Back to Work in Astana

It was back to business in Astana today for Team America in the 2019 World Team Championship. After yesterday’s rest day, the Open team crushed Sweden 3.5-0.5, while the Women slumped to defeat against Russia by a score of 2.5-1.5. OPEN

RESULTS

 

Some of the pressure on the Open team was released early in the round, when fourth board GM Zviad Izoria was gifted an exchange by his opponent, Swedish IM Linus Johansson.

[pgn] [Event "12th World Teams 2019"] [Site "Astana KAZ"] [Date "2019.03.11"] [White "Izoria, Zviad"] [Black "Johansson, Linus"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E10"] [WhiteElo "2603"] [BlackElo "2479"] [PlyCount "47"] [EventDate "2019.03.05"] [WhiteTeam "United States of America"] [BlackTeam "Sweden"] [BlackTeamCountry "SWE"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. e3 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bb5+ Bd7 7. Bxd7+ Nbxd7 8. dxc5 Nxc5 9. O-O Be7 10. Nc3 O-O 11. b3 Qd7 12. Bb2 Rfd8 13. Qe2 a6 14. Rac1 Rac8 15. Rc2 Nce4 16. Rfc1 Nxc3 17. Bxc3 Rc6 $2 18. Ne5 Qe8 19. Nxc6 bxc6 20. Bxf6 Bxf6 21. Qxa6 h5 22. Qxc6 Qe4 23. Qb7 h4 24. h3 1-0 [/pgn]

GM Alexander Onischuk defeated GM Erik Blomqvist when the Swedish second board buckled under Onischuk’s consistent pressure, and GM Alex Lenderman won on the third board against GM Axel Smith, despite Smith’s not playing his “expected” 1.e3. (Smith wrote a book called e3 Poison that sketched an opening repertoire for White revolving around the move e2-e3.)

WOMEN'S RESULTS

The U.S. Women could not overcome FM Carissa Yip’s loss against Russian GM Aleksandra Goryachkina on board three. While the other three games were drawn, the score could have been worse. WCM Rochelle Wu was near defeat in her game against WGM Olga Girya when Girya went pawn grabbing, allowing Wu to find a neat perpetual check tactic.

[pgn] [Event "12th World Teams Women"] [Site "Astana KAZ"] [Date "2019.03.11"] [White "Wu, Rochelle"] [Black "Girya, Olga"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E35"] [WhiteElo "2120"] [BlackElo "2456"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [PlyCount "79"] [EventDate "2019.03.05"] [WhiteTeam "United States of America"] [BlackTeam "Russia"] [BlackTeamCountry "RUS"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 g5 8. Bg3 Nc6 9. e3 Ne4 10. Bd3 Bf5 11. Nge2 Nxg3 12. hxg3 Bxd3 13. Qxd3 Qd7 14. O-O-O O-O-O 15. a3 Bxc3 16. Nxc3 Ne7 17. Rh5 Kb8 18. Rdh1 Qe6 19. Kb1 Nf5 20. Qe2 c6 21. Ka1 Nd6 22. g4 Ne4 23. Nxe4 dxe4 24. f4 exf3 25. Qxf3 a6 26. Rf1 Rhe8 27. Rh3 Rd7 28. Qg3+ Ka7 29. Rc1 Rd5 30. Rc3 f5 31. gxf5 Rxf5 32. Rh1 h5 33. Qc7 ( 33. Qe1 Qe4 34. g3 g4 {and White just has too many weaknesses.}) 33... Ref8 34. Rhc1 R8f7 35. Qg3 Qe4 36. Rb3 h4 37. Qd6 Qxg2 $2 (37... Rf1 38. Qc5+ Ka8 39. Ka2 Rxc1 40. Qxc1 Qxg2 $19) 38. Qd8 Qd5 (38... b5 39. Qc8 $1 Rf1 40. Rbc3 Rxc1+ 41. Rxc1) 39. Qb6+ Ka8 40. e4 $1 (40. e4 Qxe4 41. Qd8+ Ka7 42. Qb6+ Kb8 43. Qd8+ $11) 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

And WGM Tatev Abrahamyan was dramatically worse in the final position against GM Kateryna Lagno, but having overlooked the key idea once already, Lagno did not press the issue and peace was soon declared.

