Chinese women take the lead
Chinese women take the lead in the fifth round when they defeated Russia with a crucial 2.5-1.5 victory.
Tan Zhongyi left no chance to Kateryna Lagno on board one. Zhongyi sacrificed a pawn which paved the way for a strong attack.
Zhongyi Tan v Kateryna Lagno
Lei Tingjie outplayed and eventually mated Valentina Gunina.
Alexandra Kosteniuk struggled against Huang Qian and was forced to accept a generous draw offer by her opponent, thus sealing the fate of the match.
Alexandra Goryachkina after a long game managed to limit the damage by defeating Ding Yixin. This victory lifts her score to an impressive 5 out of 5 in this event.
Ukraine was held to a draw by the young Kazakh team and now occupies the third place.
Egypt lost 4-0 to India.
Open section
Bassem Amin got his groove back when he defeated one of Sweden’s top player Nil Grandelius.
Bassem Amin v Nils Grandelius
Adly Ahmed also played well to obtain a draw in a record breaking 144 move game against Erik Blomqvist!
Adly Ahmed v Erik Blomqvist
Egypt, however lost on boards three and four which enabled Sweden to win the match with a score of 2.5 – 1.5.
Sergey Karjakin defeated on board 1
There was more high drama in the Open section. Rinat Jumabayev of Kazakhstan defeated Sergey Karjakin on board 1. The grandmaster from Shymkent steadily amounted pressure until his opponent, famously nicknamed the Russian Minister of Defence, uncharacteristically made the decisive mistake.
Rinat Jumbayev v Sergey Karjakin
Russia luckily won on the remaining three boards to win the match 3-1 to keep the lead in the Open section.
England and India played a tense match which ended in a 2-2 draw. The United States of America missed an excellent opportunity to take second spot them when they lost 3-1 to Azerbaijan.
Rest day
All teams are looking forward to a well-deserved break on Sunday. Participants will be driven around to visit the capital of Kazakhstan. The tournament will resume on Monday, March 11th at 3 pm in the Astana International Financial Centre.
Links
Day 1 report – World Team Chess Championship.
Day 2 report – World Team Chess Championship.
Day 3 report – World Team Chess Championship.
Day 4 report – World Team Chess Championship.
World Team Championship Website.
Start of World Team Championship Championship.
