World Team Chess Championship - Round 5

By Chess Tutor William Stewart. Original article with PGN available here.

Armenia had a crucial win against China today (2.5-1.5), Russia beat Egypt as expected (3-1), Hungary crushed Israel (3.5-.5) to continue chasing the lead, and the USA bounced back with a solid win against a strong Indian team (3-1). Armenia currently leads the tournament at the halfway point with Russia, Hungary, and Ukraine trailing closely. Side note - July 22nd is a rest day.

Peter Leko Has Still Got It

Leko set the tone for Hungary today with a devastating victory over Israel's Michael Roiz with a sharp piece of preparation as white in the Advanced Variation of the Caro-Kann, employing a topical variation involving the off-beat 8. Na3!? In this variation, white aims to rapidly undermine and open black's center to take advantage of black's lack of development. Leko declared aggressive intentions with 12. b4! and 13. c5, seizing critical central squares and shutting out black's dark-squared bishop. Leko followed by winning black's isolated d-pawn through a series of tactics based on a pin against black's queen. He emerged from the opening down a pawn, but with excellent compensation in the form of superior development, excellent coordination, and control of the b and d files. Roiz resigned in severe time pressure and down a pawn in a clearly lost position.

Leko Vs Roiz - Final Position After 30. Qd4

Grischuk Wins Quick Vs Egypt

Grischuk played aggressively today and was rewarded accordingly with a quick win over Egypt's Ahmed Adly. Grischuk played the Modern Benoni with the black pieces, as Adly created complications with a thematic pawn sacrifice - 20. e5!? - opening up the critical e4 square for white's pieces and creating good chances for an attack against black's king. Grischuk responded by giving the pawn with 21. ...c4! - while Adly's response 22. Qxc4?! allowed black to build a monster pawn center with 22. gxf5. A better move for white could have been to maintain the tension in the center with the simple 22. Qc2. More complications ensued and Grischuk was able to find a winning tactic starting with 25. ...e4! and 26. ...f4! - capitalizing on white's lack of coordination and loose knight on e7, leading to black winning a piece and the game.

Adly Vs Grischuk - Position after 21. ...c4!

By Chess Tutor William Stewart. Original article with PGN available here. Check out the World Team Championship's  Official Site 

World Team Chess Championship - Round 5

By Chess Tutor William Stewart. Original article with PGN available here.

Armenia had a crucial win against China today (2.5-1.5), Russia beat Egypt as expected (3-1), Hungary crushed Israel (3.5-.5) to continue chasing the lead, and the USA bounced back with a solid win against a strong Indian team (3-1). Armenia currently leads the tournament at the halfway point with Russia, Hungary, and Ukraine trailing closely. Side note - July 22nd is a rest day.

Peter Leko Has Still Got It

Leko set the tone for Hungary today with a devastating victory over Israel's Michael Roiz with a sharp piece of preparation as white in the Advanced Variation of the Caro-Kann, employing a topical variation involving the off-beat 8. Na3!? In this variation, white aims to rapidly undermine and open black's center to take advantage of black's lack of development. Leko declared aggressive intentions with 12. b4! and 13. c5, seizing critical central squares and shutting out black's dark-squared bishop. Leko followed by winning black's isolated d-pawn through a series of tactics based on a pin against black's queen. He emerged from the opening down a pawn, but with excellent compensation in the form of superior development, excellent coordination, and control of the b and d files. Roiz resigned in severe time pressure and down a pawn in a clearly lost position.

Leko Vs Roiz - Final Position After 30. Qd4

Grischuk Wins Quick Vs Egypt

Grischuk played aggressively today and was rewarded accordingly with a quick win over Egypt's Ahmed Adly. Grischuk played the Modern Benoni with the black pieces, as Adly created complications with a thematic pawn sacrifice - 20. e5!? - opening up the critical e4 square for white's pieces and creating good chances for an attack against black's king. Grischuk responded by giving the pawn with 21. ...c4! - while Adly's response 22. Qxc4?! allowed black to build a monster pawn center with 22. gxf5. A better move for white could have been to maintain the tension in the center with the simple 22. Qc2. More complications ensued and Grischuk was able to find a winning tactic starting with 25. ...e4! and 26. ...f4! - capitalizing on white's lack of coordination and loose knight on e7, leading to black winning a piece and the game.

