Ukraine clinches team title

CHENNAI, OCT. 20. Teenaged Ruslan Ponomariov steered Ukraine to a 2.5-1.5 final round victory over favourite Russia and enabled his nation to wrest the title in the 5th World team chess championship that concluded at the Armenian capital of Yerevan on Saturday.

In the 9-player round robin tournament played on the Olympiad format of four boards and two reserves, Ukraine pipped overnight leader Russia to win its first major team title with 21.5 points from a maximum possible 32 games.

Russia finished second with 21 points and host Armenia was third with 20 points. Of the two Asian teams, Uzbekistan finished in the middle while Iran took the last place.

The last round was action packed with Ponomariov inflicting decisive defeat on the Russians by shocking Alexei Dreev. Hungary, led by Peter Leko's win on the top board over Rafael Vaganian kept the Armenians out of the top two spots. Hungary shocked Armenia 2.5-1.5.

Ukraine gathered its points from Germany 2-2, Cuba 3-1, Uzbekistan 3.5-0.5, Hungary 2.5-1.5, Iran 3.5-0.5, Macedonia 2-2, Armenia 2.5-1.5, Russia 2.5-1.5.

With only a few changes to their Istanbul Olympiad team, the Russians led by P. Svidler, Dreev, Grischuk and Sakaev scored 3-1 against Hungary, 3.5-0.5 against Iran, lost 1-3 to Armenia, beat Germany 3.5-0.5, beat Cuba 3-1, drew Uzbekistan 2-2 before losing 1.5-2.5 to Ukraine.

The Ukrainian team comprised of Vassily Ivanchuk, R. Ponomariov, V. Baklan, V. Eingorn, O. Romanishin and V. Malakhatko, all Grandmasters.

Ponomariov, the 18-year-old star played the pivotal role on the second board for his teams triumph scoring victories in the two big games against Russia and Armenia. His 5.5/7 gave the tonic for his team's excellent showing as Ivanchuk held the top board with a solid unbeaten performance.

Silver medal winner Russia had a bumpy tournament with big victories and two defeats including a crucial final round defeat which cost it the title. Without its major stars, G. Kasparov, V. Kramnik, A. Karpov and others, the Russian vulnerability was seen towards the nervous final rounds when it scored just 3.5/8.

The moves: GM Alexei Dreev (Russia)-GM Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine), round nine, queen's gambit accepted, D27: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.0-0 a6 7.Bb3 b5 8.a4 b4 9.Nbd2 Bb7 10.e4 Be7 11.e5 Nfd7 12.Nc4 0-0 13.Bc2 Nc6 14.dxc5 Nxc5 15.Nd6 b3 16.Bb1 Qc7 17.Be3 Nxe5 18.Nxb7 Nxf3+ 19.Qxf3 Qxb7 20.Qxb7 Nxb7 21.Be4 Rab8 22.Ba7 Nc5 23.Bc6 Rb4 24.Rfd1 Rc8 25.Bxc5 Bxc5 26.Rac1 Bd4 27.Bb5 Rb8 28.Rc4 Rxc4 29.Bxc4 Bxb2 30.Bxb3 a5 31.Bc4 g6 32.g3 Rc8 33.Bb5 Rc2 34.Bd3 Rc5 35.Kg2 Kg7 36.Bb5 Ba3 37.Rd2 Bb4 38.Re2 e5 39.Re4 h5 40.Rc4 Rd5 41.Rc7 e4 42.Rc4 Re5 43.Bc6 f5 44.Rc2 g5 45.Rc4 Kf6 46.Rc2 Re7 47.Bb5 f4 48.Rc6+ Ke5 49.gxf4+ gxf4 50.Rg6 Kf5 51.Rg8 Rc7 52.Rc8 f3+ 53.Kf1 Rg7 54.Rc4 Ke5 55.Bc6 Rg4 56.Bb5 Rg2 57.h3 Kd5 58.Rc8 Bc5 59.Rd8+ Ke5 60.Re8+ Kf4 61.Rc8 Bxf2 0-1.

- Our Chess Correspondent

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