Chess - The Scotsman 17/09/12

By JOHN HENDERSON
Published on 17/09/2012 03:43

Led by Levon Aronian, Armenia has been dubbed “The Little Country That Could”, in Istanbul they won their third gold from four Olympiads to join a select club of the Soviet Union and Russia to have won the Hamilton-Russell Cup three or more times.

The Armenian team immediately flew home by presidential plane to the capital Yerevan, where, en route to be honoured at the presidential palace by the president of the Republic of Armenia, and chairman of the Armenian Chess Federation Serzh Sargsyan, thousands flocked to the streets to give them a heroes return.

But the reality of geopolitics could be set to disrupt their chances of winning in the future. In Istanbul, Fide announced that Azerbaijan had won the bidding process ($20 million) to stage the 2016 Olympiad in Baku. Armenia has an ongoing acrimonious border dispute with Azerbaijan that has escalated over the past few years, and they are threatening to boycott Baku.

Baku’s most famous son is former world champion Garry Kasparov, and in Istanbul, he unequivocally stated he could not go to an Olympiad there unless the dispute had been amicably resolved. Even the US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov are working closely to diffuse tensions between the two neighbouring republics on the sidelines of next week’s United Nations General Assembly.

A Giri - L Aronian

40th Istanbul Olympiad, (10)

Slav Defence

1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Qb3 e6 5 g3 Be7 6 Bg2 0–0 7 0–0 Nbd7 8 Bf4 a5 9 Rc1 h6 10 a4 Ne4 11 Nfd2 Nd6 12 Bxd6 Bxd6 13 e4 dxe4 14 Nxe4 Bb4 15 c5 Nf6 16 Qc4 Nxe4 17 Bxe4 Kh8 18 Bg2 e5 19 d5 f5 20 dxc6 e4 21 cxb7 Bxb7 22 c6 Ba6 23 Qb3 Rc8 24 Nc3 Rxc6 25 Nd5 Bc5 26 Bf1 f4 27 Nxf4 Bxf2+! 28 Kh1 Rb6 29 Qc2 e3 30 Bg2 Qe8 31 Qc5 Rff6 32 Rc2 g5 33 Nd5 e2 34 Qxa5 e1Q+ 35 Rxe1 Qxe1+ 36 Qxe1 Bxe1 37 Nxb6 Rxb6 38 Rc6 Rxc6 39 Bxc6 Kg7 40 Kg2 Kf6 41 Bf3 Ke5 42 h4 Bc8 43 hxg5 hxg5 44 Kf1 Bxg3 45 b4 Kd4 46 a5 Kc4 47 a6 Bb8 48 Bb7 0–1