Chennai, round two

Lubomir Ftacnik is not a unfamiliar name to old timers like me who were already playing chess in the 1970s and 1980s. He is a grandmaster, having represented Czechoslovakia in the past and when this country split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, he switched his allegiance to the latter nation. As a chess player, he had played in every Chess Olympiad since 1980 except for 1998. This year, he again turns out for the Slovak team in the Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India. In the second round yesterday, Slovakia was paired with our Malaysia team. Playing on the fourth board, he faced Penang's 13-year-old Poh Yu Tian. I don't know how much Ftacnik knew about Yu Tian but if he had been following the website of the World Chess Federation recently, he wouldn't have missed a small write-up on our wunderkind. 

So there we had it....a 65-year-old grandmaster, author of several chess books, against a 13-year-old player with a 364-rating point difference between them. When I was following this game online last night, i was thinking, wow, Yu Tian has an extra pawn. Can he win and level the team score? At that point, Malaysia had already lost one game when Lim Zhuo Ren, playing on the first board, had blundered away a level position and subsequently resigned. Tan Jun Ying's game on the second board was already drawn when he held off his opponent comfortably. Wong Yinn Long's game was still in progress but there wasn't much headway open to either player and thus the game was going to be probably drawn too. But Yu Tian's game gripped me. An extra pawn and a more active king in a rook ending. Could he win? And yes, he did, in an almost clinical finish. And that win brought Malaysia a draw with the more favoured Slovakia team. Was this an upset result? Probably a minor upset, since the match was drawn. But Malaysia could have won if Zhuo Ren hadn't miscalculated.

As for the women's team, it was a heartbreak to lose 0-4 against the Spain ladies. I had anticipated a close fight by our players but it was not to be. The Spanish women applied so much pressure in their games until our players simply gave way. Even Siti Zulaikha Foudzi had a tough time on the first board. I hope they won't be disheartened because Spain is a good team.

Meanwhile, here is a video by IM Levy Rozman that I'd like to share. He talked of many games from the Chennai Chess Olympiad but the one of interest starts at 26:33 minutes into the video. Take a look:

Bo.	80	Malaysia (MAS)	Rtg	-	34	Slovakia (SVK)	Rtg	2 : 2
34.1	FM	Lim, Zhuo Ren	2318	-	GM	Pechac, Jergus	2594	0 - 1
34.2	FM	Wong, Yinn Long	2381	-	IM	Gazik, Viktor	2544	½ - ½
34.3	CM	Tan, Jun Ying	2191	-	IM	Druska, Juraj	2519	½ - ½
34.4		Poh, Yu Tian	2118	-	GM	Ftacnik, Lubomir	2483	1 - 0

Bo.	13	Spain (ESP)	Rtg	-	52	Malaysia (MAS)	Rtg	4 : 0
13.1	IM	Vega Gutierrez, Sabrina	2366	-	WIM	Foudzi, Siti Zulaikha	2188	1 - 0
13.2	IM	Garcia Martin, Marta	2305	-	WIM	Azhar, Puteri Munajjah Az-Zahraa	2018	1 - 0
13.3	WGM	Calzetta Ruiz, Monica	2230	-	WFM	Azhar, Puteri Rifqah Fahada	1940	1 - 0
13.4	FM	Eizaguerri Floris, Maria	2176	-	WFM	Chong, Kai Ni Agnes	1909	1 - 0

[Event "44th Olympiad 2022"]

[Site "Chennai IND"]

[Date "2022.07.30"]

[Round "2.34"]

[Board "1"]

[White "Lim, Zhuo Ren"]

[Black "Pechac, Jergus"]

[Result "0-1"]

[WhiteTitle "FM"]

[BlackTitle "GM"]

[WhiteElo "2318"]

[BlackElo "2594"]

[ECO "D38"]

[Opening "QGD"]

[Variation "Ragozin variation"]

[WhiteTeam "Malaysia"]

[BlackTeam "Slovakia"]

[WhiteFideId "5702488"]

[BlackFideId "14926970"]

[EventDate "2022.07.29"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qa4+ Nc6 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd2 dxc4 8.

