Round 9

Russia suffered their first defeat in the ninth round of the 35th Chess Olympiad at Bled as they went down 2.5-1.5 against Hungary. It could of been worse as Peter Leko missed a simple win at the end of his game against Garry Kasparov on top board. Russia retained the lead of the competition but only by half a point with five rounds remaining. However Hungary will almost certainly have to face stronger opposition because of their slow start. There were three draws and the young Hungarian Robert Ruck defeated Peter Svidler on bottom board in a superbly played Sicilian Defence in which neither side castled. The difference was that Svidler's king placement was involuntary. Bent Larsen often pointed out that in the Open Sicilian Black always has two central pawns to one and Ruck's king was quite safe. Svidler was under pressure when he blundered a pawn.

England's renaissance continued with a second 3-1 win over a strong Belarussian team. There were three wins; for Michael Adams, Nigel Short and Stuart Conquest. Adams' game was tremendous. The world number four conjured up a violent attack from a quiet position and sacrficied a bishop. Alexei Alexandrov was overwhelmed by the knight pair which danced around his king picking off pieces with a succession of forks. Short played the perfect game against the dangerous Alexei Fedorov, he did very little and waited for his opponent to weaken himself. Each little mistake of Fedorov's was exploited. Conquest faced another gifted tactician Viktor Kupreichik and was three pawns up when his opponent allowed mate in one. England advanced to equal fifth, a point behind the third placed Chinese team who are Russia's next opponents. England face India who are without Anand. The world number three was busy winning the Corsica Open on Sunday defeating Anatoly Karpov in the final.

Chess Olympiad leading results Round nine 1 Hungary 2.5-1.5 Russia; Leko (w) draw Kasparov, Polgar draw Grischuk, Almasi draw Khalifman, Ruck 1-0 Svidler; 2 China 2.5-1.5 Slovakia 3 Bosnia 2.5-1.5 Georgia 4 Czech Republic 1.5-2.5 India 5 Poland 2-2 Germany 6 Netherlands 2-2 Armenia 7 Belarus 1-3 England; Alexandrov (w) 0-1 Adams; Fedorov 0-1 Short; Azarov 1-0 McShane; Kupreichik 0-1 Conquest; Scotland 1.5-2.5 USA; Paul Motwani beat Boris Gulko, Colin McNab drew with Joel Benjamin. Rowson lost to Yasser Seirawan. Ireland 3-1 Nigeria; Wales 1.5-2.5 Angola; Scores: 1 Russia 25.5/36; 2 Hungary 25; 3 China 24; 4 Bosnia 23.5; England India Croatia 23; Scotland 20 Ireland 18.5; Wales 17.5; Ireland 15.5; Jersey 12; Guernsey 7; Women's Olympiad 1 Georgia 22/27; 2 China 19; 3-4 United States Russia 18½ England 15; Scotland 13.5; Wales 12; Ireland 9.5;

One mistake and Adam's pounces. The bishop pair look very nice but never get into the game. If 24.Qf3 Qxh2+ 25.Kf1 Nxf2! 26.Qxf2 Ng3+ or 26.Re3 Nxd3 27.Rxd3 e5! Intending Rd6

Aleksandrov,A - Adams,Mi [E55]
Olympiad Bled SLO (9), 04.11.2002

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 c5 7.0-0 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Nbd7 9.a3 Ba5 10.Qe2 cxd4 [ 10...a6 11.a4 b6 12.Rd1 Bb7 13.d5 exd5 14.Nxd5 Nxd5 15.Bxd5 Bxd5 16.Rxd5 Qc7 17.b3 Nf6 18.Rd1 Bc3 19.Rb1 Rfd8 20.Ba3 Qb7 21.Qc2 Ba5 22.Ne5 h6 23.Nc4 Bb4 24.Bxb4 cxb4 25.Nd6 Qe7 26.Qc6 Qe6 27.Rd3 Ra7 28.Rbd1 Rad7 29.Qc4 Qxc4 30.bxc4 Ne8 31.a5 Rxd6 32.Rxd6 Rxd6 0-1 Sarthou,G-Adams,M/Moscow RUS 2001/The Week in Chess 369 (32). ] 11.exd4 Bxc3 12.bxc3 Qc7 13.Bd3 b6 14.c4 Bb7 15.Re1 Rac8 16.Bg5 h6 17.Bd2 Rfd8 18.Rac1 Qd6 19.Bb4 Qf4 20.Qe3 Nh5 21.Nd2?! Ndf6 22.Bc3 Bxg2!! 23.Kxg2 Ng4 24.Qh3 [ If 24.Qf3 Qxh2+ 25.Kf1 Nxf2 26.Qxf2 Ng3+ intending Rd6.] 24...Qxf2+ 25.Kh1

Now the forks begin. 25...Qxe1+! 26.Rxe1 Nf2+ 27.Kg2 Nxh3 28.Kxh3 Nf4+ winning the bishop on d3. 29.Kg3 Nxd3 30.Re3 Nc1 31.Bb2 Na2 32.Rb3 b5 33.c5 Rb8 34.Ne4 b4 35.a4 Nc3 0-1

Sturua,Z - Atalik,S [D15]
Olympiad Bled SLO (9), 04.11.2002

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 a6 5.c5 Nbd7 6.Bf4 Nh5 7.Be5 Nxe5 8.dxe5 Nf4 9.Qd2 Ng6 10.e4 e6 11.Na4 Bd7 12.Bd3 Qc7 13.Qc3 Nf4 14.0-0 dxe4

Disaster, 15.Bxe4 Ne2+ forks king and queen. 0-1