Games from Bursa

BY: BOBBY ANG

(As published in Chess Piece, BusinessWorld, January 25, 2010)

World Team Championship
Bursa, Turkey
Jan. 5-13, 2010

Final Standings

1. Russia, 15/18; 2. USA, 13/18; 3. India, 13/18; 4. Azerbaijan, 12/18; 5. Armenia, 12/18, Greece, 8/18; 7. Israel, 7/18; 8. Brazil, 4/18; 9. Egypt, 3/18; 10. Turkey, 3/18

The strides that Turkey has made in the past few years have been impressive. Ever since the 2000 Istanbul Chess Olympiad it seems that the number of Turkish players has grown both in quantity and quality. I can detect this even on the Internet Chess Club -- when I started playing there circa 1994 there were hardly any Turks, but nowadays there are a lot of them, and very strong ones too!

Turkey was invited to play in the World Team Championship solely on the basis of its hosting the event. It was expected to be massacred every round, but justified its attendance by upsetting powerful Israel 2.5-1.5 in the 7th round. Then there is also this game from the 1st round, a slashing attack brings down GM Shulman.

Can vs Shulman
World Team Championship
Bursa TUR
2010.01.05
Round 1
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The American team took the silver medals in an upset, finishing ahead of powerhouses Armenia and Azerbaijan. A lot of credit goes to GM Alexander Onischuk -- he played every round and finished undefeated with four wins -- 6.5/9, a 2809 performance. However without a doubt it was their champion Hikaru Nakamura who inspired the team to perform well. Nakamura’s 6/8 on board one earned him the gold medal on board one -- it is equivalent to a 2850 tournament performance rating. He also furthered his reputation to being the "King King’s Indian" player of the world with another brilliancy from the Black side against no less than World Cup Champion Boris Gelfand.

Gelfand vs Nakamura
World Team Championship
Bursa TUR
2010.01.09
Round 5
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Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), born 1985, is the only two-time world junior champion of the world, winning the title in 2003 and 2005. He has a very dynamic and powerful style and reached number six in the world in the January 2008 FIDE rating list with an ELO of 2760. After that brush with greatness he declined a bit and it is only in the second half of 2009 that Mamedyarov made a resolution to get back into shape:
1. He started regular training hours again,
2. Turned into a vegetarian
3. Did regular exercises at the gym: running, weight lifting, swimming every day.

The results were dramatic -- Shakhriyar scored 6.5/9 in the 2009 European Team Championship (Novi Sad) to lead the Azerbaijan national team to the gold medals. He then continued his strong play in the Khanty Mansyisk World Cup, reaching the quarter-finals where he lost to Karjakin, and now another good showing in Bursa. He is already back in the top 10 list of FIDE.

We ran out of space here so here is the game with minimal notes.

Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar (2741) -- Morozevich, Alexander (2732) [D85]
7th World Team Championship Bursa TUR (4), 08.01.2010
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Did you know that the World Chess Federation (FIDE) was originally organized with the sole function of organizing the chess olympiads? It was only later that they took over the world championship and even later the rating of chessplayers. I still think that the team events are among the most important reasons for existence of the FIDE, as aside from the competitive aspects they are also huge social events where players from all over the world can meet and fraternize with each other. The great brotherhood of chessplayers all over the world demands it.