Nc5 13. Bf4 Rd8 14. Nde2 b5
15. cxb5 axb5 16. b4 Ne6 17. Be3 Nd7 18. f4 Nb6 19. f5 Nc4 20. Bf2 Nf8 21.
g4 Nd7 22. Qc2 Nde5 23. g5 f6 24. fxg6 hxg6 25. gxf6 Bxf6 26. Nd4 Kg7 27.
Nce2 Rh8 28. Nf4 Qf7 29. Nf5+ gxf5 30. exf5 Ra3 31. h4 Bxh4 32. Bxh4 Rxh4
33. Ng6 Qa7+

0-1 Zupa resigns
————————————————————————-

zupa-wall.pgn
————————————————————————-

4 games that followed ours for a while

[Event "Tatry op"]
[Site "Tatranska Lomnica"]
[Date "1999.10.02"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Certek,Pavel"]
[Black "Marsina,Stefan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "E69"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.Nc3 d6 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.0-0 c6 8.h3 Qc7
9.e4 e5 10.Re1 a6 11.b3 Ne8 12.Be3 b5 13.Rc1 b4 14.Na4 c5 15.dxc5 dxc5
16.Nh2 Bb7 17.Qc2 f5 18.exf5 Bxg2 19.Kxg2 gxf5 20.f4 a5 21.Rcd1 Ra6 22.Qd3 Rd6
23.Qe2 Rg6 24.Qf2 Nd6 25.Qd2 Rxg3+ 26.Kf1 Rg6 27.Qd5+ Kh8 28.Nxc5 Nb6
29.Qd2 Qc6 30.Qf2 Ne4 31.Nxe4 fxe4 32.Bxb6 Qxb6 33.Qxb6 Rxb6 34.Rxe4 exf4 35.Rd3
Ra6 36.Rf3 Bh6 37.Ng4 Bg5 38.Ne3 a4 39.Nd5 axb3 40.axb3 Ra1+
41.Re1 Rxe1+ 42.Kxe1 Rb8 43.Ke2 Kg8 44.Kd3 Kf7 45.Nxf4 Ke7 46.Nd5+ Kd6
47.Kd4 Kc6 48.Rf5 h6 49.Ke4 Re8+ 50.Kf3 Rb8 51.Nf4 Ra8 52.Ne6 Ra3 53.Nd4+ Kc7
54.Nb5+ Kb6 55.Nxa3 bxa3 56.Rb5+ Ka6 57.Rb4 Be7 58.Ra4+ Kb6 59.Ke4 Bc5
60.Kd5 Be7 61.b4 a2 62.b5

1-0

—————————————————————————–

[Event "Oberliga NRW 9900 I"]
[Site "Germany"]
[Date "1999.10.26"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Krallmann,Matthias"]
[Black "Besel,Waldemar"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Eco "E67"]

1.d4 d6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.0-0 0-0 6.c4 c6 7.Nc3 Nbd7 8.e4 Qc7
9.h3 a6 10.Re1 e5 11.b3 Re8 12.Be3 Nf8 13.Rc1 h6 14.Qc2 Qe7 15.Rcd1 N6d7
16.Re2 b6 17.Red2 Bb7 18.Kh2 Rac8 19.Qb1 Kh7 20.b4 b5 21.c5 exd4 22.cxd6 Qxd6
23.Bxd4 Qe7 24.Bxg7 Kxg7 25.Qd3 Qxb4 26.a3 Qe7 27.Qd4+ Kh7 28.e5 c5 29.Qf4 Nb6
30.Rd6 Nc4 31.Nd5 Bxd5 32.R6xd5 Ne6 33.Qe4 Red8 34.h4 Rxd5 35.Rxd5 Rd8
36.Rxd8 Nxd8 37.h5 Ne6 38.Bh3 Ng7 39.hxg6+ fxg6 40.e6 Nd6 41.Qd5 Ndf5
42.g4 Nd4 43.Nxd4 cxd4 44.Qxd4 Nxe6 45.Qe3 Qd6+ 46.Kg1 Nf4 47.Bg2 Kg7
48.Be4 Kf6 49.f3 Kg5 50.Kh2 Kf6 51.Kg1 h5 52.gxh5 gxh5 53.Kf2 Kg5 54.Qc1 Qd4+
55.Qe3 Qxe3+ 56.Kxe3 h4 57.Kf2 Kf6 58.Bb7 a5 59.Ba6 b4 60.axb4 axb4 61.Bf1 Ke5

0-1
—————————————————————————

[Event "Prague op"]
[Site "Prague"]
[Date "2006.01.13"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Forthoffer,Patrick"]
[Black "Stubberud,Ornulf A"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Eco "E69"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.0-0 d6 6.c4 Nbd7 7.Nc3 c6 8.e4 Qc7
9.Re1 e5 10.h3 a6 11.b3 Re8 12.Be3 exd4 13.Nxd4 Nc5 14.Qc2 Ne6 15.Rad1 Bd7
16.Nxe6 Bxe6 17.Bf4 Rad8 18.c5 Qc8 19.cxd6 Bxh3 20.e5 Nh5 21.Qd2 Nxf4
22.gxf4 g5 23.e6 Rxe6 24.Bxh3 Rxe1+ 25.Qxe1 Qxh3 26.d7 Bxc3 27.Qe8+ Kg7 28.Qxd8
Qg4+ 29.Kh2 Qxf4+ 30.Kh3 Qf3+ 31.Kh2 Be5+ 32.Kg1 Qxd1+

0-1
—————————————————————————-

[Event "CZE-chT2c 0405"]
[Site "Czechia"]
[Date "2004.??.??"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Mojzis,Jaroslav"]
[Black "Kopta,Pavel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "E69"]

1.Nf3 g6 2.g3 Bg7 3.d4 d6 4.Bg2 Nd7 5.0-0 Ngf6 6.c4 0-0 7.Nc3 e5 8.e4 c6
9.Re1 Qc7 10.h3 a6 11.b3 b5 12.cxb5 axb5 13.a4 b4 14.Na2 c5 15.dxe5 Nxe5 16.Nxe5
dxe5 17.Qc2 Rb8 18.Bd2 Be6 19.Nxb4 Qb7 20.Nd3 Bxb3 21.Qxc5 Rfd8
22.Qe3 Qb6 23.Qxb6 Rxb6 24.Ba5 Rbd6 25.Bxd8 Rxd8 26.Nc5 Bc4 27.Rec1 Rd4
28.Rc3 Bh6 29.Nb3 Nxe4 30.Bxe4 Rxe4 31.a5 Bd5 32.a6

1-0
——————————————————————–
——————————————————————–

2006 Olympic Gold – games from the Armenian team
——————————————————————-
——————————————————————-
Round 1 – typical Armenian victory – Lputian has played the French for decades – notice no opening advantage, no tactics, just perfect piece placement followed by a long endgame grind.

[Event "36th Olympiad"]
[Site "Turin ITA"]
[Date "2006.05.21"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Iturrizaga,E"]
[Black "Lputian,S"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2232"]
[BlackElo "2619"]
[Opening "French: Winawer, advance variation"]
[ECO "C16"]
[NIC "FR.09"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. Bd2 b6 6. Bd3 Ba6 7. Nb5 Bxd2+ 8.
Qxd2 O-O 9. f4 c5 10. Nd6 Bxd3 11. Qxd3 Nbc6 12. Nf3 Nxd4 13. Nxd4 cxd4 14.
O-O Nc6 15. Nb5 Rc8 16. Nd6 Rc7 17. Nb5 Rb7 18. Nxd4 Nxd4 19. Qxd4 Rc7 20.
c3 Rc4 21. Qf2 Qc7 22. Rae1 Qc5 23. Qxc5 bxc5 24. Re2 Ra4 25. a3 g6 26. g3
Rb8 27. Rff2 Rc4 28. Rc2 a5 29. Rfe2 Kg7 30. Kf2 Rb3 31. Red2 h6 32. Kg2 g5
33. Rf2 Re4 34. Rce2 Rxe2 35. Rxe2 gxf4 36. gxf4 Kg6 37. Kf2 Kf5 38. Ke3 d4+
39. Kd3 dxc3 40. bxc3 Rxa3 41. Kc4 Kxf4 42. Rf2+ Kxe5 43. Rxf7 Kd6 44. Rf8
Ra2 45. Rd8+ Kc7 46. Re8 Kd7 47. Ra8 Ra3 48. Rh8 Kc6 49. Rxh6 Ra4+ 50. Kd3
Kd5 51. Rh8 c4+ 52. Kc2 Ra2+ 53. Kc1 e5 54. h4 Ke4 55. Rh5 Rh2 56. Kb1 a4
57. Rh8 Kd3 58. h5 e4 59. h6 e3 60. h7 e2 61. Rd8+ Kxc3 62. Re8 Rh1+ 63. Ka2
Kd2 64. Rd8+ Kc1 65. Re8 Rxh7 66. Rxe2 c3 67. Re1+ Kd2 68. Rg1 Re7 69. Rg8
Re3 70. Rd8+ Rd3 71. Rh8 c2 72. Rh2+ Kc3 73. Rh1 Rd1 74. Rh3+ Kd4 75. Rh4+
Ke5 76. Rh5+ Kf6 77. Rc5 c1=R {Black wins} 0-1
——————————————————————–

Iturrizaga-Lputian.pgn
——————————————————————–
Round 1

This is my favorite game of the 2006 Olympiad. I cannot praise it too highly. The betting before the Olympiad was Russia 1, Armenia 2. This game set the tone for an Armenia victory, the first portent of what was to come.

