Open event at the 43rd Chess Olympiad
General information | |
---|---|
Dates run | 24 September – 5 October 2018 |
Competitors | 920 |
Teams | 185 |
Nations | 180 |
Venue | Sport Palace Batumi |
Location | Batumi, Georgia |
Team medalists | |
China United States Russia | |
Board gold medalists | |
Board 1 Board 2 Board 3 Board 4 Reserve |
Ding Liren Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn Jorge Cori Daniel Fridman Anton Korobov |
The open event at the 43rd Chess Olympiad was held from 24 September to 5 October 2018. It was contested by a record number of 185 teams, representing 180 nations.[1] Georgia, as host nation, fielded three teams, whilst the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA), the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA), and the International Chess Committee of the Deaf (ICCD) each provided one team. A total of 920 players participated in the open event.[2]
China won the gold medal in the open event for the second time after they previously claimed the title in 2014. They scored eight wins, two draws and one loss for a total of 18 match points. The same result was achieved by the United States and Russia, who had inferior tie-breakers and came up on the podium by winning the silver and bronze medal, respectively.[3] Jorge Cori of Peru, playing on board three, was the best individual player in the open event by scoring 7+1/2 out of 8 points (seven wins and one draw) with a rating performance of 2925.[4] The other gold medalists include Ding Liren of China on board one who scored 5+1/2 out of 8 points with a rating performance of 2873, Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn of Vietnam on board two who scored 8+1/2 out of 10 points with a rating performance of 2804, Daniel Fridman of Germany who scored 7+1/2 out of 9 points with a rating performance of 2814, and Anton Korobov of Ukraine as reserve player who scored 6+1/2 out of 8 points with a rating performance of 2773.[5]
Competition format and calendar
The tournament was played in a Swiss system format. The time control for all games was 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, after which an additional 30 minutes were granted and increment of 30 seconds per move was applied. Players were permitted to offer a draw at any time. A total of 11 rounds were played, with all teams playing in every round.[6]
In each round, four players from each team faced four players from another team; teams were permitted one reserve player who could be substituted between rounds. The four games were played simultaneously on four boards,
Tournament rounds started on 24 September and end edwith the final round on 5 October. All rounds started at 15:00 GET (UTC+4), except for the final round which started at 11:00 GET (UTC+4). There was one rest day at the tournament, on 29 September after the fifth round.[7]
1 | Round | RD | Rest day |
September/October | 24th Mon |
25th Tue |
26th Wed |
27th Thu |
28th Fri |
29th Sat |
30th Sun |
1st Mon |
2nd Tue |
3rd Wed |
4th Thu |
5th Fri | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tournament round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | RD | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
Teams and players
The open section of the tournament was contested by a record number of 185 teams, representing 180 nations.[1] Georgia, as host nation, have fielded three teams, whilst the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA), the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA), and the International Chess Committee of the Deaf (ICCD) have each provided one team.[8]
The tournament featured nine out of the top ten players from the
This was the first time
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Upcoming World Chess Champion challenger and world no. 2 Fabiano Caruana was playing on board one for the United States
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World no. 3 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov was playing on board one for Azerbaijan
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World no. 4 Ding Liren was playing on board one for China
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Former World Champion and world no. 10 Vishwanathan Anand was playing on board one for India
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Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik was playing on board three for Russia
Rounds
Round 1
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As is common in the first round of an Olympiad, several of the poorer federations were unable to field teams. Omitted from the pairings were Nigeria, Pakistan, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, Somalia, Burundi and Congo.[13] Maldives and Togo were unable to field the required three players and forfeited their matches. Reflecting the disparity in strength between the teams, there were no upsets on the team level; all the higher ranked teams won. The majority of matches ended in 4–0 score lines, although several teams conceded draws. The biggest upset of the round was the defeat of Chinese grandmaster Li Chao, who misplayed a drawn endgame against Morocco's Mohamed-Mehdi Aithmidou. Another grandmaster to suffer a defeat was the Canadian Aman Hambleton, who lost to the Nepalese player Rijendra Rajbhandari.[14] The best game prize, awarded each round by a committee headed by Susan Polgar, was awarded to Davit Maghalashvili of the Georgia 2 team for a spectacular combination against Renato Frick of Liechtenstein, who resigned rather than allow the combination to be played out.[15]
