9th place
In the 11th, last round of the Chess Olympiad, which ended in Budapest, the Slovenian chess players lost 0.5:3.5 against the winner of the tournament, India, and won the final ninth place with 16 points. The only draw of the team, which was third after the penultimate round, was scored by captain Matej Šebenik.
The USA national team is victorious Soy Wesley defeated the Chinese with 2.5:1.5 and won the silver with 17 points, while the bronze went to the Uzbeks with the same number of points. In front of Slovenia were China, Serbia and Armenia, all with 17 points, as well as Germany and Azerbaijan (16 each).
The Slovenian women, who won 38th place with 13 points, ended with a 2:2 draw with Australia. She won Vesna Miheličthe best Slovenian women tied Laura Grandson in Zala Urh, Lara Janželj but she lost. Behind the golden Indian women (19 points) were second Kazakh women (18) and third American women (17).
A record 196 open competition teams and 183 women’s teams took part in the Hungarian capital, and there were 262 grandmasters among around 1900 chess players. The Slovenians, seeded 26th, achieved their greatest success under the independent flag, and the honor floated down the water against the exceptional Indians.
“We have behind us a great tournament and an achievement in which all team members contributed in a balanced way. There was not a bad article, everyone contributed both to points and to a good atmosphere in the team, which is the only thing that brings good achievements. If I could single out something, it would definitely be Vladimir Fedosejev and his victory with black pieces against the world’s number one player Magnus Carlsen to celebrate over favored Norway, it was one of our highlights of the tournament,” he said Šebenik.
But he admitted that the Indians were too strong a competitor in the end. Twenty years old Jan Šubeljwho last year became the youngest ever grandmaster in Slovenia, finished the game first after 49 moves and signed a defeat. Arjun Erigaisthe twenty-one-year-old fourth-ranked chess player in the world, entered the fortress playoff with an advantage of two pawns and thus an indefensible position.
Vladimir Fedosejev, who has been playing for Slovenia since last year, then lost to the eighteen-year-old seventh player in the world after 48 moves on the first chessboard. Gukesh Dommaraju he had the advantage of two rooks with the black pieces and also came up with an undefended attack.
India led with 2:0, and the remaining Slovenians led the black pieces. The second naturalized Russian finished first after 54 moves Anton Demčenko. In a playoff of suit hunters and rooks, he ran out of pawns in the finish and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, the 19-year-old world number 12, registered India’s third victory.
Slovenian captain Matej Šebenik continued to compete with the twenty-nine-year-old Viditom Santosh Gujrathom. the two players in an equal position eventually concluded a draw after 59 moves.
Gujrath is the 24th player in the world rankings and has the lowest rating among the last Slovenian rivals, at 2720, still more than 200 points higher than Šebenik and also 28 points higher than Fedose’s (2692). The latter was 38th in the September Fide ranking, and none of the remaining Slovenians is among the top 100.
During the tournament, Slovenia was always in the circle of those who could intervene in the fight for medals, despite two defeats before the last round. After the third-seeded Chinese, they were narrowly beaten by the Filipinos in the fifth round, and then fell to 37th place.
On the other hand, the Slovenian team won eight victories and in the end took another decisive step towards breaking through to the very top. First, in the 9th round, she reached 13th place, when she beat Norway led by Carlsen. He led the white pieces, but was defeated by Fedoseev on the first board. “Together with Demchenko, they contributed a lot to the success of our team and are a great asset for the development of chess in our country.” Šebenik also assessed.
Then on Saturday, in the penultimate round, the Slovenians defeated the fifth-ranked Dutch by 2:5:1.5 and unexpectedly rose to third place, behind undefeated India and China. The latter had a point advantage, while there were eight teams with a point behind for Slovenia.
All the mentioned national teams were ranked much higher than the Slovenians. Among them, the highest individual in the world ranking is Fedosej, who also has the highest rating, followed by thirty-seven-year-old Demčenko (2597), followed by Šebenik (2515) and Šubelj (2498). Along with the four grandmasters, the Fide master also got the chance to perform from time to time Matic Lavrenčičwho has a rating of 2360, and has collected four points in six games.
Source: svet24.si
