Olympiad R7: Armenia lead ahead of Germany, Israel and France

by ChessBase
11/21/2008 – The win came on board three: Gabriel Sargissian defeated Alexander Grischuk, and with it the Russian hopes of catching the leading Armenians. Now Kramnik and Co. are in the third tier, together with Ukraine, China, Vietnam and the US and behind Germany, Israel and France. In the women's section Ukraine has come to within a point of the leading Chinese. 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 seven open's section

Armenia defeated Russia, with Gabriel Sargissian taking a point from Alexander Grischuk. The Armenians now lead with 13/14 points. Germany beat Romania, Israel beat Spain and France beat India, which puts all three victorious teams in the slot behind Armenia, with 12/14 each. Russia is acutall behind them, as is Ukraine, China (that's seeds one, two and three), with Vietnam and USA in the same 11/14 bracket. Fifteen teams follow with 10/14 each, among them Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, India, Turkey (really!) and England.

A nice game to replay is Nigel Short's 25-move victory over world class GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Veselin Topalov played a dominating game against Australian GM Zhao Zong-Yuan, but then almost let victory slip away (he won in the end). Magnus Carlsen was 276 points stronger than his opponent, but only managed to draw. Gelfand drew Shirov and Leko drew Kamsky.

Top results of the open section

Bo. 9 Armenia (ARM) Rtg
2½:1½
 1 Russia (RUS) Rtg
1.1 GM Aronian Levon 2757
½ - ½
 GM Kramnik Vladimir 2772
1.2 GM Akopian Vladimir 2679
½ - ½
 GM Svidler Peter 2727
1.3 GM Sargissian Gabriel 2642
1 - 0
 GM Grischuk Alexander 2719
1.4 GM Petrosian Tigran L 2629
½ - ½
 GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2737
Bo. 11 Germany 1 (GER1) Rtg
2½:1½
 14 Romania (ROU) Rtg
2.1 GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2678
0 - 1
 GM Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter 2684
2.2 GM Gustafsson Jan 2634
1 - 0
 GM Istratescu Andrei 2633
2.3 GM Fridman Daniel 2630
½ - ½
 GM Parligras Mircea 2611
2.4 GM Baramidze David 2557
1 - 0
 GM Vajda Levente 2582
Bo. 3 China (CHN) Rtg
2 : 2
 2 Ukraine (UKR) Rtg
3.1 GM Wang Yue 2736
½ - ½
 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2786
3.2 GM Bu Xiangzhi 2714
½ - ½
 GM Karjakin Sergey 2730
3.3 GM Ni Hua 2710
½ - ½
 GM Efimenko Zahar 2680
3.4 GM Wang Hao 2696
½ - ½
 GM Volokitin Andrei 2659
Bo. 13 India (IND) Rtg
1½:2½
 7 France (FRA) Rtg
4.1 GM Sasikiran Krishnan 2694
½ - ½
 GM Bacrot Etienne 2705
4.2 GM Harikrishna P 2659
0 - 1
 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2716
4.3 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar 2603
½ - ½
 GM Fressinet Laurent 2676
4.4 GM Geetha Narayanan Gopal 2548
½ - ½
 GM Tkachiev Vladislav 2664
Bo. 8 Israel (ISR) Rtg
3 : 1
 12 Spain (ESP) Rtg
5.1 GM Gelfand Boris 2719
½ - ½
 GM Shirov Alexei 2726
5.2 GM Roiz Michael 2677
½ - ½
 GM Vallejo Pons Francisco 2664
5.3 GM Postny Evgeny 2674
1 - 0
 GM Illescas Cordoba Miguel 2604
5.4 GM Rodshtein Maxim 2609
1 - 0
 GM Khamrakulov Ibragim S 2580
Bo. 10 United States (USA) Rtg
2½:1½
 5 Hungary (HUN) Rtg
6.1 GM Kamsky Gata 2729
½ - ½
 GM Leko Peter 2747
6.2 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2704
½ - ½
 GM Almasi Zoltan 2663
6.3 GM Onischuk Alexander 2644
1 - 0
 GM Balogh Csaba 2616
