Olympiad R3: Norway beats China, Ugandans forfeited

11/16/2008 – The shocker of round three was nineteenth seed Norway's 2.5:1.5 win over third seed China. Armenia and Germany won to take first and second place on the table. The Ugandan team appeared for the round with only one player, owing to visa problems, and have sent an urgent appeal for assistance. In the women's section top seed, Russia almost lost to eleventh seed India. Big pictorial report.

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38th Chess Olympiad Dresden 2008

The Olympiad is taking place from November 12th to 25th, 2008, in the Congress Hall in Dresden, Saxony, Germany. 156 teams from 152 nations are participating, with most of the top players present.

Round three men's section

Russia dispatch Cuba 3.5:0.5, with only Vladimir Kramnik conceding a draw (to Leinier Dominguez). Germany continued its march with a similar victory over Malaysia, and now is second place in the Olympiad rankings. Ukraine beat Georgia in spite of a top board loss by Ivanchuk. The upset of the day was ninteenth seed Norway's victory over third seed China, brought about by Lie Kjetil's win over Bu Xiangzhi. 17-year-old Magnus Carlsen, the second highest ranked player in the Olympiad (and currently fourth in the world) narrowly escaped a loss against 21-year-old Wang Yue on board one.

The Uganden team was forfieted when only one player appeared for the round. According to FIDE rules a team has to be represented by at least 50% of the players. Apparently only two of the four players had managed to make it to Dresden, and before the fourth round one of them had gone to the embassy to see if he could get an entry permit for the other two players. We received the following email from one of the players:

"HELP
Dear ChessBase, I am Wanyama Harold, a Ugandan chess national player supposed to represent Uganda at the Olympiad. I once wrote an article for ChessBase about our trip to Germany. Well, this time we are stuck in Uganda as we cannot get our visas. This is because the organisers of the Olympiad have failed to send the Germany Embassy in Uganda a letter inviting us. I am told the officials are not responding as quickly as possible, and time is running out, as we have missed three games as I write this. I am appealing to you to help us to get the attention of the officials to work as quickly as possible, as you carry some weight in the chess circles."

We have passed this message on to the organisers.

