US Wins Round 6 is Baku

All Things Chess
1

Bravo to the whole team and especially to Caruana for his win.

[Event “42nd Olympiad Baku 2016 Open”]
[Site “Baku”]
[Date “2016.09.08”]
[Round “6.5”]
[White “Caruana, Fabiano”]
[Black “Eljanov, Pavel”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B31”]
[WhiteElo “2808”]
[BlackElo “2739”]
[Annotator “Deep Fritz 14 x64 (10m)”]
[PlyCount “105”]
[EventDate “2016.??.??”]
[EventCountry “AZE”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[WhiteTeam “United States”]
[BlackTeam “Ukraine”]
[WhiteTeamCountry “USA”]
[BlackTeamCountry “UKR”]

{B31: Sicilian: 2…Nc6 3 Bb5 g6} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 {
Black has the pair of bishops} 5. O-O Bg7 6. Re1 Nh6 7. c3 {Consolidates d4}
O-O 8. h3 {Prevents intrusion on g4} f5 9. e5 Nf7 10. d3 Rb8 11. Na3 Ba6 12.
Nc4 Bxc4 13. dxc4 d6 14. e6 Ne5 15. Nxe5 Bxe5 16. Bh6 Bg7 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. Rb1
Qa5 19. a4 Rf6 20. Re3 Qa6 21. b3 Qc8 22. Qe1 a5 23. b4 axb4 24. cxb4 cxb4 25.
Rxb4 Ra8 26. Qa1 (26. c5 dxc5 27. Rc4 Qa6 $11) 26… f4 (26… Kg8 27. c5 Rxe6
28. Qe1 Rxe3 29. Qxe3 dxc5 30. Qxc5 $15) 27. Re4 $11 f3 28. g4 Kg8 {Black king
safety improved} 29. Qd1 Rxe6 30. Qxf3 Rxe4 31. Qxe4 Qc7 32. c5 dxc5 33. Qc4+ {
White forks: c5} Kg7 34. Qc3+ Kg8 35. Qc4+ Kg7 {Twofold repetition} 36. Qxc5
Qd6 37. Qc3+ Qf6 {Black threatens to win material: Qf6xc3} 38. Qe3 Rf8 39. Re4
Rf7 (39… Re8 40. a5 $16) 40. Re5 Qd6 (40… h5 41. gxh5 gxh5 42. Re6 Qa1+ 43.
Kh2 $18) 41. a5 $18 Qd1+ 42. Kg2 Qa1 43. Qe2 e6 (43… Qd4 44. f3 Kg8 45. a6
$18) 44. a6 Qd4 (44… Re7 45. Rc5 $18) 45. Rxe6 c5 (45… Qd5+ 46. Kg3 c5 $18)
46. Re7 Qd5+ (46… c4 {does not help much} 47. a7 Qd5+ 48. Kg1 $18) 47. f3 c4
(47… Kf8 {there is nothing else anyway} 48. Rxf7+ Kxf7 $18) 48. Rxf7+ Qxf7 (
48… Kxf7 {doesn’t get the bull off the ice} 49. Qa2 Kf8 50. a7 $18) 49. Qe5+
Kh6 50. Qe3+ (50. f4 Qd7 51. Kg3 Qd1 52. Kh4 Qe1+ 53. Qxe1 g5+ 54. fxg5+ Kg6
55. Qe7 h5 56. a7 c3 57. a8=B hxg4 58. Be4#) 50… Kg7 51. Qd4+ Kh6 52. a7 Qb7
53. h4 (53. h4 Qe7 54. g5+ Qxg5+ 55. hxg5+ Kxg5 56. a8=Q Kh6 57. Qad8 Kh5 58.
Q8h4#) 1-0

2

Big win over Ukraine

US started ranked 2 and Ukraine 5

US is 1 MP behind India and paired against them tomorrow

Women beat Turkey 3.5-.5 and are in 8th but right in there.
Paired against Romania tomorrow and need a good result to stay hanging tough.

3

The teams that win often have a lower board who just kills it - generating a lot of points. This is because depth is the way the top teams usually ‘impose their will.’ It is interesting that so far, that is not the case for the US open team - neither Shankland or Robson has a result that is all that great. So far, it is the top boards that are generating performance ratings that exceed expectations.

4

Since all five men are undefeated I’d say they are all performing solidly. I am not in front of my computer but I suspect that ignoring the round one mismatch they all have performances vs their actual ratings that are similar. The top 3 have shed half points to lower rateds but it is hard for most nations to hold them even and no guarantee doing so will win the match.

5

ah, the joys of team play. sometimes draws are ceded just to secure a won match. haven’t looked at many games yet but i’d hardly call out any player for accepting or offering a draw if it is going to secure a match win.

…scot…