Round 6

Russia rested Garry Kasparov but still crushed Bosnia 3.5-0.5 to grab a 1.5 point lead in the sixth round of the 35th Chess Olympiad being held at Bled in Slovenia. Bosnia also played without their top board Praedrag Nikolic and their other super GM Ivan Sokolov now plays for the Netherlands. The Russians have 18.5/24 with Poland and Romania on 17. England remained in medal contention on 16 with a very cagey 2-2 draw against a higher rated Ukrainian team. Nigel Short traded pieces with Vasily Ivanchuk, John Emms forced perpetual check and Luke McShane easily held Vyecheslav Eingorn with black. Only the top board game between Fide champion Ruslan Ponomariov and Michael Adams was interesting. Adams defended the Ruy Lopez skilfully and after securing a couple of piece exchanges early on he actually held a slight edge but his extra pawn was of no use in a rook and pawn endgame. Scotland lost 0.5-3.5 to Spain as Douglas Bryson drew with GM Magem Badals. Scotland will be boosted by the appearance of their top player GM Jonathan Rowson who is flying in from the USA for the second half of the competition. Wales moved up the table with a 3.5-0.5 win over the Blind Chess Association team. In the Women's Olympiad the defending champions China have yet to assert themselves after a defeat by the USA and the lead has been taken by Georgia who dominated the scene before China. Georgia led by former world champion Maia Chiburdanidze defeated Netherlands 3-0. The USA's challenge faltered as Alexandra Kosteniuk won for Russia in a 2.5-0.5 victory. Georgia have 15/18 with Russia on 13.5 and China level with France on 13. Mark Levitt of South Africa is having an interesting time. In his first game he lost to a player called Jesus but bounced back with a victory over a player named Mohammed. He is looking forward to a quiet draw against Buddha next.

Leading results Bosnia 0.5-3.5 Russia Romania 2.5-1.5 Armenia Czech Republic 2.5-1.5 Hungary Ukraine 2-2 England; Ponomariov draw Adams; Short draw Ivanchuk; Eingorn draw McShane; Emms draw Moiseenko; Switzerland 1-3 Poland Georgia 2.5-1.5 China Lithuania 2-2 Slovakia Moldova 1-3 Netherlands Belarus 0.5-3.5 Sweden Cuba 2.5-1.5 Argentina Yugoslavia 2-2 Bulgaria Macedonia 2.5-1.5 Latvia Wales 3.5-0.5 IBC; Ireland 2.5-1.5 Colombia; Scotland 0.5-3.5 Spain; Leaders after 6 rounds: 1 Russia 18.5; 2-3 Poland Romania 17; 4-6 Czech Republic Armenia Sweden 16.5; 7-11 Ukraine, England Bosnia Georgia Netherlands 16; 12-16 Hungary Cuba Macedonia Lithuania Slovakia 15.5; Ireland 12.5, Scotland 10, Wales 10,

Adams,M (2745) - Valenzuela Fuentealba,L (2423) [B22]
Olympiad Bled SLO (5), 30.10.2002

1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Bc4 Nb6 7.Bb3 d5 8.exd6 Qxd6 9.0-0 Be6 10.Na3 dxc3 11.Qe2 Bxb3 12.axb3 e5 13.Nb5 Qb8 14.Nbd4 f6 15.bxc3 Be7 16.Nf5 g6 17.Nxe7 Nxe7 18.Ba3 Kf7 19.Nd2 Qc7 20.Ne4 Nbd5 21.Qf3 Qc6 22.c4 Nf4 23.g3 Nh5 24.Nd6+ Kg7 25.Qg4 f5 26.Qe2 e4 27.f3 Rad8 28.Rad1 Rhf8?

Black now goes under quickly. 29.fxe4 f4 30.Qb2+ Rf6 31.g4 Kh6 32.Qe5 1-0