Beautiful positional play starting with 13 Bf5!!, keeping the bishop outside the pawn chain and ensuring Sargissian would have two good bishops, something tough to arrange in a Nimzo Indian.

Next great moment was 17 c5!!! – experts like pawns but Masters like squares – this set up Nc4-b6, destroying Soto’s King fortress.
Notice all the Armenian sacs are sound and all the Latvian sacs are dubious – 33 … Qd7? was a mistake but Sargissian was clearly better after 33 … Qc7 or … Q:c5+ anyway. Sargissian has a beautiful position despite being down a rook, a positional masterpiece.

35 Rb7 was another fantastic move, insisting on an ending a rook down. I showed the game to 10 year old Thomas Farley and he said-
“39 a4 was very smart.” 39 Ba5!! was also very clever, intending
40 c6+ Kd6 41 Bb4 checkmate or winning the c7-knight. A rook sac followed by a pawn wave, just stunning.

A model game and one I thought of while playing Daoud. After this I kept a close eye on Sargissian all the way.

[Event "36th Olympiad"]
[Site "Turin ITA"]
[Date "2006.05.21"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Sargissian,G"]
[Black "Soto,O"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2612"]
[BlackElo "2293"]
[Opening "Nimzo-Indian: three knights variation"]
[ECO "E21"]
[NIC "NI.26"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. Bg5 Bb7 6. Nd2 h6 7. Bh4 Nc6 8.
e3 Qe7 9. Bd3 d6 10. f3 Bxc3 11. bxc3 e5 12. d5 Nb8 13. Bf5 g5 14. Bf2 Nbd7
15. Qa4 a6 16. e4 O-O-O 17. c5 dxc5 18. Nc4 Ne8 19. Rb1 Kb8 20. Bxd7 Rxd7
21. O-O f6 22. Nxb6 cxb6 23. Rxb6 Kc8 24. Rfb1 Rc7 25. Rxa6 Bxa6 26. Qxa6+
Kd7 27. Rb8 Qd6 28. Rb6 Qe7 29. Rb8 Qd6 30. Rb6 Qe7 31. Qb5+ Kd8 32. Rb8+
Rc8 33. Bxc5 Qd7 34. Qb6+ Qc7 35. Rb7 Qxb6 36. Bxb6+ Nc7 37. c4 Kd7 38. c5
h5 39. a4 g4 40. a5 gxf3 41. gxf3 Rh7 42. a6 Rg8+ 43. Kf1 Kc8 44. c6 Na8 45.
Rxh7 Nxb6 46. Rb7 Na8 47. d6 {White wins} 1-0

——————————————————————-

Sargissian-Soto.pgn
———————————————————————

Round 1 -
Minasian uses a favorite system of mine arising from 1 .. a6, 2 … g6, … Bg7 and … d6. Notice again, no flash tactics, just perfect piece placement until the opponent collapses.

In a World Open, Minasian once beat up IM Joe Fang’s 4 pawns attack against the King’s Indian so badly Joe left a 3-D Chess position from the game hanging on his wall for years trying to save the attack. Finally Joe gave up and started playing 1 Nf3 “so I wouldn’t be tempted into play f4″.

[Event "36th Olympiad"]
[Site "Turin ITA"]
[Date "2006.05.21"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Hernandez,Alex"]
[Black "Minasian,Art"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2287"]
[BlackElo "2574"]
[Opening "Robatsch defense"]
[ECO "B06"]
[NIC "KF.05"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 a6 4. a4 d6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O Nc6
8. d5 Nb4 9. Nd4 c6 10. dxc6 bxc6 11. Be3 Rb8 12. a5 c5 13. Nb3 Be6 14. Nd2 Nc6
15. Bxa6 Rxb2 16. Bc4 Nxa5 17. Bxe6 fxe6 18. Qc1 Rb4 19. Qa3 Ng4
20. Rae1 Nxe3 21. fxe3 Nc4 22. Nxc4 Rxc4 23. Rxf8+ Qxf8 24. Rf1 Qc8
25. Ne2 Rxe4 26. Rf3 Rb4 27. Kf2 Rb8 28. Qa7 Qb7 29. Qxb7 Rxb7 30. Ke1 Be5

{Black wins} 0-1
——————————————————————

Hernandez-Minasian.pgn
——————————————————————

Round 3 -
Typical Armenian victory, making something out of nothing in an endgame. If an Armenian ever combined his fantastic endgame and positional skills with an attempt to learn the openings, the great Armenian deficiency, well, then we have a World Champion like Petrosian or a world #3 like Aronian.

After move 18 Fritz confirms Aronian has absolutely nothing against his 2646 opponent, the world’s tallest Grandmaster, yet Aronian fashions a win anyway. The Armenians seem to expect to win any drawn ending and to draw any lost ending.

My ICC webcast co-host GM Varuzhan Akobian confirmed that he and Lev Aronian were learning endgames at age 7 in the Armenian Petrosian school, like Akopian and Gelfand before them.

[Event "36th Olympiad"]
[Site "Turin ITA"]
[Date "2006.05.23"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Aronian,L"]
[Black "Nielsen,PH"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2756"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[Opening "Nimzo-Indian: three knights variation"]
[ECO "E21"]
[NIC "NI.28"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 c5 5. g3 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Ne4 7. Qd3 Bxc3+
8. bxc3 Nc5 9. Qf3 d6 10. Bg2 e5 11. Nb3 Nba6 12. Ba3 Qc7 13. Rd1 Be6
14. Bxc5 Nxc5 15. Nxc5 dxc5 16. O-O Rb8 17. Qh5 O-O 18. Bd5 Rfe8 19. Bxe6 Rxe6
20. Rd5 Re7 21. Rfd1 Rbe8 22. Qg5 b6 23. Rd6 e4 24. R1d5 e3 25. f3 h6
26. Qg4 Qc8 27. Qxc8 Rxc8 28. g4 f6 29. Kg2 Rce8 30. h4 Kf7 31. h5 Rb8
32. Rd7 b5 33. Rxe7+ Kxe7 34. Rxc5 bxc4 35. f4 Rb2 36. Kf3 Rxa2 37. Rc7+ Kf8 38.
Kxe3 a5 39. Rxc4 a4 40. Rc8+ Ke7 41. Rc7+ Kf8 42. Ra7 a3 43. c4 Ra1
44. Ke4 Kg8 45. Ra8+ Kh7 46. Kd5 a2 47. Kc5 Rf1 48. Rxa2 Rxf4 49. Kd5 f5
50. c5 fxg4 51. c6 g3 52. e4 Rf2 53. Ra3 Rd2+ 54. Ke6 g2 55. Rg3 Rc2
56. Kd7 Rd2+ 57. Ke7 Rc2 58. e5 Rxc6 59. Rxg2 Ra6 60. e6 Ra5 61. Kd6 Ra6+
62. Kd7 Ra7+ 63. Ke8 Ra5 64. e7 Rxh5 65. Kd7 Re5 66. e8=Q Rxe8 67. Kxe8

{White wins} 1-0

——————————————————————

Aronian-Nielsen.pgn
——————————————————————

Round 3 -
Again, no great opening advantage, no wild sacrifices, just solid play followed by ruthless endgame precision.

