Newsflash: US Defeats Canada, Earns GOLD Medals

Our final round pairing against our northern neighbors seemed fortuitous on paper, but USA wasn't able to wipe out the floor with the Canadians, despite a victory in the match. America went 2.0-0.0 very, very quickly. Wesley So was the first win today, playing against Aleksandr Lesiege. The game transposed into a strange looking Panov Caro-Kann, but Lesiege's g6 seemed superfluous. The position was still complicated, with White trying to grab plentiful space on the queenside. Black's counterplay could not be underestimated. An excellently timed trade on c4 allowed White to “sacrifice” the exchange for two connected passed pawns, and it was extremely difficult for Black to hold. Lesiege made So's life easy: a miscalculation cost him a rook and the game in an already near hopeless position.

[pgn]

[Event "Baku Chess Olympiad | Open"]
[Date "2016.09.13"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Lesiege, Alexandre"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2782"]
[BlackElo "2497"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "Canada"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "CAN"]
[TimeControl "6000+1535"]
[WhiteClock "0:57:01"]
[BlackClock "0:00:33"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. e3 Nf6 5. d4 cxd4 6. exd4 d5 7. Bg5 Be6 8.
Bxf6 exf6 9. h3 Bb4 10. c5 O-O 11. Rc1 b6 12. Bb5 Na5 13. a3 Bxc3+ 14. Rxc3 Nc4
15. b4 a5 16. O-O axb4 17. axb4 Qb8 18. Bxc4 dxc4 19. Nd2 bxc5 20. bxc5 Qb4 21.
Qf3 Bd5 22. Qxd5 Qxc3 23. Ne4 Qd3 24. Nxf6+ Kh8 25. Nd7 Rfe8 26. Ne5 Qf5 27.
Qxc4 Kg7 28. Qc3 Ra2 29. Nd3 Qf6 30. Nb4 Rae2 31. Nd5 Qg5 32. Nc7 R8e3 33. Qc1
h6 34. d5 Qe5 35. fxe3 Qg3 36. Qa1+ 1-0[/pgn]

Wesley thus ends the Olympiad with 8.5/10 and a fantastic performance. Fabiano Caruana has been a rock solid first board for America, but today he took the bull by the horns. Playing White against veteran Evgeny Bareev, he chose a very sharp Caro-Kann and it paid off wonderfully. He put pressure on the queenside, and when Bareev counterstruck on the kingside he was more than prepared: he gladly accepted the pawn sacrifice and kept improving his pieces. Caruana simply steamrolled over the Canadian, the win never in doubt.

[pgn]

[Event "Baku Chess Olympiad | Open"]
[Date "2016.09.13"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Bareev, Evgeny"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2808"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "Canada"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "CAN"]
[TimeControl "6000+1435"]
[WhiteClock "0:12:23"]
[BlackClock "0:21:06"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 Nd7 6. O-O Bg6 7. a4 Ne7 8. a5 a6
9. b4 Nf5 10. c3 f6 11. Bf4 fxe5 12. dxe5 Be7 13. g4 Nh4 14. Nd4 Bf7 15. Bg3 h5
16. gxh5 Qc7 17. Bg4 Rh6 18. f4 c5 19. bxc5 Qxc5 20. Kh1 O-O-O 21. Nd2 Rdh8 22.
Qe1 Bxh5 23. Bxe6 Be8 24. f5 Bd8 25. Rf4 g5 26. Rf2 Bc7 27. Qe3 Kb8 28. f6 Nf8
29. Bg4 Nhg6 30. N2b3 Qa7 31. f7 1-0[/pgn]

Hikaru Nakamura decided to not go crazy today, and instead of looking for a victory to avenge his last round loss, he calmly chose a position where White has a very tiny advantage in the endgame, but Nakamura as Black felt confident in neutralizing his opponent. Kovalyov tried to improve his position, but Nakamura kept showing 2800 technique, simply outplaying White's plans. Black won a pawn, but things were still complicated, and the forcing of a draw sealed the draw. 2.5-0.5, America wins the match, and despite Ukraine still playing, the tiebreaks should be so massively in USA's favor that the gold should be won.