6.4 GM Shulman Yuri 2616
½ - ½
 GM Berkes Ferenc 2645
Bo. 15 England (ENG) Rtg
2 : 2
 4 Azerbaijan (AZE) Rtg
7.1 GM Adams Michael 2734
½ - ½
 GM Radjabov Teimour 2752
7.2 GM Short Nigel D 2642
1 - 0
 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2731
7.3 GM Howell David W L 2593
0 - 1
 GM Gashimov Vugar 2703
7.4 GM Jones Gawain C B 2548
½ - ½
 GM Huseynov Gadir 2650
Bo. 27 Greece (GRE) Rtg
2 : 2
 23 Belarus (BLR) Rtg
8.1 GM Papaioannou Ioannis 2597
1 - 0
 GM Azarov Sergei 2613
8.2 GM Kotronias Vasilios 2587
1 - 0
 GM Zhigalko Sergei 2592
8.3 GM Banikas Hristos 2572
0 - 1
 GM Fedorov Alexei 2584
8.4 GM Mastrovasilis Dimitrios 2572
0 - 1
 GM Zhigalko Andrey 2568
Bo. 37 Vietnam (VIE) Rtg
2½:1½
 20 Netherlands (NED) Rtg
9.1 GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son 2567
1 - 0
 GM Van Wely Loek 2618
9.2 GM Le Quang Liem 2583
1 - 0
 GM Smeets Jan 2604
9.3 GM Dao Thien Hai 2510
0 - 1
 GM Stellwagen Daniel 2605
9.4 GM Tu Hoang Thong 2496
½ - ½
 GM L'Ami Erwin 2610
Bo. 6 Bulgaria (BUL) Rtg
4 : 0
 53 Australia (AUS) Rtg
10.1 GM Topalov Veselin 2791
1 - 0
 GM Zhao Zong-Yuan 2567
10.2 GM Cheparinov Ivan 2696
1 - 0
 IM Smerdon David 2470
10.3 GM Georgiev Kiril 2645
1 - 0
 IM Solomon Stephen J 2470
10.4 GM Delchev Aleksander 2632
1 - 0
 IM Xie George Wendi 2403
Bo. 21 Poland (POL) Rtg
3 : 1
 70 Mongolia (MGL) Rtg
11.1 GM Socko Bartosz 2631
1 - 0
 Gundavaa Bayarsaihan 2458
11.2 GM Miton Kamil 2604
0 - 1
 GM Hatanbaatar Bazar 2375
11.3 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2599
1 - 0
 Oyunbaatar Tumendemberel 2306
11.4 GM Gajewski Grzegorz 2577
1 - 0
 Bayarmandah Balgan 2339
Bo. 44 Italy (ITA) Rtg
2 : 2
 30 Sweden (SWE) Rtg
12.1 GM Caruana Fabiano 2640
1 - 0
 GM Berg Emanuel 2623
12.2 GM Godena Michele 2517
½ - ½
 GM Agrest Evgenij 2574
12.3 IM Shytaj Luca 2472
0 - 1
 GM Hillarp Persson Tiger 2543
12.4 IM Brunello Sabino 2455
½ - ½
 GM Carlsson Pontus 2515
Bo. 55 Bangladesh (BAN) Rtg
2 : 2
 19 Norway (NOR) Rtg
13.1 GM Rahman Ziaur 2510
½ - ½
 GM Carlsen Magnus 2786
13.2 GM Hossain Enamul 2494
1 - 0
 GM Lie Kjetil A 2526
13.3 GM Abdulla Al-Rakib 2522
½ - ½
 GM Johannessen Leif Erlend 2545
13.4 FM Abu Sufian Shakil 2418
0 - 1
 IM Hammer Jon Ludvig 2522
Bo. 66 Costa Rica (CRC) Rtg
½ :3½
 50 Turkey (TUR) Rtg
14.1 GM Ramirez Alejandro 2533
½ - ½
 GM Gurevich Mikhail 2634
14.2 IM Valdes Leonardo 2401
0 - 1
 IM Can Emre 2464
14.3 IM Hernandez Francisco 2247
0 - 1
 IM Erdogdu Mert 2449
14.4 Vargas Serano Pablo 1978
0 - 1
 IM Haznedaroglu Kivanc 2436
Bo. 71 New Zealand (NZL) Rtg
2½:1½
 29 Bosnia Herzegovina (BIH) Rtg
15.1 GM Chandler Murray G 2515
1 - 0
 GM Nikolic Predrag 2669
15.2 IM Dive Russell John 2357
0 - 1
 GM Predojevic Borki 2615
15.3 FM Nokes Roger I 2293
½ - ½
 GM Saric Ibro 2559
15.4 FM Lukey Stephen G 2271
1 - 0
 IM Stojanovic Dalibor 2455
Bo. 17 Georgia (GEO) Rtg
3½: ½
 46 Scotland (SCO) Rtg
16.1 GM Jobava Baadur 2664
1 - 0
 GM Rowson Jonathan 2596
16.2 GM Izoria Zviad 2610
½ - ½
 GM Aagaard Jacob 2528
16.3 GM Mchedlishvili Mikheil 2615
1 - 0
 GM Shaw John 2469
16.4 GM Arutinian David 2584
1 - 0
 GM McNab Colin A 2455
Bo. 22 Serbia (SRB) Rtg
3 : 1
 52 Finland (FIN) Rtg
17.1 GM Ivanisevic Ivan 2658
½ - ½
 GM Nyback Tomi 2639
17.2 GM Solak Dragan 2595
½ - ½
 IM Sammalvuo Tapani 2463
17.3 GM Perunovic Milos 2580
1 - 0
 IM Agopov Mikael 2449
17.4 GM Vuckovic Bojan 2561
1 - 0
 IM Karttunen Mika 2411