[Event "36th Olympiad"]
[Site "Turin ITA"]
[Date "2006.05.23"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Hansen,SuB"]
[Black "Akopian,Vl"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2555"]
[BlackElo "2706"]
[Opening "French: Tarrasch, open variation"]
[ECO "C07"]
[NIC "FR.18"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 cxd4 5. exd5 Qxd5 6. Bc4 Qd6 7. Bb3 Nc6
8. Ne4 Qd8 9. O-O Be7 10. Qe2 Nf6 11. Rd1 O-O 12. c3 e5 13. h3 Bf5 14. Ng3
d3 15. Qe1 Qd7 16. Nxe5 Nxe5 17. Qxe5 Bg6 18. Be3 Bd8 19. Bc4 Bc7 20. Qb5
Qxb5 21. Bxb5 Nd5 22. Bc5 Rfd8 23. Bd4 Nf4 24. a4 a6 25. Bc4 h5 26. h4 Rac8
27. Ba2 b5 28. axb5 axb5 29. Be3 Ne2+ 30. Nxe2 dxe2 31. Re1 Ra8 32. Bb3 Rxa1
33. Rxa1 Re8 34. Re1 Bd3 35. Bg5 b4 36. Bd5 bxc3 37. bxc3 Rb8 38. Bf3 Rb2
39. Be3 g6 40. g3 Bd6 41. Kg2 Kf8 42. g4 hxg4 43. Bxg4 f5 44. Bf3 Rc2 45.
Bd4 Ba3 46. Kg3 Rc1 47. Rxe2 Bxe2 48. Bxe2 Rh1 49. c4 Bd6+ 50. f4 Rc1 51.
Kf3 Kf7 52. Ke3 Ke6 53. h5 gxh5 54. c5 Bxc5 55. Kd2 Ba3 56. Bxh5 Rh1 57. Bf3
Bc1+ 58. Ke2 Rh2+ 59. Kd3 Bxf4 60. Bc3 Kf7 61. Bb4 Kg6 62. Ba5 Rf2 63. Be2
Rg2 64. Bf3 Rb2 65. Bc3 Rb3 66. Kc4 Ra3 67. Be2 Kg5 68. Bd3 Be3 {Black wins}
0-1
——————————————————————
——————————————————————

Round 4, 37th Chess Olympiad,
Aremenia versus Norway

Lputian plays simple moves and makes his 2509 opponent look silly. After 12 moves the pawn structure is symmetrical and nothing is happening. That’s what makes the Armenians so successful – it looks like they are just trying to draw every game. The truth is they are very patient hunters.

From there Lputian increased the pressure every move until 10 moves
later Gausel’s position was in rags.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.05.24"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Lputian(ARM)"]
[Black "Gausel(NOR)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2619"]
[BlackElo "2509"]
[Opening "QGD Slav: 4.e3"]
[ECO "D11"]
[NIC "SL.01"]
[Time "08:48:15"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bd3 dxc4 6. Bxc4 Nbd7 7. O-O Bd6 8.
b3 O-O 9. Bb2 Qc7 10. Nc3 e5 11. h3 exd4 12. Nxd4 Bc5 13. Nf3 b6 14. Qc2 Bb7
15. Rad1 Rae8 16. Ng5 h6 17. Nce4 Nxe4 18. Nxe4 Ne5 19. Nxc5 Nxc4 20. Rd7
Qc8 21. Qxc4 bxc5 22. Qg4 {White wins} 1-0
——————————————————————
—————————————————————–
Round 4 -

More Armenian Aronian endgame magic -
the world #3 appears to have nothing after 25 moves
but 6 moves later Johannesen ( Norway – 2559 ) resigns

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.05.24"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Aronian(ARM)"]
[Black "Johannesen(NOR)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2756"]
[BlackElo "2559"]
[Opening "Nimzo-Indian: three knights variation"]
[ECO "E21"]
[NIC "NI.26"]
[Time "08:47:40"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. Bg5 Bb7 6. Nd2 h6 7. Bh4 Nc6 8.
e3 Bxc3 9. bxc3 Qe7 10. f3 e5 11. d5 Nb8 12. Bd3 Na6 13. O-O g5 14. Bg3 Nc5
15. Bc2 O-O-O 16. f4 exf4 17. exf4 Nce4 18. Nxe4 Nxe4 19. Re1 Qc5+ 20. Qd4
Qxd4+ 21. cxd4 Nxg3 22. hxg3 Rde8 23. Re5 f6 24. Rf5 Re2 25. Bb3 Rf8 26.
fxg5 hxg5 27. Raf1 Kd8 28. Rxg5 Ke7 29. Rg7+ Rf7 30. Rg8 Re4 31. c5 {White wins} 1-0

—————————————————————–
—————————————————————–

Round 4 -
more endgame magic -
Djurhuus is better after 29 Rb3!! or Rf3+ but
Sargissian wins anyway.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.05.24"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Djurhuus(NOR)"]
[Black "Sargissian(ARM)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2466"]
[BlackElo "2612"]
[Opening "Ruy Lopez: Berlin defense"]
[ECO "C65"]
[NIC "RL.07"]
[Time "09:53:44"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. O-O Nd4 6. Nxd4 Bxd4 7. c3 Bb6
8. Nd2 c6 9. Ba4 d6 10. h3 O-O 11. Re1 h6 12. Nf3 Nh5 13. d4 Qf6 14. Nxe5
dxe5 15. Qxh5 exd4 16. e5 Qf5 17. Qxf5 Bxf5 18. Bd2 Rad8 19. Bb3 Be6 20.
Rad1 Rd7 21. Bxe6 fxe6 22. cxd4 Bxd4 23. Be3 Rfd8 24. Bxd4 Rxd4 25. Rxd4
Rxd4 26. Re2 Kf7 27. g4 c5 28. Re3 a5 29. Rc3 b6 30. Kf1 a4 31. a3 c4 32.
Ke2 b5 33. Ke3 Rd5 34. f4 g5 35. Rc2 Rd3+ 36. Ke4 Rxh3 37. f5 Rg3 38. f6
Rxg4+ 39. Ke3 Rg3+ 40. Ke4 Rd3 41. Rh2 Kg6 42. f7 Kxf7 43. Rxh6 g4 44. Rh7+
Kf8 45. Rh6 g3 46. Rxe6 g2 47. Rg6 Rd2 48. e6 b4 49. axb4 c3 50. bxc3 a3
{Black wins}
0-1
—————————————————————–
—————————————————————–
Round 5 -
The Caro-Kann is an Armenian favorite and Armenia’s Karen Asrian makes drawing Russian superman 2719 Grischuk look easy. Again, no tactics, just perfect piece placement wearing down the opponent. Asrian was better at the end so maybe 16 a3! instead of 16 Bd3? was an improvement.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.05.25"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Grischuk(RUS)"]
[Black "Asrian(ARM)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2719"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[Opening "Caro-Kann: advance variation"]
[ECO "B12"]
[NIC "CK.04"]
[Time "06:43:03"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nc3 e6 5. g4 Bg6 6. Nge2 c5 7. h4 h5
8. Nf4 Bh7 9. Nxh5 cxd4 10. Nb5 Nc6 11. Nxd4 Nge7 12. c3 a6 13. Qa4 b5
14. Qd1 Nxd4 15. cxd4 Nc6 16. Bd3 Rc8 17. Kf1 Bxd3+ 18. Qxd3 Nb4 19. Qd1 Qc7 20.
Rh3 Qc2 21. Bd2 Qc4+ 22. Kg2 Qxd4 23. Rc3 Rc5 24. Be3

{Game drawn} 1/2-1/2

——————————————————————
——————————————————————
Round 5 – same deal
Akopian makes drawing a top 10 player look easy with solid play from a position of strength.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.05.25"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Akopian(ARM)"]
[Black "Svidler(RUS)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2706"]
[BlackElo "2743"]
[Opening "Ruy Lopez: 5.O-O"]
[ECO "C78"]
[NIC "RL.12"]
[Time "06:42:36"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. d3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 g5 11. Bg3 Bg4 12. Nbd2 Qd7 13. Re1 Rae8 14. Nf1 Bb6
15. h4 gxh4 16. Bxh4 Nh5 17. N1h2 Kh8 18. Qd2 Kh7 19. Bd1 Rg8 20. Ng5+ hxg5
21. Bxg4 Qe7 22. Bxh5 gxh4 23. Bg4 Rg5 24. Bf5+ Kh8 25. Nf3 Rh5 26. Bg4 Rh7
27. Bf5 Rh5 28. Bg4 Rh7 29. Bf5 {Game drawn} 1/2-1/2
—————————————————————–
—————————————————————–
Round 6 -
solid draw by Aronian against a FIDE world champion – no sweat.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.05.27"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Aronian(ARM)"]
[Black "Kasimdzh(UZB)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2756"]
[BlackElo "2673"]
[Opening "Catalan: closed, 5.Nf3"]
[ECO "E06"]
[NIC "CA.05"]
[Time "07:50:45"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6
8. a4 Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bg5 Bd5 11. Qd3 c5 12. Nc3 Bc6 13. Rfd1 cxd4
14. Nxd4 Bxg2 15. Kxg2 Qa5 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. Ne4 Bxd4 18. Qxd4 Nc6
19. Qc5 Rac8 20.Qxa5 Nxa5 21. Rac1 h6 22. h4 Rxc1 23. Rxc1 f5 24. Nd2 Rd8
25. Nf3 Nc6 26. Kf1 Kf7 27. e3

{Game drawn} 1/2-1/2
———————————————————————–
———————————————————————–
Round 6 -
Typical Armenian victory in the style I beat Daoud – steady increase of pressure, no tactics, followed by an implosion of the enemy game.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.05.27"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Barzov(UZB)"]
[Black "Akopian(ARM)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2525"]
[BlackElo "2706"]
[Opening "Nimzo-Indian: three knights variation"]
[ECO "E21"]
[NIC "NI.26"]
[Time "08:06:08"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. Bg5 Bb7 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 Bxc3+
8. bxc3 d6 9. Nd2 Nbd7 10. f3 Qe7 11. Qa4 O-O 12. Bd3 e5 13. e4 Qe6 14. O-O Nh5
15. Rae1 Nf4 16. Bb1 a6 17. Kh1 b5 18. Qb3 Nb6 19. d5 Qd7 20. Bf2 bxc4
21. Nxc4 Nxc4 22. Qxc4 a5 23. Qb3 Ba6 24. Rg1 Rfb8 25. Qa3 Qb5 26. c4 Qb2
27. Qe3 Bxc4 28. g3 Nh3 29. Rg2 Qa1 30. Qc1 Be2 31. Qe3 Rxb1 32. Qxe2 Nxf2+

{Black wins} 0-1
————————————————————————
———————————————————————–
Round 6 -

An Olympic favorite that wowed everybody – 19 move victory by World #3 Aronian wipes out Sokolov, Nimzo expert (Ivan beat Kasparov in his prime on the White side).