Bo. 1 Russia (RUS) Elo
3½: ½
 16 Cuba (CUB) Elo
1.1 GM Kramnik Vladimir 2772
½ - ½
 GM Dominguez Perez Leinier 2719
1.2 GM Svidler Peter 2727
1 - 0
 GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro 2623
1.3 GM Morozevich Alexander 2787
1 - 0
 GM Quezada Perez Yuniesky 2580
1.4 GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2737
1 - 0
 GM Hernandez Carmenates 2580
Bo. 11 Germany 1 (GER1) Elo
3½: ½
 73 Malaysia (MAS) Elo
2.1 GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2678
1 - 0
 IM Mas Hafizulhelmi 2439
2.2 GM Gustafsson Jan 2634
½ - ½
 FM Lim Yee-Weng 2396
2.3 GM Fridman Daniel 2630
1 - 0
 FM Mok Tze-Meng 2308
2.4 GM Baramidze David 2557
1 - 0
 IM Liew Chee-Meng-Jimmy 2306
Bo. 17 Georgia (GEO) Elo
1½:2½
 2 Ukraine (UKR) Elo
3.1 GM Jobava Baadur 2664
1 - 0
 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2786
3.2 GM Izoria Zviad 2610
½ - ½
 GM Eljanov Pavel 2720
3.3 GM Mchedlishvili Mikheil 2615
0 - 1
 GM Efimenko Zahar 2680
3.4 GM Arutinian David 2584
0 - 1
 GM Volokitin Andrei 2659
Bo. 3 China (CHN) Elo
1½:2½
 19 Norway (NOR) Elo
4.1 GM Wang Yue 2736
½ - ½
 GM Carlsen Magnus 2786
4.2 GM Bu Xiangzhi 2714
0 - 1
 GM Lie Kjetil A 2526
4.3 GM Ni Hua 2710
½ - ½
 GM Johannessen Leif Erlend 2545
4.4 GM Li Chao B 2622
½ - ½
 IM Hammer Jon Ludvig 2522
Bo. 20 Netherlands (NED) Elo
2 : 2
 4 Azerbaijan (AZE) Elo
5.1 GM Van Wely Loek 2618
1 - 0
 GM Radjabov Teimour 2752
5.2 GM Smeets Jan 2604
½ - ½
 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2731
5.3 GM L'Ami Erwin 2610
½ - ½
 GM Gashimov Vugar 2703
5.4 GM Werle Jan 2582
0 - 1
 GM Huseynov Gadir 2650
Bo. 9 Armenia (ARM) Elo
4 : 0
 72 Faroe Islands (FAI) Elo
6.1 GM Akopian Vladimir 2679
1 - 0
 IM Ziska Helgi Dam 2416
6.2 GM Sargissian Gabriel 2642
1 - 0
 FM Olsen Heini 2376
6.3 GM Petrosian Tigran L 2629
1 - 0
 IM Rodgaard John 2383
6.4 GM Minasian Artashes 2541
1 - 0
 Poulsen Martin 2281
Bo. 74 Tajikistan (TJK) Elo
1 : 3
 12 Spain (ESP) Elo
7.1 Khuseinov Rashid 2348
0 - 1
 GM Shirov Alexei 2726
7.2 IM Isaev Jamshed 2400
0 - 1
 GM Vallejo Pons Francisco 2664
7.3 FM Djuraev Sokhib 2339
0 - 1
 GM Khamrakulov Ibragim S 2580
7.4 IM Khamdamov Suhrob 2219
1 - 0
 GM San Segundo Carrillo Pablo 2564
Bo. 13 India (IND) Elo
3½: ½
 91 El Salvador (ESA) Elo
8.1 GM Sasikiran Krishnan 2694
1 - 0
 IM Leyva Hector 2399
8.2 GM Harikrishna P 2659
½ - ½
 IM Arias Lemmys A 2372
8.3 GM Geetha Narayanan Gopal 2548
1 - 0
 Chavez Hector Eduardo 2202
8.4 GM Sandipan Chanda 2579
1 - 0
 FM Martinez Nelson 2149
Bo. 106 Japan (JPN) Elo
1 : 3
 14 Romania (ROU) Elo
9.1 Kojima Shinya 2272
0 - 1
 GM Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter 2684
9.2 Baba Masahiro 2220
0 - 1
 GM Parligras Mircea 2611
9.3 Uesugi Shinsaku 2222
0 - 1
 GM Lupulescu Constantin 2594
9.4 Sano Tomu 2111
1 - 0
 GM Vajda Levente 2582
Bo. 15 England (ENG) Elo
4 : 0
 109 Malta (MLT) Elo
10.1 GM Adams Michael 2734
1 - 0
 Sorensen Torben 2383
10.2 GM Short Nigel D 2642
1 - 0
 CM Pace Colin 2148
10.3 GM Howell David W L 2593
1 - 0
 Borg Andrew 2112
10.4 GM Conquest Stuart C 2526
1 - 0
 Zerafa Patrick 2065
Bo. 5 Hungary (HUN) Elo
3½: ½
 18 Czech Republic (CZE) Elo
11.1 GM Leko Peter 2747
1 - 0
 GM Navara David 2633
11.2 GM Polgar Judit 2711
½ - ½
 GM Laznicka Viktor 2591
11.3 GM Almasi Zoltan 2663
1 - 0
 GM Babula Vlastimil 2608
11.4 GM Berkes Ferenc 2645
1 - 0
 GM Stocek Jiri 2578
Bo. 7 France (FRA) Elo
2 : 2
 27 Greece (GRE) Elo
12.1 GM Bacrot Etienne 2705
½ - ½
 GM Papaioannou Ioannis 2597
12.2 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2716
½ - ½
 GM Kotronias Vasilios 2587
12.3 GM Fressinet Laurent 2676
½ - ½
 GM Banikas Hristos 2572
12.4 GM Tkachiev Vladislav 2664
½ - ½
 GM Mastrovasilis Dimitrios 2572
Bo. 35 Lithuania (LTU) Elo
2 : 2
 8 Israel (ISR) Elo
13.1 GM Kveinys Aloyzas 2533
½ - ½
 GM Gelfand Boris 2719
13.2 GM Rozentalis Eduardas 2577
0 - 1
 GM Roiz Michael 2677
13.3 GM Sulskis Sarunas 2572
1 - 0
 GM Postny Evgeny 2674
13.4 IM Zagorskis Darius 2509
½ - ½
 GM Rodshtein Maxim 2609
Bo. 84 South Africa (RSA) Elo
½ :3½
 10 United States of America Elo
14.1 IM Kobese Watu 2369
0 - 1
 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2704
14.2 CM Steel Henry Robert 2280
0 - 1
 GM Onischuk Alexander 2644
14.3 CM Cawdery Daniel 2265
½ - ½
 GM Shulman Yuri 2616
14.4 IM Mabusela Johanne Mayedi 2273
0 - 1
 GM Akobian Varuzhan 2606
Bo. 101 Nicaragua (NCA) Elo
0 : 4
 6 Bulgaria (BUL) Elo
15.1 IM Canda Danilo 2289
0 - 1
 GM Topalov Veselin 2791
15.2 Espinoza Felix 2243
0 - 1
 GM Cheparinov Ivan 2696
15.3 FM Bravo William 2157
0 - 1
 GM Delchev Aleksander 2632
15.4 Alfaro William 2200
0 - 1
 GM Iotov Valentin 2532
Bo. 78 Singapore (SIN) Elo
1 : 3
 21 Poland (POL) Elo
16.1 IM Paciencia Enrique 2440
½ - ½
 GM Socko Bartosz 2631
16.2 IM Goh Weiming 2420
0 - 1
 GM Miton Kamil 2604
16.3 Chan Wei-Xuan Timothy 2264
0 - 1
 GM Gajewski Grzegorz 2577
16.4 CM Chan Yi-Ren Daniel 2260
½ - ½
 GM Bartel Mateusz 2602
Bo. 22 Serbia (SRB) Elo
3 : 1
 79 Algeria (ALG) Elo
17.1 GM Ivanisevic Ivan 2658
½ - ½
 GM Rizouk Aimen 2507
17.2 GM Solak Dragan 2595
½ - ½
 IM Sebih Kamel 2295
17.3 GM Perunovic Milos 2580
1 - 0
 Goutali Tarek 2225
17.4 GM Vuckovic Bojan 2561
1 - 0
 IM Haddouche Mohamed 2333

