In the last post on the Olympiad, I expressed a bit of nervousness on behalf of the U.S. team when it came to a possible match-up with the prodigies on what is ostensibly India’s #2 squad, but closed with this: “For now, the U.S. must worry about another prodigy-laden team, as they will face Uzbekistan in round 4.” Rightly so, as they were fortunate to scrape out a draw. Levon Aronian drew comfortably with Nodirbek Yakubboev while Wesley So demolished Javokhir Sindarov. That left boards 1 and 4: Fabiano Caruana vs. Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Sam Shankland with Black against Jakhongir Vakhidov.
Things went very strangely on those two boards, and it was as if there was some sort of conservation law governing the games. Despite having the white pieces and being arguably the best-prepared player in the world, he almost immediately goofed up in the opening and wound up clearly worse. Shankland, meanwhile, played the opening well and achieved equality, albeit of a strategically dangerous sort. (Activity at the cost of structure.) As play went on, Caruana gradually managed to equalize, while Shankland’s activity dried up and he found himself in a lost double rook ending. Early in the second time control, it now seemed as if Shankland was guaranteed to lose, while Caruana would eke out a draw.
But now things got weird. I had the feeling, possibly mistaken, that Caruana started taking extra risks, trying to win the game so that even when Shankland lost, the U.S. might still win the match. It might also be that he was tired and miscalculated. Whatever the explanation, Caruana’s position deteriorated, his initiative dried up, and he soon found himself in a rook ending two pawns in arrears, and lost. Fortunately for the U.S., Vakhidov, who had been playing a great game and was on the way to a well-deserved victory, suddenly decided that neither player’s a- or b-pawns mattered very much, and after a few careless moves and an outright error, Shankland was able to save the game and draw the match. Phew!
Several other matches involving 3-0 teams were drawn: India 1 vs. France, Poland vs. Romania, Turkey vs. Azerbaijan, and Canada vs. Iran all finished 2-2. The winners: Spain (2.5-1.5 over India 3), Israel (2.5-1.5 over the Netherlands), England (3.5-0.5 over Serbia), India 2 (of course, defeating Italy 3-1), and Armenia (3-1 over Austria).
As usual, I’ve annotated the U.S. games, plus the two India 2 victories and Magnus Carlsen’s impressive win as well—have a look.