IM Bill Paschall and I covered this game live – we established during the show that 10 … Qf6 was the innovation – before that only the captures 10 … B:c3+ or … R:b8 had been played.
Bill identified 14 b4?? as the error – 14 e3 or Nf3 look Ok for Sokolov. Everyone assumed that Sokolov has been caught in deep Armenian opening preparation which is like saying someone got caught in deep Latvian endgame preparation.

Deep Armenia opening preparation is the Lucena position while deep Latvian endgame preparation is the Fried Liver attack. The Armenian team probably prepared for the Olympiad the way I prepared for the 2004 Colorado Closed – by reading Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual.

Sokolov would have been better after 14 e3 or Nf3 but after 14 b4?? Ne4!! (only move)
15 Qc1! (only move) Rc8!! (only move)
Sokolov was very lost.

The amusing part was Bill claimed, as usual, that he had played a game just like this where his bishop went to d8 and one of the key variations of the Sokolov-Aronian game was the unplayed 16 Bd6 Bd8!! line, even though 16 Bd6 N:d6 ultimately turns out to be even stronger.

That’s why I like working with Pascahall – he’s such an active IM that he has a great personal anecdote for almost every other opening position we observe. Ivan Sokolov was probably in time pressure at the end – things had gotten so bad that the only way to avoid checkmate on move 19 was 19 Rd2 which loses miserably to
19 … Re8!!!!, … f6!!!, … N:d2!!! or … Rc1+!!

I am sure this game lifted the Armenian spirits sky high.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.05.28"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Sokolov(NED)"]
[Black "Aronian(ARM)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2676"]
[BlackElo "2756"]
[Opening "Nimzo-Indian: classical, Noa variation, 5.cd ed"]
[ECO "E35"]
[NIC "NI.23"]
[Time "07:02:52"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 c5 7. dxc5 h6 8.
Bh4 g5 9. Bg3 Ne4 10. Bxb8 Qf6 11. Bg3 Nxc3 12. a3 Bf5 13. Qd2 Ba5 14. b4
Ne4 15. Qc1 Rc8 16. Ra2 Rxc5 17. Qa1 Qc6 18. Qe5+ Kd8 19. Qxh8+ Kd7 {Black wins} 0-1

—————————————————————–

Sokolov-Aronian.pgn
—————————————————————–
Round 7

I once saw Tiviakov demolish Larry Christiansen in a blitz match – I think Larry won one game out of 20 – Tiviakov was clearly a class or 2 above. Tiviakov was very lucky to survive this game against Akopian – I was predicting an Armenian win during my coverage.

Akopian was better all game, including the final position. Despite the drawn result, completely outplaying a 2669 like Tiviakov is impressive.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.05.28"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Akopian(ARM)"]
[Black "Tiviakov(NED)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2706"]
[BlackElo "2669"]
[Opening "Queen's Indian: old main line, 6.O-O"]
[ECO "E17"]
[NIC "QI.07"]
[Time "07:03:44"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1 Na6
8. Ne5 Bxg2 9. Kxg2 Qb8 10. e4 c5 11. Bf4 Bd6 12. Nc3 cxd4 13. Qxd4 Bc5
14. Qd1 Qb7 15. Bg5 Be7 16. Ng4 Nd5 17. cxd5 Bxg5 18. f4 Bd8 19. Nb5 exd5
20. Nd6 Qc6 21. e5 d4+ 22. Kg1 b5 23. Rc1 Qd5 24. Ne3 Qxa2 25. Ra1 Qe6
26. Nc2 d3 27. Qxd3 Bb6+ 28. Kg2 Nc5 29. Qf3 Qb3 30. Qxb3 Nxb3 31. Ra3 Nd2

{Game drawn} 1/2-1/2
—————————————————————–
—————————————————————–
Round 7

Olympic hero Sargissian plays another magnificent game against 21 year old Erwin Ami, a young Dutch GM I have been writing an email about for a month now. Erwin puts up great resistance but the Sargissian pawn wave followed by the sterling Armenian endgame technique, finally grinds Erwin down.

Like the other game I am working on it is hard to pinpoint the exact losing moment but Sargissian was winning for at least the last 10 moves. A tough fight.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.05.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sargissian(ARM)"]
[Black "L'Ami(NED)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2612"]
[BlackElo "2565"]
[Opening "Grünfeld: Stockholm variation"]
[ECO "D80"]
[NIC "GI.03"]
[Time "07:04:30"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Ne4 5. Bh4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 dxc4 7. e3 Be6
8. Rb1 b6 9. Nh3 Bh6 10. e4 O-O 11. Ng5 Bxg5 12. Bxg5 c6 13. g4 f6 14. Bh6
Re8 15. Bg2 Bf7 16. f4 Nd7 17. O-O b5 18. f5 Kh8 19. Qe2 gxf5 20. exf5 Rc8
21. g5 fxg5 22. Bxg5 Nf6 23. Rbe1 Qd6 24. Qe5 Qxe5 25. dxe5 Nd5 26. e6 Bh5
27. Bxd5 Rg8 28. h4 h6 29. f6 exf6 30. Rxf6 hxg5 31. Rh6+ Kg7 32. Rxh5 cxd5
33. Rxg5+ Kf6 34. e7 Rce8 35. Rxg8 Rxg8+ 36. Kf2 Re8 37. a3 a5 38. h5 b4 39.
cxb4 axb4 40. axb4 c3 41. Re2 Kg5 42. Ke1 Kxh5 43. Kd1 Kg6 44. b5 Kf7 45. b6
c2+ 46. Kc1 d4 47. b7 d3 48. Re3 {White wins} 1-0
—————————————————————–
—————————————————————–

Round 8
More Armenian endgame magic – it’s like their opponents are perpetually spotting them a half-point advantage in any ending. The complications sputtered out and 38 … b6! seems like a perfectly fine ending with even material but somehow Akopian finds the strength to play out another 38 moves, grinding out an endgame win. That’s the Armenian advantage of no openings – they EXPECT to beat you in 80 moves. That’s NORMAL CHESS for them.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.05.29"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Akopian(ARM)"]
[Black "Dominguez(CUB)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2706"]
[BlackElo "2647"]
[Opening "Petrov: classical attack, Jaenisch variation"]
[ECO "C42"]
[NIC "RG.06"]
[Time "04:24:23"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8.
c4 Nb4 9. Be2 O-O 10. Nc3 Bf5 11. a3 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Nc6 13. Re1 Re8 14. cxd5
Qxd5 15. Bf4 Rac8 16. Bf1 Bd6 17. Rxe8+ Rxe8 18. c4 Qe4 19. Bxd6 cxd6 20.
Qd2 Qe7 21. Re1 Qd7 22. Rxe8+ Qxe8 23. Qf4 Qd7 24. d5 Ne7 25. Nd4 Bg6 26.
Nb5 Nc8 27. c5 dxc5 28. Qb8 Bf5 29. Nxa7 g6 30. Bb5 Qd6 31. Qa8 Qxd5 32.
Nxc8 Qd1+ 33. Bf1 Bd3 34. Ne7+ Kg7 35. Qg8+ Kh6 36. Nf5+ Bxf5 37. Qf8+ Kg5
38. Qxf7 Qd4 39. Qe7+ Kh6 40. Qf8+ Qg7 41. Qxc5 Qf6 42. h3 b6 43. Qe3+ Kg7
44. g4 Bd7 45. g5 Qd6 46. Bc4 Kf8 47. Be2 Bf5 48. Kg2 Bd7 49. f4 b5 50. Qe5
Qxa3 51. Qh8+ Ke7 52. Qxh7+ Kd8 53. Qh8+ Kc7 54. Qe5+ Kd8 55. Bg4 Bc6+ 56.
Kf2 Qa2+ 57. Be2 Qd2 58. Qe3 Qd5 59. Qd3 b4 60. Qxd5+ Bxd5 61. Bd3 Bf7 62.
Ke3 Ke7 63. Kd4 Kf8 64. h4 Kg7 65. Kc5 b3 66. Kd4 Be6 67. Be4 Kf7 68. Kc3
Kg7 69. Bf3 Kf7 70. Bd1 Kg7 71. Bxb3 Bg4 72. Kd4 Bf3 73. Bd5 Bd1 74. Ke3 Bc2
75. Bf3 Kf7 76. Kd4 {White wins} 1-0
—————————————————————–
—————————————————————–
Round 8 -
a 78 move endgame squeeze by Sargissian.
In almost every Armenian victory there was a point in the game where you would swear they had nothing at all. 45 … Nc4? turned a bad endgame into a completely lost one. On move 22 Quezada seems fine after 22 … Ba6 or … Rb8