Standings

Rk. SNo Team Team
Games
  + 
  = 
  - 
 TB1 
 TB2 
 TB3 
TB4
1 9 Armenia ARM
3
3
0
0
6
64.0
8.0
11.0
2 11 Germany 1 GER1
3
3
0
0
6
56.0
8.0
10.0
3 15 England ENG
3
3
0
0
6
56.0
8.0
9.5
4 13 India IND
3
3
0
0
6
52.0
8.0
9.0
5 14 Romania ROU
3
3
0
0
6
52.0
8.0
9.0
6 1 Russia RUS
3
3
0
0
6
48.0
8.0
8.5
7 19 Norway NOR
3
3
0
0
6
48.0
8.0
8.5
8 12 Spain ESP
3
3
0
0
6
44.0
8.0
9.0
9 2 Ukraine UKR
3
3
0
0
6
40.0
8.0
7.5
10 4 Azerbaijan AZE
3
2
1
0
5
52.0
9.0
9.0
11 20 Netherlands NED
3
2
1
0
5
48.0
9.0
8.5
12 5 Hungary HUN
3
2
1
0
5
39.0
6.0
8.5
13 10 United States of America USA
3
2
1
0
5
36.0
8.0
8.0
14 21 Poland POL
3
2
0
1
4
50.0
10.0
8.5
15 29 Bosnia & Herzegovina BIH
3
2
0
1
4
46.0
10.0
7.5
16 3 China CHN
3
2
0
1
4
42.0
10.0
7.0
17 35 Lithuania LTU
3
1
2
0
4
40.0
8.0
7.0
18 36 Switzerland SUI
3
2
0
1
4
38.0
10.0
7.5
19 22 Serbia SRB
3
2
0
1
4
38.0
10.0
7.0
20 17 Georgia GEO
3
2
0
1
4
38.0
10.0
6.5

Round three women's section

The top seed, Russia, drew (and almost lost) against eleventh seed India. All other top teams won their matches.

