The 42nd Chess Olympiad is now underway in Baku, Azerbaijan, and English grandmasters are making their best efforts to recapture the glory days of world team chess when England regularly finished in silver medal position to the mighty Soviets. After the early rounds Russia leads, with Kramnik as top board. The incumbent Chinese gold medallists are of course in contention, while the USA, already with Nakamura but strengthened by Caruana and So, is definitely among the favourites. Here are some choice positions from the opening rounds, where weaker teams face the giants.
Carlsen (Norway)-Hossain (Bangladesh)
Baku Olympiad 2016
(see diagram 1)
This arose from a Nimzo-Indian Defence where Black failed to make any headway against White’s weakened pawn structure while Carlsen built up an overwhelming attack on the kingside. 28 f5 Ne5 29 Nxe5 Rxe5 30 Bf4 Nd7 31 f6 Of course 31 Bxe5 will win easily but smashing open the kingside is a more thematic conclusion.
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