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.05.29"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Sargissian(ARM)"]
[Black "Quezada(CUB)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2612"]
[BlackElo "2512"]
[Opening "Nimzo-Indian: Simagin variation"]
[ECO "E46"]
[NIC "NI.10"]
[Time "04:25:34"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Ne2 d5 6. a3 Bd6 7. c5 Be7 8. b4
b6 9. Nf4 c6 10. Nd3 Nbd7 11. Be2 a5 12. Bd2 Ne4 13. O-O axb4 14. Nxe4 dxe4
15. Nxb4 Bb7 16. cxb6 c5 17. dxc5 Nxc5 18. Rb1 Rxa3 19. Nc2 Rb3 20. Ba5 Qa8
21. Bb4 Rxb1 22. Qxb1 Bd5 23. Qa1 Qxa1 24. Rxa1 Rb8 25. Ra5 Nb3 26. Rxd5
exd5 27. Bxe7 Rxb6 28. g4 Nc1 29. Nd4 Rb2 30. Kf1 Rb1 31. Kg2 Nd3 32. g5
Ne1+ 33. Kg3 Nd3 34. h4 Rb7 35. Bd8 Kf8 36. Ba5 Rb1 37. Bc7 Ke7 38. Kg2 g6
39. Bg3 f5 40. gxf6+ Kxf6 41. Bg4 Rb6 42. Bd1 Nc5 43. Bg4 Nd3 44. Bd7 Ne5
45. Ba4 Nc4 46. Bc6 Rb2 47. Bf4 Ne5 48. Bg5+ Kg7 49. Ne6+ Kf7 50. Bxd5 Rd2
51. Nf4+ Ke8 52. Bxe4 Ng4 53. Nh3 Kf7 54. Bf4 Nf6 55. Bf3 Rc2 56. Ng5+ Ke7
57. Be5 h6 58. Ne4 Nd5 59. Bd4 h5 60. Ng5 Nf6 61. Be4 Nxe4 62. Nxe4 Ke6 63.
Ng5+ Ke7 64. e4 Rc4 65. Bg7 Ra4 66. Kg3 Ra3+ 67. f3 Ra2 68. e5 Ra1 69. Bf6+
Ke8 70. e6 Ra6 71. Kf4 Ra5 72. Ne4 Rf5+ 73. Ke3 Rd5 74. Bg5 Re5 75. e7 Kd7
76. Kd4 Ra5 77. Nc5+ Ke8 78. Ne6 {White wins} 1-0
—————————————————————————-
—————————————————————————-

Round 9-
Akopian neutralizes one of the scariest players around, Sergey Karjakin, the only Chess player to become a Grandmaster at age 12.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.05.30"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Akopian(ARM)"]
[Black "Karjakin(UKR)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2706"]
[BlackElo "2661"]
[Opening "Sicilian"]
[ECO "B50"]
[NIC "SI.01"]
[Time "07:34:05"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3 Nf6 4. Be2 Bg4 5. O-O e6 6. Re1 Be7 7. d4 cxd4 8.
cxd4 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Qb3 Qb6 11. Bb5+ Nc6 12. Ne5 Bf5 13. Nc3 Rd8 14.
Bxc6+ bxc6 15. Qxb6 axb6 16. Nxc6 Rd6 17. Nxe7 Kxe7 18. Bd2 Kd7 19. a4 Ra8
20. Rec1 Nxc3 21. Bxc3 Be4 22. b4 Rc6 23. a5 Rac8 24. Bd2 Rxc1+ 25. Bxc1 b5
26. f3 Bd5 27. Bf4 Rc4 28. Rc1 Rxc1+ 29. Bxc1 f6 30. Bf4 Ke7 31. h4 Kf7 32.
Kf2 h6 33. h5 Kg8 34. a6 Kf7 35. a7 Kg8 36. Ke3 Kf7 37. Bd6 Kg8 38. Kf4 Kf7
39. g4 Kg8 40. Kg3 Kf7 41. f4 f5 42. g5 Kg8 43. Bc5 Kf7 44. Kf2 Kg8 45. Ke3
Kf7 46. g6+ Kg8 47. Bd6 Kh8 {Game drawn} 1/2-1/2
—————————————————————————-
—————————————————————————-
Round 9 -
Here’s what happens when Grandmaster Varuzhan Akobian, fellow ICC webcast cohost, originally trained in the tough Armenian school,
becomes polluted with weak American concepts for 7 years.

Var gets his King caught in the center and 34 Qc5+ mates in 8. Maybe Var should study more endgames and play less blitz with Dean Samsarovitch. IM Bill Paschall and I were warning ICC listeners during the game “not to try this at home”.

We called the American team (Olympic Bronze, a great result) Team ICC because they had Kaidonov and Akobian.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.05.30"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Cvek(CZE)"]
[Black "Akobian(USA)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2503"]
[BlackElo "2575"]
[Opening "French: Steinitz, Boleslavsky variation"]
[ECO "C11"]
[NIC "FR.04"]
[Time "07:49:13"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 a6 8. Qd2
b5 9. a3 g5 10. Ne2 g4 11. Nfg1 f5 12. h3 g3 13. Nf3 cxd4 14. Nexd4 Nxd4 15.
Nxd4 Nc5 16. Be2 Ne4 17. Bh5+ Kd7 18. Qe2 Bc5 19. Nb3 Bxe3 20. Qxe3 Qc7 21.
O-O Bb7 22. Bf3 Nf2 23. Nc5+ Ke7 24. b4 h5 25. a4 h4 26. Qd4 Rhc8 27. axb5
axb5 28. Rxa8 Rxa8 29. Ra1 Qb8 30. Ra5 Rxa5 31. bxa5 Qa7 32. Nxe6 Qa6 33.
Ng5 Qxa5 34. Qc5+ Kd8 35. Ne6+ Kd7 36. Qd6+ Kc8 37. Qf8+ Kd7 38. Nc5+
{White wins}
1-0
—————————————————————————–
—————————————————————————-
Round 9 -
Another very impressive game by the Olympic revelation, Sargissian.
With typical perfect Armenian piece placement, Sargissian gains a clear advantage, Moiseenko senses certain doom and tries a desperate, positionally flawed Kingside attack, which Sargissian squelches with great defensive play.

Sargissian seemed better all game after 11 … Be7 instead of … B:c3. This game resembled my Daoud game – Sargissian appears to do no more than put his pieces on great squares and wait for Moiseenko’s game to collapse of it’s own weight. It seems so simple it’s hard to believe anybody can’t do it.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.05.30"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Sargissian(ARM)"]
[Black "Moiseenko(UKR)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2612"]
[BlackElo "2665"]
[Opening "Queen's Indian: 4.Nc3"]
[ECO "E12"]
[NIC "NI.26"]
[Time "07:35:56"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 Bb7 6. Nd2 h6 7. Bh4 Nc6 8.
e3 Ne7 9. f3 Ng6 10. Bf2 e5 11. a3 Be7 12. d5 c6 13. Qb3 O-O 14. Bd3 cxd5
15. cxd5 Bc5 16. O-O Ne7 17. e4 d6 18. Bxc5 dxc5 19. a4 Ng6 20. Rfd1 Nh5 21.
Nf1 Qg5 22. Qc2 Nh4 23. Kh1 Rad8 24. Qf2 Bc8 25. g3 Ng6 26. Ne3 Ne7 27. a5
Kh8 28. axb6 axb6 29. Nc4 Bh3 30. Qe3 Qg6 31. Nxe5 Nxg3+ 32. hxg3 Qxg3 33.
Rd2 f5 34. Rh2 fxe4 35. Bxe4 Qxe5 36. Rxh3 Nf5 37. Qf2 Nd6 38. Qh2 Qf6 39.
Rg1 Nxe4 40. Nxe4 Qf5 41. Rg5 Qf7 42. Qe5 Kh7 43. Rhg3 Rd7 44. Rg6 c4 45.
Nf6+ {White wins} 1-0
—————————————————————————-
—————————————————————————-
Round 9 -