Round 2
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Amid reports that the Pakistan team had been prevented from leaving their country due to internal politics,[16] all the teams except Pakistan were paired for the second round.[17] On the top board, the top-seeded team from the United States struggled against Georgia's number three team, who were rated on average over 300 Elo lower – only Wesley So was able to score the full point. The second-seeded Russian team also conceded two draws against Ireland, Russian-born grandmaster Alexander Baburin holding Sergey Karjakin on the top board while IM David Fitzsimmons held Dmitry Jakovenko on board 4. An upset occurred in Hungary vs Albania when Peter Leko, after refuting Erald Dervishi's unsound tactics, blundered in a won position; the match ended in a 2–2 draw. Another notable player to lose was David Navara, who went down to Tajikistan's Farrukh Amonatov, however Czech Republic still won the match by a 3–1 margin. In his first Olympiad game in 12 years, Viswanathan Anand defeated Austrian grandmaster Markus Ragger, helping the Indian team to a 3½–½ win.[18] At the conclusion of the round 41 teams had won both their matches, including seven teams with perfect 8/8 game results.[19] Brazilian grandmaster Alexandr Fier was awarded the daily best game prize for a mating combination against Robert Aloma Vidal of Andorra involving a double rook sacrifice pattern described by chessvibes reporter Peter Doggers as "common in kids books but exceedingly rare in actual chess!"[20][18]
Round 3
The highest rated clash was between the top-seeded United States and 13th-seeded Netherlands. The game between the super-GMs Anish Giri and Fabiano Caruana was uneventful and the match was looking to be heading for a draw until two of the Dutch players erred in the endgame, handing the US a 3–1 win. China defeated Peru 3–1, Ding Liren making his comeback following a bicycle accident in Norway, however Wei Yi lost to Jorge Cori. Russia edged out the Georgia 2 team by a margin of 2½–1½, needing Vladimir Kramnik to provide the match win. India comfortably defeated Canada while England edged out Brazil when Gawain Jones held a difficult endgame against Krikor Mekhitarian. France took the overall lead by defeating Algeria 3½–½, for a total game score of 11½/12, closely followed by Israel who beat Iceland by the same margin for a score of 11. A total of 18 teams had perfect match scores of 3/3.[21]
Round 4
The top encounter of the fourth round took place on the third table, where the United States recorded a 2½-1½ but comfortable win over India.
Round 5
The fifth round saw another upset, as the China–Czech Republic match ended 1–3. Yu Yangyi was outplayed by Láznička, while Jiří Štoček capitalised on a mistake to win with black against Wei Yi. Poland continued their strong form by defeating France 3–1, and Azerbaijan edged out their rivals Armenia 2½–1½. The United States were held to a draw by Israel, which left Ukraine as the only other team to maintain their winning streak after they defeated Spain.[26]
Round 6
The four remaining teams on a perfect score faced off against each other. Azerbaijan recorded a convincing 3–1 victory over the Czech Republic, while Poland defeated Ukraine thanks to 20-year-old
Round 7
The top pairing in round 7 saw Azerbaijan and Poland draw on all boards. The United States defeated 18th-seeded Croatia 3–1 to join Azerbaijan and Poland on 13/14. Wesley So and Sam Shankland won with white, and Caruana and Nakamura recorded draws with black. Armenia's 2½–1½ win over Belarus saw them rise to clear fourth with 12/14, as the China–Ukraine, Germany–Netherlands and Israel–Czech Republic matches were all drawn.[29]
Round 8
A sole leader was established for the first time in the tournament as the United States defeated Azerbaijan 2½–1½. Teimour Radjabov struck first on board 2, defeating So. This was followed by Nakamura being held by Arkadij Naiditsch to another draw. Caruana equalised the score by defeating Mamedyarov, then Shankland with black converted the point against Rauf Mamedov to give the victory to the United States. The Poland–Armenia match ended with four draws, with Duda holding well against Aronian on top board. India defeated the Czech Republic 2½–1½, with three draws and one decisive game. It was the same scenario in the Israel–England match, where Luke McShane scored against Maxim Rodshtein. Germany defeated Spain by 2½–1½, with Daniel Fridman improving his score to 6½/7 as he defeated Josep Manuel López Martínez . A 2½–1½ result was also seen in the France–Ukraine and China–Netherlands matches.[30]
Round 9
Poland defeated the United States 2½–1½ to take first place. So and Shankland were held to draws with white, while Nakamura lost to Piorun and Caruana missed a win in a rook and bishop versus rook endgame against Duda. China and Armenia recorded 2½–1½ victories over Azerbaijan and India, respectively, to stay in contention for gold. England defeated Norway 3–1 to reach 15/18 along with the United States, China and Armenia.[31]
