ODT140107

=**Russia wins World Team Championship**=




 * Problem:** White to play and mate in four.

The top seeded Russian team won the World Team Championship, which finished last month in Antalya, Turkey. The event was an all-play-all between ten selected teams of four players, rather than the large swiss format used in the Olympiad. As the world's strongest chess nation by far, Russia has tended to underperform in team events in recent years, so the win was far from guaranteed. In fact the second round saw the favourites suffer a heavy defeat at the hands of the USA. Russia only took the lead in the penultimate round by defeating the Ukraine, which had lead until that point. The Ukrainians were beaten to second place on tie-break by China, who finished on the same match points but scored more board points.

The final scores were Russia 1st 15/18, 2nd China 14, 3rd Ukraine 14, 4th USA 10, 5th Armenia 10, 6th Netherlands 9, 7th Germany 8, 8th Azerbaijan 7, 9th Turkey 3, 10th Egypt 0.

Today's game is the top board clash between USA and Russia, between the two players vying for the third spot in the world rankings. GM Hikaru Nakamura is White against GM Vladimir Kramnik. media type="custom" key="24875760" Kramnik has played this solid variation of the Nimzo Indian Defence many times, up to White's rare last move (10 Qa4 is usual). He responds with what looks like a prepared pawn sacrifice, though the course of the game shows that 10... Nbd7 may have been wiser. After 12 Qxc7 Rc8 13 Qe5 Qg6! 14 Qf4 Nd7 and the rook is coming to c2 with excellent compensation. Apparently heading for piece exchanges and a draw, this move is deceptively strong. Black is lulled into a false sense of security, and allows his knight to be driven to an insecure position behind enemy lines. White's advantage lies in his centralised knight and queen compared to their black counterparts, and it is not so easy for black to fully equalise with other moves. e.g. 18... Rfd8 19 Rxc8 Rxc8 20 Rd1 Qe7 21 Qd7 Qxd7 22 Rxd7 Rc7 23 Rd8+ Kh7 24 b4 with a slightly better endgame for White. Best. After 21... Rd8?! 22 Qc7 the black pieces are in a tangle. The knight has no way home and its prospects don't improve with the exchange of queens. The knight won't be captured, but now the black rook is tied to its defence as well as the back rank/f7. Fixing the queenside pawns. If black tries to liberate his rook by 28 ... Rc3 then 29 Rd8+ Kh7 30 Nxf7 Nxe2 31 Rh8+ Kg6 32 Ne5+ Kf6 33 Rf8+ Ke7 34 Rf7+ Ke8 35 Rxg7 with advantage. Finally ejecting the knight from it's dominating outpost, but White has calculated a transition to a winning knight endgame. The only practical chance, otherwise 39 Nxb6 with a protected passed pawn wins easlily for White. Without this resource it would be Black who wins – e.g. 40 Nxb6?? a3 queening. Now if 40... bxc5 41 b6 and White queens first – with check. He still has to be careful to keep the black king out while he while he rounds up the a-pawn and wins with his extra piece.
 * 1.d4 Nf6**
 * 2.c4 e6**
 * 3.Nc3 Bb4**
 * 4.Qc2 0-0**
 * 5.a3 Bxc3+**
 * 6.Qxc3 d5**
 * 7.Nf3 dxc4**
 * 8.Qxc4 b6**
 * 9.Bg5 Ba6**
 * 10.Qc3 h6!?**
 * 11.Bxf6 Qxf6**
 * 12.g3 ---**
 * 12.--- Bb7**
 * 13.Bg2 Na6**
 * 14.0-0 c5**
 * 15.Rac1 Rac8**
 * 16.Ne5! ---**
 * 16.--- cxd4**
 * 17.Qxd4 Bxg2**
 * 18.Kxg2 Nc5?!**
 * 19.b4! Nb3**
 * 20.Rxc8 Rxc8**
 * 21.Qd7! Rf8**
 * 22.f4 Qf5**
 * 23.Rf3 Qc2**
 * 24.Qd3! Qxd3**
 * 25.Rxd3 Nc1**
 * 26.Rd2 Rc8**
 * 27.h4 h5**
 * 28.b5! ---**
 * 28.--- Rc7**
 * 29.Nc6 Kh7**
 * 30.Rb2 a5**
 * 31.Kf2 Rd7**
 * 32.Ne5 Rc7**
 * 33.Rd2 f6**
 * 34.Nd7! Nb3**
 * 35.Nf8+ Kg8**
 * 36.Rd7 Rxd7**
 * 37.Nxd7 Nd4**
 * 38.a4 Nxb5!**
 * 39.axb5 a4**
 * 40.Nc5! ---**
 * 40.--- a3**
 * 41.Nb3 a2**
 * 42.Ke3 Kf7**
 * 43.Kd4 Ke7**
 * 44.e4 e5+**
 * 45.fxe5 Ke6!?**
 * 46.Na1! fxe5+**
 * 47.Kc3 g5**
 * 48.Kb2 gxh4**
 * 49.gxh4 Kd6**
 * 50.Nb3 Resigns**


 * 1-0**


 * Solution:** 1 Qxh6+! Kxf5+ (1... Kf7 2 Qh5+ Kg8 3 Qg6+ Kh8 4 Qg7#) 2 Qh7+ Kg5 3 f4#.