Chess Life 2005. (nem teljes évfolyam) [antikvár]

U.S. Women Take the Olympic Silver! Bv Yuri Vasiliev, Editoi; Sport-Express IRussia) and Richard Krueger Since the first VVorlcl Chess Olympiads in 1924, no US Women's National Chess Team lias ever captured a medal. The 2004 US Women's Team made history al tile se"" Olympiad in Cah'ia, Mal'lorca, Spain by winning the Silver Medal! The Silyer Medalist US Women's Olympiad Team consisted of seven members: players GM Susan Polgar, IM Irina Krush, WGM Anna Zatonskih, WIM Jennifer Siiahade, team captain/manager FM Paul Truong, head coaoh IM Michael Khodarkovsta' and theoretician GM Alexander Chernin. The Last Round Drama It is a known fact for players, coaches and journalists that everything, or almost eyerything will be decided in the last round and this past Olympiad was no exception. Although a "Chinese Express"-an outstanding women's team h-om Cllina, practically secured first place, the battle for Silver and Bronze was decided in three matches: USA-Vietnam, France-Russia, and Georgia-Ukraine. Prior to the last round, American and Russian teams had an equal score, while Georgians were i)ehind just half a point. The only aclyantage tlie American team had was a belter Bucciwiz. But Bucciwiz only counts if teams lie with tlie total score at the end. Meanwhile medal contenders should focus on defeating their opponents in the last round with as high a score as possible. Apparently, the ca|)tain of the French Team offered a draw on Boai-d 1 to the Russian Team before the match, according to GM coach Yui-i Yakovich. This maneuver was declined because Russia anticipated that USA Team might win its match against Vietnam with the score ZVz-Vi and then they would have to beat France with a perfect 3-0 score to clinch second place. And that ambitious team from Georgia promised tlieir fans at home they'd win a medal, and would pull all strings lo beat Ukraine. At the start of the round, coaches from Russia and USA appeared at the press-center, occu|lying computers, where they were alile lo monitor all games at once. Russian team leader, Alexandra Kosteniuk, joined the group of Russian coaches. According to Yakovich, captain and head coach of the Russian team, Alexandra was tired and lie decided to give her a break in the last round. It sounded quite odd, especially given that both rivals, USA and Geo'rgia, played their lop lliree boards witliout substitutions for a number of last rounds. The American coaches declined to make any commenls until the end of the last round, even though it was clearly seen that they became tense after Russia won on "Boards 2 and 3, while all three boards of the USA-Vietnam and Georgia-Ukraine matches, respectively were still fighting. Beating the Russians The climax came 15 minutes later, when Susan Polgar won on Board 1, and Irina Krush, on Board 2, was able to equalize her position with Black and forced a perpetual check, and finally Anna ZatoLiskih started to capitalize on lier positional advantage. USA defeated Vietnam with the score ZVz-Vz. Now everyone focused on the remaining games. It seemed as though Match Georgia-Ukraine The team and their coaches. From left to right: Paul Truong. Anna Zatonskih, Rusa Goletiani. Garry Kasparov. Susan Polgar, Jennifer Shahade, Michael Khodarkovsky, Irina Krush. Belov^: Alexander Chernin Photos by Richord Krueger I tie on should have been a tie. It Board 1 between Mala Chiburdanidze and Natalia Zhukoya. Nana Dzagnidze defeated Gaponenko on Board 2, while young Ukrainian prodigy Katerina Lahno was winning on Board 3. All of a sudden, haying significant material advantage, she hung a rook and lost the game! Thus unexpectedly, Georgia won its match also with the score Z'A-Vi. They weren't able to catch the American team, but, so far, they caught the Russians. At this ]3oint, Almira Skripchenko of France was outplaying Tatiana Kosintseva and it became clear that for the first time in the history of the US Women's Team, they would finish second, ahead of famous chess powerhouses like Russia and Georgia. This could be seen in the smiles, hugs and joy of all members of the Team. "I can't believe we did it. I just can't believe, " Irina Krush repeated again and again. sf/ir'.s.s.o, ry 2005-Chess Life 9