The 35th Chess Olympiad Bled takes place 25th October - 11th November 2002.

All Photos © Eugeny Atarov ("64")

After 12 of the 14 rounds it will take a big collapse for Russia to be caught. They are two points clear and given that scoring heavily in the top ties is hard it seems unlikely to happen as they play Israel in the 13th round and probably England in the final round both of whom are likely to be out of the medals.

The start of the Russia - Hungary Match

Russia did have a crisis in round 9 when Hungary beat them 2½-1½ to close to within a half a point. It could have been worse as Kasparov could have lost to Peter Leko in that round. Russia started to build up it's lead again with a 3-1 victory over China (compared to Hungary 2½-1½ Bosnia and Herzegovina) in round 10, then 3½-½ over Germany (Hungary 2½-1½) in round 11, and then 2½-1½ over Croatia (Hungary kept pace with a 2½-1½ win over Georgia). Indeed it looks to me that Hungary have the Silver Medal sown up as they have a 2½ point lead over Armenia their closest rival for that medal. That said surprises can happen. In the women's Olympiad after 10 rounds the score was 1st Georgia 24 2nd China 21½ before some kind of meltdown which saw them lose ½-2½ to Poland and 1-2 to Vietnam. It seems clear that China 25½, Georgia 25½ and Russia 25 will fight it out for the medals over the last two rounds.

Just like the old Olympiads, good crowds close to the players. Garry Kasparov has a 7/8 score with a performance of 2985 so it hasn't affected him to much.

Leading scores after 12 rounds Men: 1 Russia 34½ 2 Hungary 32½ 3 Armenia 30 4 Georgia 29½ 5 China 29½ 6 Israel 29½ 7 Poland 29 8 England 29 9 Croatia 29 10 Yugoslavia 29 11 Canada 29 12 Netherlands 28½ 13 Germany 28½ 14 Greece 28½ 15 Bosnia and Herzegovina 28 16 Ukraine 28 17 India 28 18 France 28 19 Lithuania 28 20 FYR Macedonia 28 21 Sweden 28 22 Slovakia 27½ 23 Moldova 27½ 24 Spain 27½ 25 Switzerland 27½ 26 Philippines 27½ 27 Czech Republic 27 28 Cuba 27 29 Slovenia-A 27 30 United States 27 31 Uzbekistan 27 32 Kazakhstan 27 33 Denmark 27 34 Iceland 27 35 Bangladesh 27 36 Finland 27

Women: 1 China 25½ 2 Georgia 25½ 3 Russia 25 4 Poland 23 5 Vietnam 23 6 Armenia 22½ 7 United States 22 8 Bulgaria 22 9 Ukraine 22 10 India 21½ 11 Slovakia 21½ 12 Romania 21 13 Hungary 21 14 Yugoslavia 21 15 France 21 16 Greece 21 17 Azerbaijan 21 18 England 21

Venue

Following the fight for the individual medals is made easier by Juha Kivijärvi unofficial statistics site: http://monster.cs.utu.fi/~juhkivij/chess/ol2002/olympics2002.html. If the stats are right (they are unofficial however based on the published results which have contained some errors) then heading the list for the board 1 prize is Robert Gwaze who has a 100% 9/9 score, I believe he's played enough games to qualify for Gold and presumably won't play again. Kasparov with 6 wins and 2 draws lies in 2nd and Farrukh Amonatov 3rd. Board two has Yasser Seirawan on 6.5/8, Nigel Short and Judit Polgar on 8/11. Alexander Khalifman with 6.5/8 leads the race for board 3, Yan Teplitsky 6.5/8 board 4, Tomasz Markowski 7/8 board 5 and Merab Gagunashvili 5/6 and Peter Acs 6.5/8 lead the race for board 6.

There are only small snippets of news coming out of the FIDE Congress. Firstly drug testing will be carried out on only around 14 players and that won't include the US. This issue will probably go away. This may be the last Olympiad under this format. FIDE hope to reduce its duration and that can only be done by turning it into a rapid event. This in my view is a mistake. Unless there is a major change in the rules (and I wouldn't rule this out) it will mean that the opportunity to get ELO ratings and titles will be lost a major plus point in developing chess worldwide. Not to mention the fact that there doesn't seem to be any problem getting countries to host the event (Spain next and India want to host one) and that the chess has been by and large great. Time after time its been shown that standard chess is more popular as a spectator event on the internet than rapid chess. The big decisions will no doubt be taken on Saturday the final free day of the Olympiad.

