Round 11

Photos © Eugeny Atarov ("64")

The Russian chess machine was too much for Germany in the eleventh round of the 35th Chess Olympiad at Bled as Garry Kasparov won again and Russia increased their lead over Hungary to two clear points with a crushing 3.5-0.5 victory. To make it worse for the Germans, Alexander Morozevich managed to draw an endgame two pawns down. England slipped to fourth after a 1.5-2.5 defeat by Hungary for whom world junior champion Peter Acs defeated Stuart Conquest on bottom board. England's result was not unexpected, they were considerably out-rated on boards three and four by the second seeds and they only dropped out of a medal position because Georgia defeated Sweden 3-1 and moved half a point ahead on 28/44. Nigel Short even managed to draw against Judit Polgar against whom he nearly always loses. Short played a line of the Alekhine's Defence that used to be a favourite of Tony Miles and provoked Polgar into some weakening moves. England will not find match wins easy from now on, they have only played two of the leading teams and after China in round twelve they can expect to play Russia and perhaps Georgia in their final two matches. If Nigel Short, Luke McShane and Michael Adams can maintain their form a medal is still a possibility but one of the bottom boards will have to have to support this trio in the last three games.

Chess Olympiad round eleven leading results Russia 3.5-0.5 Germany; Hungary 2.5-1.5 England; Adams (w) draw Leko, Short draw Polgar, McShane draw Almasi, Acs 1-0 Conquest. China 2-2 Ukraine; Bosnia 1.5-2.5 Croatia; Sweden 1-3 Georgia; Austria 2-2 Ireland; Slovenia B 2.5-1.5 Scotland; Wales 1.5-2.5 Yemen; Scores: 1 Russia 32/44; 2 Hungary 30; 3 Georgia 28 4-5 England Croatia 27.5; 6-10 Poland China Ukraine Armenia Canada 27; 11- 17 Bosnia Slovakia Greece Germany Israel Greece Yugoslavia 26.5; Germany 26; China Bosnia Georgia Ukraine Croatia 25; Ireland 23; Scotland 22; Wales 20.5; In the Women's Olympiad the runaway leaders Georgia cracked when in sight of gold and lost 0.5-2.5 to Poland. With China winning their match convincingly the competition is wide open again. 1 Georgia 24.5/33; 2 China 24; 3 Russia 22.5; 4 Poland 21.5; England 18; Scotland Wales 15; Ireland 13.5;

England individual performances

Michael Adams 7/10 Nigel Short 7.5/10 Jon Speelman 4/7 Luke McShane 5.5/9 Stuart Conquest 2½/5 John Emms 1/3

A well played attack and pretty finish from Scotland's Steve Mannion.

Esplana,C (2352) - Mannion,S (2367) [C54]
Olympiad Bled SLO (7), 01.11.2002

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 a6 6.Bb3 Ba7 7.0-0 d6 8.Be3 0-0 9.Nbd2 [ 9.Bxa7 Rxa7 10.Nbd2 Ne7 11.Qe2 Ng6 12.Qe3 Ra8 13.h3 h6 14.Kh2 Qe7 15.Ng1 Be6 16.Ne2 Nh5 17.d4 Rae8 18.dxe5 dxe5 19.Bxe6 Qxe6 20.g3 Rd8 21.Nb3 b6 22.Rad1 Nf6 23.f3 Qc4 24.Rd2 Rxd2 25.Qxd2 Ne7 26.Rd1 Nc6 27.Qd3 Qa4 28.Nec1 Rd8 29.Qe2 Rxd1 30.Qxd1 Qc4 1/2-1/2 Anka,E-Gustafsson,J/Budapest HUN 2001/The Week in Chess 345 (30). ] 9...Ne7 10.h3 Ng6 11.Re1 h6 12.Nf1 Re8 13.Ng3 Be6 14.Bxa7 Rxa7 15.d4 Ra8 16.Bxe6 Rxe6 17.Qb3 Rb8 18.Rad1 Qf8 19.Nd2 Nf4 20.d5 Ree8 21.Nc4 g6 22.Kh2 Qe7 23.Nf1 Qd7 24.Qc2 Kg7 25.Nce3 Nh7 26.Nd2 Rf8 27.Rg1 Rbe8 28.g4 h5 29.Nf3 Rh8 30.Kg3 I presume white was planning other than Kg3 here. Now he gets into big trouble. 30...Nf6 31.Rh1 Rh7 32.Rh2 h4+ 33.Nxh4 Reh8 34.Nhf5+ gxf5 35.Nxf5+ Qxf5!! Now 35. ..Qxf5! 36.exf5 Rxh3+ mates.

0-1

A rare defeat for the Russian team in the match against the Netherlands. Black has queenside counterplay and White feeds pieces over to the other wing. In the final position Black is defenceless to the threats of Rxg7+ or Qg5 immediately.

Nijboer,F (2556) - Rublevsky,S (2664) [B46]
Olympiad Bled SLO (8), 02.11.2002

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3 a6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nc6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 d5 8.0-0 Nf6 9.Re1 Bb7 10.Bf4 Be7 11.e5 Nd7 12.Na4 c5 13.c4 d4 14.b3 Bg5 15.Qg4 [ 15.Bg3 was chosen in the game Short,N-Rublevsky,S/Moscow RUS 2002. ] 15...Bxf4 16.Qxf4 h6 17.Be4 Bxe4 18.Qxe4 a5 19.Rad1 g6 20.Rd3 Kf8 21.Rg3 Kg7 22.h4 h5 23.Rg5 Ra7 24.Rd1 Qa8 25.Qf4 Qc6 26.Rd3 Raa8 27.Nb2 Rh6 28.Rf3 Rf8 29.Qd2 Qe4 30.Nd3 Ra8 31.Rgg3 Rf8 32.Qg5 Rh7? Black has had a miserable position with no counterplay, now he cracks. 33.Qe7 Qc6 34.Rxg6+ Kh8 35.Rgf6 Rg7 36.Rh6+ Kg8 37.Rg3 the threats are Rxg7+ and Qg5+ or Qg5 immediately.

1-0