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The 40th Chess Olympiad is taking place in the Turkish metropole of Istanbul, from August 27 to September 10th, 2012. A record of 158 national chess federations have brought teams to Istanbul to participate in this prestigious event, which is being staged in the WOW Hotel and Convention Center, just minutes away from the airport.
If China won their final round match, they would, for the first time, be Olympiad champions in the Open section. It looked as if the dream was possible – in fact China could win the Open and the Women's sections at the same time. But it was not to be. Vassily Ivanchuk came to the board with nothing but brilliancy, and slayed that dream before it even began to take off.
China vs Ukraine, with Wang Hao facing Vassily Ivanchuk on board one
On the other side of the playing hall, Russia showed no mercy against Kazakhstan, and their 4-0 result allowed them to leapfrog China on tiebreak and take the gold medal. A sour day for the Asian country, but it just goes to show you how volatile these tournaments can be.
China vs Bulgaria, with Hou Yifan vs Antoaneta Stefanova, ended 2.5-1.5
...
... while Russia (right) thashed Kazakhstan 4-0 to snatch Gold from the Chinese
In the Open section, since China was out of the race by losing, it came down to the matches between Hungary-Armenia and Russia-Germany. In what I can only describe as a strange game Kramnik beat Naiditsch, Karjakin beat Fridman after being up a pawn the whole game, and Russia took a 3-1 in a typical "let's draw with black and win with white" approach to chess.
Russia with Alexander Grischuk and Vladimir Kramnik
Armenia would not give up, however. In a very unclear match both Leko and Polgar were easily neutralized by Aronian and Akopian.
Gabriel Sargissian (left), however, was also not able to get anything at
all against Ferenc Berkes.
So it was all up to Sergei Movsesian (above), who had by any definition had a bad Olympiad, and who was arguably the villain in the European Team Championship, when his loss against Meier cost Armenia Gold. But this time he came through, he had his shining moment, defeating Almasi and winning first place and Gold for his team with the narrow 2.5-1.5 victory.
The victorious Armenian team, with Aronian, Movsesian, Akopian and Sargissian
(r.-l.)
The tiebreaks in this Olympiad are somewhat unpredictable, as they depend on your previous opponent's results, so I'm sure it was not easy to see who was going to finish in first place. Anyway, now that we know what happened on the results, let's see Dream Slayer Ivanchuk in action on the last round:
Bo. | 2 | Ukraine (UKR) | Rtg | 3 : 1 |
6 | China (CHN) | Rtg |
1.1 | GM | Ivanchuk, Vassily | 2769 | 1 - 0 |
GM | Wang, Hao | 2726 |
1.2 | GM | Ponomariov, Ruslan | 2734 | ½ - ½ |
GM | Wang, Yue | 2685 |
1.3 | GM | Volokitin, Andrei | 2709 | ½ - ½ |
GM | Ding, Liren | 2695 |
1.4 | GM | Eljanov, Pavel | 2693 | 1 - 0 |
GM | Bu, Xiangzhi | 2670 |
Bo. | 4 | Hungary (HUN) | Rtg | 1½:2½ |
3 | Armenia (ARM) | Rtg |
2.1 | GM | Leko, Peter | 2737 | ½ - ½ |
GM | Aronian, Levon | 2816 |
2.2 | GM | Almasi, Zoltan | 2713 | 0 - 1 |
GM | Movsesian, Sergei | 2698 |
2.3 | GM | Polgar, Judit | 2698 | ½ - ½ |
GM | Akopian, Vladimir | 2687 |
2.4 | GM | Berkes, Ferenc | 2685 | ½ - ½ |
GM | Sargissian, Gabriel | 2693 |
Bo. | 1 | Russia (RUS) | Rtg | 3 : 1 |
14 | Germany (GER) | Rtg |
3.1 | GM | Kramnik, Vladimir | 2797 | 1 - 0 |
GM | Naiditsch, Arkadij | 2712 |
3.2 | GM | Grischuk, Alexander | 2763 | ½ - ½ |
GM | Khenkin, Igor | 2656 |
3.3 | GM | Karjakin, Sergey | 2785 | 1 - 0 |
GM | Fridman, Daniel | 2653 |
3.4 | GM | Jakovenko, Dmitry | 2722 | ½ - ½ |
GM | Gustafsson, Jan | 2610 |
Bo. | 16 | Poland (POL) | Rtg | 1½:2½ |
5 | USA | Rtg |
4.1 | GM | Wojtaszek, Rado. | 2717 | 1 - 0 |
GM | Nakamura, Hikaru | 2778 |
4.2 | GM | Bartel, Mateusz | 2654 | 0 - 1 |
GM | Kamsky, Gata | 2746 |
4.3 | GM | Swiercz, Dariusz | 2594 | ½ - ½ |
GM | Onishuk, Alexander | 2666 |
4.4 | GM | Macieja, Bartlomiej | 2594 | 0 - 1 |
GM | Robson, Ray | 2598 |
Bo. | 29 | Argentina (ARG) | Rtg | 1 : 3 |
9 | Netherlands (NED) | Rtg |
5.1 | GM | Peralta, Fernando | 2606 | 0 - 1 |
GM | Giri, Anish | 2711 |
5.2 | GM | Flores, Diego | 2589 | 0 - 1 |
GM | Van Wely, Loek | 2691 |
5.3 | GM | Felgaer, Ruben | 2570 | ½ - ½ |
GM | Sokolov, Ivan | 2696 |
5.4 | GM | Mareco, Sandro | 2589 | ½ - ½ |
GM | Smeets, Jan | 2608 |
No. |
SNo |
Team | Res. |
Res. |
Team | SNo |
1 |
2 |
Ukraine | 3 |
1 |
China | 6 |
2 |
4 |
Hungary | 1½ |
2½ |
Armenia | 3 |
3 |
1 |
Russia | 3 |
1 |
Germany | 14 |
4 |
16 |
Poland | 1½ |
2½ |
USA | 5 |
5 |
29 |
Argentina | 1 |
3 |
Netherlands | 9 |
6 |
27 |
Vietnam | 3 |
1 |
Uzbekistan | 33 |
7 |
25 |
Romania | 3 |
1 |
Philippines | 35 |
8 |
15 |
Cuba | 2½ |
1½ |
Slovenia | 28 |
9 |
7 |
Azerbaijan | 2½ |
1½ |
India | 13 |
10 |
11 |
England | 2½ |
1½ |
Czech Rep. | 17 |
11 |
12 |
Israel | 2 |
2 |
Belarus | 32 |
12 |
26 |
Georgia | 1 |
3 |
Denmark | 39 |
13 |
22 |
Italy | 3½ |
½ |
Greece | 21 |
14 |
18 |
Spain | 1 |
3 |
