Chess Olympiad 2008Today was the first round of games in the 38th Chess Olympiad being held in Dresden, Germany.  We are expecting the United States team to get a medal this year.  We have one of the strongest teams we have ever put together.

The U.S. team includes Gata Kamsky,  Alexander Onischuk, Yuri Shulman, Nakamura and Varuzhan Akobian.  The U.S. played Iceland in the first match and won 2.5 to 1.5.  Kamsky drew on board one while Shulman was beat by GM Henrik Danielsen.

The Shulman-Danielsen game was pretty good, however, I would love to know what kind time was left at the end of the game.  It appeared that Shulman kinda broke down in the final position as if the moves were blitzed off or something. The game is available here.

GM Hikaru Nakamura did not play the first round which allowed alternate Akobian to get in early.  FM Mike Klein is one of the masters covering the tournament for the United States Chess Federation.  He has a very detailed report here.  If you are unfamiliar with the United States Chess Federation click here for their site.

Round 1 on 2008/11/13 at 15:00
Bo. 45 ISL Iceland (ISL) Rtg - 10 USA United States of America (USA) Rtg 1½:2½
11.1 GM Stefansson Hannes 2575 - GM Kamsky Gata 2729 ½ – ½
11.2 GM Steingrimsson Hedinn 2540 - GM Onischuk Alexander 2644 0 – 1
11.3 GM Danielsen Henrik 2492 - GM Shulman Yuri 2616 1 – 0
11.4 IM Kristjansson Stefan 2474 - GM Akobian Varuzhan 2606 0 – 1
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