IM/WGM Rusudan Goletiani - USA

In case you haven't heard the news by now, at the Dresden Chess Olympiad (November, 2008) the USA Women's Chess Team won a Team Bronze Medal. Adding icing to the beautiful cake, an individual Gold Medal was won by Anna Zatonskih (current U.S. Women's Chess Champion) and an individual Silver Medal by Rusudan Goletiani for their respective board performances. Hooray for USA! (BTW, the USA Men's Chess Team also won a Team Bronze Medal.) This was the second Women's Team Medal EVER won by a U.S. team. GM Susan Polgar led the way for the U.S. Women's Team at the 2004 Chess Olympiad to win the FIRST EVER Team Silver Medal, and GM Polgar earned yet another individual Gold Medal for her performance at that Olympiad. In 2006 the U.S. Women's Team had to settle for 4th place overall, losing a Team Medal by a hair. The U.S. Women's Team came back with a vengence this year! You can read all about it at Chess Femme News. The USCF's print magazine, Chess Life, for February 2009 features Goletiani on the cover, as part of a feature story at its website (you must be a member to access). Now, Jennifer Shahade, one of the ground-breaking chess femmes on that 2004 U.S. Women's Chess Olympiad Team, has a sit-down interview with Goletiani also online at the USCF website that everyone can read (no membership required). Please check out both articles, and learn more about women chessplayers in the United States.

2008 Chess Olympiad: Armenian Women's Team

Article from panorama.am 17:11 12/12/2008 WOMEN CHESS TEAM SATISFIED BY THEIR RESULTS Women chess team of Armenia gained the sixth horizontal in World Chess Olympiad in Dresden. The representatives of the team say they have had a successful participation but the most important victory has been the game with Azeri team who has been defeated by 4-0 points. “I am content of the results. It has been the most successful result we have ever gained. If we were luckier then we could have even better results,” says Arsen Eghiazaryan, the trainer of the team in a press conference. The champion of Armenia Lilit Galoyan gained 6.5 points from 10 possible ones, the second was champion of Europe Nelli Aghinyan – 5.5 points from 9 ones, and the third was Lilit Mkrtchyan – 8 points from 11 ones. The Armenian Women's Team: IM Elina Danielian. She will be joined by IM Lilit Mkrtchian, WGM Nelly Aginian, WIM Siranush Andriasian, and L. Galoian.

Tania Sachdev Interview

From The Times of India Online We can win a medal at Olympiad: Tania Sachdev 12 Dec 2008, 0107 hrs IST, Sudeshna Chakraborty,TNN (Photo: Tania Sachdev, Round 8, Dresden Olympiad)In the recently concluded Chess Olympiad in Dresden (Germany), where the Indian women team finished 15th, Delhi-based Grandmaster Tania Sachdev scored a creditable 6.5 points from 11 games. After the Olympiad, she participated in an open tournament in Croatia and finished second where she lost in the tie-breaker. Tania spoke to TOI about her Olympiad experience and much more. Excerpts from the interview: How would you sum up your Olympiad performance and the tournament in Croatia? Olympiad has always been a dream for me. This year when I got selected in the national team, I knew that I had the opportunity to prove myself. I had huge expectations and the experience was enlightening. Olympiad is about so many things - the stiff competition, the chance to play with the bigwigs, the heartbreaks. The Croatia tournament was an Open GMs meet. Since I was in Europe, I thought I might as well play there too. The tournament has fetched me six Elo rating points, so I’m happy. Tell us about your experience in playing on the top boards? The competition is very intense when you play on the top boards. Besides the intensity of the games, one feels much more patriotic and much more accountable when pitted against the best. After the sixth round, I was exhausted having to play consistently on top boards. But that’s where your game gets better... one emerges enlightened after a satisfying game against a stalwart. Are you happy with India’s performance? Have we narrowed the gap with the top teams? Definitely the level of play has accelerated in India. We played consistently both in the men’s and women’s sections. India stands a very good chance of winning a medal in the next Olympiad. We are very close to it. Since you are from Delhi how much your exploits will help chess grow in the Capital? During my initial years, there were hardly any chess tournaments or coaching centres. Slowly the scenario has changed. There are many players now and I expect many more to pick the game as more tournaments are being held today than before. You often say that you require sponsors. Have you got any help from the Delhi Chess Association (DCA)? Sponsorship in sports is a big problem except cricket. But DCA has always helped me in arranging sponsors. What do you think should be done to make the sport bigger? The biggest problem with chess is that it is not a TV-centric sport. One cannot enjoy watching it. But there is so much talent in India that it surely deserves corporate sponsorship and media attention. Where do see yourself in another three years? As a World Cup winner.

McClain Reminds Us Why the Great Are - Great!