[pgn] [Event "12th World Teams Women"] [Site "Astana KAZ"] [Date "2019.03.11"] [White "Lagno, Kateryna"] [Black "Abrahamyan, Tatev"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C07"] [WhiteElo "2559"] [BlackElo "2377"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [PlyCount "96"] [EventDate "2019.03.05"] [WhiteTeam "Russia"] [BlackTeam "United States of America"] [WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. dxc5 Nf6 6. Ngf3 Bxc5 7. Bc4 Qc6 8. O-O O-O 9. Qe2 a6 10. Bd3 Nbd7 11. Nc4 b5 12. Nce5 Nxe5 13. Nxe5 Qc7 14. Bg5 Nd5 15. c4 bxc4 16. Nxc4 Bb7 17. Rac1 Rac8 18. Be4 a5 19. Bd2 Ba6 20. b3 Bb4 21. g3 Rfd8 22. Rfd1 Nb6 23. Bf4 Qe7 24. Rxd8+ Rxd8 25. Rd1 Rxd1+ 26. Qxd1 Nxc4 27. bxc4 f5 28. Bd3 Qd7 29. Qe2 Bb7 30. f3 Kf7 31. Kg2 h6 32. h4 a4 33. h5 a3 34. Be5 Ba6 35. Qe3 Qc6 36. Qd4 Bc5 37. Qc3 Bf8 38. Bd4 Bb7 39. Be2 Ba6 40. Be5 Qb7 41. Qd4 Kg8 42. g4 Qb1 43. Qd3 Qxa2 44. gxf5 exf5 45. Kf2 Bc5+ $2 (45... Bb7 $11) 46. Kg3 Bf8 47. Kf2 $2 (47. Qd5+ $1 Kh7 48. Bd3 $18) 47... Bc5+ 48. Kg3 Bf8 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

YOUTH MEETS EXPERIENCE England’s reserve player, 62-year-old GM Jon Speelman, was pressed into duty when GM Gawain Jones “failed his fitness test” and was unavailable for selection. The vastly experience Speelman, a one-time World Championship Candidate and author of many excellent books, faced Iran’s 15-year-old GM Alireza Firouzja on board four of the England-Iran match. Youth carried the day, as Speelman lost, but England rallied to win the match by a score of 3-1.

[pgn] [Event "12th World Teams 2019"] [Site "Astana KAZ"] [Date "2019.03.11"] [White "Speelman, Jon S"] [Black "Firouzja, Alireza"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A05"] [WhiteElo "2516"] [BlackElo "2657"] [PlyCount "64"] [EventDate "2019.03.05"] [WhiteTeam "England"] [BlackTeam "Iran"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ENG"] [BlackTeamCountry "IRI"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. b3 d5 4. Bb2 c5 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. O-O O-O 7. e3 Re8 8. d4 cxd4 9. exd4 Bf5 10. c4 dxc4 11. bxc4 Nc6 12. Qb3 Na5 13. Qb4 Bd3 14. Rc1 Bxc4 15. Nbd2 Bd5 16. Nb3 Nc6 17. Qb5 a6 18. Qe2 Bh6 19. Rd1 Qb6 20. Nc5 e5 21. Qc2 exd4 22. Nxd4 Bxg2 23. Kxg2 Nxd4 24. Bxd4 Qc6+ 25. Kg1 Ne4 26. Nxe4 Qxc2 27. Nf6+ Kf8 28. Nd7+ Ke7 29. Bc5+ Ke6 30. Rd6+ Kf5 31. Rd5+ Kg4 32. Rad1 Kh3 0-1 [/pgn]

STANDINGS AFTER RD 6 Open Division:

Women’s Division:

Tomorrow the U.S. plays Russia in the Open section, while the Women take on India. Rounds begin at 3pm local time, or 4am EST. Live on-site coverage is available at the official website:  http://kazchess.kz/world_astana2019/