Kevin Spraggett was the leading performer for Canada at the Chess Olympiad in Istanbul.
He scored seven wins, four draws and one loss against five Grandmasters and seven International Masters. His performance rating of 2682 was 22nd best among more than 700 contestants. He was awarded the silver medal for his performance on board 2.
Just as important as quantity is the timing of point scoring. By far the most important games come at the end of the tournament, and Mr. Spraggett notched wins in each of the last three rounds.
In the 12th round, he had Black against Olav Sepp of Estonia.
1.e2-e4 c7-c5 2.Ng1-f3 e7-e6 3.c2-c3 d7-d5 4.e4xd5 e6xd5 5.d2-d4 Ng8-f6 6.Bf1-b5+ Bc8-d7 7.Bb5xd7+ Nb8xd7 8.O-O Bf8-e7
Black could avoid the isolated d5-pawn with 8 ... c5-c4, but after 9.b2-b3, he would have far greater problems. Although the game started as a Sicilian Defence, it is very much in the spirit of the French Defence, Tarrasch Variation.
9.d4xc5 Nd7xc5 10.Nb1-d2 O-O 11.Nd2-b3 Nc5-e4
In general, the player with the isolated pawn controls more space and therefore likes to avoid trades of Knights or Bishops.
12.Qd1-d3 Rf8-e8 13.Bc1-f4 a7-a6 14.Nf3-d4 Qd8-d7 15.Ra1-d1 Be7-f8 16.h2-h3 g7-g6
According to Aron Nimzowitsch, White's Knight on d4 is strong because it blockades the isolated pawn, but Black cleverly removes from its sphere of influence any interesting squares.
17.Rf1-e1 Nf6-h5!
A Knight on h5 meshes well with a pawn on g6, and it often does even better when the Bishop is not on g7. Black seeks to wrest control of the dark squares, e.g., 18.Bf4-h2 Bf8-h6.
18.Bf4-e3 Qd7-c7 19.Nd4-e2 Ra8-d8 20.g2-g4
White frees his pieces from defence of the dark squares, but incurs weaknesses on the kingside.
20 ... Nh5-f6 21.Kg1-g2 h7-h5 22.f2-f3 h5xg4 23.h3xg4 Ne4-d6 24.Be3-g5 Bf8-g7 25.Ne2-f4?
Diagram: White breaks the co-ordination between his pieces in an attempt to put pressure on the d5-pawn. The position is about even if he puts a Knight on d4, or plays 25.Bg5xf6 Bg7xf6 26.Ne2-f4 (not 26.Qd3xd5 Nd6-c4) Nd6-e4 27.Nf4-e2! Ne4-d6!, which could result in an immediate draw. Retribution is swift.
25 ... Nd6-c4! 26.Bg5xf6 Qc7xf4!
White has allowed the one thing he must avoid: invasion along the dark squares. Ironically, Black achieves that by taking the Knight rather than the dark-square Bishop.
27.Bf6xd8 Nc4-e3+ 28.Re1xe3 Re8xe3 29.Qd3-f1 Bg7-e5 30.Qf1-f2 Qf4-h2+ 31.Kg2-f1 Qh2-h1+
White resigned. After 32.Qf2-g1 Qh1-h3+ 33.Qg1-g2 Re3xf3+, White loses his Queen.
Canada's other players: Alexandre Lesiége (Board 1) won 4, tied 8, lost 2, playing every one of the 14 rounds; Igor Zugic (Board 3) won 3, tied 4, lost 2; Pascal Charbonneau (Board 4) won 2, tied 5, lost 2; David Cummings (Board 5) won 2, tied 2, lost 2; Jack Yoos (Board 6) won 3, tied 0, lost 3. Total score 31.5 out of 56 for a 29th place finish.
In the concurrent Women's Chess Olympiad, Canada scored 20 out of 42 to finish 59th. Our players: Johanne Charest (Board 1) won 3, tied 2, lost 5; Daniela Belc (Board 2) won 5, tied 2, lost 4; Marina Bryskine (Board 3) won 1, tied 5, lost 4; Stefanie Chu (Board 4) won 6, tied 1, lost 4.