From The International Herald Tribune All copyrights preserved Dylan Loeb McClain: Chess Published: December 5, 2008 It is inevitable that young phenomena and new champions hog the limelight, but sometimes ex-champions remind the world why they were, and in some cases still are, so great. At the recent Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany, the women's section was won by the team from Georgia, the No. 4 seed. It was a return to glory for Georgia, which last won gold in 1996 and had not medaled at the biennial event since winning a silver in 2000. Georgia was once synonymous with women's chess because it was home to the two women who, between them, held the world title from 1962 to 1991. Nona Gaprindashvili, now 67, reigned from 1962 to 1978. She was dethroned by Maia Chiburdanidze, who held the crown until 1991. Chiburdanidze, now 47, is still ranked No. 18 in the world among women. At the Olympiad, Chiburdanidze was the top player on her team, and she turned in far and away the best performance of any competitor. She finished with six wins, three draws and no losses. Her record included victories over Hou Yifan of China, No. 3 among the world's women, and Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia, No. 13. She also defeated Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia, the reigning women's champion, in Round 5. Chiburdanidze usually prefers the Caro-Kann Defense, but against Kosteniuk she selected the sharper Sicilian Defense. She may have played something unexpected to throw Kosteniuk off balance. If that was her strategy, it worked. The players followed well-known plans in the Richter-Rauzer Variation until Chiburdanidze played the thematic exchange sacrifice 10. . . Rc3. Most players continue with 11 bc3, and after 11 . . . e5 12 Qb4 Qb4 13 cb4 Ne4 14 Bh4 g5 15 fg5 Be7, the position is unclear. Black will eventually have an extra pawn and active pieces, while White will have a slight material superiority (rook for knight and pawn). But Kosteniuk chose 11 Qc3 and quickly fell into a passive position. She tried to squirm out of it with 19 Be4, probably hoping that Chiburdanidze would play 19 . . . Be4, when White might sacrifice material with 20 Re4 fe4 21 Rb7, giving her a chance to draw because of her superior development. But Chiburdanidze avoided any complications with 19 . . . fe4 and steadily improved her position. Kosteniuk resigned because she must lose a rook after either 37 Kb1 Rg2, or 37 Kd1 e2 38 Ke1 Bg1, leaving her in a hopeless position either way.

Armenian Gold Medalists Awarded State Medals

State Awards of the Republic of Armenia to Chess Olympic Champions 27.11.2008 13:16 On November 26 the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree on awarding Medals “For Services Contributed to the Motherland” of the first rank to the head coach of the men’s chess team of Armenia, International Grand master Arshak Petrosyan, International Grand Master Levon Aronyan, International Grand Master Vladimir Hakobyan, International Grand Master Artashes Minasyan, International Grand Master Tigran Petrosyan and International Grand Master Gabriel Sargsyan for their brilliant victory at the 38th Chess Olympiad, for properly presenting Armenia on the international arena, and promoting the development of chess in Armenia. According to another presidential decree, Medals “For Services Contributed to the Motherland” of the second rank were awarded to Vice-Presidents of the Chess Federation of Armenia Levon Yolyan and Smbat Lputyan, businessman Artak Sargsyan, Director of the Chess House Hrachya Tavadyan for essential contribution to the development of chess in the republic.

2008 Chess Olympiad: Some Final Thoughts

It's all over for another two years, thank Goddess! I am now wracking my brain trying to figure out how I can possibly report on all of the news on the chess femmes in this Olympiad in my final column for Chessville. Well, I guess I'll have to make it the biggest (and hopefully the best) column yet, with a special section devoted entirely to the Olympiad. I still have a few days, it's not due to be published until the beginning of December. I foresee a four-day weekend of sleepless nights... There are now a wide variety of websites that provide first-class information on chess events - some more timely than others (but for those less "timely", always worth the wait, darlings). Here are those I am most familiar with - by no means all of the sites that provide news and insight into the happenings in the world of chess. Special thanks and unending admiration for the following - how the hell do they do what they do day after day after day...