Bo. 1 Russia (RUS) Elo
2 : 2
 11 India (IND) Elo
1.1 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2525
1 - 0
 IM Harika Dronavalli 2462
1.2 IM Kosintseva Tatiana 2513
0 - 1
 IM Tania Sachdev 2425
1.3 IM Kosintseva Nadezhda 2468
1 - 0
 WGM Mohota Nisha 2311
1.4 IM Korbut Ekaterina 2459
0 - 1
 WGM Swathi Ghate 2320
Bo. 59 El Salvador (ESA) Elo
1 : 3
 12 Germany 1 (GER1) Elo
2.1 WIM Zepeda Lorena 2159
½ - ½
 IM Kachiani-Gersinska Ketino 2371
2.2 WIM Zepeda Sonia 2118
0 - 1
 WGM Michna Marta 2399
2.3 WIM Castaneda Ada 2068
0 - 1
 WFM Ohme Melanie 2237
2.4 WFM Avelar Gabriela 2045
½ - ½
 WFM Hoolt Sarah 2274
Bo. 3 China (CHN) Elo
2½:1½
 17 Netherlands (NED) Elo
3.1 WGM Hou Yifan 2578
½ - ½
 GM Peng Zhaoqin 2455
3.2 GM Zhao Xue 2518
½ - ½
 FM Schuurman Petra 2324
3.3 Ju Wenjun 2397
½ - ½
 WIM Bensdorp Marlies 2303
3.4 Tan Zhongyi 2395
1 - 0
 WIM Van Weersel Arlette 2209
Bo. 4 Georgia (GEO) Elo
3 : 1
 21 Israel (ISR) Elo
4.1 GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2489
½ - ½
 IM Klinova Masha 2327
4.2 IM Dzagnidze Nana 2503
½ - ½
 IM Borsuk Angela 2398
4.3 IM Lomineishvili Maia 2437
1 - 0
 WIM Vasiliev Olga 2235
4.4 IM Khukhashvili Sopiko 2409
1 - 0
 WFM Efroimski Marsel 2052
Bo. 6 Armenia (ARM) Elo
4 : 0
 48 Germany 2 (GER2) Elo
5.1 IM Danielian Elina 2513
1 - 0
 Fuchs Judith 2238
5.2 IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2443
1 - 0
 Schoene Maria 2198
5.3 WIM Galojan Lilit 2305
1 - 0
 WFM Mader Manuela 2132
5.4 WIM Andriasian Siranush 2290
1 - 0
 Endress Anna 2067
Bo. 56 Venezuela (VEN) Elo
0 : 4
 8 Hungary (HUN) Elo
6.1 WGM Sanchez Castillo Sarai 2206
0 - 1
 GM Hoang Thanh Trang 2483
6.2 WIM Ubaldo Suarez Maria Gisela 2089
0 - 1
 IM Vajda Szidonia 2380
6.3 WIM Han Wong Irene Estefania 2098
0 - 1
 IM Madl Ildiko 2376
6.4 Hernandez Zaida 2039
0 - 1
 WGM Rudolf Anna 2318
Bo. 9 Poland (POL) Elo
4 : 0
 57 Mexico (MEX) Elo
7.1 IM Rajlich Iweta 2404
1 - 0
 WIM Esquivel De Leon Aurora 2037
7.2 WGM Zawadzka Jolanta 2378
1 - 0
 WIM Hernandez Guerrero Yadira 2228
7.3 WIM Majdan Joanna 2284
1 - 0
 WIM Mendoza Velazquez Lorena 2015
7.4 WIM Przezdziecka Marta 2327
1 - 0
 Real Pereyra Diana Karime 1766
Bo. 58 Denmark (DEN) Elo
0 : 4
 10 Serbia (SRB) Elo
8.1 WFM De Blecourt Sandra 2078
0 - 1
 IM Maric Alisa 2405
8.2 Fredericia Louise 2095
0 - 1
 IM Bojkovic Natasa 2420
8.3 Treppendahl Trine 2049
0 - 1
 WGM Stojanovic Andjelija 2357
8.4 Frank-Nielsen Marie 1971
0 - 1
 WGM Benderac Ana 2310
Bo. 47 Mongolia (MGL) Elo
1 : 3
 2 Ukraine (UKR) Elo
9.1 WGM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2410
1 - 0
 GM Lahno Kateryna 2488
9.2 WIM Yanjindulam Dulamsuren 2286
0 - 1
 WGM Zhukova Natalia 2488
9.3 Enxtuul Altanolzii 1977
0 - 1
 IM Gaponenko Inna 2473
9.4 Nyamtuya Onorjargal 1958
0 - 1
 WGM Zdebskaja Natalia 2419
Bo. 19 Greece (GRE) Elo
1½:2½
 67 Indonesia (INA) Elo
10.1 IM Dembo Yelena 2446
½ - ½
 WIM Sukandar Irine Kharisma 2303
10.2 WGM Botsari Anna-Maria 2308
0 - 1
 Lindiawati Evi 2121
10.3 WGM Makropoulou Marina 2265
1 - 0
 Dewi Aa Citra 1802
10.4 WIM Stiri Alexandra 2171
0 - 1
 Kadek Iin Dwijayanti 1859
Bo. 23 Lithuania (LTU) Elo
3½: ½
 78 Uruguay (URU) Elo
11.1 IM Cmilyte Viktorija 2512
1 - 0
 Colombo Camila 2071
11.2 WIM Daulyte Deimante 2278
1 - 0
 Silva Natalia 2029
11.3 WFM Limontaite Simona 2197
1 - 0
 Larrea Daniela 0
11.4 Ziogaite Jovita 2093
½ - ½
 Donatti Sofia 1678
Bo. 5 France (FRA) Elo
4 : 0
 62 Brazil (BRA) Elo
12.1 GM Sebag Marie 2533
1 - 0
 WFM Terao Juliana Sayumi 2143
12.2 IM Skripchenko Almira 2455
1 - 0
 WFM Feliciano Vanessa 2126
12.3 IM Collas Silvia 2352
1 - 0
 WIM Chaves Joara 2065
12.4 WGM Milliet Sophie 2366
1 - 0
 Coelho Tatiane Cristina 1820
Bo. 7 United States of America Elo
4 : 0
 63 Turkmenistan (TKM) Elo
13.1 IM Krush Irina 2452
1 - 0
 WFM Malikgulyewa Aykamar 2051
13.2 IM Zatonskih Anna 2440
1 - 0
 WFM Hallaeva Bahar 2119
13.3 WGM Goletiani Rusudan 2359
1 - 0
 Isaeva Aknyr 2063
13.4 WGM Rohonyan Katerina 2334
1 - 0
 Gozel Atabayeva 2020
Bo. 13 Bulgaria (BUL) Elo
4 : 0
 64 IBCA (IBCA) Elo
14.1 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2548
1 - 0
 WIM Zsiltzova-Lisenko Lubov 2265
14.2 WGM Djingarova Emilia 2352
1 - 0
 Maeckelberg Mieke 1959
14.3 WGM Voiska Margarita 2318
1 - 0
 Stolarczyk Anna 2001
14.4 WFM Raeva Elitsa 2251
1 - 0
 Fries Elisabeth 1738
Bo. 28 Azerbaijan (AZE) Elo
3 : 1
 74 Algeria (ALG) Elo
23.1 WGM Mamedjarova Zeinab 2351
1 - 0
 WIM Mezioud Amina 2028
23.2 WGM Mamedjarova Turkan 2269
0 - 1
 Hamza Amira 1880
23.3 Isgandarova Khayala 2206
1 - 0
 WFM Latreche Sabrina 2015
23.4 Kazimova Narmin Nizami qizi 2171
1 - 0
 Latreche Khadidja 1819