Top rankings (ten match points or higher)

Rk. SNo Team Team
Gms
  + 
  = 
  - 
 TB1 
 TB2 
 TB3 
TB4
1 9 Armenia ARM
7
6
1
0
13
165.0
58.0
20.5
2 11 Germany 1 GER1
7
5
2
0
12
149.5
59.0
19.0
3 8 Israel ISR
7
5
2
0
12
141.5
50.0
19.0
4 7 France FRA
7
5
2
0
12
137.0
55.0
19.0
5 1 Russia RUS
7
5
1
1
11
155.0
64.0
17.5
6 2 Ukraine UKR
7
4
3
0
11
149.5
67.0
16.0
7 3 China CHN
7
5
1
1
11
145.0
57.0
18.0
8 37 Vietnam VIE
7
5
1
1
11
130.0
50.0
20.0
9 10 USA USA
7
5
1
1
11
116.0
52.0
18.0
10 4 Azerbaijan AZE
7
4
2
1
10
147.5
62.0
18.5
11 6 Bulgaria BUL
7
5
0
2
10
147.5
51.0
21.0
12 17 Georgia GEO
7
5
0
2
10
136.5
57.0
17.5
13 27 Greece GRE
7
3
4
0
10
133.5
60.0
17.5
14 21 Poland POL
7
5
0
2
10
133.5
54.0
19.5
15 13 India IND
7
5
0
2
10
130.0
55.0
17.5
16 14 Romania ROU
7
5
0
2
10
125.5
54.0
17.5
17 22 Serbia SRB
7
5
0
2
10
124.0
54.0
17.5
18 28 Slovenia SLO
7
5
0
2
10
123.0
53.0
18.0
19 50 Turkey TUR
7
4
2
1
10
122.0
47.0
19.5
20 15 England ENG
7
4
2
1
10
120.5
57.0
17.0
21 25 Slovakia SVK
7
5
0
2
10
119.0
48.0
20.0
22 23 Belarus BLR
7
4
2
1
10
115.0
52.0
18.0
23 24 Croatia CRO
7
5
0
2
10
108.5
46.0
16.0
24 71 New Zealand NZL
7
5
0
2
10
91.0
44.0
16.5

Round seven women's section

The United States held China to a 2:2 draw, while Ukraine defeated The Netherlands 3½:½ and so crept up to within a point of the dominant Chinese girls. Russia drew against Poland and now shares the third tier with USA, Hungary, Serbia, Poland and India.

