World Teams Conclude in Astana

While Russia and China entered the final day with the Open and Women’s titles respectively in hand, there was no shortage of drama. England took the Silver in the Open Section, a result that must count as something of an upset, while China claimed the Open Bronze. The Russian Women finished second in their section, bringing home the Silver, while Georgia won the Women’s Bronze on tiebreaks over the Ukraine. Neither American team was any real medal contention on the last day of play, but both finished the event well. The U.S. defeated Iran 3-1 in the Open section, while the American Women squeaked by Egypt by a score of 2.5-1.5. GM Sam Sevian was the sole American individual medal winner, earning a Bronze for his efforts on second board. OPEN RESULTS Round 9 Results: Complete results: An early-morning rumor spread on Twitter that the Iranian team had to complete all of their games within two hours in order to catch their planes. This, like so much on social media, turned out to be untrue, and some of the games in the Iran-U.S. match took over five hours to complete. The Americans took three of the four games, winning on the top three boards. Top board GM Dariusz Swiercz, the only American player to play in all nine rounds, defeated Iran’s GM Parham Maghsoodloo in a long, technical win. Sevian used his extra exchange to corral GM Pouya Idani’s pawns and win an imbalanced endgame. This should, according to John Donaldson, push Sevian into the world’s top 100 rated players.

[pgn]

[Event "12th World Teams 2019"]
[Site "Astana KAZ"]
[Date "2019.03.14"]
[White "Idani, Pouya"]
[Black "Sevian, Samuel"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2604"]
[BlackElo "2642"]
[PlyCount "96"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8.
c4 Ba6 9. b3 g6 10. Ba3 d6 11. exd6 Qxe2+ 12. Bxe2 Bg7 13. cxd5 Bxe2 14. Kxe2
Bxa1 15. Rc1 O-O-O 16. Rxc6 Rd7 17. f4 g5 18. g3 gxf4 19. gxf4 Rg8 20. Kf3 Rg1
21. Nd2 Rh1 22. Kg2 Rd1 23. Bb4 Bg7 24. Ba5 Rxd6 25. Rxc7+ Kb8 26. Rxf7 Rxd5
27. Nc4 Rd7 28. Rxd7 Rxd7 29. Kf3 Rd1 30. Bb4 Kc7 31. Bc5 a6 32. h4 Ra1 33. a3
Kc6 34. Be3 Kd5 35. Nb6+ Ke6 36. Nc4 Kd5 37. Nb6+ Ke6 38. Nc4 Kf5 39. Nd6+ Kg6
40. f5+ Kh5 41. Bg5 Rxa3 42. Be7 Be5 43. Nc4 Rxb3+ 44. Ke4 Bg3 45. f6 Kg6 46.
h5+ Kf7 47. Ne3 Bh4 48. Ng4 Ke6 0-1

[/pgn]

Playing in his 115th game for the U.S. in international team competitions, GM Alex Onischuk ground down GM M.amin Tabatabei on the third board. Only Iran’s fourth board, GM Alireza Firouzja, who featured in our Round Seven report, was able to buck the trend and overcome GM Alex Lenderman’s Petroff Defense. WOMENS RESULTS Round 9 results: Complete Results: WGM Tatev Abrahamyan took a well-earned rest on the final day, leaving her teammates to handle the last round against Egypt. WGM Katerina Nemcova drew WGM Shahenda Wafa, while FM Carissa Yip fell to Wafa’s sister, WGM Shrook Wafa. But WGM Sabina Foisor found a nice tactical idea to win on board three against WIM Ayah Moaataz:

[pgn]

[Event "12th World Teams Women"]
[Site "Astana KAZ"]
[Date "2019.03.14"]
[White "Foisor, Sabina-Francesca"]
[Black "Moaataz, Ayah"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2276"]
[BlackElo "2036"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r3nrk1/p2bqp1p/1pp1n1p1/8/3PP3/2NB1RNP/PP4P1/2Q2R1K w - - 0 23"]
[PlyCount "19"]

23. Nf5 $5 gxf5 24. exf5 f6 $2 (24... Qg5 25. fxe6 Qxc1 26. exf7+ Rxf7
27. Rxf7 Qxf1+ 28. Rxf1 $16) 25. fxe6 (25. Qe1 {also wins}) 25... Bxe6 26. Qh6
(26. Re1 $5) 26... Rf7 27. Re1 Qd6 28. Ne4 Qxd4 29. Nxf6+ Rxf6 30. Rg3+ Kf7 31.
Qxh7+ Kf8 32. Rg8+ 1-0

[/pgn]

This left the match up to fourth board WCM Rochelle Wu, who came through in the clutch and won a long game against WIM Eman Elansary. The World Teams will be a tournament to remember for Wu, who finished with 3.5/6 and should gain an estimated 76 FIDE rating points!

[pgn]

[Event "12th World Teams Women"]
[Site "Astana KAZ"]
[Date "2019.03.14"]
[White "Elansary, Eman"]
[Black "Wu, Rochelle"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D04"]
[WhiteElo "1944"]
[BlackElo "2120"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2019.03.05"]
[WhiteTeam "Egypt"]
[BlackTeam "United States of America"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "EGY"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 Bf5 4. c4 e6 5. Nc3 c6 6. Be2 Nbd7 7. O-O Bd6 8. b3
O-O 9. Bb2 h6 10. Rc1 Qe7 11. Nh4 Be4 12. Nxe4 dxe4 13. g3 Rad8 14. f4 c5 15.
Qc2 cxd4 16. exd4 b6 17. Ng2 Ba3 18. Rcd1 Nb8 19. Ba1 Nc6 20. Ne3 Rd7 21. Rd2
Rfd8 22. Rfd1 Bb4 23. Bc3 Bxc3 24. Qxc3 Qb4 25. Qb2 Nxd4 26. Kf2 Nf5 27. Rxd7
Rxd7 28. Rxd7 Nxd7 29. g4 Nxe3 30. Kxe3 f5 31. Qd2 Qxd2+ 32. Kxd2 g5 33. Ke3
Kf7 34. b4 Kf6 35. a4 gxf4+ 36. Kxf4 Ne5 37. gxf5 exf5 38. Ke3 Nc6 39. b5 Na5
40. Kd4 Ke6 41. Bd1 Nb7 42. h3 Kd6 43. Bh5 Nc5 44. Bg6 Ne6+ 45. Ke3 Ke5 46. h4
f4+ 47. Ke2 Kd4 48. Bf5 f3+ 49. Kf2 Nc5 0-1

[/pgn]

FINAL STANDINGS Open Division: Women’s Division: The U.S. team now faces a long trip home from Kazakhstan; as Head of Delegation John Donaldson noted in an email to CLO, the Americans “won the unofficial prize for the team traveling the furthest and it wasn't close. Most of the U.S. team face 24-26 hour journeys home, more than double the amount of any other country.” Abrahamyan, Foisor, Lenderman, Sevian and Yip must also shrug off any residual jetlag and prepare to participate in the U.S. Championship and Women’s Championship, which run from March 18-April 1st in Saint Louis. CLO will have full coverage of both events.