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2010 Chess Olympiad: Ukraine is gold, and Russia is silver
03.10.2010
– It had all the hallmarks of a nail-biter, and we were not disappointed. Ukraine held Israel at bay while waiting to see how Russia did against Spain. All looked good when Kramnik surprised Shirov in the opening and proceeded to outplay him, but the Spaniards struck back with a surprise win by Salgado over Svidler. This sealed their fate, and hands were shaken.
Final report and wrap-up.
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41st Chess Olympiad to be staged in – Tromsø!
02.10.2010
– On its last working day the FIDE General Assembly took a decision on the venue of the 41st World Chess Olympiad in 2014. There were two cities bidding to host the event – Albena in Bulgaria and Tromsø in Norway. The bidding procedure lasted several days, in the end the Norwegians won by a 95-47 vote margin. We have reported extensively on Tromsø –
here's a summary.
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An old truth
02.10.2010
– A key game in the top match Ukraine-Russia was to some extent decided before
it started; Sergey Karjakin had found a hole in Pavel Eljanov's opening repertoire.
To do so, the top scorer for Russia had heeded an old truth and had discovered
in one of his opponent's victories (Inarkiev-Eljanov, Astrakhan 2010, 0-1) an
improvement for White.
ChessBase Magazine 138, which has just appeared, could have saved Eljanov.
In his theoretical article on the Caro-Kann Advance Variation
Leonid Kritz just happens to demonstrate how. See Bologan-Dalo
with comments by Kritz and Karjakin-Eljanov
with light comments.
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2010 Chess Olympiad: Ukraine crushes France; Russian women are gold
01.10.2010
– It was a round that pretty much illustrated the Olympiad: the Russian women swept Bulgaria for the gold, Ukraine clobbered France to maintain their lead going into the last round, and the top-rated players stumbled (again), while Ivanchuk and Shirov played masterpieces to the delight of chess fans. In the round ten report, we bring diagrams and pics galore.
GM Karsten Müller comments.
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FIDE Election: cooperation between Ilyumzhinov and Karpov?
01.10.2010
– One day after winning the bitterly contested election the old and new President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov held a reconciliation press conference with his opponent Anatoly Karpov, whom he offered the post of Vice President. Karpov, who had originally helped Ilyumzhinov into office, said that he was considering the offer but was not in "time trouble." His decision will be forthcoming.
Election details.
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2010 Chess Olympiad: Mamedyarov beats Ivanchuk; Ukraine prevails
30.09.2010
– The Azerbaijani team had climbed back into contention after their surprise loss to Vietnam, and now faced Ukraine, the leaders. Mamedyarov outplayed Ivanchuk in a Benoni with some briliant shots, but Ukraine's bottom boards rallied. Russia 1 beat Armenia thanks to Svidler, and France beat Georgia to tie for second. As to the women, the Russians nearly lost.
Round nine report.
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Zugzwang in Kristiansund
30.09.2010
– In the rapid chess game Anand-Hammer, played in Kristiansund in the "Arctic
Securities Chess Stars" tournament, it came down to this minor
piece ending. It seems that all entry routes into the black camp are blocked
to the white king, because the knight, the b7-pawn and the king are guarding all
the important squares on the queenside and in the centre. And yet... White can force the win here
with a precise move order, with the motif of zugzwang playing a decisive part.
Compare your solution with the analysis given by grandmaster Karsten Müller on
ChessBase Magazine Online.
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Echoes of the Election
29.09.2010
– On Wednesday Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was reelected President of FIDE, which he has headed since 1995. His victory over the challenger Anatoly Karpov, backed by Garry Kasparov, was greeted with delight and dismay in the international press. Accusations of proxy vote rigging have been raised, and Karpov vows that the fight will go on.
Reports and explanations.
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2010 Chess Olympiad: Ukraine and Russia 1 draw in round 8
29.09.2010
– In numbers, it was the biggest match of the Olympiad. Russia 1 had just beaten their younger compatriots Russia 2, while Ukraine was in sole lead and had magic Ivanchuk on 6/6. The Ukrainian finally ceded a draw, and it was young Karjakin who overtook the leaderboard with a 3040 performance, seven more than Ivanchuk, after beating Eljanov. Detailed analysis in the
round eight report.
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Ilyumzhinov wins FIDE election by 95 votes to 55
29.09.2010
– The vote took two hours, and the final count was 95 for the incumbent Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, 55 for the challenger Anatoly Karpov and three abstentions (four years ago Ilyumzhinov beat Bessel Kok by 96-54). The renewed victory was achieved mostly with votes from smaller federations in Asia, Africa and South America, while Karpov's votes came mainly from European countries.
Four more years for Kirsan.
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Strong central knight, space advantage...
29.09.2010
– ... and the offside black queen were the factors optically speaking in White's favour in this position after
14...a5 from the first round of the Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk. How would you assess the
situation?
A) equality, Black always gets to counterattack the weak point d4 in time;
B) White wins the queen by force.
C) he can start a crushing attack on the kingside.
The solution is here,
but first ponder over it with a
larger version of the diagram.
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2010 Chess Olympiad: Ukraine takes sole lead in round 7
28.09.2010
– After a slip-up in the third round, Ukraine had duly won all their next encounters, and met Georgia in an exciting clash. Jobava went all out for the win, but was unable to break Ivanchuk, who reigns alone atop Mount Olympiad with 6/6. Armenia was defeated by Azerbaijan, while the Russian women crushed Hungary 4-0. After Carlsen, it was another 2800's turn to
slip unexpectedly.
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