Bo. 3 China (CHN) Rtg
2 : 2
 7 United States (USA) Rtg
1.1 WGM Hou Yifan 2578
1 - 0
 IM Krush Irina 2452
1.2 GM Zhao Xue 2518
½ - ½
 IM Zatonskih Anna 2440
1.3 WGM Shen Yang 2450
½ - ½
 WGM Goletiani Rusudan 2359
1.4 Tan Zhongyi 2395
0 - 1
 WGM Rohonyan Katerina 2334
Bo. 12 Germany 1 (GER1) Rtg
2 : 2
 33 Italy (ITA) Rtg
2.1 IM Paehtz Elisabeth 2471
0 - 1
 IM Sedina Elena 2365
2.2 IM Kachiani-Gersinska Ketino 2371
½ - ½
 WGM Zimina Olga 2368
2.3 WGM Michna Marta 2399
1 - 0
 WFM Ambrosi Eleonora 2128
2.4 WFM Hoolt Sarah 2274
½ - ½
 WFM Brunello Marina 2117
Bo. 1 Russia (RUS) Rtg
2 : 2
 9 Poland (POL) Rtg
3.1 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2525
½ - ½
 IM Socko Monika 2434
3.2 IM Kosintseva Tatiana 2513
0 - 1
 IM Rajlich Iweta 2404
3.3 IM Korbut Ekaterina 2459
1 - 0
 WGM Zawadzka Jolanta 2378
3.4 WGM Pogonina Natalija 2474
½ - ½
 WIM Majdan Joanna 2284
Bo. 17 Netherlands (NED) Rtg
½ :3½
 2 Ukraine (UKR) Rtg
4.1 GM Peng Zhaoqin 2455
0 - 1
 GM Lahno Kateryna 2488
4.2 FM Schuurman Petra 2324
0 - 1
 IM Ushenina Anna 2496
4.3 WIM Bensdorp Marlies 2303
0 - 1
 IM Gaponenko Inna 2473
4.4 WIM Van Weersel Arlette 2209
½ - ½
 WGM Zdebskaja Natalia 2419
Bo. 8 Hungary (HUN) Rtg
3 : 1
 47 Mongolia (MGL) Rtg
5.1 GM Hoang Thanh Trang 2483
1 - 0
 WIM Yanjindulam Dulamsuren 2286
5.2 IM Vajda Szidonia 2380
1 - 0
 Enxtuul Altanolzii 1977
5.3 IM Madl Ildiko 2376
1 - 0
 Nyamtuya Onorjargal 1958
5.4 WIM Schneider Veronika 2315
0 - 1
 Munhchuluun Cegmed 1969
Bo. 13 Bulgaria (BUL) Rtg
1½:2½
 11 India (IND) Rtg
6.1 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2548
½ - ½
 IM Harika Dronavalli 2462
6.2 WGM Djingarova Emilia 2352
0 - 1
 IM Tania Sachdev 2425
6.3 WGM Voiska Margarita 2318
1 - 0
 WGM Swathi Ghate 2320
6.4 WFM Raeva Elitsa 2251
0 - 1
 WGM Gomes Mary Ann 2298
Bo. 10 Serbia (SRB) Rtg
3½: ½
 24 Vietnam (VIE) Rtg
7.1 IM Maric Alisa 2405
1 - 0
 WGM Le Thanh Tu 2324
7.2 IM Bojkovic Natasa 2420
½ - ½
 WFM Pham Le Thao Nguyen 2304
7.3 WGM Stojanovic Andjelija 2357
1 - 0
 WIM Le Kieu Thien Kim 2291
7.4 WGM Chelushkina Irina 2360
1 - 0
 WGM Hoang Thi Bao Tram 2250
Bo. 5 France (FRA) Rtg
3½: ½
 35 Kazakhstan (KAZ) Rtg
8.1 GM Sebag Marie 2533
1 - 0
 WIM Dauletova Gulmira 2253
8.2 IM Skripchenko Almira 2455
½ - ½
 WGM Sergeeva Maria 2325
8.3 IM Collas Silvia 2352
1 - 0
 WFM Rysbayeva Aigerim 2180
8.4 WGM Leconte Maria 2349
1 - 0
 WCM Saduakassova Dinara 1863
Bo. 37 Ecuador (ECU) Rtg
2½:1½
 31 England (ENG) Rtg
11.1 IM Fierro Baquero Martha L 2361
1 - 0
 IM Houska Jovanka 2399
11.2 WIM Moncayo Romero Evelyn 2142
1 - 0
 IM Ciuksyte Dagne 2339
11.3 Heredia Serrano Carla 2105
0 - 1
 WIM Lauterbach Ingrid 2178
11.4 Rojas Solano Jessenia 1959
½ - ½
 WFM Grigoryan-Lyell Meri 2076
Bo. 6 Armenia (ARM) Rtg
3 : 1
 36 Austria (AUT) Rtg
16.1 IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2443
½ - ½
 IM Moser Eva 2376
16.2 WGM Aginian Nelly 2325
1 - 0
 WFM Kopinits Anna-Christina 2270
16.3 WIM Galojan Lilit 2305
1 - 0
 WFM Novkovic Julia 2161
16.4 WIM Andriasian Siranush 2290
½ - ½
 WIM Mira Helene 2115

Top rankings (ten match points or higher)