Serbia | 20 |
15 |
34 |
Sweden | 3 |
1 |
Brazil | 24 |
16 |
42 |
Slovakia | 2 |
2 |
Australia | 61 |
17 |
10 |
Bulgaria | 4 |
0 |
Venezuela | 58 |
18 |
23 |
Moldova | 2½ |
1½ |
Portugal | 64 |
19 |
8 |
France | 3½ |
½ |
South Africa | 73 |
20 |
19 |
Croatia | 3 |
1 |
Tajikistan | 60 |
21 |
71 |
Peru | 1½ |
2½ |
Latvia | 30 |
22 |
48 |
Bangladesh | 2½ |
1½ |
Bosnia Herz. | 50 |
23 |
46 |
Chile | 1½ |
2½ |
Turkmenistan | 57 |
24 |
72 |
Turkey 2016 | 2 |
2 |
Austria | 36 |
25 |
38 |
Mexico | 2½ |
1½ |
Iran | 45 |
26 |
65 |
Scotland | 1½ |
2½ |
FYROM | 49 |
27 |
40 |
Kazakhstan | 2½ |
1½ |
Switzerland | 43 |
28 |
53 |
Canada | 2 |
2 |
Albania | 62 |
29 |
52 |
Finland | 0 |
4 |
Turkey | 31 |
30 |
70 |
Uruguay | 1½ |
2½ |
Iceland | 51 |
Rk. |
SNo |
Team | + |
= |
– |
MPts |
TB2 |
TB3 |
TB4 |
1 |
3 |
Armenia | 9 |
1 |
1 |
19 |
397.0 |
29.0 |
155.00 |
2 |
1 |
Russia | 9 |
1 |
1 |
19 |
388.5 |
28.5 |
157.00 |
3 |
2 |
Ukraine | 9 |
0 |
2 |
18 |
363.0 |
29.5 |
147.00 |
4 |
6 |
China | 8 |
1 |
2 |
17 |
390.5 |
29.5 |
157.00 |
5 |
5 |
USA | 7 |
3 |
1 |
17 |
361.0 |
30.0 |
142.00 |
6 |
9 |
Netherlands | 8 |
0 |
3 |
16 |
329.0 |
29.0 |
133.00 |
7 |
27 |
Vietnam | 6 |
4 |
1 |
16 |
313.5 |
29.0 |
126.00 |
8 |
25 |
Romania | 8 |
0 |
3 |
16 |
310.0 |
29.0 |
128.00 |
9 |
4 |
Hungary | 7 |
1 |
3 |
15 |
368.0 |
28.0 |
151.00 |
10 |
7 |
Azerbaijan | 6 |
3 |
2 |
15 |
344.0 |
29.0 |
144.00 |
11 |
15 |
Cuba | 7 |
1 |
3 |
15 |
338.5 |
30.5 |
130.00 |
12 |
14 |
Germany | 6 |
3 |
2 |
15 |
334.5 |
26.0 |
148.00 |
13 |
16 |
Poland | 7 |
1 |
3 |
15 |
313.5 |
27.5 |
138.00 |
14 |
20 |
Serbia | 6 |
3 |
2 |
15 |
307.0 |
28.5 |
126.00 |
15 |
22 |
Italy | 7 |
1 |
3 |
15 |
306.0 |
28.0 |
134.00 |
16 |
34 |
Sweden | 7 |
1 |
3 |
15 |
303.5 |
28.0 |
125.00 |
17 |
11 |
England | 6 |
3 |
2 |
15 |
300.5 |
26.0 |
137.00 |
18 |
39 |
Denmark | 7 |
1 |
3 |
15 |
270.5 |
27.0 |
121.00 |
19 |
23 |
Moldova | 6 |
2 |
3 |
14 |
348.5 |
29.5 |
129.00 |
20 |
10 |
Bulgaria | 7 |
0 |
4 |
14 |
321.5 |
28.0 |
134.00 |
21 |
35 |
Philippines | 6 |
2 |
3 |
14 |
321.0 |
26.0 |
152.00 |
22 |
29 |
Argentina | 6 |
2 |
3 |
14 |
316.0 |
25.0 |
146.00 |
23 |
8 |
France | 6 |
2 |
3 |
14 |
305.0 |
26.5 |
141.00 |
24 |
33 |
Uzbekistan | 6 |
2 |
3 |
14 |
303.0 |
27.0 |
138.00 |
25 |
28 |
Slovenia | 6 |
2 |
3 |
14 |
297.0 |
24.0 |
138.00 |
26 |
12 |
Israel | 5 |
4 |
2 |
14 |
296.0 |
25.0 |
136.00 |
27 |
19 |
Croatia | 6 |
2 |
3 |
14 |
295.5 |
25.0 |
137.00 |
28 |
30 |
Latvia | 7 |
0 |
4 |
14 |
295.0 |
26.0 |
136.00 |
29 |
32 |
Belarus | 6 |
2 |
3 |
14 |
289.5 |
27.0 |