Round 10
China inflicted Poland's first defeat in the Olympiad as Ding Liren and Li Chao recorded wins. The United States defeated Armenia 2½–1½ to join China on 17/20, thus setting up a US–China clash for the gold medal in the final round. Russia and France won against England and Croatia, respectively, to both move up to joint-third place with Poland. Azerbaijan suffered their third successive 2½–1½ loss, this time to Ukraine, leaving them on 13/20 and out of the running for a podium place.[32]
Round 11
The derby match of the last round was contested by China and the United States on the top table, which ended in a tie with four draws. Russia narrowly beat France 2½-1½ thanks to Ian Nepomniachtchi's win against Étienne Bacrot on the second board and equalised the number of match points of China and the United States on the top. The tie-break, however, determined that China to win the gold, United States the silver and Russia the bronze medal. On the other top tables, the matches India-Poland, Germany-Armenia and Ukraine-Czech Republic were all tied, while England crushed Kazakhstan 3½–½ to climb to the fifth position overall.[3][33]
Final standings
China won the gold medal in the open event for the second time after they have previously claimed the title in 2014. They scored eight wins, two draws and one loss for a total of 18 match points. The same result was achieved by the United States and Russia, who had inferior tie-breakers and came up on the podium by winning the silver and bronze medal, respectively.[3] United States were on track to defending the title and were the sole leader after eight rounds,[34][35] but their loss to Poland in the ninth round set them back from winning the gold.[36] Despite the slow start and implausible play, Russia finished the tournament with four consecutive victories to catch China and the United States, which was only enough for the third place because of the relatively weaker schedule.[37] Poland were the biggest surprise of the tournament. They scored minimal match victories against the two top seeds, Russia in the fourth and the United States in the ninth round, and topped the table as sole leader after nine rounds.[38] Their loss to China in the penultimate and tie with India in the ultimate round, however, placed them on the fourth place overall with 17 match points, which was only equaled by England who came on the fifth place at the end.[37] The only unbeaten team in the open event was Germany with five wins and six draws but this score earned them only the 13th place.[39] Teams that disappointed the most were Azerbaijan (the fourth seeds) who finished in 15th place, Israel in 39th place, and Netherlands in 40th place.[40]
Jorge Cori of Peru, playing on board three, was the best individual player in the open event by scoring 7½ out of 8 points (seven wins and one draw) with a rating performance of 2925. The other gold medalists include Ding Liren of China on board one who scored 5½ out of 8 points with a rating performance of 2873, Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn of Vietnam on board two who scored 8½ out of 10 points with a rating performance of 2804, Daniel Fridman of Germany who scored 7½ out of 9 points with a rating performance of 2814, and Anton Korobov of Ukraine as reserve player who scored 6½ out of 8 points with a rating performance of 2773.[5]
Team standings
# | Country | Players | Average rating |
MP | dSB |
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1 | China | Ding, Yu, Wei, Bu, Li | 2756 | 18 | 372.5 |
2 | United States | Caruana, So, Nakamura, Shankland, Robson | 2772 | 18 | 360.5 |
3 | Russia | Karjakin, Nepomniachtchi, Kramnik, Vitiugov, Jakovenko | 2764 | 18 | 354.5 |
4 | Poland | 2673 | 17 | 390.0 | |
5 | England | Adams, McShane, Howell, Jones, Pert | 2688 | 17 | 340.0 |
6 | India | Adhiban, Sasikiran |
2724 | 16 | 388.0 |
7 | Vietnam | Khoi, Hải |
2576 | 16 | 379.5 |
8 | Armenia | Aronian, Sargissian, Melkumyan, Hovhannisyan, Martirosyan | 2688 | 16 | 371.0 |
9 | France | Vachier-Lagrave, Bacrot, Fressinet, Édouard, Bauer | 2688 | 16 | 366.0 |
10 | Ukraine | 2698 | 16 | 337.0 |
- Notes
- Average ratings calculated by chess-results.com based in September 2018 ratings.
Board standings
All board prizes were given out according to performance ratings for players who have played at least eight games at the tournament. Jorge Cori on the third board had the best performance of all players in the tournament.[4] The winners of the gold medal on each board are listed in turn:[5]
- Board 1: Ding Liren 2873
- Board 2: Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn 2804
- Board 3: Jorge Cori 2926
- Board 4: Daniel Fridman 2814
- Reserve: Anton Korobov 2773
Norms and titles
Seven players achieved Grandmaster
See also
References
- ^ a b "43rd Olympiad Batumi 2018 Open". Chess-Results.com.
- ^ "43rd Olympiad Batumi 2018 Open - Alphabetical list of players in the Open event". Chess-Results.com.
- ^ a b c "43rd Chess Olympiad: Double gold for China!". FIDE. 5 October 2018. Archived from the original on 25 September 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- ^ a b "The best players (Final Ranking after 11 Rounds) - Open". Chess-Results.com.
