Olympiad R4: Germany ahead of Russia

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 four men's section

The sensation of the fourth round was the victory by Germany over Spain (with Arkadij Naiditsch using the Berlin Defence taking a full point with black from Alexei Shirov), which put Germany in first place, a few tiebreak points ahead of Russia. Both teams have won all their matches so far. In round four Russia beat India when Krishnan Sasikiran agreed to a draw against Vladimir Kramnik in a promising position ("Sashi" had very little time on his clock) and Surya Ganguly succumbed to Alexander Grischuk. Ukraine and Armenia drew all their games against each other and are both now in the group with 7/8 points. In a bit of a political match eight seed Israel defeated 49th seed Egypt, with GMs Gelfand and Avrukh scoring the winning points. Egypt struck back with a consolution point scored by Egyptian FM Abdel Razik Khaled, rated 2406, against Israeli GM Postny Evgeny, 2674.

• All results from the men's section (with java replay of games)
• All available games from R01 – R02 – R03 – R04

Round four women's section

In this section China and Poland have won all their matches and lead with 8/8, Russia being ahead on tiebreak points. In the second group with 7/8 we find Russia, Hungary, Georgia and India.

• All results from the women's section (with java replay of games)
• All available games from R01 – R02 – R03 – R04

I was in Dresden!

By Lakhdar Mazouz

After some unexpected downs during the first two rounds, the Olympiads have entered their normal routine: routine in the sense that players are getting used to the new regulations adopted by FIDE and have become accustomed to transport from and to the playing scene.

The interest of the media and the public is huge. On Saturday, the Congress hall where the chess is being played, was totally crowded. People of all ages were moving around like ants, never tired to watch the games on the screens, to throw a glimpse on the playing ground, to watch eagerly on a big board live comments and analysis made with great command by GM S. Polgar or GM K. Bischof. Moreover, numerous fans invaded shops selling chess material, books and souvenirs.

All eyes were focused on the super stars like Kramnik, Topalov, Carlsen, Aronian, Leko, Kamsky and Polgar. But there was also a big interest in the diversity of chess players coming from all continents. It is always a special happening during the Olympiads when so many nations meet and commune together. Chess is indeed one of the few sport activities that makes this possible.

With each round, the playing ground, although very vast, gives the impression of being overfilled with such gathering of players, arbiters, officials and spectators. This is not surprising when a record number of teams compete for the privilege of getting the much revered medals. One can sense the excitement and fiber that radiate in the playing hall. The whole atmosphere is unique. There is nothing so nice and attractive in chess to compare with the Olympiads.

Furthermore, this exceptional gathering is taking place in Dresden, a city with a long and rich history, known to host many monuments such as the “ Frauenkirche” Church, a city that encourages culture and arts and that is proud of its impressive achievements through the years. Olympiad participants must certainly be happy to belong to the very few selected people who will say later: I was in Dresden!

Source: FIDE

Pictorial impressions from Round Four

By André Schulz and Carsten Straub

Armenis vs Ukraine: Levon Aronian, Vladimir Akopian

Levon Aronian, top Armenian GM

Top Ukrainians Sergey Karjakin and Vassily Ivanchuk


Gabriel Sargissian and Tigran L Petrosian on the Armenian side

Andrej Volokitin and Zahar Efimenko

The ceremonial first moves were made by Prof. Christian Hesse and actor/singer Vaile

Vaile, a keen amateur player, executes the first move on the board of Hoang Thanh Trang

Naiditsch, Igor Khenkin, playing for Germany

David Baramidze, who scored a valuable point for Germany in round four

Elisabeth Pähtz and Ketino Kachiani-Gersinska on the German women's team

Tania Sachdev and Harika Dronavalli


Tania

Elisabeth Pähtz

Sara Hoolt

Marta Michna

Lela Javakhishvili, Maia Lomineishvili


Top Hungarian player Hoang Thanh Trang, originally from Vietnam


"Commonwelth Team" Nigel Short and Pentala Harikrishna

Pentala Harikrishna, one of India's top GMs

India vs Russia, with Harikrishna and Sasikiran facting Svidler and Kramnik


Surya Ganguly, Alexander Morozevich and Alexander Grischuk

In a good mood: Peter Svidler and Vlad Kramnik

Alexander Morozevich

Veselin Topalov


Ivan Cheparinov

Leko and Polgar playing for Hungary

Bartosz Socko


Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu


Fabiano Caruana, playing for Italy

Michele Godena, Italy


Sabino Brunello


Luca Shytaj


Vasilios Kotronias, Greece


Susanto Megaranto , Indonesien


Sadikin Irwanto


Simbolon Yohannes

Farid Firmansyah

Pia Cramling, Sweden

Poland with Monicka Socko and Iweta Rajlich


Jolanta Zawadzka, Joanna Majdan

Lorena Zepeda

Sonia Zepeda

Gabriela Avelar

Ingrid Sanchez

Batkhuyag Munguntuul if Mongolia

Dulamsuren Yanjindulam

Altanolzii Enxtuul

Cegmed Munhchuluun

Yelena Dembo

Anna-Maria Botsari

Marina Makropoulou

Ekaterini Fakhiridou

Mira Dedijer, Bosnien-Herzegowina

Nermina Malokas

German players Elisabeth Pähtz and Melanie Ohme


The "Bulgarian Delegation"

TV ChessBase

Today our star guest with André Schulz: Sophie Leko


Sophie Leko revealed the secrets of what it is like to be married to a GM

André Schulz interviews Chief Arbiter Ignatius Leong

Jobava Baduur after his win against Vassily Ivanschuk

Pictures by Carsten Straub and André Schulz in Dresden

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.

Links

• Official Olympiad web site
• All ChessBase reports on the Olympiad
• Full information on the teams and quotas, registration, travel, accommodation, the FIDE Congress, contacts, etc. can be found in our first report on the Olympiad