Standings

Rk. SNo Team Team
Games
  + 
  = 
  - 
 TB1 
 TB2 
 TB3 
TB4
1 8 Hungary HUN 3 3 0 0 6 60.0 8.0 11.0
2 6 Armenia ARM 3 3 0 0 6 60.0 8.0 10.0
3 9 Poland POL 3 3 0 0 6 56.0 8.0 10.0
4 10 Serbia SRB 3 3 0 0 6 52.0 8.0 9.0
5 3 China CHN 3 3 0 0 6 44.0 8.0 9.0
6 4 Georgia GEO 3 3 0 0 6 44.0 8.0 8.0
7 1 Russia RUS 3 2 1 0 5 52.0 9.0 9.0
8 11 India IND 3 2 1 0 5 40.0 9.0 7.5
9 2 Ukraine UKR 3 2 1 0 5 39.0 6.0 8.5
10 23 Lithuania LTU 3 2 1 0 5 39.0 6.0 8.5
11 12 Germany 1 GER1 3 2 1 0 5 30.0 6.0 7.5
12 67 Indonesia INA 3 2 1 0 5 27.0 6.0 8.5
13 18 Czech Republic CZE 3 2 0 1 4 46.0 10.0 9.0
14 25 Cuba CUB 3 2 0 1 4 46.0 10.0 9.0
15 16 Romania ROU 3 2 0 1 4 42.0 10.0 8.5
16 17 Netherlands NED 3 2 0 1 4 42.0 10.0 7.0
17 24 Vietnam VIE 3 2 0 1 4 40.0 10.0 8.0
18 21 Israel ISR 3 2 0 1 4 40.0 10.0 7.0
19 14 Slovenia SLO 3 2 0 1 4 38.0 9.0 8.5
20 15 Slovakia SVK 3 2 0 1 4 36.0 10.0 8.0