[pgn]

[Event "Baku Chess Olympiad | Open"]
[Date "2016.09.13"]
[White "Kovalyov, Anton"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2617"]
[BlackElo "2789"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Canada"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "CAN"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]
[TimeControl "6000+1325"]
[WhiteClock "0:08:44"]
[BlackClock "0:12:39"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. d4 e6 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bg2 cxd4 8.
Nxd4 Nxc3 9. bxc3 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 Qxd4 11. cxd4 Bd6 12. O-O Rb8 13. Bb2 b6 14.
Rfc1 Kd7 15. Bc6+ Kd8 16. e4 f6 17. Kg2 Bb7 18. Bxb7 Rxb7 19. f4 Kd7 20. Kf3 b5
21. e5 Be7 22. Rc2 b4 23. Rac1 b3 24. axb3 Rxb3+ 25. Ke2 Rhb8 26. Ba1 Ra3 27.
d5 exd5 28. f5 Bd8 29. e6+ Ke8 30. Bd4 Ra4 31. Bf2 g6 32. Rd1 Rb5 33. Rd4 Rc4
34. Rdxc4 dxc4 35. fxg6 hxg6 36. Bxa7 Bb6 37. Bxb6 Rxb6 38. Rxc4 Rxe6+ 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

Shankland had a bitter sweet finish to his Olympiad;  his game was far from successful against celebrity Eric “Chessbrah” Hansen.

[pgn]

[Event "Baku Chess Olympiad | Open"]
[Date "2016.09.13"]
[White "Hansen, Eric"]
[Black "Shankland, Samuel L"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2582"]
[BlackElo "2679"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Canada"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "CAN"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]
[TimeControl "6000+1580"]
[WhiteClock "0:19:52"]
[BlackClock "0:59:12"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. h3 Ne7 8. d4
Bb6 9. Bd3 Ng6 10. Re1 Re8 11. Nbd2 c6 12. Nf1 d5 13. Bg5 dxe4 14. Rxe4 h6 15.
Bxf6 Qxf6 16. Re1 Bf5 17. Bxf5 Qxf5 18. Ng3 Qf6 19. Nh5 Qf5 20. Ng3 Qf6 21. Nh5
Qf5 22. g4 Qc8 23. Nxe5 Nxe5 24. dxe5 Qc7 25. Qe2 Rad8 26. Nf4 Rd7 27. Kg2 Kh8
28. Rac1 a6 29. Rc2 Qd8 30. Qf3 Bc7 31. Rce2 Rd2 32. Rxd2 Qxd2 33. Re2 Qd7 34.
e6 fxe6 35. Nxe6 Bd6 36. Qf5 Re7 37. f4 Qe8 38. Kf3 Kg8 39. Qd3 Bb8 40. f5 Rd7
41. Qe4 Qe7 42. Nc5 1-0[/pgn]

Blitzing out preparation, little did Shankland know he was facing Eric's own morning prep, which he did in conjunction with his second here, GM Cristian Chirila. Shankland ended up down a pawn, and more importantly unable to find a plan to create compensation and counterplay. Eric took down the American, and despite losing the match, can be extremely proud of Canada's performance in the Olympiad. 2.5-1.5 America. The true nailbiter came after the win. For hours, Ukraine played against Slovenia. With the impossibility of calculating the tiebreak, it was nothing but nervousness all around. The players waiting by their laptops, John Donaldson running around with a notebook and a calculator. The tension could be cut with a knife, uncertainty ruled the Olympiad. Even boards such as Scotland and Germany might have a decisive impact in the tiebreaks and the gold/silver race. Russia clinched bronze, but no one was paying attention. At 5:07 Baku time, the arbiters announced to the press center: USA won on tiebreaks!

It is official: USA has won the Open Olympiad!!

— Baku Chess Olympiad (@bakuchessol2016) September 13, 2016

Matthias Bluebaum with the win of the tournament! Thanks for the help, Germany! :) — Hikaru Nakamura (@GMHikaru) September 13, 2016

  The women faced a tough final round pairing in India. The US faced seed numbers 1, 2, 3 and 5, in this tournament, while America themselves were the sixth seed. (China, Russia, Ukraine and India). Irina Krush and Harika Dronavalli played a solid game, unable to outplay each other. The draw at the end seemed like a fair result, and it was the first game of the match to finish.

