U.S. in First after Four Rounds at World Senior Teams

The U.S. 50+ team is a perfect four for four after today’s fourth round match victory over Armenia. The U.S. team defeated Armenia 2.5-1.5, with Alexander Shabalov providing the key win on board one against Rafael Vaganian. This leaves the Americans in sole possession of first place after four rounds of play at the World Senior Team Championships.

[pgn]

[Event "World Senior Teams 50+"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.04.19"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Shabalov, Alexander"]
[Black "Vaganian, Rafael A"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C05"]
[WhiteElo "2510"]
[BlackElo "2535"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "Armenia"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "ARM"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Ne2 $5 (7. Be3 {
is the mainline.}) 7... b5 8. a3 b4 $6 9. axb4 cxb4 10. f5 exf5 11. Nf4 {
White already has the initiative.} Ndb8 12. Bb5 g5 13. Nh5 (13. Nxg5 $1 Qxg5
14. O-O {(threatening Nxd5)} Qd8 15. c4 bxc3 16. bxc3 {and White's development
gives him an overwhelming position}) 13... Be7 14. Nf6+ Bxf6 15. exf6 h6 16. h4
g4 17. Ne5 Qxf6 18. O-O g3 19. Nf3 (19. Qh5 $1 $18) 19... O-O 20. Bf4 a5 21.
Qd2 Kh7 22. Bxg3 Rg8 23. Bf4 Ba6 24. Bxa6 Rxa6 {Vaganian has worked his way
back to a roughly equal position.} 25. Qd3 Ra7 26. Rae1 Re7 (26... a4 $132) 27.
Ne5 Nxe5 28. Rxe5 Qg6 29. g3 (29. Qxf5 $5) 29... Rxe5 30. Bxe5 Nd7 $4 31. h5 {
Black's position suddenly falls apart.} (31. h5 Qxh5 (31... Qe6 32. Rxf5 {
and there's no good way to avoid the discovery}) 32. Rxf5 {threatens Rxf7#} Qg6
33. Rxf7+ Rg7 34. Rxg7+ Kh8 35. Qxg6 $18) 1-0

[/pgn]

The U.S. defeated Germany 3.5-0.5 in the second round. Shabalov, who is having an excellent tournament thus far, defeated Uwe Boensch in a theoretical 5.Bf4 Queen’s Gambit.

[pgn]

[Event "World Senior Teams 50+"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.04.17"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Shabalov, Alexander"]
[Black "Boensch, Uwe"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2510"]
[BlackElo "2525"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "Germany"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8.
cxd5 Nxd5 9. Nxd5 exd5 10. Bd3 Bb4+ 11. Nd2 Nc6 12. O-O Be7 (12... d4 $5 13.
Nf3 dxe3 14. Bxe3 h6 15. a3 Bd6 16. h3 Qf6 17. b4 Re8 {1-0 (62) Harikrishna,P
(2726)-Caruana,F (2828) Saint Louis 2019}) 13. a3 Bf6 14. Rc1 g6 15. b4 a5 16.
b5 Ne5 17. Be2 a4 $146 18. Nb1 {Logical - redirecting the knight to pressure
the new target on a4.} Be6 19. Nc3 Rc8 20. Qxa4 (20. Nxa4 $6 Rxc1 21. Qxc1 Qa5
22. Nc5 Rc8 $11) 20... Nc4 21. Ne4 Be7 (21... dxe4 $2 22. Bxc4 $16) 22. Bxc4
Rxc4 23. Rxc4 dxc4 24. Be5 f6 25. Rd1 (25. Bd4 $5) 25... Qa8 26. Qxa8 Rxa8 27.
Bxf6 Bxf6 28. Nxf6+ Kg7 29. Ne4 Rxa3 30. h4 Bf5 31. Nd6 Bd3 $2 (31... c3 $5)
32. Nxb7 {Now White has his own pawn running for the endzone.} c3 33. b6 c2 34.
Rc1 Rc3 35. f3 $1 Rc6 36. Kf2 Rxb6 37. Nc5 (37. Nc5 Bf5 38. e4 Rc6 39. Rxc2 $18
) 1-0

[/pgn]

Joel Benjamin did his duty and quietly drew with Black on board two, while Igor Novikov won after some endgame slips by his opponent.

