by National Master Loal Davis

Gata Kamsky and Yasser Seirawan notched up two well played victories in the 7th round of the World Team Championships. [Event "World Team Championship"] [Date "2011.07.23"] [Round "7"] [White "Teimur Radjabov"] [Black "Gata Kamsky"] [Result "0-1"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "2011.07.24"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nb3 Bb6 6. Nc3 Nge7 7. Bg5 O-O 8. Qd2 f6 9. Bh4 a5 10. Bb5 Ne5 11. f4 N5g6 12. Bf2 Bxf2+ 13. Qxf2 c6 14. Bc4+ Kh8 15. a4 Qc7 16. O-O d6 {Black is watching his central squares very nicely.} 17. h4 Bg4 18. Nd4 Qb6 19. Be6 f5 20. exf5 Nxf5 21. Bxf5 Bxf5 22. h5 Ne7 23. Rae1 Rae8 24. Nb3 Qb4 25. g4 Bd3 {Quite possibly overlooked by White.} 26. cxd3 Qxb3 27. h6 Qf7 28. f5 d5 29. Qd4 Qf6 30. hxg7+ Kxg7 31. Qf4 Kh8 32. Re2 Rg8 33. Re6 Qh4 34. Qd4+ Rg7 {This may look scary, but an ‘f6′ fork breaks the pin and Black has Rxg4+.} 35. Rf4 c5 {Trying to kick the Queen away from the pin on the long diagonal will liberate Black’s attack down the ‘g’ file.} 36. Qe5 Reg8 {Again an ‘f6′ will allow Black to play Rxg4+.} 37. Kg2 Nc6 {That’s it; pin will be broken.} 38. Qf6 Qxf6 39. Rxf6 Ne5 {Nb4 might actually be stronger.  Now everything in the White camp is crumbling.} 0-1 [Event "World Team Championship "] [Date "2011.07.23"] [Round "7"] [White "Yasser Seirawan"] [Black "Shakhriyar Mamedyarov"] [Result "1-0"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "2011.07.24"] 1. d4 c5 2. d5 f5 3. e4 {Akin to a Staunton Gambit against the Dutch.} fxe4 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. g4 h6 6. h3 d6 7. Nge2 e5 8. Ng3 Be7 9. Bg2 Na6 10. Ncxe4 Bd7 11. O-O Nxe4 12. Bxe4 O-O 13. f4 exf4 14. Bxf4 Bg5 15. Qd2 c4 {Black has been outplayed and is searching for some kind of activity.} 16. Bxg5 Qxg5 17. Qxg5 hxg5 18. Bf5 Bxf5 19. Nxf5 Nb4 20. Ne3 Rxf1+ 21. Rxf1 c3 22. bxc3 Nxa2 23. c4 a5 24. Nf5 a4 25. Nxd6 a3 26. Nxb7 {White ‘ignores’ the passed ‘a’ Pawn as he is ever ready to sacrifice his Rook for it.  In the meantime, he has an avalanche of his own.} Nb4 27. c3 Nd3 28. c5 Nf4 29. d6 {Here they come.  A well played game.} 1-0