• Kudos to GM Susan Polgar who did triple-duty - not only reporting information at her blog, but also serving as Chess Ambassador and English-Language Press Liason, as well as holding great interviews daily with players and personalities from the Olympiad. Thanks also to Paul Truong, the official photographer for this Olympiad, for his fantastic and candid photographs, round after round, from off days, the official opening, the official close, and everything in-between. I am appreciative of the great job that both Polgar and Truong did.
• I was very happy that Chessdom went back to its "live" blog for coverage of Round 11. I did not like the "live chat" experiment - most of the comments were boring, common, and disjointed. It was hard to follow what was going on. In the "live" blog, on the other hand, it was easy to follow the action as the time counted down toward the end of the games.
• The Week in Chess has set the standard ever since I've been online (December, 1998) and no doubt from before! Mark Crowthers lets nothing stand in his way of going the extra mile, whether it be going over games move by move to create and/or correct PGN notations or correctly identifying otherwise sometimes obscure players.
• I was very impressed with Chess Vibes - very current reports, great photographs and a slamming lay-out. How'd you do that?
• Europe E'checs provided much-needed information - in French (but they have English translation on some pages).
• Mig Greengard has such a wicked sense of humor! His Daily Dirt blog (part of Chess Ninja) provides much-needed insight and lots of laughs, but be warned: all types hang out there, compensated for with a collection of wits and sparkling commentators, most of whose commentary probably whizzes over the ignoramus heads of the thankfully relatively few a-holes. I believe (but have no proof) that a lot of chess femmes read the commentary there but generally refrain from commenting themselves - only a brave few every now and then wade in.
• Daaim Shabazz's The Chess Drum is a must-read for keen insights into the chess world in general and, in particular, for news about chess players that generally aren't covered elsewhere.

A few final thoughts: I'm still absolutely amazed that the American men were able to repeat their miracle Bronze performance from 2006 in 2008 Dresden! More incredible, at least to me, is the US Women's Team performance. I honestly did not think they had a prayer of winning a medal. I'm quite happy to say I was SO SO WRONG. And I will eat my wool beret tonight for supper. Hell, I need a new one anyway, this one was looking rather ratty...

I am absolutely convinced that what happened to the Russian Teams (Men - oh, I mean "Open" - and Women) was Divine Justice being meted out to Miniputin, the ass! LOL - do you hear laughter, Pharaoh er, Miniputin? That's the sound of millions of chess fans falling off their chairs and rolling on the floor busting a gut in hilarity at the performances of the oh-so-vaunted #1 ranked teams entering the Olympiad: Russian Men and Russian Women. Bwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaahhhhhhaaaaaaaa!

The Georgian Women won the Gold Medal The Georgian Women won the Gold Medal The Georgian Women won the Gold Medal

They're the only team other than USA and India I would care to see win the Gold. Sweet! Particularly Sweet since the Russian mobsters who put together the Women's World Chess Championship INSISTED that the female chessplayers of the world assemble in Nalchik, Russia, mere miles away from the GEORGIAN WAR ZONE after Russian invaded Georgia in August, 2008 a few weeks before the Championship was to convene. Those Russians particularly pooh-poohed the Georgian Women chessplayers' concerns - and the concerns of other Federations on behalf of their players - about sending their players to Nalchik.

Ha ha, Miniputin. The best is yet to come. Just watch what happens to your "vaunted" Ruble (Rubble?) in the coming months. Nothing personal against the players on the Russian chess teams - I suggest you emmigrate to Manhattan before President-Elect Obama takes office on January 20, 2009...

2008 Chess Olympiad - NEWS FLASH

UNBELIEVABLE. It seems US Women and Open Teams have tied for third place in their respective Olympiads after R11. Now it's up to tie-breaks to see who takes home bronze medals and in the Women's section, the gold. In the Open, Armena wins gold, Israel (!!!) takes silver. Russia goes home empty handed, drawing all their last games. In the Women's event, Poland and US are tied for 3rd place, Georgia and Ukraine are tied for 1st. Added 10:39 A.M. It's official - USA Men and Women each win Team Bronze medals. In addition, Anna Zatonskih wins an individual Gold medal for her performance on Board 2, and Rusudan Goletiani wins an individual Silver medal for her performance on Board 3! Congratulations to the US chess Femmes and to the US chess dudes, too. The medals are excellent news for U.S. chess. Now if only the USCF Executive Board could stop all the law suits and really start doing what is good for chess in this country - like coming up with some cash to back their players and offer better prizes at national events!

