Close Finish In Olympiad

Sydney Morning Herald

Wednesday November 26, 2008

Peter Parr

Israel who led the Olympiad in Dresden, Germany after 9 rounds lost to Ukraine in round 10. Zahar Efimenko (UKR) has a performance rating of 2793 and Gabriel Sargissian(ARM)has an amazing 2893 performance rating. Results of the top teams round 10: Ukraine 2.5 Israel 1.5, Serbia 1 Armenia 3, England 1.5 China 2.5, Slovenia 0.5 Russia 3.5 Top rankings

- Armenia, Ukraine 17, Israel, China 16,

Russia, Netherlands, Spain, USA 15.

Australia (53) won a very close match against Brazil (58). The first game to finish was on board 3 when Australian

Champion Stephen Solomon lost. Johansen on board 4 drew an evenly fought game just after the time control.

Zhao won the following tactical game on top board leaving the score 1.5 - 1.5 Rd

10 D.Lima (BRA 2488) v Z.Zhao (AUS

2567) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3 Nf6 4.

Be2 Bd7 5. d3 Bc6 6. O-O Nbd7 7. b4

e6 8. Bb2 a5 9. bxc5 Nxc5 10. Nd4 Ba4 11.

Qd2 e5 12. Nf5 g6 13. Ne3 b5 14. c4 b4

15. f4 Bh6 16. g4 Bxf4 17. Rxf4 exf4 18.

g5 Nfxe4 19. dxe4 fxe3 20. Qxe3 O-O 21.

Nd2 Rc8 22. Bg4 Nd7 23. Bxd7 Bxd7 24.

Qf4 Qe7 25. Qh4 h5 26. Rf1 Qe6 27. Rf4

Rc5 28. Bf6 a4 29. Qe1 Rb8 30. h4 Re5

31. Qa1 Re8 32. Qb2 Qh3 33. Nf1 Bc6 34.

Bxe5 dxe5 0-1. Smerdon held the

advantage against GM Sunye Neto(2488) throughout but a draw seemed likely. Smerdon won with a very well played rook and pawn endgame. Final score Australia 2.5 Brazil 1.5.

Rd 6 V.Topalov (BUL 2791) v Z.Zhao

(AUS 2567) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5

4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd3

Nbd7 8. Nge2 Re8 9. O-O Nf8 10. b4 Be6

11. b5 Ng6 12. Qc2 Bd6 13. f4 Bg4 14.

Bxf6 Qxf6 15. Nxd5 Qd8 16. Ng3 Rc8 17.

Bf5 Bxf5 18. Nxf5 c6 19. bxc6 bxc6 20.

Nc3 Bb4 21. Ne4 a5 22. Rad1 h6 23. Neg3

Nf8 24. e4 Ne6 25. e5 Qb6 26. Nh5 Red8

27. Kh1 Kf8 28. Nfxg7 Nxg7 29. Nf6 Ke7

30. d5 Rh8 31. Qb3 Rcd8 32. d6+ Kf8 33.

f5 Qb5 34. Qg3 Qe2 35. Qf4 Ne8 36. Ne4

Rg8 37. Qxh6+ Rg7 38. Ng3 1-0

Progress scores - GM Z.Zhao 2567 5.5/9, IM D.Smerdon 2470 4/8, IM S.

Solomon 2470 4/8, GM D.Johansen 2446 6.5/8, IM G.Xie 2403 3/7. Australia

seeded 53rd is in 46th place with 12 match points. New Zealand is 79th on 10

points, Papua New Guinea 140th on 5 points and Fiji 142nd also on 5 points.

Round 11 - China v Armenia, USA v Ukraine, Israel V Netherlands, Russia v Spain. Australia (Zhao, Smerdon, Solomon, Johansen) plays Cuba (seeded

16th) GM Bruzon 2623, GM Quezada 2580, GM Hernandez 2580,GM Nogueiras 2574. Fortunately for Australia the top

board GM Dominguez 2719, World Blitz champion is not playing in this vital last

round match.

Womens Olympiad results of the top teams round 10 - Serbia 2 Ukraine 2,

Armenia 1.5 Poland 2.5, China 1.5 Georgia 2.5. Australia lost to Sweden

(20) by 1-3. WM Arianne Caoili was tactically outplayed by GM Pia Cramling

(2550) one of the world's strongest female

players (7.5/8 this Olympiad). Nguyen lost. Moylan had 5 pawns for a rook but

the game ended in a draw by perpetual check. Dekic drew in a knight and pawn

endgame. Progress scores WM A.Caoili 2170 5/9 T.Nguyen 2101 3.5/8 WM L.

Moylan 2114 3.5/8 WM B.Dekic 2103 4.5/8 WFM S.Oliver 1942 3.5/7

Top rankings after round 10 (11

rounds, 114 teams) Poland 17, Ukraine, Georgia, Serbia 16. Australia seeded 54th is in 52nd place with 10 match points.

Final round - Poland v Ukraine, Georgia v Serbia. Australia plays Brazil (62).

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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