Leko,P (2743) - Kasparov,G (2838) [B90]
Olympiad Bled SLO (9), 04.11.2002

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Be3 Nbd7 9.g4 b5 10.g5 b4 11.Nd5 Nxd5 12.exd5 Bf5 13.Bd3 Bxd3 14.Qxd3 Be7 15.h4 0-0 16.0-0-0 a5 17.Nd2 a4 [ 17...f5 has been played several times before.] 18.Kb1 f5 19.f4 Qc7 20.Nc4 exf4 21.Bd4 Nc5 22.Bxc5 Qxc5 23.Rhf1 Rfe8 24.Rxf4 g6 25.Qd4 Qxd4 26.Rfxd4 h6 27.Rg1 a3 28.bxa3 bxa3 29.c3 hxg5 30.hxg5 Bf8 31.Kc2 Bg7 32.Rd3 Re4 33.Nxd6 Re2+ 34.Rd2 Rxd2+ 35.Kxd2 Rd8 36.Nc4 Rxd5+ 37.Kc2 Rc5 38.Kd3 Rd5+ 39.Kc2 Bf8 40.Re1 f4 41.Re5 Rd7 42.Re4 Rf7 43.Ne5 Rf5 44.Nf3 Rb5 45.Kd3 Rb2 46.Re2 Bg7 47.c4 Kf7 48.c5 Rxe2 49.Kxe2 A very delicate ending has emerged. 49...Ke6 50.Nh4 Bf8 51.c6 Be7 52.Nxg6 Bxg5 53.Ne5?

[ 53.Nf8+ Seems just to win! 53...Kd6 54.c7 Kxc7 55.Ne6+ Kd6 56.Nxg5] 53...Bd8 54.Nc4 Kd5 Now its a trivial draw. 1/2-1/2

Svidler,P (2690) - Ruck,R (2572) [B90]
Olympiad Bled SLO (9), 04.11.2002

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 Qb6 7.g4 h6 Unusual. [ 7...Nc6 8.Nb3 e6 9.Qe2 has been played in a number of GM games.] 8.a3 e5 9.Nf5 Bxf5 10.gxf5 Nc6 11.Bc4 Nd4 12.Nd5 Nxd5 13.Bxd5 Be7 14.Qd3 Bg5 15.b4 Rc8 16.c3 Nb5 17.Bb2 Bh4+ 18.Kd1 a5 19.Rc1 Ke7 20.Rc2 axb4 21.axb4 Rhd8 22.Rg2 Bg5 23.h4 Bf6 24.Ke2 Rd7 25.Bc4 Nxc3+!

White clearly missed this. 26.Bxc3 Rdc7 27.Rgg1 Rxc4 Its now clear white's position has fallen to bits. 28.Rc1 Qa6 29.Kf2 Qc6 30.Bd2 Bxh4+ 31.Kg2 Bg5 32.Bxg5+ hxg5 33.Rcd1 Rd4 0-1

Aleksandrov,A (2621) - Adams,M (2745) [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!

Carving open white's King. 23.Kxg2 Ng4 24.Qh3 [ 24.Qxf4 Nxf4+ 25.Kf3 Nxd3 26.Kxg4 Nxf2+ 27.Kf3 Nd3 will probably win in the long run for black.] 24...Qxf2+ 25.Kh1 Qxe1+ 26.Rxe1 Nf2+ 27.Kg2 Nxh3 28.Kxh3 Nf4+ 29.Kg3 Nxd3 White can safely resign. 30.Re3 Nc1 31.Bb2 Na2 32.Rb3 b5 33.c5 Rb8 34.Ne4 b4 35.a4 Nc3 0-1

