England made a fine start at this week’s World Team Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan, where they beat the host nation and Azerbaijan in the opening rounds, then drew with both the United States and, on Friday, the top-seeded Russians.
These impressive results have put England in contention for silver or bronze medals before Saturday’s critical match with India (9am start, free and live online). Yet it could have been even better.
In Russia v England on Friday the tournament favourites showed their intent by resting their normal No 1 Sergey Karjakin in favour of the in-form Ian Nepomniachtchi on top board and the fast improving Vladislav Artemiev on board four. England countered in effect by the chess equivalent of parking the bus and aiming to draw every game.
Despite having White, Gawain Jones chose a symmetrical opening against Artemiev and bailed out for a draw by three-fold repetition at move 13. Michael Adams headed for bishops of opposite colours against “Nepo”, Luke McShane as White opted for a slow plan against Alexander Grischuk’s Berlin Wall, while David Howell played a solid Caro-Kann against Dmitry Andreikin.
It worked fine for Howell, who was level throughout into a totally drawn endgame. The question mark was over Adams’s strange decision to accept Nepo’s draw offer at move 31, at a time when McShane faced an endgame struggle against Grischuk. Move 30 is the minimum for the event except for repetition draws, so that probably both players were up for it. But Nepo’s 31st was an error evaluated by the engines at +1.7, enough for Adams to play on with good chances.
What could have been a disaster was averted when McShane and Grischuk, both time pressure addicts, had a scramble to reach move 40 during which the Russian missed two clear winning chances. A draw was agreed at the time control and England had reached their 2-2 bus parking target.
Leading totals after four of the nine rounds were Russia 7 match points (10 game points), India 6 (11), United States 6 (9.5), England 6 (9), Iran 5 (9.5).
Earlier, the team strategy against Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan was to make the most of England’s two Whites and to play more conservatively with Black. It proved a success despite the poor form of Adams, who had not had two successive defeats in a major team event since Dresden 2008,11 years ago.
For decades a mainstay of the 47-year-old Cornishman’s repertoire has been the 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 French Defence, and he seemed to have a promising opening, but it fizzled out into a worse and then lost ending.
England qualified for the 10-nation World Teams by finishing fifth at last year’s 180-nation Olympiad. The Olympiad champions China begun poorly and have only three match points after four rounds but with easier opponents to come. The battle for silver and bronze medals should be among China, United States, England, India and Iran, so that Saturday’s fifth round England v India match could be crucial.
With the help of Fide’s new and energetic press officer, GM Yannick Pelletier, the Guardian was able to put a question to Arkady Dvorkovich, who has made such an impressive start as the global body’s president. The world teams was organised in only five weeks, the world rapid/blitz was rescued from cancellation, while the prize fund for the 2020 candidates has been increased by 20% to €500,000.
Dvorkovich was asked if he had made any contacts with Rex Sinquefield, the St Louis billionaire who backs the Grand Tour and many other major events. These two are the most powerful personalities in chess today.
Dvorkovich answered that the main progress so far was the coordination of schedules to avoid clashes between the world championship cycle and the Grand Tour, but added that he had met Sinquefield personally in London during the world title match and that their talk was friendly.
The two power centres can probably co-exist without problems unless Fabiano Caruana, still the world No 2, again becomes Magnus Carlsen’s 2020 challenger. Since Dvorkovich has already stated that the next title match should be staged outside Europe and St Louis is sure to make a generous bid, the stage would then be set for contact between former Vladimir Putin government minister Dvorkovich and key Sinquefield consultant and arch-Putin critic Garry Kasparov.
3609 (by Dietrich Wasmann) 1 Qd1! If 1…bxa3 2 Qxa4 Kd6 3 Qd7, If 1…b3 2 Qg4 and 3 Qd7. If 1…Kc6 2 Qg4 Kb7 3 Qc8. If 1…Kd6 2 Qxa4 and 3 Qd7.
This world teams game is level until White finds the imaginative bishop offer 24 Bg5! An excellent practical choice, earning the full point when Black misses the equalising resource 27…Ne3! after which the attack crashes through.
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 d3 Bc5 5 0-0 d6 6 c3 h6 7 Re1 0-0 8 Nbd2 a5 9 Nf1 Be6 10 Bb5 Ne7 11 d4 exd4 12 cxd4 Bb6 13 Ng3 d5 14 e5 Ne4 15 Nxe4 dxe4 16 Rxe4 c5 17 Bd3 Bf5 18 Rf4 Bxd3 19 Qxd3 cxd4 20 Rg4 Qd7 21 h3 Qe6 22 Bd2 Rad8 23 Re1 Nf5 24 Bg5! hxg5 25 Nxg5 Qc8 26 Rf4 g6 27 g4 Ne7? 28 Qg3 Kg7 29 Qh4 Rh8 30 Rxf7+ Kg8 31 Rh7 1-0
