Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has been re-elected Fide President by the margin of 95-55. He offered his rival, former world champion Anatoly Karpov, the post of vice-president, which has been declined. Karpov’s electoral team-mate, and former rival, Garry Kasparov alleged the election was irregularly conducted with 56 proxy votes for Kirsan's ticket (proxies are legal in Fide). Meanwhile, another former world champion, Boris Spassky is reportedly seriously ill, in intensive care.
Amidst all this, the chess was almost a sideshow. However, it was a very tense Olympiad with medals in doubt until the concluding moments of the last round. Russia1 was first pressing for victory (and a possible gold) against Spain and then struggling to draw.
The Ukraine, which led through much of the event, eventually took gold with 19 victory points from 11 matches (8 wins, 3 draws). Russia1 took silver with 18 and Israel pipped Hungary for bronze on tiebreak after both teams ended 3-4 on 17 points. Defending champions Armenia were pushed back to 5-10 along with China, Russia2, France, Spain and the US. India tied for 11-19th, pretty much where the initial seeding (19) suggested.
The hero for Ukraine was the mercurial Ivanchuk who scored 8 from 10 games. Karjakin did a great job for Russia and Aronyan's heroic efforts for Armenia were in vain. Most disappointing was the form of Magnus Carlsen and Veselin Topalov, with both suffering several losses.
In the women’s section, Russia 1 won with a lot to spare and a clean sheet (22 VPs). The Kosintseva sisters were outstanding. PRC took silver despite two lost matches and Georgia topped a 3-8 tiebreak to take bronze. India tied for 15-20, a slight disappointment since they were in the medal hunt until the last three rounds
The diagram, White to Play, (Adams Vs Carlsen, England Vs Norway Olympiad 2010) is the culmination of a very impressive build up by white, who consistently and determinedly exploited a shady opening by the world number one. The problem for black is opposite-coloured bishops, which lends a deadly edge to White’s attacking chances, because black’s light squares are impossible to guard.
Adams continued 33.Rg6! Kh7 34.Rfg1 Qe7 35.Ng3?! Here white missed the more accurate 35.c5! when 35...fxe4 36.Qxe4 Qxe4 37.Bxe4 is a vanilla win while 35...Rad8 36.Qe2 Qf8 37.cxd6 cxd6 38.Nc5! dxc5 39.Qxa6 with Qxh6 to come is the main point.
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Anyhow, black seems lost whatever he does. The engines suggest a prosaic method of losing with 35...Raf8 36.Qd4 Bxg3+ 37.R1xg3 Qf7 38.Qg1 Nh5 39.Rxg8 Rxg8 40.Rxg8 Qxg8 41.Bxf5+ Kh8. Instead, Carlsen tried to defend with 35...Bxg3+ 36.Qxg3 Qf7 37.Bd1! Rae8 38.Rxh6+ (1-0) Obviously 38. – Kxh6 39. Qg5+ Kh7 40. Qh4+ is absolutely deadly.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally-rated chess and correspondence chess player