Canada at the 2002 Bled Chess Olympics
Canada at the 2002 Bled Chess Olympics
by GM Kevin Spraggett
Round 3 (coming)
Round 5 (coming)
Pre-first round report.
Bled is a picturesque little town in the Slovenian mountains. The 11 thousand residents of Bled can boast of drinkable tap water (coming down from the mountains) and unpolluted air, something that the rest of us who come from more 'the big city' can only dream of.
In the middle of the city is Lake Bled. In the middle of the lake is a small island with a convent on it. The romanticism of the image is postcard worthy.
Bled has historically been associated with world class chess events. Coming to mind is Alexander Alekhine's magnificent victory in the international tournament of 1931. Next I recall the 1959 Candidates Tournament, which featured a young American teenager later to become world champion. And then who can not remember Fischer's magnificent performance in the international tournament of 1961?
The Bled organizers have done a magnificent job putting together this Olympiad! The 142 men's teams and 100 women's teams play together in the same venue (the local sports arena), which, though crowded at times, provides all of the participants and spectators with the opportunities of witnessing most of the world's top superstars playing together.
The Canadian Team was already installed in the Golf Hotel when I arrived late Friday evening. A quick meal and then a team meeting with the players and team captain Sid Belzberg followed. Everything was decided for the first round, which was to start at 2pm the next day.
This year's National Team ranks as one of Canada's best. The combination of youth and experience of its player's is something that has not been seen on our team for many decades. I am the oldest participant (47), and the youngest player is only 14 years old!
The strategy of the CFC in recent years has been to emphasize the need for realism: Canada's chess organizers have been unable to provide both the playing opportunities and economic incentives to encourage the development of Canada's most talented players.
Faced with the prospect of seeing an Olympic team simply stagnate and grow older, the CFC has risked a youth strategy to be incorporated into our selection process. Today Canada's team is one of the many emerging prospects signaling a new era in post-1989 chess.
We are all very pleased that Sid Belzberg has been able to take time from his very busy work schedule to captain the National Team. His presence will inspire the players to achieve a record-breaking performance this time around.
Marc Ghannoum is acting co-captain, and will play an essential role in our preparation and team strategy.
Don Wilson is our head of delegation, and will be able to lend his expertise to any technical problems and obstacles that our team encounters.
I congratulate Belzberg Technologies for having been able to make possible assembling such a group of talented and dedicated individuals. Canada should be proud......
Round One
Unfortunately the first round began some 15 minutes late. Technical problems and, to a certain degree, inexperience on the part of the local organizers, contributed to this delay.
Many of the players had difficulties finding the boards on which they had to play, since no clear indications were available to guide them. Usually at these big team events tall posts with the names of the countries and their flags are seen. Not here however, though we all hope that this will later be resolved. In Moscow 1994 it took 4 rounds for these things to be sorted out and set up.
With some obvious space problems in the playing hall, it is to be expected that noise levels will be high. And it was clear that some players had difficulty concentrating because of this.
On the positive side, every board is provided with water and soft drinks, and the organizers provide ready refills at request. Just outside the playing hall a large tent was set up, providing everyone with the possibility to eat a variety of sandwiches and local specialties.
Canada today was paired against the Ugandan National Chess team. Not unexpectedly, Canada easily overpowered their much lower rated adversaries, winning by the score of 3.5 to 0.5
The fight, however, was not so one-sided as at first appearance: Lesiege played a complex game and too one or two risks. Bluvshtein played a safe and rational game, not wanting to take any risks. Teplitsky and Hebert gave instructive lessons to their respective opponents.
Charbonneau and I sat out.
It is very difficult to get internet access here in Bled. The local organizers have provided the Press delegates with the possibility of using a small number of computers set up at the playing site as well as in their hotels. However, it seems that the 1500 players have been ignored!
It is impossible to get internet access in the hotel rooms for technical reasons, and only one small makeshift cybercafe has been set up. How small? The room that I am presently in has 18 computers. Slow computers.
It may seem that I am being somewhat unfair to the organizers for the relative disinterest they have demonstrated for the players. However, if the Olympics are not organized for the players, then whom are they organized for? Surely tens of thousands of daily emails from enthusiastic chess players being sent to all corners of the world is not less significant than a few hundred emails from the accredited journalists at Bled...
Round 2
Slovenia A. Ranked 13th at the start of the Olympiad, with 'Big Al' (Alex Beliavsky) on board one, and a number of 'ordinary' 2550 GMs on most of the others.
For a while it looked as though we were looking at a possible 4-0 blow out, with Lesiege (as black) having the upper hand (and Big Al shaking his head in disgust with his position !); I had a positional advantage and was pressing board number two Mikhalchishin, Charbonneau clearly on top with an extra pawn against his GM, and Bluvshtein with a winning ending against his opponent.
My prediction before the start of the round was a 2.5 victory for Canada, as I felt that with the possible exception of board one, we were simply better players on boards 2 to 4.
