Ukraine wins Olympiad teams; Russia wins Women's teams

Final results:

Gold: Ukraine
Silver: Russia 1
Bronze: Israel

Team USA (ranked #9 at the outset) finished 9th, beating Cuba 2½-1½ in the final round.

Women's team results:

Gold: Russia 1
Silver: China
Bronze: Georgia

The USA women (ranked #6 before play began) finished 5th.

More results at the official site.  And here are a few wrapups around the web:
 
ChessBase (Check out the crucial game Svidler-Salgado, in which the young Spanish GM spoiled Russia's chances for gold.  It's also featured by GM Yermolinsky at chessclub.com.)

ChessVibes

The Week in Chess

U.S. - Israeli tensions rising

Right here, right now!  Nakamura-Gelfand games tend to be decisive.
 
If the official site is overloaded, try The Week in Chess.   (There's a drop-down box above the live chessboard: the US-Israel games will probably be games 9 through 12 from the top.)

USA 2½ - Bulgaria 1½

Big win for Kamsky over Cheparinov!  Nakamura drew Topalov with Black, which is something of an accomplishment in its own right.

 Onischuk watches Kamsky: Photo Tony Rich

Story at Chess Life Online, as usual!  If you're wondering what was going on at the end of the Kamsky-Cheparinov game, my working theory is that Gata was afraid of a blockade position in which rook plus three healthy pawns might well draw against queen and two isolated pawns.  So Kamksy sacked the queen back,  preferring the rook ending as cleaner.

USA-China 2-2 tie: monster win for Yury Shulman!

Local boy makes good in Siberia. Shulman lost to Grischuk in this line five years ago; that game was also in Khanty Mansiysk. The Marshall Gambit in the Semi-Slav (4.e4) is incredibly difficult...and very entertaining!

The people's champion

That's the title New in Chess bestowed upon Ukraine's #1 player, Vassily Ivanchuk. I have absolutely no idea what's going on in the following game: enjoy!

Coffeehouse tactics question: why didn't Ivanchuk take the "free" queen offered by Baadur Jobava (who's having an amazing tournament despite this loss) with 31...Qc1? What's wrong with 32.Nxc1??

Round 7: Instant Karma

USA and Poland tied 2-2.  Onischuk wins, Nakamura loses his first game.

Coverage at Chess Life Online.

Tomorrow's breakfast match

Let's be honest: you probably have a friend or two, perhaps even a family member, rooting for the Packers tonight.

Tomorrow's breakfast match might generate similar divided loyalties, especially along the artery mentioned in an earlier post, Milwaukee Avenue.  It's USA vs. Poland.

I've previously hyped Poland's number-one player, Radosław Wojtaszek, as the world's hottest player since the Anand-Topalov match.  Working with Anand for several months can't be bad for one's chess!

There are three teams with 11 match points: Ukraine and darkhorse Georgia face off, while Armenia is paired down to archrival Azerbaijan.  Other teams tied with the USA at 10 match points: Russia 2 plays Russia 1 (!), and Hungary is paired down to Brazil.

Follow the action here!

(sotto voce) USA! USA!

USA 2½, Vietnam 1½: a peaceful and not at all imperialistic victory!  Read all about it on Chess Life Online.

Are Hikaru Nakamura's tweets vetted by his P.R. person?

P.S. from Siberia

North Shore Chess Center founder Sevan Muradian is currently attending the FIDE Executive Board Meeting in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia!  So we have three Chicagoans there: Muradian, Yury Shulman (representing USA in the Olympiad), and Mesgen Amanov (of Turkmenistan and Milwaukee Avenue).  Walter Brown (not the former US Champion Browne, but the national TD hailing from Illinois) is also in Khanty-Mansiysk.

Amanov led Turkmenistan to victory today with a brutal win in a topical line of the Queen's Indian.  His victim was the Lithuanian opening theoretician Eduardas Rozentalis:

USA - Vietnam Monday morning in Chess Olympiad

One of the big stories of this Olympiad is the emergence of Vietnam as a world chess power.   And they're going to be around for awhile: their top two boards were born in 1991 and 1990, and their alternate was born in 1989.

 Vietnam's Board 1, 19-year-old Le Quang Liem 

(from ugra-chess.com)

USA bounced back from its Friday loss to Russia 1 with a nice win against Argentina in Round 5 (details on Chess Life Online)

Hikaru Nakamura 
photo: Tony Rich CCSCSL / Chess Life Online)

So both the USA and Vietnam are 4-1 in match points, and they're paired for Round 6.  Check out the pre-dawn action (games begin at 4 a.m., which means you can enjoy the middle games with your morning coffee).

Follow the games here!

Olympiad update on Chess Life Online

Kramnik and Nakamura drew today: photo Tony Rich

Click here for coverage!

Correction to my last blog entry: would you believe the Russians have five teams??

Russia 3 - USA 1

Russia has three teams in the Olympiad: the USA just lost to Russia's #1 team 3-1.  Ouch.

Nice draw (King's Indian!) by Nakamura against Kramnik.

Kamsky overextended against Grischuk.

Karjakin beat Onischuk.

Shulman won a pawn against Malakhov, but not quite enough!

Hungary just beat China: Judit Polgar is going to score massively on Board 3.  Thanks to a win by Aronian, Armenia beat Russia 3 (whose first three boards are Jakovenko, Motylev, and Rublevsky!).

Several matches are finishing right now: check it out here.

P.S. Jobava beat Magnus Carlsen in the Georgia-Norway match.

Women: USA 3, Estonia 1

Wins by Krush and Zatonskih on Boards 1 and 2

At 7-1, the US is among the leaders, though not much is expected of this team because of the firepower of Russia, China, and Ukraine.  We'll see!

Results and games here.

USA 3.5, Mongolia 0.5

After two rounds, the USA is solidly among the leaders with 7½ points.  I believe that Ukraine, Poland, and dark horse Georgia all have a perfect 8-0.

Games are here!  If you click on the floppy-disk icon in the upper-right hand corner, you can download PGN from Rounds 1 and 2.

A tough pairing

In the Cuba-Turkmenistan match, Mesgen Amanov lost to one of the top players in the Western Hemisphere, Cuba's Leinier Dominguez Perez. 

I won't have time to try to digest this interesting-looking game (Sicilian Najdorf, English Attack), but you might take a look for yourself.

Over in Siberia: Board 3 for the Faroe Islands is kinda strong!

Yury Shulman won this game very smoothly, as the US got off to a 4-0 start.  Chicago's other home team, Turkmenistan, rolled 4-0, with Mesgen Amanov sitting out round 1.

But the Faroe Islands (population less than 50,000, or less than 1/140th the population of metropolitan Chicago) fields a very respectable team!

Olympiad begins tomorrow!

More info here.

Local angles: Grandmaster Yury Shulman of Barrington is once again representing the USA, this time on Board 4.

Grandmaster Mesgen Amanov of Northbrook is once again representing Turkmenistan on Board 1.