Grischuk,A (2702) - Graf,A (2635) [C02]
Olympiad Bled SLO (11), 06.11.2002

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.Be2 Nge7 7.Na3 Ng6 8.h4 cxd4 9.cxd4 Bxa3 [ 9...Be7 10.g3 ( 10.h5 Nh4 11.Nxh4 Bxh4 12.Nc2 Be7 13.Bd3 Qb6 14.Qg4 0-0-0 15.0-0 Rdg8 16.b4 f5 17.Qd1 Kb8 18.Rb1 g6 19.h6 Nd8 20.b5 Nf7 21.a4 Rc8 22.Bd2 Rhg8 23.a5 Qd8 24.Nb4 Bxb4 25.Rxb4 g5 26.b6 Rc6 27.bxa7+ Kxa7 28.Qb3 Bc8 29.Rb1 Qc7 30.Rb6 Nd8 31.Bb4 Rc1+ 32.Rxc1 Qxc1+ 33.Bf1 Qa1 34.Bc5 Ka8 35.Bd6 1-0 Maryasin,B-Obsivac,J/Olomouc CZE 2001/The Week in Chess 354 (35)) 10...0-0 11.h5 Nh8 12.0-0 f6 13.exf6 Bxf6 14.Nc2 Nf7 15.Nh2 Qb6 16.Be3 Nd6 17.Ng4 Nf5 18.Nxf6+ Rxf6 19.b3 Nxe3 20.fxe3 Rxf1+ 21.Bxf1 Qc7 22.Kg2 Rf8 1/2-1/2 Guido,F-Satta,V/Verona ITA 1997 (22). ] 10.bxa3 h6 11.h5 Nge7 12.0-0 Na5 13.Rb1 Bc6 14.Bd3 Nc4 15.Nh4 Qa5 16.Qg4 Kd7 17.Rb4 Rag8 18.f4 f5 19.exf6 gxf6 20.Qe2 Nd6 21.f5 exf5 22.Nxf5 Nexf5 23.Bxf5+ Nxf5 24.Rxf5 Qd8 25.Rb3 Rh7 [ 25...Kc8 trying to hide the king may be better.] 26.Qf3 Re8 27.Rxf6 Kc8 28.Rxc6+ bxc6 29.Qg4+ Qd7 30.Qg3 Kd8 31.Bxh6

The final coup de grace. 31...Rxh6 32.Rb8+ Ke7 33.Qg7+ Kd6 34.Qxh6+ 1-0

Lutz,C (2645) - Kasparov,G (2838) [B85]
Olympiad Bled SLO (11), 06.11.2002

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.a4 Nc6 8.Be3 Be7 9.0-0 0-0 10.f4 Qc7 11.Kh1 Re8 12.Bd3 Nb4 13.a5 Bd7 14.Nf3 Rac8 15.Qe1 Bc6 16.Bd4 Nd7 17.Qg3 Bf6 [ 17...Bf8 18.Nd1 Nxd3 19.cxd3 e5 20.fxe5 dxe5 21.Bc3 Qd6 22.Nh4 1/2-1/2 Svidler,P-Anand,V/Linares ESP 1999 (22). ] 18.Bxf6 Nxf6 19.Nd4 Red8 20.Qh4 Nxd3 21.cxd3 Qe7 22.h3 Be8 23.Rfc1 Nd5 24.Qxe7 Nxe7 25.Kg1 e5 26.Nde2 f5 27.exf5 Nxf5 28.Nd5 Rc5 29.Nb6 Bb5 30.fxe5 Rxe5 31.Nf4 Nd4 32.Rc8 This is a tricky position. Rc8 probably isn't right as it seems to lead per force to a position where white's knight is horribly place. 32...Rxc8 33.Nxc8 Bc6 34.Rf1 Re8 35.Na7 Bd7 36.Nd5 h5 37.Nb6

With knight's like this you just know this isn't going to end well. 37...Bf5 38.Kh2 g5 39.Rc1 g4 40.hxg4 hxg4 41.Nac8 g3+! The killer blow. 42.Kh1 Re6 0-1