Pictorial impressions from Round Three

By André Schulz and Carsten Straub


A view of Dresden and the Elbe river


Not a mosque but a former tabacco factory


The start of round three, with the top boards on the stage


... while the rest of the teams play on the floor of the giant Congress Hall


Chief arbiter Ignatius Leong


Kema Goryaeva, formerly of FIDE, now working for UEP


Judit and Susan Polgar in a quick chat before the game


Austrian player Eva Moser (left)


Florian Jenni and Artur Jussupow


Top Ukrainian player Ekateryna Lahno (right)


Deputy arbiter Andrzey Filipowicz


Elsabeta Polychroniade, arbiter


Jan Gustafsson and Arkadij Naiditsch playing for Germany


Malaysia vs Germany


Ketino Kachiani-Gersinska and Marta Michna for Germany´


Germany vs El Salvador


Melanie Ohme and Sarah Hoolt


Germany's junior Olympiad team


Sebastian Bogner


Niclas Huschenbeth


Wales playing in a national dress


Wang Yue vs Magnus Carlsen


Van Wely (right) beat Teimour Radjabov in a King's Indian duel


The team from Azerbaijan, with Radjabov, Mamedyarov, Gashimov and Huseynov


Vladimir Akopian, Armenia


Ukraine vs Georgia


Norway, with Magnus Carlsen and Kjetil Lie


Carlsen vs Wang Yue


Johannessen vs Ni Hua


Hungary with Judit Polgar und Peter Leko


Ettienne Bacrot, France


Laurent Fressinet, France


Hikaru Nakamura, USA


Viktor Korchnoi, Switzerland


Yannick Pelletier, also playing for Switzerland


Jonathan Rowson


John Shaw


Ketewan Arkhamia-Grant


Top women's match India vs Russia


Natalia Zhukova, Ukraine


Natalia Zdebskaia


Irina Krush, USA


Anna Zatonskih


Rusudan Goletiani


Katerina Rohonyan


Antoaneta Stefanova


Maia Chiburdanidze


Vivian Smith, New Zealand


Natasha Fairley


Corinne Howard, Barbados


Rashida Corbin


Juanita Garnett


Katrina Blackman


Dorisbel Munoz , Dominican Republic


Kenia Jose Polanco


Half of the Mexican team


Player with a hat


Amina Meziod and Amira Hamsa, Algeria


sisters Sabrina and Khadidija Latreche


Khadidija Latreche


AlGohary Maiada


Basta-Sohair


Alaa El Din Yosra


Gamal Alaa


Team Korea


Lim Hakyung, aged ten


Kim Hyoyoung and Kim Minhee


Byun Sungwon, aged ten


Al-Khelaifi Salama


Al-Khelaifi Aisha


Safar Reem


Al-Khelaifi Kholoud


Milena Herrera, Columbia


Viktorija Cmilyte


Wilmairi Sanchez Rodriguez


Jo Ann Alvarez Orta


The terrace outside the Congress Center

Pictures by Carsten Straub and André Schulz in Dresden

Video by Europe Echecs


Video reports provided by Gérard Demuydt and GM Robert Fontaine by Europe Echecs

Live coverage on Playchess

A selection of 32 games will be broadcast live on our chess server Playchess.com. There will also be live video interviews with players after their games. If you are not a member of the Playchess community (which as of Monday, November 8th 2008 had 307,966 registered users) you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse the PGN games. If you have ChessBase, Fritz or any Fritz-compatible program (Rybka, Hiarcs, Shredder) you can automatically access the server. All these programs come with a one-year subscription to Playchess. Note that if you have a trial account you may not be able to watch the games if too many registered members are logged in.

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