Bxc4 Bd6 9. Qc2 e5 10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. Nxe5 Bxe5 12. f4 Bxc3 13. Bxc3 g6 14. Rd1

Qe7 15. Bxf6 Qxf6 16. O-O Bg4 17. Rde1 Rad8 18. h3 Bd7 19. e4 Qd4+ 20. Kh2 Bc6

21. Re2 Kg7 22. Rf3 Rfe8 23. Rd3 Qf6 24. Rxd8 Rxd8 25. g3 Rd4 26. Bd5 Bxd5 27.

exd5 Qd6 28. Qc3 Qxd5 29. Qxc7 h5 30. Qc3 Kh7 31. Qb3?? (Up to this point, the 

game was equal level despite Stockfish giving Black a very slight edge. White could 

have played 31. Qc7) 31...Qxb3 32. axb3 Rd3 33. h4 Rxb3 34. Kh3 Kg7 35. Rf2 Kf6 

36. Re2 a5 0-1

[Event "44th Olympiad 2022"]

[Site "Chennai IND"]

[Date "2022.07.30"]

[Round "2.34"]

[Board "2"]

[White "Gazik, Viktor"]

[Black "Wong, Yinn Long"]

[Result "1/2-1/2"]

[WhiteTitle "IM"]

[BlackTitle "FM"]

[WhiteElo "2544"]

[BlackElo "2381"]

[ECO "B30"]

[Opening "Sicilian"]

[Variation "Nimzovich-Rossolimo attack (without ...d6)"]

[WhiteTeam "Slovakia"]

[BlackTeam "Malaysia"]

[WhiteFideId "14928752"]

[BlackFideId "5707684"]

[EventDate "2022.07.29"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. O-O Bd7 5. Re1 Nf6 6. h3 e6 7. a4 Be7 8. b3 a6

9. Bf1 O-O 10. Bb2 d5 11. e5 Ne8 12. d4 g6 13. c4 dxc4 14. dxc5 Bxc5 15. Nc3 Na5

16. Ne4 Be7 17. bxc4 Bc6 18. Nfd2 b6 19. Qg4 Qc7 20. Nf6+ Nxf6 21. exf6 Bb4 22.

Ne4 Bxe4 23. Rxe4 Rfd8 24. Qh4 Nb7 25. c5 Bxc5 26. Rc1 Qd6 27. Bc4 Re8 28. Rce1

Qf8 29. Rxe6 Nd6 30. R6e2 Nxc4 31. Qxc4 a5 32. Qb5 Rxe2 33. Rxe2 Rd8 34. g3 Qd6

35. Kh2 Qf8 36. Kg2 Qd6 37. Re8+ Rxe8 38. Qxe8+ Qf8 39. Qc6 Qd8 40. g4 h6 41.

Bc3 Kh7 42. Qe4 Bb4 43. Bd4 Bc5 44. Bxc5 bxc5 45. Qe7 Qd5+ 46. Kg1 Qd1+ 47. Kh2

Qd5 48. Kg1 Qd1+ 49. Kh2 Qd5 50. Kg1 1/2-1/2

[Event "44th Olympiad 2022"]

[Site "Chennai IND"]

[Date "2022.07.30"]

[Round "2.34"]

[Board "3"]

[White "Tan, Jun Ying"]

[Black "Druska, Juraj"]

[Result "1/2-1/2"]

[WhiteTitle "CM"]

[BlackTitle "IM"]

[WhiteElo "2191"]

[BlackElo "2519"]

[ECO "A58"]

[Opening "Benko gambit accepted"]

[WhiteTeam "Malaysia"]

[BlackTeam "Slovakia"]

[WhiteFideId "5710413"]

[BlackFideId "14915650"]

[EventDate "2022.07.29"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Nf3 O-O 8. g3