Rk. SNo Team Team Gms   +    =    -   TB1   TB2   TB3  TB4
1 3 China CHN 7 6 1 0 13 176.0 61.0 20.5
2 2 Ukraine UKR 7 5 2 0 12 161.0 55.0 20.5
3 1 Russia RUS 7 4 3 0 11 166.0 60.0 20.0
4 7 USA USA 7 5 1 1 11 156.0 57.0 20.5
5 8 Hungary HUN 7 5 1 1 11 154.0 59.0 20.0
6 10 Serbia SRB 7 5 1 1 11 133.0 56.0 18.5
7 9 Poland POL 7 5 1 1 11 132.0 62.0 17.5
8 11 India IND 7 5 1 1 11 127.5 56.0 17.0
9 4 Georgia GEO 7 4 2 1 10 141.5 59.0 17.5
10 5 France FRA 7 5 0 2 10 140.0 52.0 21.0
11 17 Netherlands NED 7 5 0 2 10 134.5 63.0 16.5
12 14 Slovenia SLO 7 4 2 1 10 129.5 52.0 19.5
13 6 Armenia ARM 7 5 0 2 10 120.0 60.0 16.5
14 28 Azerbaijan AZE 7 4 2 1 10 114.0 56.0 16.0
15 16 Romania ROU 7 5 0 2 10 113.0 53.0 18.0
16 37 Ecuador ECU 7 5 0 2 10 111.5 52.0 17.5
17 32 Moldova MDA 7 5 0 2 10 111.5 51.0 17.0
18 43 Uzbekistan UZB 7 5 0 2 10 105.0 50.0 17.0

Pictorial impressions from Round Seven

By André Schulz and Carsten Straub


A view in the playing hall


William Hook of the British Virgin Islands is playing at an Olympiad for the seventeenth
time!. He paints and has just published a book


Nigel Short in the typical pose of an International Grandmaster


Once agains saturation crowds in front of the stage in the playing hall


The German trainer Uwe Bönsch with his players (Gustavsson and Naiditsch)


Jan Gustafsson


Arkadij Naiditsch


David Baramidze


Liviu-Dieter Nidipeanu


Andrei Istratescu


Germany against Rumania


Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Svidler


Dresden Mayor Helma Orosz is supposed to make the first move for Aronian


"That one there – move it two squared forwards..."


Was that okay? Did I get it right? I should do this for you more often.


Alexander Grischuk lost to Gabriel Sargissian


Germany vs Italy – 2:2


The German team with WFM Sarah Hoolt and WGM Marta Michna (who won her game)


IM Elena Sedina 2365, defeated IM Elisabeth Paehtz, 2471, with the black pieces


Elli Pähtz (pronounced pay-ts), a former Women's Junior World Champion


IM Ketino Kachiani-Gersinska, 2371, playing on board two for Germany


WGM Marta Michna, 2399


WFM Sarah Hoolt, 2274


The leading Chinese girls with Zhao Xue (left) and Hou Yifan


IM Irina Krush of the US leans across with determination against young Hou Yifan


Crowds around the match-up Russia (with Kramnik) against Armenia (Akopian, Aronian)


Everyone's favourite: Natalia Pogonina of Russia


GM Ekaterina Lahno, top board for Ukraine


US IM Zatonskih Anna, rated 2440


Italio-American prodigy Fabiano Caruana


Anastasia Gavrilova


Ukraine vs China


India vs France, with Harikrishna, 2659 facing Vachier-Lagrave, 2716. The latter won.


Azerbaijan vs England – 2:2


Tatiana Kosintseva, Alexandra Kosteniuk from the Russian women't team


Nadeshda Kosintseva has a free day and does some video


The Netherlands vs Ukraine: Arlette van Weersel and Marlies Bensdorp against Inna Gaponenko and Natalia Zdebskaja

Swedish GM Pia Cramling


Fatima Reis from Angola


Sonia Rosalina


Valquiria Rocha


Nelma Lopes


Helgi Dam Ziska of the Faroe Islands beat amongst other Loek van Wely


Heini Olsen


Martin Poulsen


Joan Hendrik Andreasen

TV ChessBase


Leontxo Garcia interviews Uvencio Blanco 


Natalia Straub, Melanie Ohme, Manuela Mader


André Schulz and Arthur Kogan


Emil Sutovsky reports on the negotiations with FIDE regarding the Kamsky-Topalov match


Lars Bo Hansen analyses


Boris Avrukh shows us a crazy game


David Baramidze scored a valuable point for Germany today


Fabiano Caruana played a great game in round seven


Anna Sharevich (right) won her game nicely in the ending


Hou Yifan beat Irina Krush


The ChessBase video team: Natalia und Carsten Straub

Pictures by Carsten Straub and André Schulz in Dresden

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