Hungary beats Russia… pulls within ½-point!!

The "Big Mighty Bear" is now looking over it's shoulder as the Hungarian sharpshooters have the target within striking distance. In a heavy-hitting battle, Hungary outlasted Russia in a showdown between the tournament leaders. The Leko-Kasparov was an exciting Najdorf Sicilian full of skirmishes in the opening and middlegame; however, the game settled down to a lifeless draw.

Neither the Grischuk-Polgar nor Almasi-Khalifman had much promise for a decisive result and both were drawn. The shock of the match was the Ruck-Svidler battle. In another Najdorf, Ruck met 6.f3 with 6… Qb6!? applying pressure on d4 and b2. Ruck continued to play dynamically with 14…Bg5!? and later caught Svidler off guard with the zinger, 25… Nxc3! winning a pawn and rendering white's pawn structure in disrepair. Ruck pocketed the point and Hungary pocketed the win.

In Svidler (RUS) - Ruck (HUN), Black played 25...Nxc3! and after 26.Bxc3 Rdc7 27.Rgg1 Rxc4 28.Rc1 Qa6!, White's position soon collapsed.

China kept pace with a win over Slovakia with FM Ni Hua scoring against IM Jan Markos. One may wonder, "Why is Mr. Ni still an FM with a 2545 FIDE rating?" Good question. China will face Russia tomorrow, so look for the Russian Bear to pummel the Chinese Dragon after a morale-busting loss. Both teams will field their best team and China most certainly will use GM Bu Xiangzhi on board #4 where he has been solid. Give the slight edge to Russia due to their experience; however, the Chinese has good momentum and are fierce fighters.

Georgia ran into a Bosnian buzzsaw when GM Zurab Sturab lost a piece on move 14 against GM Suat Atalik. In the other Georgian loss, GM Baddur Jobava lost a rook in time pressure as black's army swarmed around the white king. India has been tenacious in this tournament as they seem to have little regard for high-octane Grandmasters. The 3-1 victory over the Czech Republic keeps them in the hunt for a medal with five rounds left. In France-Azerbaijan, GM Etienne Bacrot met GM Teimour Radjabov… both having once broken age records for earning their GM titles.  The game was exciting from the very beginning, but white was able to penetrate deeply with a rook on black's 7th rank and take a vice grip on the white squares. Bacrot then struck with a final knockout punch… 45.Rxg7+!

Zimbabwe's IM Robert Gwaze rested once again. Let's hope he doesn't lose momentum from a three-day layoff.  IM Amon Simutowe also rested so he had to endure watching his Zambian team being crushed by the Botswana team 3-1. Certainly Simutowe dominates chess in the Southern African region and perhaps the result could be considered an upset. NM Ignatious Njobvu, who is "stacked" on board #4, won after a scramble with Zambia's Musende Gershom and ended up mating him after penetrating with his Queen and Rook.

Trindad has now won three in a row after beating Uganda 3-1. FM Ryan Harper beat NM Grace Nsubuga in a theoretical Sicilian Dragon when Grace mishandled the ensuing endgame.  Trinidad will now face Albania. Nigeria's five match winning streak was snapped after losing to Ireland 3-1.  Board "stacking" is a tactic of putting the team's strongest players on lower boards to score with certainty. The top board is held by a player who can possibly win 20-50%.  IM Odion Aikhoje, who is also stacked on board #4, lost his match… typically Nigeria will win as IM Aikhoje wins.

Perhaps one of the most exciting games occurred in the Panama-Netherlands Antilles match and was won by Sherman Maduro (pictured right). One could mistakenly think that third tier matches don't contain quality games, but the Miranda-Maduro game proves otherwise.

This game was a wild King's Gambit that went at "break-neck" speed from beginning to end. If one plays through this game at a high speed, it would be similar to watching a war with missiles blazing in every direction. Exciting chess! Nice win for Maduro!!