Round 10: Malaysia draw against Ecuador : 2-2

Malaysia draw against Ecuador in round 10 of the 2008 Dresden Olympiad last night. On paper the clash with Ecuador is expected to be  a balance fight  . Their strongest player is the 1st board – GM Matamoros Franco Carlos (2525) but in the other board – Malaysian player have a fair chance.

Interesting fact  about the Ecuador team is they are playing with 4 players only – with no reserve in this tournament, so they must be pretty tired because they don't have any rest time during the rounds.

Last night game saw IM Mashafizul  defend brilliantly with the black pieces in a difficult endgame  against GM Matamoros to collect half point from the team. FM Lim Yee Weng easily punish his opponent - IM Pazos (2327) after he blundered in the 13th move which Yee Weng punish immedietly. The game last only 23 move. In 3rd board, FM Mok Tze Meng like Mas, defend brilliantly to end with a draw in a slightly difficult endgame.

However the unexpected  results happen in the 4t board where IM Jimmy Liew lost to Macias (2333) quite easily. Jimmy overlooked a tactic in 16th move which cost him  material that is hard to recover. His opponent grin him down in 43 move. 

All my computer ( above) had to work harder during Olympiad !

Board 1

Matamoros Franco Carlos S (2525) - Mashafizul (2438) [A00]
Dresden Olympiad dark (10), 23.11.2008

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.0–0 0–0 6.b3 a5 7.Nc3 d4

This pawn push look to early. I'm afraid the d4 pawn will be the subject of white attack later. 8.Nb5 Nc6 9.e3 e5 10.d3 Bg4 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Qxf3 a4 13.bxa4 Rxa4 14.exd4 exd4 15.Bf4 Ne8 16.a3 Ra6 17.Rae1 Bd6 18.Re2 Ra5 19.Rb1 h6 20.Kh2 Qd7 21.Qg4 Qxg4 22.hxg4 Bxf4 23.gxf4 Ra8 24.Bxc6 bxc6 25.Nxd4 Rxa3 26.Nxc6 Nf6 27.Ne5 Re8 28.Rbe1 Rd8 29.Re3 Rd4 30.Kg3 g6 31.f3 Nd7 32.Nxd7 Rxd7 33.Rd1 Kf8 34.Rd2 Rc3 35.Re5 Rxc4 36.dxc4 Rxd2 37.Rc5 Rd7 38.Rc6 Ke7 39.f5 gxf5 40.gxf5 h5 41.Kh4 Rd4 42.Kxh5 Kd7 43.Rf6 Ke7 44.Rc6 ½–½

Board 2

FM Lim Yee Weng (2396) vs Pazos Gambarrotti Plinio(2327)
Dresden Olympiad (9), 22.11.2008

1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.Nf3 e6 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 b6 7.Nc3 Nxc3 8.bxc3 Qc7 9.Bd2 Bb7 10.Bd3 d6 11.0–0 Nd7 12.Ng5 dxe5 13.Qh5 So far so theory 13...Nf6??

A blunder in the opening. Probably Pazoz opening knowledge in this particular line end here and he blunder immedietly. 13...g6 is the correct move 14.Qh3 Be7 15.Rae1 Bd5 14.Bb5+ Kd8 14...Bc6? 15. Bxc6+ Qxc6 16.Qxf7+ and black is clearly lost 15.Qxf7 Bc8 16.dxe5 Qxe5 17.Bc6 Rb8 18.Qxa7 threatening 19.Nxf7+ forking the king, queen and the rook ! 18...Rb7 19.Bxb7 Qc7 20.Be3 Nd5 21.Qa8 White is still winning but 21.Nxe6+ ! is stronger 21...Bxe6 22.Qa8+ Ke7 23.Bxd5 21...Qxb7 22.Qxb7 Bxb7 23.Nf7+ 1-0

Board 3

Aucay Pelaez Mauro(2335) vs FM Mok Tze Meng(2308)Dresden Olympiad (9), 22.11.2008

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 a6 6.Nd6+ Bxd6 7.Qxd6 Qf6 8.Qxf6 Nxf6 9.Nc3 Nb4 10.Kd2 d6 10...d5 is the normal line 11.a3 Nc6 12.Bd3 Be6 13.f3 0–0–0 14.Re1 d5 15.exd5 Nxd5 16.Nxd5 Rxd5 17.Ke3 g5 18.Kf2 f6 19.Be3 Rd7 20.Rad1 Kc7 21.Be2 Rhd8 22.Rxd7+ Rxd7 23.Bd3 Nd4 24.g3 h6 25.f4 Nc6 26.h4 gxf4 27.Bxf4 exf4 28.Rxe6 fxg3+ 29.Kxg3 Ne5 30.Rxf6 Nxd3 31.cxd3 Rxd3+ 32.Kg4

Black position look dangerous. White have the advantange because black h pawn will be captured and he will push his own h pawn to promote. However i predict that black can save the position by capturing white a and b pawn using his rook and then sacrifiece his rook for white passed h pawn. After that, black will push his connected passed pawn ( and b) with the help of his own king where white in turn have to sacrifiece his rook to stop it. 32... Rb3 33.Rxh6 Rxb2 34.Rf6 Rg2+ 35.Kh3 Re2 36.Rf3 b5 37.h5 a5 38.Kg4 Rg2+ 39.Kh3 Rg1 40.Kh4 Rh1+ 41.Kg5 Rg1+ 42.Kf6 Rh1 43.Kg6 Rg1+ 44.Kh7 Kc6 45.h6 b4 46.axb4 axb4

A draw - as expected. 1/2 -1/2

Board 4

IM Jimmy Liew - Macias Murillo Byran (2333) [A00]
Dresden Olympiad (10), 23.11.2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 b6 4.Nc3 Bb7 5.Bg5 Be7 6.Qc2 c5 7.e4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 d6 9.Be2 a6 10.0–0 Nbd7 11.Rfd1 0–0 12.f3 Qc7 13.Rac1 Rfe8 14.Kh1 Rac8 15.Bf1 Qb8 16.Qf2? A blunder, probably Jimmy missed black strong reply - 16...Ng4!

17.Qh4 Bxg5 18.Qxg5 Nf2+ Now black will gain material advantage. 19.Kg1 Nxd1 20.Rxd1 Qc7 21.Kh1 Ne5 22.f4 Nd7 23.f5 Qd8 24.Qg3 Ne5 25.Be2 Kh8 26.Rf1 Qe7 27.h4 Nxc4 28.Bg4 Qf6 29.Nf3 Ne3 30.Rf2 Nxg4 31.Qxg4 exf5 32.exf5 b5 33.Ng5 Re1+ 34.Kh2 h6 35.Nh3 d5 36.Nf4 d4 37.Ncd5 Bxd5 38.Nxd5 Qd6+ 39.Nf4 Rcc1 40.Rd2 Qe5 Jimmy could safely resign here 41.Rf2 d3 42.g3 Rh1+ 43.Kg2 Qe4+ 0-1

Overall results

Malaysia - Ecuador

2-2