Adly Vs Grischuk - Position after 21. ...c4!

By Chess Tutor William Stewart. Original article with PGN available here. Check out the World Team Championship's  Official Site 

World Team Chess Championship - Round 4

By Chess Coach William Stewart

Original article along with with interactive PGN's on Round 4 of the World Team Chess Championship available on William's site.

Azerbaijan Beats Russia Convincingly

Grischuk's opening preparation was clearly insufficient as he emerged from the opening down a pawn and in a clearly worse position on the black side of Ruy Lopez. Gashimov continued to actively press, won another pawn, and forced Grischuk's resignation on move 39. Guseinov ensured his team's success with a solid tactical win over Svidler on board 4. Svidler chose an interesting variation of the Sicilian Kan, similar to a Hedgehog formation - however he was unable to achieve any counterplay on the queenside and Guseinov was essentially left a free hand to force through in the center. Svidler's passivity and lack of coordination allowed Guseinov to spectacularly break the black position open with 26. f5!? and 28. Nf5! - leading to a decisive win of material for white.

Guseinov Vs Svidler - Position after 28. Nf5!

Hungary Topples Strong Ukrainian Team

Peter Leko made the difference with the black pieces against Vassily Ivanchuk on board 1 today, as every other game was drawn. Ivanchuk is viable to play any opening, making it extremely difficult for opponents to prepare against him. However, a downside is that sometimes he doesn't know his own opening thoroughly enough. This seemed to happen today, as Leko rapidly achieved a crushing position with the Marshall Attack against Ivanchuk's Ruy Lopez. The idea of sacrificing a piece with 18. ...f4! was not new to Leko as he played very quickly at this point - however Ivanchuk was not prepared and spent 62 minutes on moves 18, 19, and 20. Not only did this hurt the Ukranian #1 on the clock, it landed him in an extremely difficult position due to the complicated imbalances of material and coordination. Ivanchuk tried to put up a defense, however Leko had more than ample time to accurately find and execute the win.

Ivanchuk Vs Leko - Position after 18. ...f4!

Original article along with with interactive PGN's on Round 4 of the World Team Chess Championship available on William's site. Game PGNs and Results at the Official Site

World Team Chess Championship - Round 4

By Chess Coach William Stewart

Original article along with with interactive PGN's on Round 4 of the World Team Chess Championship available on William's site.

Azerbaijan Beats Russia Convincingly

Grischuk's opening preparation was clearly insufficient as he emerged from the opening down a pawn and in a clearly worse position on the black side of Ruy Lopez. Gashimov continued to actively press, won another pawn, and forced Grischuk's resignation on move 39. Guseinov ensured his team's success with a solid tactical win over Svidler on board 4. Svidler chose an interesting variation of the Sicilian Kan, similar to a Hedgehog formation - however he was unable to achieve any counterplay on the queenside and Guseinov was essentially left a free hand to force through in the center. Svidler's passivity and lack of coordination allowed Guseinov to spectacularly break the black position open with 26. f5!? and 28. Nf5! - leading to a decisive win of material for white.

Guseinov Vs Svidler - Position after 28. Nf5!

Hungary Topples Strong Ukrainian Team

Peter Leko made the difference with the black pieces against Vassily Ivanchuk on board 1 today, as every other game was drawn. Ivanchuk is viable to play any opening, making it extremely difficult for opponents to prepare against him. However, a downside is that sometimes he doesn't know his own opening thoroughly enough. This seemed to happen today, as Leko rapidly achieved a crushing position with the Marshall Attack against Ivanchuk's Ruy Lopez. The idea of sacrificing a piece with 18. ...f4! was not new to Leko as he played very quickly at this point - however Ivanchuk was not prepared and spent 62 minutes on moves 18, 19, and 20. Not only did this hurt the Ukranian #1 on the clock, it landed him in an extremely difficult position due to the complicated imbalances of material and coordination. Ivanchuk tried to put up a defense, however Leko had more than ample time to accurately find and execute the win.

Ivanchuk Vs Leko - Position after 18. ...f4!

Original article along with with interactive PGN's on Round 4 of the World Team Chess Championship available on William's site. Game PGNs and Results at the Official Site