[pgn]

[Event "World Senior Teams 50+"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.04.17"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Novikov, Igor"]
[Black "Brendel, Oliver"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D94"]
[WhiteElo "2563"]
[BlackElo "2339"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/4ppk1/2r3p1/8/7p/1r2P3/1P1R1PPP/1R1K4 w - - 0 37"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "Germany"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]

{[#]} {White is up a pawn, but with the double rook ending, it's hard to see
how he makes progress without a serious mistake from his opponent.} 37. Rc1
Rcb6 38. Rcc2 g5 39. Kc1 Kf6 40. Rc4 e6 41. h3 Kg6 42. Kb1 f5 43. e4 g4 $2 (
43... f4 $11) 44. exf5+ exf5 45. hxg4 fxg4 $6 (45... h3 $5 46. gxf5+ Kxf5 47.
gxh3 Rxh3) 46. Rxg4+ Kh5 47. Rgd4 Rb8 48. Ka2 R3b7 49. Rd7 Rb3 50. R7d5+ Kg6
51. R5d3 R3b5 52. Rd6+ Kf7 53. R6d4 Ra5+ 54. Kb1 Rg5 55. Rxh4 Rxg2 56. b4 Ke6
57. Kb2 Rf8 58. Re4+ Kf5 59. Re3 Rg4 $2 ({With} 59... Rb8) ({or} 59... Rh8 {
White would still have had to 'show his work.'}) 60. Rf3+ Ke4 1-0

[/pgn]

Alex Yermolinsky was also the beneficiary of an error by his opponent, Christian Maier, who missed a nice shot in the opening.

[pgn]

[Event "World Senior Teams 50+"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.04.17"]
[Round "2.4"]
[White "Maier, Christian"]
[Black "Yermolinsky, Alex"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B80"]
[WhiteElo "2325"]
[BlackElo "2508"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Germany"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GER"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be3 Be7 7. Qe2 a6 8.
O-O-O Qc7 9. g4 b5 10. g5 Nfd7 11. Bg2 $6 (11. Nf5 $1 b4 (11... exf5 $2 12. Nd5
Qd8 13. exf5 $40) 12. Nxg7+ $1 Kf8 13. Nxe6+ fxe6 14. Qf3+ Ke8 15. Ne2 $40)
11... b4 12. Nb1 Bb7 13. f4 Nc6 14. f5 e5 15. Nxc6 Bxc6 16. c4 Qa5 17. b3 Nc5
18. h4 O-O-O 19. Qc2 f6 20. Nd2 Qa3+ 21. Kb1 a5 22. Qb2 Qxb2+ 23. Kxb2 Kc7 24.
Rhe1 $2 Nd3+ $19 25. Kc2 Nxe1+ 26. Rxe1 g6 27. Bh3 Rhg8 28. Rg1 Rdf8 29. fxg6
hxg6 30. Kd3 Bd7 31. Bxd7 Kxd7 32. Rg2 Ke6 33. Ke2 fxg5 34. hxg5 Rh8 35. Bb6
Bd8 36. Be3 Rh1 37. c5 Ra1 38. cxd6 Kxd6 39. Kd3 Ke6 40. Bc5 Be7 41. Bxe7 Kxe7
0-1

[/pgn]

The Americans took down England 1 2.5-1.5 in the third round. This team name – “England 1” – is the official name on the pairing sheets, which requires some explanation. Unlike the Olympiad or World Teams, the World Senior Team Championships allow for multiple team entries from any federation. So long as all players play under the same flag, a federation can send two or more teams, and clubs or regional bodies can also register teams. This can lead to interesting pairings, as happened in round two with the matchup between Sweden 1 and Sweden 2! Shabalov won an interesting game against Jon Speelman on board one.

[pgn]

[Event "World Senior Teams 50+"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.04.18"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Speelman, Jon S"]
[Black "Shabalov, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2509"]
[BlackElo "2510"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "England"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ENG"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 dxc4 7. Qc2 b6 $5 {
A fascinating idea created by the late GM Bukavshin.} 8. Ng5 $6 (8. Ne5 {
is the principled test of Bukavshin's move:} Qxd4 9. Bxa8 Qxe5 10. Bf3 Nd5 11.
Qxc4 Ba6 {and Black has compensation, but it's not clear how much.}) (8. Bg5
Nd5 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. e4 $5) (8. Qxc4 Bb7 $11) 8... c6 9. Rd1 Ba6 (9... h6 10.
Ne4 Nxe4 11. Bxe4 Bb7 12. Qxc4 Nd7 13. Nc3 Qc8 14. Bg2 b5 15. Qb3 b4 16. Na4 c5
17. Bxb7 Qxb7 {1-0 (52) Jumabayev,R (2605)-Repka,C (2523) Batumi 2018}) 10. Nd2
h6 11. Nge4 Nxe4 (11... Qxd4 12. Nxf6+ Bxf6 (12... Qxf6 $142 13. Nxc4) 13. Ne4
Qe5 {is immensely complex. Despite being down two pawns (perhaps temporarily)
White has full comp and is probably better here. One idea from our metal
friend is} 14. f4 $5 Qf5 15. g4 Qxg4 16. Nxf6+ gxf6 17. f5 $40) 12. Bxe4 c3 $1
(12... Qxd4 13. Nf3 Qc5 14. Be3 Qh5) 13. Nf3 (13. bxc3 $143 Bxe2 14. Re1 Ba6
$15) 13... cxb2 14. Bxb2 Nd7 15. Bxc6 Rc8 16. d5 exd5 17. Rxd5 Qc7 18. Rc1 Nc5
19. Re5 $2 {Just drops material.} (19. Bd7 $1 {holds everything together})
19... Bf6 20. Bd5 (20. Rxc5 bxc5 21. Bd5 Bxb2 22. Qxb2 $19) 20... Qd7 $1 {
Precise.} (20... Bxe5 21. Nxe5 Bb7 {is also fine, but the text is better.}) 21.
Qd2 Nd3 22. Rxc8 Rxc8 23. exd3 Bxe5 24. Bc4 Bxc4 25. Nxe5 Qd6 26. Nxc4 Rxc4 27.
Qe2 Rc7 28. Qe8+ Kh7 0-1

