In the finals of the World Team Chess Championship in Jerusalem, the Chinese national team became a surprise, winning both matches against the Chennai Chess Olympiad champion Uzbekistan.
In the bronze medal match, at the time of writing, Spain and India went into a quick play-off after the first two matches were tied, but in the end it was Spain who drew the longest straw and secured victory.
Relatively speaking, the veteran but lower-ranked Chinese “unknowns” team showed that the absence of any of their top eight players will not stop them from showing how good they are in this format and defeating the young sensation. Uzbekistan gold winners from Chennai Olympics.
The final
With their presence in the finals, Uzbekistan reaffirmed that they are indeed for real, even without their usual high board Nordibek Abdusatorov.
In the first leg of the final, it quickly became apparent that both teams were showing a desire to fight. The first game ended on the second board between GM Jakhongir Sindarov and Xu Xiangyu.
Another finish was a tie between Javongir Vakhidov and Li Di. A not very interesting Nimzo-India defense game (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4) which ended in a draw when the players did not. both test each other’s abilities for too long.
In the first ship, it all started with Scottish play, with both players sending their kings to the queenside, even though it looked like the most dangerous place on the planet. But very quickly the players took the game to the sawmill, cutting the wood off the board and sending the game into a final game that never deviated from the tie zone despite playing for a very long time, primarily because one side was trying to level the score from the only deciding game of the match.
We’re left with the third fight between GM Bai Jinshi and Shamsiddin Vokhidov, the game that decided the match…
The result secured China a first-round victory, forcing the Uzbeks to play for victory in the second round.
On board, GM Nodibek Yakubboev and China’s “veteran”, 27-year-old GM Lu Shanglei played another marathon game, but this time their game was much more dramatic, which is why we chose it as the game of the day.
For a while, it seemed that the meeting between Xu Xiangyu and Sindarov on the board would be the obstacle for the Chinese team, when White had a decisive advantage in the late game, but despite the huge time advantage, almost 10 minutes to less than one. In favor of the Chinese player, White played too fast and blew everything, once again opening the match for the Uzbeks.
Things were no less turbulent on the third ship than on the first.
Before the round, team captain GM Ivan Sokolov decided to play backup IM Ortik Nigmatov with black pieces against Li Di. At first, it looked like the perfect decision, as Nigmatov effortlessly equalized and even gained something like an advantage.
But things didn’t go his way for the Uzbek at the end of the games, with Li Di winning the game, round and match.
To say that China’s success in this tournament was unexpected is an understatement. Missing all of its top players, but comfortably going through every stage of the tournament, including a crushing victory in the final, it was breathtaking to watch and shows the rest of the world just how strong China is in chess.
Bronze medal match
Of course, playing for the bronze medals on the day of the finals is not what any of these teams expected, but bronze is certainly better than nothing. India and Spain had strong squads, although both are missing a few top players. Still, Spain came with something close to their strongest line-up.
In the first round of the match, top players GM Jaime Santos Latasa and Vidit Gurajthi played to a draw, where the Spaniard was never worse with the black pieces.
Similarly, on the third board, Spain’s legendary GM Alexey Shirov apparently held a draw against SL Narayanan with the Žalgiris Indian.
On the third board, GM Miguel Santos Ruiz sacrificed/lost a pawn shortly after opening with white pieces against GM Krishnan Sasikiran. In the early middle game, he quickly regained it and gradually built up a small but clear advantage. After a series of extraordinary moves on both sides, Black made a final mistake from which he could not return.
In a match between GM David Anton Guijarro and Nihal Sarin, the Indian player gradually took control of the game in the middle part of the match and eventually secured a crucial victory for India to secure a decisive 2-2 draw.
Both teams played very solidly in the second round and neither game was in serious danger of winning that round and thus securing the bronze medal.
This required a quick playoff where Shirov returned to the lineup and took the black pieces against Narayanan. However, this match ended in a draw. there was also a meeting between Santos Ruiz and GM Abhijeet Gupta on the table, similar to the second round game.
On the top board, Santos Latasa took over and won convincingly from the game against Vidit.
Against Nihal, Anton Guijarro pressed and eventually scored another victory for Spain, securing a 3-1 win for Spain.
Fortunately, with the decisive result of the blitz playoffs, the teams avoided the final result, which I believe was a chess box, which neither the players nor the organizers probably prepared for.
The FIDE World Team Championship will be held in 2022. on November 19-26 in Jerusalem, Israel. The format is a round robin for teams with five rounds, followed by a knockout with the top eight finishers. The time control is 45 minutes for the entire game and in 10 second increments starting from the first turn.
All games
The FIDE World Team Championship will be held in 2022. on November 19-26 in Jerusalem, Israel. The format is a round robin for teams with five rounds, followed by a knockout with the top eight finishers. The time control is 45 minutes for the entire game and in 10 second increments starting from the first turn.
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