GM Gata Kamsky plays WGM Corke in round five of the Dresden Olympiad.
Photo FM Mike Klein
Photo FM Mike Klein
In round five of the Dresden Olympiad, the U.S. teams cruised to victory, with the men scoring a wipeout victory over Hong Kong and the U.S. women posting 3-1 against Norway. In round six, the men will face Cuba while the women play on board four against Romania--but the games will not begin until Wednesday. There is a free day tomorrow (Tuesday), so the famous Bermuda party will take place tonight. FM Mike Klein promises to photograph the festivities.
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Here's an endgame tidbit from GM Ian Rogers to tide you over till the next news from Dresden. Also check out Ian's longer CLO dispatch from Dresden, Hits and Misses in the Olympiad.
The following diagram comes from the first round game between IM Prasca Sosa of Venezuela and GM Robert Zelcic of Croatia. The endgame is known to be a draw, since whenever White captures the e-pawn with his king, Black can play …f3, when the two pawns on the sixth might even beat the rook. Unfortunately at 30 seconds per move, matters are not so simple.
The game continued
76.Ra6 Kg7 77.Rb6 Kf7 78.Kf3 Ke7 79.Ra6 Kf7 80.Ke4 Kg7 81.Rc6 Kh7 82.Kf5
Position after 82.Kf5
82...Kg7
Strange play – 82…f3 or 82...g2 forces White to keep checking to save his skin.
83.Kg4 Kf7 84.Ra6 Kg7 85.Kf3 Kf7 86.Ke4 Kg7
Position after 86..Kg7
And here Black could simply claim a draw by triple repetition. Instead, presuming that his opponent will soon agree to give up his winning tries, Zelcic is shocked to find that his opponent has (finally) discovered a study-like win.
87.Kf5! Kh7
87...Kf7 88.Rf6+ Kg7 89.Rg6+ Kh7 90.Rg4! would be similar.
88.Ra1!! Kh6
Position after 88...Kh6
89.Rg1! 1-0
White can now gobble up the Black pawns.
Watch the games live daily and check out GM Susan Polgar's photo series, including her latest, 110 from round 5. Also read the in-depth CLO articles by FM Mike Klein, Let the Games Begin in Dresden , USA Stumbles in Round Two and USA Almost Perfect in Round Three. In the next week, look out for more from FM Klein, as well as a dispatch from Jonathan Hilton, who just arrived at the Olympiad for the International Youth Camp.