Qa5 9. Bd2 Nxa6 10. Bg2 d6 11. O-O Qb6 12. Qc1 Nb4 13. Bh6 Nbxd5 14. Nxd5 Nxd5

15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Ne5 dxe5 17. Bxd5 Ra4 18. Qc3 Rd4 19. Bf3 Qd6 20. Rfc1 Ba6 21.

e3 Rc4 22. Qe1 Rb4 23. b3 c4 24. bxc4 Rc8 25. a4 Rbxc4 26. Rxc4 Rxc4 27. Be2 Rc6

28. Bxa6 Rxa6 29. a5 Qc5 30. e4 Qd4 31. Kg2 Qc5 32. Kg1 Qd4 33. Kg2 Qc5 34. Kg1 1/2-1/2

[Event "44th Olympiad 2022"]

[Site "Chennai IND"]

[Date "2022.07.30"]

[Round "2.34"]

[Board "4"]

[White "Ftacnik, Lubomir"]

[Black "Poh, Yu Tian"]

[Result "0-1"]

[WhiteTitle "GM"]

[WhiteElo "2483"]

[BlackElo "2118"]

[ECO "D85"]

[Opening "Gruenfeld"]

[Variation "modern exchange variation"]

[WhiteTeam "Slovakia"]

[BlackTeam "Malaysia"]

[WhiteFideId "14900017"]

[BlackFideId "5734088"]

[EventDate "2022.07.29"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 c5 8. h3

Nc6 9. Be3 cxd4 10. cxd4 f5 11. exf5 Qa5+ 12. Bd2 Qxf5 13. Rc1 Be6 14. Rc5 Bd5

15. Bc4 Qe6+ 16. Qe2 Qxe2+ 17. Kxe2 Bxf3+ 18. gxf3 Nxd4+ 19. Ke3 Rd8 20. Rd5

Nf5+ 21. Ke2 Rxd5 22. Bxd5 b6 23. Rc1 Kd7 24. Bc6+ Ke6 25. Be3 Bd4 26. Ba4 Rd8

27. Rc7 a5 28. Rb7 Kf6 29. f4 Rd6 30. Bb3 h5 31. Rb8 e6 32. Rb7 Bc5 33. Ba4 Bxe3

34. fxe3 e5 35. Bb3 exf4 36. exf4 Nd4+ 37. Ke3 Nxb3 38. axb3 g5 39. fxg5+ Kxg5

40. Kf2 Kh4 41. Kg2 Kg5 42. Kf2 Kf4 43. Rb8 Ke4 44. Ke2 Kd4 45. Kd2 Rg6 46. Rd8+

Kc5 47. Rh8 Rg5 48. h4 Rf5 49. Rh6 b5 50. Kc3 Rf3+ 51. Kc2 Kb4 52. Rxh5 Rc3+ 53.

Kd2 Rxb3 54. Rg5 Rh3 55. h5 a4 56. Kc2 Rh2+ 57. Kb1 a3 0-1

[Event "Olympiad Women 2022"]

[Site "Chennai IND"]

[Date "2022.07.30"]

[Round "2.13"]

[Board "1"]

[White "Vega Gutierrez, Sabrina"]

[Black "Foudzi, Siti Zulaikha"]

[Result "1-0"]

[WhiteTitle "IM"]

[BlackTitle "WIM"]

[WhiteElo "2366"]

[BlackElo "2188"]

[ECO "C41"]

[Opening "Philidor"]

[Variation "Improved Hanham variation"]

[WhiteTeam "Spain"]

[BlackTeam "Malaysia"]

[WhiteFideId "2219026"]

[BlackFideId "5700965"]

[EventDate "2022.07.29"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 4. Nf3 e5 5. Bc4 Be7 6. a4 a5 7. O-O h6 8. Re1 c6

