2013 World Team Championship (Antalya, Turkey)
While the fervor from World Championship has subsided and Magnus Carlsen settles into his role as the World Champion, other action is heating up in Antalya, Turkey. The biennial World Team Championship is being held featuring ten of the top teams including the host nation of Turkey.
Hikaru Nakamura is climbing up the ELO list and hopes to carry his team to another medal. Photo by Anastasiya Karlovich.
Many top players are defending their honor including Levon Aronian of Armenia, Hikaru Nakamura of the USA, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, Vassily Ivanchuk of the Ukraine. Anish Giri will lead the Netherlands, Alexander Iptov holds top board for Turkey and Bassem Amin mans the top board for Egypt.
However there are many players absent including Teimour Radjabov, who led Azerbaijan to the European Cup and Wang Hao of China. Egypt, ranked last, are missing Ahmed Adly and Essam El-Gindy. Both the Ukraine and Russia are the only teams with a 2700 ELO average and hope to make a strong showing. Armenia and the USA generally have good chemistry and will contend.
November 24th-December 6th, 2013 (Antalya, Turkey) |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
#
|
Title
|
Name
|
Rating
|
Flag
|
|||
| 1 | GM | Kramnik, Vladimir | 2793 |
 |
|||
| 2 | GM | Karjakin, Sergey | 2756 |
|
|||
| 3 | GM | Grischuk, Alexander | 2785 |
|
|||
| 4 | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 2721 |
|
|||
| 5 | GM | Vitiugov, Nikita | 2741 |
|
|||
|
#
|
Title
|
Name
|
Rating
|
Flag
|
|||
| 1 | GM | Ivanchuk, Vassily | 2731 |
 |
|||
| 2 | GM | Korobov, Anton | 2713 |
|
|||
| 3 | GM | Moiseenko, Alexander | 2709 |
|
|||
| 4 | GM | Kryvoruchko, Yuriy | 2701 |
|
|||
| 5 | GM | Areshchenko, Alexander | 2720 |
|
|||
|
#
|
Title
|
Name
|
Rating
|
Flag
|
|||
| 1 | GM | Aronian, Levon | 2801 |
 |
|||
| 2 | GM | Movsesian, Sergei | 2700 |
|
|||
| 3 | GM | Akopian, Vladmir | 2681 |
|
|||
| 4 | GM | Sargissian, Gabriel | 2676 |
|
|||
| 5 | GM | Petrosian, Tigran | 2660 |
|
|||
|
#
|
Title
|
Name
|
Rating
|
Flag
|
|||
| 1 | GM | Li Chao | 2679 |
 |
|||
| 2 | GM | Ding Liren | 2711 |
|
|||
| 3 | GM | Yue Wang | 2725 |
|
|||
| 4 | GM | Xiangzhi, Bu | 2683 |
|
|||
| 5 | GM | Yu Yangyi | 2668 |
|
|||
|
#
|
Title
|
Name
|
Rating
|
Flag
|
|||
| 1 | GM | Nakamura, Hikaru | 2786 |
 |
|||
| 2 | GM | Kamsky, Gata | 2721 |
|
|||
| 3 | GM | Onischuk, Alexander | 2672 |
|
|||
| 4 | GM | Robson, Ray | 2613 |
|
|||
| 5 | GM | Akobian, Varuzhan | 2625 |
|
|||
|
#
|
Title
|
Name
|
Rating
|
Flag
|
|||
| 1 | GM | Giri, Anish | 2732 |
 |
|||
| 2 | GM | Van Wely, Loek | 2678 |
|
|||
| 3 | GM | Tiviakov, Sergei | 2663 |
|
|||
| 4 | GM | Sokolov, Ivan | 2648 |
|
|||
| 5 | GM | L’Ami, Erwin | 2625 |
|
|||
|
#
|
Title
|
Name
|
Rating
|
Flag
|
|||
| 1 | GM | Khenkin, Igor | 2612 |
 |
|||
| 2 | GM | Meier, Georg | 2623 |
|
|||
| 3 | GM | Fridman, Daniel | 2600 |
|
|||
| 4 | GM | Naiditsch, Arkadij | 2727 |
|
|||
| 5 | GM | Barmidze, David | 2614 |
|
|||
|
#
|
Title
|
Name
|
Rating
|