  The US Team handles Egypt 3.5-0.5.   Ahmed Adly traded his way to a draw as white against Kamsky but after that there were wins for Alexander Onischuk, Yasser Seirawan and Robert Hess.   GM El Gindy, Essam (2510) – GM Seirawan, Yasser (2635) 8th World Teams Ningbo CHN ( Rd 3), 2011.07.19 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 O-O 7.Rc1 a6 8.c5 c6 9.Bd3 e5 10.dxe5 Ne8 11.Bxe7 Qxe7 12.Qc2 h6 13.O-O Nxe5 14.Nxe5 Qxe5 15.Ne2 Nf6 16.Qc3 Qc7 17.Qd4 Bg4 18.Ng3 Rae8 19.f3 Bc8 20.Rfe1 Re5 21.Re2 Rfe8 22.Rce1 Nh5 23.Nf1 Bf5 24.Bxf5 Rxf5 25.g4 Rg5 26.Rg2 Nf6 27.Ng3 Rge5 28.Nf5 R8e6 29.b4 Ne8 30.a3 Qd8 31.Qd3 Qf6 32.Nd4 Re7 33.Nf5 R7e6 34.Nd4 Re7 35.Nf5 Rd7 36.Qd4 h5 37.h3 g6 38.f4 Re6 39.Qxf6 Nxf6 40.Nd4 Re4 41.g5 Ne8 42.f5 Rde7 43.Kf2 R7e5 44.f6 Nc7 45.Rg3 Kf8 46.Reg1 Ke8 47.Nb3 Kd7 48.Nd2 Rf5+ 49.Rf3 Rxf3+ 50.Kxf3 Re8 51.h4 Nb5 52.a4 Nc3 53.a5 Re5 54.Rc1 Ne4 55.Rc2 Rf5+ 56.Ke2 Rf2+ 57.Kd1 Ng3 58.Rc3 Ke6 59.Rd3 Ke5 60.Rd4 Nf5 61.Ke1 Rg2 62.Nf3+ Ke6 63.Rd3 Rg4 64.Nd2 Nxh4 65.e4 Rxg5 66.exd5+ Rxd5 0-1 GM Onischuk, Alexander (2675) – GM Amin, Bassem (2609) 8th World Teams Ningbo CHN (Rd 3), 2011.07.19 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 c5 5.Nge2 b6 6.a3 Ba5 7.Rb1 Na6 8.d5 exd5 9.cxd5 O-O 10.Ng3 Bb7 11.Bxa6 Bxc3+ 12.bxc3 Bxa6 13.f3 d6 14.e4 Nd7 15.Bf4 Ne5 16.Bxe5 dxe5 17.Kf2 g6 18.Re1 Qd6 19.Qd2 Rad8 20.Rbd1 Qe7 21.Qa2 h5 22.c4 Qh4 23.Kg1 Rd6 24.a4 Qf4 25.Nf1 h4 26.h3 Qg5 27.Qd2 Qd8 28.f4 Re8 29.Nh2 f6 30.fxe5 fxe5 31.Rc1 Rf8 32.Ng4 Qe7 33.Rf1 Rdd8 34.Qh6 1-0 GM Adly, Ahmed (2631) – GM Kamsky, Gata (2741) 8th World Teams Ningbo CHN (Rd 3), 2011.07.19 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 a6 5.e3 g6 6.Be2 Bg7 7.O-O O-O 8.Ne5 c5 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Nxd5 Qxd5 11.Bf3 Qd8 12.Qb3 Qc7 13.Bd2 Bxe5 14.dxe5 Nc6 15.Bxc6 Qxc6 16.Ba5 b5 17.Rfd1 Be6 18.Qc2 Rfc8 19.a3 Qb7 20.Rac1 b4 21.axb4 cxb4 22.Qd2 b3 23.Rxc8+ Rxc8 24.Rc1 Rxc1+ 25.Qxc1 Qd5 26.Qd2 Qxd2 27.Bxd2 Kf8 28.f3 Ke8 29.Kf2 Kd7 30.Bb4 ½-½ GM Robert Hess (2609) – GM Samy Shoker (2475) 8th World Teams Ningbo CHN (Rd 3), 2011.07.19 1. e4 d6 2. d4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Be3 a6 5. a4 Nd7 6. Nf3 b6 7. Bc4 e6 8. h4 h6 9. h5 g5 10. Qd3 Qe7 11. d5 Ngf6 12. dxe6 fxe6 13. e5 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 dxe5 15. O-O-O Bb7 16. f3 Qf7 17. Qd2 Bc6 18. a5 b5 19. Bd3 O-O-O 20. Kb1 e4 21. fxe4 Nxe4 22. Nxe4 Bxe4 23. Bxe4 Rxd2 24. Rxd2 Qf6 25. Bd4 Qe7 26. Bxg7 Qxg7 27. Re1 Qf6 28. Rde2 Re8 29. Bc6 Re7 30. Re5 Qf4 31. Bd5 Qd2 32. g4 Kd7 33. Bb3 c5 34. c3 Kc7 35. Rxc5+ Kb8 36. Rce5 Qd3+ 37. Bc2 Qg3 38. R1e4 Qg1+ 39. Ka2 Qa7 40. Rxe6 Rxe6 41. Rxe6 Qf7 42. Bb3 Qf4 43. Rxh6 Qxg4 44. Rh8+ Kb7 45. h6 b4 46. h7 Qh5 47. cxb4 Qh6 48. Bd5+ Kc7 49. Ra8 1-0

