Live Chess World League: Kazakhstan Stuns Russia!
Team Kazakhstan, the Dark Horse of Division 1, has produced stunning result against Team Russia! Russians were just flying after their comprehensive 3-0 win against Ukraine on 4th round. Who would have imagined that Kazakhs will replicate the same result against Russia in less than a week! All 3 matches were extremely close and the Kazakhs came out victorious!
Free week or Busy week?
It was the first "Free week" of this season. As the pairings were published little later than usual, most of the teams played their 1st round matches on this Sunday. I'm little surprised not to see any match report yet! Perhaps admins are also having a busy time.
Matches at a Glance
Most of the Russian big guns went missing while Kazakhs managed their best squad in this season! Russia definitely got the quantity as 20+ players didn't get paired. On the other side, Kazakhstan touched their 2-year-old record of 83 boards which was another epic battle against Ukraine!
Maximum Boards In Live Team Matches Over The Years!
Some Interesting Games
All-out attack by FM Ramazan Zhalmakhanov!
A stitch in time saves nine! Find the mate in 2 or play 20 more moves 
Russian admin @Midav_Veahkar's horses were dancing around in this miniature
Player with Black pieces missed this beautiful mating sequence. Can you find it?
Pawn grabber detected 
And the Kazakhs punished every single pawn grabber!
IM Timur Balabaev had a short game with Old Indian Defense, Ukrainian Variation. Perhaps our Ukrainian friends recognized it very well.
Their presence was noticeable on Live Chess server and also on streaming platform during this match! It is always a good idea to take closer look while your neighbours are playing
What went wrong?
Strong Russian team against Ukraine (Rd.4) impressed everyone and I was even considering them as favourites to win the title! No idea, why they played on Saturday, instead of Sunday. Perhaps Russia made exactly the same mistake Ukraine did against them (Russia). Russians couldn’t figure out how much promotion work will be enough to secure win & they had to pay the heavy price for that. Too much unpredictable! As a result, Kazakhstan climbs up to 3rd spot and stays alive in the race of Championship Pool
Coming Next...
Kazakhstan will be taking on Perú who knocked them out of Div.1 recently!! Yes, withdrawal of Iceland opened the door for Kazakhstan. Now they are a spirited side & looking favourite. Russia will play against France who became the only 6th team to register 100+ players!
Remember, the 2nd Stage matches will carry double weight and Div.1 is still wide open! Anyone getting into Top 4 can eventually be the champions! Unlike the last season, we have no unbeaten team in Div.1. In fact, all teams have lost by 0-3 at least once already and that indicates the intensity of this contest.
Thanks for reading. Best wishes for the rest of this season!