Svidler,P (2690) - Bischoff,K (2554) [B54]
Olympiad Bled SLO (11), 06.11.2002

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 d6 6.g4 a6 7.Be3 Nge7 8.Nb3 b5 9.Qd2 Bb7 10.f4 Nc8 11.0-0-0 Be7 [ 11...Nb6 12.Nd4 Rc8 13.Qf2 Nxd4 14.Bxd4 Nc4 15.Bxc4 Rxc4 16.b3 Rc8 17.Rhe1 Be7 18.g5 0-0 19.Qh4 e5 20.Bxe5 Qa5 21.Nd5 Bxd5 22.Bb2 Qxa2 23.exd5 Rxc2+ 24.Kxc2 Rc8+ 25.Kd3 Qxb2 26.Rd2 Qxb3+ 27.Ke2 Bd8 28.Qg4 Qc4+ 29.Kf2 Ba5 30.Qd7 Qxf4+ 31.Kg1 Rf8 32.Re8 Bb6+ 33.Kg2 Qxd2+ 34.Kh3 Qd3+ 35.Kg2 Qxd5+ 36.Kg3 Qxg5+ 37.Kh3 Qh6+ 38.Kg2 g6 0-1 Wallace,J-Johansen,D/Canbarra AUS 2000 (38). ] 12.Kb1 0-0 13.g5 Qe8 14.Rg1 b4 15.Ne2 a5 16.Ng3 a4 17.Nd4 b3 18.cxb3 axb3 19.Nxb3 Black has opened lines to white's king but his pieces don't seem ready to exploit this. 19...Bd8 20.Bb5 Qe7 21.f5 Ne5 22.f6 Qc7 23.fxg7 Kxg7 24.Bd4 Na7 25.Be2 Nac6 26.Bc3 Be7 27.Nh5+ Kh8 28.g6!

This is the start of a brilliant attack. 28...fxg6 29.Qh6 Rg8 30.Nf4 Na5? [ 30...Bf8 stops the attack but 31.Nxe6 is still great for white.] 31.Nxa5 Rxa5 32.Nxg6+ Rxg6 33.Rxg6 Bxe4+ 34.Bd3 Black can't stop mate. 1-0

Morozevich,A (2707) - Cvitan,O (2562) [B86]
Olympiad Bled SLO (12), 07.11.2002

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 Nbd7 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 Qa5 10.Qe2 [ 10.0-0 Qh5 11.Nf3 Be7 12.Re1 0-0 13.Bg3 Qc5 14.e5 dxe5 15.Nxe5 Nxe5 16.Bxe5 Qc6 17.Ne2 b5 18.Nd4 Qb6 19.c3 Rd8 20.Bc2 Bb7 21.Qd3 Kf8 22.Re3 Rac8 23.Rae1 b4 24.Rg3 Bd6 25.Bxf6 gxf6 26.Nxe6+ fxe6 27.Rg8+ Kxg8 28.Qg6+ Kf8 29.Qxf6+ Kg8 30.Qxe6+ Kg7 31.Qg6+ Kf8 32.Qxh6+ 1-0 Mueller,K-Dinstuhl,V/Wattenscheid GER 2002/The Week in Chess 388 (32). ] 10...Qh5 11.Nf3 Be7 12.0-0-0 0-0 13.Rhg1 Ne5 14.Bg3 Nxf3 15.gxf3 Bd7 16.e5 dxe5 17.Bxe5 Bc6 18.Rg3 Qf5 19.Rdg1 g6 20.f4 Nh5 21.Rg4 Bf6 22.Qe3 Rad8 23.Bxf6 Qxf6 24.f5!

Black would be better without this move. Now Morozevich breaks through by force. 24...g5 25.h4 exf5 26.hxg5 Qd6 27.Rh4 Rfe8 28.gxh6+ Kh8 29.Qg5 1-0

Rublevsky,S (2664) - Sulava,N (2551) [C10]
Olympiad Bled SLO (12), 07.11.2002

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Bd3 Nxe4 7.Bxe4 Nf6 8.Bg5 Qd6 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.c3 f5 11.Bc2 Bg7 12.Qe2 Bd7 13.Bxf5 0-0-0 14.Bc2 h5 15.0-0-0 Qd5 16.Kb1 Bb5 17.Qe3 h4 18.Ne5 Bxe5? White has a very pleasant position, this move turns it into a winning one. 19.dxe5 Qxg2 20.Be4 Qg4 21.f3 Qg2 22.Qxa7 c6 23.a4 Bc4 24.a5 Bb3??

