Round 5 Pairings for the Open Division

**Bob Armstrong** · Monday, 17th November, 2008, 10:56 AM

National Team - Rd. 5 - In Progress

Posted on CFC Chess Forum (http://www.chesscanada.info/forum/ ) today:

Rd. 5 National Team Pairing - Bd. 27 Yemen ( # 82/ 4 MP/ 6.5 GP ) vs Canada ( # 43/ 4 MP/ 10.5 GP )

On Bd. 4 , IM Nikolay Noritsyn, 2007 Canadian Champion, plays IM Basheer Al Qudaimi. I ( read Fritz ) will be doing live analysis of this game on the chess website, Chess5 ( www.chess5.com ) - today I have the colours right - LOL !! Go to the homepage and click on " Public Games " to get the November list of games. Find the game and click on " View " and you will get a board and the score, with analysis ( it takes a few seconds for the game to load ). Hope you find it interesting.

Bob

**Jonathan Berry** · Monday, 17th November, 2008, 12:47 PM

Re: National Team - Rd. 5 - In Progress

I slept in this morning (the games begin at 6:00 am Pacific Time).

Jumping in 2 hours 40 minutes into the round, I am struck by the thought that not so many years ago against Yemen or Nigeria, you'd expect some of the games to be over, either finished or mopping up, by 2:40. The chess world has changed. In fact, every one of the eight games is still alive, and in a couple of them, Canada is struggling.

In a way, this is a "good thing". They didn't spend $20,000 and travel 8,000 km (or whatever it is) just to crush some beginners. Yemen and Nigeria are good. Yemen even has three 2400-type players. Nigeria is playing above their FIDE ratings.

These too are exciting matches.

**Jonathan Berry** · Monday, 17th November, 2008, 01:18 PM

Re: National Team - Rd. 5 - In Progress

Half an hour later. Pascal escaped with a draw from one of the "struggling" positions. I have no quick appraisal of Mark's game. Maybe it is "up for grabs". Thomas is up the Exchange but White's protected central bishop is annoying. Nikolay has compensation for a sacrificed pawn.

Dina won, Hazel is mopping up, Irina got out of the bind she was in and even won a pawn. And Natalia is about to queen a pawn with an endgame trap. Or maybe it was just "in the position". Nice. So 4-0 looks not out of the question, when just half an hour ago the match was "iffy".

**Jonathan Berry** · Monday, 17th November, 2008, 01:38 PM

Re: National Team - Rd. 5 - In Progress

Another 20 minutes. Canada 3-0 Nigeria. Natalia's opponent bailed out into an ending down a bishop. I can't give chapter and verse, but I think that Natalia can retain her g-pawn (the h-pawn isn't sufficient as the bishop is of the wrong colour) and win the game.

Thomas bailed out to a draw; I guess the B was just too annoying. So 1-1. Mark's position has opened up and he has powerful Bees. Nikolay's gambit has expanded to three pawns, and I'm sorry, I don't see the compensation anymore.

**Jonathan Berry** · Monday, 17th November, 2008, 01:43 PM

Re: National Team - Rd. 5 - In Progress

Nikolay's getting mated (if the position is correct!) so it's 1-2 and the best we can do is tie the match. It should be noted that Nikolay's opponent at 2464 has the highest rating on the team Yemen fielded today, and 100 points higher than Nikolay.

**Jonathan Berry** · Monday, 17th November, 2008, 01:45 PM

Re: National Team - Rd. 5 - In Progress

Mark is raking (or is it just checkmate?), so the final score will be 2-2.

**Jonathan Berry** · Monday, 17th November, 2008, 02:01 PM

Re: National Team - Rd. 5 - In Progress

What would you get if Russia's most dangerous player defected to the country of Canada's opponents?

Yem 'en M

(Morozevich)

**Jonathan Berry** · Monday, 17th November, 2008, 02:16 PM

Re: National Team - Rd. 5 - In Progress

A piquant finish by Natalia, allowing a Q but checkmating Black with B+P+K. So Canada 4-0 Nigeria. Canada 2-2 Yemen.

**Gary Ruben** · Monday, 17th November, 2008, 02:22 PM

Re: National Team - Rd. 5 - In Progress

Originally posted by Jonathan Berry View Post

Another 20 minutes. Canada 3-0 Nigeria. Natalia's opponent bailed out into an ending down a bishop. I can't give chapter and verse, but I think that Natalia can retain her g-pawn (the h-pawn isn't sufficient as the bishop is of the wrong colour) and win the game.