9. Ba2 Qc7 10. Nh4 g6 11. h3 Nf8 12. Qd3 Nh5 13. Nf3 g5 14. Qc4 Rh7 15. Nd5 Qd8

16. Nxe7 Qxe7 17. dxe5 dxe5 18. Qc3 f6 19. Nh2 Nf4 20. Be3 Be6 21. Nf1 Bxa2 22.

Rxa2 Qe6 23. Ra3 N8g6 24. Qb3 Qxb3 25. Rxb3 Nh4 26. Bxf4 gxf4 27. g3 Ng6 28. Nd2

Rd7 29. Nc4 Rd4 30. Nb6 Rad8 31. c3 Rd3 32. Kg2 fxg3 33. fxg3 Rd2+ 34. Kf3 Rh2

35. Nc4 Rd7 36. Re2 Rxh3 37. Kg2 Rh5 38. Rxb7 Rd1 39. Rd2 Rxd2+ 40. Nxd2 Rg5 41.

Nc4 Nf4+ 42. Kf3 Nd3 43. b4 axb4 44. cxb4 Ne1+ 45. Ke2 Nc2 46. a5 Nd4+ 47. Kf2

Nb5 48. a6 Rh5 49. Kg2 1-0

[Event "Olympiad Women 2022"]

[Site "Chennai IND"]

[Date "2022.07.30"]

[Round "2.13"]

[Board "2"]

[White "Azhar, Puteri Munajjah Az-Zahraa"]

[Black "Garcia Martin, Marta"]

[Result "0-1"]

[WhiteTitle "WIM"]

[BlackTitle "IM"]

[WhiteElo "2018"]

[BlackElo "2305"]

[ECO "B30"]

[Opening "Sicilian defence"]

[WhiteTeam "Malaysia"]

[BlackTeam "Spain"]

[WhiteFideId "5709040"]

[BlackFideId "32084030"]

[EventDate "2022.07.29"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Bc4 Be7 5. d3 Nf6 6. Nd5 d6 7. h3 O-O 8. c3

Nxd5 9. Bxd5 Bf6 10. Be3 Be6 11. Bxe6 fxe6 12. h4 Qd7 13. Ng5 b5 14. Qg4 Rfe8

15. Rh3 b4 16. c4 b3 17. a3 Bxg5 18. hxg5 g6 19. Ke2 Rad8 20. Rah1 Re7 21. Rc1

Rf7 22. g3 a5 23. Rh2 a4 24. Rhh1 Rdf8 25. Rh2 Rd8 26. Rhh1 Qe8 27. Rh6 Rfd7 28.

Rhh1 Rf7 29. Rhf1 Qe7 30. f4 Rdf8 31. Qh3 Qd7 32. Qg4 Qe7 33. Qh3 Qe8 34. Qg4

Kh8 35. Rf2 Qe7 36. Rff1 Kg8 37. Qh3 Qd7 38. Qg4 Rd8 39. Qh3 Rdf8 40. Qg4 Qe7

41. Rf2 Re8 42. Qh3 Qf8 43. Qg4 exf4 44. gxf4 Qg7 45. Kf1 Nd4 46. Qg3 Nc2 47.

Rb1 Ref8 48. Kg1 Nxe3 49. Qxe3 e5 50. Rbf1 exf4 51. Rxf4 Rxf4 52. Rxf4 Rxf4 53.

Qxf4 Qxb2 54. Qg4 Qe5 55. Qc8+ Kf7 56. Qb7+ Qe7 57. Qb5 Qxg5+ 58. Kf2 b2 0-1

[Event "Olympiad Women 2022"]

[Site "Chennai IND"]

[Date "2022.07.30"]

[Round "2.13"]

[Board "3"]

[White "Calzetta Ruiz, Monica"]

[Black "Azhar, Puteri Rifqah Fahada"]

[Result "1-0"]

[WhiteTitle "WGM"]

[BlackTitle "WFM"]

[WhiteElo "2230"]

[BlackElo "1940"]

[ECO "C64"]

[Opening "Ruy Lopez"]

[Variation "classical (Cordel) defence"]

[WhiteTeam "Spain"]

[BlackTeam "Malaysia"]