Flag
|
|||
| 1 | GM | Mamedov, Rauf | 2647 |
 |
|||
| 2 | GM | Safarli, Eltaj | 2653 |
|
|||
| 3 | GM | Mamedov, Nidjad | 2616 |
|
|||
| 4 | GM | Durarbayli, Vasif | 2559 |
|
|||
| 5 | GM | Guseinov, Gadir | 2607 |
|
|||
|
#
|
Title
|
Name
|
Rating
|
Flag
|
|||
| 1 | GM | Ipatov, Alexander | 2630 |
 |
|||
| 2 | GM | Solak, Dragan | 2618 |
|
|||
| 3 | GM | Yilmaz, Mustafa | 2577 |
|
|||
| 4 | GM | Esen, Baris | 2565 |
|
|||
| 5 | GM | Can, Emre | 2519 |
|
|||
|
#
|
Title
|
Name
|
Rating
|
Flag
|
|||
| 1 | IM | Ezat, Mohamed | 2454 |
 |
|||
| 2 | IM | Abdel Razik, Khaled | 2450 |
|
|||
| 3 | IM | Shoker, Samy | 2500 |
|
|||
| 4 | GM | Amin, Bassem | 2652 |
|
|||
| 5 | IM | Labib, Ibrahim | 2411 |
|
|||
China got off to a quick start with a win over Netherlands.
IM Samy Shoker is always good for a shocker… beat Naiditsch!
Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich (https://wctc2013.tsf.org.tr/)
November 24th-December 6th, 2013 (Antalya, Turkey)
Gata Kamsky looking snazzy in USA’s win over Russia.
Photo by Anastasiya Karlovich (https://wctc2013.tsf.org.tr/)
November 24th-December 6th, 2013 (Antalya, Turkey)
Turkey scored first win over Egypt.
Armenia has scored many team victories due in part to their chemistry.
It appears that Bu Xiangzhi has been around forever, but he’s only 27.
Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich (https://wctc2013.tsf.org.tr/)
November 24th-December 6th, 2013 (Antalya, Turkey)
Azerbaijan-Russia drew a crowd. The Azeris are without their top player, Teimour Radjabov and lost a close match.
GM Bassem Amin, Egypt’s brightest star.
Ding Liren may be the future of Chinese chess.
Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich (https://wctc2013.tsf.org.tr/)
November 24th-December 6th, 2013 (Antalya, Turkey)
Great pictures!
Ivanchuk’s cap psychology seems to be working.
Photo by Anastasiya Karlovich (https://wctc2013.tsf.org.tr/)
November 24th-December 6th, 2013 (Antalya, Turkey)
Nice report Daaim, Maybe U.S. will medal in the contest, i thought they would be in the top 3 by now though.
The Netherlands have a lot to smile about. They would then beat a previously undefeated Ukrainian side.
Nakamura didn’t convert, but Robson’s win (21.Nxc4!!)
carried the day over Azerbaijan.
What happened to Armenia? A 3-1 drubbing came as a shock.
Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich (https://wctc2013.tsf.org.tr/)
November 24th-December 6th, 2013 (Antalya, Turkey)
The Netherlands could not keep momentum and tumbled to 6th place. Meanwhile…
… Russia is keeping pace with the Ukraine and now have more board points.
Varuzhan Akobian was today’s star for the Americans.
Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich (https://wctc2013.tsf.org.tr/)
November 24th-December 6th, 2013 (Antalya, Turkey)
Two more rounds remain at the the 2013 World Team Championships and it will be a race to gold. Ukraine is currently atop the field by one point over Russia with 12 points, while China (10 pts.) and the USA (8 pts.) are also fighting for medal contention.