Even so, a blow out was in the making. Unfortunately, all this changed in the final half-hour of play: Alex actually managed to lose (!), I could only draw against my tough adversary's defence. Charbonneau and Bluvshtein won.
So we were a little unlucky to have only won by the minimum score. Or perhaps it is more accurate to write that Slovenia was fortunate to have lost by the minimum.
During the games the players are drinking lots of soft drinks and eating sweets. This is a well thought out strategy!
Normally, for marathon type of sporting events (including 6
or 7 hour long chess games), it is best
to use a diet of slow burning complex carbohydrates...which necessarily excludes
soft drinks and sweets such as chocolates.
However, with the new time control (90 minutes for each player for the whole game plus 30 seconds extra per move), the average game is not more than 3 hours long. Therefore, in this case we have to make some adjustments and this has meant that we now prefer to spike our short-term sugar levels in the hope of being able to do a number of short sprints after the first hour.
Of course, this is a subject that is not so clear cut, and our strategy is experimental. However, so far we have been successful.
Round 4
Today Canada unexpectedly found itself in difficulties against the lower rated team from Singapore. In fact, at one point it looked as though we might lose the match by the score of 3 to 1.
Hebert, with the black pieces, lost a pawn by the 8th move! In a popular opening his opponent made a seemingly harmless move, and after an unfortunate reply by Jean, the Singapore unrated player was in a winning ending a pawn up! The whole game was over in little more than one hour.
Some unrated player!!
Pascal had no better luck. Playing white against the Caro-Kann, Pascal quickly found himself on the defensive against the Singapore grandmaster on board one. A desperate counterattack failed to confuse things, and the entire game was over in about 2 hours.
That left Bluvshtein and Teplitsky to save the match. Marc had little difficulty with his opponent. Yan, however, had to struggle from an inferior position, and it was only after a horrible mistake by his grandmaster opponent that Canada was able to draw the match 2 to 2.
It was a disappointing result, considering that Canada was a much better team. However, one must never lose sight of the fact that Canada's objective is still realizable. Many other strong teams have the same number of points as us.
Marc Bluvshtein has 2.5 points out of 3 games so far. He is playing very well, and has so far more than justified his inclusion on our team.
Yan Teplitsky is playing solidly, and well, despite his unfortunate loss yesterday. Pascal has 50% out of 3 games so far, and I think that he will quickly be with a plus score. His play is dynamic, and every one of is games has been exceptionally tense and complex.
Alex Lesiege has been having a tough time on first board, but has generally given a positive impression. His loss against Beliavsky was really unlucky, and he had a relatively straightforward draw against Akopian at one point. So, the real potential of Alex is quite high.
However, for the team to really get humming it will be necessary for us all to not spoil our opportunities. The new time control is rather difficult on us (as I am sure it is for everyone), and if we can solve this technical problem in the next few days we should be where we want to be by the first rest day (after 8 rounds).
As for the organizers here in Bled, it appears that most of the initial problems have been solved. The pairings are now meeting the schedule foreseen before the event, and the bulletins are up to date.
I have not yet had time to see the official Olympic web site, but I would assume that it too is quickly approaching a very efficient level.
Round 6
CANADA vs. GREECE 1.5 to 2.5
The 35th ranked Greek team is an impressive team with four solid grandmasters and two international masters. The average age of their team is less than 30 years. And each of the GMs is about equal strength. This makes the Greek team a tough competitor against anyone.
Our team this round was Alex, myself, Pascal and Jean. The Quebec connection.
Alex's pre-game preparation was a little superficial and he found himself in a difficult position with no counterplay. After one or two second best moves by white Alex was able to block the position (except for the open h file) and hold the draw. Not a very impressive game for Alex, but an important half point for the team.
I had white against Halkias (2528), and was eager to win my first game. However, my young opponent did everything to prevent that from happening. He sacrificed a pawn to get the initiative, and then when I managed to trade queens to achieve an ending a pawn up, he then proved his high level of play by playing perfectly and keeping his pawn disadvantage from becoming significant.
Pascal was a little worse from the opening but managed to get sufficient play later in the middle game. At one point his opponent overlooked Pascal's N-e4 move, and for a while he was shaking his head, believing that he was going to lose an exchange.
However, he regained his composure and found an incredible tactic that not only saved his position but simplified into a queen ending a clear pawn up. It is not clear whether Pascal missed anything later on, but he lost in the end. A tough and exciting struggle!
Jean's game was a difficult to understand struggle. At first Jean seemed to have lost his d-pawn, but then developed a very strong initiative. When his opponent defended poorly Jean then got a clear advantage, which many felt was sufficient to win. However, being in extremely poor form, Jean could only draw.
That sealed our fate. An unfortunate result for the team.
Round 7
CANADA VS ECUADOR 1.5 to 2.5
A very weak performance.
Canada disappointed most of its fans today. Ecuador, ranked number 68 at the start of the Olympiad, was not able to send all of its best players to Bled because of financial problems within the Ecuadorian Chess Federation. In fact, only four Ecuadorian players showed up, most of them relatively inexperienced youngsters.