Aronian does a fine job of cooling
off the Ukranian volcano Ivanchuk.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.05.30"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Ivanchuk(UKR)"]
[Black "Aronian(ARM)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2731"]
[BlackElo "2756"]
[Opening "English: four knights, kingside fianchetto"]
[ECO "A29"]
[NIC "EO.04"]
[Time "07:12:13"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Nd4 5. Bg2 Nxf3+ 6. Bxf3 Bb4 7. d3 O-O
8. O-O Re8 9. Qb3 Bf8 10. Rd1 c6 11. d4 e4 12. Bg2 h6 13. d5 d6 14. dxc6
bxc6 15. Bf4 Bf5 16. Rac1 Rb8 17. Qc2 Qa5 18. Qd2 Qb6 19. c5 Qxb2 20. Qxb2
Rxb2 21. cxd6 Rb4 22. h3 g5 23. Be3 a6 24. g4 Bg6 25. Rd4 a5 26. Na4 Rc8 27.
Rxb4 axb4 28. Nb6 Rd8 29. d7 Be7 30. Rxc6 Nxd7 31. Nd5 Bf8 32. Rc2 Ra8 33.
Rd2 Ra6 34. Nxb4 Bxb4 35. Rxd7 Rxa2 36. Rd8+ Kg7 37. Bd4+ f6 38. Rd7+ Kf8
39. e3 Be1 40. Rd6 Bxf2+ 41. Kf1 Ke7 42. Rxf6 Bxe3 43. Rxg6 Bxd4 44. Bxe4
Rf2+ 45. Ke1 Rf6 {Game drawn} 1/2-1/2

————————————————————————-
———————————————————————–
Round 10 -
Very tough game – Akopian drifted into an inferior ending out of the Scotch game. This game could have affected medal standings because China ended up second. On move 18 Akopian blundered or sacced a piece away – 19 R:g6!! hg?? 20 ef checkmate so Akopian tries to create a pawn wave with 19 … fe!!

It doesn’t seem the pawns will be going anywhere after 20 R:c6 f4 21 R:c7 so I am not sure what Akopian had in mind. Akopian’s plan also seems to fail after 20 Rd4 f4 21 R:c6 f3 22 Nc3 Zhong got scared and went backwards instead of forwards with 20 Rg1?

Akopian fought back with 20 … f4!!, … Bf5!! and … Rae8!!,
then got over ambitious with 23 … g5? instead of 23 … Bc8!! or other more reasonable moves. Zhong missed a drawing opportunity after 23 … g5? 24 R:g5! Bc8 25 Bf3? instead of 25 Nd3!!! f3! 26 Ne5!!! h6! 27 Ng6+ Kg7 28 Rg3 fe 29 N:f8+ K:f8 30 Rg1 looks equal but I am not 100% sure.

After 25 Bf3? e2! 26 Nd3! Re3! Zhong was down material all game and lost. So Akopian won a clearly inferior ending. That’s what Armenians do.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.05.31"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Zhong(CHN)"]
[Black "Akopian(ARM)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2640"]
[BlackElo "2706"]
[Opening "Scotch game"]
[ECO "C45"]
[NIC "SO.05"]
[Time "07:07:03"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nxc6 Qf6 6. Qf3 Qxf3 7. gxf3
bxc6 8. Be3 Bxe3 9. fxe3 Rb8 10. b3 Ne7 11. Nc3 d6 12. f4 f5 13. Rg1 O-O 14.
Bc4+ Kh8 15. e5 dxe5 16. O-O-O Ng6 17. Rd3 Ra8 18. Na4 exf4 19. Rxg6 fxe3!
20. Rg1 f4 21. Nc5 Bf5 22. Rc3 Rae8 23. Be2 g5 24. Rxg5 Bc8 25. Bf3 e2 26.
Nd3 Re3 27. Bxe2 Rxe2 28. Ne5 Bf5 29. Nxc6 Rxh2 30. Nd4 Be4 31. Rxc7 f3 32.
Nxf3 Bxf3 33. Ra5 Be4 34. Raxa7 Rg2 35. Rc4 Re8 36. b4 h5 37. Rc5 h4 38.
Rh5+ Kg8 39. Rc7 Rg4 40. b5 Bg6 41. Rh6 Re1+ 42. Kd2 Re6 43. Rc8+ Kg7 44.
Rch8 Ree4 45. b6 Rg2+ 46. Kc3 Rg3+ 47. Kd2 Rd4+ 48. Ke2 Rc4 49. Rxg6+ Kxh8
{Black wins}
0-1
————————————————————————-
——————————————————————
Round 10
- This game brought back one of my favorite Chess stories – quick version – played SM Griego – drew opposite colored bishop ending -
studied those ending for 4 months obsessively – Lowell, MA apartment became mega-cluttered – invented dozens of original positions including my favorite – King-f2, pawn g3 White King-f5, pawns g5,f4,e5, Bishop-b7

either side to move – draw
Joan Marie Clifford, a beautiful Irish girl, came into my life, saw my subhuman apartment and fell in love with me anyway. I stopped studying those endings after meeting Joan. August 10, 1993.

Without rooks Aronian-Bu became the same ending as Wall-Griego, 4 pawns to 2 on the same side with opposite colored bishops. However rooks stayed on the board all game so I couldn’t use my 12 year old analysis as much as I would have liked during our Chess.FM Broadcast.

Bu had an incredible Olympiad, drawing Kramnik, Anand, Aronian and beating Kamsky – I think Bu’s performance rating was 2800+ – Bu was a big reason China took the Silver medal.

I can’t really say if Aronian had a win or not but he did torture Bu for 99 moves.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.05.31"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Aronian(ARM)"]
[Black "Bu(CHN)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2756"]
[BlackElo "2640"]
[Opening "QGD Slav: 4.Nc3"]
[ECO "D15"]
[NIC "SL.03"]
[Time "06:23:34"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 a6 5. c5 Bf5 6. Bf4 Nbd7 7. e3 e6 8. Nd2
Be7 9. Be2 Bg6 10. g4 h6 11. h4 b6 12. b4 Ne4 13. Ncxe4 Bxe4 14. Nxe4 dxe4
15. Qc2 bxc5 16. bxc5 e5 17. Bxe5 Nxe5 18. dxe5 Qd5 19. Qc3 O-O 20. Rd1 Qxc5
21. Qxc5 Bxc5 22. Rc1 Ba3 23. Rxc6 Rfc8 24. Rxc8+ Rxc8 25. O-O Rc2 26. Bxa6
Be7 27. h5 Rxa2 28. Bc4 Rc2 29. Bd5 Rd2 30. Bxe4 Bh4 31. Bf5 Kf8 32. e6 fxe6
33. Bxe6 Ke7 34. Bc4 Rc2 35. Bd3 Rd2 36. Bf5 Kd6 37. Kg2 Kc5 38. Kf3 Kd6 39.
Bh7 Kc5 40. Bg8 Kb4 41. Be6 Rc2 42. Bf5 Rd2 43. Bc8 Ra2 44. Bb7 Kc5 45. Kg2
Rb2 46. Bf3 Kd6 47. Be4 Kc5 48. Bf5 Ra2 49. Be6 Rb2 50. Kf3 Kb4 51. Bd5 Kc5
52. Be6 Kb4 53. Kg2 Rd2 54. Bc8 Rc2 55. Bf5 Rd2 56. e4 Kc5 57. e5 Kd5 58. e6
Kd6 59. Kf3 Ke7 60. Ke3 Ra2 61. f4 Ra3+ 62. Ke4 Ra4+ 63. Kf3 Ra3+ 64. Kg2
Rg3+ 65. Kh2 Re3 66. Ra1 Bg3+ 67. Kg2 Bxf4 68. Ra7+ Kf6 69. Kf2 Re5 70. Kf3
Bd2 71. Rd7 Bc1 72. Rf7+ Kg5 73. Rxg7+ Kh4 74. Rd7 Re3+ 75. Kf2 Re5 76. Rd1
Ba3 77. Kf3 Kg5 78. Rd7 Bc1 79. Rd3 Kf6 80. Rc3 Bd2 81. Rc2 Bb4 82. Rc8 Bd2
83. Rg8 Bc1 84. Rf8+ Kg5 85. Rc8 Bd2 86. Rc2 Bf4 87. Rc3 Bd2 88. Rc4 Re3+
89. Kf2 Re5 90. Rc6 Bf4 91. Rc3 Bd2 92. Rd3 Bf4 93. Rf3 Bd2 94. Kg3 Kf6 95.
g5+ Kxg5 96. Bg4 Bb4 97. Kh3 Bc5 98. Rd3 Be7 99. Kg3 Ra5 {Game drawn}
1/2-1/2
—————————————————————–
——————————————————————
Round 11 -
This game was very funny to me – I had a great time doing two shows with IM Cyrus Lakdawala – our second show Leon06 with Anand and Bruzon, Cyrus did a fabulous job predicting moves but our first ICC show, Round 11 of the Olympiad, we were almost comically wrong all show long – as a typical example we predicted after 20 … g6 Navara would hang on for a very long time but just 5 moves later Navara resigned in a -12 position.