[/pgn]

Novikov drew with Keith Arkell in twenty moves. John Emms defeated Jaan Ehlvest after Ehlvest missed a trick near the end of the time control.

[pgn]

[Event "World Senior Teams 50+"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.04.18"]
[Round "3.3"]
[White "Emms, John M"]
[Black "Ehlvest, Jaan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C07"]
[WhiteElo "2474"]
[BlackElo "2521"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/6pk/7p/ppqNpp2/2n5/P1P2Q1P/1P3PP1/6K1 b - - 0 35"]
[PlyCount "11"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "England"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ENG"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]

35... Nd6 $2 36. Ne7 $1 {wti Qg3/Qh5, aiming at the light squares
around the king} e4 37. Qf4 $6 (37. Qg3 Kh8 38. b4 $1 axb4 39. axb4 Qb6 40. Qe5
$16) 37... g5 38. b4 axb4 39. axb4 (39. cxb4 Qc7 40. Qe5 Qc1+ 41. Kh2 Qf4+ 42.
Qxf4 gxf4 $11) 39... gxf4 $2 (39... Qd4 $1 40. cxd4 gxf4 41. Nd5 f3 $1) 40.
bxc5 Ne8 (40... Ne8 41. Nxf5 Kg6 42. g4 $18) 1-0

[/pgn]

Yermolinsky’s win over James Plaskett ensured the match victory, and featured an unusual redeployment of the White queen.

[pgn]

[Event "World Senior Teams 50+"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.04.18"]
[Round "3.4"]
[White "Yermolinsky, Alex"]
[Black "Plaskett, H James"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A59"]
[WhiteElo "2508"]
[BlackElo "2437"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "England"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "ENG"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 Bxa6 6. Nc3 d6 7. e4 Bxf1 8.
Kxf1 g6 9. Nf3 Bg7 10. g3 O-O 11. Kg2 Qb6 12. Re1 (12. a4 {is Avrukh's new
recommendation, following recent trends in Benko theory.}) 12... Nbd7 13. h3
Rfb8 14. Re2 Qa6 15. Bg5 Rb4 16. a3 Rb7 17. Rc1 Nb6 18. Rcc2 Nc4 19. e5 Nd7 20.
exd6 exd6 21. Bc1 Nde5 22. Nxe5 Nxe5 23. Bf4 h6 24. Ne4 $1 {Looking for
tactics based on the weak and overworked d6 pawn.} (24. Bxe5 Bxe5 25. Qd2 Bg7)
24... Nd3 (24... Re7) 25. Bxd6 Nxb2 26. Qh1 $5 {Well, that's one way to
strengthen the h1-a8 diagonal!} c4 27. Kh2 Nd3 28. Nc5 Nxc5 29. Bxc5 Rc8 30.
Bb4 c3 31. Qe4 Kh7 32. d6 Rd7 33. Qd5 Bf6 34. Re7 $1 Rxe7 (34... Bxe7 $2 35.
Qxf7+ $18) 35. dxe7 Kg7 (35... Qe6 {is nearly forced, when White should
continue with} 36. Qf3 Bxe7 37. Rxc3 Rxc3 38. Bxc3 $18) 36. Rxc3 Re8 37. Rf3
Qe2 38. Bc3 $1 1-0

[/pgn]

The next CLO report on the World Senior Teams will be on Monday, April 22nd.

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Playing Schedule: Round     Date                Time (GMT+3) 1          2019/04/16      15:00 2          2019/04/17      15:00 3          2019/04/18      15:00 4          2019/04/19      15:00 5          2019/04/20      15:00 6          2019/04/21      15:00 7          2019/04/22      15:00 8          2019/04/23      15:00 9          2019/04/24      10:30 Pairings and Results: 50+ section: http://chess-results.com/tnr413742.aspx 65+ section: http://chess-results.com/tnr426179.aspx Games will be streamed at chess24.com and photos will be available at the organizer’s Facebook page. For background on the World Senior Teams, check out our preview of the event.