2008 Chess Olympiad

Now I know - I don't know how to read those charts at chess-results.com after all! Here's a new AP article mostly focusing on the U.S. team results in Round 10: US keeps chess medal hopes alive in Chess Olympiad By ROBERT HUNTINGTON – 4 hours ago DRESDEN, Germany (AP) — The U.S. men and women teams kept their slim hopes for a medal alive on Sunday after the men beat Germany 2.5-1.5 and the women rolled over Uzbekistan 3.5-0.5 in the 10th and penultimate round of the Chess Olympiad. On the top board in the open section, Ukraine edged Israel on the strength of Zahar Efimenko's win over Evgeny Postny to move into a tie for first-place with Armenia, which defeated Serbia 3-1. China moved into a tie with Israel for second, one half match point behind the leaders, after beating England 2.5-1.5. The Netherlands, Russia, Spain and the U.S. are all tied for fifth, a full point behind the leaders. In the final round on Tuesday, China will play Armenia, the U.S. faces off against Ukraine, Israel plays the Netherlands, and Russia is paired with Spain. On first board for the Americans, Gata Kamsky successfully defended the Exchange Variation of the Ruy Lopez and drew against Arkadij Naiditsch. On board two, American Hikaru Nakamura defeated Igor Khenkin. The Germans picked up their only win of the day on board three when Daniel Fridman shredded Alexander Onischuk's kingside pawn structure and outplayed him in a long rook-and-pawn endgame. The U.S. also won on board four on Yuri Shulman's kingside attack against David Baramidze. In other open section results, Russia rolled over Slovenia 3.5-0.5; Spain defeated Bulgaria 3-1; Australia beat Brazil 2.5-1.5, and Canada took no prisoners in a 4-0 drubbing of Nicaragua. In the women's section, Poland moved into first place by edging Armenia 2.5-1.5 while the other leaders before the round, Serbia and Ukraine, tied 2-all. Georgia improved its medal chances by beating China 2.5-1.5. The American women's team got wins from Irina Krush, Anna Zatonskih and Rusudan Goletiani on the top three boards, against Nafisa Muminova, Irina Gevorgyan and Hulkar Tokhirjanova, respectively. Zatonskih and Goletiani are almost assured of individual medals on their respective boards. Katerina Rohonyan gave up the only draw for the U.S. on fourth board against Nodira Nodirjanova. Just a point separates the top six teams with one round to go. Poland has 8.5 match points; Georgia, Serbia, and Ukraine each have eight; Russia and the United States have 7.5. In the last round, Poland plays Ukraine, Georgia faces Serbia, the United States gets France, and Russia is paired the Netherlands. The 11th and final round is on Tuesday with no matches scheduled for Monday. Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