Thomas bailed out to a draw; I guess the B was just too annoying. So 1-1. Mark's position has opened up and he has powerful Bees. Nikolay's gambit has expanded to three pawns, and I'm sorry, I don't see the compensation anymore.

Jonathan,

I didn't realize those nations were such power houses of chess.

The team the women are playing, all the players are unrated, and in all fairness I doubt that other than maybe board 1 the players are much stronger than B class.

The men drawing the match is an upset. The opponents weren't even seeded close to us. They should be celebrating tonight.

**Jonathan Berry** · Monday, 17th November, 2008, 03:02 PM

Re: National Team - Rd. 5 - In Progress

Of course.

Just for the record, the Yemeni ratings are:
1. 2154
2. 2308
3. 2400
4. unrated
5. 2464

Today Yemen rested their board 2, their most successful player so far; he has a performance rating of 2474.

It would be interesting to know what the team strategy was in this match. On paper at least, it looks like Yemen is a stacked team, with its strongest player on Board 4. Did Canada's brain trust agree with that assessment? Did they feel that a draw (with White) would be a good result on board 4? Did they feel it was fair to young Nikolay to send him into battle with the instruction to draw with White?

Lawrence Day related that one crucial stage in his development as a player was when he could, when so called upon, draw with White against GMs, even top GMs such as Kavalek. But sending somebody who is not so inclined into battle with instructions to draw could be damaging, in many ways. Nikolay was reportedly miffed about his opening theoretical (book) repetition draw against India in the first round. And today's opponent is not a GM.

So, was there no match strategy, just "let them play", counting on the fact that we outrate Yemen, with the plausible expectation of victory? Or did they consider and reject a match strategy such as the one above? Or did they implement some other match strategy? I'm just interested, not saying that one is better than another.

**Duncan Smith** · Monday, 17th November, 2008, 03:23 PM

Re: National Team - Rd. 5 - In Progress

Originally posted by Gary Ruben View Post

Jonathan,

I didn't realize those nations were such power houses of chess.

The team the women are playing, all the players are unrated, and in all fairness I doubt that other than maybe board 1 the players are much stronger than B class.

The men drawing the match is an upset. The opponents weren't even seeded close to us. They should be celebrating tonight.

We can always count on you to bring a negative view on things. To say you were less then objective in your analysis would be an understatement. Bottom line the women got 4/4 against a weaker team that played very solidly today. Against two stronger teams ( Cuba and England ), they were very competitive but lost. This is still a positive, our team is one of the youngest at the event. The games are all online most of the Nigerans played many quality moves during the games. I suggest they are well coached and motivated but lack experience which showed late in some games.

I don't think being continually sarcastic about other chess countries is a positive trait. Cuba actually has a fairly good chess community as far as I know. I mention them because you made the same sarcastic comment concerning that nation after round #1 ( what Gary Ruben repeat himself what a shocker !!! ). Experienced players in Canada know a few strong Cuban players.

ps England won 4-0 today against Lithuania.

**Duncan Smith** · Monday, 17th November, 2008, 04:13 PM

Re: National Team - Rd. 5 - In Progress

I see today's mens draw result as being similar to the women's loss yesterday. A temporary setback probably initially disappointing but plenty of rounds left and the swiss tends to make it a rollercoaster. A half match point isn't decisive at all right now unless you are legitimately in the running for top three countries.

I would think most important right now is keep everyone on the team happy and busy and at the end there should be at least 4 sharp players to play the most important ending rounds.

**Gary Ruben** · Monday, 17th November, 2008, 04:24 PM

Re: National Team - Rd. 5 - In Progress

I would assume the teams which take advantage of the rules and adjust for match points will do well. Good team management and a sharp team captain can make a big difference. Steal a drawn match here and there and the team moves up.

If stacking a team is legal it's the way to go if it will bring more match points.

I assume the reason it is match points this year is because some nations got tired of losing final placing by other teams playing the Swiss Gambit and scoring many 4-0 wins in the late rounds.

I wish CC would also change to match points.

Please don't bring age into this. If a person is old enough for the national team he is old enough to be treated like an equal member. I don't hear about Magnus Carlsen (sp?) whining about age the odd time he does poorly.

**Duncan Smith** · Monday, 17th November, 2008, 04:30 PM

Re: National Team - Rd. 5 - In Progress

I don't see anyone whining on here Gary. Age is only a factor in that it may indicate strong potential for stronger results in the future. You have to build new contendors they don't just happen.

Round 5 Pairings for the Open Division

Round 5 Pairings for the Open Division

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