Top Boards draw in Dresden, Rd. 5

November 17th, 2008
Photo by Susan Polgar

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 ARM Armenia (ARM) Rtg - 20 NED 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 GER Germany 1 (GER1) Rtg - 1 RUS 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 HUN Hungary (HUN) Rtg - 2 UKR 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 NOR Norway (NOR) Rtg - 4 AZE 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…

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Germany and Russia undefeated, Play round 5

November 17th, 2008
Photo by Susan Polgar

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.

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Kamsky Falls to Aggressive Play

November 16th, 2008

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…

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Round 4 Underway in Dresden!

November 16th, 2008
Photo by Susan Polgar

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 AZE Azerbaijan (AZE) Rtg - 10 USA 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

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U.S. Strikes Back Against South Africa

November 15th, 2008

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<

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