- ^ a b c "The best player per board: according Ratingperformance - Open". Chess-Results.com.
- ^ a b "FIDE Handbook: Olympiad Pairing Rules". FIDE.
- ^ "43rd CHess Olympiad Batumi - Invitation" (PDF). Batumi Chess Olympiad Organizing Committee. p. 11. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
- ^ "Teams – Open". official website. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
- ^ "Back in Chess Olympiad after 12 years, Vishwanathan Anand hopeful of a good show". The News Minute. 15 September 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
- ^ "Eugene Torre named head coach of PH team to Chess Olympiad". Rappler. 23 July 2018.
- Chess24.com. 22 September 2018.
- ^ Klein, Mike (10 August 2018). "Chess Olympiad Lineups Announced; Russian Streak Ends". Chess.com.
- ^ Herzog, Heinz. "43rd Olympiad Batumi 2018 Open". Chess-Results.com.
- ^ Klein, Mike (24 September 2018). "7 Minutes Of Tension In Chess Olympiad's 1st Round". Chess.com.
- ^ "I was disappointed when my opponent resigned", official site, 25 September 2018
- ^ Chess Breaks Down - Senator Klasoom Perveen put the players' names on Exit Control List, JavedCh.com (In Urdu), 24 September 2018
- ^ Herzog, Heinz. "43rd Olympiad Batumi 2018 Open". Chess-Results.com.
- ^ a b Doggers, Pete (25 September 2018). "Marriage Proposal Sparks Up Chess Olympiad Day 2". Chess.com.
- ^ Ranking crosstable after round 2. Chess-Results.com.
- ^ The Batumi Organizers of the 43rd Chess Olympiad Awarded the Brilliancy Prizes for Round 2, 26 September 2018
- ^ Klein, Mike (26 September 2018). "Chess Olympiad: So Paces Team USA". Chess.com.
- ^ a b c Shah, Sagar (28 September 2018). "Batumi Olympiad Round 4: Poles beat the mighty Russians!". ChessBase.com.
- ^ "43rd Chess Olympiad - Round 4". FIDE. 28 September 2018. Archived from the original on 25 September 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- ^ Doggers, Peter (27 September 2018). "Chess Olympiad: Poland Beats Russia, Kramnik Gets Checkmated". Chess.com.
- ^ McGourty, Colin (28 September 2018). "Batumi 2018, 4: Kramnik falls as Poland beat Russia". Chess24.com.
- ^ Batumi Olympiad Round 5: Chinese men stunned, USA women are sole leaders. ChessBase.com.
- ^ Batumi Olympiad Round 6: Poland, Azerbaijan lead in open and USA, Armenia in the women's. ChessBase.com.
- ^ Chess Olympiad: Azerbaijan, Poland Still Perfect. Chess.com.
- ^ Chess Olympiad: U.S. Joins Poland, Azerbaijan In Lead. Chess.com.
- ^ Chess Olympiad: U.S. Grabs Sole Lead In Round 8. Chess.com.
- ^ Chess Olympiad: Poland Continues Remarkable Run, Beats USA. Chess.com.
- ^ Chess Olympiad: China Ends Polish Run, Plays U.S. For Gold. Chess.com.
- ^ "43rd Olympiad Batumi 2018 Women - Board pairings in Round 11". Chess-Results.com.
- ^ McGourty, Colin (3 October 2018). "Batumi 2018, 8: USA lead as Fabi beats Shak". Chess24.com.
- ^ "43rd Olympiad Batumi 2018 Open - Ranking list after Round 8". Chess-Results.com.
- ^ McGourty, Colin (4 October 2018). "Batumi 2018, 9: Nakamura loses as Poland beat USA". Chess24.com.
- ^ a b Klein, Mike (5 October 2018). "Chess Olympiad: China Wins Double Gold". Chess.com.
- ^ "43rd Olympiad Batumi 2018 Open - Ranking list after Round 9". Chess-Results.com.
- ^ McGourty, Colin (6 October 2018). "Quadruple Olympiad gold for China: 16 conclusions". Chess24.com.
- ^ "43rd Olympiad Batumi 2018 Open - Ranking list after Round 8". Chess-Results.com.
- ^ "Final Ranking after 11 Rounds - Open". Chess-Results.com.
- ^ 43rd Olympiad Batumi 2018 Open - IM/GM Norms. Chess-Results.com.
- ^ 43rd Olympiad Batumi 2018 Open - FIDE Master. Chess-Results.com.
- ^ 43rd Olympiad Batumi 2018 Open - Candidate Master. Chess-Results.com.
External links
- Official website
- Open event at Chess-Results