127.00 |
30 |
42 |
Slovakia | 6 |
2 |
3 |
14 |
264.5 |
27.0 |
122.00 |
Bo. | 2 | Russia (RUS) | Rtg | 4 : 0 |
22 | Kazakhstan (KAZ) | Rtg |
1.1 | GM | Kosintseva, Tatiana | 2530 | 1 - 0 |
WIM | Nakhbayeva, Guliskhan | 2291 |
1.2 | IM | Gunina, Valentina | 2507 | 1 - 0 |
WIM | Dauletova, Gulmira | 2267 |
1.3 | GM | Kosintseva, Nadezhda | 2524 | 1 - 0 |
WIM | Saduakassova, Dinara | 2216 |
1.4 | GM | Kosteniuk, Alexandra | 2489 | 1 - 0 |
WIM | Davletbayeva, Madina | 2165 |
Bo. | 13 | Bulgaria (BUL) | Rtg | 1½:2½ |
1 | China (CHN) | Rtg |
2.1 | GM | Stefanova, Antoaneta | 2502 | ½ - ½ |
GM | Hou, Yifan | 2599 |
2.2 | WGM | Videnova, Iva | 2317 | 0 - 1 |
GM | Zhao, Xue | 2549 |
2.3 | WGM | Voiska, Margarita | 2281 | 1 - 0 |
WGM | Ju, Wenjun | 2528 |
2.4 | WIM | Raeva, Elitsa | 2313 | 0 - 1 |
WGM | Huang, Qian | 2449 |
Bo. | 4 | Ukraine (UKR) | Rtg | 3½: ½ |
9 | Germany (GER) | Rtg |
3.1 | GM | Lahno, Kateryna | 2542 | 1 - 0 |
IM | Paehtz, Elisabeth | 2483 |
3.2 | IM | Muzychuk, Mariya | 2466 | ½ - ½ |
WGM | Melamed, Tetyana | 2356 |
3.3 | GM | Zhukova, Natalia | 2442 | 1 - 0 |
WGM | Ohme, Melanie | 2337 |
3.4 | IM | Ushenina, Anna | 2433 | 1 - 0 |
WGM | Michna, Marta | 2380 |
Bo. | 14 | France (FRA) | Rtg | 1½:2½ |
6 | India (IND) | Rtg |
4.1 | IM | Skripchenko, Almira | 2442 | 0 - 1 |
GM | Dronavalli, Harika | 2503 |
4.2 | IM | Milliet, Sophie | 2411 | ½ - ½ |
IM | Sachdev, Tania | 2379 |
4.3 | WGM | Maisuradze, Nino | 2284 | 1 - 0 |
WGM | Gomes, Mary Ann | 2396 |
4.4 | WIM | Bollengier, Andreea | 2253 | 0 - 1 |
WGM | Soumya, Swaminathan | 2271 |
No. |
SNo |
Team | Res. |
Res. |
Team | SNo |
1 |
2 |
Russia | 4 |
0 |
Kazakhstan | 22 |
2 |
13 |
Bulgaria | 1½ |
2½ |
China | 1 |
3 |
4 |
Ukraine | 3½ |
½ |
Germany | 9 |
4 |
14 |
France | 1½ |
2½ |
India | 6 |
5 |
7 |
Poland | 1½ |
2½ |
Armenia | 8 |
6 |
37 |
Peru | 1½ |
2½ |
Romania | 10 |
7 |
35 |
Uzbekistan | ½ |
3½ |
Iran | 26 |
8 |
11 |
Spain | 1½ |
2½ |
Georgia | 3 |
9 |
5 |
USA | 3 |
1 |
Israel | 25 |
10 |
36 |
Belarus | 2½ |
1½ |
Azerbaijan | 27 |
11 |
31 |
Italy | 1 |
3 |
Mongolia | 21 |
12 |
34 |
Colombia | 2 |
2 |
Cuba | 15 |
13 |
18 |
Greece | 1 |
3 |
Indonesia | 54 |
14 |
43 |
Austria | 2 |
2 |
Serbia | 19 |
15 |
16 |
Slovenia | ½ |
3½ |
Latvia | 24 |
16 |
33 |
Lithuania | ½ |
3½ |
Hungary | 12 |
17 |
17 |
Netherlands | 3 |
1 |
Australia | 50 |
18 |
20 |
Slovakia | 2½ |
1½ |
Turkey | 45 |
19 |
30 |
Croatia | 1½ |
2½ |
Mexico | 60 |
20 |
23 |
Czech Rep. | 3 |
1 |
Brazil | 47 |
21 |
84 |
Turkey 2016 | 0 |
4 |
Vietnam | 28 |
22 |
39 |
