2010 Chess Olympiad - Round 4 Women

The USA did not do so good today, at least, I didn't think so - they split the match with Hungary -- I believe that means each team earns 1 point, but not sure.



IM Irina Krush, R3

 Round 4 on 2010/09/24 at 15:00
Bo. 9 Hungary (HUN) Rtg - 6 United States of America (USA) Rtg 2 : 2
3.1 GM Hoang Thanh Trang 2482 - IM Krush Irina 2490 0 - 1
3.2 IM Madl Ildiko 2397 - IM Zatonskih Anna 2480 1 - 0
3.3 IM Vajda Szidonia 2342 - WFM Abrahamyan Tatev 2352 1 - 0
3.4 WGM Rudolf Anna 2366 - WGM Foisor Sabina-Francesca 2293 0 - 1

Perhaps I am expecting too much?  I don't know - but it seems like Anna Zatonskih is off form.  That can happen to a player at any time, of course, but I didn't want it to happen to a player on MY team right now!  Maybe she has a bit of rust because she has not played in any events (that I'm aware of) since the US Women's Championship in July, where she seemed slightly off-form but still put up a 7.5/9 score!  Irina Krush is on top of her game and, at present, also on top of the Women's leader board for Performance Rating with a scintillating 3037 (her ELO is 2490 for comparison) after 4 rounds.  YOU GO, GIRL! 

Tomorrow the American Women face off against Slovenia, and that won't be a stroll through the park.  As in Dresden in 2008, this is a "shortened" format -- no longer 13 games, only 9 now - and tomorrow's round will put everyone over the half-way there mark.  Wow.

How did the Canadian ladies do - Mr. Don wants to know!  Hmmm, not so good.  They were outranked each by about 200 points AND they were playing behind the black pieces.  The 2010 City of Montreal Women's Chess Champion, however -- WIM Yuan Yuanling -- was able to hold her game for a draw.

Round 4 on 2010/09/24 at 15:00
Bo. 22 Latvia (LAT) Rtg - 58 Canada (CAN) Rtg 3½: ½
16.1 WGM Reizniece Dana 2318 - WIM Yuan Yuanling 2189 ½ - ½
16.2 WGM Berzina Ilze 2283 - WIM Kagramanov Dina 2086 1 - 0
16.3 WIM Skinke Katrina 2217 - Lacau-Rodean Iulia 2024 1 - 0
16.4 WFM Ni Viktorija 2199 - Orlova Yelizaveta 1917 1 - 0

Women's Team Canada is currently in 46th place (start 58th).  USA Women are in 6th, which is where they started at.

Women's Team Georgia had a tough match loss today against Russian Women 1, who were evidently quite pumped and primed for this match-up, but it took a victory from Gallimova -- which seemed to shock the hell out of everyone, they forget she is a very fine chessplayer and that sort of ticked me off and maybe it ticked her off too -- to put Russia Women 1 over the top to take the match by half a point.

Round 4 on 2010/09/24 at 15:00
Bo. 4 Georgia (GEO) Rtg - 1 Russia 1 (RUS1) Rtg 1½:2½
2.1 GM Dzagnidze Nana 2534 - GM Kosintseva Tatiana 2573 ½ - ½
2.2 IM Javakhishvili Lela 2451 - IM Kosintseva Nadezhda 2565 ½ - ½
2.3 IM Melia Salome 2439 - GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2524 ½ - ½
2.4 IM Khotenashvili Bela 2464 - IM Galliamova Alisa 2482 0 - 1

As a result of Gallimova's win, Russian Women 1 catapulted into 4th place but the Georgian Women aren't going to roll over and play dead, darlings.

