U.S. Draws against England; Women lose to Georgia

After an impressive second round in the 2019 World Team Championships, the American teams came back to earth a bit today in Round 3. The U.S. Open team drew a tough match 2-2 against England, while the Women were defeated by Georgia 3.5-0.5. OPEN RESULTS U.S chess fans following the Open team’s match against England were surprised when the transmission failed as play unfolded. Once the moves came in, the truth was revealed: four draws across four boards, and a drawn 2-2 match. Sam Sevian’s game against Luke McShane was perhaps the most interesting. McShane offered a hybrid “Czech Benko” gambit, got compensation for his pawn, and held the draw for England with the Black pieces.

[pgn]

[Event "12th World Teams 2019"]
[Site "Astana KAZ"]
[Date "2019.03.07"]
[White "Sevian, Samuel"]
[Black "McShane, Luke J"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A56"]
[WhiteElo "2642"]
[BlackElo "2661"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2019.03.05"]
[WhiteTeam "United States of America"]
[BlackTeam "England"]
[BlackTeamCountry "ENG"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e5 4. Nc3 d6 5. e4 Be7 6. g3 O-O 7. Bg2 Na6 8. Nge2
Nc7 9. f4 Nd7 10. f5 b5 11. cxb5 a6 12. bxa6 Bxa6 13. h4 Rb8 14. O-O Rb4 15.
Rb1 Rd4 16. Qe1 Bd3 17. Ra1 Na6 18. a3 c4 19. Be3 Nac5 20. Bxd4 exd4 21. Nxd4
Bf6 22. Nc6 Qb6 23. Rf2 Ne5 24. Nxe5 Bxe5 25. Qe3 Rb8 26. Bf1 Qd8 27. f6 Bxf6
28. Rd1 Rb3 29. Bxd3 Nxd3 30. Rxd3 cxd3 31. Qxd3 Bxc3 32. bxc3 Qc8 33. Qf3 f6
34. Qf5 Qxf5 35. exf5 Rxc3 36. Kg2 Rxa3 37. Rb2 Ra5 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

WOMEN'S RESULTS The Women’s team had a tough day at the office against Georgia, with only FM Carissa Yip salvaging a half point against GM Nino Batsiashvili. Yip is having an outstanding event, and stands at 2.5/3 after three rounds of play.

[pgn]

[Event "12th World Teams Women"]
[Site "Astana KAZ"]
[Date "2019.03.07"]
[White "Yip, Carissa"]
[Black "Batsiashvili, Nino"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B15"]
[WhiteElo "2279"]
[BlackElo "2454"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2019.03.05"]
[WhiteTeam "United States of America"]
[BlackTeam "Georgia"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GEO"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6+ exf6 6. c3 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8.
Qc2 Re8+ 9. Ne2 h5 10. Be3 Nd7 11. O-O-O Nf8 12. Ng3 g6 13. Ne4 Be6 14. Kb1 b5
15. Nxd6 Qxd6 16. h4 a5 17. c4 bxc4 18. Bxc4 Reb8 19. Rc1 Bf5 20. Bd3 Bxd3 21.
Qxd3 Rb5 22. Rhd1 Rab8 23. Rd2 Qd5 24. f3 Ne6 25. Qc4 R5b6 26. Qxd5 cxd5 27.
Rc3 f5 28. Ra3 f4 29. Bf2 Rb5 30. Ra4 Kf8 31. Rc2 Ke7 32. Be1 Ra8 33. Bd2 f6
34. Rc1 Kd7 35. Ka1 Ra6 36. Bc3 Rc6 37. Kb1 Ra6 38. Kc2 Nc7 39. Kd3 Na8 40. b4
Nb6 41. Rxa5 Rbxa5 42. bxa5 Nc4 43. Rb1 Ke6 44. Rb5 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

One of the players to watch this year in Astana is Russian reserve Vladislav Artemiev. Artemiev is widely considered one of Russia’s great hopes for the future, and his recent results have belied that promise. Artemiev won the 2018 European Blitz Championship in December and the 2019 Gibraltar Masters in January. With two wins in the first two rounds, Artemiev had the White pieces against China’s Bu Xiangzhi in Round 3. Something went wrong in the middlegame, with Artemiev finding himself down a knight for two pawns, but the young Russian star managed to grind his way to a draw in a fascinating game. The draw gave Russia a 2.5-1.5 victory over China.

[pgn]

[Event "12th World Teams 2019"]
[Site "Astana KAZ"]
[Date "2019.03.07"]
[White "Artemiev, Vladislav"]
[Black "Bu, Xiangzhi"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2731"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2019.03.05"]
[WhiteTeam "Russia"]
[BlackTeam "China"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "CHN"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 c6 4. O-O Bg4 5. c4 e6 6. Qb3 Qb6 7. d3 Nbd7 8. Be3
Bc5 9. Bxc5 Nxc5 10. Qa3 O-O 11. Nbd2 a5 12. Rac1 Ncd7 13. h3 Bxf3 14. Nxf3 Qb4
15. Rc3 Qxa3 16. bxa3 Ne8 17. cxd5 exd5 18. Rb1 Nd6 19. Nd4 Rfe8 20. a4 Ra6 21.
e3 Rb6 22. Rbb3 Kf8 23. h4 Rb4 24. a3 Rxa4 25. Nxc6 bxc6 26. Rxc6 Nf5 27. Bxd5
Ne7 28. Rc7 Nxd5 29. Rxd7 Nf6 30. Ra7 Re7 31. Ra8+ Ne8 32. h5 g6 33. hxg6 hxg6
34. Kf1 Kg7 35. Ke2 Nd6 36. Ra6 Rb7 37. Rbb6 Rxb6 38. Rxb6 Nf5 39. Rb3 Kf6 40.
Kd2 Kg5 41. Rc3 Kg4 42. Kc2 Kh3 43. d4 Nxd4+ 44. exd4 Rxd4 45. Rc6 Rd5 46. Rf6
Rf5 47. Rxf5 gxf5 48. Kd3 Kg4 49. a4 f4 50. gxf4 Kxf4 51. Kc4 Kf3 52. Kb5 Kxf2
53. Kxa5 f5 54. Kb6 f4 55. a5 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

Russian-language speakers may want to check out Artemiev’s post-game interview, available at the FIDE YouTube page. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY2FCPCtwmI Also available at the FIDE YouTube page is a video interview with yesterday's hero, Alex Lenderman, No worries - it's in English. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlXIITgWA28 Standings after Round 3: Open Division: Women’s Division: Tomorrow the Open and Women's teams play Kazakhstan. Rounds begin at 3pm local time, or 4am EST. Live on-site coverage is available at the official website:  http://kazchess.kz/world_astana2019/