2012 Chess Olympiad Istanbul: Round two

The 40th Chess Olympiad is scheduled to take 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.

Round two

The shocker was the board one result of Qatar-Ukraine: GM Vassily Ivanchuk with black was slightly better against GM Mohamad Al-Modiahki, but he carelessly allowed the enemy queen to sneak into the back rank. The super-GM resigned, declining attempts to seek compensation for the piece. His teammates won all their games, so that the result was 3-1.

The United States bested Lithuania by 3,5-0,5 after Hikaru Nakamura finally broke down the stubborn resistance of Grecian GM Vidmantas Malisauskas in a marathon 107-moves long game. Hikaru once again proved why he is a cerebral assassin. Azerbaijan had no difficulty dispatching their Irish opponents, however the young talent FM Ryan Rhys Griffiths managed to steal the only draw for his team in the game against the seasoned Azeri GM Rauf Mamedov.

France and India defeated Peru and Turkey 2016 respectively, by a 3-1 score. Poland cleanly swept Costa Rica 4-0, while China took 3,5 points against Italy, with Wang Hao defeating the young Italian-American phenom Fabiano Caruana on the top board. Russia allowed two quick draws against Greece, but they continued pushing with the white pieces on the remaining two boards. Both Grischuk and Jakovenko were successful and Russia finished the day with a 3-1 victory.

England defeated Brazil by a narrow margin thanks to the full point of Nigel Short (see Andrew Martin's Game of the Day video at the bottom of the page), while the remaining three games were drawn. The same scenario was seen in Germany-Georgia, only this time the executioner was Arkadij Naiditsch.

Round two: Top team pairings – Open

Results of all 79 team pairings + board pairings

Multiple teams in the Women's section swept past their opponents with perfect scores: China bested Sweden, while leaving the World Champion Hou Yifan on the bench for the second day in a row; Georgia beat Belgium and Poland beat Venezuela with a 4-0 score each.

In a stunning game, Brazilian WFM Vanessa Feliciano Ebert held European champion Valentina Gunina to a draw but it was not enough to help her team as Brazil fell to the Russian ladies 3,5-0,5. Former U.S. Champion Anna Zatonskih rested today while her team mates handed Estonia a defeat by a score of 3,5-0,5. In an Asia-Pacific match-up, India won against Australia with the same score.

The Bulgarian team miscalculated and underestimated their Indonesian opponents. With the top Bulgarian lady and former World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova resting, the wily Indonesian team seized advantage of her absence and tied the match. The top rated competitor in the Women's Olympiad, Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia, entered the battlefield today to contribute to her team's 2,5-1,5 victory against The Philippines.

Round two: Top team pairings – Women

Results of all 63 pairings here + board pairings

Top rankings after two rounds

Pictures to follow...

Photos Frederic Friedel in Istanbul

GM Daniel King: Istanbul Olympiad 2012 Round 2 play of the day

Andrew Martin: Game of the Day Rd 2 Istanbul Olympiad 2012

Live video coverage of the Olympiad

Remaining schedule of the Olympiad

Some hours after the end of each round we will be posting video summaries by Daniel King on our news page. If possible they will appear on the same night, otherwise early the next morning. We also expect best-game video commentary from Andrew Martin.

Links Official event web site All available games in PGN All ChessBase reports on the Olympiad The top games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.