It's top board, Carlos Matamorros, a personal friend of mine, accepted to participate because he lives all year round in Spain and therefore it was less expensive for him to go to Bled than those back in his home country.
The team Captain, Sid Belzberg, decided to sit both Alex Lesiege and Pascal Charbonneau. Both had already played 5 games (in the first 6 rounds), with Pascal playing 5 games in a row! Our team was Spraggett, Teplitsky, Bluvshtein and Hebert. A very good team against Ecuador.
Our team, though ranked 44th, is a much stronger team, and should have had very little trouble defeating its opponent. However, such was not the case: our team literally shot itself in the foot!
My own game was a complex Winawer variation of the French defence. At one point I thought I was simply winning, which unfortunately turned out not to be the case! A wild position soon turned out to be a drawn queen and bishop of opposite colour ending. This is the first time in 3 games against Matamorros' French defence that he has avoided losing….
Teplitsky outclassed his opponent very easily. Yan is playing very impressively in this Olympiad, despite being handicapped with so many blacks. It very much seems that he will be part of the four players who will necessarily play the decisive final rounds of the Olympiad.
Bluvshtein did an excellent pre-game preparation (2.5 hours). We looked at virtually every possible variation of the French defence, with the object of being fully ready. Unfortunately, Marc's opponent played a line that we did not consider!
Despite this, however, Marc played an excellent opening and achieved a slightly better position after about 10 moves. Possibly because of fatigue, he then started to play with out any real plan and quickly got outplayed. His opponent then blundered, allowing Marc a possible chance to win, (which he said he saw), but he decided not to play the move! He later could not explain why he failed to play what he believed to be the winning move….in the end Marc fell apart to a few nice tactics against his king.
The real disappointment of the round was Jean Hebert's game against his opponent. Jean needlessly sacrificed an exchange in the early middlegame and soon was just much worse in the ending. When his opponent could not find a clear way to improve his position and returned the exchange to achieve an unclear rook and pawn ending (unclear as to who really stands better) Jean then did one of the most outrageous blunders to be seen in this Olympiad.
That sealed our fate.
Round 8
CANADA vs. ALBANIA 3 to 1
These Swiss pairings are difficult to understand:
we lose to Ecuador and then play the higher rated Albanians!
The Albanians are in fact better players than their ratings would indicate. The last few years have seen much political instability in Albania and surrounding countries, and hence the level of chess practice that their top players have seen has not been sufficiently high. Their ratings today do not reflect their true strength.
Alex could not break down the tough defence of his opponent's Queen gambit declined. He tried to probe the black position and out maneuver him, but each time he ended up empty handed. A draw was a logical result.
I met an equally well prepared opponent, who even knew the opening a bit better than I did! A very complex struggle was evolving when my opponent forced a three fold repetition, which I could only refuse at the price of conceding him a clear advantage. Who was better in the final position? Anybody's guess is acceptable…
Pascal sacrificed a pawn in an isolated pawn position. It did not seem particularly favourable for him, but in the middlegame Pascal took full advantage of his opportunities and scored an important victory.
Marc seemed to play a little too risky in the opening, and was soon under tremendous
pressure. In fact, it very much seemed to his teammates that he was going to
get mated at one point!
However, never one to be underestimated or even discouraged by his opponent's initiative, Marc survived the initial onslaught and scored a crushing victory with his counterattack.
The result was a pleasant 3 to 1 victory over the Albanian Team.
Round 9
CANADA vs. MALAYSIA 4 to 0
It is nice to score a fast 4 to 0 right after a rest day! The
Malaysian players, though about 200 points under rated (just look at their performance
up to now), were no match for the Canadian players…who took no chances
and made it clear from the very beginning that they were gunning for at least
a 3 to 1 score.
Alex got a better game after his opponent played a little too imaginatively in the opening. I had a small positional edge that lasted until my opponent dropped his queen to a knight fork. Pascal took the initiative in the early middle game and won a nice tactical game. And Yan won a pawn early and that was just the beginning of his opponent's troubles.
That puts Canada at plus 7, and makes up for some of our earlier sins.
The important thing now is for our team to avoid the blunders that plagued us in the first half of the event. Alex, Pascal, Yan, Marc and myself are all playing well. It rests to see what team we play tomorrow and whom the co-captain Marc Ghannoum decides to play.
At this stage of the event anything is still possible.
Sid Belzberg had to head back to the real world on Saturday. While he was here in Bled he inspired all of us, and we were all impressed with his leadership skills and acumen. He is following our results each round and keeping in touch with the team, however.
Marc Ghannoum is doing an excellent job taking on all of the responsibilities of co-captain and coach (especially for the women's team). His day usually starts at 7:30 am and does not finish until about 11pm.
Besides these duties, it also befell Marc to resuscitate a chessplayer who had a seizure during play several rounds ago. It took about 10 minutes to do so, and when the fellow came to Marc tried to explain to him that he had better go to the hospital immediately.
The fellow refused, however, believing that the worse was over and that the team came before all else!
Some things are more important than life and death!