2008 Chess Olympiad

The grass is cut and the leaves are duly chopped up into bits - at least on the front lawn :) It was actually tolerable outdoors today, dressed with turtleneck, sweatshirt, winter jacket, globes, scarf and hat on - jeans too (I was not naked from the waist down, darlings). It took forever to chop up the leaves, and the tree on the next store neighbor's lot kept dropping more leaves on to my newly cleared grass with every little puff of breeze; I swear it was baiting me :) It took forever! Back and forth, back and forth...but at last, it was done. I got my work-out for the day, and I was pooped! The backyard is a mess - hopefully the day after Thanksgiving will be temperate enough to pull out the lawn mower and give it a last going-over for the season. We'll see. Here are the current Women's Olympiad standings after R10: Rk. SNo Team Team Games + = - TB1 TB2 TB3 TB4 1 9 Poland POL 10 8 1 1 17 302,0 125,0 26,0 2 2 Ukraine UKR 10 6 4 0 16 343,0 122,0 27,5 3 4 Georgia GEO 10 7 2 1 16 330,5 121,0 28,0 4 10 Serbia SRB 10 7 2 1 16 277,5 119,0 25,5 5 7 United States of America USA 10 7 1 2 15 321,0 119,0 28,0 6 1 Russia RUS 10 6 3 1 15 298,0 121,0 27,0 7 3 China CHN 10 6 2 14 328,0 133,0 25,5 8 6 Armenia ARM 10 7 0 3 14 288,5 122,0 25,5 9 5 France FRA 10 6 2 2 14 275,0 108,0 28,0 10 11 India IND 10 6 2 2 14 274,5 120,0 23,5 11 16 Romania ROU 10 7 0 3 14 251,0 118,0 24,5 12 17 Netherlands NED 10 7 0 3 14 246,0 118,0 22,5 13 8 Hungary HUN 10 6 1 3 13 268,5 122,0 24,5 14 19 Greece GRE 10 6 1 3 13 260,0 99,0 28,0 15 26 Belarus BLR 10 5 3 2 13 252,0 99,0 26,5 16 47 Mongolia MGL 10 6 1 3 13 247,5 114,0 21,5 17 21 Israel ISR 10 5 3 2 13 239,0 111,0 23,5 18 13 Bulgaria BUL 10 6 1 3 13 235,0 105,0 24,5 19 29 Argentina ARG 10 6 1 3 13 222,0 99,0 26,0 20 33 Italy ITA 10 5 3 2 13 220,5 105,0 24,0 21 43 Uzbekistan UZB 10 6 1 3 13 217,5 113,0 22,0 If I'm reading this correctly, USA and Russia each have 15 points, #1 Poland has 17 points; Ukraine, Georgia and Serbia each have 16 points. Tomorrow USA plays France, which is in 9th place with 14 points. Any odds-makers out there figuring out who could possibly win? Here are the top match-ups for the Women for the final round tomorrow: 1 9 POL Poland 26 17 : 16 27½ Ukraine UKR 2 2 12 GER1 Germany 1 21½ 12 : 12 25½ Sweden SWE 20 3 4 GEO Georgia 28 16 : 16 25½ Serbia SRB 10 4 7 USA United States of America 28 15 : 14 28 France FRA 5 5 17 NED Netherlands 22½ 14 : 15 27 Russia RUS 1 6 16 ROU Romania 24½ 14 : 14 25½ China CHN 3 7 11 IND India 23½ 14 : 14 25½ Armenia ARM 6 8 8 HUN Hungary 24½ 13 : 13 22 Uzbekistan UZB 43 9 33 ITA Italy 24 13 : 13 28 Greece GRE 19 10 29 ARG Argentina 26 13 : 13 26½ Belarus BLR 26 In contention for individual medals: Board 1: IM Irina Krush in 10th place, with 6.5/9. In first place after R10, is GM Maia Chiburdanidze with 6.5/8. Board 2: IM Anna Zatonskih is holding down 1st place, yippee! with 7.5/9. Board 3: WGM Rusudan Goletiana is holding down 2nd place, yippee! with 8.0/10. Here are the top women by performance rating after R10: 1 GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2489 Georgia 2697 6,5 8 81,3 1 2 IM Fierro Baquero Martha L 2361 Ecuador 2613 7,5 8 93,8 1 3 WIM Linares Napoles Oleiny 2261 Cuba 2603 8,5 9 94,4 4 4 WIM Majdan Joanna 2284 Poland 2592 8,5 10 85,0 4 5 IM Zatonskih Anna 2440 United States of America 2591 7,5 9 83,3 2 6 WGM Hou Yifan 2578 China 2588 7,0 10 70,0 1 7 IM Socko Monika 2434 Poland 2574 6,0 9 66,7 1 8 GM Cramling Pia 2550 Sweden 2569 7,5 8 93,8 1 9 IM Kosintseva Nadezhda 2468 Russia 2567 7,5 9 83,3 3 10 IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2443 Armenia 2562 7,5 10 75,0 2 11 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2548 Bulgaria 2549 7,0 9 77,8 1 12 IM Dzagnidze Nana 2503 Georgia 2538 6,5 9 72,2 2 13 GM Peng Zhaoqin 2455 Netherlands 2538 6,0 9 66,7 1 14 GM Hoang Thanh Trang 2483 Hungary 2534 7,0 10 70,0 1 15 WGM Zdebskaja Natalia 2419 Ukraine 2528 7,0 8 87,5 5 16 WGM Zhukova Natalia 2488 Ukraine 2528 6,0 9 66,7 2 17 IM Moser Eva 2376 Austria 2527 7,5 9 83,3 1 18 WGM Goletiani Rusudan 2359 United States of Amer. 2513 8,0 10 0,0 3 19 IM Krush Irina 2452 United States of America 2511 6,5 9 72,2 1 20 IM Khukhashvili Sopiko 2409 Georgia 2511 5,0 6 83,3 5 Can the US Women pull off a medal in this Olympiad? My hat (well-spiced) is ready for munching, ladies... How'd the US chess duds, er, dudes do? They're in 8th place with 15th points. In 1st is Armenia with 17, in 2nd is Ukraine also with 17, and in 3rd is Israel with 16. Where's Russia? Holy crap, in 5th place with 15 points, behind 4th place China also with 15 points. Guess the Americans aren't the only super-GM duds (although to be fair, the US duds aren't super-GMs).

2008 Chess Olympiad

Here is a photo of Narmin Kazimova playing Board 4 for Azerbaijan, in R10 playing against WGM Maria Leconte of France. They drew their game. Photo from the website europe-echecs.com. They have a nice spread put together. I tried the official Dresden website out of desperation to see if I could find out what was going on with the women's teams. What a nightmare! Only the top six teams showed up on the page, no matter what I did I could not get the USA teams to show up under either the Open section or the Damen's section! Narmin, what a head of hair! I'm jealous. As of now, the Russian women are beating the Hungarian women 2:0; France is beating Azerbaijan 2 1/2:1/2; Anna Zatonskih defeated Irina Gevorgyan of Uzbekistan for the only game score thus far in USZ v. UZB; China v. Georgia is at 1:1; Serbia and Ukraine are tied with 1/2 point each; and Poland is leading Armenia 1:0. Now I really must go out and mow over those leaves... Go Anna! She's in good stead for a medal on Board 2 with 1 round to go.

2008 Chess Olympiad: Krush v. Kosteniuk

The Internet Chess Club has started up a blog and at least for the time being everyone can see it, even if you are not a member. Macauley Peterson (I hope I spelled his name correctly) put together a piece on IM Irina Krush after she defeated Women's World Chess Champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk in R8 action, leading the US Women's Team to an upset defeat of the powerful Russian team. They were catapulted into 2nd place, but didn't stay there more than one night, unfortunately, as they lost their R9 match and fell back to 7th place. Today I've been trying to find commentary on the action but can't find it anywhere! The usually reliable Chessdom has gone to a "live chat" thing that is absolutely awful. Sigh. So, I'm going to go out and chop up leaves with the lawn mower. We're supposed to get snow tomorrow - I'd better get it done! Anyway, here is the link to the ICC Blog interview with Krush and the blog also has a link where you can play through the game.