[WhiteFideId "2204185"]

[BlackFideId "5702879"]

[EventDate "2022.07.29"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 4. O-O Nge7 5. c3 a6 6. Ba4 b5 7. Bb3 Ng6 8. d4

exd4 9. cxd4 Be7 10. Nc3 Na5 11. Bc2 Bb7 12. Ne2 O-O 13. Ng3 d5 14. e5 c5 15. h4

Re8 16. h5 Nf8 17. Nf5 Ne6 18. Nxe7+ Qxe7 19. dxc5 Qxc5 20. Qd3 Nf8 21. b4 Qxb4

22. Bd2 Qg4 23. Bxa5 d4 24. Rfe1 Rac8 25. Rac1 Qxh5 26. Qf5 Qxf5 27. Bxf5 Rxc1

28. Rxc1 g6 29. Bd3 Bxf3 30. gxf3 Rxe5 31. Rc8 Kg7 32. Ra8 Nd7 33. Rd8 Nc5 34.

Rxd4 Ne6 35. Rd6 Rc5 36. Rxa6 Rc1+ 37. Kh2 Nc5 38. Bxb5 Nxa6 39. Bxa6 Rc2 40. a4

Rxf2+ 41. Kg3 Ra2 42. Bb5 g5 43. Bb6 h5 44. a5 f5 45. a6 h4+ 46. Kh3 Kh6 47. a7

Kh5 48. Be8+ Kh6 49. Bc5 Kg7 50. Bc6 1-0

[Event "Olympiad Women 2022"]

[Site "Chennai IND"]

[Date "2022.07.30"]

[Round "2.13"]

[Board "4"]

[White "Chong, Kai Ni Agnes"]

[Black "Eizaguerri Floris, Maria"]

[Result "0-1"]

[WhiteTitle "WFM"]

[BlackTitle "FM"]

[WhiteElo "1909"]

[BlackElo "2176"]

[ECO "D10"]

[Opening "QGD Slav defence"]

[Variation "exchange variation"]

[WhiteTeam "Malaysia"]

[BlackTeam "Spain"]

[WhiteFideId "5722071"]

[BlackFideId "32065752"]

[EventDate "2022.07.29"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bf4 Nc6 6. e3 Bf5 7. Qb3 Na5 8.

Qa4+ Bd7 9. Qc2 Rc8 10. Bd3 e6 11. Nf3 Bb4 12. O-O h6 13. h3 O-O 14. Ne5 a6 15.

Rac1 Bxc3 16. bxc3 Qe7 17. Qe2 b5 18. Bb1 Nc4 19. Qd3 Na3 20. f3 Nxb1 21. Qxb1

a5 22. Nd3 Ne8 23. e4 dxe4 24. fxe4 Nd6 25. Nc5 Nc4 26. Qd3 e5 27. Bg3 Bc6 28.

Qe2 Rfe8 29. Rce1 Rcd8 30. Qf2 f6 31. Bh4 Rf8 32. a4 Kh8 33. d5 Bd7 34. axb5

Bxb5 35. Ne6 Nd6 36. Qf3 Bxf1 37. Rxf1 Rc8 38. Nxf8 Rxf8 39. Ra1 Ra8 40. Qd3 Qc7

41. Ra4 Qb6+ 42. Bf2 Qb3 43. Ra1 Rc8 44. Be1 Qb6+ 45. Kh2 Rc4 46. Bd2 Rxe4 47.

Rb1 Qa7 48. Bc1 Re1 49. Be3 Rxe3 50. Rb8+ Qxb8 51. Qxe3 Qc7 52. Qd3 e4 53. Qa6

Nf5+ 54. Kg1 Qc5+ 55. Kh1 Qxc3 56. d6 Qe1+ 57. Kh2 Qg3+ 58. Kh1 Nxd6 59. Qxa5 e3

60. Qd8+ Kh7 61. Qe7 Nf5 62. Qe4 Qf2 63. g4 e2 0-1