Did Vietnam Throw their Match with China?

chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5760

Pham Bich Ngoc (2145) - Huang Qian (2424) [A15]
2nd WTeam w Ningbo CHN (9), 11.09.2009
1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.0-0 0-0 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Nc3 Nb6 8.d3 c6 9.Be3 h6 10.Qd2 Kh7 11.Rac1 N8d7 12.b4 Nd5 13.Nxd5 cxd5 14.Qc2 e5 15.Qc7 d4 16.Bd2 Nb6 17.Qxd8 Rxd8 18.Rc5 f6 19.Nh4 f5 20.f4 exf4 21.gxf4 Re8 22.Kf2 Re7 23.Rg1 Be6 24.Bh3 Bf7 25.Bxf5 gxf5 26.Nxf5 Bf6 27.Nxe7 Bxe7 28.Rc7 Nd5 29.Rxb7 Be6 30.e4 dxe3+ 31.Bxe3 Bc8 32.Bd4 h5 33.Rxe7+ Nxe7 34.Rg7+ Kh6 35.Rxe7 a6 36.Re8 Kg6

White then played Bc5 and offered a draw which was accepted.

Is there a handy link with the two games in question that is set up to be played through? (Without being charged XX Euros…) Thanks.

The best I can come up with is the chessbase site with the pgn files for all the games. Copy and load into your favorite chess database.
chessbase.com/news/2009/even … eamw09.pgn
Best, BL

I think it’s payback, recalling the recent Women’s World (individual) Championship in Russia where Hou Yifan was defeated in the final match by a Russian player in a way that was not entirely convincing to me. The player who defeated her there did not attend this Women’s Team tournament, thus avoiding the possibility of a rematch on first board against Hou on Chinese soil.

But it’s a very strong result for Russia in the team tournament, considering they did not have their normal first board.

In the future these events really should not be held in countries that have prospective winners. If that means they can’t use Chess City in Elista, or even Ekaterinburg, that’s exactly what it means.

There was mention in one of the linked articles of two suspicious games. I only found and went over this one - the one posted above. The offer of a draw at that point is disgraceful! Even with the opposite-colored Bishops, White easily has a won position - starting with a Rook that is well positioned to increase White’s advantage. I cannot believe that this won’t continue to get a lot of scrutiny (hopefully so).

Are the clock times included? What was the increment?

I thought about this briefly as well. I didn’t notice the information in the database.

However, given the relative simplicity of the position (bB+R vs wB+R) - at least in terms of avoiding a game-losing blunder - and the fact that it was move 36 (assuming the first control was based on 40 moves), I don’t think it’s very likely that the clock induced White to offer the draw.

But if anybody else has this information, I agree that it would be interesting to know.