Unlikely stars shine as Uzbekistan, Ukraine capture chess Olympiad gold

The biennial Olympiad, attracting nearly 200 squads representing countries around the globe, is the ultimate in team sport in chess. But that doesn’t mean don’t you can’t ride a hot individual horse to victory.

The Open and Women’s Olympiads, which concluded in thrilling fashion Tuesday in Chennai, India, featured two players who put on amazing streaks to give their teams a chance at a medal, only to fall tragically short at the finish line.

Young GM D. Gukesh has had a sensational run as top board for the young India 2 team with 8½ points in his first nine games before a brutal loss Monday to Uzbekistan star GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov ended his streak. And Poland’s women’s team was in the hunt for a medal in large part because of WIM Oliwia Kiolbasa, who reeled off nine wins in nine rounds before finally conceding a half-point in Monday’s Round 10.

In the end, however, Abdusattorov helped lead Uzbekistan to its first Olympiad gold in the open competition, just ahead of Armenia and Gukesh’s India 2 team, which settled for bronze. The top-ranked U.S. team, with the pre-tournament favorite with powerhouse Russia banned and China electing not to send a team, finished a disappointing fifth.

And Kiolbasa suffered her only loss of the event in the 11th and final round as Ukraine’s women defeated Poland 3-1 to capture the country’s first women’s gold medal since 2006. The historically strong Georgian women’s team took silver and a late run gave the U.S. women’s team the bronze — the first medal of any kind for the U.S. women since 2008.

Gukesh’s upset of U.S. top board GM Fabiano Caruana was critical to India 2’s 3-1 win over the top-seeded Americans, as well as the young Indian GM’s eighth victory in eight games on top board. It was a particularly painful loss for Caruana, whose play has been uncharacteristically shaky in Chennai.

Caruana as White actually gets the better of the early play in this Rossolimo Sicilian (3. Bg5), with some aggressive play leading to a pleasant positional plus after 11. cxd3 Nh6!? (allowing a cute tactic, though White also looks better after 11…f6 12. d4 exd4 13. Qxd4 e5 14. Qc4) 12. Nxe5! Nf5 (Bxe4 13. Bxh6 Bf4 14. Bxf4 Qxf4 15. Qb3 Rb8 16. Qa3 Qc7 17. Re3 doesn’t solve Black’s woes) 13. Bf4 Qb7 14. Na4 f6 15. Nf3 0-0 16. d4, and White has a clear lead in development, better-placed pieces and control of the board’s main open lines.

Gukesh’s position gets no style points, but it proves frustratingly hard to break down, and after Caruana rejects a draw by repetition on Move 27, Black slowly but surely takes over the play: 28. a3?! a5! (pretty much Black’s first active move of the game, but one that puts real pressure on White’s queenside) 29. Na4 (b5 cxb5 30. Nxb5 Bb7 31. Re2 Bd5) Qd8 30. bxa5 Rxa5 31. Nc5 (the tricky 31. Qxc6!? Bd7 32. Qb6 still leaves Black in charge after 32…Qa8 33. Nc3 Rxa3 34. Rb3 Rxb3 35. Qxb3 Bc6) Qd5!, and Black has flipped the board, blockading White’s d-pawn, claiming the open lines, and about to win the a-pawn to boot.

White’s desperation as his game deteriorates only hastens his demise: 36. Bg3 e5 37. Nxe5?! (what else? On 37. Nh2, to defend g4, Black can play 37…Rxg3+! 38. fxg3 Ra2 39. Qf3 Bxc5 40. dxc5 Qxc5+ 41. Kh1 Qc2 42. Nf1 Bxg4 and wins) fxe5 38. Rxe5 Bxg4!, rightly judging that White’s sacrificial “attack” is going nowhere.

Instead, it is White who will be mated after 44. Qg5+ Kh7 45. Ne4 (generating an actual threat: 46. Nf6+, winning) Qxe4!, and Caruana resigned not needing to see 46. Rxe4 Ra1+ 47. Qc1 Rxc1+ 48. Re1 Rxe1 mate.

On a side note, today’s diagram is the prelude to a tragedy. U.S. GM Sam Shankland, playing White, was dead lost for long stretches of his game against Armenian GM Robert Hovhannisyan but heroically battled back to equality when a draw would give the Americans a 2-2 draw in the match. White has just played 90. b2-b3 when the dram really kicks in.

On, say, 90…Qh1+ (the move Shankland expected), after 91. Kc2 Qg2+ 92. Kd1 axb3 93. Qxb3 Qe4 94. Kd2, and the open board and the disappearance of Black’s last pawn suggest a draw is in sight.

But White to his horror automatically touched his king when Hovhannisyan played instead 90…Qg2. Now 91. Qc4+ Kf5 92. Qc2+ Qxc2+ 93. Kxc2 axb3+ 94. Kb3 is a book draw, but Shankland, having touched his king, by rule had to move and instantly resigned. Black now wins after 91. Kc1?? (the only legal move) Qb2+ 92. Kd1 axb3 93. a4 Qd4, and Black’s extra piece and pawn seal White’s doom.