[pgn]

[Event "Baku Olympiad 2016"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.09.13"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Krush, Irina"]
[Black "Dronavalli, Harika "]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2016.09.13"]
[SourceDate "2016.09.13"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 e6 4. d4 c5 5. O-O cxd4 6. Nxd4 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Bg5
Nbd7 9. Nc3 Be7 10. Qd3 O-O 11. Rad1 d4 12. Bxf6 Nxf6 13. Ne4 Qc7 14. Nxf6+
Bxf6 15. Be4 h6 16. Qf3 Rab8 17. c3 dxc3 18. Rc1 b6 19. Rxc3 Qe7 20. Rfc1 Rbc8
21. Rxc8 Rxc8 22. Rxc8+ Bxc8 23. Qc3 Be6 24. Nd2 g6 25. a3 Bg7 26. Qc6 Qd7 27.
Qxd7 Bxd7 28. Bd5 Kf8 29. e4 h5 30. h4 Bh6 31. Nc4 f6 32. Ne3 Bb5 33. Kg2 Be2
34. Bc6 Kg7 35. Bd5 Kf8 36. Bc6 Kg7 37. Bd5 Kf8 38. Bc6 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

Nazi Paikidze's game was extremely topsy-turvy, with the computer giving a huge edge to the White pieces, unfortunately for America. However, Nazi's counterattack was swift, and she decided to sacrifice a piece for counterplay. A strange decision to sacrifice an exchange by Padmini resulted in a lost position for India, and USA's Women's Champion showed no mercy. Her rooks destroyed her opponent's position.

[pgn]

[Event "Baku Olympiad 2016"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.09.13"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Padmini, Rout"]
[Black "Paikidze, Nazi"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B12"]
[PlyCount "80"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 h6 6. O-O Ne7 7. Nbd2 Nd7 8. Nb3
g5 9. a4 Bg7 10. a5 Qc7 11. Ne1 c5 12. c3 Nc6 13. a6 b6 14. f4 c4 15. Nd2 Ne7
16. Bh5 O-O-O 17. Bxf7 Rdf8 18. Bh5 gxf4 19. Ndf3 Be4 20. Nh4 Rhg8 21. Bg4 Qc6
22. Bh3 Ng6 23. Nxg6 Bxg6 24. Nf3 Be4 25. Qa4 b5 26. Qb4 Bxf3 27. Rxf3 Bxe5 28.
dxe5 Nxe5 29. Rf1 Kd7 30. Bd2 Nd3 31. Qa5 Qc5+ 32. Kh1 f3 33. g3 h5 34. Rae1
Nxe1 35. Rxe1 f2 36. Rf1 h4 37. Kg2 hxg3 38. hxg3 d4 39. cxd4 Qd5+ 40. Kh2 Rh8
0-1[/pgn]

Nemcova held off a difficult position for many, many moves, and even though she was lost at one point, she was able to come back and draw the game.

[pgn]

[Event "Women's Baku Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "chess24.com"]
[Date "2016.09.13"]
[Round "11.4"]
[White "Soumya, Swaminathan"]
[Black "Nemcova, Katerina"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2379"]
[BlackElo "2365"]
[PlyCount "187"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "India"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IND"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]
[TimeControl "6000+950"]
[WhiteClock "0:01:32"]
[BlackClock "0:01:34"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a4
Bd7 9. c3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. Nbd2 O-O 12. Re1 Qb8 13. h3 Re8 14. d4 h6 15. Nf1
Bf8 16. Ng3 g6 17. d5 Bg7 18. axb5 axb5 19. b3 Qc7 20. Be3 Kh7 21. Nd2 Nb7 22.
Qe2 Ra5 23. Bd3 Rxa1 24. Rxa1 b4 25. cxb4 cxb4 26. Ra7 Qb8 27. Nc4 Nc5 28. Bxc5
dxc5 29. Qa2 Kg8 30. Qa6 Bb5 31. Qb7 Qxb7 32. Rxb7 Bxc4 33. Bxc4 Rd8 34. Ra7
Ne8 35. Nf1 Nd6 36. Bd3 Bf8 37. Ne3 h5 38. Ra5 Rc8 39. Ra6 Rd8 40. Kf1 Be7 41.
Ke2 f6 42. f3 Kf7 43. Nc4 Nxc4 44. Bxc4 Kf8 45. Kd3 h4 46. Bb5 Rd6 47. Ra8+ Kg7
48. Ra7 Kf8 49. Kc4 f5 50. Bd7 fxe4 51. fxe4 Rf6 52. Be6 Rf4 53. d6 Bxd6 54.
Kd5 Be7 55. Kxe5 Rf2 56. Ra8+ Kg7 57. Ra7 Kf8 58. Bd5 Bg5 59. Kd6 Rf6+ 60. Be6
Rf2 61. e5 Rxg2 62. Rf7+ Ke8 63. Rh7 Kf8 64. Rf7+ Ke8 65. Bd5 Rd2 66. Rg7 Bh6
67. Rxg6 Bf8+ 68. Ke6 Rf2 69. Bc6+ Kd8 70. Bb5 Be7 71. Rg8+ Bf8 72. Bd3 Kc7 73.
Bf5 Bh6 74. Kf6 Be3 75. e6 Bd4+ 76. Kg6 Kd6 77. Rd8+ Ke7 78. Rd7+ Ke8 79. Rb7
Re2 80. Kg5 Re5 81. Kf4 Re3 82. Bg6+ Kf8 83. Be4 Re1 84. e7+ Kf7 85. Bd5+ Kf6
86. Be4 Kf7 87. Kf5 Rf1+ 88. Kg4 Re1 89. Kf4 Rf1+ 90. Kg4 Re1 91. Kf3 Re3+ 92.
Kf4 Re1 93. Kf5 Rf1+ 94. Kg4 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