by National Master Loal Davis

  Nikita Vitiugov

Robert Hess

                A truly instructive game when it comes to control of the center. Hess has all of the attributes of a Benoni; a Queenside majority in motion, an open ‘e’ file, and a long diagonal for his dark Bishop – well that piece was traded off – but everything else. Alas – White dominates the center.   1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. Bg5 Bb7 6. Nd2 {An interesting battle for the control of ‘e4′.} h6 7. Bh4 c5 8. d5 exd5 9. cxd5 O-O (9… g5 10. Bg3 Bxc3 11. bxc3 Nxd5 12. Nc4) 10. e4 Re8 11. Be2 d6 (11… Bxc3 12. bxc3 g5 13. Bg3 Nxe4 14. Nxe4 Rxe4 15. O-O) 12. O-O Nbd7 13. f3 Qe7 {No} (13… a6 { must be played.}) 14. Bb5 (14. Nb5 {isn’t bad either.}) 14… Rf8 15. Nc4 Rad8 16. Ne3 Bxc3 (16… g6 17. Bxd7 Rxd7 18. Ng4) 17. bxc3 Qe5 18. Rc1 g6 19. Re1 { White is contemplating the defense of his ‘e’ Pawn, playing ‘f4′ and pushing Black off of the board.} Kg7 {There is nothing to do. Black just watches as the axe falls.} 20. Qa4 Qh5 {Aggression seldom works in positions like this.} 21. Bg3 a6 22. Be2 ({Not allowing} 22. Bxa6 Ra8) 22… b5 23. Qd1 {Black’s Queen is marooned and subject to extermination. This game shows the value of a good center versus – whatever Black thought he had.} 1-0  

    Russia scored their second 3-1 win    2nd place  Armenia draws against the USA … 2-2                    white :  GM  Kamsky Gata 2741   black :  GM Aronian Levon 2805  1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a4 b4 9.Bg5 O-O 10.Nbd2 h6 11.Bh4 Rb8 12.Re1 Na5 13.Ba2 c5 14.Nc4 Nc6 15.Ne3 Be6 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.Bc4 Qc8 18.h4 Ne7 19.g3 g6 20.Kg2 Bh3+ 21.Kh2 Bd7 22.Rg1 Bg7 23.h5 Kh8 24.Rg2 f5 25.Nh4 Bc6 26.hxg6 f4 27.Nd5 Nxd5 28.Bxd5 Bxd5 29.exd5 c4 30.g4 f3 31.Rg3 b3 32.c3 Rf4 33.Nf5 cxd3 34.Qxd3 e4 35.Qe3 Rxf5 36.gxf5 Qxf5 37.Re1 Re8 38.Rxf3 Be5+ 39.Rg3 Qxg6 40.Kg2 Bxg3 41.fxg3 Kg8 42.Rf1 Rf8 43.Rxf8+ Kxf8 44.Qf4+ Ke8 45.Kf2 h5 46.Ke3 Kd7 47.a5 Kc8 48.Kd4 Kc7 49.Qxe4 Qxg3 50.Qh7+ Kd8 51.Qh8+ Kc7 52.Qxh5 Qf2+ 53.Kc4 Qc5+ 54.Kxb3 Qb5+ 1-0