2008 Chess Olympiad: R8 India News

The photograph says it all. Indian men held, women lose in Chess Olympiad Dresden, Nov 22: The Indian medal hopes in the 32nd chess Olympiad suffered a severe jolt after the men could only manage a 2-2 draw with Slovenia while the women lost 1.5-2.5 to Serbia in the eighth round here. For the men, Grandmaster P Harikrishna scored over Dusko Pavasovic but on the fourth board Grandmaster Sandipan Chanda lost with white pieces against Jure Borisec. The other two boards ended in draws with Krishnan Sasikiran signing peace with veteran Alexander Beliavsky and G N Gopal achieving the same result against Lenik Luca on the third board. Among the women, Tania Sachdev and Mary Ann Gomes ran out of steam and that cost the team dearly even as D Harika struck hard on the top board for the eves and defeated Alisa Maric. Tania lost to Natasa Bojkovic while Mary Ann found her nemesis in Irina Chelushkina. The other game between Swati Ghate and Andjelija Stojanovic ended in a draw. The Indian men slipped to joint 14th spot in the standings on 11 points out of a possible 16 and now face an uphill task to keep their medal hopes alive. Armenia remained in sole lead in the open section with a 3.5-0.5 drubbing of France and took their tally to 15 points. Israel follow the leader closely on 14 points with a fine 2.5-1.5 victory over Germany while Russia and Ukraine are now joint third on 13 points each with just three rounds remaining in the biggest chess event. The Indian eves slipped to joint 10th spot after the debacle against Serbia and they too will need excellent score in the remaining matches to come within striking distance of a medal. Chinese ladies played out a draw with Ukraine on the top table and remained in sole lead on 14 points here. The four-way tie for the second spot is currently shared by United States, Serbia, Poland and Ukraine who all have 13 points apiece. Harikrishna outplayed Pavasovic from the white side of a Reti Opening. The middle game saw the Indian initiating an attack through the center and everything fell in place thereafter. Harikrishna wrapped the issue in 53 moves. Sandipan Chanda missed out some chances against Jure Borisec in a Ruy Lopez game. Playing white the Indian sacrificed a Bishop in the middle game and had a certain draw in hand. However, playing for a win proved futile in the end as Borisevic found some defensive resources and won in 54 moves. The Olympiad is an 11-round Swiss with 144 teams in the open and 111teams in the women section. Bureau Report

2008 Chess Olympiad

AP news: First-place teams defeated in chess round 9 By ROBERT HUNTINGTON – 3 hours ago DRESDEN, Germany (AP) — The mighty were brought low as the first-place teams in both the open and women's divisions fell in round nine on Saturday. In the open division, Israel played the role of David, knocking off Armenia 2.5-1.5. On the women's side, Serbia edged China 2.5-1.5. The U.S. women's medal hopes suffered a severe setback as Poland beat them 3-1. The U.S. men, already virtually eliminated from contention by Russia in round eight, crushed India 3.5-1.5. There were a number of other upsets in the open section. Ukraine downed top-seed Russia 2.5-1.5; 22nd-seed Serbia beat fourth-seed Azerbaijan by the same score. Sixteenth-seed Vietnam held fifth-seed Hungary to a 2-all tie; and Slovenia beat Norway 3-1. England kept its medal hopes alive by beating Vietnam 3-1 on wins from Michael Adams and Nigel Short on the top two boards. Veteran Boris Gelfand led the way for the Israelis on board one defeating the world's seventh rated player Levon Aronian with Black, exploiting his opponent's weakened king position to win a pawn and then winning the ensuing rook-and-pawn endgame. Israel's other win came from Maxim Rodshtein on board four over Tigan L. Petrosian. The American men put on a strong performance that was probably too little, too late. Gata Kamsky beat Krishnan Sasikiran on board one when Sasikiran apparently missed an interpolation on move 34 and had to resign just two moves later. On board two, Hikaru Nakamura won a powerful game out of an unorthodox opening against Penteala Harikrishna. The American's other win came on board four where Varuzhan Akobian won a tactical melee against Geetha Narayanan Gopal. Today's results put Israel in first place with eight points. Armenia and Ukraine are tied for second with 7.5 points. China, England, and Serbia each have seven points. Ten teams, including the United States and Russia, have 6.5 points. On the women's side, Poland, Serbia, and Ukraine have leapfrogged China into a first place tie with 7.5 points. Armenia, China, and Georgia have seven points each. Hungary, Russia, the United States, and Uzbekistan have 6.5 points each. Round 10 of the 11-round event takes place here on Sunday. In other news, the president of the world chess organization FIDE, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who was injured in an automobile accident just before the event started, has arrived in Dresden for the FIDE Congress after being released from a Moscow hospital. Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