Kramnik’s fortune has changed since his brutal loss to Nakamura. Photo by Anastasiya Karlovich (https://wctc2013.tsf.org.tr/)
Yesterday, things got a bit tighter as Ukraine took their first lost at the hands of the Netherlands. As a result, Russia closed the gap to within one point. China and the USA also won to stay within medal contention. Defending Olympiad and World Team champion Armenia is in bad form and will have to wait for the Olympiad in Tromso to successfully defend their other title.
Azerbaijan is the defending European Team champions, but did not field either Teimour Radjabov nor Shahkriyar Mamadyarov for this tournament. Egypt and Turkey are poised to take a point or two off of the medal contenders to make things interesting.
Here is Bassem Amin’s scintillating win over Alexander Areschchenko in a Najdorf.
As it stands now, the Ukraine has a slim lead over Russia, but have difficult pairings including a showdown with Russia in round eight. They then end the tournament with rival Armenia. Not an easy road. After its date with the Ukraine, Russia will look to score big against a beleaguered Egyptian squad missing some of their top players as well. Meanwhile China stands to capitalize if the Ukraine and Russia fight to a draw and China is able to beat Germany. China will then go for a rout of Turkey in the last round.
China is always a threat, but may be playing for silver.
Photo by Anastasiya Karlovich (https://wctc2013.tsf.org.tr/)
The USA has an outside chance at a medal playing getting host Turkey and the Netherlands as their last two opponents. However they will need help from Armenia to beat the Ukraine.
The marquee matchup tomorrow is Ukraine-Russia. Follow the live action here! Drum Coverage here!
Is the Ukraine on the verge of collapse? Having started with five wins in a row, they are now in danger of losing a medal if they lose to Armenia tomorrow.
A confident American team was a heavy favorite and still vying for a medal. GMs Varuzhan Akobian, Ray Robson and Alex Onischuk chatted amicably before the round with Nakamura taking a rest. GM Baren Esen readies himself for battle.
With only one team win, Turkey battled tough!
Turkey DREW!!! Predictably it would be Esen to score a win over Robson.
November 24th-December 6th, 2013 (Antalya, Turkey)
In the penultimate round, a gladiator battle turned out to be fortuitous for Russia as they edged a fading Ukrainian squad. In a battle of names, Yuriy Kryvoruchko got his queen trapped against Ian Nepomnniachtchi for the margin of victory. The match win gives Russia an inside chance to win gold if they defeat winless Egypt. On the other hand, the Ukraine could even miss the medal stand if they lose to Armenia… a high possibility.
The USA has squandered any medal hopes after Turkey held them to a 2-2. After Baris Esen brutally mated Ray Robson, Varuzhan Akobian saved the match with a win after a collapse by Emre Can. Resting Hikaru Nakamura was a huge mistake given that the Americans could have used the board points anyway. Interestingly enough, both Turkey and Egypt could effect the medal hunt in the final round.
Sad that the USA will bow out after Turkey held them to a draw. If they had beaten Turkey, they would have had an edge in tiebreaks since they beat Russia.
Things were not easy from Kramnik against the unheralded Egypt’s Mohammad Ezat. In fact, the Russian wandered into a losing position. Fortunately, Russia had already clinched the gold.
GM Ian Nepomniachtchi scored some crucial wins for Russia.
The USA ended a disappointing tournament with 2-2 draw. However, Nakamura, Onischuk and Akobian won individual board medals. Nakamura believes this will be the last chance to win Olympiad gold with this core group.
November 24th-December 6th, 2013 (Antalya, Turkey)
GOLD-Russia
SILVER-China
BRONZE-Ukraine
Russia’s Alexander Grischuk triumphantly raises the champion’s cup!November 24th-December 6th, 2013 (Antalya, Turkey)
Teams receive two points for a match win, one for a draw and zero for a loss
A narrow victory for the russians. Interesting to see russia only managing to beat egypt by such a narrow margin. Well, a win is a win. Congratulations to team russia.
It will be tougher at the Olympiad with so many other teams in the hunt. This will give them confidence nevertheless. I’m picking China. They were missing their top board and still got silver. They are young and strong.