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Photo by Susan Polgar

The cream is rising to the top and the top boards are starting to draw more.  This years Olympiad being held in Dresden, Germany, they have instituted a new rule. No draws before 30 moves.  Even with this new rule some of the games appear to have gone down some quiet lines.

The U.S. did have sweeping success against Hong Kong.  They will need many more of these type results to close the medal gap.

Round 5 on 2008/11/17 at 15:00
Bo.	9	Armenia (ARM)	Rtg	-	20	Netherlands (NED)	Rtg	2½:1½
1.1	GM	Aronian Levon	2757	-	GM	Van Wely Loek	2618	½ - ½
1.2	GM	Akopian Vladimir	2679	-	GM	Smeets Jan	2604	½ - ½
1.3	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	2642	-	GM	Stellwagen Daniel	2605	1 - 0
1.4	GM	Petrosian Tigran L	2629	-	GM	L’Ami Erwin	2610	½ - ½
Bo.	11	Germany 1 (GER1)	Rtg	-	1	Russia (RUS)	Rtg	2 : 2
2.1	GM	Naiditsch Arkadij	2678	-	GM	Kramnik Vladimir	2772	½ - ½
2.2	GM	Khenkin Igor	2647	-	GM	Grischuk Alexander	2719	½ - ½
2.3	GM	Gustafsson Jan	2634	-	GM	Morozevich Alexander	2787	½ - ½
2.4	GM	Fridman Daniel	2630	-	GM	Jakovenko Dmitry	2737	½ - ½
Bo.	5	Hungary (HUN)	Rtg	-	2	Ukraine (UKR)	Rtg	1½:2½
3.1	GM	Leko Peter	2747	-	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	2786	0 - 1
3.2	GM	Polgar Judit	2711	-	GM	Karjakin Sergey	2730	0 - 1
3.3	GM	Almasi Zoltan	2663	-	GM	Eljanov Pavel	2720	1 - 0
3.4	GM	Balogh Csaba	2616	-	GM	Volokitin Andrei	2659	½ - ½
Bo.	19	Norway (NOR)	Rtg	-	4	Azerbaijan (AZE)	Rtg	1 : 3
4.1	GM	Carlsen Magnus	2786	-	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	2731	½ - ½
4.2	GM	Agdestein Simen	2588	-	GM	Gashimov Vugar	2703	0 - 1
4.3	GM	Lie Kjetil A	2526	-	GM	Huseynov Gadir	2650	½ - ½
4.4	IM	Hammer Jon Ludvig	2522	-	GM	Mammadov Rauf	2631	0 - 1

Round Six will see some interesting matchups. The top ten boards are listed below.
Read more…

Chess Tournaments, International Chess, News 38th Chess Olympiad, Armenia, Dresden, Germany, Levon Aronian, Netherlands, Vladimir Kramnik

Photo by Susan Polgar

The cream is rising to the top and Russia may still be a force to be reckoned with. There are only two teams undefeated thus far in the 38th Chess Olympiad being held in Dresden, Germany.

Today’s games promise to be exciting.  Germany has two teams competing because they are the host country this year. But it is their top team who is reaking all of the havoc.  Germany 1 faced Scotland round 1, Slovenia round 2, Malaysia round 3, and Spain round 4.

Russia’s road wasn’t any easier, they played Switzerland round 1, Poland round 2, Cuba round 3 and India round 4.

With GM Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany and GM Alexander Morozevich of Russia both having a strong tournament we should expect fireworks.

The rest of the field is not far behind with Armenia, Hungary, Norway, Azerbaijan, England, Ukraine and the Netherlands all with one point of the leaders.  The U.S. team has dropped down to the middle of the pack with 5 points and really needs to shift gears to get back in the medal race.

Chess Tournaments, International Chess, News 38th Chess Olympiad, Alexander Morozevich, Arkadij Naiditsch, Armenia, Dresden, England, Germany, Hungary, Russia, Susan Polgar, Ukraine

Photo by Susan Polgar

Just when it looked like the U.S. Team was picking up some speed, they suffered a horrific defeat to Azerbaijan. The U.S. could only muster two draws against the European match-up. With so much at stake its no wonder why GM Gata Kamsky played cautiously and defensively out of the opening. However, with these results can the Americans continue down this path? Below is the Round 4 match up with Azerbaijan GM Teimour Radjabov.
Round 5 will see the U.S. Team paired against Hong Kong. Read more…

Chess Theory, Chess Vocabulary, News, chess Sites, chess videos 38th Chess Olympiad, Azerbaijan, Dresden, Germany, GM Teimour Radjabov, Round 4 Results

Photo by Susan Polgar

It is unclear what is going on in Dresden, Germany at the Olympiad this year.  Last round was a virtual nightmare for reporting.  It would appear that several results were misreported on multiple sites including the official site of the tournament.  Several games showed both players winning, even after looking to TWIC for the actual game score errors were found with games duplicated for the team entry.  Let’s hope Round four has found some resolution to this debacle.  The man behind the curtain must be revealed.

In this photo it looks like GM Shulman just received a text message that his game result has already been posted around the world, complete with his annotation!

Bo.	4	Azerbaijan (AZE)	Rtg	-	10	United States of America (USA)	Rtg	3 : 1
6.1	GM	Radjabov Teimour	2752	-	GM	Kamsky Gata	2729	1-0
6.2	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	2731	-	GM	Nakamura Hikaru	2704	1-0
6.3	GM	Gashimov Vugar	2703	-	GM	Onischuk Alexander	2644	.5-.5
6.4	GM	Huseynov Gadir	2650	-	GM	Shulman Yuri	2616	.5-.5

Chess Tournaments, International Chess, News 38th Chess Olympiad, Dresden, Germany, GM Shulman, Round 4

After a surprising draw yesterday, the U.S. team storms back with a win over South Africa 3.5-.5. GM Gata Kamsky took a rest this round.  The Kobese-Nakamura game was a little interesting especially in the final position.  Some sites are reporting this game a win for Kobese, but the official score is showing Nakamura as the winner.  Tomorrow they face Azerbaijan.

Round 3 Open on 2008/11/15 at 15.00
Bo.	86	South Africa (RSA)	Rtg	-	10	United States (USA)	Rtg	0.5 : 3.5	>Games<
14.1	IM	Kobese Watu	2369	-	GM	Nakamura Hikaru	2704	0 : 1	>Game<
14.2	CM	Steel Henry Robert	2280	-	GM	Onischuk Alexander	2644	0 : 1	>Game<
14.3	CM	Cawdery Daniel	2265	-	GM	Shulman Yuri	2616	½ : ½	>Game<
14.4	IM	Mabusela Johanne Mayedi	2273	-	GM	Akobian Varuzhan	2606	0 : 1	>Game<

Chess Tournaments, International Chess, News GM Hikaru Nakamura, Watu Kobese