2008 Chess Olympiad

Bad news! The US women fell to Poland in R9 today, 3:1. Boo, hiss, boo! They have fallen from 2nd place all the way to 7th, with only 2 round left! And - get this - China was knocked out of first place, all the way down to 4th! Here are the current top 10 after R9: Rk. SNo Team Team Games + = - TB1 TB2 TB3 TB4 1 2 Ukraine UKR 9 6 3 0 15 268,0 97,0 25,5 2 9 Poland POL 9 7 1 1 15 249,5 104,0 23,5 3 10 Serbia SRB 9 7 1 1 15 232,5 97,0 23,5 4 3 China CHN 9 6 2 1 14 278,5 109,0 24,0 5 4 Georgia GEO 9 6 2 1 14 269,5 97,0 25,5 6 6 Armenia ARM 9 7 0 2 14 230,0 97,0 24,0 7 7 United States of America USA 9 6 1 2 13 248,5 96,0 24,5 8 1 Russia RUS 9 5 3 1 13 245,0 100,0 24,0 9 8 Hungary HUN 9 6 1 2 13 229,5 97,0 23,5 10 43 Uzbekistan UZB 9 6 1 2 13 188,5 87,0 21,5 Uzbekistan??? Russia in 8th place? Stock market crash being compared to the Great Depression. THE END MUST BE NEAR. Everyone - pray to the Goddess - quick!

2008 Chess Olympiad

USA has jumped into the #2 spot by virtue of their winning the match today against the Russian Women's Team, which fell all the way to #10. Wow! Here are the top 10 after Round 8 - 3 more rounds to go. Rk. SNo Team Team Games + = - TB1 TB2 TB3 TB4 1 3 China CHN 8 6 2 0 14 232,0 82,0 22,5 2 7 United States of America USA 8 6 1 1 13 215,5 74,0 23,5 3 2 Ukraine UKR 8 5 3 0 13 206,0 77,0 22,5 4 9 Poland POL 8 6 1 1 13 187,5 82,0 20,5 5 10 Serbia SRB 8 6 1 1 13 178,0 74,0 21,0 6 4 Georgia GEO 8 5 2 1 12 200,5 76,0 21,5 7 6 Armenia ARM 8 6 0 2 12 182,0 77,0 20,5 8 14 Slovenia SLO 8 5 2 1 12 170,5 66,0 22,5 9 16 Romania ROU 8 6 0 2 12 168,0 74,0 21,0 10 1 Russia RUS 8 4 3 1 11 191,0 81,0 21,0 Round 9 match-ups for the Top 10: China (#1) meets Serbia (#5) Poland (#4) meets USA (#2) Ukraine (#3) meets Romania (#9) Georgia (#6) meets Slovenia (#8) Argentina (#17) meets Armenia (#7) Russia (#10) meets Lithuania (#18) How are the US chess femmes now standing in contention for earning an individual medal? On Board #1, IM Irina Krush is currently in 5th place On Board #2, IM Anna Zatonskih is currently in 1st place On Board #3, WGM Rusudan Goletiani is currently in 1st place On Board #4, WGM Katerine Rohonyan is currently in 11th place On the Best Performance List, USA now has 2 players in the top 10: IM Anna Zatonskih is in 2nd place, with a PF of 2634 (her ELO is 2440) IM Irina Krush is in 7th place, with a PF of 2578 (her ELO is 2452) In addition, WGM Rusudan Goletiani is in 20th place with a PF of 2532 (her ELO is 2359), outshining a veritable galaxy of chess femme stars, including Stefanova, Sachdev, Ushenina, Cimilyte, and others. Getting ready to eat that hat...

2008 Chess Olympiad

Holy Caissa! Chessdom reports: USA (#4) wins against Russia (#3) 3:1 in the women section. IM Krush Irina 2452 - GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2525 1 : 0 IM Zatonskih Anna 2440 - IM Kosintseva Tatiana 2513 1 : 0 WGM Goletiani Rusudan 2359 - IM Kosintseva Nadezhda 2468 ½ : ½ WGM Rohonyan Katerina 2334 - IM Korbut Ekaterina 2459 ½ : ½ If the US chess femmes had played this way in the World Chess Championships, they'd have been battling for the title! #1 Team is China, #2 Team is Ukraine. USA has already played China and tied 2:2. USA has not played Ukraine. I'm going shopping for some allspice tonight just in case I have to eat my wool beret after all...

