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I guess it isn't very nice to start a story about the Chess Olympiad with a "critical accent", but one can only describe what is currently happening in Turkey as UNACCEPTABLE. Many hours after the finish of the first round, the chess games are still not available in a downloadable .pgn file. This is truly incomprehensible when you realize that those games can actually be seen on-line at the official site... ¡but only one at a time! This basically means that they have all the pgn code for all the games, but somehow, they can't find a single person who can put those games together into one downloadable file!! Thousands of chess fans, journalists, magazine editors, webmasters, etc. from all over the world are still waiting. What is going on? Few surprises in the first round. Bolivia managed to snatch a point from Armenia thanks to a nice victory by GM Zambrano on board one. Here's the game with my notes: [pgn] [Event "Chess Olympiad"] [site "Istanbul"] [Date "2012.08.29"] [Round "1"] [White "(E) Zambrana, O."] [black "Movsesian, S."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B46"] [WhiteElo "2471"] [blackElo "2698"] [Annotator "I.M. Javier Gil"] [PlyCount "101"] [sourceDate "2012.08.29"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. f4 Bb4 8. Bd3 e5 9. Nxc6 dxc6 10. f5 {This move doesn't have a good reputation (at least not until this game!), but it's Zambrana's pet line and he's been playing it for a number of years. The critical line now is the capture on e4 with 10...Nxe4, but Movesesian chose a different idea.} h5 $6 {A "novelty", but it's unlikely to be repeated.} (10... Nxe4 11. Qg4 Nxc3 12. Qxb4 Nd5 13. Qe4 Bxf5 (13... Nxe3 {This seems like a simple alternative. Did Zambrana prepare some improvement here? who knows...}) 14. Qxe5+ Qe7 15. Qxe7+ Nxe7 16. Bxf5 Nxf5 17. Bb6 $1 { Despite being a P down, white's B is actually quite useful, and he's going to be able to use the central files.} h5 18. O-O Ne7 19. Rae1 Rh6 20. Rf5 Re6 21. Rxe6 fxe6 22. Rxh5 {And white was better in the game Zambrana,O (2458) - Kovalyov,A (2548), Benasque 2008. Eventually drawn in 51 moves.}) 11. Qf3 Ng4 12. Bd2 $1 {No black's position is beginning to look rather dubious, as he has some serious difficulties getting his pieces out, particularly that c8 B...} Bc5 13. h3 Nf2 14. Rf1 Nxd3+ 15. cxd3 Qh4+ 16. g3 Qe7 (16... Qxh3 $4 17. Rh1 $18 {And 17...Qg4 won't work because h5 is pinned.}) 17. O-O-O b5 18. Kb1 f6 19. Rc1 Bb7 20. Be3 Bd6 (20... Bxe3 21. Qxe3 c5 22. Ne2 Rc8 23. g4 $14) 21. g4 hxg4 22. Qxg4 O-O-O {Short castling was not a valid alternative, but black's Qside is rather weak also, particularly the b6 square.} (22... Bc7 {This looks safer.}) 23. Nd5 Qf7 24. Bb6 Rd7 25. Qg1 $1 Rxh3 (25... Kb8 26. Ba7+ Ka8 27. Nb6+ Kxa7 28. Nxd7+ Ka8 29. Nc5 Rxh3 30. Rfd1 $16) 26. Rxc6+ $5 {A flashy sacrifice, but probably not enough to gain the advantage...} Bxc6 27. Rc1 Qh5 $2 (27... Rxd3 {This was possible.} 28. Rxc6+ Kb7 29. Ba5 {Threatening Qb6.} Rd4 (29... Rd1+ $2 30. Qxd1 Kxc6 31. Qc1+ Kb7 32. Qg1 $1 {And white's Q finally makes it to b6.}) 30. Rb6+ Ka7 {And here, I don't think white has anything better than 31.Rc6, but black can repeat moves with ...Kb7.}) (27... Kb7 $2 28. Ba5 $1 $18 Bxd5 29. Qb6+ Ka8 30. Rc8+ Bb8 31. Rxb8#) 28. Rxc6+ Rc7 ( 28... Kb7 29. Rxd6 $3 Rh1 (29... Rxd6 30. Qxg7+ {With a quick mate.}) 30. Rxd7+ Kc8 31. Rc7+ Kd8 (31... Kb8 32. Ba7+ Ka8 33. Nb6#) 32. Rxg7+ Kc8 33. Rc7+ Kd8 34. Ra7+ Ke8 35. Nxf6+ Kf8 36. Bc5#) 29. Qc1 $2 (29. Bxc7 $1 {This move would have lead to a forced win.} Rh1 30. Bxd6+ Kd7 (30... Kb7 31. Rc7+ $18) (30... Kd8 31. Be7+ Ke8 32. Rc8+ Kd7 33. Rd8+ Kc6 34. Rd6+ Kb7 35. Rd7+ {And black's getting mated.}) 31. Qxh1 Qxh1+ 32. Rc1 Qf3 33. Bb4 Qxd3+ 34. Ka1 $18 Qxe4 35. Nb6+ Ke8 36. Rc8+ Kf7 37. Rf8#) 29... Rh1 30. Bg1 Rxg1 31. Rxc7+ Bxc7 32. Qxg1 Qe2 33. Qc1 Qxd3+ 34. Ka1 Qc4 35. Qxc4 bxc4 {Despite being a P down, the endgame seems to favour white thanks to his strong N, black's bad B and black's weak PP on the Kside. However, black's play left a lot to be desired, as we shall see...} 36. Kb1 Kd7 $4 {A blunder!} (36... Kb7 {This move was forced, to support ...Bb6.} 37. Kc2 (37. Ne3 $4 Kc6 38. Nxc4 Kc5 $1 {And I don't think white will be able to hold the ending, as black's K gains access to d4.}) 37... Bb6 $1 {And now if 38.Kc3 black has ...Bd4. Black shouldn't lose here.}) 37. Kc2 Ba5 38. Ne3 $1 {Now I think it's lost...} Ke7 39. Nxc4 Bc7 40. b4 Kf7 41. Kd3 g6 42. fxg6+ Kxg6 43. Ne3 Bb6 44. Nf5 Kg5 45. a4 Kf4 46. Ne7 Bd8 47. Nd5+ Kg5 (47... Kf3 48. a5 f5 49. exf5 e4+ 50. Kd4 Bg5 51. f6 e3 (51... Bxf6+ 52. Nxf6 e3 53. Ng4 e2 54. Ne5+ Kg2 55. Nd3 $18) 52. f7 Bh6 53. Nxe3 Bxe3+ 54. Kd5 Bh6 55. b5 axb5 56. a6 $18) 48. a5 $1 f5 49. b5 fxe4+ 50. Kxe4 axb5 51. a6 {And black resigned. A most interesting and one that makes you wonder if 2700 rated players are really as infallible as they tell us... } 1-0 [/pgn]