Anna Zatonskih was against the ropes in her game with Tania Sachdev, but upon reaching a basically drawn rook endgame, she completely blindsided. h5??? lost the game and drew the match, as India's third board took the full point.

[pgn]

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.09.13"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Zatonskih, Anna"]
[Black "Sachdev, Tania "]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E36"]
[PlyCount "156"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d5 7. Bg5 b6 8. e3
dxc4 9. Bxc4 Bb7 10. f3 Nbd7 11. Ne2 Rc8 12. Qd3 c5 13. O-O cxd4 14. exd4 Qe7
15. Nc3 Rfd8 16. Qe2 Nf8 17. Rad1 h6 18. Bc1 Nd5 19. Ne4 Ng6 20. Ba2 Ngf4 21.
Bxf4 Nxf4 22. Qe3 Qc7 23. Nc3 Rd7 24. Rd2 Rcd8 25. Rfd1 Nd5 26. Nxd5 Bxd5 27.
Bb1 Bb7 28. Qd3 g6 29. Qe3 Kg7 30. Ba2 Bd5 31. Qe5+ f6 32. Qxc7 Rxc7 33. Bxd5
Rxd5 34. Kf2 Kf7 35. Ke3 h5 36. g3 Ke7 37. f4 b5 38. Rd3 a5 39. Rc3 Rcd7 40. b4
axb4 41. axb4 e5 42. fxe5 fxe5 43. Rcd3 Ke6 44. Ke4 Rc7 45. dxe5 Rxe5+ 46. Kf3
Rf7+ 47. Kg2 Re2+ 48. Kg1 Rff2 49. Rd6+ Kf7 50. Rd7+ Kf6 51. Rf1 Rxf1+ 52. Kxf1
Re4 53. Rd6+ Kf7 54. Rb6 Rxb4 55. Kf2 Rb3 56. Kg2 b4 57. Kh3 Rb2 58. Rb7+ Kf6
59. Rb6+ Kf5 60. Rb5+ Kf6 61. Rb6+ Kg5 62. Rb5+ Kh6 63. Rb6 b3 64. g4 Kg5 65.
Rb5+ Kf4 66. gxh5 gxh5 67. Rxh5 Rd2 68. Rb5 b2 69. Rb8 Kf3 70. Rb7 Rc2 71. Rb8
Kf4 72. Rb7 Ke3 73. Kg3 Kd2 74. h4 Kc1 75. h5 Rc4 76. h6 b1=Q 77. Rxb1+ Kxb1
78. h7 Rc8 0-1[/pgn]

A very painful draw for USA, though they had no chances for medals, even with a win. China easily took gold by beating Russia, Poland massacred Hungary for seemingly silver while Ukraine seems to be edged out on tiebreaks and should be bronze. What an exciting event! Congrats again to the US team for earning their first gold medals since the 1976 Olympiad. Find results and more photos at the tournament site. Thanks to the Chess Club & Scholastic Center of St. Louis and to the Kasparov Chess Foundation for their continued generous support.