Navara had a reasonable game after 10 … ed or … B:e5 but 10 … Nc3?? lost to the flashy 11 Nf7!!! – It was all bad after that.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.06.02"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Aronian(ARM)"]
[Black "Navara(CZE)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2756"]
[BlackElo "2658"]
[Opening "Queen's Indian: Opocensky variation"]
[ECO "E17"]
[NIC "QI.07"]
[Time "07:58:12"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. Nc3 Ne4 7. Bd2 f5 8.
Qc2 Bf6 9. Ne5 d5 10. cxd5 Nxc3 11. Nf7 Qd7 12. Bxc3 Bxd5 13. Bxd5 Qxd5 14.
e4 fxe4 15. Nxh8 Nc6 16. O-O Ke7 17. Rae1 Rxh8 18. Rxe4 Rd8 19. Rfe1 Rd6 20.
Rf4 g6 21. h4 Rd7 22. h5 Bxd4 23. hxg6 hxg6 24. Qxg6 Ne5 25. Qf6+ {White
wins} 1-0
——————————————————————
——————————————————————
Round 11 -
This was another funny game to me-
Cyrus and I went on and on for 5 minutes how much we loved Akopian’s 20 .. Rg4 move only to have the game drawn 3 moves later. I still love the superactive 20 … Rg4!!! but I guess it was only
good enough for equality.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.06.02"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Hracek(CZE)"]
[Black "Akopian(ARM)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2593"]
[BlackElo "2706"]
[Opening "Caro-Kann: classical, Spassky variation"]
[ECO "B19"]
[NIC "CK.12"]
[Time "07:58:44"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 Nd7 8.
h5 Bh7 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 e6 11. Bf4 Qa5+ 12. Bd2 Bb4 13. c3 Be7 14. Ne4
Ngf6 15. Nxf6+ gxf6 16. b4 Qc7 17. a4 O-O-O 18. Qe2 Rdg8 19. Kf1 f5 20. c4
Rg4 21. a5 Kb8 22. a6 b6 23. Rd1 Ka8 {Game drawn} 1/2-1/2
——————————————————————
——————————————————————
You can see how playing over so many Armenian games would affect me – They always seem to have solid, sane, sound positions – that’s how I tried to play against Daoud – just to show you how two wildmen play non Armenian Chess for comparison purposes here is a draw from the asylum between Radjbov and Ivanchuk, same Round 11, Olympiad, Turin, Italy.

I won’t even attempt to guess what was going on in this game, I just wanted you to realize how distinct the Armenian style really is -
none of their Olympic victories looked like this game. I have been trying to play like Radjabov-Ivanchuk for 7 years now but seeing the Armenians win the gold made me nostalgic for a simpler, safer style like I used to have, to slip on the comfortable old slippers.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.06.02"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Radjabov(AZE)"]
[Black "Ivanchuk(UKR)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2717"]
[BlackElo "2731"]
[Opening "Sicilian: Najdorf, 7...Be7 main line"]
[ECO "B99"]
[NIC "SI.09"]
[Time "08:09:33"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Be7 8.
Qf3 Qc7 9. O-O-O Nbd7 10. g4 b5 11. Bxf6 Nxf6 12. g5 Nd7 13. Bh3 b4 14. Nce2
Nc5 15. Ng3 g6 16. Bg2 e5 17. Nde2 Be6 18. Kb1 Qa5 19. Nc1 Rb8 20. Rd5 Rb5
21. Nb3 Qc7 22. h4 h6 23. gxh6 Rxh6 24. Rdd1 Rxh4 25. Rxh4 Bxh4 26. f5 Bc8
27. Rh1 g5 28. Nh5 Bb7 29. Qg4 Nxb3 30. axb3 Rc5 31. Rxh4 gxh4 32. Nf6+ Ke7
33. Qxh4 Qd8 34. Bf1 a5 35. Bc4 Rxc4 36. bxc4 a4 37. b3 axb3 38. cxb3 Bc6
39. Kc1 Kf8 40. Qh6+ Ke7 41. Qg5 Qf8 42. Kd2 Kd8 43. Nd5+ Kd7 44. Qe3 Qb8
45. Nf6+ {Game drawn} 1/2-1/2
——————————————————————
——————————————————————
Round 12-
This was an exciting game …
for an Armenian.
Not in the Radjabov-Ivanchuk way.
An endgame exchange sac holds the draw and
brings Armenia closer to a Gold medal.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.06.03"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Sargissian(ARM)"]
[Black "Vachier(FRA)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2612"]
[BlackElo "2576"]
[Opening "Grünfeld: Stockholm variation"]
[ECO "D80"]
[NIC "GI.03"]
[Time "06:04:20"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Ne4 5. Bh4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 dxc4 7. e3 Be6
8. Qb1 Qd5 9. Nf3 Qa5 10. Qb2 Nd7 11. Be2 Nb6 12. O-O Bg7 13. Nd2 c5 14. Nb3
Qb5 15. Qa3 Qa4 16. Qxa4+ Nxa4 17. Nxc5 Nxc5 18. dxc5 Bxc3 19. Rab1 b6 20.
cxb6 axb6 21. Rxb6 O-O 22. Rxe6 fxe6 23. Bxc4 Kf7 24. Bb3 Rfd8 25. g4 Bf6
26. g5 Bb2 27. Bg3 Ra5 28. h4 Rd3 29. Kg2 Be5 30. Rc1 Bxg3 31. Kxg3 h6 32.
gxh6 Rh5 33. Rc4 Rd6 34. Rf4+ Kg8 35. Re4 Kf7 36. Rf4+ Kg8 37. Re4 Kf7
{Game drawn}
1/2-1/2
——————————————————————
——————————————————————
Round 12 -
Bacrot was having an amazing Olympiad,
his early rounds produced a 3000 performance rating -
This was an important draw with a very hot player,
practically clinching the gold medal.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.06.03"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Bacrot(FRA)"]
[Black "Aronian(ARM)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2708"]
[BlackElo "2756"]
[Opening "Ruy Lopez: closed, 7...O-O"]
[ECO "C88"]
[NIC "RL.17"]
[Time "06:02:25"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8.
h3 Bb7 9. d3 d6 10. a3 Na5 11. Ba2 c5 12. Nbd2 Nc6 13. Nf1 Bc8 14. c3 Be6
15. Bxe6 fxe6 16. b4 Qd7 17. Ng3 a5 18. bxc5 dxc5 19. Qb3 Rab8 20. a4 b4 21.
Rd1 bxc3 22. Qxc3 Nd4 23. Nxd4 exd4 24. Qc2 Bd6 25. Bd2 Qc7 26. Nf1 c4 27.
dxc4 Rbc8 28. Rab1 Qxc4 29. Qxc4 Rxc4 30. Re1 Nd7 31. Bxa5 Rxa4 32. Ra1 Rxa1
33. Rxa1 Nc5 34. Bb6 Rb8 35. Bxc5 Bxc5 36. Rc1 Be7 {Game drawn} 1/2-1/2
——————————————————————
——————————————————————
Round 12 -
Armenia drew every game their last two rounds – Round 12 draws look like real fights, I believe the final round draws were more like an arranged Team draw deal. Asrian lost in the first round, which may have been good thing, maybe a wakeup call for the whole team.

They played very carefully after that, losing very few games. Asrian holds the draw against the very sharp, ambitious, active, improving young player Fressinet.

[Event "37th Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Torino, Italy"]
[Date "2006.06.03"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Fressinet(FRA)"]
[Black "Asrian(ARM)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2633"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[Opening "Caro-Kann: advance variation"]
[ECO "B12"]
[NIC "CK.04"]
[Time "06:03:28"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 Nd7 6. O-O Bg6 7. Nbd2 Nh6 8.
Nb3 Nf5 9. Bd2 Be7 10. g4 Nh4 11. Nxh4 Bxh4 12. f4 Be4 13. Bd3 Bxd3 14. cxd3
Be7 15. f5 Nf8 16. Qf3 Qd7 17. h3 h5 18. gxh5 exf5 19. Qxf5 Qxf5 20. Rxf5 g6
21. hxg6 fxg6 22. Rf3 Ne6 23. Raf1 b6 24. Be3 Rh4 25. Rg3 Kd7 26. Kg2 Rah8
27. Rh1 g5 28. Rg4 Rxg4+ 29. hxg4 Rxh1 30. Kxh1 a5 31. Nd2 a4 32. Kg2 b5 33.
Nf3 Ke8 34. Kf2 Bd8 35. Ke2 {Game drawn} 1/2-1/2
——————————————————————
——————————————————————-
If I could pick one Armenian game that most resembled the strategy I employed against Daoud it would Sargissian-Moiseenko where perfect piece placement pressure made Moiseenko desperate.