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Kiolbasa wasn’t exactly on anyone’s radar before Chennai, but she’s made a name for herself and did Gukesh one better with a stunning 9-0 run in the first nine rounds, helping vault the fourth-seeded Polish women smack into medal contention before the final disappointment.

A beautiful example of Kiolbasa’s play was a critical Round 8 win over Indian WGM PV Nandhidhaa, key to a 3-1 upset of the top-rated Indian women’s squad. There’s no such thing as a perfect game, but Kiolbasa seems not to put a single foot wrong in this Scandinavian, showing a Capablanca-like ability to nurse small positional assets, trade one advantage for another, and throw in small but critical combinations to wrap the whole thing up.

Black’s kingside demonstration comes to nothing, and White grabs a positional bind after 17. Qd6 Nxe3 17. Rxe3 Rb8 19. N7d5! (a little discovered attack to reposition the knight) Ra8 20. Ne7+ Bxe7 21. Qxe7, and White has a stranglehold on the position as well as a lethal threat in 22. Rd8.

Trading pieces does nothing to alleviate Black’s plight as after 25. Rxf8+ Kxf8 26. Rd8+ Ke7 27. Rh8: 27…h6 doesn’t save the pawn because of 28. Nd5+ Kd7 29. Rg8 Kd6 30. Rd8+ Kc6 31. Ne7+ Kc7 32. Rg8. Having won the pawn, White’s technique is also impeccable: 31. Nb5 Rh8 32. Rxa7 Rxh4 33. Rb7 Rb4 34. Rxb6+ Ke7 35. Nc3! (very Capablanca-esque as 35…Rxb6 36. Nd5+ recovers the material) Rd4 36. Rc6 Bf5 37. a4, and Black has no good answer to the a-pawn’s advance.

In the final position, after 46. Nc7 Bb7 47. a8=Q Bxa8 48. Nxa8, the passed pawn has cost Black a piece and the ending is hopeless; Nandhidhaa resigned.

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On a packed week of news, we can only note for now that GMs Alexey Sorokin of Texas and Elshan Moradiabadi of North Carolina shared top honors in the 122nd U.S. Open that wrapped up Sunday in Rancho Mirage, California. Both were undefeated at 8-1 in an Open field that included more than 400 players.

Caruana-Gukesh, U.S. vs. India 2, 44th Olympiad, Chennai, India, August 2022

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. Bxc6 bxc6 6. Re1 Qc7 7. h3 d6 8. e5 dxe5 9. d3 c4 10. Nc3 cxd3 11. cxd3 Nh6 12. Nxe5 Nf5 13. Bf4 Qb7 14. Na4 f6 15. Nf3 O-O 16. d4 g5 17. Bh2 h5 18. Re4 Qd7 19. Qc2 Rf7 20. Rae1 Bf8 21. Qe2 Qd5 22. Nc3 Qd7 23. Qc4 Qb7 24. b4 e6 25. Rb1 Qd7 26. Rbe1 Qb7 27. Rb1 Qd7 28. a3 a5 29. Na4 Qd8 30. bxa5 Rxa5 31. Nc5 Qd5 32. Qe2 Rxa3 33. Rd1 Rfa7 34. g4 hxg4 35. hxg4 Nh6 36. Bg3 e5 37. Nxe5 fxe5 38. Rxe5 Bxg4 39. Qd2 Qf3 40. Rxg5+ Rg7 41. Re1 Bh3 42. Bd6 Bxd6 43. Rxg7+ Kxg7 44. Qg5+ Kh7 45. Ne4 Qxe4 White resigns.

Kiolbasa-Nandhidhaa, Poland vs. India 3, Women’s Olympiad, Chennai, India, August 2022

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd8 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 e6 6. Bd3 c5 7. O-O cxd4 8. Nxd4 Be7 9. Be3 O-O 10. Qf3 Nbd7 11. Qg3 Nc5 12. Rad1 Nxd3 13. Rxd3 Qa5 14. Rfd1 Qh5 15. Ndb5 Ng4 16. Nc7 Bh4 17. Qd6 Nxe3 18. Rxe3 Rb8 19. N7d5 Ra8 20. Ne7+ Bxe7 21. Qxe7 f6 22. Rd8 Qf7 23. Qxf7+ Kxf7 24. Red3 e5 25. Rxf8+ Kxf8 26. Rd8+ Ke7 27. Rh8 b6 28. Rxh7 Bf5 29. Rxg7+ Ke6 30. h4 Bxc2 31. Nb5 Rh8 32. Rxa7 Rxh4 33. Rb7 Rb4 34. Rxb6+ Ke7 35. Nc3 Rd4 36. Rc6 Bf5 37. a4 Bd7 38. Ra6 Be6 39. Rb6 f5 40. a5 Rd8 41. a6 Ra8 42. Nb5 Bc8 43. a7 Bd7 44. Rb8 Bc6 45. Rxa8 Bxa8 46. Nc7 Bb7 47. a8=Q Bxa8 48. Nxa8 Black resigns.