Bosnia Herz. | 2 |
2 |
Philippines | 57 |
23 |
42 |
Montenegro | 2½ |
1½ |
Norway | 40 |
24 |
38 |
Switzerland | ½ |
3½ |
Venezuela | 53 |
25 |
44 |
England | 2 |
2 |
Moldova | 41 |
26 |
83 |
Malaysia | 1 |
3 |
Estonia | 49 |
27 |
58 |
Turkmenistan | 2 |
2 |
Bangladesh | 63 |
28 |
59 |
Canada | 1 |
3 |
Chile | 55 |
29 |
64 |
Bolivia | 3 |
1 |
Algeria | 79 |
30 |
29 |
Argentina | 1½ |
2½ |
Ecuador | 32 |
India (with Harika Dronavalli) defeated France (with Almira Skripchenko)
to take fourth place
Rk. |
SNo |
Team | + |
= |
– |
BPts |
TB2 |
TB3 |
TB4 |
1 |
2 |
Russia | 8 |
3 |
0 |
19 |
450.0 |
33.0 |
155.00 |
2 |
1 |
China | 8 |
3 |
0 |
19 |
416.0 |
31.5 |
154.00 |
3 |
4 |
Ukraine | 7 |
4 |
0 |
18 |
408.5 |
30.5 |
154.00 |
4 |
6 |
India | 8 |
1 |
2 |
17 |
336.0 |
28.0 |
148.00 |
5 |
10 |
Romania | 8 |
0 |
3 |
16 |
313.5 |
28.5 |
129.00 |
6 |
8 |
Armenia | 8 |
0 |
3 |
16 |
313.0 |
26.5 |
140.00 |
7 |
14 |
France | 7 |
1 |
3 |
15 |
347.5 |
29.0 |
147.00 |
8 |
3 |
Georgia | 6 |
3 |
2 |
15 |
344.0 |
28.5 |
144.00 |
9 |
26 |
Iran | 7 |
1 |
3 |
15 |
339.0 |
31.0 |
132.00 |
10 |
5 |
USA | 6 |
3 |
2 |
15 |
326.0 |
29.5 |
133.00 |
11 |
9 |
Germany | 7 |
1 |
3 |
15 |
316.0 |
27.0 |
144.00 |
12 |
22 |
Kazakhstan | 6 |
3 |
2 |
15 |
309.0 |
27.0 |
138.00 |
13 |
21 |
Mongolia | 7 |
1 |
3 |
15 |
308.0 |
28.0 |
134.00 |
14 |
36 |
Belarus | 6 |
3 |
2 |
15 |
292.0 |
28.5 |
121.00 |
15 |
7 |
Poland | 6 |
2 |
3 |
14 |
336.5 |
27.5 |
151.00 |
16 |
13 |
Bulgaria | 6 |
2 |
3 |
14 |
316.5 |
27.5 |
136.00 |
17 |
12 |
Hungary | 6 |
2 |
3 |
14 |
303.0 |
27.5 |
129.00 |
18 |
24 |
Latvia | 6 |
2 |
3 |
14 |
296.5 |
28.0 |
126.00 |
19 |
15 |
Cuba | 5 |
4 |
2 |
14 |
286.0 |
25.5 |
129.00 |
20 |
17 |
Netherlands | 6 |
2 |
3 |
14 |
285.5 |
27.0 |
133.00 |
21 |
35 |
Uzbekistan | 6 |
2 |
3 |
14 |
278.5 |
24.5 |
138.00 |
22 |
20 |
Slovakia | 5 |
4 |
2 |
14 |
278.0 |
23.5 |
133.00 |
23 |
37 |
Peru | 6 |
2 |
3 |
14 |
273.5 |
26.0 |
127.00 |
24 |
54 |
Indonesia | 6 |
2 |
3 |
14 |
262.5 |
26.0 |
122.00 |
25 |
60 |
Mexico | 7 |
0 |
4 |
14 |
230.0 |
25.0 |
112.00 |
26 |
28 |
Vietnam | 6 |
1 |
4 |
13 |
307.5 |
27.0 |
135.00 |
27 |
23 |
Czech Rep. | 6 |
1 |
4 |
13 |
306.5 |
26.0 |
139.00 |
28 |
27 |
Azerbaijan | 6 |
1 |
4 |
13 |
306.0 |
26.0 |
145.00 |
29 |
25 |
Israel | 6 |
1 |
4 |
13 |
302.0 |
26.5 |
138.00 |
30 |
19 |
Serbia | 4 |
5 |
2 |
13 |
290.5 |
25.5 |
137.00 |
Summaries from the official web site,
photos by David Llada, Arman Karakhanyan, Anastasiya Karlovich
Coming soon...
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