Chess Olympiad - Canada

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Great! National team will stay longer in Dresden after predicted win 4-0 The team climbed up to 64 place. Seems the next round will be easy: Canada - Trinidad & Tobago. Hope for 4-0 again.


The luck was away in the women match. Had Dina a clear win? When or what was a winning plan?
The next match: 18. Belarus - Canada. Girls might win

[Bob Armstrong]

Here are the Rd. 8 Pairings for tomorrow, with some stats:

Bd. 41 National Team ( # 48/ 7 MP/ 18 GP/ standing at # 64 ) vs Trinidad & Tobago ( # 111/ 6 MP/ 12 GP/ standing at # 94 ). - our opponent is substantially lower-rated, and we can hope for a good score tomorrow.

Bd. 18 Belarus ( # 26/ 8 MP/ 17.5 GP/ standing at # 30 ) vs Women's Team ( # 53/ 8 MP/ 16.5 GP/ standing at # 47 ). - a somewhat higher ranking opponent, but our team has been playing well, so an upset is a possibility.

Bob

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

It was a very varying game.
The game PGN
[Event "Chess Olympiad 2008"]
[Site "Dresden"]
[Date "2008.11.20"]
[Round "7.12"]
[White "Kagramanov, Dina"]
[Black "Srebrnic, Ana"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2118"]
[BlackElo "2290"]
[WhiteCountry "CAN"]
[BlackCountry "SLO"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1 c6 8. a4 b6 9. h3 a6 10. b3 Rb8 11. Bd3 b5 12. a5 Qc7 13. Qe2 Bb7 14. Nd1 Rfe8 15. Bb2 Bf8 16. c4 exd4 17. Bxd4 bxc4 18. bxc4 c5 19. Bxf6 Nxf6 20. Nc3 g6 21. Qd2 Bg7 22. Ra3 Bc6 23. Bc2 Rb4 24. Nd5 Nxd5 25. exd5 Bd7 26. Rxe8+ Bxe8 27. Qe2 Qd8 28. h4 Bd7 29. Ng5 h6 30. Ne4 Be5 31. Nxc5 Qxh4 32. g3 Qg4 33. Qxg4 Bxg4 34. Nxa6 Rxc4 35. Bd3 Rc1+ 36. Kg2 Bd4 37. Ra4 Ra1 38. Rxd4 Bc8 39. Rb4 Kg7 40. Rb6 Rxa5 41. Rxd6 Bb7 42. Nb4 Ra3 43. Rd7 Ba8 44. Kf3 Rb3 45. Ra7 Bxd5+ 46. Nxd5 Rxd3+ 47. Ke4 Rd2 48. f3 Re2+ 49. Kf4 Rb2 50. Nc3 Rb4+ 51. Ke5 Rb3 52. Rc7 Ra3 53. Kf4 Ra5 54. Rd7 Rf5+ 55. Ke4 Rg5 56. g4 h5 57. Rd5 Rxd5 58. Kxd5 hxg4 59. fxg4 Kh6 60. Ne4 f5 1/2-1/2

A critical position after 43 Black move, where White advantage must materialize to a point.


Hard to say why White moved 44. Kf3. An idea that a bishop is pinned flags red the move. After 44... Rb3 45. Ra7 Bxd5 White lost its most valuable pawn. Lets back to diagram. White bishop has two good squares - e2 (maybe passive, but it frees a knight, i.e. Nc6-e5 and a f7-pawn is under attack) and b5 (the idea is to exchange bishops and promote a d-pawn.) After 44. Bb5 Rb3 follows 45. Bc6!

Probably Dina miscalculated this position missing a nice saving black move (59....)

Try to find yourself or check PGN.


Thus another critical position. White played 57. Rd5 and fall into the trap


Two moves early (after 54...Rf5+)

I prefer this position as it gives more possibilities - 55. Ke3 with Ne4 or Rd5.

[Bob Armstrong]

After 7 rounds , how are the women doing? Here is my post on ChessTalk today:

The women's team ( # 53 ) beat Mexico ( # 57 ), a peer team.

The other three wins were expected , but the scores are high : Costa Rica ( # 80 - 3.5 - .5 ); Fiji ( # 98 - 4 - 0 ); Nigeria ( # 111 - 4 - 0 ).

The losses were against strong teams : Cuba ( # 25 ); England ( # 31 ); Slovania ( # 12 ). The score against England is not bad - 2.5 - 1.5.

So I think the opinion that they are doing well ( perhaps not " very " well ) is justified. They are certainly playing their # 53 ranking. They currently stand in # 47th place.

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

Rd. 8 sees Canada's Women's team playing Belarus on Bd. 18.

WFM Yuanling Yuan ( 2157 ) is on second board ( 18.2 ) playing WIM Nadezhda Azarova ( 2308 ).

Since Yuanling is a member of my chess club, Scarborough CC, I ( read Fritz ) will be doing live analysis of her game on the chess website, Chess5 ( www.chess5.com ). When you get to the homepage, click on " Public Games " to get the November list of games. Find the game, and then click on " View " and you will get a board and the score, with analysis ( it takes a few seconds for the game to load ). Hope you find it interesting.

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

( 11: 56 ) On the Women's side:

On Bd. 1, Natalia is up a P, but her opponent does have a passed P on the 6th rank.

On Bd. 2, material is equal in Yuanling's game, but her opponent has a " clear " advantage ( was a Sicilian, Yuanling playing W ).

On Bd. 3, Dina has lost.

On Bd. 4, Hazel is up a B.

Belarus leads 1 - 0.

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

So far in Rd. 8 against Belarus, the women's team stands:

Natalia and Dina have lost.

On Bd. 4, Hazel drew.

On Bd. 2, Yuanling is down the exchange.

Belarus leads 2.5 - .5.

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

In Rd. 8 against Trinidad and Tobago ( # 111 ), the national team ( # 48 ) won 3.5 - .5 ( Bluvshtein, Roussel-Roozman and Noritsyn won; Zugic drew ).

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

In Rd. 8 against Belarus ( # 26 ), the women's team ( # 53 ) lost 3.5 - .5 ( Hazel drew; Natalia, Yuanling and Dina lost ).

Bob

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Standing after today play:
National 49
Women 57