[imagefield_assist|fid=11262|preset=fullsize|lightbox=true|title=GM Yury Shulman was unable to get anything going with white in round four and resigned after 31 moves. |desc=|link=none|align=center|width=640|height=478]
By Tony Rich
The U.S. team continues its march in the 2011 World Team Championship. Held in Ningbo, China this year, the World Team brings together some of the best chess-playing countries in four-board matches.
Round two saw the U.S. face one of the best teams in the event – Armenia. With such strong players as world No. 3 Levon Aronian, even team captain John Donaldson expressed some concern. When discussing the lineup, Donaldson said, “I consult with the coaches and the players each night before determining who to play the next day, but ultimately I make the final call. If we make a bad decision, it ultimately rests on my shoulders.”
The match was a nail-biter, as out-of-form Alex Onischuk, who earned a gold medal in the same event last year, quickly obtained a much worse position against Sergey Movsesian. Resigning on move 41, and Shulman drawing with Vladimir Akopian earlier on board three, all hopes were left on board four Yasser Seirawan and board one Gata Kamsky.
As the clocks ticked ever lower, Seirawan was only able to draw Gabriel Sargissian, which left all eyes on Kamsky.
With a clearly winning position just before time control, Kamsky played the inaccurate 38. Rxf3, which seemed to breathe new life into Aronian. As the dust cleared, and the players entered the second time control, Kamsky had to “win the game again”, according to coach Ben Finegold.
And win the game he did. Kamsky played a Queen and Pawn endgame flawlessly and secured a full point, allowing the U.S. team to draw Armenia. Robert Hess, who is the alternate for the American team, could be seen intently watching the final moves. “It’s so difficult when you are sitting on the sidelines, unable to influence the outcome. I’m just happy Kamsky was able to win and we drew the match.”
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[imagefield_assist|fid=11263|preset=fullsize|lightbox=true|title=GM Gata Kamsky defeated GM Levon Aronian to help the U.S. secure a hard-fought draw against Armenia.|desc=|link=none|align=center|width=640|height=359]
Round three was another rollercoaster as the Americans played Egypt. Ranked last in the event, the Egyptians came to fight. Kamsky made a quick draw with the black pieces against.
Bassem Amin, playing on board two against Onischuk, opted for a Nimzo Indian, which quickly morphed into a Benoni-like structure where black was very passive. The usual Onischuk shone through and won the game in convincing style. During the postmortem, Onischuk said, “I think he had some chances earlier to complicate the game, but it was a difficult position. Once I played 28. f4, white should be winning.”
Then disaster struck on board four; Robert Hess, playing the young Samy Shoker, was shocked by 19.... 0-0-0. “I just didn’t consider that he could castle queenside in this position. It was like a bolt of electricity when he castled.” However, Hess was able to keep the wheels on the bus and opted for a positional queen for rook and bishop sacrifice. “Objectively he is losing, but it’s still a game”, said coach Varuzhan Akobian during the game. And a game it was, when Hess was able to put up maximum resistance, his opponent erred badly just before time control and the tables were turned. The clocks were stopped on move 49 and Hess came out the victor. “I just put too much pressure on myself”, said Hess after the game. “I expected us to crush Egypt and I really wanted to add to that.”
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[imagefield_assist|fid=11264|preset=fullsize|lightbox=true|title=GM Yasser Seirawan scored a pivotal victory against Egypt's Essam El Gindy.|desc=|link=none|align=center|width=640|height=317]
One of the last games to finish was Yasser Seirawan’s win over Essam El Gindy. The gruff-looking El Gindy seems more at home in a pickup truck than at a chess board, but looks can be deceiving. He put up a real fight and attacked with such ferocity that any result was possible. “Once queens were traded,” opined Seirawan, “I felt much better. He was throwing everything at me – queen, rooks, knight and pawns!” Seirawan could be seen analyzing with El Gindy and most of the Egyptian team after the result was in, and it was clear the Egyptians had a real sense of admiration for their foe.
Despite the great performance in round three, there was no happy ending for round four. “We knew China would be a tough team,” said Finegold, “but it looked like the whole American team was out of form today.”
Kamsky pressed hard in a Queen’s Gambit Accepted, but was only able to draw Wang Hao. After 31 moves, Kamsky missed a chance to keep his extra pawn with 32. Ra6 and instead the peace treaty was signed after 52 moves.
Wang Yue played the Catalan against Onischuk and obtained a normal opening advantage, but the position became critical when the American dropped a pawn on the eighteenth move. Despite his strong resistance, Onischuk succumbed on move 29 and the Americans were behind.
Shulman, who hasn’t seemed to get much with white this tournament, had trouble completing his development, and despite an extra pawn, couldn’t find the right plan; he resigned on move 31.
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Seirawan seemed to get what he wanted from the opening, but seeing his teammates in trouble, went all out for the win. He entered a complicated tactical skirmish around move 27, but the resulting position saw him down a rook for two pawns. He struggled on for another 30 moves, but the result was no longer in question; Seirawan resigned on move 61.
“It was an incredibly disappointing match”, said Hess. “I don’t know what to tell you; it was awful. We were outprepared, outplayed, and nothing went right.”
With the mood somber, the Americans enter round five tomorrow, where they will face India before the rest day. One consolation for the U.S. team was the number of upsets today. Russia lost 3-1 to Azerbaijan and Hungary defeated Ukraine. Can the Americans reproduce their stellar performance from last year? “When you have even the best teams being upset”, said Finegold, “anything is possible.”