Here are the top 10 women's teams after R4:

Rk. SNo Team Team Games + = - TB1 TB2 TB3 TB4
1 3 Ukraine UKR 4 4 0 0 8 54,0 13,0 18,00
2 2 China CHN 4 4 0 0 8 50,5 13,0 17,00
3 12 Bulgaria BUL 4 4 0 0 8 42,0 11,0 16,00
4 1 Russia 1 RUS1 4 4 0 0 8 39,0 12,5 14,00
5 9 Hungary HUN 4 3 1 0 7 50,0 11,5 19,00
6 6 United States of America USA 4 3 1 0 7 49,5 12,5 18,00
7 14 Romania ROU 4 3 1 0 7 45,0 13,0 15,00
8 13 Slovenia SLO 4 3 1 0 7 34,0 10,0 14,00
9 8 India IND 4 3 0 1 6 49,0 12,0 18,00
10 4 Georgia GEO 4 3 0 1 6 46,0 12,0 18,00

How are the chess femmes doing who are playing on the Open teams?

GM Judit Polgar continues to impress and, judging from comments I've read around the internet the past couple of days, more than a few chess dudes have absolutely fallen in love all over again :)  By single-handedly pulling Team Hungary to match victory today, the Lady continues to add to her legend; from what I understand, she did it in fine style, too:

Round 4 on 2010/09/24 at 15:00
Bo. 5 Hungary (HUN) Rtg - 3 China (CHN) Rtg 2½:1½
2.1 GM Leko Peter 2724 - GM Wang Yue 2732 ½ - ½
2.2 GM Almasi Zoltan 2707 - GM Wang Hao 2724 ½ - ½
2.3 GM Polgar Judit 2682 - GM Bu Xiangzhi 2695 1 - 0
2.4 GM Berkes Ferenc 2678 - GM Li Chao B 2633 ½ - ½

GM Viktorija Cmilyte, Lithuana, Board 3, at 2.0/3 and doing her job:



GM Viktorija Cmilyte, R2

 Round 4 on 2010/09/24 at 15:00
Bo. 91 Algeria (ALG) Rtg - 39 Lithuania (LTU) Rtg ½ :3½
41.1 IM Haddouche Mohamed 2425 - GM Sulskis Sarunas 2544 ½ - ½
41.2 Oussedik Mahfoud 2222 - GM Cmilyte Viktorija 2513 0 - 1
41.3 Khelfallah Badreddine 2183 - GM Malisauskas Vidmantas 2510 0 - 1
41.4 Gueroui Nasreddine 2106 - IM Zagorskis Darius 2497 0 - 1

GM Zhu Chen, Qatar, Board 3 - ah p, she didn't have a good day individually but Team Qatar won the match:

Round 4 on 2010/09/24 at 15:00
Bo. 105 Malta (MLT) Rtg - 55 Qatar (QAT) Rtg 1 : 3
42.1 IM Sorensen Torben 2418 - GM Al-Sayed Mohammed 2495 0 - 1
42.2 CM Pace Colin 2161 - GM Zhu Chen 2480 1 - 0
42.3 Gauci Joseph 2099 - IM Nezad Husein Aziz 2394 0 - 1
42.4 Sammut Briffa Peter 2005 - Al-Tamimi Hamad 2250 0 - 1

GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant, Scotland, Board 2 - held her own - she did good:

Round 4 on 2010/09/24 at 15:00
Bo. 63 Scotland (SCO) Rtg - 41 Kazakhstan (KAZ) Rtg 1 : 3
37.1 GM McNab Colin A 2445 - GM Kazhgaleyev Murtas 2620 ½ - ½
37.2 GM Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan 2451 - GM Jumabayev Rinat 2547 ½ - ½
37.3 GM Shaw John 2446 - IM Kuderinov Kirill 2481 0 - 1
37.4 FM Morrison Graham 2345 - GM Ismagambetov Anuar 2492 0 - 1

WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni, Luxembourg, Board 5 - she's hanging in and getting the job done:

Round 4 on 2010/09/24 at 15:00
Bo. 90 Luxembourg (LUX) Rtg - 78 IBCA (IBCA) Rtg 1½:2½
40.1 IM Wiedenkeller Michael 2431 - IM Meshkov Yuri A 2419 1 - 0
40.2 Jeitz Christian 2235 - IM Krylov Sergey 2359 0 - 1
40.3 FM Mossong Hubert 2184 - FM Mueller Oliver 2311 0 - 1
40.4 WIM Steil-Antoni Fiona 2152 - FM Wassin Sergej 2295 ½ - ½

Sunday is a hard-earned free day for the players.