Chess - The Scotsman 06/09/12

IT HAS been a decade since they last won gold at an Olympiad, but after seven rounds in Istanbul top seeds Russia moved a step closer to once again lifting the Hamilton-Russell Cup, as it took the lead in the competition by beating former Soviet republic, Azerbaijan.

Alexander Grischuk – who lost in the previous round draw to co-leaders Armenia – made amends with his lone win in the match over Eltaj Safarli, as the Russians beat the Azeris 2.5-1.5. On top board, former world champion Vladimir Kramnik ended Temiour Radjabov’s blistering pace of having a perfect score of 5/5 in the competition, by easily holding him to a draw.

Russia moved into clear first by virtue of China’s upset win over Armenia, the 2006 and 2008 winners, with Wang Yue triumphing over Sergei Movsesian in the only decisive game of the match (see tomorrow’s column). The No1 and No2 seeds, Russia and defending champions Ukraine now clash in round 8 in a match-up that could well determine gold for the winner.

In round 7, Scotland scored a third win of contest, beating Nicaragua 3-1, with John Shaw, Alan Tate and Graham Morrison all winning, and top board Keti Arakhamia-Grant losing. In the women’s section, Scotland lost, 1-3 to Guatemala.

Open leaderboard: 1. Russia, 13/14 match points; 2-3. Ukraine and China, 12; 4-12. Azerbaijan, Armenia, Uzbekistan, FYROM, USA, Germany, Hungary, England and Philippines, 11; ... 80. Scotland, 7.

M Madrigal - A Tate

40th Istanbul Olympiad, (7.51)

Sicilian Defence

1 e4 c5 2 Nc3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nd4 4 Bc4 e6 5 Nge2 Nf6 6 0–0 a6 7 d3 b5 8 Bb3 Nc6 9 Bg5 Be7 10 Qe1 h6 11 Bh4 g5 12 Bg3 Qb6 13 f3 Bb7 14 a4 0–0–0 15 axb5 axb5 16 Kh1 h5 17 Bf2 g4 18 Bh4 gxf3 19 Rxf3 Ng4 20 Nf4 Bxh4 21 Qxh4 Nd4 22 Rff1 Rdg8 23 Rae1 d6 24 h3 Ne5 25 Nce2 Nxb3 26 cxb3 Kd7 27 b4 Qd8 28 Qf2 c4 29 d4 Ng4 30 hxg4 hxg4+ 31 Kg1 Bxe4 32 Nh5 f5 33 Nef4 g3! 34 Nxg3 Qh4 35 Nh3 Rxg3 36 Rxe4 Qxh3 0–1