2008 Chess Olympiad

USA Women's Team has moved into 4th place overall after another solid round - holding China to 2:2! Could this team actually pull off a medal? I'd be the first to eat my hat if they do! USA Men's Team is in 9th place. Four rounds left to play. IM Irina Krush is in contention for an individual medal on Board 1, as is IM Anna Zatonskih on Board 2, WGM Rusudan Goletiani on Board 3 AND WGM Katerine Rohonyan on Board 4!

2008 Chess Olympiad

I've been reporting what I consider highlights at Chess Femme News at Goddesschess. Here are the top 20 women by performance rating after Round 6: 1 Tan Zhongyi 2395 China 2946 5,0 5 100,0 5 2 WGM Pogonina Natalija 2474 Russia 2835 4,0 4 100,0 5 3 WGM Zdebskaja Natalia 2419 Ukraine 2808 5,0 5 100,0 5 4 IM Vajda Szidonia 2380 Hungary 2710 4,5 5 90,0 2 5 IM Krush Irina 2452 United States of America 2632 4,5 5 90,0 1 6 GM Cramling Pia 2550 Sweden 2630 4,0 4 100,0 1 7 WGM Calzetta Monica 2328 Spain 2628 4,5 5 90,0 1 8 GM Peng Zhaoqin 2455 Netherlands 2628 4,0 5 80,0 1 9 WGM Goletiani Rusudan 2359 United States of America 2623 5,5 6 91,7 3 10 WGM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2410 Mongolia 2623 5,0 6 83,3 1 11 WGM Hou Yifan 2578 China 2619 4,5 6 75,0 1 12 IM Zatonskih Anna 2440 United States of America 2615 4,5 5 90,0 2 13 IM Houska Jovanka 2399 England 2611 4,0 5 80,0 1 14 GM Chiburdanidze Maia 2489 Georgia 2589 3,5 5 70,0 1 15 WGM Zhukova Natalia 2488 Ukraine 2570 4,5 6 75,0 2 16 WGM Shen Yang 2450 China 2567 4,0 5 80,0 3 17 WIM Linares Napoles Oleiny 2261 Cuba 2565 5,5 6 91,7 4 18 WGM Voiska Margarita 2318 Bulgaria 2564 5,5 6 91,7 3 19 IM Moser Eva 2376 Austria 2562 4,5 5 90,0 1 20 IM Socko Monika 2434 Poland 2562 3,5 5 70,0 1

2008 Chess Olympiad

USA Results: Bo. 32 Moldova (MDA) Rtg - 7 United States of America (USA) Rtg 1 : 3 16.1 IM Petrenko Svetlana 2285 - IM Krush Irina 2452 0 - 1 16.2 WGM Smokina Karolina 2235 - IM Zatonskih Anna 2440 ½ - ½ 16.3 WGM Partac Elena 2168 - WGM Goletiani Rusudan 2359 0 - 1 16.4 WIM Bulmaga Irina 2287 - WGM Rohonyan Katerina 2334 ½ - ½ 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 ½ - ½ 6.4 GM Huseynov Gadir 2650 - GM Shulman Yuri 2616 ½ - ½

2008 Chess Olympiad

Photo: Round 4, from official photos, two chess legends: GM Susan Polgar and GM Maia Chiburdanidze Some results from Round 4. I am watching the Packers/Bears game on television right at the moment, I wil be doing an update of the Round 4 results at Chess Femme News later this afternoon (after a nice long nap). Indian Women defeat the German Women: IM Harika Dronavalli 2462 - IM Paehtz Elisabeth 2471 ½ : ½ IM Tania Sachdev 2425 - IM Kachiani-Gersinska Ketino 2371 1:0 WGM Swathi Ghate 2320 - WGM Michna Marta 2399 ½ : ½ WGM Gomes Mary Ann 2298 - WFM Hoolt Sarah 2274 1:0 Photo: Round 4, from official photos, GM Polgar, GM Aronian, GM Shirov. Korchnoi, the old warrior playing for Switzerland on Board 1, lost to GM Caruna of Italy, but I don't know what colors they were playing (I'm not following the games live, just logging in to various websites and reading what is being posted). Caruna had a rough start the first couple of rounds, but seems to be finding his stride. China shows muscle against the Armenian Women's Team, with Mkrtchian on Board 2 (she had a very impressive result at the Women's World Chess Championship earlier this year): WGM Hou Yifan 2578 - IM Danielian Elina 2513 1 : 0 GM Zhao Xue 2518 - IM Mkrtchian Lilit 2443 * WGM Shen Yang 2450 - WGM Aginian Nelly 2325 1 : 0 Tan Zhongyi 2395 - WIM Galojan Lilit 2305 1 : 0