If I could pick one Armenian game I would like to play like every game it would be the first round Sargissian-Soto brilliancy, combining perfect strategy with some sound sacrifices.
——————————————————————
——————————————————————
Snoring Defense game -
[Event "Maydaze"]
[Site "VFW"]
[Date "2004.05.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Brian Wall"]
[Black "Kevin Seidler"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ICCResult "Drawn by Agreement"]
[WhiteElo "ICC 2421"]
[BlackElo "ICC 2220"]
[Opening "French: Réti (Spielmann) variation"]
[ECO "C00"]
[NIC "FR.01"]
[Time "13:56:35"]
[TimeControl "35/85 G/60"]

1. e4 e6 2. b3 d5 3. Bb2 c5 4. e5 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. g3 f5 7. exf6 Nxf6 8.
Ne5 Bd6 9. f4 O-O 10. Bg2 Bxe5 11. fxe5 Ne4 12. Rf1 Qg5 13. Bxe4 Rxf1+ 14.
Kxf1 dxe4 15. Qe2 Rf8+ 16. Kg1 Nxe5 17. Bxe5 Qxe5 18. Nc3 Bc6 19. Re1 Qd4+
20. Qe3 Qxe3+ 21. Rxe3 Rd8 22. Re2 b5 23. Rf2 b4 24. Nd1 Rf8 25. Rxf8+ Kxf8
26. Kf2 Ke7 27. Ke3 Kf6 28. Kf4 g5+ 29. Ke3 Kf5 30. Nf2 Ke5 31. g4 a5

1/2-1/2
——————————————————————
——————————————————————

Spongebob Squarepants games
——————————————————————
——————————————————————

[Event "Denver Chess Club Quad"]
[Site "Cherry Creek Community Center, Denver"]
[Date "2005.12.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "brianwall"]
[Black "Mrs. Puff"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black resigns"]
[WhiteElo "2211"]
[BlackElo "1653"]
[Opening "SpongeBob Squarepants"]
[ECO "A00"]
[Time "06:00:14"]
[TimeControl "Game/30"]

1. f3 e5 2. g3 d5 3. c3 Nc6 4. b3 Bd6 5. Nh3 Nf6 6. Nf2 Be6 7. Na3 Qd7 8.
Nc2 e4 9. Bg2 exf3 10. exf3 Qe7 11. O-O O-O-O 12. Re1 Qd7 13. d4 h5 14. Nd3
h4 15. Ne5 Qe8 16. Bg5 hxg3 17. hxg3 Rh5 18. Qd2 Ne7 19. Kf2 Rh2 20. Rh1 Rh5
21. Bxf6 Rxh1 22. Rxh1 gxf6 23. Nd3 Qg8 24. Nf4 Nf5 25. g4 Bxf4 26. Qxf4 Nd6
27. Qxf6 Qe8 28. Ne3 Qc6 29. Rc1 Qa6 30. Rc2 Qd3 31. Qh6 Re8 32. Bf1 Qg6 33.
Qxg6 fxg6 34. Bd3 g5 35. Kg3 Rf8 36. Rh2 a6 37. Rh7 Rg8 38. c4 dxc4 39. bxc4
c6 40. d5 cxd5 41. cxd5 Bd7 42. Bf5 Nxf5+ 43. Nxf5 Kd8 44. Nd6 b5 45. Rh5
Rg7 46. Ne4 a5 47. Nxg5 a4 48. Ne6+ Bxe6 49. dxe6 b4 50. Rb5 b3 51. axb3
axb3 52. Rxb3 Re7 53. Re3 Kc7 54. f4 Kd6 55. f5 Re8 56. Kf4 Ke7 57. Ke5 Rf8
58. Ra3

Mrs. Puff resigned
——————————————————————
——————————————————————
[Event "Denver Chess Club Quad"]
[Site "Cherry Creek Community Center, Denver"]
[Date "2005.12.13"]
[Round "2"]
[White "brianwall"]
[Black "Marc Jimenez"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black resigns"]
[WhiteElo "2211"]
[BlackElo "2000"]
[Opening "SpongeBob Squarepants"]
[ECO "A00"]
[Time "06:00:14"]
[TimeControl "Game/30"]

1. f3 d6 2. g3 c5 3. c3 Nc6 4. b3 Bd7 5. Nh3 h5 6. Na3 h4 7. g4 g6 8. Nc2
Bg7 9. Bg2 Qb6 10. O-O O-O-O 11. e4 f5 12. g5 e5 13. Ne3 Nge7 14. Nd5 Nxd5
15. exd5 Ne7 16. c4 f4 17. Bb2 Nf5 18. Nf2 h3 19. Bxh3 Rxh3 20. Nxh3 Rh8 21.
Nf2 Nh4 22. Ne4 Bf5 23. d3 Rh5 24. Rf2 Bf8 25. Qe2 Be7 26. Kh1 Bxe4 27. dxe4
Bxg5 28. Bc3 Be7 29. Rg1 g5 30. Qd1 Ng6 31. a3 Qa6 32. Ra2 Nf8 33. Qe2 Qb6
34. b4 Ng6 35. Be1 a6 36. Bf2 Qc7 37. bxc5 dxc5 38. Qf1 Qa5 39. Qg2 Kb8 40.
Be1 Qa4 41. Qc2 Qd7 42. Rg4 Nh4 43. Bxh4 gxh4 44. h3 Bd8 45. Rb2 Rg5 46. Qg2
Rh5 47. Rg7 Be7 48. Kh2 Ka7 49. Qg6 Rg5 50. Qb6+ Kb8 51. Rh7 Bd8

Black resigns
——————————————————————-
——————————————————————-
[Event "Denver Chess Club Quad"]
[Site "Cherry Creek Community Center, Denver"]
[Date "2005.12.13"]
[Round "3"]
[White "brianwall"]
[Black "J.C. MacNeil"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White resigns"]
[WhiteElo "2211"]
[BlackElo "1700"]
[Opening "SpongeBob Squarepants Defense"]
[ECO "A00"]
[Time "06:00:14"]
[TimeControl "Game/30"]

1. e4 f6 2. d4 g6 3. f4 c6 4. f5 b6 5. Bc4 d5 6. exd5 cxd5 7. Bb5+ Kf7
8.fxg6+ hxg6 9. Nf3 Nh6 10. Nc3 Nf5 11. Rf1 e6 12. g4 Nd6 13. Bf4 a6
14. Ne5+ Kg8 15. Nxg6 axb5 16. Nxh8 Kxh8 17. Qf3 Nc6 18. Bxd6 Bxd6
19. Nxb5 Be7 20.g5 f5 21. Qh5+ Kg7 22. Qh6+ Kf7 23. Qh7+ Ke8 24. Rg1 Ba6
25. Nc3 Kd7 26. O-O-O Qh8 27. Qxh8 Rxh8 28. g6 Bf6 29. h4 Bxh4 30. g7 Rg8
31. Rg6 Ne7 32.Rh6 Bg5+

White resigns
——————————————————————-
——————————————————————-

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A while back someone asked about chess courses to improve their game and we had several good examples including websites where you could get a free trial for lessons. Well to add on to that here is another viewpoint on using different software for different parts of the classic game.

CT-ART 3.0 is just one program from the large series of products
devoted to all stages of chess game: opening, middlegame and endgame.

CT-ART is an excellent program on chess tactics, but for other stages
the best are the following programs:

Opening Instructor for opening
Chess Strategy for middlegame
Theory and Practice of Chess Endings for endgame

You can see this software and many other training programs at the
site ChessOK.com

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Does anyone have any experience with the Adaptive Tactics Server Adaptive Tactics Server? Supposedly, it can diagnose weaknesses with particular motifs in your game and serve up those types of problems more frequently. I’ve used it and like it. What do more experienced members of the group think of it?

I’ve never heard of it but it sounds quite beneficial if it does what you say. I’m going to go check it out. I could certainly use some outside intervention to help me improve.

Its a little tricky to join.  You get sent to the site linked on this page and then click on (home page on this domain).  Go there and scroll down and look on the right hand side for (register).  Give it your Username and a valid email address.  It will then send you your password.  Click on your email and get your password and there is a link in your email to click on.

Click it and log in and then go to ATS (Snufflenose) website and then (Solve Problems).  I did it for about 45 minutes and it gave me a pretty solid appraisal.  It gives you several different type of situations so you are being graded in middle game, end game, loose piece, overload, etc…

Give it shot, I had fun and it will help in the long run I think.

I just found a nice chess club in my town and I’ve already joined the forums online. Now I need to meet up with the club. I’ve always enjoyed club play. I played in a great club back when I lived in Maine. We had some very good players.

I think our best player was rated around 1900 or 2000. I think the club in my town has at least one IM. It would be great to find a mentor there. In the mean time, it would be nice to try this out and see if it’ll help with refining my own tactics (or lack thereof).

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