(1269) ROUND 7 OF 2016 WORLD CHESS OLYMPIAD -- Hernandez Missed CM Title with a Loss to Congo's Top Scorer

Roberto Hernandez, left, is flanked by USA top chess player GM Fabiano Caruana, who drew with Indian GM Pentala Harikrishna in the 7th round of 2016 World Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan. Caruana's teammates Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So and Samuel Shankland sweep their opponents to stopped the Indian team and seized the leadership.               (Photo by Roberto Hernandez)
                 ROUND 7 OF 2016 
           WORLD CHESS OLYMPIAD --
      Hernandez Missed CM Title with a 
        Loss to Congo's Top Scorer

 WHEN IT'S NOT MEANT TO BE,  IT'S NOT MEANT TO BE.
This is what happened to Roberto Hernandez in his first attempt to get a CM title at least at Board 4 of Palau Chess Team to the 2016 World Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan.

After 5 rounds of play, he has 2.5 points and on his way to acquire CM title against Congo, where he is to play at Board 3 against an opponent who has yet to win.

But he and Team Captain CM Joselito Marcos forgot to submit the final line-up of players for that round and as a result, Hernandez will be playing Congo's top scorer Mimbasa, who has 3 points in 5 games.

Board 1, 2 and 3 have already won their games with Roberto still trying to win or salvage a losing position after recovering from his opponent's king hunt that resulted in him exchanging his queen for a rook and a bishop.

After Mimbasa positioned his queen to a place where Roberto can't get his rook into action, the game is already drawn as Mimbasa's queen alone can't force checkmate. All Roberto need to do is move his king to and fro for repetition of moves. A draw will still give Roberto a good chance to get at least a CM title but he blundered a bishop move in trying to free his rook in exchange of 3 pawns and the game.

THE MOVES: 

Hernandez, Roberto (1798) – Mimbasa, Kutesa Willy [A03]

World Chess Olympiad 2016-Congo-Palau (7.20), 09.09.2016

            1.f4 d5 2.¤f3 ¤f6 3.e3 c5 4.c4 ¥g4 5.¥e2 e6 6.0–0 ¤c6 7.¤c3 ¥e7 8.¤e5 ¤xe5 9.fxe5 ¥xe2 10.£xe2 ¤e4 11.¤xe4 dxe4 12.£g4 £d3 13.£xg7 0–0–0 14.¦xf7 ¦hf8 15.h3 ¦g8 16.£xh7 £e2 17.¦g7 ¦xg7 18.£xg7 £e1+ 19.¢h2 ¥h4 20.£g4 ¥f2 21.£xe6+ ¢b8 22.h4 £g1+ 23.¢h3 £h1+ 24.¢g4 £xh4+ 25.¢f5 ¦f8+ 26.¢g6 £g3+ 27.¢h7 £h4+ 28.¢g6 £h8 29.£d6+ ¢a8 30.£e7 ¥h4 31.£c7 £g8+ 32.£g7 £e6+ 33.¢h5 ¦g8 34.£xg8+ £xg8 35.¢xh4 £xg2 36.b3 £h2+ 37.¢g4 £xe5 38.¦b1 £g7+ 39.¢f4 £f6+ 40.¢g4 £f1 41.¦a1 £f3+ 42.¢g5 £d1 43.¢f5 £c2 44.¥a3 b6 45.¦h1 £xa2 46.¥c1 £c2 47.¢e5 ¢b7 48.¦h7+ ¢a6 49.¦h1 ¢a5 50.¢d5 ¢b4 51.¢c6 ¢xb3 52.¢b7 ¢xc4 53.¢xa7 b5 54.¢b6 b4 55.¦h5 £a2 56.¦xc5+ ¢d3 57.¢b5 b3 58.¦c3+ ¢e2 59.d4 exd3 60.e4 b2                  0–1

 

Sources: Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez
             Tia Belau Newspaper
             December 29, 2002 -- September 09, 2016

             The History of Chess in Palau
             By Roberto Hernandez
             June 09, 2002 -- September 09, 2016