2016 Baku Rd1: Bulgaria held to draw by Sudan

It all started with a spectacular Opening Ceremony (see footage at 2:00)

The teams are all immensely strong needless to say though the lineups are not without a few surprises and omissions. At the very top of the Open section is the Russian team, which comes as no surprise. Their average rating of 2768 is comprised of Sergey Karjakin on first board, followed by Vladimir Kramnik, Evgeny Tomashevksky, Ian Nepomniachtchi, and finally Alexander Grischuk. Considering just how deep the talent runs in Russia, one could bring up names such as Svidler, Andreikin, and more, but it is just the nature of such a situation. In spite of their favoritism on paper, the Russians have not taken gold since 2002, the last time Kasparov himself played, a reminder of just how tough the competition is.

Russia, with Sergey Karjakin on board one, had no issues with Nigeria (photo by Eteri Kublashvili)

In second, with only three Elo separating them, is the US team with an average rating of 2765 FIDE, and it should be noted that the top three boards outrate any other three, with Top Ten names Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, and Wesley So, followed by Ray Robson and Sam Shankland to bolster the last board.

Sam Shankland (USA) - Joan Fernandez Lopez (Andorra)

White wins a piece here. Can you see how? Hint: be wary of the 'obvious'

In third is China, with a stellar lineup of their own, including Ding Liren, Li Chao, Wang Yue, Yu Yangyi, and of course the Chinese talent Wei Yi. It should be noted that not one of their players is over 30, though the US team can make a similar claim, and if it comes down to youth, Iran’s mostly teenage team probably has the strongest claim.

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With such a massive tournament, one could easily go on and on, justifiably so, but of note also are the missing members. The most noteworthy is the absence of the entire team of Armenia, which for geopolitical reasons has refused to send a team, a true loss for chess as they won gold no fewer than three out of the last five Olympiads.

Israel is both there and not, and is unlikely to vie for any medals this time, despite having taken silver in 2008 and bronze in 2010 ahead of much higher rated rivals. For reasons that are related to issues between the government, the federation and the top players, none of the top players such as Gelfand or Sutovsky will be playing.

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Team Jamaica (photo by Eteri Kublashvili)

The Women’s section also has their outright favorites and here we already have the first surprise. The Chinese team is the clear top seed with an average 2560 rating, with Hou Yifan on first board, followed by Ju Wenjun, Zhao Xue, Tan Zhongyi and Gui Qi. They outrate their nearest rivals by 55 Elo, the second seed…. Ukraine! It has been such a consistent story of numbers for the last years: China and Russia fighting over the top honors that it was easy to not realize that a change had taken place, even if by a single Elo point, and this year Ukraine is the second seed with a 2505 average, led by Anna Muzychuk, Mariya Muzychuk, Natalia Zhukova, Anna Ushenina (all GMs) and Inna Gaponenko.

Hou Yifan missed out on the first round, but nor was she needed (photo by Rasim Huseynov)

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Aleksandra Goryachkina is playing on Russia's second board (photo by Eteri Kublashvili)

The opening day saw a number of fascinating results and mishaps, some at the board and some off. For the most part, aside from the occasional draws here or there, the favorites won by massive scores. In the Open section, the top ten matches saw the favorites drop only a single draw out of 40 games. Mind oyu, though favorites, there were chances of more upsets, such as Wesley So, who found himself facing a full grandmaster right off the bat, but he held his cool and won cleanly.

Round one highlights by GM Daniel King

Yusuf Ndoe proudly representing Team Tanzania! (photo by David Llada)

Match preparation taken to the next level. Notice the elaborate nail polish. (photo by David Llada)

Diana Real Pereyra from Mexico stares down her opponent (photo by David Llada)

There were some surprises though, at least for those watching the games. Spectators watching online were shocked to see England being wiped out by the IBCA, the team of blind players. No disrespect meant to the IBCA players, all of whom are full-fledged masters in their own right, but a surprise whitewash against England seemed incredible.

https://twitter.com/ginger_gm/status/771734922323169280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

A similar tale was told of Iran, who were facing a massacre by the team from Botswana, losing on all boards. Thankfully, it turned out to be merely a technical glitch that had inverted the names in the transmissions, and the corrected scores brought sighs of relief to many.

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Then there was the astonishing result by Bulgaria. Facing a quite modest team by Sudan, and enjoying a majestic Topalov on board one, they showed an incredible 2-2 result at the end. Was this yet another case of equipment malfunction? No, indeed. Was this perhaps a highly unfortunate result of catastrophic blunders by two of the Bulgarian players? This would seem the most likely explanation, but the truth was even more startling: the two Sudanese players had quite simply outplayed their much higher rated opponents as if their Elos had been inverted. See for yourself.

Open section (top pairings)

• All pairings of round 1...

Women's section

• All pairings of round 1...

Olympiad schedule

source: https://en.chessbase.com/post/2016-baku-rd1-bulgaria-held-to-draw-by-sudan