Chess Olympiad: Russia leads after two rounds

by ChessBase
5/23/2006 – The 37th Chess Olympiad has started in Turin – after two rounds Russia leads with a perfect 2:0 match points and 8:0 board points, followed by four teams with 2:0/7.5. India suffered a shocking defeat against Morocco – but Anand is now in Turin to mend things for his team. We bring you results, games and a big pictorial report.

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Turin 2006: After round two

First round: The shock of the round was the loss by second seed India (without Vishy Anand, who was still playing in Sofia) to Morocco! India had rested Sasikiran and played with the rookie D.P.Singh on board 4. This move led to trouble when the top tow boards ended in a draw: Harikrishna was unable to attain a breakthrough against GM Hamdouchi while Ganguly with the white pieces was held to a draw by FM Elbilia Jacques. Karim Ismael conducted a enterprising attack against GM Sandipan Chanda and won his game, while FM Arbouche Muhamed put it across the DP Singh.

The Russian team consisting of Grischuk, Morozevich, Bareev and Rublevski wiped out the team from Kazakhstan 4-0. The same was achieved by Spain over Malasia, Netherlands over Faroe Islands, Bulgaria (without Topalov and Cheparinov) over Kyrgystan, Germany over South Africa, Greece over Thailand, Croatia over Brunei Darussalam, Turkey over Panama, Slovakia over Nepal, Latvia over Uganda, Romainia over Nicaragua, Georgia over ICSC, Poland over Yemen, Denmark (still without Peter Heine Nielsen, who was seconding Anand in Sofia) over Lebanon, Iceland over Guatemala, Philippines over Mauritius, Vietnam over Palestine, Bangladesh over Liechtenstein, Estonia over Honduras, Australia over Macau, Ireland over San Marino, Albania against Seychelles, Paraguay over Papua New Guinea, Singapore over Rwanda, Italy B over Chinese Taipei, Lithuania over Surinam, Indonesia over Namibia, Canada over Japan, Iran over Bahrain, Finland over Libya, Chile over Guernsey, Colombia over Bermuda, Luxembourg over Mozambique, Andorra over the US Virgin Islands, and Qatar against Kenya. 35 dubbings. Whew!

Ukraine, England, France and China dropped a valuable half point each, with IM Sergey Krylov of the blind chess association holding Vassily Ivanchuk to a draw. The four US GMs got only 2½:1½ against the IMs and FM of New Zealand.

Women: The Russian women's team with Kosteniuk and the two Kosintseva sisters defeated Portugal 3-0. The same score was achieved by China, Hungary (led by Hoang Thanh Trang), USA, Georgia, China, Italy A, Armenia, India (led by Koneru Humpy), Bulgaria, Romania, and many other countries.

Second round: First the dubbings. The Russian team scored a second 4-0 win, this time over Latvia. The same result was achieved by India over Cyprus, Serbia & Montenegro over Costa Rica, New Zealand over Ethiopia, Jamaica over South Korea, Faroe Islands over Liechtenstein, UAE over Afghanistan, Puerto Rico over the British Virgin Islands, Malaysia over Honduras, Yemen over Kenya, and Surinam over Rwanda.

So Russia is in the lead, even without unleashing Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Svidler – the latter travelled from Sofia to Turin, together with Anand, Kamsky, Nielsen, Azmaiparashvili, Jobava and others.

Standings after two rounds

Rk. Sd Team
Gms
+
=
– 
 TB1 
 TB2 
 TB3 
1 1 Russia
2
2
0
0
8.0
7.0
4
2 21 Poland
2
2
0
0
7.5
8.5
4
3 22 Greece
2
2
0
0
7.5
8.0
4
4 33 Serbia Montenegro
2
2
0
0
7.5
7.5
4
5 14 Germany
2
2
0
0
7.5
7.0
4
6 8 Netherlands
2
2
0
0
7.0
9.0
4
7 4 Ukraine
2
2
0
0
7.0
8.5
4
8 30 Uzbekistan
2
2
0
0
7.0
8.5
4
9 27 Iceland
2
2
0
0
7.0
8.0
4
10 34 Turkey
2
2
0
0
7.0
8.0
4
11 36 Slovakia
2
2
0
0
7.0
8.0
4
12 37 Vietnam
2
2
0
0
7.0
8.0
4
13 12 China
2
2
0
0
7.0
7.5
4
14 50 Australia
2
2
0
0
7.0
6.0
4
15 11 Spain
2
2
0
0
6.5
9.5
4
16 25 Denmark
2
2
0
0
6.5
8.0
4
17 3 Armenia
2
2
0
0
6.5
7.5
4
18 17 Georgia
2
2
0
0
6.5
7.0
4
19 61 Colombia
2
2
0
0
6.5
6.5
4
20 38 Argentina
2
2
0
0
6.5
6.0
4
21 66 Peru
2
2
0
0
6.5
5.0
4

