Round 9 v Syria, NZ win 3.5-2.5
After a tough evening the team rallied and it was nice to finish on a winning note. Anthony was involved in another topsy-turvy struggle involving a piece up ending going badly wrong, but he played superbly at the end to salvage a draw. John's Dutch defence fell victim to a sacrificial attack. Nicole's fighting spirit was rewarded. She battled on a piece down in a miserable position until suddenly her opponent obligingly blundered back all the material and an extra rook as well. Yolanda's opponent's dubious exchange sac was rewarded as Yolanda fell into a vicious mating net. Daniel's fine tournament came to a fitting conclusion as his opponent's position collapsed after application of just a little pressure. Anya played a very nice controlled positional game, with a powerful and convincing finish.
Ker, Anthony F - Eiti, Bashir
2020 FIDE Online Olympiad
1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 e5 4.dxe5 Nxe5 5.Nxe5 dxe5 6.Qxd8+ Kxd8 7.Bc4 f6 8.Nc3 c6 9.Be3 Kc7 10.O-O-O Nh6 11.h3 b5 12.Bb3 Be7 13.f4 Bd6 14.f5 a5 15.a4 b4 16.Nb1 Nxf5 17.exf5 Bxf5 18.Nd2 Be7 19.g4 Bc8 20.Nc4 Ra6 21.Rhg1 h5 22.gxh5 Bf8 23.h6 g5 24.h4 gxh4 25.Rdf1 c5 26.Rg6 h3 27.Nd2 f5 28.Rxa6 Bxa6 29.Rxf5 Bxh6 30.Rh5 Bg7 31.Rxh8 Bxh8 32.Bg1 Bg7 33.Be6 Bc8 34.Bxc8 Kxc8 35.Nf3 e4
Moves are clickable
Earlier Black sac'ed a piece for two pawns. It didn't really work out and Anthony looked on track to convert the piece but Black fought back and now his advanced pawns are now a bit of a worry, to say the least 36.Nh2? And this is a very serious error ( White can play 36.Nd2 Be5 (36...e3? 37.Nc4 and everything is under control and White wins, eg 37...Bd4 38.Bh2! ) 37.Nxe4 h2 38.Bxh2 Bxh2 39.Nxc5 and White can at least torture Black for a while in this drawn position ) 36...Bd4! Oh dear 37.Bxd4 cxd4 It's clear that White is now going to struggle to draw 38.Kd2 Kd7 39.Ke2 Ke6 ( It's completely inhuman stuff, but for the record 39...Kd6!! is Black's only winning move here, White is overstretched, eg if 40.Kf2 ( or 40.b3 Ke5 41.Kf2 Kf4 42.Nf1 e3+ 43.Ke2 Kg4 and White is hopelessly Zugzwanged ) 40...b3!! 41.cxb3 Kc5 ) 40.Kf2!! Anthony plays superbly from here, walking a tightrope including several 'only moves' (including this one) to hold the draw. In the first instance he must at least threaten to eliminate the h-pawn to avoid the overstretching theme 40...Kd5 41.b3 Ke5 42.Kg3 d3 43.cxd3 exd3 44.Nf3+ Ke4 45.Kf2 This construction holds up (just). Each White piece holds one pawn 45...h2 46.Nxh2 Kd4 47.Nf3+ Kc3 48.Ke3 Kxb3 49.Kxd3 Kxa4 50.Nd4 White's problems aren't over 50...Ka3 51.Kc2 Ka2 52.Kc1 a4 53.Ne2 Ka1
54.Nc3!! A rather beautiful move I think ( There is a second path to a draw 54.Nd4! b3 55.Nc2+! Ka2 56.Nb4+ Ka3 57.Nd3 Ka2 58.Nb4+ ) 54...a3 ( or 54...bxc3 55.Kc2 a3 56.Kc1 a2 57.Kc2 and an amusing stalemate. If Nigel Short gets his way and the stalemater wins, I suppose this is a win for a bare king against king and two pawns ) 55.Nb1 Ka2 56.Nd2 b3 57.Nxb3 Kxb3 58.Kb1 a2+ 59.Ka1 Ka3 1/2-1/2
Hilwani, Talal - Duneas, John
2020 FIDE Online Olympiad
1.Nf3 e6 2.c4 f5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 c6 5.O-O d5 6.d3 Bd6 7.Nc3 O-O 8.e4 fxe4 9.dxe4 Nxe4 10.Nxe4 dxe4 11.Ng5 Bc5 12.Qh5 h6 13.Nxe4 Bd4 14.Bf4 e5
