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Who could have imagined that a team with the highest average Elo by far, and having won more gold medals at the Chess Olympiad than any other nation would start with a staggering 0-2? Yet that is exactly what happened, followed in suit by Team USA. It is true that Russia had failed to take any spot on the podium in Norway last year, but for all onlookers and pundits, it was a fluke nothing more. If that was a fluke, then what to make of this disastrous start? It is hard to explain: statistical blip, coincidence, disinterest... Who can say?
The medals awaiting the winners...
... and the trophies.
If Russia had a bad start, the US was not much better, though in their defense their lineup was the second lowest rated, ahead only of Egypt, so anything above would be a windfall. Ultimately, a solid result by top board Sam Shankland, with above average results by the team, most notably Aleksandr Lenderman who won his last four games, with a 2818 performance.
Though Sam Shankland was the absolute star of the US team and Tromso,
here he was the rock of gibraltar providing a shield against the biggest guns
If Egypt came as the heavy underdog rated 100 Elo less than penultimate USA and over 200 behind Russia, they still managed to draw their match against Israel, and lose by only the smallest margin to China, Hungary and Armenia.
Cuban GM Lazaro Bruzon shows his disgust at the way they concluded the event
Though Gelfand did not win any games, nor did he lose any
While the top teams were slow out of the gates, both Israel and Cuba had strong starts taking the early lead, but they could not keep up the momentum and other nations were able to overcome their hesitant beginning to make up the lost ground. The new leaders came in the guise of Ukraine and China, who soon fought every round toe-to-toe, while distancing themselves from their rivals.
It all came down to the last two rounds, both tied, when Ukraine unexpectedly lost to the USA, while China beat Cuba handily. The final round saw Ukraine only draw against Hungary as China trounced India by 3-1.
The proud Chinese team
The Chinese team receives its deserving medals
The top-scoring individuals overall was dominated by 15-year-old Wei Yi at the end, scoring
7.0/9 and a 2846 performance
| No. | Name | Rtg | Team | Pts. | Games | % | Bo. | |
| 1 | GM | Wei Yi | 2703 | China | 7.0 | 9 | 77.8 | 3 |
| 2 | GM | Aronian Levon | 2770 | Armenia | 6.0 | 9 | 66.7 | 1 |
| 3 | GM | Tomashevsky Evgeny | 2745 | Russia | 5.5 | 8 | 68.8 | 2 |
| 4 | GM | Quesada Perez Yuniesky | 2629 | Cuba | 5.5 | 8 | 68.8 | 3 |
| 5 | GM | Ding Liren | 2751 | China | 5.5 | 9 | 61.1 | 1 |
| 6 | GM | Ivanchuk Vassily | 2731 | Ukraine | 5.5 | 9 | 61.1 | 1 |
| 7 | GM | Lenderman Aleksandr | 2617 | USA | 5.0 | 7 | 71.4 | 2 |
| 8 | GM | Bu Xiangzhi | 2681 | China | 5.0 | 8 | 62.5 | 3 |
| 9 | GM | Balogh Csaba | 2651 | Hungary | 5.0 | 8 | 62.5 | 4 |
| 10 | GM | Dominguez Perez Leinier | 2729 | Cuba | 5.0 | 9 | 55.6 | 1 |
The Chinese players sign autographs
Top Hungarian Peter Leko giving an interview on TV
The disparity between the two leaders and the rest meant a condensation of teams, nearly everyone, with realistic chances for the bronze. Who was favorite was anyone's guess, especially after so many unexpected results.
While the Ukrainian team had the clearest success
The key moment would have to be Armenia's defeat of Russia in round seven, right when the Russians had seemed to be working on a comeback, giving the Armenian the slimmest of leads. This was all it took them, and with wins over India and Egypt, were able to secure the last spot on the podium.
Armenia managed to grab the bronze over the many challengers
Once the formalities had been resolved the entertainment could begin with a piano...
...and an opera singer.