Women

Rk. Sd Team
Gms
+
=
– 
 TB1 
 TB2 
 TB3 
1 6 China
2
2
0
0
6.0
6.0
4
2 13 Lithuania
2
2
0
0
6.0
6.0
4
3 15 France
2
2
0
0
6.0
5.5
4
4 24 Latvia
2
2
0
0
6.0
3.0
4
5 1 Russia
2
2
0
0
5.5
6.5
4
6 4 Hungary
2
2
0
0
5.5
6.5
4
7 12 Poland
2
2
0
0
5.5
6.0
4
8 21 Italy A
2
2
0
0
5.5
6.0
4
9 11 Romania
2
2
0
0
5.5
5.5
4
10 28 Mongolia
2
2
0
0
5.5
4.5
4
11 20 Israel
2
2
0
0
5.5
3.5
4
12 25 Cuba
2
2
0
0
5.0
7.0
4
13 26 Ecuador
2
2
0
0
5.0
7.0
4
14 2 Ukraine
2
2
0
0
5.0
6.5
4
15 5 USA
2
2
0
0
5.0
6.5
4
16 8 Germany
2
2
0
0
5.0
6.5
4
17 3 Georgia
2
2
0
0
5.0
6.0
4
18 10 Bulgaria
2
2
0
0
5.0
6.0
4
19 17 Slovenia
2
2
0
0
5.0
6.0
4
20 44 Bosnia Herzegovina
2
2
0
0
5.0
4.0
4
21 47 Mexico
2
2
0
0
5.0
4.9
4

Picture gallery

By WGM Natalia Kiseleva-Straub


The historical city of Turin (Torino), host to the Chess Olympiad


The architectural style in Turin is known as "piemontese baroque". The Royal palace in Piazza Castello has dozens of rooms gilded top to bottom, and full of priceless antiquities.


Fountains – the Italians build them like no other country in the world


The residential area for participants in the Olympic Village


The shopping street in the Village


The arrival of players and teams


Adolivio Capece, chief press officer of the Olympiad, , Geurt Gijssen, chief arbiter, Casto Abundo, FIDE chief webmaster and ratings officer, and Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, chief of the World Chess Federation.


Vassily Ivanchuk (right) before his game against IM Sergey Krylov of the Blind Chess Association IBCA. The game ended in a draw.


Sergey Karjakin and Efimenko Zahar Efimenko, title defenders for Ukraine


Alexander Grischuk, playing top board for Russia


Sergey Rublevsky, 2687, playing on board four for Russia


Waiting for Anand: India's top board in round one Pentala Harikrishna


Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk, second-highest rated female
player at the Olympiad (2540) and board one for the Russian women


IM Tatiana Kosintseva, 2489, board two for Russia


Sister Nadezhda Kosintseva, IM, 2469, board three


IM Irina Krush, board two for the US Women's team


WGM Rusudan Goletiani, board three for the US


WGM Zhukova Natalia, board one for Ukraine


IM Kateryna Lahno, 16, board two for Ukraine


WGM Ushenina Anna, playing on board three of Ukraine


WIM Jana Krivec, 2323, Slovenia


IM Almira Skripchenko, board one for France, with a great friend
WGM Natalia Kiseleva-Straub, who shot the photos on this page

The Timetable

37th Olympiad 77th FIDE Congress
May 20 2006 21:00 Opening ceremony    
May 21 2006 15:00 First round  
May 22 2006 15:00 Second round  
May 23 2006 15:00 Third round  
May 24 2006 15:00 Fourth round  
May 25 2006 15:00 Fifth round  
May 26 2006   Rest day  
May 27 2006 15:00 Sixth round FIDE Commissions and committees
May 28 2006 15:00 Seventh round
May 29 2006 15:00 Eighth round
May 30 2006 15:00 Ninth round Executive board, Presidential board
May 31 2006 15:00 Tenth round
June 1 2006   Rest day
June 2 2006 15:00 Eleventh round

Continental Meeting, General Assembly

June 3 2006 15:00 Twelfth round
June 4 2006 10:00 Thirteenth round
June 4 2006 20:30 Closing ceremony

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