Moves are clickable
15.Bxh6!? gxh6 16.Qg6+ Kh8 17.Qxh6+ Kg8 18.Qg6+ Kh8 19.Ng5 Qe7 20.Be4 Qg7 21.Qh5+ Kg8 22.Bh7+ Kh8 23.Rae1 Nd7 24.Bf5+ Kg8 25.Be6+ Rf7 26.Bxf7+ 1-0
Qin, Nicole Shu Yu - Mahmoud, Roula
2020 FIDE Online Olympiad
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 O-O 6.Be3 c6 7.f3 a6 8.a4 a5 9.Qd2 Na6 10.Bd1 Nb4 11.Nge2 Qc7 12.O-O e5 13.d5 Ne8 14.Na2 Nxa2 15.Rxa2 f5 16.exf5 gxf5 17.Bc2 Kh8 18.Kh1 Rg8 19.Rg1 Nf6 20.Nc3 Bd7 21.Raa1 Rac8 22.Rac1 Rce8 23.Rcd1 c5 24.Rde1 Qd8 25.Re2 Nh5 26.Bf2 Bf6 27.Qe1 Bg5 28.g3 Qf6 29.Be3 f4 30.Ne4 Qh6 31.Nxg5 Rxg5 32.g4 fxe3 33.Rxe3 Nf4 34.Rg3 Qh4 35.b3 Reg8 36.Bd1 Nh5 37.Rg1 Qxe1 38.Rexe1 Nf4 39.Rg3 R5g6 40.Bc2 Rh6 41.Rd1 Rh3 42.Rxh3 Nxh3 43.Kg2 Nf4+ 44.Kf2 e4 45.Bxe4 Re8 46.Re1 Kg7 47.Rd1 Kf6 48.Rd2 Kg5 49.Kg3 Ng6 50.h3 h5 51.Rf2 hxg4 52.hxg4
Moves are clickable
52...Bxg4?? 53.Bxg6 Bxf3?? 54.Bxe8 Bd1 55.Rb2 Kf6 56.Bd7 Ke5 57.Bg4 Bxg4 58.Kxg4 Kd4 59.Rf2 Kc3 60.Rf3+ Kb4 61.Kf5 b5 62.axb5 a4 63.bxa4 Kxc4 64.b6 Kxd5 65.b7 Kc4 66.b8=Q d5 67.Qb5+ Kd4 68.Qd3# 1-0
Yazji, Mada - Chang, Yolanda
2020 FIDE Online Olympiad
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Be3 Nxd4 6.Bxd4 Bxd4 7.Qxd4 Nf6 8.Bc4 d6 9.O-O O-O 10.Nc3 Re8 11.Rad1 Bg4 12.f3 Bh5 13.Ne2 Qe7 14.Nf4 a6 15.a4 Rad8 16.Nd5 Nxd5 17.Qxd5 Qe6 18.Qd3 Qe5 19.Qb3 Qc5+ 20.Kh1 Qa7 21.Rd5 Bg6 22.Rg5 Kf8 23.h4 h6
Moves are clickable
24.Rxg6?! fxg6 25.Bg8 Re7 26.Bh7 Ke8 27.Bxg6+ Kd7?? 28.Bf5+ Kc6 29.Qd5+ Kb6 30.a5# 1-0
Gong, Daniel Hanwen - Koniahli, Malek
2020 FIDE Online Olympiad
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 d5 3.e3 e6 4.Nf3 Bd6 5.Bg3 c5 6.c3 Qc7 7.Ne5 Nc6 8.f4 Ne4 9.Nd2 Nxd2 10.Qxd2 f6 11.Nd3 b6 12.Be2 O-O 13.O-O Bd7 14.Bf3 Rae8 15.Kh1 Kh8 16.Rae1 c4 17.Nf2 f5 18.Bh4 Be7 19.Bxe7 Nxe7 20.Rg1 Rg8 21.Nh3 Ref8 22.Qf2 Be8 23.Ng5 Rf6 24.g4 Rgf8 25.Rg3 fxg4 26.Bxg4
Moves are clickable
26...e5? 27.Ne6 (27.dxe5! is even better, since if 27...Qxe5?? 28.Qc2! wins ) 27...Rxe6 28.Bxe6 exf4 29.exf4 Rxf4 30.Qg2 Bg6 31.Bxd5 Qd6 32.Bxc4 Qf6 33.Qa8+ 1-0
Zidan, Sara - Thurner, Anya
2020 FIDE Online Olympiad
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 h6 6.b4 Bb6 7.b5 Na5 8.Nxe5 I've never seen this before, but apparently it's okay for Black 8...O-O 9.O-O ( Smirin (2610) - Malakhov (2661), Israel ISR 2019, 1/2-1/2 in 17 moves 9.Bxf7+ Rxf7 10.Nxf7 Kxf7 11.O-O d6 12.Be3 Bxe3 13.fxe3 Kg8 14.c4 a6 15.Nc3 axb5 16.Nxb5 Nc6 17.h3 An exciting unbalanced position and a premature draw ) 9...d6 10.Nxf7 ( not 10.Nf3 Nxc4 11.dxc4 Nxe4 ) 10...Rxf7 11.Bxf7+ Kxf7 12.Be3 Bd7 13.Bxb6 axb6 14.c4 c6 15.bxc6 bxc6 16.f4 Kg8 17.Nc3 Bg4 18.Qe1 Qe8 19.e5 dxe5 20.fxe5 Nd7 21.Qe4 Qe6 22.Rae1 Re8 23.Qf4 Nc5
Moves are clickable
24.Qd2 This is the turning point, Black's pieces start co-operating well now (24.Re3! holds the balance, the rook might get active on g3 ) 24...Bf5! effectively undermining c4 25.Ne4 Bxe4 26.dxe4 Nxc4 27.Qb4 Nd7 (27...Nd3! but this theme returns soon ) 28.Rf4 Ncxe5 Threatening a mega fork 29.Ref1? Not addressing the threat (29.Qd2 Nc5 and the horses are monstrous ) 29...Nd3 30.Qd4 Nxf4 Black is just a piece up and doesn't muck around turning it to account. A well played game by Anya 31.Rxf4 c5 32.Qb2 Qe5 33.Qb3+ Qe6 34.Qa4 Nf6 35.Kf2 Nxe4+ 36.Kf3 Ng5+ 37.Kf2 Qe3+ 38.Kf1 Qe1# 0-1