Photos by Arman Karakhanyan
| Bo. | 5 | China | Rtg | FED | - | 10 | India | Rtg | FED | 3 : 1 |
| 1.1 | GM | Ding, Liren | 2751 | CHN | - | GM | Harikrishna, P. | 2731 | IND | ½ - ½ |
| 1.2 | GM | Yu, Yangyi | 2724 | CHN | - | GM | Sethuraman, S.P. | 2634 | IND | 1 - 0 |
| 1.3 | GM | Bu, Xiangzhi | 2681 | CHN | - | GM | Sasikiran, Krishnan | 2654 | IND | ½ - ½ |
| 1.4 | GM | Wei, Yi | 2703 | CHN | - | GM | Sengupta, Deep | 2576 | IND | 1 - 0 |
| Bo. | 6 | USA | Rtg | FED | - | 4 | Cuba | Rtg | FED | 3 : 1 |
| 2.1 | GM | Shankland, Samuel L | 2661 | USA | - | GM | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | 2729 | CUB | ½ - ½ |
| 2.2 | GM | Lenderman, Aleksandr | 2617 | USA | - | GM | Bruzon Batista, Lazaro | 2691 | CUB | 1 - 0 |
| 2.3 | GM | Akobian, Varuzhan | 2622 | USA | - | GM | Ortiz Suarez, Isan Reynaldo | 2612 | CUB | 1 - 0 |
| 2.4 | GM | Naroditsky, Daniel | 2640 | USA | - | GM | Gonzalez Vidal, Yuri | 2557 | CUB | ½ - ½ |
| Bo. | 7 | Hungary | Rtg | FED | - | 3 | Ukraine | Rtg | FED | 2 : 2 |
| 3.1 | GM | Leko, Peter | 2713 | HUN | - | GM | Ponomariov, Ruslan | 2713 | UKR | ½ - ½ |
| 3.2 | GM | Erdos, Viktor | 2612 | HUN | - | GM | Ivanchuk, Vassily | 2731 | UKR | ½ - ½ |
| 3.3 | GM | Almasi, Zoltan | 2698 | HUN | - | GM | Kryvoruchko, Yuriy | 2686 | UKR | ½ - ½ |
| 3.4 | GM | Balogh, Csaba | 2651 | HUN | - | GM | Moiseenko, Alexander | 2697 | UKR | ½ - ½ |
| Bo. | 8 | Russia | Rtg | FED | - | 2 | Israel | Rtg | FED | 2½:1½ |
| 4.1 | GM | Grischuk, Alexander | 2794 | RUS | - | GM | Gelfand, Boris | 2747 | ISR | ½ - ½ |
| 4.2 | GM | Karjakin, Sergey | 2757 | RUS | - | GM | Sutovsky, Emil | 2628 | ISR | ½ - ½ |
| 4.3 | GM | Tomashevsky, Evgeny | 2745 | RUS | - | GM | Rodshtein, Maxim | 2667 | ISR | 1 - 0 |
| 4.4 | GM | Vitiugov, Nikita | 2736 | RUS | - | GM | Postny, Evgeny | 2636 | ISR | ½ - ½ |
| Bo. | 9 | Armenia | Rtg | FED | - | 1 | Egypt | Rtg | FED | 2½:1½ |
| 5.1 | GM | Aronian, Levon | 2770 | ARM | - | GM | Shoker, Samy | 2482 | EGY | 1 - 0 |
| 5.2 | GM | Sargissian, Gabriel | 2674 | ARM | - | IM | Ezat, Mohamed | 2479 | EGY | 1 - 0 |
| 5.3 | GM | Movsesian, Sergei | 2665 | ARM | - | GM | Adly, Ahmed | 2595 | EGY | 0 - 1 |
| 5.4 | GM | Melkumyan, Hrant | 2651 | ARM | - | IM | Farahat, Ali | 2389 | EGY | ½ - ½ |
| Rk | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | China | * | 2 | 3½ | 2 | 2½ | 2 | 2½ | 3 | 3 | 2½ | 15 | 23.0 | 397.5 |
| 2 | Ukraine | 2 | * | 1½ | 2½ | 1½ | 2 | 2½ | 2½ | 2½ | 4 | 12 | 21.0 | 355.0 |
| 3 | Armenia | ½ | 2½ | * | 2½ | 2½ | 2 | 1½ | 1½ | 2½ | 2½ | 11 | 18.0 | 315.5 |
| 4 | Russia | 2 | 1½ | 1½ | * | 2 | 3½ | 2½ | 1½ | 2½ | 3½ | 10 | 20.5 | 349.0 |
| 5 | USA | 1½ | 2½ | 1½ | 2 | * | 1½ | 2½ | 3 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 19.5 | 338.3 |
| 6 | Hungary | 2 | 2 | 2 | ½ | 2½ | * | 2 | 2 | 1½ | 2½ | 9 | 17.0 | 302.0 |
| 7 | Israel | 1½ | 1½ | 2½ | 1½ | 1½ | 2 | * | 2½ | 3½ | 2 | 8 | 18.5 | 322.3 |
| 8 | Cuba | 1 | 1½ | 2½ | 2½ | 1 | 2 | 1½ | * | 1½ | 3 | 7 | 16.5 | 286.0 |
| 9 | India | 1 | 1½ | 1½ | 1½ | 2 | 2½ | ½ | 2½ | * | 3 | 7 | 16.0 | 274.3 |
| 10 | Egypt | 1½ | 0 | 1½ | ½ | 1 | 1½ | 2 | 1 | 1 | * | 1 | 10.0 | 186.3 |
Tie Break 1: Matchpoints (2 for wins, 1 for draws, 0 for losses)
Tie Break 2: points (game-points)
Tie Break 3: FIDE Sonneborn-Berger
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