Black thinks this threatens something when in fact all it does is unprotect a6. 25.a6 1-0

Zelcic,R (2554) - Svidler,P (2690) [B43]
Olympiad Bled SLO (12), 07.11.2002

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be2 b5 7.0-0 Bb7 8.Re1 Nc6 9.Nxc6 dxc6 10.e5 Rd8 11.Bd3 c5 12.Qg4 Ne7 13.Bg5 Rd4 14.Qg3 Ng6 [ 14...c4 15.Bxe7 cxd3 16.Bxf8 Kxf8 17.cxd3 Qd8 18.Red1 f5 19.exf6 gxf6 20.Ne2 Rd6 21.Qh4 Rg8 22.Ng3 Rg7 23.Rac1 Kg8 24.Qf4 Rd4 25.Qe3 Qd6 26.Re1 e5 27.Ne4 Qd8 28.f3 Rg6 29.Nc5 Bd5 30.Re2 Kh8 31.Rec2 Rg8 32.a3 a5 33.Ne4 Bxe4 34.dxe4 Rd1+ 35.Kf2 Rd3 36.Rc8 Rxe3 37.Rxd8 Rxf3+ 38.Kxf3 Rxd8 39.Rc5 Rd3+ 40.Kg4 Rb3 41.Rc2 a4 42.Kf5 Kg7 43.h4 h5 44.Rc7+ Kh6 45.Kxf6 Rxb2 46.Rb7 Rxg2 47.Rxb5 Rg3 48.Rxe5 Rxa3 49.Ra5 Rf3+ 50.Ke7 Rf4 51.Rxa4 Rxh4 52.Ra6+ Kg5 1/2-1/2 Nataf,I-Zapata,A/Havana CUB 2002/The Week in Chess 392 (52). ] 15.Rad1 Be7 16.Bxg6 hxg6 17.Bxe7 Qxe7 18.Ne2 Rdh4 19.h3 R8h5 20.f4 g5 21.Rf1 gxf4 22.Rxf4 Be4 23.Nc3 Rxf4 24.Qxf4 Rh4 25.Qg3 Bxc2 26.Rd6 Rd4 27.Rxa6 Qb7 28.Ra5 [ 28.Rd6 was an alternative.] 28...Bd3 29.Qxg7 Rd8 30.a4 Qb6 31.Rxb5 Bxb5 32.Nxb5 Rd1+ 33.Kh2 Rf1 34.Nd6+ Kd7 35.Qg8 Qd8 36.Qg4 Qb6 37.Qg8 Qd8 38.Qg3 Qa5 39.Qd3

Suddenly its apparant that black has no moves. 1-0

Bluvshtein,M (2449) - Soltanici,R (2408) [B99]
Olympiad Bled SLO (11), 06.11.2002

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Nbd7 8.Qf3 Qc7 9.0-0-0 b5 10.Bd3 Bb7 11.Rhe1 Be7 12.a3 0-0-0 13.Qe2 [ 13.Qh3 has been played previously.] 13...Kb8 14.Kb1 h6 15.Bh4 g5 16.fxg5 hxg5 17.Bxg5 Rxh2 18.Bxb5 A very tempting sacrifice. 18...axb5 19.Ndxb5 Qc5 20.Bf4 Rh7 21.Rxd6 e5 22.b4 Qc8?

Very bad. Black needs to give up his Queen. 22...Qxc3 ; 22...Qxd6] 23.Qe3 Qc4 24.Rxf6?! winning but not the best. [ 24.Bxe5! wins.] 24...Nxf6 25.Bxe5+ Kc8 26.Qb6 Ng4 27.Na7+ Kd7 28.Qxb7+ Ke8 29.Nc6 Bh4 30.Rh1 Nxe5 31.Rxh4 Nxc6 32.Rxh7 Rd7 33.Qc8+ Ke7 34.Nd5+ 1-0