Rounds 7-8

Russia maintained their lead of the 35th Chess Olympiad at Bled after two victories in round seven and eight over Poland and Netherlands. The Dutch were defeated even though Russia played without Garry Kasparov and Alexander Khalifman but Friso Nijboer defeated Sergey Rublevsky on bottom board. However, the destination of the Hamilton-Russell cup is still far from decided as Hungary leaped into second place with 3.5-0.5 wins over Slovenia and Romania Hungary are second seeds and have a strong line up including Classical Chess World Championship finalist Peter Leko, the world's strongest female player Judit Polgar and World Junior champion Peter Acs. England crumbled against the Netherlands in round seven and without Michael Adams on top board the team looks rather brittle. Adams did not face his friend and Bosna Sarajevo team-mate Ivan Sokolov and the Bosnian despatched Nigel Short in a stylish game. Stuart Conquest played a very dubious opening against Eric van den Doel who is a fine attacking player and the result was carnage. A 1-3 defeat should have been avoided but John Emms could not convert a won endgame with two extra pawns. In round eight England recovered with a 3-1 defeat of Spain who are without Alexey Shirov. Shirov has joined Vishy Anand and Anatoly Karpov at the Corsica Open. Michael Adams drew with Vallejo Pons and Nigel Short contrived to win from a very level position by defending patiently and taking his chance when it came. Jonathan Rowson entered the fray with success as Scotland recorded a 3-1 win over Venezuela.

Leading results Round seven Russia 3-1 Poland; Romania 2-2 Czech Rep.; Armenia 2-2 Belarus; Ukraine 1.5-2.5 Georgia; Netherlands 3-1 England; Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-1 Spain; Hungary 3.5-0.5 Slovenia; Round eight Russia 2.5-1.5 Netherlands; Romania 0.5-3.5 Hungary Slovakia 2-2 Bosnia Armenia 1.5-2.5Czech Rep. Georgia 2.5-1.5 Belarus India 3-1 USA

England - Spain 3-1; Adams (w) draw Vallejo Pons; Short 1-0 San Segundo; Speelman 1-0 Magem Badals; Arizmendi draw McShane; Leaders after 8 rounds: 1 Russia 24/32; 2 Hungary 22.5; 3 China 21.5; 4-7 Bosnia Georgia Slovakia Czech Republic 21; 8-11 Poland India Netherlands Germany 20.5; England 20; Scotland 18.5; Wales 16; Ireland 15.5; Jersey 12; Guernsey 7;

Georgia lead the Women's Olympiad after what should prove to be a decisive 2.5-0.5 victory over defending champions China. Even with six rounds to play it is hard to see how the USA China and Russia can catch the Georgians who have now played all the other top sides. Georgia dominated women's chess for three decades before the Polgar sisters and then the Chinese took over. The remarkable thing is that Georgia are fielding three of their senior players but they are all playing well. Former world champion Maia Chiburdanidze defeated reigning world champion Zhu Chen in a great game as her predecessor as world champion and compatriot Nona Gaprindashvili looked on. Women's Olympiad leaders: 1 Georgia 19/24; 2 USA 17; 3-4 China and Russia, 16.5

Perhaps this will prove to be the decisive game of the competition. Black's plan with 13. ...Bb4 was completely wrong. Nb6 and Bc7 to restrain pawn e3-e4 with pressure on d4 was possible or pawn a7-a6 followed by Nb6 and pawn c6-c5 was an active alternative.

Chiburdanidze,M - Zhu Chen [D11]
Women's Olympiad Bled SLO (8)

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.Nc3 e6 6.h3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 Nbd7 8.Bd3 Bd6 9.cxd5 exd5 10.g4 h6 11.Bd2 Qe7 12.0-0-0 0-0-0 13.Qg2 Bb4? 13. ...Bb4 was completely wrong. Nb6 and Bc7 to restrain pawn e3-e4 with pressure on d4 was possible or pawn a7-a6 followed by Nb6 and pawn c6-c5 was an active alternative. 14.Rhe1 Nb6 15.Kb1 Kb8 16.f3 g6 17.a3 Bd6 18.e4 dxe4 19.fxe4 Bc7 20.Qf2 Nfd7 21.Rf1 c5 22.Nb5 Ne5 23.dxe5 Rxd3 24.Nxc7 Qxc7 25.Bf4 Rxd1+ [ 25...Qd8 was a better try.] 26.Rxd1 Qe7 27.e6+ Ka8 28.Be5 Rc8 29.exf7 c4 30.Qf6 Qf8 31.Bd6 Nd7 32.Bxf8 Nxf6 33.Bxh6

1-0

A shocking defeat for Nigel who has won many games in this line with Bf4.

Sokolov,I (2684) - Short,N (2684) [D37]
Olympiad Bled SLO (7), 01.11.2002

1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.a3 Nc6 9.Qc2 Qa5 10.Nd2 Be7 11.Bg3 11.Bg3 is a rare move but a clever one as it avoids the typical counter pawn e6-e5 and then d5-d4 with tempo. 11...Bd7 12.Be2 Qb6 13.b4 d4 14.Na4 Qd8 15.e4 Be8 16.Nb2 Nd7 17.Nd3 Bh4 18.c5 Bxg3 19.hxg3 Nde5 20.f4 Nxd3+ 21.Bxd3 h6 22.Nc4 Rc8 23.Nd6 Rc7 24.e5 f6 25.Qe2 a6 26.Qe4 f5 27.Qe2 Re7 28.g4 fxg4 29.Qxg4 Kh8 30.g3 Bf7 31.Ra2 Bg8 32.Rah2

In the final position the queen comes to g6 and pawn g4-g5 is crushing. Black has no moves. 1-0